# CHAMPIONSHIP WEEK REACTIONS: Indiana Defies Expectations, Georgia Crushes Alabama & Duke Upends The CFP | College Football

An episode of [The Solid Verbal College Football Show](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/270037732), 7 Dec 2025, 1 h 03 min.

Audio: https://podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/21437ee1-47d9-4b16-8696-b30d011a2c26/3f4248d9-6170-4d0c-bcb0-b3ac0072e1eb/audio.mp3?utm_source=Podcast&in_playlist=51c7e0eb-425c-4d93-b5a8-b30d011a2c46

What a finish! After 14 weeks of an incredible season, college football may have saved the best for last. In this episode, we walk back through the biggest storylines for all nine conference championship games in Week 15, starting with Indiana defying expectations and closing out a thin win over Ohio State in the Big Ten Championship. Not to be outdone, Georgia layed the smack down on Alabama, winning the SEC for the second straight year and potentially throwing the CFP bubble into a state of disarray. Does the Tide still deserve a playoff bid? Speaking of chaos, the unranked Duke Blue Devils upset Virginia to take the ACC, opening up the possibility that the conference will be left out entirely with two Group of Five teams sneaking in the side door. And finally, Texas Tech took care of business and beat BYU for the second time this season by a 20+ point margin. Listen to our recap and join us live on Sunday at 5pm ET on our YouTube channel for our Selection Special live stream. Timecodes: 0:00 - Intro 2:06 - Indiana edges out Ohio State, wins the Big Ten 12:14 - Georgia dominates Alabama, wins SEC 27:46 - Texas Tech beats BYU again, wins Big 12 35:10 - Duke wins ACC, becomes CFP's agent of chaos 42:07 - Tulane wins American, likely headed for CFP 45:30 - James Madison wins Sun Belt, likely headed for CFP 50:20 - Other G5 Results 53:02 - Projecting the final CFP Rankings 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.
[0:04] Speaker 2: I'll that for me.
[0:06] Speaker 1: I'm a man, I'm forty.
[0:08] Speaker 2: I've heard so many players say, well, I want to
[0:10] Speaker 2: be happy. You want to be happy for a day?
[0:12] Speaker 2: Edo State?
[0:13] Speaker 1: Is that? Whoo whoo? And no Dan and tie Dan Rubinstein,
[0:20] Speaker 1: what a Saturday it was? Yes, the college football season
[0:26] Speaker 1: is now officially in the books, at least the regular
[0:30] Speaker 1: slash conference championship part of the season. There were nine
[0:34] Speaker 1: games this weekend. We're going to talk through at least
[0:37] Speaker 1: a little bit about all of them, and a lot
[0:39] Speaker 1: more about some of them, because boyd did we have
[0:42] Speaker 1: some interesting things go down today. Thank you to one
[0:46] Speaker 1: and all for tuning in. We're going to do our
[0:47] Speaker 1: part over the next hour or so to unpack all
[0:51] Speaker 1: of this, what it means, how we feel there is
[0:55] Speaker 1: a lot to sink our teeth into. As we have
[0:57] Speaker 1: conference champions about own. Please hit file, please hit subscribe,
[1:03] Speaker 1: don't forget. We're going to be doing a full run
[1:05] Speaker 1: through of all of the playoff field, the seedings, the
[1:09] Speaker 1: decisions that the committee made tomorrow or as I should say,
[1:13] Speaker 1: many of you are listening to this on Sunday, technically
[1:15] Speaker 1: it is Sunday, as we are recording this yeah, five
[1:18] Speaker 1: pm Eastern time live on the YouTube channel and then
[1:21] Speaker 1: shortly thereafter on the audio feed. Sir, we just got
[1:25] Speaker 1: off the horn after do in a four hour stream.
[1:27] Speaker 1: We thought we were only going to be talking about
[1:29] Speaker 1: the Ohio State Indiana game, but as it were, we
[1:32] Speaker 1: had overtime in the ACC game as well. We had
[1:35] Speaker 1: big happenings in the SEC game earlier in the day.
[1:39] Speaker 1: The same could be said for the Big twelve game
[1:41] Speaker 1: that took place at noon Eastern time as well. So
[1:44] Speaker 1: my voice is dead, but I'm going to power through here, man,
[1:46] Speaker 1: because we got a lot to discuss.
[1:48] Speaker 2: Man, you didn't even mention what Montana State over Yale,
[1:51] Speaker 2: Illinois State over North Dakota State in a huge upset. Man,
[1:56] Speaker 2: What are we talking about here? We had all sorts games.
[2:00] Speaker 2: Villanova somehow, some way on the road against Lehigh. Let's
[2:04] Speaker 2: start with the big ten.
[2:06] Speaker 1: Thirteen to ten was your final score. Ohio State came
[2:10] Speaker 1: into this game about a three and a half four,
[2:13] Speaker 1: four and a half point favorite depending where you look.
[2:15] Speaker 1: They were still I think the choice by many folks
[2:19] Speaker 1: who look at this game, and when you were, I
[2:22] Speaker 1: guess forced to make a decision. We all said, Ohio State, Dan,
[2:26] Speaker 1: everybody thought Indiana was good.
[2:28] Speaker 2: I did, you did, But yes, we all thought Indiana
[2:31] Speaker 2: was good.
[2:31] Speaker 1: But this is Ohio State we were talking about here. Yeah,
[2:35] Speaker 1: Indiana won this game. This was the defensive battle. Really,
[2:38] Speaker 1: the story of the day for me across the board
[2:41] Speaker 1: was how four defenses fared. I guess in this case
[2:44] Speaker 1: we had two thirteen to ten was well under whatever
[2:48] Speaker 1: under it was. I think it was like forty five
[2:50] Speaker 1: and a half points. And I think we learned a
[2:53] Speaker 1: lot about the Indiana who who hoosiers in this one?
[2:55] Speaker 2: Dan, Well, we did and we didn't. Right, This is
[2:57] Speaker 2: who Indiana has been this season. They've We've had a
[3:00] Speaker 2: couple close calls, namely against what Iowa, Oregon and Penn State.
[3:04] Speaker 2: They were able to come through in those close calls.
[3:06] Speaker 2: The thing that those three teams had in common was defense,
[3:09] Speaker 2: and Ohio State certainly has that defense. But the only
[3:14] Speaker 2: thing we learned is that Indiana continues to finish, They
[3:17] Speaker 2: continue to close. I don't know how you come away
[3:19] Speaker 2: from that game thinking anything but Indiana is just excellent.
[3:23] Speaker 2: Like we saw this Indiana, not this Indiana team, but
[3:26] Speaker 2: we saw Indiana last year against Ohio State. We didn't
[3:28] Speaker 2: know what to believe with their schedule. Obviously Indiana Moore
[3:31] Speaker 2: tested this season, but for them to come through, for
[3:35] Speaker 2: them to force that much discomfort from Julian saying from
[3:39] Speaker 2: this offense and Ohio State fans are quick to look
[3:41] Speaker 2: at Brian Hartline and the play calling, and I'm sure
[3:43] Speaker 2: there is you know, justifiable criticisms here, but you gotta
[3:48] Speaker 2: win between the hashes like you gotta win, uh, And
[3:52] Speaker 2: there I watch Indiana. They just they won more one
[3:56] Speaker 2: on one battles. They didn't back down from any of
[3:59] Speaker 2: these dudes on either side of the ball. Fernando Mendoza
[4:01] Speaker 2: with a couple of just monstrous like Pedro Serrano marbles
[4:06] Speaker 2: throws just absolutely. I think it was with Ay both
[4:09] Speaker 2: to Charlie Becker. I want to say they were both
[4:11] Speaker 2: to Charlie Becker.
[4:12] Speaker 1: The Charlie b from Nashville, Tennessee. As Gus Johnson called,
[4:16] Speaker 1: that's he had a.
[4:16] Speaker 2: Momar Cooper Omar Cooper on the sideline hurt early on
[4:20] Speaker 2: after he comes up a little bit gnarly after a
[4:24] Speaker 2: long pass attempt. I just look the headline here for me,
[4:28] Speaker 2: is Indiana was better At moments Indiana was better at
[4:34] Speaker 2: the big picture, and Indiana was better at chaos, and
[4:39] Speaker 2: at least for a night in Indianapolis, it was enough.
[4:43] Speaker 2: It was just crazy impressive.
[4:45] Speaker 1: Joel Klatt brought up something very interesting on the broadcast,
[4:49] Speaker 1: and we talked about this in the run up to
[4:52] Speaker 1: the game. Indiana was the most zone heavy defense in
[4:55] Speaker 1: all of college football and at least in theory coming
[4:59] Speaker 1: into this one. You and I discussed how it makes
[5:03] Speaker 1: sense to do that against Ohio State. Can't man these
[5:05] Speaker 1: guys up. You're not gonna man up Jeremiah. But Indiana
[5:08] Speaker 1: tried a couple times, didn't really work out that well.
[5:10] Speaker 1: Has it worked out well for literally everybody who has
[5:13] Speaker 1: tried it. Even when it worked out, he made plays.
[5:16] Speaker 1: Even when it works out, it makes plays. And if
[5:18] Speaker 1: it's not him, it's Carnell Tait. If it's not him,
[5:20] Speaker 1: it's Max Claire, it's Brandon Innis. I mean, they just
[5:23] Speaker 1: keep coming at you with their pass catchers, and so Indiana,
[5:27] Speaker 1: just by the nature of how they like to play defense,
[5:29] Speaker 1: they were I'm not going to say add an advantage,
[5:32] Speaker 1: but that is the preferred way to play a receiver
[5:34] Speaker 1: room that is this good and presents such a matchup disadvantage.
[5:38] Speaker 1: But what Joel Klatt brought up on the broadcast was
[5:40] Speaker 1: something that he was seeing throughout the course of this game.
[5:43] Speaker 1: Indiana playing two safeties deep, almost extra deep to prevent
[5:48] Speaker 1: against anything over the top, Indiana dropping their linebackers a
[5:52] Speaker 1: little bit deeper, forcing Julian sane and take a lot
[5:55] Speaker 1: of underneath stuff. And I think you saw that a
[5:56] Speaker 1: little bit more later on in the game. I mean,
[5:59] Speaker 1: they had some big game. Jeremiah Smith had a nice
[6:01] Speaker 1: fifty two yarder in this game. I think all of
[6:03] Speaker 1: their receivers probably had a twenty yard game here or there.
[6:07] Speaker 1: Certainly Max Claire and Carnell Tait were in that class.
[6:11] Speaker 1: But by forcing them to take a lot of the
[6:13] Speaker 1: underneath stuff, it's sort of defanged the offense a little bit.
[6:17] Speaker 1: And Bo Jackson had a nice day on the ground,
[6:19] Speaker 1: and I think in the end, Julian say And finished
[6:21] Speaker 1: with over two hundred and fifty yards passing, and still
[6:24] Speaker 1: push came to shove. You would take the type of
[6:26] Speaker 1: day that Julian Sayan had, But Indiana was able to
[6:29] Speaker 1: play enough smart defense against this passing offense to prevent
[6:35] Speaker 1: themselves from being absolutely gashed. And they held them ten points.
