The volume.
College football reactions presented by j Jaylab has the best audio products in the game. They're ready to take care of you this football season, traveling to watch your favorite team or just streaming the game at home. Find the Blue Box at Walmart, Target, Best Buy, or go to JLab dot com. Love their stuff the Blue Box. Here's the Alabama quarterback that won a Natty in twenty ten with a Crimson Tide. He's the host of OLA's College Football, Greg McElroy, who we bring on two or three times
a year. The latest college football rankings have come out BYU is gone. I don't have a problem with it, I think, and I'm assuming most of you who've listened to my show know what the college football rankings were. Oregon one, Ohio State two, Texas three, Penn State four. Not sure I buy Penn State, Indiana five, Notre Dame six, Bama, who I think is better than advertised at seven, Miami eight.
Don't know if I buy him, Ole Miss nine, Georgia ten, and Tennessee who I had winning the Natty eleven, and Boise State twelve. So here's let me just throw this out there. For years and years I heard Greg big Ten fans always state, why don't we have to go south to play our bowl games? So what's interesting is Georgia would have to go to Penn State, it's pickham Ole, Miss would have to go to Indiana, and Alabama would
have to go to Notre Dame. I do think that's an advantage for cold weather teams over warm weather teams.
Do you, absolutely that's a huge deal, especially looking at the I mean, what did Wisconsin just do this past week? I mean, and I know that right now it's not frigid temperatures in Madison, but they just got rid of their air raid style offensive coordinator because it's hard to throw and to be a pass happy offense in November in the Big Ten, well raise it by at least I don't know, three or four times the intensity in
the playoff setting in December. I mean, look, I've lived in Cincinnati in New Jersey in my time in the NFL. The day I left Cincinnati, it was minus thirty two degrees wind chill, and I thought to myself, I'm never coming back.
If I have to retire, I will.
I cannot play in this We don't even have an indoor facility at the Bengals, I cannot do it anymore. Yeah, so, long story short, I think you go to Columbus, you go to Penn State. Depending on the day, it could be a three to five point advantage in favor of the home team.
Yeah, no, I agree with that. It's interesting. I think Georgia is better than Penn State, but I do think Penn State matches up well with Georgia because Penn State's defensive intensity upfront and George's very inconsistent on line. If this game was in Georgia, I wouldn't be surprised if they won by twenty. But I think it's a weird matchup for Georgia, a team I really like. But you know this, in the NFL, the two things. There's a
couple of things that guarantee consistency in the NFL. Beyond a great quarter a good defense keeps you in every game, and a great old line even on games you don't play well, keepshin games like the Detroit Lions. It's hard to play bad when you literally have four Pro bowlers, three Pro bowlers up front. It just you know what I mean. And so when you look at Georgia, I love Georgia, but their O line worries me and I think they're in consistency. All boils down to their front.
Do you think they could win a national championship with it? I don't think you can win a World Series with a bad bullpen or or a Super Bowl or a Natty with a bad offensive line. Can Georgia win a Natty?
Yes they can.
And while I am totally on board with you, based on what we saw against ole Miss, I did that game calling and it was it wasn't pretty.
I mean, they're you know, I.
Will say this about ole Miss is a defensive line like in a gotta have it situation, when those guys know it's a contract game, all right, Like buckle up. Yeah, there's a bunch of guys that are going to be a handful, not just at this level, but at the next level as well. With all due respect to Penn State, do I think they can cause problems for George's offensive line?
Yes?
Did I think they were going to cause problems to Ohio State's offensive line?
Yes? Did they know?
And my biggest problem with Penn State has long been in the biggest game of the year, they scored six offensive points and you can tell me about goal line stands. All right, cool, you had a goal line stand, I'll raise you. Will Howard fumbling it over the pylon for a touch back. So and if not for the pick six, I mean, who knows? And to me, I just I just don't trust them. I don't think they have receivers that can separate. I think their tight end is an
absolute machine and is pound for pound. If maya a Heisman ballot, I think you do too. He's in consideration for a Heisman Trophy ballot. Top three.
Yes, for seventeen catches against USC, the.
