# CFP SEMIFINAL PREDICTIONS: Breaking Down Miami vs. Ole Miss & Oregon vs. Indiana | College Football

An episode of [The Solid Verbal College Football Show](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/270037732), 5 Jan 2026, 1 h 09 min.

Audio: https://podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/21437ee1-47d9-4b16-8696-b30d011a2c26/8c01f1c0-c41b-412a-aa7a-b3c9014a7b46/audio.mp3?utm_source=Podcast&in_playlist=51c7e0eb-425c-4d93-b5a8-b30d011a2c46

And then there were four. In this episode, we take a closer look at this week's two CFP semifinal games as Miami and Ole Miss square off in the Fiesta Bowl and Oregon and Indiana play a rematch in the Peach Bowl. What must Miami do to slow down Trinidad Chambliss, and is there any way for Ole Miss to slow down a ferocious Miami pass rush? What must Oregon change to get revenge on Indiana? And does Indiana need to change anything with its game plan to down the Ducks for the second time this season? Timecodes: 0:00 - Intro 5:04 - Miami vs. Ole Miss Preview & Predictions 31:50 - Oregon vs. Indiana Preview & Predictions Support the show!: https://www.patreon.com/solidverbal See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

## Transcript

[0:02] Speaker 1: Welcome to the solid verbal hull ah for me, I'm
[0:06] Speaker 1: a man, I'm forty. I've heard so many players say, well,
[0:09] Speaker 1: I want to be happy.
[0:10] Speaker 2: You want to be happy for day Ato State?
[0:13] Speaker 1: Is that? Whoo whoom? And Dan and tie Dan Robinstein,
[0:19] Speaker 1: welcome back, Happy new year. We've got games to discuss,
[0:23] Speaker 1: We've got bulbingo to discuss, We've got college football abound
[0:28] Speaker 1: here in the year of twenty twenty six, My good friend,
[0:31] Speaker 1: welcome back. How are you? I'm great?
[0:33] Speaker 2: Though, I did just discover and confirm that Blink one
[0:38] Speaker 2: eighty two is now considered to be.
[0:39] Speaker 1: Everybody sit down now classic rock. What is classic rock?
[0:47] Speaker 2: So if you are looking at like the uh, you know,
[0:51] Speaker 2: what's my age again? All the small things area, you're
[0:54] Speaker 2: talking about nineteen ninty nine, you' talking about twenty six
[0:56] Speaker 2: years ago, And so nineteen ninety nine minus twenty six
[0:59] Speaker 2: is like nineteen seventy.
[1:01] Speaker 1: Three, right, oh man, Yeah.
[1:04] Speaker 2: Buddy, twenty which is I think how old most of
[1:08] Speaker 2: Indiana's players are? Are they in there like in the
[1:12] Speaker 2: mid twenties. Yeah, you've got a lot of six and
[1:14] Speaker 2: seventh years they were.
[1:15] Speaker 1: Can see during some of that great era of blinkwentity
[1:20] Speaker 1: two music. I can only with it on in the back.
[1:23] Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, yeah, maybe a little pennywise going there.
[1:26] Speaker 1: I'm not knowing this now it appears you are correct, sir,
[1:29] Speaker 1: good hell it's a rock huh all right? And with
[1:34] Speaker 1: that as the backdrop tie, well, you just sort of
[1:37] Speaker 1: stole my thunder here. I was shot out of a cannon,
[1:40] Speaker 1: ready to talk about a new year, a new semi final,
[1:43] Speaker 1: a new set of games here, but now I feel
[1:45] Speaker 1: really old, older than before. Welcome back it, follow it,
[1:48] Speaker 1: subscribe if that wasn't too much cold water for all
[1:52] Speaker 1: y'all out there in the verballer hood. Otherwise, please do
[1:55] Speaker 1: check us out at verbowlers dot com. By the way,
[1:58] Speaker 1: as some are listening to this, as some are watching this,
[2:02] Speaker 1: we are getting very close to crossing the thirty thousand subcount.
[2:07] Speaker 1: Oh out on YouTube dot com slash at solid Verbo.
[2:11] Speaker 1: We saw a nice little uptick through the playoffs and
[2:13] Speaker 1: we were working working our butts off here to try
[2:16] Speaker 1: and get stuff out as quick as we could. So
[2:18] Speaker 1: if you have yet to do so, if you want
[2:20] Speaker 1: to help support the team, please do hit the sub
[2:22] Speaker 1: button out on the old YouTube and help us cross
[2:26] Speaker 1: that next threshold. I don't know where it goes from here,
[2:28] Speaker 1: but if we get the thirty, sky's the limit. Man,
[2:31] Speaker 1: Sky's the limit.
[2:32] Speaker 2: Ty, if you really are feeling your age, you can
[2:34] Speaker 2: always just do what Kurt Signetti does and brush a
[2:36] Speaker 2: little bit of that less miles formula right in there.
[2:40] Speaker 2: Nobody on the case of the line.
[2:42] Speaker 1: Sir, you were doing a little bit of investigative work.
[2:44] Speaker 2: I think Kurt Signetti is the best, truly, I do
[2:47] Speaker 2: think he's the best. But I remember seeing older pictures
[2:49] Speaker 2: of him and thinking like, oh, he kind of looked
[2:52] Speaker 2: like an elder statesman when he was a head coach
[2:54] Speaker 2: at some previous stops, and now he's dark.
[3:00] Speaker 1: Dark. I mean, he's got more money than Davy Crockett.
[3:04] Speaker 1: You could do it every way, is here, right?
[3:07] Speaker 2: I listen, I have nothing but good things to say
[3:09] Speaker 2: abou Kurt Signetti. So far be it for me to
[3:11] Speaker 2: criticize anybody's the decisions with regard to their hair coloring.
[3:15] Speaker 2: But that is an option for you. I'm just putting
[3:17] Speaker 2: it in the context.
[3:17] Speaker 1: There for me. Thank you for you. If you're feeling old, Yeah, great,
[3:22] Speaker 1: that's it. Well we're off to a hot start here.
[3:24] Speaker 1: In twenty twenty six. Welcome one and all. We've got
[3:27] Speaker 1: two games to preview on today's episode. We're gonna go
[3:31] Speaker 1: through both CFP semifinal games. We are gonna talk about
[3:35] Speaker 1: the college football transfer portal madness here in the next
[3:40] Speaker 1: day or so, we're gonna split that off into its
[3:43] Speaker 1: own episode. Bring on an honored and distinguished guest to
[3:47] Speaker 1: help us give you the lay of the land. Talk
[3:49] Speaker 1: through quarterback markets, talk through the calendar. There's a whole
[3:55] Speaker 1: bunch of stuff that needs to be unpacked with respect
[3:58] Speaker 1: to the college football transfer portals. We promise you we
[4:01] Speaker 1: will do that in very very short order. But we
[4:03] Speaker 1: thought we would give both of these games where do
[4:07] Speaker 1: and dedicate this episode solely to the College Football Playoff
[4:10] Speaker 1: semi finals. That still track for you? You cool with that?
[4:14] Speaker 1: It does.
[4:14] Speaker 2: I'm sorry if I get distracted, but I'm thinking about, like,
[4:17] Speaker 2: what kind of rug Brendan Sorosby is going to put
[4:19] Speaker 2: in his Gulf Stream?
[4:21] Speaker 1: Right? Is it go more plush? With it?
[4:23] Speaker 2: Just more classic? I see how going for Brendan Soorsby.
[4:27] Speaker 2: That's the reported number. I have no idea if that's
[4:30] Speaker 2: you know, he leads them to a playoff Berth if
[4:33] Speaker 2: he is, you know, if there's nuggets in that deal,
[4:36] Speaker 2: that that trigger if he is accomplishing things. But that
[4:40] Speaker 2: that five million dollar number is what's being thrown around.
[4:43] Speaker 2: But yes, I'm sure it's it's tied to some incentives,
[4:46] Speaker 2: maybe making all Big twelve first team or Heisman finalists.
[4:49] Speaker 2: Maybe that's it's upwards of it could be worth as
[4:52] Speaker 2: much as five million dollars into that. I say, good
[4:56] Speaker 2: for him, man, get it. Okay, I don't know who
[4:59] Speaker 2: are we man, five million dollars. I want to get
[5:01] Speaker 2: that from the NFL.
[5:02] Speaker 1: So no, Well, on that note, Dan, let's do it, Dan,
[5:08] Speaker 1: and time to help any of the week. Enough of
[5:12] Speaker 1: this pussy footing around. Let's stop football, baby, Okay, I'm ready.
[5:18] Speaker 1: We got two matchups here. We got one in the
[5:20] Speaker 1: Verbo Fiesta Bowl on Thursday. We've got a second in
[5:24] Speaker 1: the Chick fil A Peach Bowl on Friday. This, by
[5:28] Speaker 1: the way, is a nice little bookend if you're a
[5:31] Speaker 1: football fan, because we've got these two games to lead
[5:34] Speaker 1: into the Super wild Card weekend, which is going to
[5:37] Speaker 1: span Saturday, Sunday and Monday. Of course, not an NFL show,
[5:41] Speaker 1: but we are football fans here. If you're listening to
[5:44] Speaker 1: this in some sense of the word. And so yeah,
[5:47] Speaker 1: off to a nice little start here with these two matchups,
[5:50] Speaker 1: which both I think are super intriguing for different reasons.
[5:54] Speaker 1: We've got one game on Friday, which is a rematch
[5:57] Speaker 1: of the close game that we saw back in October
[5:59] Speaker 1: up autsin Stadium, and then we've got the other on Thursday,
[6:03] Speaker 1: which is, for my money, a clash of two super
[6:06] Speaker 1: athletic teams that play different styles, that have their own
[6:10] Speaker 1: storylines surrounding the matchup. So bigger picture, I'm excited about
[6:16] Speaker 1: these two matchups. Aren't any of these two that I
[6:18] Speaker 1: look at and I say, I give it the old handwave,
[6:20] Speaker 1: like I can. I can put that one off if ever,
[6:23] Speaker 1: I could give them the fact that we do this
[6:25] Speaker 1: full time. But both of these matchups I think will
[6:28] Speaker 1: command our full attention.
[6:30] Speaker 2: Agree and a wild for some Obviously, there has been
[6:34] Speaker 2: some attention paid to the fact that each of these
[6:36] Speaker 2: head coaches has ties to Nick Saban, right Mario, Chris
[6:39] Speaker 2: Paul's an offensive line coach, be holding defensive coordinator Dan
[6:42] Speaker 2: Lanning was a GA there Kurtz Signeta. I want to say,
[6:45] Speaker 2: a receivers coach maybe a recruiting coordinator early on in
[6:47] Speaker 2: Saban's tenure. But yeah, if we had preseason looked at
[6:52] Speaker 2: this as a final foursome, I think a lot of
[6:55] Speaker 2: people would have scoffed. And you know what, good for
[6:59] Speaker 2: these four weird paths. Obviously teams like Oregon making their
[7:05] Speaker 2: way back to this ish stage. Indiana was a playoff
[7:08] Speaker 2: team last year. This is a first for Miami and
[7:10] Speaker 2: most certainly a first role Miss.
[7:12] Speaker 1: I think we will.
[7:12] Speaker 2: I know we will have our first college football Playoff
[7:16] Speaker 2: new champion this season.
[7:18] Speaker 1: That's right, that's right. And among these four teams, both
[7:22] Speaker 1: Indiana and Oregon are sitting on a big old goose
[7:27] Speaker 1: egg right now in terms of how many national championships
[7:29] Speaker 1: they've won. Ole Miss has won to their name, though
[7:32] Speaker 1: it was a shared national championship and it was way
[7:34] Speaker 1: back when. And obviously Miami's the U. Yes, Miami's won before.
[7:41] Speaker 1: This program's got plenty of mystique attached to it and
[7:44] Speaker 1: has won before, but it's been a minute. So I
[7:47] Speaker 1: think in the case of all four teams, it's obviously
[7:53] Speaker 1: long overdue, and there is a fair amount of excitement
[7:56] Speaker 1: within each fan base to now get to this moment
[7:59] Speaker 1: to be on the doorstep of playing for a national championship.