[6:39] Speaker 1: I mean, the proof is in the pudding. So I
[6:42] Speaker 1: was damn impressed with this Indiana defense and their game
[6:45] Speaker 1: plan coming into this one. We had some questions about
[6:48] Speaker 1: the Ohio State offense. I think we still feel generally
[6:50] Speaker 1: pretty good about what they have. They've got an accurate pass,
[6:53] Speaker 1: incredible about what they have, a developing running back, obviously,
[6:56] Speaker 1: an incredible cast of characters out wide that can kill
[6:59] Speaker 1: you different directions. But the way that Indiana game planned here,
[7:04] Speaker 1: it was very apparent that they were out for blood
[7:06] Speaker 1: and that they want to try and win this one.
[7:07] Speaker 1: And as you brought up on the stream that we did,
[7:09] Speaker 1: the very long four hour stream, if you had told
[7:11] Speaker 1: an Indiana fan fifteen years ago that they would win
[7:15] Speaker 1: the Big Ten, that fan would ask you who was
[7:18] Speaker 1: the starting five exactly.
[7:20] Speaker 2: Now, look, let's be as clear as we can be.
[7:23] Speaker 2: Ohio State had opportunities to win this game. There was
[7:27] Speaker 2: a missfield goal and a sneak that came up short,
[7:30] Speaker 2: both in the red zone, and you know, both of
[7:31] Speaker 2: these quarterbacks through interceptions. There were opportunities in each way,
[7:35] Speaker 2: and each way there were explosion plays in each way,
[7:39] Speaker 2: but it was especially coming out in that second half
[7:41] Speaker 2: when Ohio State had the ball that Indiana's pass rush
[7:45] Speaker 2: stepped up. They have the long pass, they turn it
[7:47] Speaker 2: into points. And to me, the story is still the
[7:51] Speaker 2: Indiana defense and how good they were on third downs
[7:55] Speaker 2: for the first like two thirds of this game. Like
[7:57] Speaker 2: they just kept Ohio State away, way from rhythm. And
[8:01] Speaker 2: if you're watch you know the the second half of
[8:03] Speaker 2: that Michigan game, when Ohio State just sat on the ball,
[8:06] Speaker 2: when they were just like, let's just turn six yards,
[8:08] Speaker 2: eleven yards, four yards, fifteen yards, right that they sat
[8:11] Speaker 2: on the ball for as long as they did, they
[8:13] Speaker 2: just they got into a rhythm. There was no such
[8:15] Speaker 2: rhythm to this Ohio State offense. And that's in large
[8:18] Speaker 2: part due to the Indiana defense. What they were upfront.
[8:21] Speaker 2: And I know there are complaints about calls, non calls, whatever, but.
[8:25] Speaker 1: They didn't calls a game either way.
[8:27] Speaker 2: They didn't call a lot either way. And you can't
[8:30] Speaker 2: say Ohio State didn't have opportunities, because they absolutely did.
[8:34] Speaker 2: Indiana just converted more of their own. And so a
[8:37] Speaker 2: crazy story we joked about, you know, talking about the
[8:41] Speaker 2: Indiana Illinois game deciding who would come in fourth place
[8:44] Speaker 2: between like Ohio State, Oregon, Penn State, and then who well,
[8:47] Speaker 2: Indiana is your big ten champ and they went through
[8:51] Speaker 2: Oregon and Indiana excuse me, and Ohio State and Penn
[8:56] Speaker 2: State to do so.
[8:58] Speaker 1: Just monsters incredible. I would bring up a few other points.
[9:02] Speaker 1: You mentioned third down on the Ohio State side of
[9:04] Speaker 1: what Indiana's defense did. But you know, there was a
[9:07] Speaker 1: big chunk of this game, and we talked about this
[9:09] Speaker 1: too as we were watching it, that Indiana seemed very
[9:12] Speaker 1: content to get to third and manageable. It wasn't about
[9:16] Speaker 1: trying to take the lid off of the defense on
[9:18] Speaker 1: first or second down. But they were just very efficient
[9:21] Speaker 1: for a good chunk of this game. I get into
[9:23] Speaker 1: the third and short and converting, they finished six to
[9:25] Speaker 1: thirteen on third downs. That's pretty good. You'll take that
[9:27] Speaker 1: against Ohio State. I think that's a big part of
[9:30] Speaker 1: why they had success in this one. And obviously Fernando
[9:32] Speaker 1: Mendoza came up big again when he had to. I
[9:36] Speaker 1: don't know if he won the Heisman with this performance,
[9:38] Speaker 1: but he certainly didn't lose his invite to New York
[9:41] Speaker 1: with this performance. He should be there. He should be
[9:44] Speaker 1: one of the finalists absolutely, and This is another clutch
[9:48] Speaker 1: performance by him. We saw it on the road against
[9:49] Speaker 1: Penn State. We saw it again here today against Ohio State,
[9:53] Speaker 1: coming through in a really really big way, making some
[9:55] Speaker 1: key throws, big moments, and just being really solid with
[9:58] Speaker 1: the football. Did have the pick, but really really solid
[10:01] Speaker 1: across the board. The other thing that I would add here,
[10:04] Speaker 1: and I think this is very very important, especially now
[10:07] Speaker 1: as we go into the playoff. You know this as
[10:09] Speaker 1: well as I. Everybody who is listening to this knows
[10:12] Speaker 1: how this works. This time of year. The conversation is
[10:15] Speaker 1: about strength of schedule. The conversation is about resume. Who
[10:18] Speaker 1: did you beat? The conversation often is is this team
[10:22] Speaker 1: of fluke?
[10:23] Speaker 2: Right?
[10:24] Speaker 1: I don't think you watched this game with Indiana winning
[10:27] Speaker 1: thirteen to ten and in good faith could say that
[10:30] Speaker 1: this was a fluke. This was not a fluke win.
[10:34] Speaker 1: This was a hard fought win, and it was a
[10:37] Speaker 1: defensive struggle, and for sure it could have gone the
[10:40] Speaker 1: other way. But even Ohio State fans can't look at
[10:43] Speaker 1: this loss and say they got lucky. They were just
[10:45] Speaker 1: damn good.
[10:46] Speaker 2: Yeah.
[10:48] Speaker 1: And so now as we go into the playoff, they
[10:49] Speaker 1: are going to be the number one overall seed, which
[10:53] Speaker 1: is still crazy to say aloud, but it's true and
[10:56] Speaker 1: it's undisputed. They're the only undefeated team in FBS college football.
[11:00] Speaker 1: I got to raise my glass to Kurt Signetti, to
[11:03] Speaker 1: Fernando Mendoza, to the roster that he built, which was
[11:06] Speaker 1: better this year than it was a year ago. This
[11:09] Speaker 1: team stood on the shoulders of what Signetti did in
[11:11] Speaker 1: year one. And it's crazy, but they are the Big
[11:16] Speaker 1: ten friggin champions with a thirteen to ten win in
[11:19] Speaker 1: Indianapolis over Ohio State.
[11:21] Speaker 2: This is true, This is true. There's just they left
[11:24] Speaker 2: no doubt.
[11:25] Speaker 1: What would you do if you were the committee with
[11:27] Speaker 1: respect to Ohio State. I think we'd agree that Indiana
[11:29] Speaker 1: is going to be one overall. But does Ohio State
[11:33] Speaker 1: drop at all? They were previously won? Do you drop
[11:36] Speaker 1: them the two? Do you drop them the three? This
[11:38] Speaker 1: is obviously a very very close win. I could tell
[11:41] Speaker 1: you my inclinations to just switch places one and two still,
[11:45] Speaker 1: but do you have a differing opinion.
[11:49] Speaker 2: I think I'm fine with Ohio State at two, certainly
[11:51] Speaker 2: no lower than three, But I think i'd be fine
[11:53] Speaker 2: with them at two. Yeah, I mean, you go twelve
[11:56] Speaker 2: to oh during the regular season in a major conference,
[12:00] Speaker 2: I have a headline non conference win like Ohio State
[12:03] Speaker 2: does over Texas in Week one. You beat Michigan in
[12:07] Speaker 2: the manner in which they beat Michigan, they lose the
[12:09] Speaker 2: conference championship game by a field goal. Yeah, I think
[12:12] Speaker 2: two is fine by me.
[12:14] Speaker 1: The other big game, among many big games making headlines
[12:19] Speaker 1: on Saturday, was what Georgia did to Alabama. Yeah, twenty
[12:24] Speaker 1: eight to seven was your final score. I was in
[12:28] Speaker 1: disbelief watching this game for a good chunk of the way.
[12:32] Speaker 1: And you know me, I mean, I am openly biased
[12:37] Speaker 1: about my fandom for Notre Dame. I have been since
[12:39] Speaker 1: the very beginning, when we started this thing back in
[12:42] Speaker 1: two thousand and eight. I make that no secret and
[12:46] Speaker 1: people who listen know that. So for me, I am
[12:48] Speaker 1: rooting for everybody around Notre Dame to lose, just as
[12:53] Speaker 1: a fan I was rooting against BYU was rooting against Alabama.
[12:58] Speaker 1: And I said to Mama h before this game, the
[13:01] Speaker 1: best case scenario would be a BYU lost. Didn't care
[13:03] Speaker 1: if it was by a lot or by a little,
[13:05] Speaker 1: but just BYU loss. Get them out of the way.
[13:08] Speaker 1: Certainly didn't want them to win that would have taken
[13:10] Speaker 1: a spot away from ND And I wanted Alabama to
[13:13] Speaker 1: get blown out, and I didn't think it was possible.
[13:17] Speaker 1: It certainly was not likely. Alabama sort of got blown
[13:21] Speaker 1: out by Georgia in this game.
[13:22] Speaker 2: Yet they didn't sort of get blown out. They were
[13:24] Speaker 2: blown out.
[13:26] Speaker 1: What happened.
[13:29] Speaker 2: The season is a living, breathing thing. Georgia's defense that
[13:33] Speaker 2: first month or so was a problem for Georgia, and
[13:37] Speaker 2: over the course of the season, the Georgia defense got better.
[13:40] Speaker 2: Gunner Stockton got better. They were able to figure out
[13:44] Speaker 2: how to navigate with key injuries right there down their center.
[13:47] Speaker 2: They were down Colby Young in this one. They were
[13:49] Speaker 2: down what Noah Thomas in this one as well. They're
[13:53] Speaker 2: able to figure out their depth, They're able to bring
[13:55] Speaker 2: in guys like Chauncey Bowen's for bigger and bigger roles,
[13:58] Speaker 2: and their defense over the course of the season. All
[14:02] Speaker 2: at the same time, Alabama looked like a team that
[14:04] Speaker 2: struggled to put away Auburn. Alabama looked like a team
[14:07] Speaker 2: that struggled to put away or got lucky to beat
[14:09] Speaker 2: South Carolina. Alabama looked like a team that wasn't in
[14:13] Speaker 2: command week to week like they seem like they would
[14:16] Speaker 2: be after at least their win against Georgia early, even
[14:19] Speaker 2: though it wasn't a great second half in that game offensively,
[14:23] Speaker 2: and they just could not find a rhythm. Whether it
[14:25] Speaker 2: was the running game, whether it was Ryan Williams disappearing
[14:28] Speaker 2: or at least Ryan Williams was abandoned in the passing game.
[14:32] Speaker 2: Ryan Grubb never got in a really good rhythm with
[14:34] Speaker 2: this offense. Ty Simpson looked like he was in disarray
[14:37] Speaker 2: as he was trying to figure out the lack of
[14:39] Speaker 2: protection in front of him. Against Georgia, Georgia was stronger.