Guy would be a top The guy would be a top ten running back in the Big Ten. I mean, he's just that versatile, He's just that good. He's the closest thing in college football this year to Brock Bowers. So I love him. But I don't know about their ability to stretch the field. And against teams like Georgia, against teams that are at the highest levels of the sport, you have to create chunk yardage. You can't just have thirteen, fourteen, fifteen play drives. It's just not gonna happen. How did
Oregon beat Ohio State? They cut the head off the snake by hitting forty yard throws down field. And I don't think Penn State has that capability, or at least I haven't seen anything to make me believe they have it at this point of the season.
So I think Oregon, being a West Coast guy, West coast travels pretty easy. I mean, Washington to Arizona State's considered a long roady, but you always played it.
That's been a house of horrors for Washington for a long time.
But Oregon these schools. You know, USC goes to Maryland, that's like four road trips in one. It really is. So Oregon this weekend goes to Madison. Well, how many conference games in a row of they played? I thought Oregon looked eight. I think I thought Oregon looked exhausted. And so there's there's a game every year where I'm like, remember years ago in Ohio State got beat by Purdue by like thirty, and You're like, the hell is that?
I feel like, just take this game out, Just take it out, because I think Oregon and ASIN would beat him by twenty six neutral feel would beat him by sixteen. I still think Oregon's speed is I think Oregon can win a Natty. I don't know if they could beat Texas player for player, But I didn't take anything negative out of the Wisconsin game. I'm like, Oregon's played eight straight conference games, they're college kids. They look tired.
Well, first of all, I could not agree with you more.
You're a football guy, Colin. Yeah, Like you're a foot like.
You know, you followed the game for a really long time and you have covered it as well, if not better than anybody in my generation of sports media. You are a football guy through and through. You know the dynamics of having to play two straight months against quality competition, or the dynamics of having to travel out on a Thursday for a Saturday night game because you're three time zones away. Like, that's a very difficult thing that teams
have to deal with. Oregon played their C game at best offensively, I mean, they did not play well whatsoever. Dylan Gabriel threw an uncharacteristic interception on a throw that he's made ninety nine times out of one hundred, and the one that he doesn't make it's because the receiver drops it. He misses the throw inside it's intercepted. They couldn't really stretch the field and that's really what their offense has decided to do is to create big plays.
I thought Wisconsin was very disciplined and kind of kept it in front of him and didn't and they kind of forced Oregon to play a game that they're not Super Bowl super comfortable playing. But you know what that taught me this past weekend, Colin, was that Oregon is adaptable. They're not one of the Oregon of Chip Kelly was, Hey, we got out tempo yet, and we're going to have better defensive players than you realize. But we want to
win games thirty five to twenty eight this Oregon. If you want to make it a track meet like it was at times against Ohio State, cool, We'll win the game in the thirties, maybe if the forties that's what's necessary, that's what we'll do. But we can also win a game in the teams. And I think that this has shown the evolution of Dan Lanning and the evolution of the program. Whereat the offense doesn't have their best stuff,
Hey guys, guess what on defense, Let's raise this. Let's raise the stakes a little bit, get a little more aggressive, and see if we can't dictate our terms and win the game with our side of the football. So I came away more impressed with Oregon, even in a lackluster performance offensively.
So Greg McElroy is many of you know as a friend. Is he and Joel Platter people I really like to talk college football with. They're so prepared, and they both played the quarterback position. Alabama's fascinating first of all. Jalen Milroll, I don't know, and I do this for a living. I don't know what to make of him as a pro prospect. I really like him as a college quarterback. I think he throws a beautiful deep ball. He's got really like a Russell Wilson deep ball touch. It's a
beautiful ball, incredibly catchable. And I think Kaylen de Boor, I think we forget that. Kaylen de Boor is a great coach and took over a great program. But you're instituting your own culture. And I think Nick was more of a little bit more of a screamer, a volume coach like Loud. That's not Kaylan. He's more of a teacher and a mentor. So there's an adjustment for the
players in Alabama. It's a new way. So they've had a couple of really bad halves, really bad halves, and I'm like, Okay, but I don't care if you're taking If I'm taking over Nike, it's a great company. I'm trying to change the culture in institute my worldview. So I think Alabama now is actually underrated. I think it's gonna I think by the end of this season, you're gonna look at them and go, God, they're really good. They have an NFL first second round quarterback, they have
an excellent coach. But so I'm defending Alabama. My take is they get cherry picked a little more than most teams because they lose Nick and they're gonna lose some guys in the portal, and people cherry pick them. It's very hard to follow Nick Caleb is Kaylen's learning as he goes. Alabama's not Washington, Okay, al The culture's different, the demands are different, the intensity, the media. It's a relentless job. Washington's not. They got the Seahawks right down
the road. If you lose, people forget very quickly. I think he's done a great job. I think Alabama now is underrated. You know the program better than anybody. Am I overstating what they can do. I think they can win a Natty. In fact, I would take them over I would over Georgia. But I don't think that's I don't think that's the view of most experts.
