Welcome to the Solid Verbo. I'm that for me. I'm a man, I'm forty. I've heard so many players say, well, I want to be happy. You want to be happy for dake Ado State. Is that? Whoom whoom? And Dan and Tye welcome back to the Solid Verbo. Boys and girls. My name is ty Hildebrand joining me back over there in beautiful New York City, my man Dan Rubinstein and Daniel Happy New Year, Happy twenty twenty. How are you? I'm great, and I'm especially good.
Knowing that you open the show without making some sort of twenty twenty vision crack really makes me happy.
Because I'm not even that corny that feels like it's going to be late April early May twenty twenty vision. Let's make predictions way too early kind of show. But we could do a very very cheesy Hindsight's twenty twenty.
Prediction show, or like that is we capture Oh yeah, I mean we're recapping our predictions in the Hindsight twenty twenty of our preseason predictions. But we have gotten ahead of ourselves. It is the new year, which means we have a lot of news. We have a lot of draft stuff, we have a lot of bowl games to recap. We are going to be previewing the national championship game on our next episode. Our following episode, we're going to deep dive into what's LSU Clemson. That's who see Clemson.
They are playing for the College Football Playoff national championship on January thirteenth, which I will be watching with you live for that, And as we alluded to on the previous show, we're going to be doing one of our only in person shows to recap that national championship. It hardly ever happens. So we're excited about next week. Hopefully if you're listening to us now, I know you are, but hopefully you're as excited as we are for this championship game.
Yeah, it should be a terrific championship game. We've had some terrific bowl games that have transpired since we recorded that we need to talk in depth about. I didn't watch a lot of these as they were happening, and I went back and rewatched everything I missed because I was away, I was on vacation. I was going to sleep early because I am an old but I am fully caught up and boy died Ty did I say, die, YEAHI do.
I have thoughts. Oh, I have thoughts as well, before we before we tackle all those bowl games. Yeah, I'm not going to go crazy with raising the register and saying breaking news or anything crazy like that. Boo boo boop. But a couple odds and ends that we need to discuss first and foremost. Yeah. A Bull Confidence Pool update, Dan, Oh, I'm ready. As you know. This year participants over thirteen hundred of them. A great turnout in the solid verbal
Bull Confidence Pool. They're competing for three one of three gift cards from our friends over at Roeback. Correct, We've got a pretty tight race at the top. Is that true? It is true. I'm looking at it right now. I've sort of done the math and by my calculations, an entry by the name of Keith Richards eighty six. Don't know if it is the Keith Richards. Let's assume yes, he's got thirty seven potential points remaining if he can close it out. If he gets all thirty seven of those,
he will be the victor. The one pick that I am looking at, though, the one entry I'm looking at is one. I guess it's number six. Let down look ahead Sandwich use their name z Seally. Yeah, seventy one points remaining potential points remaining. He can't dethrone Keith Richards if both of them get their two remaining picks correct, but he can leapfrog some of the other ones.
I'm jumping seventy three. Oh my gosh, maybe we have some controversial system within the ESPN's Bowl mania seventy three points remaining.
But oh okay, I got it wrong. Great.
I like the takeover. I like the takeover potential of Zee Seally. If everything works out. Where are you ty? What percentile? How many points do you have?
I entry? Yeah? So for me, let me pull up my entry here. I am currently in the seventy sixth percent tile and I have five hundred and eighty four points.
I'm in the eighty seven point six percent tile with six hundred and five points. I have forty eight points remaining potentially.
I don't know how many I have left, but suffice to say, you're probably gonna be me.
If you look at the standings, it'll tell you with your entry a top, it'll tell you how many PPR you have.
Oh there it is thirty four thirty four left. So I'm in a pretty good position to take you down. Okay, well that's fine, Yeah, it's all in good fun. What other news do we have? A former solid verbal guest, Joe Morehead has been relieved. Oh were you surprised by this? I was. Yeah.