[8:03] Speaker 2: By the way, I look forward to if Miami were
[8:06] Speaker 2: to win the national Championship, having at some point in
[8:10] Speaker 2: the spring having Manny Navarro on the show and getting
[8:13] Speaker 2: to once again ask him what's it going to take
[8:16] Speaker 2: for Miami to break through and win this acc what's
[8:19] Speaker 2: it going to take? Still not happening? Well, why don't
[8:23] Speaker 2: we start there?
[8:25] Speaker 1: Yeah? Why don't we start on Thursday, January the eighth,
[8:29] Speaker 1: seven thirty pm Eastern time. We've got the Verbo Fiesta Bowl.
[8:34] Speaker 1: Speaking of Nick Saban connections, another one here with the
[8:36] Speaker 1: Verbo commercials. Oh great, Yeah. The number ten seed Miami
[8:40] Speaker 1: Hurricanes at twelve and two, are a three and one
[8:44] Speaker 1: half point favorite against the number six seed Oll Miss Rebels,
[8:49] Speaker 1: who come in at a mark of thirteen and one.
[8:52] Speaker 1: You're over under. Here is fifty two and a half points.
[8:55] Speaker 1: Our friends in the desert expecting perhaps more points than
[8:59] Speaker 1: we have seen in either of the previous two Miami
[9:02] Speaker 1: playoff matchups. Of course, the Canes coming off a dominant
[9:06] Speaker 1: win in the Cotton Bowl. They ate the Ohio State
[9:10] Speaker 1: offensive line alive and on the Old Miss side, they're
[9:14] Speaker 1: coming off that thriller in the Sugar Bowl. Yeah. I
[9:17] Speaker 1: don't really know how else to put it. That was
[9:18] Speaker 1: a hell of a game, thirty nine to thirty four,
[9:21] Speaker 1: manned up knocking off the Georgia Bulldogs, the SEC champions
[9:24] Speaker 1: in a game that Speaking of things that commanded our
[9:27] Speaker 1: full attention, that was right before we hit go. That
[9:30] Speaker 1: was right before we published the episode. I was worried
[9:34] Speaker 1: after a long day of not just watching football but
[9:37] Speaker 1: also being sick, that I wasn't going to have the
[9:40] Speaker 1: appropriate amount of energy to really bring the juice when
[9:44] Speaker 1: we did the recap. But whatever I lacked coming into
[9:47] Speaker 1: that game, I got all of it from that game.
[9:50] Speaker 1: Speaking of giving me life, good lord, what a game.
[9:54] Speaker 2: You know, the word hero is thrown around too much tie,
[9:58] Speaker 2: But for you to summon the energy to in a
[10:00] Speaker 2: chair and talk about football, I know. I don't know,
[10:02] Speaker 2: man Ti, I know people don't appreciate you like they should.
[10:06] Speaker 1: Bigger picture thirty thousand foot view, zoom all the way out,
[10:11] Speaker 1: Dan Miami versus Old Miss What are the key themes
[10:15] Speaker 1: that come to mind for you? Well?
[10:18] Speaker 2: I think the obvious identifiers for both of these teams
[10:21] Speaker 2: are you know, Miami with power and ole Miss with speed,
[10:25] Speaker 2: which makes me think whatever ole Miss can show in
[10:28] Speaker 2: terms of power and whatever Miami can show in terms
[10:31] Speaker 2: of speed is ultimately what decides this. And there are
[10:34] Speaker 2: clear reasons why both of these teams can win. We
[10:39] Speaker 2: saw you know, sort of thrilling games that came down
[10:41] Speaker 2: to it, maybe more so in the ole Miss Georgia
[10:44] Speaker 2: back and forth, and Miami just sort of closed out
[10:46] Speaker 2: Ohio State super impressively. But they're both tested with close games,
[10:52] Speaker 2: they're both you know, the reasons are sort of simple
[10:55] Speaker 2: for each of these teams. Right, that ole Miss can
[10:58] Speaker 2: score on I wrote down I won't use language here,
[11:01] Speaker 2: but like they can score an F and anyone. Right,
[11:04] Speaker 2: they go to Oklahoma and score you know, mid thirties,
[11:07] Speaker 2: and that's sort of been their thing. I guess the
[11:10] Speaker 2: only team that's really slowed them down is Washington State,
[11:12] Speaker 2: but like, come on, it's WWAZU.
[11:14] Speaker 1: They're going to do that to everybody.
[11:17] Speaker 2: It was like twenty four to twenty one, right, that
[11:18] Speaker 2: was just like a down off week, a sleepwalking week
[11:21] Speaker 2: for ole Miss, and Miami has shown that it can
[11:24] Speaker 2: shut down pretty much anyone right when they're fully operational
[11:28] Speaker 2: and focused and locked in. What they did to Ohio
[11:31] Speaker 2: State by and large was crazy impressive. Now, Jeremiah Smith
[11:35] Speaker 2: got loose, and there were times where Ohio State was
[11:37] Speaker 2: able to move the ball, but to hold that team
[11:39] Speaker 2: down like they did, you have your classic, you know,
[11:43] Speaker 2: offense against defense, and then you flip it to see,
[11:46] Speaker 2: you know, who's able to do the other thing well
[11:49] Speaker 2: enough to play a complete game. And so what I
[11:51] Speaker 2: wrote down here for Miami in terms of why they
[11:54] Speaker 2: can win is their defense is absolutely gnarly upfront and
[11:58] Speaker 2: if that's your starting point, you're in an incredible place.
[12:02] Speaker 2: They don't try to play outside of themselves on offense.
[12:05] Speaker 2: We saw that against Ohio State. They weren't going taking
[12:07] Speaker 2: a ton of shots. They barely took any shots basically
[12:10] Speaker 2: right Ohio State was playing off them, So they just
[12:12] Speaker 2: took what was there and converted their down.
[12:13] Speaker 1: CJ.
[12:14] Speaker 2: Daniels was clutching that game, and I think Miami is
[12:17] Speaker 2: playing in a confident way right after going to College
[12:20] Speaker 2: Station and beating Texas A and M in a low
[12:22] Speaker 2: scoring game that they were able to close out late,
[12:24] Speaker 2: and then beating Ohio State the way that they did,
[12:26] Speaker 2: closing that game out late and when Miami is playing
[12:30] Speaker 2: with that kind of juice overall, especially on defense, the
[12:34] Speaker 2: path to beating them is pretty narrow. That's how I feel,
[12:40] Speaker 2: especially if they're able to move the ball and sort
[12:42] Speaker 2: of boa constrict the life out of anybody they're playing,
[12:45] Speaker 2: like they did at times against A and m like
[12:47] Speaker 2: they certainly did at times in closing out that game
[12:49] Speaker 2: against Ohio State. This is a nearly impossible out if
[12:53] Speaker 2: Miami is up to the task. Is that all track?
[12:57] Speaker 1: I think so. I mean what concerns me a little bit,
[13:01] Speaker 1: And I think you're right to bring up the Miami defense.
[13:03] Speaker 1: To Miami defense has been arguably one of the top
[13:06] Speaker 1: three stories so far of this college football playoff, outside
[13:10] Speaker 1: of what Trinidad Chambliss has done, outside of what Indiana
[13:13] Speaker 1: did to Alabama and the shockwaves from that. But I
[13:18] Speaker 1: think if you're all miss in order to combat this
[13:21] Speaker 1: really aggressive front, you gotta try and wear them down.
[13:26] Speaker 1: And I look at what happened in the previous game
[13:30] Speaker 1: between Ohio State and Miami and the Cotton Bowl, and
[13:37] Speaker 1: Ohio State played so slow. They played so slow.
[13:42] Speaker 2: So you're saying wear them down is in like not
[13:44] Speaker 2: necessarily pound them into the ground. But tire them out,
[13:47] Speaker 2: run them into.
[13:47] Speaker 1: The ground, try to like no huddle, nasking them up,
[13:51] Speaker 1: yeah type stuff, mess with alignment. I think you got
[13:55] Speaker 1: to get away from the snails pace that we saw
[13:58] Speaker 1: Ohio State play with, and you got to put these
[14:01] Speaker 1: pass rushers in a position where they got to catch
[14:03] Speaker 1: their breath. And so from that standpoint, I think it's
[14:09] Speaker 1: a fundamentally different approach that we're going to see from
[14:11] Speaker 1: Old Miss. On offense. We know that they would prefer
[14:15] Speaker 1: to get into a shootout. Like if you told Pete
[14:18] Speaker 1: Golding after the fact that this game ended up being
[14:20] Speaker 1: a track meet, he would feel pretty good about his
[14:22] Speaker 1: chances of emerging victorious in this one. And I think
[14:25] Speaker 1: that's the style that they would prefer. In order though,
[14:29] Speaker 1: to mitigate to some extent, Ruben Bayn Junior a key
[14:33] Speaker 1: mezador a Miami front that is just a monster. You
[14:38] Speaker 1: got to find some way to just wear those dudes down.
[14:40] Speaker 1: So keep the offense on the field, play at the
[14:44] Speaker 1: most aggressive, fast paced tempo you can without playing outside yourself.
[14:50] Speaker 1: First and foremost, I am looking for Old Miss to
[14:52] Speaker 1: play super quick. I think they gotta do that. That's
[14:56] Speaker 1: the first thing for me. On the bingo card. Right,
[14:58] Speaker 1: Let's see how how quick they play.
[15:01] Speaker 2: Both those dudes, Mezador and Bain. They played a good
[15:04] Speaker 2: amount of snaps against Ohio State and they don't rotate
[15:06] Speaker 2: a ton on the edge, which I guess why would
[15:08] Speaker 2: you if their legs feel good and they're performing like
[15:10] Speaker 2: they did. But you know we're talking about and this
[15:13] Speaker 2: will be a theme for both of these games. We're
[15:14] Speaker 2: talking about teams playing fifteen sixteen games overall. If they
[15:17] Speaker 2: make it to the National Championship game.
[15:19] Speaker 1: Legs matter. Put then on a shirt tie legs do. Mattter,
[15:22] Speaker 1: Speaking of shirts, I got my solid verbal shirt on
[15:24] Speaker 1: here in addition to the hat, I'm a company man.
[15:27] Speaker 1: The other thing that I would add, since we're talking
[15:29] Speaker 1: about tempo, my key for ole miss here is something
[15:32] Speaker 1: I'm calling Trinidad and tempo Bago. You better deliver time.
[15:38] Speaker 1: It doesn't really work.
[15:39] Speaker 2: Now hold on, I'm giving you an opportunity to land
[15:42] Speaker 2: the plane here go.
[15:44] Speaker 1: I've already talked about the tempo side of it, yeah,
[15:47] Speaker 1: but the Trinidad side of it, I think is obviously
[15:50] Speaker 1: the one people are going to fix. In a little
[15:51] Speaker 1: bit more on a lot of what killed Georgia was
[15:56] Speaker 1: Trinidad Shambles's ability to break, contain and improvise. And it's
[16:01] Speaker 1: not just the escapability side of it, which he's very
[16:03] Speaker 1: good at, but the dude's a super talented runner, he
[16:08] Speaker 1: really is. So I could see some sets where they
[16:11] Speaker 1: motion Kawan Lacy out, show a five wide look, try
[16:16] Speaker 1: to spread out this Miami defense as best you can,
[16:19] Speaker 1: and then run a quarterback draw right.
[16:21] Speaker 2: And it wasn't his legs against Georgia. I mean, it
[16:24] Speaker 2: was his legs in improvising and his athleticism, but he
[16:26] Speaker 2: wasn't running the ball down the field or anything against Georgia.
[16:30] Speaker 1: Yeah. No, I mean we saw a little bit of it, right,
[16:32] Speaker 1: because that's just who he is as a player. But
[16:34] Speaker 1: ultimately what killed Georgia was the same thing that killed
[16:37] Speaker 1: Georgia the first game, which was Trinidad improvising, getting outside
[16:41] Speaker 1: the pocket, stretching the defense in weird ways and finding
[16:44] Speaker 1: a guy that's open. So I think we're going to
[16:47] Speaker 1: try and if you're Miami, you're going to try and
[16:50] Speaker 1: stop that, obviously, but if you're all miss you want
[16:52] Speaker 1: to see more of it. And if Miami doesn't let
[16:54] Speaker 1: you do it, you got to manufacture a way to
[16:56] Speaker 1: put this guy on the run, or get him outside
[16:58] Speaker 1: the pocket, or give him a chance to create some
[17:00] Speaker 1: of those improvisational moments. I am really excited to see
[17:05] Speaker 1: what they can do here. I think the playmaking of
[17:07] Speaker 1: Trinidad Chambless is ultimately what you're leaning on if you're
[17:11] Speaker 1: Old Miss, if you think you can win this game.