I think that they've been a bit of a punching bag this year, understandably because we chase false gods in sports, you know, like, do you realize that I don't know. I mean you you cover the NBA. Did Michael Jordan ever miss a game winning shot? Absolutely not, because I check YouTube highlights and I don't see a lot of
misses on there. Like we chase false gods, and I feel like, even though we're just one year removed, people will look at Nick Saban's tenure and they're going to sit there and think, oh, well, he never played close against teams after a law after a big win. Oh well, he never had a two point win against South Carolina, who at the time was like a five hundred football team. Oh well, well he never did this, And the realities,
it's not true. Nick Saban after a win or after a loss, excuse me, was like eight and fourteen against the spread in the last five years. You know, It's like it's like nobody ere in the last ten years or something. It was like some absurd number. I mean, it's it's ridiculous. It's not accurate. The people don't want to remember that because they just remember the dominance and the greatness for so long. And that's not disparging Nick at all. I think he's the greatest coach in the
history of college football. It's just people don't realize that he also had teams that had flaws and that had growing experiences, and I think this team has had that. And the unfortunate thing about this team is his team is going to go or at least it has up to this point. How their quarterback goes to be. This quarterback dependent is a challenge. Your best offensive weapon outside of Jalen milro is a true freshman who is an undersized wide receiver. It has freak show qualities, but he's
not you know, he's not Megatron. There's going to be some defensive backs that he has a tough matchup against, and there's going to be some that he torches. But he's young. Your running game is really good, and your offensive line is developing into a star. That is what I think is most encouraging about where Alabama's going on their trajectory. And they're very young on defense with a new system, and they've played a little better and better
down the stretch too. So I think you're buying low on Alabama if you buy him now, can they win the Natty? I think it's all matchup driven. That's what I think is cool about where we're going is it's very matchup driven. But I do think they can do it if the you know, if things bounce their way in they play their a game down the stretch.
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So Texas is number three. I actually have made the argument that getting pushed around and humiliated at home against Georgia is the greatest way to lose if they had a lost to Georgia on a bad call or a fluky fumble. Texas is usc. It's a glamour program that gets arrogant very quickly because it's in a great college town with lots of options, beautiful people, music, and food. It's cool. Most college towns aren't cool. It's like when I worked at ESPN.
Come on, there's a lot of cool college towns. I got to push back there a little bit.
Right now, Oh, I think Austin and La are in Miami Corala.
They're very cool.
Fair enough, so I learned years ago when I worked at ESBN. It's a sports factory, and it's easy to be a sports factory because there's nothing to f and do in Connecticut. You go to Fox a Fox, You're not going to stay there for an extra hour and a half. You got a cute girlfriend. You go to Santa Monica. You'll have you know, you'll have a margarita. And so I think Texas and USC get very confident, very quick. It's a bigger city media, it's a more
national market like Austin's a cool market. So I think getting pushed around by Georgia was perfect. It keeps them humble, and now they've kind of slid under the radar because a lot of people sold their stock. I still think, I test Texas is the best team when I watch them size speed. Georgia looks like some of Nick Saban's National championship teams. Right or wrong.
I love Texas's ceiling. Why haven't they scratched it? That's my problem because I think if you want to bottle up their best performances, and at this point, maybe the Michigan game was it.
Maybe that was the best performance.
Maybe they broke Michigan and had that game not gone that way, maybe Michigan be a different team. But here's my problem with them.
Call it.