As somebody who lives very far away from Starkfille, Mississippi, who does not have his finger on the pulse of Klanga Klanga, I assumed he would get at least another year. And I understand the frustration among Bulldog fans with you know, being out coached in certain scenarios and looking out classed in certain scenarios, with inheriting, especially what he did on defense. And I know they lost a couple of key cogs
from the twenty eighteen defense. But I was under the assumption that in making that higher that he would be given more time to see what he could do with his own recruits on either side of the ball and with his staff, and you know, improving as a coach. Obviously, there were a number of factors. Maybe there was a personality fit issue among other things. And you know, we saw Mississippi State what they give up a what a.
Thirty one point run to Louisville after going up fourteen. Nothing. Not that bowl games should be be.
All and all, but they're certainly a platform for people to take in your school and your team's ability. And that was not a great showing for Mississippi State. And as we as we move forward, I suppose Missisippi State is going to need to find somebody that they believe to be a better fit. They believe to be somebody who can prepare a team better than Mississippi State looked
at times this season. I don't know who that is, but if you fire somebody after two years, you should probably do it in December to maximize your ability to get the best possible candidate for your school and really have a plan in place. Yeah, because if the situation is so dire that Joe Morehead just cannot be the guy in Starkville, fine, okay, but they haven't hired anybody yet. Now it will quick turnaround. And the names that have been thrown around, and I'm sure you're going to get
to this, yeah, after I finished speaking. The names have been thrown around are not like, oh well, yeah, you have to get rid of Morehead to get that guy. Well, that's it. It's always the question of who's next. If you're going to make a move to your point, what is the plan to move forward? I see a lot of names here that don't excite me. I see gene Chiswick, who's currently an SEC network analyst, as a potential Billy Napier.
His team is going to play I guess on the sixth, So tomorrow we're recording this on this.
Maybe there have been back channel chats and that's a done deal. Billy Napier would be. It would be a nice hire. Had a great season at Louisiana. I see here this is a Clarion Ledger article. I see LSU defensive coordinator dave A. Randa. I don't think that's gonna happen. I guess it could, but LSU will pay him handsomely. I'm sure to keep him on the staff. So a lot remaining to be seen on this front. It did
catch me a little bit off guard as well. You would expect, like you said, that maybe they would maximize their window to search for a new coach by doing it. Maybe it's what Joe Judge.
I saw Bruce Feldman tweet out, Yeah, potential candidate the New England Patriots.
Patriot, but he's interviewing now over he's interviewing for pro jobs as well. So a lot to B C. Jeff Monkin, Willie Fritz, Blake Anderson, Mike Leach saw his name, so we'll see, I don't know, kind of caught me by surprise. Any other any other coaching hires or declarations or non declarations that we want to get to here, well, the I mean saw JK.
Dobbins, Jonathan Taylor tailback, Donovan Peoples, Jones, Jerry Judy, Chase Young, some some pretty significant names. We've had a couple guys say that they're coming back to school, highlighted by I think you know, Dylan Moses at Alabama, a big returning walker Little to Stanford, a really good offensive lineman. Uh, Pat Fryarmuth will be back at Penn State, your guy, yep,
my boy? I think what Liam Eichenberg back to Notre Dame. Okay, rakeem Boyd at Arkansas who put up some numbers of this year.
He was good. Alex Leatherwood, keykog on Alabama's offensive line, though.
I believe they lose a guard to the to the draft. I saw Savon achmed it declared the walk Shington running back Elijah Moulden from Washington decided to come back. I'm trying to think if there were any other giant, giant names that have decided to come back. But yeah, this is still a fluid thing. We don't know Tua that there's nothing official there. Jake fromm I haven't seen anything yet. I don't know if you have. Marvin Wilson decided to stay and return to Florida State to be a part
of the Mike Norvel era. Some transfers all over the place that we can get to probably in another show. Sure off season wise, but good quarterbacks out there by the way. Jamie Newman, Yeah, Jae, where's our transfer portal?