[17:13] Speaker 1: I don't think it's because you believe you're going to
[17:15] Speaker 1: be able to stop Miami when Miami has the football.
[17:19] Speaker 1: I don't think it's because you believe that you can
[17:22] Speaker 1: get into any kind of slugfest and win. I think
[17:24] Speaker 1: it is relying on the arm and on the legs
[17:27] Speaker 1: of right now your best offensive weapon, which is Trinidad Chambless.
[17:31] Speaker 1: So whatever you can do to put your best playmaker
[17:35] Speaker 1: in a position to make those plays, that is the
[17:38] Speaker 1: key for Ole Miss. And you might be listening to
[17:40] Speaker 1: this and saying, well, duh, obviously, and sometimes the simplest
[17:46] Speaker 1: answer is the best dancer. That is what they need
[17:50] Speaker 1: to do if they want to win this game. Trinidad
[17:52] Speaker 1: and Tempobago.
[17:55] Speaker 2: Trinidad and Old Trego. I was like trying to Wallace,
[18:00] Speaker 2: I don't know we'll get there. You made an attempt
[18:03] Speaker 2: and I can't hate that you took a swing. Look,
[18:05] Speaker 2: I think what ole Miss has is they've got nothing
[18:10] Speaker 2: to lose here. Right, There are expectations the second Mario
[18:13] Speaker 2: Christo Baul steps on campus that he gets this team
[18:15] Speaker 2: back to here. Lane Kiffin had those expectations last season
[18:19] Speaker 2: with how active they were in the portal and Jackson
[18:21] Speaker 2: Dart returning. This is borrowed time for ole Miss right now. Right,
[18:25] Speaker 2: they lose their head coach and it doesn't matter. They
[18:28] Speaker 2: actually beat a team that they lost to with the
[18:31] Speaker 2: head coach. Right, there's questions about like are all their
[18:34] Speaker 2: assistants going to be in the stadium for this game.
[18:39] Speaker 1: That by the way, we're recording this Monday afternoon.
[18:41] Speaker 2: Yeah, we don't know the full answer. So this is
[18:43] Speaker 2: this is as of Monday mid day. There is a
[18:46] Speaker 2: question about who is and won't be there or won't
[18:49] Speaker 2: be game planning because they're at LSU with portal stuff
[18:52] Speaker 2: going on. And that's true for a lot of these
[18:54] Speaker 2: programs and some of these programs that are playing here,
[18:58] Speaker 2: but they're playing and confidently right they are able to
[19:03] Speaker 2: get over the Georgia thing. They are now established as
[19:07] Speaker 2: the twenty twenty five sec Alpha, right, last man's standing
[19:12] Speaker 2: is all Miss.
[19:13] Speaker 1: Yeah.
[19:16] Speaker 2: The concern I have is not that I think it's
[19:20] Speaker 2: going to be a letdown, because you just you're a
[19:23] Speaker 2: better team than that being let down if you're able
[19:26] Speaker 2: to beat Georgia in New Orleans. But man, that had
[19:31] Speaker 2: to have been an emotional roller coaster, and the come
[19:34] Speaker 2: down from that I think is very real. Right, beating
[19:37] Speaker 2: Georgia in the Sugar Bowl, given the circumstances with Lane Kiffin,
[19:42] Speaker 2: given the changes behind the scenes, guys leaving, like, it's
[19:46] Speaker 2: just it's a lot to deal with this far into
[19:50] Speaker 2: a season.
[19:51] Speaker 1: Oh my god.
[19:51] Speaker 2: So I just got more of a sense and this
[19:55] Speaker 2: is my own thing. I can't attribute this to anything specific.
[19:58] Speaker 2: That Miami beat Ohio State and they sort of took
[20:01] Speaker 2: the Mario cristaball like awesome, let's keep rolling right That
[20:05] Speaker 2: there was just like that was more of a business
[20:08] Speaker 2: move and Ole Miss is just floating on air because
[20:13] Speaker 2: this was never expected given the circumstances that you know,
[20:17] Speaker 2: unfurled at the end.
[20:18] Speaker 1: Of the year.
[20:20] Speaker 2: So like, I think Miami might be more locked into
[20:24] Speaker 2: the moment, and that for me, that is the edge
[20:29] Speaker 2: in this one.
[20:31] Speaker 1: I do worry a little bit though that ole miss
[20:36] Speaker 1: is playing to your point with reckless abandon given circumstances
[20:41] Speaker 1: and you know, house money, whatever you want to say.
[20:45] Speaker 1: I do worry that there's a little bit of Arsity
[20:47] Speaker 1: blues going on here or like continue they're going to
[20:51] Speaker 1: play this one to f over lane Kiffen like you
[20:54] Speaker 1: left us.
[20:55] Speaker 2: Well, sure, and that's how they have been playing.
[20:57] Speaker 1: But yeah, I worry about weird psychological stuff like that
[21:01] Speaker 1: that of course has no basis in any mathematics, right,
[21:05] Speaker 1: But I just worry from like a mentality standpoint that
[21:09] Speaker 1: they're like, if this guy, we're gonna win with Pete Golding,
[21:13] Speaker 1: we're gonna win with whatever pool of assistance wants to
[21:16] Speaker 1: stay here and be part of this run. And that's
[21:19] Speaker 1: not really the type of thing that you can account
[21:21] Speaker 1: for when we're looking at stats and schemes or anything
[21:24] Speaker 1: like that. I mean, they clearly came into that game
[21:27] Speaker 1: against Georgia with an ax to grind, and the way
[21:30] Speaker 1: they closed that thing out was almost the complete opposite
[21:33] Speaker 1: of the way they closed out the first one when
[21:35] Speaker 1: they played Georgia earlier in the year. So there is
[21:39] Speaker 1: part of me that wonder is, like, h how much
[21:43] Speaker 1: how much of that is actually going to come into
[21:45] Speaker 1: account here when these teams quit you on Thursday night.
[21:48] Speaker 2: You can't block Reuben Bain with good vibes, I know,
[21:52] Speaker 2: I'm well, that's the thing.
[21:53] Speaker 1: You can try to tire them out, but yeah, the
[21:56] Speaker 1: vibes aren't gonna block them and stop them from sacking
[21:58] Speaker 1: your quarterback.
[21:59] Speaker 2: Right, and you know a Keemes or any of these
[22:02] Speaker 2: guys that they're just relentless. Right if they're able to
[22:06] Speaker 2: force those third and lungs, if they're able to force
[22:11] Speaker 2: Trinidad Chambliss into improvising and not being able to get
[22:15] Speaker 2: the corner, or that Miami's secondary is in a place
[22:20] Speaker 2: or is better coach than where Georgia's was last week,
[22:24] Speaker 2: it's it could.
[22:25] Speaker 1: Be a long day.
[22:26] Speaker 2: I have basically the same stuff that like, you know,
[22:28] Speaker 2: the case for ole Miss is they have the more
[22:30] Speaker 2: dynamic quarterback and offensive weapons plural. I think Malachai Toni
[22:34] Speaker 2: is still that guy. But you know they protect Trinidad Chambliss.
[22:37] Speaker 2: He's able to protect himself with his athletic gifts and
[22:41] Speaker 2: when they have the ball, right, I think your tempo
[22:43] Speaker 2: thing is on the money. I think it's be creative
[22:46] Speaker 2: in the run game, because you're not going to be
[22:47] Speaker 2: able to be super direct with going straight at this
[22:50] Speaker 2: Miami defense. And then I think even a bigger deal
[22:54] Speaker 2: is this defense is good for ole Miss. It's not excellent,
[22:59] Speaker 2: it's good, not everything it could be, I suppose, and
[23:03] Speaker 2: not everything it perhaps was last season. So if you
[23:07] Speaker 2: can come up with if you can concoct a formula
[23:11] Speaker 2: to have Carson Beck see those ghosts, right, and I
[23:15] Speaker 2: don't think they're going to have him responsible for going
[23:18] Speaker 2: through a ton of progressions and going five wide and
[23:20] Speaker 2: making tough like I think they're going to take what's
[23:23] Speaker 2: given to them, and I think they're going to try
[23:24] Speaker 2: to pound the ball because ole Miss doesn't stop the
[23:27] Speaker 2: run consistently, and go from there and convert red zone
[23:31] Speaker 2: appearances and stop ole Miss in the red zone to
[23:34] Speaker 2: the best of their ability, and try to win this
[23:36] Speaker 2: game and shorten this game to the best of their ability.
[23:40] Speaker 2: I think you know, everything holds true for ole Miss
[23:43] Speaker 2: on offense, where it's just like if Trinidad Chambliss is
[23:45] Speaker 2: able to convert those improvised plays into backbreaking third downs.
[23:50] Speaker 2: That's sort of the theme of both of these games,
[23:51] Speaker 2: by the way, like who's able to convert and stop
[23:54] Speaker 2: backbreaking third down opportunities. Yeah, I think it's just going
[23:57] Speaker 2: to be enormous here. But I give the edge to Miami.
[24:02] Speaker 2: I give the edge to a defense in these spots. Again,
[24:04] Speaker 2: I don't know what the legs are going to be like,
[24:06] Speaker 2: and I don't know how well ole Miss is going
[24:07] Speaker 2: to stress those Miami legs. But I think there's I
[24:11] Speaker 2: think Miami is playing with a certain amount of confidence.
[24:14] Speaker 2: And I just come back to in these games, eventually
[24:20] Speaker 2: the large humans decide it, and I just come back
[24:24] Speaker 2: to Miami having the better large humans to me, and
[24:28] Speaker 2: it will look it will take a little bit of
[24:32] Speaker 2: pixie dust for ole Miss to me right. If it's
[24:34] Speaker 2: a pick six said, it's a scoop and score, whether
[24:36] Speaker 2: it's three short fields, whether it's the Malachai Tony fumble,
[24:40] Speaker 2: luck not, you know, continuing as it. You know, he
[24:43] Speaker 2: dropped a couple balls against Ohio State, but he dropped
[24:45] Speaker 2: it right to himself that you know, maybe the universe
[24:47] Speaker 2: evens things out a little bit turnover wise. I just
[24:52] Speaker 2: it is a certain point thing for me with Miami
[24:55] Speaker 2: and eventually squeezing the life when they are fully operated.
[25:00] Speaker 2: A lot of the teams that they play, and I'm going.
[25:02] Speaker 1: To go with that. Here, what's your final score?
[25:05] Speaker 2: Seventy seven, seventy two? No, I wrote down twenty three
[25:09] Speaker 2: to twenty one.
[25:10] Speaker 1: Okay, so lower scoring, but you're taking points. You're taking
[25:13] Speaker 1: points notably, what is it? Four to four and a half?
[25:16] Speaker 2: Three and a half, three and a half. Okay, Yes,
[25:18] Speaker 2: I am taking points. I do think it'll be back
[25:21] Speaker 2: and forth, but I'm going large human here.
[25:25] Speaker 1: Yeah. I mean what I'm worried about on the Miami
[25:27] Speaker 1: side totally separate from tempo, which I do think we'll
[25:31] Speaker 1: see from ole Miss. Yeah.
[25:33] Speaker 2: By the way, fourteen offensive points against Ohio State, that's right,
[25:37] Speaker 2: should be noted.
[25:38] Speaker 1: Yeah, they got to figure out a way to keep
[25:40] Speaker 1: Trinidad Chambliss in the pocket. Yes, and part of the
[25:44] Speaker 1: reason why I liked ole Miss last week, though I
[25:47] Speaker 1: didn't predict them to win out right like you did,
[25:49] Speaker 1: but we both took points at a minimum. The first
[25:52] Speaker 1: time he played against Georgia, that's again, that's what killed him.