[14:43] Speaker 2: They sat on them in the second half in that
[14:46] Speaker 2: very Georgia way once they get that lead and just
[14:48] Speaker 2: converting third and fours after third and fours. Georgia just
[14:53] Speaker 2: had a plan for everything. Had the speed, had the aggression,
[14:57] Speaker 2: had the confidence, and had the know how to look
[15:01] Speaker 2: at this Alabama team and say, I don't know, we
[15:04] Speaker 2: just have this. I don't know we can make the
[15:06] Speaker 2: plays and special teams. Zachariah branch At that big I
[15:08] Speaker 2: was a punt return, I believe to set up a
[15:10] Speaker 2: really nice field position. They intercepted Ty Simpson. They weren't
[15:15] Speaker 2: afraid of Ty Simpson. We made that joke, you know,
[15:18] Speaker 2: with the home alone joke, like I'm not afraid anymore.
[15:20] Speaker 2: They just weren't afraid of them at all. It seemed
[15:22] Speaker 2: they've played with kind of a very specific violent abandon
[15:26] Speaker 2: that suited them super well, and Georgia just kept growing
[15:31] Speaker 2: throughout the season and it showed in this one.
[15:33] Speaker 1: I mentioned this on Thursday when we talked about this
[15:37] Speaker 1: game and shout out again to our friends over a
[15:40] Speaker 1: game on paper for the job that they do with
[15:42] Speaker 1: kind of chronicling these stats as the games are going on.
[15:46] Speaker 1: But if you go back and look at the first
[15:49] Speaker 1: time these teams played all of the most important plays,
[15:52] Speaker 1: the plays let's say that swung win probability the most
[15:56] Speaker 1: eight of those ten plays were on the Georgia side.
[16:00] Speaker 1: So Georgia was doing very significant things that first time around,
[16:04] Speaker 1: and obviously the only lost by three points, and there
[16:07] Speaker 1: were definitely some plays they wish they would have had back.
[16:09] Speaker 1: This looked like a team that knew that a team
[16:12] Speaker 1: that knew that they were close, that they felt like
[16:14] Speaker 1: they were in a good spot, especially have they've as
[16:16] Speaker 1: they've developed now over the last month two months of
[16:20] Speaker 1: the season, and they came out there. They blocked a
[16:23] Speaker 1: punt first quarter, got a touchdown, then they got an interception.
[16:29] Speaker 1: They take a fourteen Zip lead into half. They go
[16:33] Speaker 1: up twenty one to Zip right away in the second half,
[16:38] Speaker 1: and suddenly we're all talking online like, does this change
[16:42] Speaker 1: the way that we view the back end of the playoff?
[16:45] Speaker 1: Does this change how we view the SEC? Does this change,
[16:48] Speaker 1: more broadly speaking, how we view conference championship games? I mean,
[16:51] Speaker 1: this really truly calls a lot into question. Even Zach
[16:56] Speaker 1: Zach are wonderful and incredibly talented short form video editor, which,
[17:00] Speaker 1: by the way, if anybody needs a guy, hit us
[17:02] Speaker 1: up saliverbal at gmail dot I will give you Zack's info.
[17:06] Speaker 1: He is the best Zack's Abama fan. He was even
[17:09] Speaker 1: questioning the black sweatshirt of death, yeah, saying in our slack, hey,
[17:15] Speaker 1: can he change into a white hoodie please to change
[17:19] Speaker 1: the way this thing is going blue any color other
[17:21] Speaker 1: than the black. It threw everything into a blender. Georgia
[17:28] Speaker 1: dominated this game. They dominated this game. They held Alabama
[17:31] Speaker 1: to three of fourteen on third downs. Bama finished with
[17:35] Speaker 1: minus three yards on the ground, and if you take
[17:39] Speaker 1: out all the sack yardage still just twenty six yards
[17:42] Speaker 1: on the ground. They have not been a good running
[17:45] Speaker 1: team all year. They've been very one dimensional. It was
[17:47] Speaker 1: part of the reason why I like Georgia.
[17:49] Speaker 2: No jam Miller, to be fair jam Miller, but they weren't.
[17:52] Speaker 1: A good running team for most of this season.
[17:55] Speaker 2: Dan right agree.
[17:57] Speaker 1: So Georgia just absolutely dominated this game, and I think
[18:03] Speaker 1: raised a lot of questions now with what we do
[18:06] Speaker 1: with Alabama. I was blown away by the effort we
[18:08] Speaker 1: saw from the Dogs. I was left sort of shrugging
[18:13] Speaker 1: and staring almost like hopelessly at my hands, trying to
[18:16] Speaker 1: figure out, what do we do with Alabama? What do
[18:21] Speaker 1: we do with Alabama? Now? What does the committee do
[18:24] Speaker 1: with Alabama?
[18:25] Speaker 2: This is the conversation we're having now. You don't want
[18:27] Speaker 2: to go through other games first, we're doing this.
[18:29] Speaker 1: Well, we're here, we're here. What would you do with Alabama?
[18:34] Speaker 2: I think I'd be fine with leaving them out. I
[18:38] Speaker 2: understand that it's a disadvantage in this specific scenario this
[18:42] Speaker 2: year to play in this game, But if we're gonna
[18:46] Speaker 2: have Woody Harrelson lecture us about the prestige and the
[18:51] Speaker 2: honor and the unique nature of playing in the SEC
[18:55] Speaker 2: championship game, and how important and regal and how much
[18:59] Speaker 2: of an event it is for the masters of this sport,
[19:03] Speaker 2: that it's a privilege for Alabama to be in this
[19:05] Speaker 2: game and have the opportunity to win the SEC. That
[19:08] Speaker 2: it's a meaningful game in Alabama didn't even come close.
[19:13] Speaker 2: Alabama didn't score. They had zero points until the fourth quarter?
[19:17] Speaker 2: Is that correct? In fact check me on that it's correct,
[19:19] Speaker 2: so they get into the end zone.
[19:21] Speaker 1: Yeah, And.
[19:24] Speaker 2: I just think as much as the conference championship idea
[19:29] Speaker 2: feels very old, suddenly in the twelve team playoff era,
[19:34] Speaker 2: the game happened. It wasn't Alabama's tenth SEC game. It
[19:40] Speaker 2: was Alabama's ninth conference game. A lot of teams play
[19:43] Speaker 2: nine conference games, some play ten conference games. If you
[19:46] Speaker 2: end up in the Big ten of the Big twelve
[19:48] Speaker 2: championship game, or you're like that weird ACC team in
[19:51] Speaker 2: North Carolina whose schedules you know, the wake Forest North
[19:54] Speaker 2: Carolina game that's like technically not a conference game, but
[19:57] Speaker 2: because you want to keep the you know, the game alive.
[20:00] Speaker 2: A weird friggin sport, right, No, it's very strange, but
[20:03] Speaker 2: game happened. Conference championship participants who have lost have been
[20:09] Speaker 2: docked in the rankings, like SMU and Penn State and
[20:11] Speaker 2: Texas were last season. They still ended up in the playoff.
[20:14] Speaker 2: But because of the unique nature of this year's rankings,
[20:18] Speaker 2: I think you dock Alabama even a spot, two spots
[20:23] Speaker 2: whatever for no showing in this game. We had a
[20:25] Speaker 2: really funny comment somebody saying like it was very savvy
[20:28] Speaker 2: of Alabama to lose this game because they now have
[20:30] Speaker 2: a win over the SEC champ on the road beating
[20:34] Speaker 2: Georgia and Athens. I thought that was excellent. Yeah, it's
[20:37] Speaker 2: a tough case to make today after losing this game
[20:40] Speaker 2: the way that they did, even with the I think rightful,
[20:45] Speaker 2: like rightfully viewed as a disadvantage situation that Alabama's in
[20:48] Speaker 2: that they have to play this game. You're in here
[20:51] Speaker 2: for a reason and you don't back it up. And
[20:54] Speaker 2: so because they lost that game to Florida State, because
[20:58] Speaker 2: they lost today, if you take the two vitality of
[21:00] Speaker 2: their resume and their schedule and how they've looked in
[21:02] Speaker 2: the back half of the schedule, I'm not going to
[21:04] Speaker 2: tell you at their best, Alabama doesn't look like a
[21:06] Speaker 2: playoff team. But if we're gonna split hairs, if we're
[21:08] Speaker 2: going to look at the margins, I think I'm okay
[21:12] Speaker 2: not watching this offense anymore against playoff defenses. I don't know.
[21:17] Speaker 2: It's a complete personal opinion that's mine right now.
[21:21] Speaker 1: The committee is in an impossible situation with this, for sure,
[21:24] Speaker 1: because they have two things that are going on at
[21:27] Speaker 1: the same time, and they have to pick one or
[21:29] Speaker 1: the other, and there is no good choice. If you
[21:33] Speaker 1: decide that you're gonna penalize Alabama for playing in this
[21:37] Speaker 1: game and for basically no showing in this game, being
[21:39] Speaker 1: dominated in this game. They didn't look like a playoff
[21:42] Speaker 1: team in this game. You're right to point out that
[21:47] Speaker 1: last year you had a bunch of teams at lost
[21:50] Speaker 1: conference championship games and they didn't fall out of the
[21:52] Speaker 1: playoff field altogether, but they all dropped the spot or
[21:54] Speaker 1: two they dropped. They all dropped the spot or two,
[21:58] Speaker 1: and so there's precedent for that. Again, we don't want
[22:00] Speaker 1: to necessarily penalize teams too much forgetting to and playing
[22:04] Speaker 1: in an extra game, but there is plenty of precedent
[22:07] Speaker 1: to say that, well, if you don't win, you still drop,
[22:10] Speaker 1: and it does change the seating a little bit, right
[22:12] Speaker 1: if you do that, If you drop Alabama two spots,
[22:15] Speaker 1: they're out of the playoff right now. They're number nine.
[22:18] Speaker 1: Only the top ten teams are going to get in
[22:20] Speaker 1: from that college football playoff ranking. So on one hand, you
[22:24] Speaker 1: sort of invalidate conference championship games, which is not going
[22:28] Speaker 1: to go over well. As I joked around online, like
[22:31] Speaker 1: Greg Sank goes into a darkness retreat. If that's what
[22:33] Speaker 1: goes on.
[22:34] Speaker 2: Did you see that Paul Finebaum, super likable guy. Everybody
[22:37] Speaker 2: agrees always that Paul Finebaum said he was going to
[22:41] Speaker 2: call for like a congressional investigation. Place again, super likable guy.
[22:44] Speaker 1: Now let's have the politicians fix everything because that usually works, right.
[22:48] Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, that if Alabama weren't to get in, Like
[22:52] Speaker 2: there is that element of like, how could you possibly
[22:55] Speaker 2: have a postseason without Alabama football? And my answer would be, like,
[22:58] Speaker 2: I know pretty easily. It seems I think the world
[23:01] Speaker 2: will keep on spinning without Alabama football in this playoff.
[23:04] Speaker 1: If you drop them two spots, you kind of invalidate, yeah,
[23:07] Speaker 1: conference championship games. And on the other hand, if you
[23:10] Speaker 1: don't put both Notre Dame and Miami in you are
[23:13] Speaker 1: also invalidating the head to head tiebreaker, sure right, because
[23:18] Speaker 1: the committee now has to pick between one or the other.