Son? Jamie Newman going to the portal? Yeah.
kJ Costello is still out there. Felipe Franks, I saw that, you know that. I think it was Dan Mullen recommended he go to Washington State and get developed by Mike Leech. Anthony Brown, Jet Duffy still out there. So some interesting names that we'll pay attention to as we sort things out. I guess in the coming weeks once people start landing everywhere. I saw Florida with a couple of big transfer recipients. Lingard from Miami, a former five star running back. So yeah,
a lot to sort out. Sean Wade is returning to a house state. You'll remember him, yep, from you know, being ejected for targeting, but also a very good corner for the buck Eyes. So that's a key returning piece for the buck Eyes.
The only other thing that I want to point out here is, and I'm sure we'll get to this and talk more about it when we get to the Sugar Bowl, but Matt Rule. Matt Rule has long been rumored for an NFL job. You'll remember the Colts opening like a year or two ago, after his first season at Baylor, there were rumors that Colts were interested in talking to Matt Rule. It seems like the smoke around Matt Rule
to the NFL is not going away anytime soon. He has two interviews set up this week, one with the Panthers, one with my New York Giants. Yep. I wouldn't hate the move, Dan would be very excited if they got Matt Rule. Would feel very sorry for our friends down at Baylor to lose a coach of his caliber. But now that Matt Rules season is complete. He is testing the NFL waters and just something to keep your eye on. Yeah. I suppose Lincoln Riley's name is going to come up a lot for the Cowboys. Yeah.
It perhaps has taken a hit with Oklahoma's performance in the College Football Playoff. I guess a couple other guys you're connected to, YGM declared a while ago?
Is it?
ALOI Gilman? I always forget his first name. Helo he HELLOHI Gilman?
Yeah he is.
kJ Hamler declared, yep, Yeah, that's a that's significant, especially since what Justin Schorter announced his intention to transfer.
Yeah, also kind of stinks. Yep. Well, let's I see you see the reclamation project that can happen with Juwan Johnson's This is a perfect segue into our Rose recap. Thank you, all right, Well, why don't we take it from there. Okay, let's talk about the Rose bull. Let's start there. Okay, granddaddy of them all. It was Oregon, it was Wisconsin. It was Oregon twenty eight, Wisconsin twenty seven. This was a close game, Dan, very close game. Would you call it an exciting game? Sure?
Yeah, even though there was a lot to be desired in terms of disciplined football and offensive consistency and passing games and general slop. The actual outcome seemed to be in doubt as the game went back and forth and needed a very late what an exclamation point with that Juwan Johnson's screen pass to win it for Oregon.
Yeah, I couldn't. It was in doubt. It was exciting and just a very strange way. A strange way is a good way to put it. I had a hard time summarizing my feelings on this game because I couldn't figure out if it was exciting because it was close, or just not exciting at all, or maybe exciting because of the circumstances, or I was watching like I didn't know how to feel about.
I think that's what it was. It was exciting because it's, you know, the Rose Bowl winding down.
It's because of the circumstances, right, not because of the offense. And of course there were some defensive plays here. As you said, this was an ugly offensive game. Five total turnovers, a lot of defense. We had some special teams. Oregon one with just two hundred and four yards of offense thanks to four Badger turnovers, three rushing touchdowns for Justin Herbert and they had that cool one handed scoop and score. I love that when they do that one handed scoop
and score from Brady Breeze. Potential All Hair team in twenty twenty, which we can get to a little bit later. As the Oregon fan, clearly you've seen Oregon in close game situations. Yeah, throughout the course of this season. Some have gone better than others, but this was another one. This is on the biggest stage. It clearly meant a lot to a guy like Justin Herbert in his senior season. What are your thoughts in this game and how it shook.
Out Oregon's defense and special teams not even really special teams even though with that the punt return because they gave up or wasn't a punt return, it was a scoop and score, miss botched punt snap, organ gave up a special team's touchdown. Wisconsin didn't get into the end zone. The Wisconsin offense didn't get into the en zone until right before the half. Oregon's defense did a very good
job against Jonathan Taylor tailback on the ground. Wisconsin needed a number of fourth down conversions to keep drives alive, which is fine.