[25:55] Speaker 1: His ability to get outside the pocket and make plays
[25:57] Speaker 1: and improvise just pulled the defense apart. And he's very
[26:00] Speaker 1: good at that. So saw it again. My hunch is
[26:04] Speaker 1: that ole Miss would just, you know, love to keep
[26:07] Speaker 1: doing that. So with these edge guys screaming off the
[26:13] Speaker 1: edge trying to sack them, there is obviously a risk
[26:16] Speaker 1: that he's going to break contain and he's going to
[26:18] Speaker 1: do the same thing. They got to figure out a
[26:20] Speaker 1: way to not let him do that, because if he does,
[26:22] Speaker 1: that could be an issue. And to me, that's I
[26:25] Speaker 1: think what I'm going to be watching for the most
[26:27] Speaker 1: outside of the tempo is can they keep this guy
[26:29] Speaker 1: from just getting outside that little cocoon and killing him? Yep,
[26:35] Speaker 1: But totally separate from that, one of the other ways
[26:40] Speaker 1: that you could play defense against a team that would
[26:42] Speaker 1: love to get into a track meet is to slow
[26:44] Speaker 1: the game down. Slow it down, almost the opposite of
[26:48] Speaker 1: what I think ole Miss is going to try to
[26:49] Speaker 1: do in Miami. Miami should just do kind of what
[26:51] Speaker 1: Ohio State tried to do to them, and I think
[26:55] Speaker 1: they do that by getting Mark Fletcher going. You mentioned it.
[26:57] Speaker 1: Ole Miss does not have a spectacular run defense by
[27:00] Speaker 1: any stretch. Thus far, Mark Fletcher's come up huge in
[27:04] Speaker 1: their first two playoff games. This should be another opportunity
[27:07] Speaker 1: for him to eat on the ground. Charmar laite.
[27:09] Speaker 2: Yeah.
[27:10] Speaker 1: So if they can get as an extension of that
[27:16] Speaker 1: all missed and maybe over commit a little bit, try
[27:19] Speaker 1: to stop them on the ground, maybe that opens up
[27:21] Speaker 1: some opportunities over the top. By the way, this is
[27:24] Speaker 1: the kind of matchup that I think is very ripe
[27:27] Speaker 1: for a flea flicker or a half back pass or
[27:29] Speaker 1: something like that, if you can get the ground game established.
[27:32] Speaker 1: On the Miami side of things, I'm not an offensive coordinator.
[27:36] Speaker 1: I just play one on the podcast, but I think
[27:39] Speaker 1: that's something that we could see them do. We know
[27:41] Speaker 1: that they've got a few of those in the bag.
[27:42] Speaker 1: Of course, for me, it's really a question of do
[27:46] Speaker 1: you trust the quarterback with the hot hand or do
[27:49] Speaker 1: you trust the defense with the large humans. That feels
[27:52] Speaker 1: like it is playing with a ton of momentum right now. Yep,
[27:55] Speaker 1: and I am going to take the defense. Yeah.
[27:57] Speaker 2: By the way, Georgia has terrifically large humans as well,
[28:01] Speaker 2: and it ultimately didn't pay off.
[28:03] Speaker 1: It didn't, so it didn't. I think Miami controls the lines.
[28:10] Speaker 1: I like the fact that they've got a veteran quarterback
[28:12] Speaker 1: who has not been playing outside of himself at all. Right.
[28:17] Speaker 1: I don't think this is a rock fight, nor do
[28:19] Speaker 1: I think it's a shootout. I think it's twenty seven
[28:22] Speaker 1: to twenty four in Miami. I guess that means I've
[28:24] Speaker 1: got Old Miss covering. I think it's the same score
[28:27] Speaker 1: that Miami beat notre named by back in Week one. Ooh,
[28:31] Speaker 1: some poetry, A little bit of poetry there the other
[28:34] Speaker 1: thing that I would add here. And I thought about
[28:36] Speaker 1: this a lot, and I didn't really know the best
[28:38] Speaker 1: way to articulate it. But if you watch the game,
[28:42] Speaker 1: or if you go back and watch the Old Miss
[28:44] Speaker 1: game against Georgia, despite the fact that Trinidad Chambuss was amazing,
[28:49] Speaker 1: an Old Miss in their offense came on like you know,
[28:52] Speaker 1: a freight train in the second half. There were plenty
[28:55] Speaker 1: of moments in that game that were frustrating as hell
[28:59] Speaker 1: on the Old Miss, and I spoke to it when
[29:01] Speaker 1: we did the recap, but the time management at the
[29:04] Speaker 1: end of the first half, there were drops, there were
[29:07] Speaker 1: Miss tackles. There were plenty of moments in that one
[29:10] Speaker 1: for Old Miss. Despite the fact that they want and
[29:12] Speaker 1: everybody's high on high on Pete Golding and the Rebels
[29:16] Speaker 1: right now, there are plenty of moments in that game
[29:19] Speaker 1: where it was like, if they want to win this thing,
[29:21] Speaker 1: they got to shore this up. And they got away
[29:25] Speaker 1: with it against Georgia because the offense and Trinidad Chambliss
[29:28] Speaker 1: were incredible, But I don't know if you get away
[29:31] Speaker 1: with it against the defense like Miami's. So I'm on
[29:34] Speaker 1: the Canes here, I'm on the Canes. I guess, not
[29:36] Speaker 1: the cover, but to win outright in what should be
[29:39] Speaker 1: a good game. I'm really excited about this one. I
[29:42] Speaker 1: don't think this is a blowut won't wear or another.
[29:44] Speaker 1: I think if it ends up being a shootout, Old
[29:46] Speaker 1: Miss wins, if it ends up being a rock fight,
[29:48] Speaker 1: Miami wins. I think it's somewhere right in the middle,
[29:51] Speaker 1: and I think it's close. So give me twenty seven
[29:53] Speaker 1: to twenty four, Kaynes.
[29:54] Speaker 2: Look, it's taken what usually thirty plus points to beat
[29:58] Speaker 2: Old Miss No, and so we have this as lower
[30:01] Speaker 2: scoring and these things happen, then the rhythms change for
[30:04] Speaker 2: these games and these teams in these seasons. By the way,
[30:07] Speaker 2: I mean, you alluded to it and we talked about
[30:09] Speaker 2: it a little bit, but I mean, depending on how
[30:12] Speaker 2: classically spiritual you are as a listener of this show,
[30:17] Speaker 2: if you are a believer in college football gods deities
[30:20] Speaker 2: of some kind, Lane Kiffin walking away from an eventual
[30:24] Speaker 2: national champion is the funniest possible outcome if you're going
[30:28] Speaker 2: to believe in that kind of power. The cares is
[30:32] Speaker 2: Lane Kiffin saying he wants to coach through the national championship,
[30:37] Speaker 2: but developing over years upon years and hitting the portal
[30:42] Speaker 2: and hiring coaches and hitting the recruiting trail whatever to
[30:47] Speaker 2: help build this team and then take the LSU job
[30:51] Speaker 2: right before they win a national championship and he's not
[30:54] Speaker 2: a part of the playoff journey is the funniest possible
[30:58] Speaker 2: spiritual outcome to all of this.
[31:00] Speaker 1: I would agree with that completely.
[31:01] Speaker 2: Yeah, So, if you are a true believer in the
[31:04] Speaker 2: college football gods, there is only one pick.
[31:06] Speaker 1: If you have no dog in this fight, you've got
[31:09] Speaker 1: any bets, you know, got any picks, you're just sort
[31:12] Speaker 1: of a passive observer. If you're rooting for the funniest
[31:14] Speaker 1: possible outcome, you're I agree, that's probably it.
[31:17] Speaker 2: Blaine Kiffin's sweating through these games like he's in hot
[31:20] Speaker 2: yoga tie. By the way, if you're not watching on
[31:23] Speaker 2: YouTube dot com, Slash solid verbal. He is wearing a
[31:26] Speaker 2: beautifully appointed pewter shirt. It's a light blue shirt that
[31:31] Speaker 2: you're wearing right now. It looks not I know you
[31:33] Speaker 2: have like trouble with shades and colors with your with
[31:36] Speaker 2: your corneas. But that's an old miss ish blue shirt
[31:40] Speaker 2: you're wearing right now.
[31:41] Speaker 1: It is are UCLA. I don't know. Go to soliverble
[31:45] Speaker 1: dot com slash store. Yeah, there it is.
[31:48] Speaker 2: So we agree.
[31:50] Speaker 1: We do agree. We do agree. Let's go to the
[31:53] Speaker 1: second game. I think we're good.
[31:55] Speaker 2: I think we're good.
[31:56] Speaker 1: What plenty tie? Are you nervous about this game? Of course? Orgon,
[32:02] Speaker 1: What kind of fan would I be if I weren't nervous,
[32:04] Speaker 1: I'd be nervous as hell about this game? Yeah you. Friday,
[32:08] Speaker 1: January the ninth, seven thirty pm Eastern Time, the Chick
[32:11] Speaker 1: fil A Peach Bowl down in Atlanta, Mercedes Benz Stadium.
[32:16] Speaker 1: This is gonna be your Oregon Ducks, the number five
[32:18] Speaker 1: seed at thirteen and one, scoring off against the number
[32:22] Speaker 1: one Indiana huhu hoosiers. Indiana comes in as a four
[32:26] Speaker 1: point favorite. They are fourteen and zero on the year. Oregon,
[32:31] Speaker 1: of course, off of that, twenty three to zip shutout
[32:34] Speaker 1: of Texas Tech and the Orange Bowl Indiana off of
[32:38] Speaker 1: just a total dismantling of Alabama thirty eight to three
[32:43] Speaker 1: in the Rose Bowl. Dan, Yes, I took some heat
[32:48] Speaker 1: from your orgon people about the way that I characterized
[32:50] Speaker 1: the organ win, that you disrespected the Ducks. I took
[32:54] Speaker 1: some heat. Yeah, I did. That's okay.
[32:57] Speaker 2: That means you're doing something right, Ty, you're getting people
[32:59] Speaker 2: riled up trying to do that.
[33:00] Speaker 1: You're not trying, But I'm trying to be honest. I
[33:04] Speaker 1: know I would be disingenuous if I weren't. Yeah, And
[33:07] Speaker 1: so I saw a lot of like, geez, ty, give
[33:10] Speaker 1: us some credit for the shutout, and I thought I did.
[33:14] Speaker 1: I thought I did. It was a very good defensive
[33:17] Speaker 1: showing against Excuse me, I'm still got this little tickle here.
[33:23] Speaker 1: An offense that was ripe for exposure. Excuse me, I
[33:27] Speaker 1: got this. I think I need some water here. That's
[33:30] Speaker 1: I think a little bit rich. You don't think they
[33:35] Speaker 1: were ripe for exposure.
[33:38] Speaker 2: I when looking at the quarter final quarterbacks, I was
[33:40] Speaker 2: not in on Baron Morton as one who was among
[33:43] Speaker 2: the best. But this was still an offense that performed
[33:46] Speaker 2: this season did they not?
[33:48] Speaker 1: They did?
[33:49] Speaker 2: Were they one of the most explosive? Did they win
[33:51] Speaker 2: all of their games by thirty ish?
[33:53] Speaker 1: They did? Yeah. I think in terms of the cover
[33:56] Speaker 1: points per game, they were like covering by fourteen points
[34:01] Speaker 1: over the point spread or something like that. They've been
[34:04] Speaker 1: truly to the point of good teams win, great teams
[34:07] Speaker 1: cover by that measure. Texas Tech has been a great team.
[34:11] Speaker 2: Yes, I don't think like ripe for exposure is necessarily accurate.
[34:16] Speaker 2: They excuse me, right, yeah, right, for exposure. That's how
[34:22] Speaker 2: I would say, you're totally right. But I think you're
[34:25] Speaker 2: wrong about which game involved the exposure. I think it
[34:30] Speaker 2: was more Indiana exposing Alabama for who they've been longer,
[34:34] Speaker 2: rather than Texas Tech's beating everybody forty to nine being
[34:39] Speaker 2: a fraud. I'm not saying they're a fraudm not saying
[34:41] Speaker 2: anybody's a fraud, but I just well, you would use
[34:44] Speaker 2: the term exposure. You're exposing Texas Tech.