I watched them, and I'm talking more specifically to their offense. I like their defense a lot. I think their defense is really good, and I think their offense looked great against Florida. Why don't I get that version of Texas on offense every week? I mean, you have really no excuse. You have a veteran offensive line, you have a veteran quarterback. You got really talented and deep group of wide receivers and weapons. Your tight end is very difficult to cover
in a matchup problem. You have a run game that can get complex in a hurry, and an RPO and a system that can make it very difficult on the posing defenses. Why is it that we're playing sideline to sideline so much? Like why don't we take the top off the defense? Why don't we throw it downfield? I just I think Texas's offense is looking a lot like NFL offenses right now, where I just get so tired of the dink and dunk, catch and run, Like take throw it down field, like you have Josh Allen and
Patrick Mahomes. Throw it forty yards down field, and let's see what we got like this whole you know, sideline to sideline, five yards down the field, catch, run, high percentage efficient, stay ahead of the change. We're gonna play analytics. You got four downs to get it in plus territory. Like to me, that's great, it works, it wins, but it's boring, like take some shots, and I just think
Texas has yet to do that with great conviction. I think it's in there, it just hasn't happened yet, and I'm hoping that we see it before the season runs out, because I gotta be honest with you, callin like, I think Texas is in a position right now where they're number three in the country according to the College of Ball Playoff Committee, but if you really look at their resume, they haven't really earned that spot. That's almost exclusively on
EE tests. And if they were to win against Kentucky this week, which is expected, they're a three touchdown favorite, and then lose to A and M next week, their best win might very well be a six and six Vanderbilt team, and that's not going to be enough to unseat an Ole Miss or a Tennessee or another team in the SEC that's ten and two with a much
stronger resume. So I think Texas needs to play well down the stretch because I think next week becomes a playoff game if they don't play well and if they lose.
Having played the quarterback position, I've said this, I think Shdur Sanders is the best quarterback I've seen. I think he's athletic, but he really prefers sitting in the pocket. I think sometimes he holds the ball a little long, but he throws off platform. He can throw moving left, right, moving up in the pocket, back rolling. I think he throws a really pretty catchable, accurate football. He can be hurried,
he can be frenetic, and he's still accurate. Cam Ward is a lot of backyard football stuff that I don't think translates to the NFL very well. He'll make a team, somebody will roll the dice on him, and if he gets a good old line in playmakers, he'll have some success. I don't think it feels as sustainable, though Cam's talented as Shahduur Sanders.
Yeah, you know.
The Cowboys, you know the NFL. Michael Irvin told me today Colorado football.
We know this.
I mean, it's the republic. What do they call it. There's a joke conservatives called Boulder the Republic of Boulder or something. It's a quirky town, very left leaning. It's a good time.
You know.
It's not a it's not a legitimate, well healed, strongly capitalized college football program. Dion has made it really fun and deserves all the credit. I think. I think Dion would take the cowboy job, and shaduor Sanders, I think he's going to be a really good pro. When you watched Colorado, I would love to see them get in because I think they have arguable the two best college
football players. What do you make of Colorado? I didn't buy them at all early in the season, and now I watch them and I'm like, Warren SAPs done a pretty good job. They're pretty stout up front. I kind of buy them because I just think if you have the best college quarterback, it's probably worth two touchdowns in college football probably.
I think that Shador is probably the best pro prospect right now. I agree with you on the shot clock in the pocket and the pocket mobility stuff and the awareness of the rush is something that I am concerned about, yeah, as it translates to the next level. I just having been back there and been in an NFL pocket, like
there are very few clean pockets now. It's a lot cleaner now because of the RPO and some of the stuff that you know, you just can do a lot of different things, and one you can't hit quarterbacks, so that's beneficial as well. But I look at Colorado right now and they have thirty three sacks. That's made them different. They're in the top half of the country in rush defense,
which is a huge difference from a year ago. They always had wide outs, The offensive line has been fine, but they really at the same time, have they played a defense that's anywhere near the caliber of what they would see when they get in the college football playoffs.
And I think the answer to that is no. And I think they would struggle.
And you make it a perimeter game, make it a catch and run game, and their weapons against your weapons, and let's see what happens and Travis Hunter has two picks and locks down one side of the field and you know, and goes off for a buck sixty in the air. Could that happen? Absolutely, But ultimately I don't think it would end very well given the sheer quantity of NFL level defensive players that every playoff team at the top of the league's will be able to trot
out onto the field. So I would love it. I've been shamelessly rooting for them one because every former player thinks they could coach, you know, just not many of us get that opportunity. So to see Dion make the most of this opportunity gives all of us hope that maybe we could do it too. That's for That's one and two. I think it's just been cool to see that it doesn't have to be done a certain way.