They got him.
That big one on the Jonathan Taylor swing pass was enormous. Wisconsin has a ceiling, and that's what we've seen, and I know they've lost four straight Rose Bulls. Oregon winning this game the way they did, I think our pal Bill Connelly ESPN had Oregon's offense with a zero percent success rate in the third quarter, partially due to the fact that they scored the way they did on that scoop and score. But when the offense was on the field after that opening drive, which when I think seventy
five yard it's for a touchdown. The combination of Oregon's own predictable and lack of execution, as well as Wisconsin's defense in concert created a pretty terrible situation for Oregon's offense, and they couldn't really get the ball going on the ground, and yet they remained stubborn in the pistol and trying
to go up the gut. As we saw Wisconsin when they struggled to get things going on the ground up the middle, up the gut, they went to that the fly sweep action, which seemed to be really working and jumpstarting the Wisconsin offense. So it was a tale of Wisconsin being sloppy penalty wise and obviously turnover wise, Oregon taking advantage like a good defense and could team I suppose would, and a nice play call at the end
to Juwan Johnson to seal things. Obviously controversy with the offensive pass interference with being called on Wisconsin near the end of the game. It seemed to be the right call, but I it was also very bang bang. Also Wisconsin interfered on that long pass that was called fro defensive pass interference on or so. I don't know what cancels what out, but Wisconsin certainly had all of the opportunity in this game to put it away and came up short.
I want to give credit to Chris Fowler if I could for a second here, if we could all just take a knee. He worked so hard, so hard to make this game feel and sound more exciting than it was. That's his job. It is his job, and he did a masterful job of it. Aside of the fact that it's the Rose Bowl and there's a beautiful setting as they pan the southern California sunset, he worked so hard to make it sound exciting. I loved his quote on Jack Cone did you hear this. Did you hear what
he said? For Jack Cone? I have this Zach quote, I pulled it out. Yeah. Quote not flashy, but certainly more than a game manager. If that's not is that a compliment? What is that?
What's the bar for a game manager? Then to Chris Fowl, Wisconsin, all of it's good this year when they were really on it was Jack Cone taking advantage of a great rushing attack and quintet cephas being legitimately the only downfield threat that Wisconsin has on the Russ.
No, but yeah, it was. I feel for Wisconsin fans because that offense if Jonathan Taylor is not busting things out, and it was not an explosive offense even with him, it was much more efficient than explosive. Was not a fun watch. It was not a fun watch. And you know, Oregon did a good job harassing a lot of Wisconsin and what they were trying to do on offense and you know, swarming to the ball and forcing turnovers, but not in terms of offensive football and TV. This was
not a remarkable watch. Fair to say, fair to say, I love Chris Fowler.
Good Oregon in the hunt for a new offensive coordinator, which hopefully can take things in a more consistent, explosive, creative direction.
Maybe Joe Morehead, who knows Okay would hate but sugar ball. Georgia twenty six the Baylor Bears fourteen. A monster game here for freshman wide receiver George Pickens for Georgia. He was the player of the game because he had twelve grabs for one hundred and seventy five yards and a touchdown, So big game for him. Also nice game for Zamir White who had ninety two yards and a score on
the ground and Jake From doing more. Jake from things twenty to thirty, two hundred and fifty yards passing two touchdowns again no interceptions, had some really nice throws in this game, really nice dimes that he was just dropping in on two of those touchdown passes. And outside of that, a really efficient performance by the Georgia offense. Baylor's offense held mostly in check. Georgia took away the run almost entirely, something like two point two yards per carry for the
Bears offense. They put a lot of the pressure on Charlie Brewer and as a result, the offense held mostly in check. Under three hundred yards Brewer actually got dinged up in the fourth quarter. He wasn't concussed, thankfully, he was a couple of weeks ago, but made it through concussion protocol. They took him out out of an abundance of caution. Jacob Zino came in, couldn't really get much going, and I kind of felt like this game went almost entirely the way we expected. Yeah.