[23:20] Speaker 1: I suppose they could try to split the difference, drop
[23:23] Speaker 1: Alabama one spot, move Notre Dame or Miami. I don't
[23:27] Speaker 1: know what they're going to do up a spot, and
[23:29] Speaker 1: then both Alabama and one of Notre Dame in Miami
[23:33] Speaker 1: gets in. But again, that's not going to call most
[23:35] Speaker 1: of these arguments.
[23:37] Speaker 2: Now.
[23:37] Speaker 1: I think you've got to pick one or the other
[23:38] Speaker 1: in light of this performance, and I don't know which
[23:41] Speaker 1: direction they're going to go. Personally, if it were me,
[23:43] Speaker 1: I don't think they looked like a playoff team today.
[23:45] Speaker 1: I thought that was a really bad showing. I thought
[23:47] Speaker 1: georg I.
[23:47] Speaker 2: Don't think they've looked like a playoff team lately.
[23:49] Speaker 1: Georgia dominated them through and through the game could have
[23:53] Speaker 1: been worse and it wasn't. And if it were up
[23:56] Speaker 1: to me, I would probably put Miami in ahead of
[23:58] Speaker 1: Notre Dame. I put Notre Dame at ten and sorry, Alabama,
[24:01] Speaker 1: you're at eleven.
[24:02] Speaker 2: Alabama also lost to the playoff team in a power
[24:07] Speaker 2: conference with the clear worst offense in Oklahoma at home.
[24:13] Speaker 2: Like I just think there are a bunch of data points.
[24:14] Speaker 2: If you're going to point to head to head with
[24:16] Speaker 2: Miami and Notre Dame as an important factor of why
[24:19] Speaker 2: Miami should be in over Notre Dame, I think you
[24:21] Speaker 2: have to look at that week as well. In week one,
[24:24] Speaker 2: Florida State, who by the way, has not run a
[24:26] Speaker 2: road game since twenty twenty three, beating which is Alabama.
[24:31] Speaker 1: Which is crazy. Man.
[24:32] Speaker 2: So if week one is meaningful as for how we
[24:35] Speaker 2: evaluate these teams, which a lot of people are telling
[24:38] Speaker 2: me it is, then fine, then we have to have
[24:41] Speaker 2: this data point for Florida State and Obama as well
[24:43] Speaker 2: concern and considering Alabama. And I'm fine with it. This
[24:48] Speaker 2: will be fine with it.
[24:49] Speaker 1: This is our knee jerk reaction show. We were doing
[24:51] Speaker 1: this slate. We were doing this after streaming during these
[24:55] Speaker 1: night games for four four and a half hours. By
[24:58] Speaker 1: the time people listen to the in some cases, the
[25:02] Speaker 1: committee will have already given its field of twelve. Yeah,
[25:05] Speaker 1: because again this comes out at noon or one pm
[25:08] Speaker 1: Eastern time on Sunday, We're going to be live one
[25:12] Speaker 1: more time five pm Eastern time right here on the
[25:14] Speaker 1: YouTube channel, as many of you are watching now to
[25:17] Speaker 1: react to all of these matchups and what the committee
[25:19] Speaker 1: decided to do. But at least at time of recording,
[25:22] Speaker 1: a little bleary eyed and with a voice that sounds
[25:24] Speaker 1: like I smoke seven packs a day.
[25:26] Speaker 2: You sound great.
[25:27] Speaker 1: I kind of feel like Alabama deserves to be on
[25:29] Speaker 1: the outside looking in after this.
[25:32] Speaker 2: I just we all saw it, right, we saw it.
[25:35] Speaker 2: We saw we all saw them overwhelmed. If the SEC
[25:38] Speaker 2: and whatever, the Big ten, with the Big Ten, the
[25:40] Speaker 2: A see, if we're going to say these conference championship
[25:43] Speaker 2: games are a meaningful enough thing that we are going
[25:47] Speaker 2: to throw money behind it, if they're going to impact
[25:50] Speaker 2: the rankings, it's going to be a championship thing. It's
[25:53] Speaker 2: going to be mean bonus money for all these coaches
[25:56] Speaker 2: and every like. If it's a meaningful thing to win
[25:58] Speaker 2: the conference via a conference championship game, it has to
[26:01] Speaker 2: mean something in a couple of different directions. Now, I
[26:04] Speaker 2: don't think you knock Alabama dramatically, like I don't think
[26:06] Speaker 2: you knocked BYU dramatically, like you don't knock Virginia dramatic, whatever,
[26:10] Speaker 2: Because it is an impressive thing to get to this game,
[26:13] Speaker 2: But there has to be some like you can't just like, well,
[26:15] Speaker 2: Alabama lost that game in embarrassing fashion, and they remain
[26:19] Speaker 2: where they're ranked to unchange.
[26:20] Speaker 1: I mean, let's put it this way. They certainly won't
[26:22] Speaker 1: be moving up, right, you can't. It's really tough to
[26:26] Speaker 1: justify them holding.
[26:28] Speaker 2: Never say never. Nick Saban has a lot of phone numbers.
[26:30] Speaker 1: Tie. Yeah, Nick Saban was apparently film and Verbo commercials
[26:34] Speaker 1: instead of watching the first Notre Dame Miami game.
[26:36] Speaker 2: But that's what it seems like.
[26:37] Speaker 1: Anyway, This is definitely going to be a flashpoint in
[26:40] Speaker 1: the conversation. Whether you agree or disagree, I think we
[26:43] Speaker 1: can all agree that it will be very interesting to
[26:45] Speaker 1: see which direction they go. I kind of see it
[26:47] Speaker 1: as a binary choice. They're going to piss off a
[26:50] Speaker 1: certain faction of the fan base regardless of what they do.
[26:53] Speaker 1: I mean, that's just part of the nature of the
[26:54] Speaker 1: beast here. But many, you know, for as many new
[26:58] Speaker 1: things as we have put into this sport to try
[27:02] Speaker 1: and fine tune it, be it the transfer portal, NIL
[27:07] Speaker 1: Conference realignment, expanded playoff, a strength of record metric as
[27:14] Speaker 1: part of the factors that determine the field. No matter
[27:18] Speaker 1: what we try to do to make this sport less
[27:20] Speaker 1: complicated and more straightforward. We keep coming up with these
[27:24] Speaker 1: fringe cases like this that throw the whole thing in
[27:27] Speaker 1: a blender, and it's crazy.
[27:28] Speaker 2: So yeah, and they'll they'll change something, and they'll say, well,
[27:32] Speaker 2: we're going to change this tiebreaker, we're going to change
[27:34] Speaker 2: the way these teams are ranked, We're going to change
[27:36] Speaker 2: how many conference championship get in or whatever. And there's
[27:40] Speaker 2: going to be a new set of unforeseen errors. And
[27:43] Speaker 2: it's crazy how we're gonna how we're gonna roll.
[27:46] Speaker 1: The game earlier in the day on Saturday was Texas
[27:49] Speaker 1: Tech and BYU, a rematch of one that we saw
[27:52] Speaker 1: earlier in the season. It was a game that felt
[27:54] Speaker 1: an awfully lot like the first one. Final was thirty
[27:58] Speaker 1: four to seven Texas hech over BYU. B Yu came
[28:03] Speaker 1: out a little bit more aggressive this time around. They
[28:06] Speaker 1: started out this game on fire, a fourteen play ninety
[28:08] Speaker 1: yard drive they milked almost seven minutes off the clock.
[28:12] Speaker 1: They ended it with an L. J. Martin touchdown. It
[28:15] Speaker 1: was actually the first time a team scored on its
[28:18] Speaker 1: opening drive all year against Texas Tech. So I'm watching this,
[28:22] Speaker 1: I'm thinking, oh, man Kalani Satakis, staying you know, the
[28:26] Speaker 1: boys are fired up. This is gonna be a different
[28:28] Speaker 1: thing altogether. But the deeper we got into it, the
[28:33] Speaker 1: more and more it started to feel like momentum was
[28:35] Speaker 1: just slowly building for Texas Tech.
[28:37] Speaker 2: Well, it was also like inflame tissue slowly building in
[28:41] Speaker 2: bear bach Meyer's ankle.
[28:43] Speaker 1: He couldn't move.
[28:44] Speaker 2: But at first horror I felt horrible, like it just
[28:47] Speaker 2: you know, the guy has been the heartbeat of this
[28:50] Speaker 2: offense with his ability to improvise as a freshman, his
[28:53] Speaker 2: ability to run.
[28:54] Speaker 1: You're talking about arm Baron Morton.
[28:57] Speaker 2: Yeah, is that what I said? What did I say?
[28:59] Speaker 2: You said, Bear? Excuse me bear Bachmeyer. So it's a
[29:02] Speaker 2: double bear situation. Like I mentioned earlier on in the season,
[29:05] Speaker 2: Bear Bachmeyer and he screws up his ankle and it's horrible.
[29:10] Speaker 2: And he has been the ultimate playmaker for BYU this season.
[29:15] Speaker 2: And as soon as he went down, he was unable
[29:18] Speaker 2: to plant. He's unable to really put anything behind his throws.
[29:21] Speaker 2: He's all sort of arming short throws. And I said
[29:23] Speaker 2: to you, and what was it at halftime thirteen to seven,
[29:26] Speaker 2: when it was like very clear that they weren't going
[29:28] Speaker 2: to be able to do anything offensively through the air.
[29:31] Speaker 2: I was like, I said, I don't know what the
[29:33] Speaker 2: live line is, but Texas Tech's about to win this
[29:35] Speaker 2: game by twenty seven, twenty eight points. And they did.
[29:37] Speaker 2: And this is not to take away a single thing
[29:41] Speaker 2: from Ben Roberts, who just had magnets in his glove
[29:45] Speaker 2: for wherever the ball was going.
[29:46] Speaker 1: To also got hurt before he yes picked the ball
[29:50] Speaker 1: off twice at almost a third the total monastery.
[29:56] Speaker 2: Look. The best thing in this game, and it wasn't
[29:57] Speaker 2: particularly close, was the Texas Tech defense. They hounded BYU
[30:01] Speaker 2: BYU needed its a plus game. They need to be
[30:05] Speaker 2: one hundred and eighty three percent of what they were
[30:07] Speaker 2: in that first matchup, and they weren't. And that's okay
[30:10] Speaker 2: because Texas Tech is an incredible team. But once he
[30:14] Speaker 2: you know, hurt his ankle pretty early on, it was
[30:16] Speaker 2: just it was pretty evident that Texas Tech was going
[30:19] Speaker 2: to be able to change the complexion of this game
[30:21] Speaker 2: pretty dramatically. They did so on defense, setting up short
[30:23] Speaker 2: fields and to turnovers, and then things just opened up
[30:26] Speaker 2: on offense for Texas Tech. An incredible year, an incredible
[30:30] Speaker 2: year for the Red Raiders. They are going to be
[30:31] Speaker 2: a top four seed. They're going to get a bye
[30:34] Speaker 2: and they quitted themselves beyond what I'm sure even the
[30:37] Speaker 2: most optimistic Texas Tech fan you know in September could
[30:40] Speaker 2: have ever imagined throughout this year.
[30:42] Speaker 1: So congratulations and honestly, if you're a BYU fan, despite
[30:47] Speaker 1: the fact that at least from my vantage point, Texas
[30:50] Speaker 1: Tech was slowly building that momentum, Texas Tech still had
[30:55] Speaker 1: a hell of a time trying to get in the
[30:57] Speaker 1: end zone.
[30:58] Speaker 2: That's true.