There's this expectation that this tried and true way, this is how you build a program, this is how you do it, and it's not necessarily always going to be the same. It depends on the place, it depends on the coach, depends on the personality. And it's been refreshing to see somebody that's done it a little different and that has not made a lot of friends along the way.
Like he's kind of, you know, gone anti establishment and say this is how we do it, and so be it if you don't like it, and that to me is refreshing. So I'm happy for him, and I hope they went out. I'm not gonna apologize in saying that I hope we see him in the playoff.
So I made the argument the other day, I don't I thought the win over Penn State. Penn State had
opportunities to win that game. And I'm not saying Penn State's not worthy of the playoff, but if Indiana beat Ohio State and Oregon beat Ohio State, in my opinion, the two best teams they've played, because if Indiana beats Ohio State, they're for real now they're a thirteen point Underdine probably won't, but I made the argument is if Ohio State lost to Oregon in Indiana, man, I that doesn't I mean that you're certainly not getting a home game from me in the playoff. What do you make
of Ohio State? I call them the whack a mole team. Every time I'm watching it, something else pops up that worries me. Ye first it was their defense Oregon. Then it was their offense Penn State, or it was their offense against Nebraska, and then it was their quarterback play Will Howard against Penn State. And I'm like, something's off. There's just something. And by the way, I felt this for the last two to three years against Michigan, where
Michigan had an absolute identity Nick Saban's team's identity. What is Ohio State in your eyes? Beyond talented?
I think they're I ain't. They're a team that wants to be rugged, but they still have a bun, you know what I mean, Like they want to be rugged, but they still have a lot of sports cars. It's like, you know, they they they have a dirt road that you have to run in the Big ten to win a championship, and they can't decide if they want to take their you know, Ford F one fifty or their GMC Sierra, or if they just want to say forget it, well, who cares if we if we blow an axle, Like,
let's drive the Ferrari and see what happens. I think that there is a bit of an identity. Do they want to be a running team? They want to utilize quarterback run? Do they want to do they want to be a passing team? Are they a team that wants to work off play action? Like I think they can do all those things. I think they do everything well, but they don't do anything elite, and that to me is a little bit jaw dropping given their personnel. Like I think they have a good defensive line, I don't
think they have an elite defensive line. Like I think they have good run stopping defensive ends, but I don't think they have defensive vends that scare me to death. And I can put my tackles on one on one against them in an obvious passing situation. I think they have really athletic linebackers, and I think those guys are actually an upgrade from what they've had in the past. But I also think they can sometimes over pursue and Oregon hit them with some misdirections to my violation stuff.
I hate they have really good corners, but I also don't know if those corners have seen elite elite level wide receivers outside of that game against Oregon. And guess what, every team they play in the playoff will likely have elite level wide receivers. So it's a roundabout way of saying I think Ohio State has a crazy high ceiling and if they ever put it all together, it'd be a special thing for all of us to watch. But
it's Week eleven. Yeah, what are we waiting for? And I hope badly it happens this week and not because of Indiana or anything. I just want to see it. You don't accumulate that many pros on one roster and not just want something more. It feels a little bit like the twenty fifteen team, you know what I mean. Like when they were in twenty fifteen, they had the best roster, but they didn't have the best team. And I don't know why that was.
I made this argument. I think to Urban Meyer a year ago, I said, they're receiving recruiting has been so good. Brian Hartline, I mean, it's just all five star guys that even at practice, it's art, it's beautiful, and it's hard not to be seduced as a head coach when you're looking at these incredible first round wide receivers and you have good backs, not pedestrian, they're good backs. You
have world class receivers. And I think at practice, I think in game in film rooms, it's literally like putting ice cream in front of an eight year old. It's like I'm going to eat it, even if I know it's not good for me. And I think, what's happened. They're receiving. Recruiting is so good that it's seductive, and they sometimes whenever they have a bad drive, we're throwing the ball, We're going to the perimeter, and it's like this happens now. Saban his recruiting on the perimeter was
great as well. But the culture of Alabama was really about physicality, and when I thought Michigan separated from Ohio State. It wasn't better players until the very last team. It was a better identity and understanding of what they were. Hell, they beat Penn State. They didn't throw a pass in the second half on the road. So I think this may not make sense, but you know a little. You know some of this in the NFL. If your best
athletes are on the perimeter, it's seductive. You're going to be a morphinesse football team Cincinnati between losing Joe Mixon, Higgins and Chase. Of course, you're gonna throw the ball. It's just it's too appealing not to. And I feel like with Ohio State, I don't know if they need an eight minute drive to kill the clock. Is it in them running the ball and eating up clock? Is it in them? I don't know if it is.