Probably, I mean, Baylor doesn't score in the first half, they take away the ground game, they take away some of the short passes. And for as good as Baylor's been this year, it's been because of their defense. And that defense can only hold on for so long if they're on the field constantly, and Georgia can say, look, we know Denzel Mims is a threat, and they're good enough to be able to take him out as often as possible, take him away from the offense, and Baylor
doesn't have a counter punch. If Charlie Brewer and Denzel Mims aren't connecting in Charlie Brewer's not scrambling for first downs, and they're able to keep him in the pocket and confuse him and take advantage of his mistakes, how much Baylor can do not at this point in their progression under Matt rule on offense. We'll see what happens in the I guess he passed concussion protocol, but he's still he's taking these hits and he's leaving games in precaution.
Like I don't know how long this can go on for Charlie Brewer and Baylor at a certain point, like it just it's a health concern.
It's a health question.
On a much more positive front, Georgia looked very good and they cared so much more in this game. It appeared just with the spirits and what JOI de vive that they played with that they didn't fully have last year against Texas. In this spot, I thought the offensive line did a lot better job protecting Jake from We saw that that flea flicker workout. Very strange to see Matt Luke already prowling the sidekins taking over for Sam
Pittman as the offensive line coach for Georgia. Whatever he did, perhaps in bowl preparation or in you know, keeping the heads of the offensive linemen on straight, especially given the new look offensive line that Georgia had given the guys that were sitting out.
Good job, good job.
I mean, Zamir White looked rand strong ran confidently. Good for him with all that the health issues he's had in the past, he looks like a future dude. For Georgia, DeAndre Swift has declared for the NFL Draft, so that's a new look. And I think you were right to lead off with George Pickens, especially if he can get the sort of mental aspect of football and controlling his temper on the field in check. He is as talented a receiver as the SEC has moving forward.
For sure, for sure, and you know what, to his credit, he called it out. He said, you know, I've got some maturing and growing do and we all do, Tyler, don't we all? Don't we all? Ain't that the truth? Man? But good game for him, A nice story to see him succeed in the way he did get that trophy at the end of the game. Georgia wins the Sugar Bowl by twelve. Elsewhere the Orange Bowl we had Florida
thirty six Virginia twenty eight. Now, look, I think there is a tenancy to gloss over this one for Florida because they were a pretty heavy favorite because they didn't win the East, right, but five hundred and forty nine yards thirty six points. That is not insignificant because it wasn't all that long ago. We were singing a much
much different tune about Florida's offense. What they did this year with a backup quarterback for the majority of the season, having to recalibrate the way that Dan Mullen did, for my money, one of the better stories in college football. Basically no success on the ground. No, not, well, what Michael p Ryan in this game against Virginia. Yes, well, Michael p Ran in this game had had a very good, very good effort here one thirty eight. But to your point, I think that's entirely accurate. Yeah.
No, they struggled to sort of put forth a complete offense this year, and they still won games. They still exclusively lost to really good teams in what LSU and Georgia and took care of business with a backup.
Quarterback who we not so politely called Calm Calm throw Kyle or whatever we called him, and he got the job done. He had a nice season, going against a Virginia team that certainly beat up on defense and has its own questions in terms of how high level they could be they were in this game the whole time. They were well they were, but they weren't like Florida kept them at arm's length for the entire second half.
They pulled within one score early in the fourth, but then Florida answered quickly and just sort of coasted to victory. So they weren't out of it. I don't know if they were ever truly within striking distance. It didn't feel that way. I mean, six points with what twelve thirteen minutes? I know, I know, I know. It's just it's not a runaway It wasn't a runaway train. You're right, it was.