[34:46] Speaker 1: As what I think Oregon was far and away the
[34:50] Speaker 1: best defense they played, and I think they got exposed
[34:52] Speaker 1: for it. And what it was Baron Morton or their
[34:55] Speaker 1: offensive line or whatever, however you want to characterize what
[35:00] Speaker 1: we saw out of the Texas Tech offense. Yeah, they
[35:04] Speaker 1: got exposed. They had four turnovers, is the worst they
[35:07] Speaker 1: looked all year. And the Oregon offense, to their credit,
[35:11] Speaker 1: was good enough to convert the mistakes into points and
[35:14] Speaker 1: they were able to press their advantage through the air.
[35:16] Speaker 1: Maybe not as much with Kenyan Sadiq as I expected,
[35:19] Speaker 1: but certainly their other tight end Jamar Johnson, was very,
[35:21] Speaker 1: very good in this game. But it's not like they
[35:25] Speaker 1: could run the ball. They made a bunch of dumb
[35:28] Speaker 1: mistakes on offense totally. And forgive me Oregon people, by
[35:32] Speaker 1: the way, I've picked Oregon literally every game this year,
[35:36] Speaker 1: both against the points spread and against the opponent outright.
[35:41] Speaker 1: So you took them against Penn State? I did? Oh, Okay,
[35:44] Speaker 1: I can't remember that, So forgive me for picking them
[35:46] Speaker 1: in every other game. Ok. But coming away from this
[35:50] Speaker 1: one with a bit of a sour taste in my mouth,
[35:53] Speaker 1: I have a bit of a sound taste in my mouth.
[35:54] Speaker 1: Even though they were twenty three to nothing. I think
[35:56] Speaker 1: it was like the first shutout in the twelve team
[35:58] Speaker 1: playoff air or something like like, undeniably a great win
[36:03] Speaker 1: to get to this point. I'm sorry for you.
[36:05] Speaker 2: That guy.
[36:06] Speaker 1: Say hello to the bad guy. But I have a
[36:08] Speaker 1: little bit of a sour taste in my mouth. That's all.
[36:10] Speaker 1: I'll shut up.
[36:11] Speaker 2: There's more you can add to your case. They scored
[36:14] Speaker 2: two touchdowns against Texas Tech. One came on a six
[36:17] Speaker 2: yard run after a strip sack from Mateo Oi on
[36:20] Speaker 2: La and then it was a six yard run from
[36:22] Speaker 2: Jordan Davison, So a six yard offensive touchdown drive there.
[36:26] Speaker 2: And then the second one was in garbage time when
[36:28] Speaker 2: they wanted to be emphatic, right, so they didn't have
[36:32] Speaker 2: a proper touchdown. Well, it was the top defense in
[36:36] Speaker 2: the in the country. People have been saying, I understand
[36:39] Speaker 2: that's true.
[36:39] Speaker 1: What I'm saying, if you want to if you want
[36:41] Speaker 1: to be a national champion, if you want to be
[36:43] Speaker 1: my late Tech salesman, sure of course I'm gonna need
[36:47] Speaker 1: to see a little bit more organ that's all. I'm sorry.
[36:49] Speaker 1: That's all fair. Sorry if I'm that guy, but we
[36:53] Speaker 1: have seen this matchup before. By the way, we have
[36:56] Speaker 1: to be clear.
[36:57] Speaker 2: To be clear for the people who are hating on
[36:59] Speaker 2: Ty Hilton rent once for everybody in the back, even
[37:03] Speaker 2: Whitney Houston will tell you what did the Texas Tech
[37:05] Speaker 2: offense get against Oregon.
[37:07] Speaker 1: Tie?
[37:07] Speaker 2: Me once again, what did this Texas Tech offense get
[37:14] Speaker 2: against this Oregon defense in the biggest game of their
[37:18] Speaker 2: program's history.
[37:19] Speaker 1: Mee, there is okay, So look, this is a rematch
[37:24] Speaker 1: they played back in week seven. Indiana won thirty to twenty.
[37:27] Speaker 1: That was on the road in Aughtsin Stadium. An incredible win,
[37:31] Speaker 1: certainly Indiana at that point in the season announcing that
[37:35] Speaker 1: last year wasn't a fluke and that they were very
[37:37] Speaker 1: much going to be part of the conversation in twenty
[37:39] Speaker 1: twenty five. This was a good football game that was
[37:43] Speaker 1: tied at twenty a piece until the back half of
[37:46] Speaker 1: the fourth quarter. And now we step into this moment
[37:50] Speaker 1: where obviously Indiana won the first time around, but it
[37:54] Speaker 1: is the second time that these teams have played. If
[37:56] Speaker 1: anybody knows how hard it is to beat a team twice,
[37:59] Speaker 1: it's Dan Lanningham. All right, Am I right, Dan Rubinstein,
[38:02] Speaker 1: give me a hell.
[38:03] Speaker 2: Yet Yola couldn't even be Washington once when they lost
[38:08] Speaker 2: the repeat performance in the Pac twelve championship game a
[38:11] Speaker 2: couple of years ago. But yes, you're right, hell, yes.
[38:14] Speaker 1: So I'm curious your biggest takeaways from that first matchup,
[38:20] Speaker 1: because you know, we don't have the benefit of that
[38:23] Speaker 1: with Miami versus Old miss, but we do in this one.
[38:26] Speaker 1: And so I'm curious if you had a chance to
[38:28] Speaker 1: go back and rewatch, even if you didn't. As you
[38:32] Speaker 1: think back to that game back in week seven in Eugene,
[38:36] Speaker 1: what comes to mind.
[38:39] Speaker 2: On which side or just in general the rhythm of
[38:41] Speaker 2: that game that Indiana was better prepared to win more
[38:46] Speaker 2: moments on the road. And you know it was I
[38:49] Speaker 2: think off of a bye at home for Oregon, right,
[38:52] Speaker 2: the guy they had to buy after the Penn State game.
[38:54] Speaker 2: Indian I believe also had a buye before that game.
[38:58] Speaker 2: Indiana came in more prepared to win those moments, whether
[39:01] Speaker 2: it's Fernando Mendoza scrambling when nothing is there on third down,
[39:05] Speaker 2: whether it's Fernando Mendoz in the passing game in the
[39:08] Speaker 2: red zone, whether it was the defense feeling confident, especially upfront,
[39:13] Speaker 2: in confusing Oregon upfront, confusing Dante more in sort of
[39:17] Speaker 2: staying the course after that pick six, which I think
[39:20] Speaker 2: tied it at twenty. All I want to say, lay
[39:23] Speaker 2: the fourth quarter, yep, right, and so they stay the
[39:26] Speaker 2: course they're on the road Attson Stadium, one of the
[39:28] Speaker 2: more explosive atmospheres in the sport is going nuts after
[39:32] Speaker 2: Brandon Finney Junior returns the pick six and they don't waiver, right,
[39:37] Speaker 2: the defense doesn't waiver. They know that they have to
[39:39] Speaker 2: bow up and they absolutely do and they get the
[39:42] Speaker 2: interceptions and they close out the game in a strong way.
[39:45] Speaker 2: And what they showed that day came to pass because
[39:49] Speaker 2: they've look before that they were tested, I want to
[39:52] Speaker 2: say at Iowa, right, so they're fourth quarter tested, and
[39:55] Speaker 2: to do so at Oddson Stadium, given the ceiling of
[39:59] Speaker 2: what Oregon's are especially can be and had been up
[40:02] Speaker 2: to that point for the most part at home, I
[40:06] Speaker 2: thought was crazy impressive. And they showed it the rest
[40:09] Speaker 2: of the season, whether or not they were at home,
[40:13] Speaker 2: whether or not they're on the road, whether or not
[40:14] Speaker 2: they're in the Rosewell, whether or not they're in the
[40:15] Speaker 2: Big Ten Championship game. But I thought that was a
[40:19] Speaker 2: great proof of concept for this year's iteration of Indiana,
[40:24] Speaker 2: and from the organ perspective, I don't know if it's
[40:27] Speaker 2: a letdown moment. They were just beat. I mean they
[40:29] Speaker 2: were beat up front. Dante more looked confused. If you
[40:33] Speaker 2: go back and watch the tape, there were moments where
[40:35] Speaker 2: he hit dudes down the field. I use like a
[40:37] Speaker 2: long touchdown pas to Malak Benson. Moments he missed dudes
[40:39] Speaker 2: down the field. They started running really well against Indiana,
[40:42] Speaker 2: as like when Indiana has been tested this year, it's
[40:45] Speaker 2: because teams have been able to run it. They've been
[40:47] Speaker 2: able to get tough yards early on in drives, whether
[40:50] Speaker 2: it was Iowa, whether it was Penn State, whether it
[40:53] Speaker 2: was Ohio State. Right, Ohio State also has Jeremiah Smith,
[40:56] Speaker 2: which is helpful. Ty, you can write that down. Help
[40:58] Speaker 2: Jeremiah Smith helped full for an offensive cause. But if
[41:02] Speaker 2: you can get going a little bit on the ground
[41:04] Speaker 2: against Indiana and get yourself a bunch of third and manageable,
[41:08] Speaker 2: I mean this is true about anybody, right. If you
[41:09] Speaker 2: can do that against anybody, you're in a good spot.
[41:11] Speaker 2: And Oregan was able to do that at times. Jordan
[41:13] Speaker 2: Davison ran really well against Indiana. Oregon was just in
[41:17] Speaker 2: a fits and starts position. Right when it looks like
[41:20] Speaker 2: they were driving when they converted Keith third down, they've
[41:23] Speaker 2: just come to a full stop. Indiana smothers them in
[41:25] Speaker 2: the red zone something like that. And so that's what
[41:28] Speaker 2: I just there was a tightness to Oregon. There was
[41:31] Speaker 2: a confusion to Oregon that day. And all of it
[41:35] Speaker 2: is because of Indiana. All of it is because of
[41:37] Speaker 2: Indiana's excellence that they proved over the course of this year,
[41:40] Speaker 2: and it's why they're number one in the country. And
[41:42] Speaker 2: so Oregon has improved since then, especially on defense, But
[41:47] Speaker 2: so is Indiana is it? So that's the intriguing thing
[41:51] Speaker 2: to me, is Oregon now has much more tape on Indiana.
[41:54] Speaker 2: Oregon can self diagnose what went wrong in that game,
[41:58] Speaker 2: how they can correct it against anybody else, and how
[42:00] Speaker 2: they can correct it against Indiana. Oregon's a little bit
[42:03] Speaker 2: thinner in certain spots. You know, they're beat up along
[42:06] Speaker 2: the offensive line. They were beat up a lot at receiver.
[42:08] Speaker 2: Indiana's down a couple key defensive linemens since then. I
[42:12] Speaker 2: think it's what Kellen Wyatt and Stephen Day didn't matter.
[42:17] Speaker 2: It didn't matter, It didn't matter last week, but it
[42:19] Speaker 2: hasn't mattered. But I'm just these teams have grown since
[42:24] Speaker 2: that game, and now they play in Atlanta and it
[42:28] Speaker 2: looks like a heavyweight bout. It looks like we could
[42:31] Speaker 2: be watching a national championship caliber fight here.
[42:35] Speaker 1: I went back and rewatched a game this morning. Indiana
[42:39] Speaker 1: held Oregon a three or fourteen on third downs. Yeah,
[42:42] Speaker 1: so in those high leverage moments, to your point, Indiana
[42:46] Speaker 1: was ready. They found a way to get the job
[42:49] Speaker 1: done when it counted the most. Indiana was also in
[42:52] Speaker 1: Dante More's face all day. Yep. I ran the numbers
[42:57] Speaker 1: on it. Forty two drop backs he was under pressure
[43:00] Speaker 1: on twenty of them, ended up getting sacked six times. Also,
[43:04] Speaker 1: of those forty two drop backs, Indiana blitz nineteen times.