[30:59] Speaker 1: I mean, the UYU defense was again very good in
[31:03] Speaker 1: the red zone on the day. They forced six field
[31:06] Speaker 1: goal attempts, and as you said, it was just thirteen
[31:08] Speaker 1: to seven at halftime. Now, this one picked up steam
[31:11] Speaker 1: in the second half. BYU had four second half turnovers
[31:15] Speaker 1: that gave Tech short fields. I know BYU has played
[31:20] Speaker 1: from and won from behind a couple times so far
[31:23] Speaker 1: the season, but it just like the deeper we got
[31:27] Speaker 1: into this one, I kept being left with the feeling that, yes,
[31:31] Speaker 1: but maybe not against Texas Tech, like you need to
[31:34] Speaker 1: show something other than what they showed for the vast
[31:37] Speaker 1: majority of this game. As bear Bachmeyer, who was hurt
[31:40] Speaker 1: and that sucks, tried to stretch the field a little
[31:43] Speaker 1: bit tried to throw a little bit more downfield. You know,
[31:46] Speaker 1: they graduated to a point in this game where they
[31:48] Speaker 1: couldn't settle for the dumpoffs and they couldn't just run
[31:51] Speaker 1: bear Bachmeyer because he was hurt and LJ. Martin wasn't
[31:55] Speaker 1: doing enough on the ground to, you know, give them
[31:57] Speaker 1: a steady diet of the ground attack. When they actually
[32:00] Speaker 1: had to try and stretch this field, it just wasn't there.
[32:04] Speaker 1: And that was when this one started to come apart.
[32:07] Speaker 1: I'm still not sure I'm enamored with the Texas Tech offense.
[32:13] Speaker 2: Yeah, I think it's good. I don't think it's amazing.
[32:15] Speaker 1: No. Like I feel like if you are a team
[32:19] Speaker 1: like let's say Oregon, who in all likelihood will come
[32:24] Speaker 1: away from this being the number five seed, if you
[32:28] Speaker 1: win your opening round game against well we'll talk about
[32:31] Speaker 1: that in a second, but if you win that game
[32:34] Speaker 1: in Eugene, next team up would be Texas Tech on
[32:38] Speaker 1: a neutral site. I would really like that matchup if
[32:42] Speaker 1: I were an Oregon fan.
[32:44] Speaker 2: I mean, I think the game might be in Jerry
[32:46] Speaker 2: World again.
[32:48] Speaker 1: I know, I would really like that matchup for Oregon
[32:51] Speaker 1: given what I saw from the Texas Tech offense, which
[32:54] Speaker 1: by the way, like Barr Morton's solid, Bar Morton's a
[32:58] Speaker 1: veteran presence about Aaron Morton was fine. Their ground game
[33:02] Speaker 1: is sneaky good. People don't realize how good their backs are, right,
[33:06] Speaker 1: they're good. They're really good rushing the football. I am
[33:09] Speaker 1: not fully enamored with this offense, but the defense, the
[33:14] Speaker 1: defense is very solid.
[33:15] Speaker 2: Yeah. I don't know how much time we want to
[33:16] Speaker 2: spend on a Texas Tech Oregon preview, but it should
[33:19] Speaker 2: be a hell of a game if it comes to fruition.
[33:20] Speaker 2: I hope we get a bunch of great games come
[33:22] Speaker 2: like the New Year's and New Year's Eve time. The
[33:26] Speaker 2: other thing, by the way with Byu is they went
[33:29] Speaker 2: eleven and one before this game. Hey, they're going to
[33:32] Speaker 2: finish eleven and two. If this were a straight twelve
[33:36] Speaker 2: team ranked playoff regardless of conference.
[33:38] Speaker 1: They're probably in.
[33:40] Speaker 2: I think you're probably including.
[33:41] Speaker 1: They're probably in. And say what you want about whether
[33:44] Speaker 1: Kialani Sataki may or may not have been a fit
[33:47] Speaker 1: at Penn State. Yeah, right, but this dude put together
[33:52] Speaker 1: an eleven and two season with the true freshman quarterback
[33:55] Speaker 1: who they didn't think was going to be the quarterback.
[33:58] Speaker 1: It was a scrambled to figure out who was going
[34:01] Speaker 1: to lead the offense. There is no question in my
[34:04] Speaker 1: mind that this dude deserved every freaking penny of that
[34:07] Speaker 1: raise that he got.
[34:08] Speaker 2: Yep.
[34:09] Speaker 1: He is a hell of football coach. And if there's
[34:12] Speaker 1: going to be a new influx of cash for him,
[34:15] Speaker 1: for nil, for the assistant pool, all of that stuff.
[34:18] Speaker 1: If you are a BYU fan, I do not think
[34:22] Speaker 1: you are getting in the playoff, but I do think
[34:24] Speaker 1: this could just be the tip of the iceberg because
[34:27] Speaker 1: you got a really a really good coach. I think
[34:30] Speaker 1: you got a really good quarterback. And if in fact
[34:32] Speaker 1: they're going to pour a ton of resources into this program,
[34:34] Speaker 1: now the future is very, very bright. So I'm excited
[34:38] Speaker 1: about that. For BYU fans, I'm excited to see what
[34:42] Speaker 1: kind of matchup Texas Tech draws. And though I wish
[34:46] Speaker 1: this game would have been a little bit closer, I
[34:48] Speaker 1: came away mighty impressed with the Texas Tech defense. They
[34:51] Speaker 1: were really really solid in this game, and if they
[34:55] Speaker 1: keep playing like that, it doesn't matter what the matchup is,
[34:57] Speaker 1: they're going to be a damn hard out in the playoff.
[35:00] Speaker 2: Yep. I think they finished number one in points per
[35:02] Speaker 2: drive aloud this season against FBS teams in non garbage
[35:06] Speaker 2: time drives just a suffocating defense.
[35:11] Speaker 1: Texas Tech wins the Big twelve, which means our final
[35:14] Speaker 1: power for conference champion.
[35:16] Speaker 2: Dan nearly beat Yukon. They nearly beat him.
[35:21] Speaker 1: Your champ is eight and five. The Duke Blue Devils
[35:27] Speaker 1: game went overtime. Game went overtime. We were on our
[35:31] Speaker 1: stream talking through thirteen to ten Indiana knocking off Ohio State,
[35:37] Speaker 1: and we both had on a second screen this Duke
[35:42] Speaker 1: Virginia game. Virginia, to their credit, made a feverish comeback,
[35:48] Speaker 1: furious comeback to get this one at twenty all a
[35:52] Speaker 1: beautiful throw from Chandler Morris down the left sideline to
[35:57] Speaker 1: give them the you know, the tying touchdown after the
[35:59] Speaker 1: X your point. I mean they fought like hell to
[36:02] Speaker 1: get to the point where they could play this one
[36:04] Speaker 1: in overtime.
[36:05] Speaker 2: Did the right thing and kicked the field goal quickly
[36:07] Speaker 2: with like three and change minutes left to get it
[36:09] Speaker 2: to seven. Yeah.
[36:10] Speaker 1: I mean they did everything they could. They got just
[36:12] Speaker 1: too late of a jump. I was really impressed with
[36:15] Speaker 1: Duke in this game. We could talk about what it
[36:19] Speaker 1: means for Duke and what the postseason looks like for Duke,
[36:22] Speaker 1: and I think that's a separate conversation. But this team,
[36:26] Speaker 1: which has been laughed at for its lack of defense
[36:30] Speaker 1: for most of the season, really held Virginia down. They
[36:36] Speaker 1: really held Virginia.
[36:37] Speaker 2: Down until like the last five minutes.
[36:39] Speaker 1: Until the last five minutes. Yeah, yeah, they held Virginia
[36:42] Speaker 1: down and they look damn good doing it. So I
[36:46] Speaker 1: was impressed with that side of the Duke Blue Devils.
[36:49] Speaker 1: This is not to say this is like a brick
[36:50] Speaker 1: wall of the defense. It wasn't even that much of
[36:53] Speaker 1: a shutdown effort. But their ability to come up big
[36:56] Speaker 1: when they had to, their ability to win the turnover battle,
[37:02] Speaker 1: their ability to kind of use that to win the
[37:05] Speaker 1: time of possession battle, all of those things I think
[37:08] Speaker 1: worked together to put Duke in a position to win
[37:11] Speaker 1: this game. And this was about as good as I
[37:14] Speaker 1: have seen them all year. I came away mighty impressed
[37:17] Speaker 1: by just Manny Diaz getting his team ready to play
[37:20] Speaker 1: in a manner that he did. It was always going
[37:23] Speaker 1: to be a bit of an uphill climb to get
[37:25] Speaker 1: to this point, and it required tie breakers and a
[37:28] Speaker 1: bunch of good luck. But the Duke blue devils of
[37:31] Speaker 1: all teams end up emerging as your ACC champion.
[37:35] Speaker 2: Crazy, Yeah, a weird one, but yeah you mentioned the
[37:39] Speaker 2: Duke defense. Virginia wasn't even like that bad on third downs.
[37:43] Speaker 2: It was you know, untimely turnovers and penalties, and I
[37:48] Speaker 2: just it was a pretty good back and forth. Duke
[37:50] Speaker 2: made more plays early on. Darien Mensa was good, Nate
[37:53] Speaker 2: Sheppard was largely very good. Cooper Barcade what a good
[37:55] Speaker 2: year all year long, was good again, and it was
[37:59] Speaker 2: coming up in overtime with a play call that, like, look,
[38:04] Speaker 2: every play call is not going to be perfect with
[38:06] Speaker 2: the like the trick play, it's the decision to throw
[38:09] Speaker 2: into double coverage in that specific moment that I'm sure
[38:13] Speaker 2: Chandler Morris would like back like, there's nothing wrong with
[38:16] Speaker 2: going for something weird and perhaps unexpected in overtime. It
[38:20] Speaker 2: was a tough way to end it for Virginia and
[38:22] Speaker 2: good for for Duke for sort of sticking with the
[38:25] Speaker 2: assignments and making a play when it counted most.
[38:30] Speaker 1: This presents eight and five Duke ACC Champion. This is
[38:35] Speaker 1: something of a nightmare scenario for the playoff, especially if
[38:39] Speaker 1: you are a Power Conference commissioner. Duke is probably not
[38:46] Speaker 1: going to get in the playoff with eight and five.
[38:48] Speaker 2: No, they're not. They're not at all. It's not probably.
[38:50] Speaker 1: They're not gonna be in the play They're not gonna
[38:51] Speaker 1: be in the playoff.
[38:52] Speaker 2: And that's okay. They won in a different way with
[38:55] Speaker 2: a different postseason coming.
[38:57] Speaker 1: Look, they'll take it and they're gonna go to a bowl.
[38:59] Speaker 1: And this is this is od basically the cherry on
[39:00] Speaker 1: top of a season that had its ups and downs.
[39:03] Speaker 1: But in terms of the broader national conversation, for an
[39:08] Speaker 1: eight and five team to win the ACC that paves
[39:12] Speaker 1: the way for I think football hipsters around this great
[39:16] Speaker 1: land of ours to rejoice because it likely means we're
[39:19] Speaker 1: going to get tu Lane and James Madison in two
[39:21] Speaker 1: G five teams in the playoff field this year, unless
[39:24] Speaker 1: they do something crazy to decide they want to rank
[39:26] Speaker 1: Duke ahead of JMU, which I can't imagine they would
[39:29] Speaker 1: possibly do, but who knows what this committee that's true.