The final score is not as accurate as the comfort with which Florida seemed to pull away from this game, but a nice showing because Bryce Perkins has to do it all for Virginia and continuously did all season long. I mean, not necessarily against Clemson, but you know, this is a good Florida defense that Bryce Perkins was able to find whoever has seized to wah whoever in this game and just at a certain point he just couldn't
do everything. But I like the performance. I liked the season, and I liked watching my father in law Rome across South Florida seeing Virginia fan after Virginia fan, after asking me, what do Virginia fans say to each other? Like Texas fans say, hook them? He would just go up to strangers at tables wearing Who's gear and go up to them and say, hey, waho wa, good luck. It felt like the mayor of Virginia fandom because he likes no having met secret in jokes, having met your father in law.
Yeah, didn't he do magic tricks for people at an Italian restaurant? Yeah, when we were in Chicago.
Yeah, absolutely loves going up to strangers at tables and just being friendly.
Awesome, dude, Yeah, I love the guy all right. Citrus Bowl, Alabama thirty five, Michigan sixteen. I like we knew going into this that there were some interesting matchups to watch and that Michigan had enough talent, I think, to offer resistance. The question was how much and for how long? And that's kind of been the story of coaching against Nick Saban in this one. Michigan played really well for a half.
They led by two sixteen fourteen after two quarters. Yeah, ran well, ran well, sure, second half more of the same from Alabama. They rip off twenty one unanswered. They win going away. Mac Jones a really nice game three twenty seven and three touchdowns, no picks, Najie Harris one point thirty six and two touchdowns on the ground, Jerry Judy virtually unstoppable, six for two h four and a touchdown through the air. It's really just a matter of
Alabama has a machine. They've got all the talent in the world, and it's sucks that they lost to to injury. But the other parts don't stop working simply because he's not on the field. They knew how to recalibrate the game plan. Mac Jones played really well against a good defense, and yeah, Alabama, Dan just keeps doing Alabama things. This is very true.
We've talked about what it takes to beat Alabama. Even a down Alabama defense, Michigan was able to find some success on the ground, some creative play to it was. Giles Jackson had a nice day for Michigan, sort of an all purpose tight back. Hit a couple carries and a few receptions. But you need more than shape Patterson. You need more than you need that fearless guide connecting with tall physical receivers, which Michigan has Donovan Peebles, Jones,
Nico Collins, Tariq Black. These are talented dudes, but this Michigan offense just wasn't consistent enough from the top to get it, John, and I think you were going in the right direction. Mac Jones is just a good quarterback. I mean, he has these incredible weapons and an incredible line. I know all the advantages he has, but he made plays. He made throws and that's all you can really ask for, and didn't throw pick. And I the Alabama war machine
is still going strong. And they opened the game up with what an eighty five yard touchdown catch Mac Jones to Jerry Judy. And you know, we talk about the scores misleading what the actual game look like. And I know Alabama pulled away late, but that's what good teams do. So it was what twenty one sixteen into the fourth quarter, deeper into the fourth quarter, and Alabama rode Najie Harris to shore and it worked out really well for them.
They got that late pick, and Alabama, in a game where you would understand if they weren't fully motivated against a good Michigan team, dug deep and found a way to win at the end very comfortably.
It helps to have Alabama's offensive line, definitely does. But that being said, whenever a backup comes in, I like to look and try to figure out, like, does this guy look comfortable? Yeah, handled pressure, does he look like he knows what he's doing? Or is he kind of staring at the line in front of him and acting frantic? That was not the case here. No, he looked very comfortable, very poised, And the numbers bear that out. Three twenty seven, three touchdowns, no interceptions.
Most importantly, Yeah, yeah, Alabama down at halftime.