[43:08] Speaker 1: They did a much better job getting in his face
[43:11] Speaker 1: than Oregon did up against Fernana Mendozo, and they tried
[43:15] Speaker 1: to get in his face. Much has been made about
[43:19] Speaker 1: Mendoza and his ability to diagnose a defense post snap
[43:23] Speaker 1: or if he does have some pressure. But what I
[43:26] Speaker 1: don't think has been talked about enough is the ability
[43:29] Speaker 1: of Indiana's line to give him a clean pocket. Definitely,
[43:33] Speaker 1: And they spoke to this on the broadcast during the
[43:35] Speaker 1: Rose Bowl. Was it the Indiana line that got the
[43:38] Speaker 1: game ball or the trophy or something like that. Yeah,
[43:40] Speaker 1: there was a Notre Dame player in the playoff and
[43:42] Speaker 1: Pat Cooper pack Cougan was there. Yeah, But when you've
[43:44] Speaker 1: got a line that's this hard to confuse and a
[43:48] Speaker 1: quarterback that is also this hard to confuse, that presents
[43:51] Speaker 1: a real challenge. And so that, to me was one
[43:55] Speaker 1: of the most obvious disparities that we saw in that
[43:58] Speaker 1: first matchup. Indiana's ability to get to Dante, Oregon's ability
[44:02] Speaker 1: to get to Fernando.
[44:03] Speaker 2: Yeah, and his eyes were immediately down at the line.
[44:07] Speaker 2: That's right, that he was immediately worried that there was
[44:09] Speaker 2: pressure coming from somewhere, that his line wasn't picking up
[44:12] Speaker 2: and wasn't going through progressions because they forced that reality
[44:17] Speaker 2: into his heart.
[44:17] Speaker 1: They did the other thing that I'll add if you
[44:21] Speaker 1: go back again and watch that first game. Oregon played
[44:25] Speaker 1: really tight pass coverage did and Fernanda Mendoza tried a
[44:30] Speaker 1: bunch of back shoulder throws. Some of them were perfect,
[44:33] Speaker 1: a few others were perfect enough to draw a pass
[44:36] Speaker 1: interference call, and so as much as anything, and there
[44:40] Speaker 1: were moments in that game that swung the momentum in
[44:43] Speaker 1: favor of Oregon at one point Indiana at another, but
[44:47] Speaker 1: those pass interference calls definitely helped swing the game in
[44:50] Speaker 1: favor of Indiana. By the way, this isn't me saying
[44:52] Speaker 1: they were bogus calls. For what it's worth, the refs
[44:55] Speaker 1: missed another one that they didn't call, so I'm not
[44:58] Speaker 1: saying it was the wrong call. But if we're being
[45:00] Speaker 1: complete about what helped tilt things, they were important moments. Yeah,
[45:04] Speaker 1: in favor of Indiana. Those were important moments. So to
[45:10] Speaker 1: the point on Finny. Finny had the two interceptions against
[45:14] Speaker 1: Texas Tech a week ago. He had the big pick
[45:18] Speaker 1: six in the first matchup between these two teams that,
[45:20] Speaker 1: as you mentioned, tied it at twenty. I think he
[45:23] Speaker 1: will again have a rather large part to play in
[45:26] Speaker 1: this matchup because we know Indiana is going to want
[45:29] Speaker 1: to probably do a lot of the same stuff. In fact,
[45:32] Speaker 1: one of the things that I had trouble with is
[45:34] Speaker 1: I tried to go through here and pick out the
[45:36] Speaker 1: keys to the game. I can come up with a
[45:38] Speaker 1: bunch of them. On the Organ side, what they need
[45:40] Speaker 1: to do different, How maybe they could get a little
[45:42] Speaker 1: bit here, a little bit there. On the Indiana side. Honestly,
[45:47] Speaker 1: it's just do what you've continued to do all here, right, Like,
[45:51] Speaker 1: I don't know if they really need to do a
[45:53] Speaker 1: whole lot different in this matchup in order to win.
[45:57] Speaker 1: I think they just keep doing what they've been doing
[45:59] Speaker 1: all season long, which is, to your point, be very prepared,
[46:03] Speaker 1: to your point, be very disciplined, to your point, lean
[46:07] Speaker 1: on Oregon until Oregon feels like they need to make
[46:10] Speaker 1: a big play, like they need to play outside of
[46:12] Speaker 1: themselves and capitalize on the moment. Indiana's formula here is
[46:17] Speaker 1: not the sexiest, flashiest thing in college football right now.
[46:21] Speaker 1: Indiana's formula is, Hey, we're going to be really efficient
[46:24] Speaker 1: when we have the ball. We trust our guys. We
[46:27] Speaker 1: joked at the top, they're a little bit of an
[46:29] Speaker 1: older team. They are a little bit of an older team,
[46:31] Speaker 1: but so what they know what they're doing. They play
[46:34] Speaker 1: extremely well together, and they're disciplined, and we're going to
[46:37] Speaker 1: force you, whoever is on the other side, to be
[46:41] Speaker 1: your most efficient in order to beat us. We're going
[46:44] Speaker 1: to trust you to make a few mistakes to maybe
[46:47] Speaker 1: help us beat you. This is what Indiana is very,
[46:50] Speaker 1: very good at. There is a sense of inevitability when
[46:53] Speaker 1: you are watching this team, and I almost hate to
[46:57] Speaker 1: conjure up the spirit of like Alabama team's past. But
[47:01] Speaker 1: we felt similarly about those teams when Sabin was coaching,
[47:04] Speaker 1: whereas like you just didn't know how, you didn't know
[47:07] Speaker 1: what moments were going to be in store, but he
[47:10] Speaker 1: just trusted that Alabama was gonna find some way, somehow
[47:15] Speaker 1: to be right in that moment and get the job done. Yeah,
[47:18] Speaker 1: and that's kind of who Indiana is right now.
[47:21] Speaker 2: There's a really I've listened to a couple of interviews
[47:24] Speaker 2: with players, top players who've played Novak Djokovic h all time,
[47:28] Speaker 2: and it was like, you kind of feel like you're
[47:30] Speaker 2: in the match, right There are quotes they were like,
[47:33] Speaker 2: you kind of feel like you're in the match. You're
[47:35] Speaker 2: going back and forth a little bit, and then you.
[47:37] Speaker 1: Just feel the water level keep rising exactly exactly like
[47:41] Speaker 1: if I want to make a golf analogy, Indiana Scotti Scheffler, Yeah,
[47:46] Speaker 1: Scotty Scheffler is great because he.
[47:48] Speaker 2: Doesn't make bogie exactly right.
[47:51] Speaker 1: That is why Scotty Scheffler, he's not the best putter,
[47:53] Speaker 1: he's not the longest hitter on tory. He's great with
[47:55] Speaker 1: his irons, which is this is not a golf show,
[47:58] Speaker 1: but he doesn't make bogee and nor does Indiana. That's
[48:01] Speaker 1: why they find themselves in this position as the number
[48:03] Speaker 1: one team in the country.
[48:04] Speaker 2: Yep, Yeah, this is what I have written down. The
[48:07] Speaker 2: case for Indiana more consistent in most phases. Game plan
[48:10] Speaker 2: and prep were extremely crisp per. Alabama confident that they
[48:13] Speaker 2: can win after beating Oregon and Eugene. The efficiency and
[48:16] Speaker 2: athleticism of Mendoza, high leverage, excellence in the red zone,
[48:20] Speaker 2: third down on both sides, fourth quarter tests the right
[48:23] Speaker 2: file state. Yeah, number one turnover margin team in America.
[48:27] Speaker 2: Their deep ra at receiver with Charlie Becker now as
[48:30] Speaker 2: a major player that he didn't I don't.
[48:31] Speaker 1: Think he had a catch in that first game, but
[48:34] Speaker 1: was definitely a threat against man coverage. Alabama, you know,
[48:40] Speaker 1: obviously had a part to play there.
[48:42] Speaker 2: So I have feasts on teams that self inflict wounds,
[48:46] Speaker 2: which is what you just said. The other thing, by
[48:50] Speaker 2: the way, is Indiana's playing against a team with two
[48:54] Speaker 2: coordinators likely completely fried from working two big jobs each.
[48:59] Speaker 2: That's not nothing tie now, right, we currently have Toash
[49:03] Speaker 2: Lupoy in Berkeley recruiting the portal and will Stein in
[49:08] Speaker 2: Lexington recruiting the portal hosting quarterbacks. Hosting defensive linemen, hosting
[49:13] Speaker 2: running backs, trying to figure out a way to put
[49:15] Speaker 2: together a roster for a team hundreds if not thousands
[49:20] Speaker 2: of miles away from Eugene, Oregon while prepping for Indiana.
[49:24] Speaker 2: A heartbreaking loss the first time around.
[49:26] Speaker 1: Not nothing, So look, I would like to see Oregon
[49:29] Speaker 1: lean a little heavier on the run game. You brought
[49:31] Speaker 1: that up. Same. The rushing stats from the first game
[49:34] Speaker 1: are skewed because of the sack yardage. But when you
[49:37] Speaker 1: pull that out, Oregon's running backs were all averaging well
[49:41] Speaker 1: not all.
[49:42] Speaker 2: Of them, but Jorg Davison was over seven right.
[49:44] Speaker 1: Collectively, Yeah, collectively, they were over five to carry. Yeah,
[49:48] Speaker 1: Indiana doesn't give you big plays. So if you're going
[49:51] Speaker 1: to score consistently, we talk about efficiency, it's going to
[49:55] Speaker 1: be a bunch of eight to ten yard drives. You're
[49:57] Speaker 1: not going to get a whole lot of three to
[49:58] Speaker 1: four plays. Yeah, you know, three to four plays and
[50:01] Speaker 1: you score a touchdown unless you get a turnover or
[50:03] Speaker 1: something like that. But it's a lot of eight to
[50:06] Speaker 1: ten play drives. You got to be efficient, you got
[50:08] Speaker 1: to be balanced if you want to beat him. And
[50:09] Speaker 1: I thought the running game was there the first time around.
[50:11] Speaker 1: I'd like to see them do a little bit more
[50:13] Speaker 1: of that. The other thing that I would add, and
[50:17] Speaker 1: I mentioned this before, Indiana doesn't want to give anyone
[50:21] Speaker 1: time to throw, and they did a really good job
[50:23] Speaker 1: the first time around against Dante. More i'd like for
[50:26] Speaker 1: that Oregon attack to be a little less dependent on
[50:28] Speaker 1: giving Dante time. Now, to his credit and to Oregon's credit,
[50:33] Speaker 1: Dante has been getting rid of the ball quicker as
[50:35] Speaker 1: of late. This is an area where he has improved.
[50:38] Speaker 1: Right as we talk, these teams are these teams, are
[50:41] Speaker 1: these seasons? Are living breathing things or Oregon and Dante
[50:44] Speaker 1: have gotten better at that. And I'd say in general,
[50:47] Speaker 1: I think Oregon still has better athletes across the board,
[50:54] Speaker 1: better depth of athlete than Indiana. They just need to
[50:57] Speaker 1: find a way to get those guys in space, get
[51:00] Speaker 1: more guys in space. More to the point on athletes.
[51:05] Speaker 1: If we flipped to the other side of the ball, please,
[51:08] Speaker 1: Oregon did play super aggressive coverage. They were content to
[51:11] Speaker 1: put their guys on islands because they believe in their
[51:14] Speaker 1: athletic abilities. And so I still believe that's the case
[51:19] Speaker 1: this time around. I think we're going to see a
[51:21] Speaker 1: lot of the same stuff from Oregon. I would like
[51:23] Speaker 1: twenty percent more discipline, like ye try to avoid one
[51:28] Speaker 1: or two of those DPI calls that gave a free
[51:32] Speaker 1: first down to Fernando Mendozo.
[51:33] Speaker 2: We we have not seen refs with an itchy flag hand.
[51:40] Speaker 2: We have not we have this playoff, like Miami had
[51:44] Speaker 2: zero penalties I believe against Ohio State.
[51:46] Speaker 1: Is that true? I mean, for a good one was
[51:48] Speaker 1: a wild number for Miami at all?
[51:50] Speaker 2: Yeah, right, I think Ohio State ended up with one penalty.
[51:53] Speaker 1: We just have not seen.
[51:54] Speaker 2: And look, there were some very pro Georgia refereeing moments
[51:59] Speaker 2: in that old but by and large, we have not
[52:03] Speaker 2: seen like six penalties for that team, eight penalties for
[52:06] Speaker 2: this team. We haven't seen holds called a ton, we
[52:09] Speaker 2: haven't seen, defensive holding. We haven't seen hence the face.
[52:12] Speaker 2: We haven't seen pis a ton. There have been some
[52:14] Speaker 2: procedural stuff, but in terms of letting the guys play that.