Yeah, I think that's perfectly fair.
And they're also sometimes when I watch Ohio State and I felt like this a little bit like when I watched the Lincoln Riley led Oklahoma teams.
And this is not comparing Ryan Dade and Lincoln Riley, this is.
Not I just feel like they look at a six yard gain like it's a failure. You know what, I mean, like sometimes when I watch them, it's like, oh, handoff to Judkins up the middle, gain of five at second and five, it's like guys are walking back to the you know, their heads are hung.
It's like that was a great play.
I mean, I just think there is such pressure to not just perform at a high level, but to have a highly intoxicated offense that goes up and down the field. But also when you have an offense that can score fifty, you're hanging your defense out to dry.
So then if you.
Want to lean into your offense, now everyone's gonna call you soft because that's that's what people have been saying for the last two years. That's why you lost to Michigan because you're quote soft. That's not true. We aren't soft. And just Michigan was the better team on that day.
And Michigan last year had better personnel. They were stacked.
It wasn't close. They were they were significantly more talented, and look at the.
Draft they that, yeah, there's still more Michigan guys exactly.
So I just think that I think that I think Ohio State needs to just stay the course. Man.
They they're really talented. Don't try to be Michigan that has a good quarter. Don't try to be Michigan. Don't try to be penst It.
Just don't.
Don't try to be twenty fifteen Ohio State. Just be you, and you, the you that you are right now is plenty good enough to go win a national championship. But I think it's going to require improved offensive line play, which we've seen it's been better the last few weeks. I think it's going to require slightly more aggressive defensive philosophy with pressures and being able to ramp things up
a little bit. And I think it's going to require them being a little bit more willing to roll the dice on the perimeter some of their coverages.
I think.
Don't think you can play quarters all the time beat high level teams. I don't think you can play press man all the time beat high level teams. I just think it's gonna be interesting to watch them. I think there's plenty of talent in there. I just I think you're right. I think it comes down to identity and how they want to play into it.
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Really is.
Finally Brian Kelly, So, I do think it's harder to create cultures in the transfer portal and il era. You're walking on eggshells, you know. If a guy I mean, if you have three receivers and ones not getting reps, I mean, you can coach as hard as you used to, and I thought Brian was over the top with his sideline annex. But you know this college football. I've heard that more than once. He's not the only coach to ever do that. But with USC, there's limitations a their offenses.
All kids outside of Woody Marks in the center, they're all coming back, really really young team, And I get the exact same USC team every Saturday. They lead in the fourth, but they can't extend drives because the O line is a year away, and they just can't put teams away. But I feel like I get the exact same team every game, even the Maryland lost the Nebraska win, It's the same team. With LSU, it's all over the map. But I also feel that Brian Kelly's personality is all
over the map. It's the Southern twang, it's screaming, it's fun. He's a combustible, emotional guy, and I feel like it's feeding into LSU. I thought it would work. I thought it was a perfect fit. Something is off. What is it?
Well? I think I think it's it's all fair well one.
I still think it's gonna work. I just know that program too well. Calling It's like you just can't screw it up. It's just there's too many guys. Now you don't have the built in advantage of pre nil that you once had because guys are now willing to listen
to overtures from other places. So there there was a time where like every coach in the country is trying to get the Monroe Louisiana because they had the best offensive line of defensive line talent in the world, like per capita, like you get, like, look at the NFL guys from Monroe Louisiana.
I mean, it's just ridiculous.