But you know those those scrappy underdogs. Yeah no, Lisa, all right, Alamo ball. Dan is Texas back? I mean, Texas is back to being Texas. Yeah. They win some games, they lose other games. Texas is thirty eight. Utah ten just got furder Man. I did not see this one coming. I can't tell if yeah, I can't tell if Texas just smoked Utah, or if Utah didn't want to be there, or if it was some combination of both. But Utah could not get anything going in this game. This was
all Texas. It was all Sam Ellinger. He threw for three touchdowns, he ran for another. I was most impressed watching this one back at the pressure that Texas got on Tyler Huntley, Like it just it felt like they were constantly in his face, constantly changing the rhythm of that Utah offense, and as a result, the youths couldn't get anything going. Sam Ellinger did his thing on offense against a really good Utah defense. Mind, you don't know if it was a bit of a letdown situation for
Utah being so they lost the Pac twelve game. Typically we don't see that from Mi Kyle Whittinghampton. They're very good in the postseason. But suffice to say a twenty eight point win for Texas would prove otherwise.
Yeah, not great in the postseason either last year against Northwestern in the Holiday Bowl. But Utah had every reason to be motivated even after losing the Pac twelve championship game the way that they did, because this is still a high profile bowl game with everybody watching.
This was New Year's Eve. I believe this is when this went off. I think so New Year's Eve, so everybody's watching this game. It's in it's you know, it's in a dome. It's in a big dome. You got Texas fans all over the place, Utah having an opportunity, even with a down Texas to beat a high profile opponent.
And I think you're right. And I saw some quotes after the game that perhaps Utah didn't take this game as seriously as they should have. But I'm certainly glad we didn't have to watch Utah against LSU. I'm glad we didn't have to watch Utah against Clemsoner Ohio State after if they don't have the ability to get up for Texas and the Alimobile. And again, I understand the disappointment, but I'm gonna channel some inner David Pollock here. Texas won this game at the point of attack. Texas won
this game in the trenches. They protected Sam Ellinger well, they opened up lanes for Keanta Ingram and Roshan Johnson, and Ellinger ran well. And defensively, you're right, they swarmed Tyler Huntley. They basically shut down Zach Moss. And Utah is a pretty good program. They're not big time, and I think Brandon Huffman talked about this on signing Day. They're trending in that direction in terms of the talent they have. They were missing key guys in the secondary,
and Texas was able to take advantage of that. But Utah didn't have the depth, they didn't have the get up, and they didn't have the talent to hang with a seven and five Big twelve team. And it's great to kill Arizona State and Oregon State and Call and whoever. But they played Oregon in USC Washington was relatively close, and now losing to Texas, Utah just they have a ceiling. They're pretty good, they're not big time. The Texas pressure thing really threw me.
This is not a team that was good at sacking the quarterback, really generating pressure all year and they did outstanding job. Ten points they didn't score, they didn't get at the end. So until what the fourth quarter? Yeah yeah, this bally Hood and Bloodwig offense come on all right, out back ball. Minnesota thirty one, Auburn twenty four. Dan Auburn fricking gets me again. They can every year. I can't figure out what to do with Auburn in the bowl game. That's okay, it makes it spicy. I should
have gone Minnesota because of the motivation factor. I should have done it. Oh, Auburn tried. They just couldn't really do much Tanner Morgan nineteen of twenty nine, but twelve of those went to the man, the myth, Tyler Johnson. He shares my namesake. He's a boy in a man's body. Twelve catches, just like you, ty just like me. Yeah, two to four through the air, two touchdowns. He was unguardable. Maybe the most exciting game of the day.
Yeah, this was fun, especially with the way that Minnesota just slowly squeezed the life out of Auburn's defense to win this game with what an eight and a half minute drive.
It whoa a big deal for the Minnesota program. It can't be. It can't be overstated enough. A remarkable season for the Gophers to win the ball game against an SEC opponent, A big deal. PJ. Fleck seemingly hanging around another year. Yeah, trying to build something up there at Minnesota, and it's cool. It's really cool to see.
As well as he should. I mean, Minnesota played a complete game on offense, with you know, getting some bad Tanner Morgan thrown into this game. Tyler Johnson's just incredible. For as much as we'd like to drool over Rashad Bateman Tyler Johnson is now an All timer for Minnesota, and to also get it done on the ground, which they weren't able to consistently do this year with Mo was Abraham ran a lot better than Rodney Smith, a bigger play guy at least against a really strong Auburn defense.