[39:33] Speaker 1: So I think that sets up your five and six
[39:36] Speaker 1: seeds really well. If it does end up being let's
[39:39] Speaker 1: say Oregon at the five, ole Miss at the six,
[39:42] Speaker 1: you'd be looking at maybe Oregon hosting JMU maybe a
[39:46] Speaker 1: rematch between Ole Miss and TWU Lane being played in Oxford.
[39:53] Speaker 1: This is something that honestly, we have been getting emails about.
[39:56] Speaker 1: We wrote about it in our newsletter, We've tweeted about it,
[39:58] Speaker 1: sort of haphazardly talked about it on occasion. As we've
[40:02] Speaker 1: talked through various playoff scenarios, this was always the one
[40:05] Speaker 1: thing that could have happened that it was almost just
[40:09] Speaker 1: something we would giggle at, you know, like, oh, wouldn't
[40:11] Speaker 1: that be something if an eight and five team won
[40:14] Speaker 1: and suddenly have two G five teams in. I don't
[40:16] Speaker 1: know if makes the playoff any better. It definitely gets
[40:18] Speaker 1: some new teams exposure to the playoff. But in terms
[40:22] Speaker 1: of all the things that could go wrong, this was
[40:25] Speaker 1: the one that seemed so distant that it couldn't even
[40:29] Speaker 1: be possible.
[40:30] Speaker 2: Buddy, we could have a top ten ACC team in
[40:34] Speaker 2: the playoff and the ACC champion not even sniffing a
[40:39] Speaker 2: possibility of getting into the playoff.
[40:42] Speaker 1: It's great, Duke Boodevil's congratulations, you win. A tough pill
[40:46] Speaker 1: to swallow for sure. For Tony Elliott, for Chandler Morris,
[40:49] Speaker 1: the Virginia Cavaliers, they had a great season, I mean
[40:51] Speaker 1: a great season ten and three. They finished this thing up,
[40:55] Speaker 1: I mean, far exceeding expectations. I think a lot to
[40:58] Speaker 1: build on, at least in that sense, a really really
[41:02] Speaker 1: good year and something to be happy and proud about.
[41:05] Speaker 1: But obviously you would have liked to have gotten this one.
[41:08] Speaker 1: It went to overtime, Duke scored, Virginia ends up throwing
[41:12] Speaker 1: an interception that was the ballgame, twenty seven to twenty.
[41:15] Speaker 2: Yes, and by the way, good good for Duke. By
[41:17] Speaker 2: the way, both of these teams Virginia spent in the portal.
[41:19] Speaker 2: Duke spent in the portal, obviously, most notably with Darien
[41:22] Speaker 2: Menza Cooper Barky. Like, these guys did really really well.
[41:26] Speaker 2: They came through many das in year two winning the ACC. Now, look,
[41:29] Speaker 2: the tiebreakers are the tiebreakers, and nobody's going to sit
[41:32] Speaker 2: here and claim that they would, you know, bet a
[41:34] Speaker 2: thousand dollars on Duke against the spread against Miami or
[41:37] Speaker 2: something or straight up. But you can only win the
[41:42] Speaker 2: games put in front of you, and Duke got this
[41:44] Speaker 2: game put in front of them and they won it. Awesome.
[41:48] Speaker 1: So, with the Power Conferences out of the way and
[41:53] Speaker 1: given the results, now I think there's more than enough
[41:58] Speaker 1: reason to talk through some of these games the G
[42:00] Speaker 1: five level and what it means, because I think in all, Likelihod,
[42:03] Speaker 1: we're gonna get two of them in this playoff, which
[42:06] Speaker 1: again is crazy. But the one that everybody expected was
[42:10] Speaker 1: the winner of the American They played this game on
[42:12] Speaker 1: Friday night. It was Tulane thirty four North Texas twenty one.
[42:16] Speaker 1: North Texas had five turnovers, three interceptions, two fumbles. Two
[42:20] Speaker 1: of the interceptions were tipped. They also should have had
[42:23] Speaker 1: a pick six off of Jake retz Laugh in the
[42:26] Speaker 1: second half, but it went directly through a defender's hands
[42:29] Speaker 1: and into a Tulane receiver's hands, which I gotta say
[42:32] Speaker 1: could not have summed up this game more from the
[42:35] Speaker 1: North Texas perspective, there was just a lot that went wrong.
[42:39] Speaker 1: I love Drew Mestemaker. I think he looks like he's
[42:41] Speaker 1: potentially an NFL quarterback and he's only a freshman. I
[42:46] Speaker 1: don't think he got the help in this game. He
[42:47] Speaker 1: didn't get help from his line. There were plenty of
[42:49] Speaker 1: instances where he didn't get help from his receivers. He
[42:52] Speaker 1: was a very very good player on a very very
[42:55] Speaker 1: good team, but he just did not get the support
[42:59] Speaker 1: when he needed it.
[43:01] Speaker 2: No, and it was I mean aptly named. It was
[43:03] Speaker 2: a wave of Tulane front seven dudes in every single lane, constantly,
[43:10] Speaker 2: in every single backfield moment, like they were just overwhelmed.
[43:13] Speaker 2: They were overwhelmed by Tulane. It was what twenty four
[43:15] Speaker 2: to seven about halfway through, like they were playing from
[43:19] Speaker 2: behind pretty much the whole time. I know they scored early,
[43:21] Speaker 2: but Tulane just too many ways to win. Looks like
[43:25] Speaker 2: a strong team. We'll see what that means for playoff
[43:29] Speaker 2: caliber obviously, like for what John Sumral did with the
[43:32] Speaker 2: not distraction but the reality that he's taking a new
[43:35] Speaker 2: job and coaching out this season. For Tulane, for them
[43:37] Speaker 2: to be as locked in as they were against North
[43:39] Speaker 2: Texas is super impressive. But I also remember the way
[43:43] Speaker 2: Tulane kind of faded last year late right that they
[43:47] Speaker 2: closed especially impressively this season. So really nice win for Tulane.
[43:51] Speaker 2: Really unbelievable season for North Texas as they themselves now
[43:55] Speaker 2: have a coach who's moving on to another job, But
[43:58] Speaker 2: very cool season in the Amyria.
[44:00] Speaker 1: Yeah, nice win by Tulane, especially given the distractions. My
[44:03] Speaker 1: guy John summerl runs a little hot in the sidelines.
[44:06] Speaker 1: He does if there are a couple moments in this
[44:08] Speaker 1: game he looked like you wanted a body slam and official,
[44:11] Speaker 1: but kept it together long enough to get the win.
[44:14] Speaker 1: The offense is very dependent on Jake Rehetz left though.
[44:18] Speaker 1: I mean they're basically running the BYU offense with him. Yeah,
[44:21] Speaker 1: so it's kind of a little bit of everything. Whatever works,
[44:24] Speaker 1: they stick with. It is very Aaron Roderick. But I
[44:28] Speaker 1: think it's going to be interesting when we get into
[44:30] Speaker 1: this playoff now because the skill talent around him is
[44:32] Speaker 1: definitely not as good as what he had a year
[44:35] Speaker 1: ago at BYU. And if you're that dependent on one guy,
[44:38] Speaker 1: if you're going up against a good defense, be it
[44:40] Speaker 1: an Oregon, be it you know, Texas, A and M
[44:43] Speaker 1: or Miss whoever, any of these teams in this field,
[44:46] Speaker 1: really they're going to be good enough to key in
[44:48] Speaker 1: on that. I think they could take away most of
[44:51] Speaker 1: what Tulane wants to do. They are obviously going to
[44:54] Speaker 1: be a G five rep at this point, if you
[44:56] Speaker 1: go off of last week's rankings, they would be traveling
[44:59] Speaker 1: to Eugene for a first round or against your Oregon Ducks.
[45:04] Speaker 1: I don't want to be the wet blanket. I'm just
[45:06] Speaker 1: gonna say it's gonna be really tough matchup with whoever
[45:08] Speaker 1: they play. Maybe the winner gets to keep McKay Hughes.
[45:11] Speaker 1: I don't know what the deal's gonna be with that
[45:13] Speaker 1: if it is Oregon Tulane, But either way, like if
[45:18] Speaker 1: that ends up being the matchup, it's going to be
[45:20] Speaker 1: a real tough one and we could talk through it
[45:21] Speaker 1: in due course. But kudos Tulane for getting the job done.
[45:25] Speaker 1: This is a nice one for them, especially given distractions.
[45:28] Speaker 1: And the same is true for James Madison. Yes, so
[45:31] Speaker 1: James Madison also in a similar position with their coaches
[45:34] Speaker 1: leaving Bob Chesney going to UCLA. This is a much
[45:37] Speaker 1: closer game than I expected. It was seventeen to fourteen
[45:41] Speaker 1: start of the fourth quarter. It was a defensive battle
[45:44] Speaker 1: through and through. Collectively, these teams were six of thirty
[45:47] Speaker 1: two on third downs, so it was not a banner
[45:50] Speaker 1: offensive showing for either side. Again, it was a defense
[45:53] Speaker 1: that stood out. This is very much a weekend of
[45:56] Speaker 1: defensive storylines. They had eight sacks fourteen tackles for if
[46:00] Speaker 1: you include the sackyardedge. Troy finished with negative twenty six
[46:03] Speaker 1: rushing yards. If you don't they only had twenty, so Jam,
[46:07] Speaker 1: you really stepped up and to that point, they wanted
[46:10] Speaker 1: on the ground. Bob Chesney likes to run. He likes
[46:13] Speaker 1: to play a physical brand of football. They only had
[46:16] Speaker 1: ninety three passing yards, but they had three hundred and
[46:18] Speaker 1: eighteen on the ground, including two hundred and twenty of
[46:21] Speaker 1: which came from our good friend Wayne Night. Hello the course,
[46:27] Speaker 1: just like the other Wayne Knight, Dan, he is short,
[46:30] Speaker 1: he is stout, he is annoying as hell, and if
[46:34] Speaker 1: you're a James Madison fan, you love having him on
[46:35] Speaker 1: your team because it's sort of a bowling ball with eyes.
[46:37] Speaker 1: He had a really good game seventy three yard touchdown
[46:40] Speaker 1: run in this one early on Alonza Barnett, like I said,
[46:44] Speaker 1: not great through the air, but did enough on the ground,
[46:46] Speaker 1: especially in the second half here to get the win
[46:49] Speaker 1: over Troy. Your final was thirty one to fourteen. Dan,
[46:53] Speaker 1: I guess we're going to see what the committee does
[46:56] Speaker 1: on Sunday. But if you believe the rankings, unless there
[47:01] Speaker 1: is some sort of magic trick that goes on at
[47:03] Speaker 1: the eleventh hour, I gotta imagine that JMU is in
[47:06] Speaker 1: as well.