So they had a little bit of a stranglehold on that part of the country and and now that you know, the lid is off. But what I would say about Brian Kelly is that they are relying on personnel on the defensive side that is just not good enough. They're just not talented enough. And I think they have enough offensively. I think their quarterbacks fantastic when he knows what color jersey they're wearing, which is not always a guarantee with
nus Meyer. He will take some risks and unnecessarily so I don't think they've been committed enough to the run game. And I also don't think that they are a team right now that if their offense doesn't have their a game that they can win. Like their defense struggles and they have a good coordinator, they just don't have the
person now. And when we think LSU personnel on defense and the best, like very few from this year's group would be starting on some of the best LSU teams on that side of the block.
No, I think that's I think that's fair. And I when I watch him, I kind of feel half to half game to game, I'm not exactly sure.
What I get.
At their very best, they're really good, but they're just wildly inconsistent. And I thought it would work. I really did. I was like one of my strongest takes, like this dude won Cincinnati. I mean, people forget Notre Dame. Notre Dame is hard. You have a religious umbrella. It is a cold, northern small town, academically harder than average. It's hard to get all the academic schools Northwestern, Stanford, Notre Dame. Have they ever all been good at once? It's hard.
And I've talked to Notre damers like it's it's it's no day at the beach and frankly that part of the country. You have to get on a plane for every single recruit. So I to win at Notre Dame, I think has always been I think in the seventies and eighties it was a glamour program that's just another cold weather place. I think it's hard, and you know,
there's there's limitations on. They've always had this austere feeling about what they are and it's like, just pay the tight end six hundred thousand to be done with it. I think I think Notre Dame still kind of struggles sometimes with hey, we're above that.
No they're not.
Florida State's paned, go pay it, let's get move on. If they're so, we're gonna wrap it up here. If I said, forget the national championship, but somebody in this playoff is going to win three games and we're all going to look up and go, man, did we look past them? It? Is there a team because I don't know. I I think Tennessee is a matchup team. Yeah, it may not be a year. Is there a team in here that you do things undervalued?
Yes? Ole Miss.
Now, Ole Miss has a bit of a unique circumstance surrounding their program and the way they've compiled their roster. So I think in the regular season with ole Miss, I think Lane would admit this culture is something that is going to be a challenge. Yeah, having guys that are just universally invested in the place because they've been there for six months, how do you develop any type of appeal for the community or for the university, Like I'm here to play ball, I'm doing this, like I'm
getting paid this, Like this is what we do. So as a result, I thought that there would be games this year that would be close because guys weren't going to be all in on a week to week basis. That happened against Kentucky and it also happened against LSU. They had no business losing either game.
None.
I mean I'm talking they completely They played their D game and if they had one fourth and seven stop on their on the Kentucky twenty yard line on a deep ball down the left side, game over, ole Miss wins. And they had nuss Meyer wrapped up three different times on the game winning drive that are the game tying drive that sent it to overtime against LSU, Like that
had no business losing either game. I've seen them at their best and I've seen them at their worst, and I'm telling you you do not want to see them at their best.
They are that good.
Yeah, and they have weapons, and they have players, and they have defensive linemen that can take over the game at three different positions. And you can do that at three different positions your cook with gas.
So if Sark meets Kiffen in the Natty, You're not shocked.
I would not be shocked at all.
Yeah, as crazy as we keep talking about Indiana and how is Indiana. Ole Miss, up until a couple of years ago, had never in the history of the state of Mississippi as a team won eleven games, So we have seen like Indiana just won ten for the first time. Ole Miss won eleven for the first time last year, So I mean we are I mean, Lane Kiffen is in uncharted territory with what he's done at that program, deserves immense credit.
Yeah, don't don't judge a coach by his first job. Lane has resurrected his career. Sark had some personal demons, overcame those, but Sark was Everybody kind of felt like Sark was gonna work even the Washington job. Growing up around that program. They were a disaster when he took it over, and they immediately he got him seven wins nine. He knew what he was doing. Yeah, Lane Kiffin had to go backwards before he could step forward. But I easy guy to root for. He can be self deprecating.
He's really good. He had a rougherly struggle, fired in an airport in Los Angeles, had the deal with old Al Davis. I'm happy for Lane, all right. Greg McElroy a Natty in twenty ten with the Alabama Crimson Tide. We've taken too much of his time. We do this a couple times a year, and mental respect for you and your knowledge of the game. You're really really good for our audience. You know, I love you and you're just terrific. And thank you again.
You're a great friend. Calin, You're the best that's ever done. In my opinion, I'm always grateful to spend the time with you. Buddy.
The volume.
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