[52:20] Speaker 1: May favor Oregon here, which I like, by the way, Okay,
[52:24] Speaker 1: I like when they kind of take a little bit
[52:27] Speaker 1: more of a backseat because we've seen far too many
[52:30] Speaker 1: games this season, and I feel like the last two
[52:32] Speaker 1: years have been especially bad with this with officiating, too
[52:35] Speaker 1: many of those moments where you're watching the game at home,
[52:37] Speaker 1: like come on right, enough of the tiki tax stuff.
[52:41] Speaker 1: So just something to watch for. But I do think
[52:45] Speaker 1: you'll find Oregon defenders on islands again against these Indiana
[52:51] Speaker 1: pass catchers, and I think that'll make for a really
[52:53] Speaker 1: really interesting matchup. They just got to be a little
[52:56] Speaker 1: bit more disciplined, a little bit more on the Indiana
[53:00] Speaker 1: side again, keep doing what you're doing, be ready for
[53:03] Speaker 1: that aggressive coverage. I also think they can lean a
[53:06] Speaker 1: little heavier on the run too. They had some success,
[53:09] Speaker 1: especially down the stretch, and they were trying to salt
[53:12] Speaker 1: the game away. I would like to see them lean
[53:14] Speaker 1: a little bit more on that. But by and large,
[53:17] Speaker 1: I don't really have any notes for Indiana. I thought
[53:19] Speaker 1: Indiana had a really good game plan the first time around,
[53:22] Speaker 1: and I think if they execute on that, they will
[53:23] Speaker 1: again win because they feel more buttoned up. To me,
[53:27] Speaker 1: like with rare exception this season, Yeah, it feels like
[53:31] Speaker 1: the team's going up against Indiana inevitably end up desperate
[53:35] Speaker 1: for a big play or two, and that's what they
[53:37] Speaker 1: are hoping will shift the momentum, whereas Indiana is just
[53:40] Speaker 1: kind of content to play their game and do their
[53:43] Speaker 1: thing right, and there just aren't many examples of teams
[53:46] Speaker 1: that were able to effectively take Indiana out of their rhythm.
[53:49] Speaker 1: Iowa kinda did it, Penn State definitely did it, weirdly enough,
[53:54] Speaker 1: but again, there is a distinctly Alabama field to this
[53:57] Speaker 1: team that gives me that sense of an evitability. I
[54:01] Speaker 1: think Indiana wins this one as well. I've got it
[54:03] Speaker 1: at twenty seven to twenty, right on the number. Okay,
[54:08] Speaker 1: so what do you think.
[54:09] Speaker 2: You think it's just a simil I mean, that's nearly
[54:11] Speaker 2: the same score as the first time I was thirty
[54:13] Speaker 2: to twenty. You think it sort of goes the same
[54:15] Speaker 2: way that is not able to effectively adjust.
[54:18] Speaker 1: A very similar game.
[54:21] Speaker 2: All right, that's fair enough. I don't have a strong
[54:24] Speaker 2: case against it. This is what I have down, by
[54:25] Speaker 2: the way, for the case for Oregon, they just fully
[54:28] Speaker 2: shut out a highly performing team in the College Football Playoff.
[54:31] Speaker 2: The defense seems to be at its best, playing with
[54:33] Speaker 2: a higher ceiling than they were in the first matchup,
[54:35] Speaker 2: So it is Indiana wide receivers are healthy. The second
[54:39] Speaker 2: tight end, Jamury Johnson has emerged as a legit weapon.
[54:41] Speaker 2: As they play, they play a lot of twelve personnel.
[54:43] Speaker 2: There actually is like a lot of similarities between what
[54:46] Speaker 2: Oregon I think stylistically would like to do on offense
[54:50] Speaker 2: with where Georgia was. They don't have the high end
[54:52] Speaker 2: talent on defense that Georgia had, but in terms of
[54:55] Speaker 2: rotating in running backs, using multiple tight ends, and just
[54:59] Speaker 2: trying to suffocate teams with you know, serving the defense,
[55:03] Speaker 2: there's something there. Indiana's playing a third straight team with
[55:07] Speaker 2: very high level talent. I don't know if that means
[55:09] Speaker 2: anything to you.
[55:10] Speaker 1: This is a game.
[55:11] Speaker 2: It's Ohio State and Alabama then Oregon. Now I happen
[55:15] Speaker 2: to believe Alabama is not all that much.
[55:17] Speaker 1: I mean, Indiana won that game by thirty five, and
[55:21] Speaker 1: it could have been more. So it clearly would more
[55:24] Speaker 1: have too much of an impact on the Hoosiers.
[55:27] Speaker 2: Yeah, but the question is also could Virginia have won
[55:29] Speaker 2: that game against Alabama twenty eight to fourteen? Like that's
[55:33] Speaker 2: in no disrespect either of those teams intended, But like
[55:36] Speaker 2: Alabama with the way that they finished out the season,
[55:38] Speaker 2: you know, ty Simpson not doing anything against Auburn and
[55:41] Speaker 2: then essentially scoring a garbage time touchdown in the SEC
[55:45] Speaker 2: Championship game, right, and Alabama beat Oklahoma. You should give
[55:48] Speaker 2: them credit for that, But there is something to like.
[55:53] Speaker 2: Is Alabama the Alabama brand worth celebrating in the same way?
[55:59] Speaker 1: I suspect no? And by the way, Alabama fans would
[56:02] Speaker 1: probably agree to that too.
[56:03] Speaker 2: Alabama fans are the first people to tell you how
[56:06] Speaker 2: much they hate this year's Alabama not even a take,
[56:08] Speaker 2: but continue organ has had the advantage of having the
[56:13] Speaker 2: time to diagnose and address where they came up short
[56:15] Speaker 2: against Indiana the first time. It's pass protection, red zone coverages, whatever.
[56:20] Speaker 2: They've improved their havoc allowed since then. That the number
[56:24] Speaker 2: one EPA rushing team in America. I can go through stats,
[56:27] Speaker 2: it's kind of boring to do so, but they're excellent
[56:30] Speaker 2: at generating and stopping big plays, excellent at avoiding and
[56:32] Speaker 2: generating three and outs. And it's once again, it's difficult
[56:37] Speaker 2: to beat a strong team twice in the same season.
[56:41] Speaker 2: And if you're going to look at Indiana as excellent,
[56:45] Speaker 2: which I think is accurate, they're not unbeatable. They've been
[56:49] Speaker 2: in games against average two pretty good teams this year.
[56:55] Speaker 2: They the Ohio State game was extraordinarily losable and went
[57:00] Speaker 2: on to prove that Indiana has a winning instinct, that
[57:04] Speaker 2: winning is a skill that Indiana possesses. That was a
[57:07] Speaker 2: close game late, and we could be talking about a
[57:10] Speaker 2: very different draw for Indiana where they're you know, getting
[57:13] Speaker 2: Miami in a previous round, and it's just a different look.
[57:18] Speaker 2: They're not twenty nineteen LSU. They're not beating everybody by
[57:20] Speaker 2: thirty five, and so I don't think they're perfect. I
[57:25] Speaker 2: think they're excellent. And so I think Oregon if they
[57:29] Speaker 2: are eat off the floor clean on offense.
[57:33] Speaker 1: Right, eat off the floor clean.
[57:35] Speaker 2: That's good, Eat off the floor clean. And they have
[57:40] Speaker 2: to play Fernando Mendoza when he is off platform, well, right,
[57:44] Speaker 2: they're going to have to Instead of Fernando Mendoza rushing
[57:47] Speaker 2: for a first down, scrambling for a first down on
[57:49] Speaker 2: third and six, he has to dip out of bounds
[57:51] Speaker 2: as he's throwing the ball away though again backbreaking third
[57:54] Speaker 2: down conversions or stops. I think is this entire game.
[57:58] Speaker 2: I think Oregon should be okay, not perfect, but okay
[58:02] Speaker 2: in handling pressure. Even with what they weren't able to
[58:06] Speaker 2: do on the right side of the offensive line against
[58:08] Speaker 2: Texas Tech. I think that line's a little bit different,
[58:12] Speaker 2: and I think Indiana is the better team.
[58:16] Speaker 1: I truly do.
[58:16] Speaker 2: I think they're more consistent and more phases. I think
[58:19] Speaker 2: they're the better team. I think they're the more trustworthy team.
[58:22] Speaker 2: But I also think it's nearly impossible to go sixteen
[58:25] Speaker 2: and zero in this sport. Oregon's winning this game late
[58:28] Speaker 2: twenty to seventeen on the foot of Atticus Sappington, Lord Sappington.
[58:36] Speaker 2: I don't know how it gets there. I think it's
[58:38] Speaker 2: low scoring twenty to seventeen.
[58:41] Speaker 1: Noted unbiased Oregon alum Dan Rubinstein.
[58:45] Speaker 2: I am never claimed to be that. I have fully
[58:49] Speaker 2: never claimed to be that. There's a over my right
[58:52] Speaker 2: shoulder right there, there's a vintage Oregon Ducks hat. Okay,
[58:55] Speaker 2: I am the first person to tell you how miserable
[58:57] Speaker 2: I've been for stretches this year years watching Oregon football.
[59:02] Speaker 1: But for whatever reason, I.
[59:05] Speaker 2: Think, if you want to have Dan Lanning in an
[59:08] Speaker 2: ideal state, give the other team the betting odds.
[59:15] Speaker 1: Make Oregon an underdog.
[59:16] Speaker 2: If you want to channel like the inner post Penn
[59:19] Speaker 2: State Dan Lanning, the like inner zangief of Dan Lanning.
[59:25] Speaker 1: The cocaine bear version that people post online.
[59:28] Speaker 2: Give Dan Lanning the AMMO of saying you're a three
[59:31] Speaker 2: and a half four and a half point dog.
[59:33] Speaker 1: Oh my god, he might bite the head off a
[59:35] Speaker 1: live bird in the pregame.
[59:37] Speaker 2: Now, that might also lead to Oregon losing this game
[59:40] Speaker 2: by thirty. But I'm saying, if you're if you're going
[59:43] Speaker 2: to want the ideal Agro Lanning, make Oregon.
[59:48] Speaker 1: A dog in a huge spot.
[59:50] Speaker 2: That's all.
[59:53] Speaker 1: We disagree. But I think in both cases, both the
[59:57] Speaker 1: Miami Old Miss game.
[59:59] Speaker 2: You mean there's letdown thing by the way for Indiana. No,
[1:00:02] Speaker 2: not that they won't be up there, excellently coached, right,
[1:00:05] Speaker 2: they are crisp and prepared at every turn.
[1:00:08] Speaker 1: I'm not big on I'm not big on letdowns after
[1:00:11] Speaker 1: a blowout.
[1:00:12] Speaker 2: I'm not saying letdown like they're not going to be
[1:00:14] Speaker 2: up for this game, like they're not going to be
[1:00:16] Speaker 2: ready for this game. I'm just saying, compared to Oregon
[1:00:19] Speaker 2: winning the Orange Bowl in front of five hundred and
[1:00:21] Speaker 2: thirty eight people at noon, that's a stretch.
[1:00:24] Speaker 1: But it was not.
[1:00:25] Speaker 2: I don't think it was a sold out Orange Bowl. Now,
[1:00:26] Speaker 2: there were empty seats and then Indiana never playing in
[1:00:31] Speaker 2: the Rose Bowl, beating Alabama in the Rose Bowl in LA.
[1:00:36] Speaker 2: I just think the stage was so much bigger.
[1:00:38] Speaker 1: It was a bit that it was.
[1:00:39] Speaker 2: It was a big It's definitely a program benchmark to
[1:00:42] Speaker 2: do something like that, whereas like again, no disrespect to
[1:00:47] Speaker 2: Texas Tech.
[1:00:48] Speaker 1: Nothing, nothing.
[1:00:51] Speaker 2: But I don't know how much you know, in ten
[1:00:53] Speaker 2: years are Oregon fans going to think about this as
[1:00:55] Speaker 2: like an enormous win for this program, whereas like Indiana fans,
[1:00:58] Speaker 2: by we beat BAM on the road, I can tell
[1:01:00] Speaker 2: my grandkids about that.