[47:07] Speaker 2: Yeah, and look, there's a lot of people who are
[47:10] Speaker 2: rightfully saying that, like this is not necessarily the intent
[47:13] Speaker 2: of finding a national champion and not having the twelve
[47:16] Speaker 2: like clear best teams or twelve of the like fourteen
[47:19] Speaker 2: best teams. And we have an argument over you know,
[47:21] Speaker 2: twelve thirteen, fourteen, fifteen or whatever, and talk about Vanderbilt
[47:25] Speaker 2: in Texas, and that's the conversation we should be having,
[47:27] Speaker 2: and that's all fine. There's a lot of tournaments with
[47:30] Speaker 2: teams that don't have the best records, that don't have
[47:33] Speaker 2: the best schedules, Like we watch the NCAA tournament every year,
[47:36] Speaker 2: and then there's a team who goes you know, I'm
[47:39] Speaker 2: trying to do my math here, but like fourteen and eighteen,
[47:42] Speaker 2: but wins the CAAA or something and ends up in
[47:45] Speaker 2: the tournament and they do a lot better than the
[47:47] Speaker 2: team who won the regular season portion and basketball is
[47:50] Speaker 2: not football, but it's a tournament and there are rules
[47:53] Speaker 2: to the tournament. And then there's just weird years to tournaments.
[47:56] Speaker 2: This is a weird year and teams like Texas and
[47:58] Speaker 2: Vanderbilt and by teams who've had playoff caliber seasons at
[48:04] Speaker 2: times are left out and we have JMU, we have Tulane,
[48:08] Speaker 2: we have Duke winning the ACC. We're probably going to
[48:10] Speaker 2: overreact as a sport and it's probably gonna lead to
[48:13] Speaker 2: something new. But I think we just kind of have
[48:16] Speaker 2: to live with it, even if those first round games
[48:19] Speaker 2: are going to get Like who I forget? Who was?
[48:21] Speaker 2: Last year? Was a Sean McDonough sort of opining during
[48:24] Speaker 2: a broadcast about Indiana losing to Notre Dame the way
[48:27] Speaker 2: that they did. That didn't age super well. Now, by
[48:29] Speaker 2: the way, when Indiana now beating Ohiles Stay a few
[48:32] Speaker 2: months later to win the Big Ten. But I don't know,
[48:36] Speaker 2: it's sports. That's what happens. All of these teams had
[48:39] Speaker 2: control over their results, and sometimes you just get a
[48:43] Speaker 2: weird field, and that's that's where we are.
[48:45] Speaker 1: I also don't think JM you look the part of
[48:47] Speaker 1: a like I'm glad they're in. I think they belong in.
[48:51] Speaker 1: Given the letter is not their fault. It isn't their fault.
[48:54] Speaker 1: All you can do is win the games. Yeah that, yes,
[48:58] Speaker 1: they left I think a bit to be to Their
[49:00] Speaker 1: defense is solid. Their defense is good.
[49:02] Speaker 2: Oh buddy, they flatten Troy.
[49:03] Speaker 1: I stand by what I said a couple of weeks
[49:06] Speaker 1: ago that at least on the defensive side, I'm interested
[49:09] Speaker 1: to see what they can do against some better competition.
[49:11] Speaker 1: But yeah, by virtue of circumstances, there's a pretty good
[49:16] Speaker 1: chance we're going to be talking about JMU in there
[49:18] Speaker 1: as likely a twelve seed squaring off against Oregon or
[49:21] Speaker 1: whoever ends up being the five.
[49:23] Speaker 2: Yeah.
[49:25] Speaker 1: Elsewhere around college football. Three other games, we have Boise
[49:28] Speaker 1: State winning the Mountain West for the third straight year.
[49:32] Speaker 1: It was never close. They won thirty eight to twenty one.
[49:35] Speaker 1: They jumped out to a twenty one ZIP lead in
[49:37] Speaker 1: the first half. UNLV was playing from behind the entire game.
[49:40] Speaker 1: They did get it close, they did pull to within
[49:43] Speaker 1: twenty eight twenty one in the third quarter, but the
[49:46] Speaker 1: Boise defense really locked them down in the fourth quarter.
[49:49] Speaker 2: Yes, there was a ton of blue by the way
[49:50] Speaker 2: for the Boise passing game with Maddox Mattson. Yes, looking
[49:54] Speaker 2: into the UNLV secondary, he would just kind of see
[49:57] Speaker 2: a safety peaking or kind of see a safety leaning
[50:00] Speaker 2: one way, and he would just throw it. I was
[50:02] Speaker 2: gonna say to Grass, it's not grass, but he would
[50:04] Speaker 2: throw it to wide open blue turf where he knew
[50:06] Speaker 2: a receiver would be and thus was and there was
[50:10] Speaker 2: just chunk play after chunk play for Boise UNLV is
[50:14] Speaker 2: a defense that didn't give them any problem earlier in
[50:16] Speaker 2: the season, and they played like they knew they wouldn't
[50:18] Speaker 2: on Friday night and didn't.
[50:21] Speaker 1: Western Michigan won the mac Yes twenty three to thirteen.
[50:26] Speaker 1: They had two hundred and eighty six yards on the ground.
[50:31] Speaker 1: Jalen Buckley was a dude. He had won ninety three
[50:35] Speaker 1: and two scores and nineteen carries. Miami struggled to move
[50:38] Speaker 1: the ball. They had two different quarterbacks in this game.
[50:41] Speaker 1: Their biggest issue was they just couldn't run. They only
[50:44] Speaker 1: had seventy three yards on thirty one carries. So Western
[50:48] Speaker 1: Michigan ends up winning this one in a game that
[50:52] Speaker 1: I think final was twenty three to thirteen. It really
[50:55] Speaker 1: wasn't that close. It did not feel close at all
[50:57] Speaker 1: because this was a dominant effort from Western Michigan. So
[51:00] Speaker 1: grats to the Broncos and last, but certainly not least,
[51:03] Speaker 1: let's give a shout out to Kenneth saw State Baby
[51:06] Speaker 1: oh Man so cool second year in FBS college football.
[51:11] Speaker 1: They win nineteen fifteen, A good game from Amari Cooper
[51:16] Speaker 1: passed for two forty six and a touchdown. I am
[51:21] Speaker 1: really excited. I'm Mario odem Mario odams A. Mariy Cooper
[51:25] Speaker 1: would be a cool story. It's late if he came
[51:27] Speaker 1: back and played quarterbacks. That mistake number three for me.
[51:30] Speaker 1: I get three on a late night show.
[51:31] Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, you're good.
[51:32] Speaker 1: I am really excited about this jump for Kennesaw State.
[51:35] Speaker 1: This is season two after joining FBS. I am thrilled
[51:40] Speaker 1: with what Jerry Mack did this year for the Owls.
[51:43] Speaker 1: We talked about it in the preseason a little bit.
[51:45] Speaker 1: There was a lot of controversy about moving on from
[51:47] Speaker 1: their previous coach going to Jerry Mack. There was a
[51:51] Speaker 1: lot to like about Jerry Mack. There were reasons, I
[51:54] Speaker 1: think to be excited about what he could do. The
[51:56] Speaker 1: fact that they win Conference USA in twenty twenty five
[51:59] Speaker 1: is nuts. Yes, even your rosiest of projections for Kanisau
[52:03] Speaker 1: State would not have them winning this conference. And I
[52:06] Speaker 1: don't care if there were other teams across this conference
[52:08] Speaker 1: that were decimated, either with coaches leaving or players leaving
[52:11] Speaker 1: or whatever. But the fact that they got it together
[52:14] Speaker 1: as quickly as they didn't. One is awesome, awesome for them,
[52:17] Speaker 1: So congratulations if you're a Kannesau State owl.
[52:20] Speaker 2: By the way, they acquitted themselves, Kanasa State acquitted themselves
[52:25] Speaker 2: against Wake Forest in the exact same manner. They lost
[52:29] Speaker 2: by one, So didi or Georgia Tech beat Wake by one.
[52:33] Speaker 2: Virginia Tech lost by seven to Wake, Kennesaw lost by one,
[52:37] Speaker 2: Oregon State lost by twenty five, Kennisau lost by one.
[52:40] Speaker 2: SMU lost by one to Wake, Kennesaw lost by one. Like,
[52:44] Speaker 2: I don't know, it's just sometimes you just got to
[52:46] Speaker 2: be like, that's a cool thing that Kennesaw accomplished this year,
[52:49] Speaker 2: turning it around and winning the conference. In year two
[52:51] Speaker 2: as an FBS team, we saw like the good new
[52:53] Speaker 2: FBS teams, And I know Conference USA is a little
[52:56] Speaker 2: bit different than it was a few years ago. But
[52:58] Speaker 2: like Missouri State and Delaware, like all good stories.
[53:03] Speaker 1: Those are the nine games that took place on Championship Week. Again,
[53:08] Speaker 1: Dan and I are going to be back on Sunday
[53:12] Speaker 1: at five pm Eastern time. We're gonna do a live stream,
[53:14] Speaker 1: We're gonna record it. We'll post the audio for our
[53:16] Speaker 1: podcast listeners and we're going to talk through what this
[53:19] Speaker 1: playoff field looks like, but not to put you too
[53:22] Speaker 1: much on the spot, just as like a natural transition
[53:25] Speaker 1: to what we know we're going to have to talk
[53:27] Speaker 1: about tomorrow. How would you see these teams in the playoff?
[53:33] Speaker 1: I think let's assume that JMU is the twelve and
[53:36] Speaker 1: too late As is the eleven. Rank the ten.
[53:43] Speaker 2: I would start number ten. I would go I guess
[53:48] Speaker 2: Notre Dame. I'd go nine, Miami, I'd go eight. I
[53:58] Speaker 2: just I need to pull the teams up.
[53:59] Speaker 1: Tie.
[54:00] Speaker 2: Who am I missing right now? I guess eight Oklahoma.
[54:02] Speaker 1: It would be Oklahoma.
[54:02] Speaker 2: Yeah, it would be Oklahoma. Seven would be a and
[54:05] Speaker 2: M Six would be all Miss, five would be Oregon.
[54:08] Speaker 2: Four would be Texas Tech. Three would be I think
[54:12] Speaker 2: they're going to bump Ohio State down. But I would
[54:14] Speaker 2: put three Georgia to Ohio State one Indiana.
[54:19] Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, I think maybe with the exception of
[54:21] Speaker 1: a few differences.
[54:23] Speaker 2: I mean, I think it's weird to rank Miami behind
[54:26] Speaker 2: Notre Dame for the past whatever four or five weeks
[54:28] Speaker 2: and then like spring them up.
[54:29] Speaker 1: Because they got closer. I think that's what they're going
[54:31] Speaker 1: to do. I really think that's what they're gonna do.
[54:34] Speaker 1: And there's also no guarantee that they're going to bump
[54:36] Speaker 1: Alabama out completely. I mean, this committee has proven time
[54:40] Speaker 1: and again that they don't always operate on the same
[54:42] Speaker 1: logical plane as the rest of us. So I don't
[54:46] Speaker 1: envy the position they're in. I think it's sort of
[54:48] Speaker 1: an impossible choice every year when they have to do it.
[54:51] Speaker 1: But I think if it were up to me, I
[54:54] Speaker 1: would probably go in the similar direction. The question that
[54:58] Speaker 1: I know we'll get from some in the verball or
[55:00] Speaker 1: hood is well, what about BYU and what about Texas
[55:03] Speaker 1: or what about Vandy? What do we have to say
[55:06] Speaker 1: about those three teams?