[1:01:01] Speaker 1: I mean, I think you're right to bring it up,
[1:01:03] Speaker 1: but I also don't think you can talk about how
[1:01:06] Speaker 1: locked in Indiana is and expect that this is going
[1:01:08] Speaker 1: to have any kind of lasting impact.
[1:01:10] Speaker 2: I'm just saying we're if this were week eight, it'd
[1:01:13] Speaker 2: be nonsense. But we're all talking about legs, we are
[1:01:15] Speaker 2: talking about travel. You know, an Oregon is now going
[1:01:17] Speaker 2: to be they have a little bit more of a
[1:01:19] Speaker 2: rhythm because they'll played three straight games, whereas Indiana's had
[1:01:22] Speaker 2: more of a time off. Obviously it didn't have any
[1:01:24] Speaker 2: effect on their performance in the Rose Bowl. But something
[1:01:28] Speaker 2: I'm paying attention to just in terms of like how
[1:01:30] Speaker 2: flat does Indiana look for the first.
[1:01:31] Speaker 1: Three drives versus an one drive something? I mean again,
[1:01:35] Speaker 1: Fernana mendon'ta talked about it a little bit, the rust
[1:01:38] Speaker 1: factor for two drives. But I envision him right now
[1:01:41] Speaker 1: sitting somewhere in Bloomington with like the metal spike in
[1:01:44] Speaker 1: the back of his head, like out of the matrix.
[1:01:46] Speaker 1: Just totally reasonable, just absorbing everything that Oregon has done
[1:01:50] Speaker 1: since their matchup back in Week seven. Totally. I think
[1:01:53] Speaker 1: he'll be ready. I think they'll be ready, and I
[1:01:55] Speaker 1: think this would be a good game because it Indiana's
[1:01:58] Speaker 1: look great. This was a really good game the first
[1:02:02] Speaker 1: time around. It's a really good game the first time around.
[1:02:04] Speaker 1: The only bit of separation came in the last six
[1:02:08] Speaker 1: six minutes and fifty two seconds whatever of the fourth quarter.
[1:02:13] Speaker 1: This is a good game between two good teams. I
[1:02:15] Speaker 1: think the points bread reflects that. Yeah, if we get
[1:02:19] Speaker 1: twenty seven to twenty, if we get twenty three twenty one,
[1:02:21] Speaker 1: if we get twenty seventeen via whatever, I don't think
[1:02:25] Speaker 1: it's gonna be a thirty eight to three type of
[1:02:27] Speaker 1: situation like I saw when Indiana beat Alabama and the
[1:02:30] Speaker 1: Rose Bowls.
[1:02:31] Speaker 2: So I'm also saying, by the way, there's just like
[1:02:35] Speaker 2: a weird and maybe it's you know, maybe it'll pay off.
[1:02:37] Speaker 2: There's just like a yeah, Indiana's a machine. They're gonna
[1:02:39] Speaker 2: win again.
[1:02:40] Speaker 1: Right.
[1:02:42] Speaker 2: Maybe it's my vantage point as an Oregon human, right,
[1:02:45] Speaker 2: but there is the like, look what they did to Alabama.
[1:02:48] Speaker 2: They're a machine. They've already beaten Oregon. Can't wait to
[1:02:51] Speaker 2: see who Indiana plays in the National Championship. And when
[1:02:54] Speaker 2: we get to that point where people are, you know,
[1:02:56] Speaker 2: picking Ohio State as you know their number one or
[1:02:58] Speaker 2: the number two, but they're or battle tested and look
[1:03:01] Speaker 2: at Julian Saye and Jeremiah like it's college football. And
[1:03:04] Speaker 2: when we go down too far down a road assuming
[1:03:07] Speaker 2: something about a team, this is Indiana's, especially this year,
[1:03:10] Speaker 2: especially this year, this year, and Indiana was number one,
[1:03:14] Speaker 2: number two for most of the season. Right, They weren't
[1:03:17] Speaker 2: the most hunted. They were a great story all season long.
[1:03:21] Speaker 2: They were excellent all season long. But now they are
[1:03:23] Speaker 2: in a new position this week of being the favorite
[1:03:27] Speaker 2: to win the National Championship. Indiana Football, that's a new spot,
[1:03:32] Speaker 2: doesn't mean they can't respond and beat both their next
[1:03:35] Speaker 2: two opponents by twenty one each. But it's a new spot.
[1:03:39] Speaker 1: I think Oregon can win this game. I don't think
[1:03:41] Speaker 1: they will.
[1:03:42] Speaker 2: Eat off the floor clean tie.
[1:03:45] Speaker 1: I think it would take an inspired effort to say
[1:03:48] Speaker 1: the least. But can Oregon win? Yeah, they can win.
[1:03:52] Speaker 1: Think I'm an idiot. Of course they can win. Yeah.
[1:03:56] Speaker 1: So I'm hopeful that we're gonna get two really good games.
[1:03:59] Speaker 1: And if we get too real games and we end
[1:04:00] Speaker 1: up with a good matchup in the National Championship, whoever
[1:04:02] Speaker 1: those two teams are, that would be a great way
[1:04:06] Speaker 1: to end the season. Again, we got these two semifinal games.
[1:04:09] Speaker 1: Go on out to playbowlbingo dot com. That is the url.
[1:04:13] Speaker 1: If you go there, you can sign up for our
[1:04:15] Speaker 1: postseason games. So we've done two weeks of it thus far.
[1:04:18] Speaker 1: We're giving away prizes to all the winners. It is
[1:04:20] Speaker 1: free to play. All you got to do is sign
[1:04:21] Speaker 1: up as a free member of our Patreon. Here is
[1:04:26] Speaker 1: the way the game works. It's very simple. You get
[1:04:29] Speaker 1: a list of thirty prop bets, a defined list of
[1:04:32] Speaker 1: thirty prop bets for both of these games. You got
[1:04:36] Speaker 1: to pick six that you think are going to hit.
[1:04:38] Speaker 1: No problem, that's it. That's all you gotta do. There's
[1:04:42] Speaker 1: a tie breaker, so you know, if you've got a
[1:04:44] Speaker 1: multiway time we can break it. But otherwise pick six
[1:04:48] Speaker 1: and if you finish with the most and you win
[1:04:50] Speaker 1: the tie breaker in all likelihood, then you win a
[1:04:53] Speaker 1: prize free to play. Very straightforward, very simple, all sorts
[1:04:58] Speaker 1: of fun props to pick from. Thus far, though we've
[1:05:01] Speaker 1: had hundreds upon hundreds upon hundreds of entries in this
[1:05:04] Speaker 1: only four people have gotten six out of six so far. Wow,
[1:05:08] Speaker 1: it's not that easy. It's basically a six way prop parlay. Yeah,
[1:05:12] Speaker 1: but straightforward enough. Doesn't cost you a dime to play.
[1:05:17] Speaker 1: All you gotta do is sign up for free at
[1:05:19] Speaker 1: playbobingo dot com. Be part of our brainer. That's it, yeah,
[1:05:22] Speaker 1: love it all right. We appreciate everybody's support. It has
[1:05:28] Speaker 1: been a long season. The season continues. Please hit follow,
[1:05:31] Speaker 1: please hit subscribe if you've yet to do so, we'd
[1:05:33] Speaker 1: appreciate it. Help support the cause here over at Soliverbal headquarters.
[1:05:37] Speaker 1: Of course, as we said at the top, we do
[1:05:39] Speaker 1: need to pay a little bit of attention to what's
[1:05:41] Speaker 1: going on in the transfer portal right now. Thousands, literally
[1:05:45] Speaker 1: thousands of players have thrown their name in the ring.
[1:05:49] Speaker 1: We are going to do an episode here. Our next
[1:05:51] Speaker 1: episode will be one talking about the transfer portal, the
[1:05:53] Speaker 1: lay of the land, where things stand, differences this year
[1:05:57] Speaker 1: versus last, so on and so forth, So you have
[1:06:00] Speaker 1: that to look forward to. We will drop that right now.
[1:06:02] Speaker 1: The plane is to drop that at some point before
[1:06:04] Speaker 1: these games are played. And then of course we will
[1:06:07] Speaker 1: do recaps recaps to both of these games, as we
[1:06:10] Speaker 1: have done all throughout the course of the playoffs so far.
[1:06:13] Speaker 2: By the way, as we're recording this, and you can
[1:06:15] Speaker 2: only hear it after the fact, do you have an
[1:06:17] Speaker 2: Illinois State Montana State minus ten in the FCS National
[1:06:21] Speaker 2: Championship game, Bill Connolly's going to be there. Yeah, I
[1:06:24] Speaker 2: saw that. Bill Connelly's there at Montana State favored by ten,
[1:06:27] Speaker 2: which would give Oregon a win over a national champion.
[1:06:33] Speaker 1: Let us not forget. I will go Illinois State plus
[1:06:37] Speaker 1: the points.
[1:06:37] Speaker 2: Whoa well, Montana State. Feel good about Montana State.
[1:06:41] Speaker 1: We will.
[1:06:41] Speaker 2: We'll talk some bowl games, by the way, on a
[1:06:43] Speaker 2: future episode. We've got some fun interesting.
[1:06:45] Speaker 1: There's a lot of results about man, there's a lot
[1:06:47] Speaker 1: to talk.
[1:06:48] Speaker 2: About coaching moves. Yeah, there's Yeah, you mentioned portal stuff.
[1:06:52] Speaker 2: There's a lot to go through.
[1:06:53] Speaker 1: We haven't talked about assistant hires. No, obviously the portal.
[1:06:58] Speaker 1: I'll bring that up again. We have to talk lot
[1:07:00] Speaker 1: about that. But before long there will be draft declarations,
[1:07:03] Speaker 1: which I think could be very interesting, especially given maybe
[1:07:06] Speaker 1: not so much on the quarterback side this year, but
[1:07:10] Speaker 1: certainly other positions that will be affected. Certainly now as
[1:07:14] Speaker 1: we talk about so much coaching movement, how that affects
[1:07:16] Speaker 1: draft declaration. There's a lot. There's a lot going on.
[1:07:19] Speaker 1: So just because the season is going to be over
[1:07:21] Speaker 1: in like two weeks from now, whatever, that doesn't mean
[1:07:24] Speaker 1: we're going to have any shortage of things to talk about,
[1:07:26] Speaker 1: so we'd appreciate it it.
[1:07:27] Speaker 2: Wisconsin, Wisconsin just won the national title. Ty Wisconsin. River
[1:07:32] Speaker 2: Falls won the D three national title, and I saw
[1:07:36] Speaker 2: their quarterback recruited his co worker at a bar and
[1:07:39] Speaker 2: grill who is a basketball player, to join the football team.
[1:07:44] Speaker 1: And was like a contributor. And yeah, and big Wisconsin.
[1:07:49] Speaker 1: I don't know if that's the right way to classify them.
[1:07:51] Speaker 1: Big Wisconsin. The big one is River Falls. Right now,
[1:07:54] Speaker 1: Wisconsin at Madison got Colton Joseph, the quarterback from ODU,
[1:07:59] Speaker 1: which by all accounts is a great prospect in the
[1:08:01] Speaker 1: portal ran all over Indiana. Yeah, exactly, everybody's trying to
[1:08:05] Speaker 1: beat Indiana nowt all right, that's true. Let's leave it
[1:08:08] Speaker 1: there again. You know how to support the cause, Hit follow,
[1:08:10] Speaker 1: hit subscribe, tell your friends going out to playbowbeingo dot com.
[1:08:14] Speaker 1: If you want more info on how to join our game.
[1:08:17] Speaker 1: We've got this week, we've got next week left in
[1:08:19] Speaker 1: the game again, totally free to play. We would encourage
[1:08:21] Speaker 1: everybody to stop on buy and check that out. Dan Rubinstein, Yes,
[1:08:27] Speaker 1: I will talk to you in a day or so.
[1:08:28] Speaker 1: We will do another episode. Of course, will talk to
[1:08:31] Speaker 1: you in the immediate aftermath of both of these playoff games,
[1:08:34] Speaker 1: but in the interim that go over there, Dan, for myself,
[1:08:37] Speaker 1: tie for the millions of our ballers listening and watching
[1:08:40] Speaker 1: at home. You know the drill, Stay solid, Peace,

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