[55:07] Speaker 2: Dan, Vandy's a tough one because you lose to Texas
[55:13] Speaker 2: and Alabama. And if you're gonna say, if I'm gonna
[55:16] Speaker 2: say Alabama's not in, I don't know how you make
[55:18] Speaker 2: the case for Vandy in this moment, as impressive as
[55:21] Speaker 2: they were. Like I would, just from a peer entertainment standpoint,
[55:23] Speaker 2: would love to have Diego pave in my playoff. I
[55:26] Speaker 2: just think there's just too much of a roadblock right now,
[55:29] Speaker 2: not logistically but logically in terms of Texas. I've talked
[55:34] Speaker 2: about this before. My thoughts Texas can look like a
[55:37] Speaker 2: playoff caliber team. They didn't do it often enough for me,
[55:40] Speaker 2: both in their wins and their losses. I know you
[55:43] Speaker 2: know we're not gonna I'm not going to try to
[55:45] Speaker 2: retread what we've spoken about before. They had a chance
[55:48] Speaker 2: to have a huge win against Ohio State, didn't do it,
[55:50] Speaker 2: And now because there are consequences to losing a game,
[55:54] Speaker 2: they're like, well, we don't want to face consequences anymore.
[55:56] Speaker 2: We're not going to schedule big games like okay, okay, Texas,
[55:58] Speaker 2: good luck. So I just don't have Texas there. They
[56:03] Speaker 2: just didn't look of a high caliber team, look like
[56:06] Speaker 2: a high caliber team often enough, So I don't have
[56:08] Speaker 2: them there with their three losses. Who else did you
[56:11] Speaker 2: mention BYU? You talked about BYU already. I just think
[56:15] Speaker 2: it was a bad year to have the record that
[56:18] Speaker 2: they did, and when you look more closely at their games,
[56:23] Speaker 2: specifically against Texas Tech, losing by a combined fifty is
[56:27] Speaker 2: not a huge selling point when you're talking about very
[56:30] Speaker 2: small margins between these teams. So that's why I don't
[56:35] Speaker 2: have BYU there. That they had an opportunity to say, yes,
[56:39] Speaker 2: I know we lost by twenty two or whatever to
[56:41] Speaker 2: Texas Tech a few weeks ago, but we've grown, we've changed,
[56:45] Speaker 2: you know, we've evolved since then, and let us prove it.
[56:49] Speaker 2: And unfortunately for BYU, bear Backmeier and his health got
[56:52] Speaker 2: in the way of being able to prove it. But
[56:55] Speaker 2: even still they couldn't do it. Like Texas was the
[57:00] Speaker 2: clear better team once again, injuries happened, adjustments need to happen.
[57:04] Speaker 2: Depth needs to be there and just wasn't for BYU.
[57:07] Speaker 2: Takes nothing away from what was a really, really strong season,
[57:10] Speaker 2: but I don't have them there.
[57:12] Speaker 1: I think in the case of BYU, in the case
[57:17] Speaker 1: of Texas, in the case of Alabama, yeah, you get
[57:23] Speaker 1: blown out against top ten team in BYU's case more
[57:26] Speaker 1: than once, and then you got to take an extra
[57:29] Speaker 1: hard look at that team's resume. And this is also
[57:32] Speaker 1: true now of Alabama, even though it was in a
[57:33] Speaker 1: conference championship game. You lose that badly. You know, not
[57:38] Speaker 1: every loss is the same, and the committee has acknowledged
[57:42] Speaker 1: as much. I think they have given Notre Dame a
[57:45] Speaker 1: lot of credit for its close losses again to really
[57:49] Speaker 1: good losses by comparison, by a combined four points. They
[57:52] Speaker 1: have given them credit for that.
[57:54] Speaker 2: If you were going to give strength of record in
[57:56] Speaker 2: Notre Dame, where the wins weren't super imp of opponent wise,
[58:01] Speaker 2: but they didn't win any boy single digits, they blew
[58:03] Speaker 2: everybody out basically, that's right.
[58:04] Speaker 1: So if if you're gonna look at a loss, as
[58:07] Speaker 1: apparently the committee is doing and saying, well, a close
[58:10] Speaker 1: loss is pretty good, and we will give you some
[58:13] Speaker 1: credit half credit for that, I think if you're going
[58:16] Speaker 1: to apply that logic to a close loss, you also
[58:19] Speaker 1: have to look at a blowout loss against some of
[58:21] Speaker 1: these teams and use that as a measuring stick to
[58:24] Speaker 1: determine is this team up the stuff when it comes
[58:26] Speaker 1: to making that playoff field, And I think there's probably
[58:30] Speaker 1: a case to be made that it disqualifies some of
[58:32] Speaker 1: those teams that find themselves in that situation. Vandy's a
[58:35] Speaker 1: tough one, you know, Vandy's very much a tough one.
[58:38] Speaker 1: And I will admit, just from an entertainment standpoint, having
[58:41] Speaker 1: Diego pave in the playoff will be damn fun. I
[58:44] Speaker 1: think they're going to be in the outside looking in.
[58:46] Speaker 1: But at the end of the day, this is still
[58:49] Speaker 1: a really really solid team that has a lot to
[58:52] Speaker 1: be excited about now that they're flipping top quarterback recruits.
[58:55] Speaker 1: They got Clark Lee signed to a longer term extension.
[58:59] Speaker 1: He's not going where. I mean, the future is very,
[59:01] Speaker 1: very bright for this program. I just think it's you know,
[59:05] Speaker 1: not playing a game this week, and I know they
[59:06] Speaker 1: maybe tried to play something of an exhibition game this week.
[59:10] Speaker 1: Not having that extra game probably hurt them, you know,
[59:14] Speaker 1: about as much as anybody.
[59:17] Speaker 2: It is a weird thing, right that. I know that,
[59:19] Speaker 2: Right it's hard to like look at the committee and say,
[59:22] Speaker 2: like this is who they are, and this is what
[59:23] Speaker 2: they believe, and this is how they're going to you know,
[59:25] Speaker 2: this is what history tells us what they're going to
[59:27] Speaker 2: react to and not react to. Like Miami was twelve.
[59:31] Speaker 2: How many days ago? Four days ago? Yeah, Miami was twelve.
[59:36] Speaker 2: They found Miami's ten and two seasons be less impressive,
[59:40] Speaker 2: given Miami's wins and losses, the manner in which they
[59:42] Speaker 2: did so, who they played. They found it to be
[59:44] Speaker 2: less impressive than BYU at eleven and one, BYU had
[59:49] Speaker 2: to play in a game against a more difficult team
[59:53] Speaker 2: than arguably Miami has faced all season long and lost.
[59:57] Speaker 2: Miami didn't have to play having go on ten and
[1:00:00] Speaker 2: two in a weaker conference. In my opinion, the ACC
[1:00:02] Speaker 2: is weaker than the Big Twelve this season. I don't
[1:00:04] Speaker 2: know if the numbers bear that out. You might have
[1:00:05] Speaker 2: a better idea than I do. I don't think the
[1:00:07] Speaker 2: ACC was all that strong in the upper half this year,
[1:00:11] Speaker 2: with how a couple of different teams collapsed, right, and
[1:00:15] Speaker 2: Miami's gonna jump BYU right based on what exactly?
[1:00:20] Speaker 1: Like?
[1:00:20] Speaker 2: Those are the things to me, like I'm trying to
[1:00:22] Speaker 2: understand an ununderstandable phenomenon. That's not a word I understand,
[1:00:27] Speaker 2: but like that's one of those things where you're just
[1:00:28] Speaker 2: like you put somebody up from the committee on a
[1:00:31] Speaker 2: stage with a microphone. You're like, what did Miami do
[1:00:34] Speaker 2: this week in a way that impressed you enough to
[1:00:37] Speaker 2: have them jump BYU who actually had to play in
[1:00:40] Speaker 2: a conference championship. That's it's just one of those weird things.
[1:00:42] Speaker 2: And there's you know, the logic can be applied to Alabama.
[1:00:44] Speaker 2: I understand that as well. It's just they paint themselves
[1:00:47] Speaker 2: into a corner and then are gonna have to get
[1:00:50] Speaker 2: on TV and be like so here's what we think now,
[1:00:52] Speaker 2: and nobody's gonna be happy.
[1:00:55] Speaker 1: Why don't we leave it there. Congratulations to all nine
[1:00:59] Speaker 1: of the conference champions. We've got a big day upcoming
[1:01:02] Speaker 1: tomorrow where we're going to figure out what the rest
[1:01:04] Speaker 1: of the postseason looks like. Again, I would encourage everybody,
[1:01:08] Speaker 1: first off, if you made it this far, hit follow
[1:01:10] Speaker 1: or subscribes that you don't miss any of our episodes. Secondly,
[1:01:13] Speaker 1: if you are going to be around on Sunday, and
[1:01:15] Speaker 1: if you're interested in taking part of the live reaction
[1:01:18] Speaker 1: that we're going to do, that'll be at five pm
[1:01:20] Speaker 1: Eastern time. The rankings come out much earlier than that.
[1:01:24] Speaker 1: We're going to give ourselves a chance to take it
[1:01:27] Speaker 1: all in, let it marinate a little bit, put some
[1:01:29] Speaker 1: thoughts together. We'll take your comments, we'll take some questions.
[1:01:33] Speaker 1: We'll be as interactive as we can with it, because
[1:01:36] Speaker 1: I know this is a very big thing in the
[1:01:37] Speaker 1: college football world and something that everybody looks forward to.
[1:01:40] Speaker 1: So much much more to come here. We still do,
[1:01:43] Speaker 1: at some point need to talk about some of the
[1:01:45] Speaker 1: other coaching news that transpired, but we'll save that for
[1:01:48] Speaker 1: the upcoming week. Because college football is never short on news,
[1:01:52] Speaker 1: especially this time of year, so keep it right here again,
[1:01:56] Speaker 1: follow or subscribe if you're ever so inclined. If you
[1:01:59] Speaker 1: made it this far, if you enjoy your hearing, please
[1:02:02] Speaker 1: consider leaving us a five star rating or review, or
[1:02:06] Speaker 1: just dropping a comment wherever you can. We read all
[1:02:08] Speaker 1: that stuff, We appreciate all that stuff. As I like
[1:02:11] Speaker 1: to say, please be kind, but we would love to
[1:02:14] Speaker 1: hear from you. We'd love to get away.
[1:02:17] Speaker 2: You did neglect possibly the most important long term thing
[1:02:21] Speaker 2: that transpired today, and that is the Pin Stripe Bowl
[1:02:25] Speaker 2: is going to feature your national championship. We get Penn
[1:02:29] Speaker 2: State Clemson, Ty Hildebrandt, I said, I didn't say where
[1:02:32] Speaker 2: they'd be playing, but we get them. I almost feel
[1:02:35] Speaker 2: like you have to sing the national anthem before that matchup,
[1:02:39] Speaker 2: and it's in your favorite baseball team stadium. God Yankee
[1:02:43] Speaker 2: fan tie gets Penn State Clemson arguably the two most
[1:02:47] Speaker 2: disappointing teams of the season facing off in a baseball stadium.
[1:02:51] Speaker 2: I assume in like three hours from the time we're
[1:02:53] Speaker 2: recording this, and you called it with an asterisk.
[1:02:58] Speaker 1: With an asterisk, great, We will talk to you guys
[1:03:02] Speaker 1: before long. Thank you again for your ongoing support. All
[1:03:06] Speaker 1: that's left now is the field of twelve. We will
[1:03:08] Speaker 1: go through that as soon as we can. For that guy,
[1:03:10] Speaker 1: Dan Rubensteph, for myself Tye Hildebrand. As always, thanks for
[1:03:14] Speaker 1: hanging with us, for supporting what we do. We catch
[1:03:16] Speaker 1: you on the flip side, say so.
[1:03:18] Speaker 2: Peace,

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