Bow Nick struggled going downfield. They just they were not able to be creative enough to overcome what Minnesota was doing on defense. And the Gophers did a terrific job against Auburn on the ground. So if you force bow Nicks to beat you through the air, it's a tough ask with what Auburn has creatively. And you know, maybe Chad Morris will be a breath of fresh air for
this Auburn offense. We'll see if Anthony Schwartz. I saw some stories about him having to to side now between track and football, and that's kind of I mean, I like Seth Williams, but that's that big play dude for Auburn. If he's gone, I don't know what they look like. So big offseason for the Tigers. But I think the story here is Minnesota, the way they're able to close out this game and the performance they get. I mean, that catch early on from Tyler Johnson just the beast
sirt an absolutely beast. Eleven win Minnesota. I mean, there is context to how they got to those eleven wins and what the Big Ten look like this season. But you know what, it's early January. Who cares good for the Gophers. They beat Penn State, they beat Auburn, it did. Those aren't bad wins. Lost their offensive coordinator to Penn.
State, lost their offensive coordinator pen State because he beat Penstate, all right, belk ball Kentucky thirty seven, Virginia Tech thirty. The Lynn Bowden junior express train keeps on chugging. He ran for two twenty three and two touchdowns on thirty four carries, also through the game winning touchdown pass with fifteen seconds left, furious comeback to give the Cats the win. This was feisty started, feisty, feisty start to this one.
Here a little bit of a scuffle pregame, but a cool story, I think really on both fronts if you try to put this in context. First and foremost, Lynn Bowden Junior basically becoming the quarterback Kentucky having to reprogram its entire offense to fit his skill set. They did pretty well down the stretch all things considered, So all do credit to him to that coaching staff. He probably has an NFL future, so I give him kudos for playing in this game knowing that he was going to
take a lick you at thirty four carries. Yeah. Oh, I think he definitely does. He's too good not to as an athlete. Yeah, absolutely, So all do credit to him in the Kentucky staff for reprogramming things and putting together just a really positive close to the season. And on the Virginia Tech side of things, look the way they I think circled the wagons and got things going in a good direction after a bit of a rocky start was admirable as well. I think they found their
quarterback and Hendon Hooker. Definitely there's a lot coming back next season, and I think a lot of reason for optimism going into the twenty twenty seasons. So didn't win, here was a very close, very fun game, and I think a lot more excitement to come in twenty twenty for them. I hope so, because the ACC is thirsty excitement and quality, and this year did not really give
us all that much. Yeah, Virginia Tech You're not wrong, I would say, at the very least disappointing in Bud Foster's final game to lose to a team without an ability to throw the ball Lynn Bowden Junior and his game winning throw aside not great, not a great look for Virginia Tech. Not Able to get it done themselves through the air, though finally able to get it done on the ground with some big play running and still
gave the game away. Was not able to get in the end zone in the fourth quarter, and good for Kentucky for taking advantage. Good for Kentucky for we'd mentioned this in the preview. They can be pushed around up front in the run game, which they were at times, but they did a good job locking down Virginia Tech through the air and sort of confusing Hendon Hooker into some bad throws. So really strong way to end the
season for Kentucky in a very encouraging way. The Music City Bowl we had Louisville thirty eight Louisville, Mississippi State twenty eight. We already mentioned that Joemo got fired after this game, but McHale Cunningham through for two seventy nine and two touchdowns. He added another eighty one on the ground,
Louisville stepped on the gas in the second half. They got their eighth win of the season, which if you would have said before the season that we'd be talking about an eight win Louisville, that would have been a hell of a story. That would have been a bit of craziness preseason to say eight win Louisville, especially where they were last year. But the way that Scott Saderfield has come in and made such a dramatic and immediate
impact on this program is not to be understated. Louisville could be back in whatever Louisville context that is before long. Very exciting to see them win this Bowl game.
Yeah, you know, I feel about Michael Cunney, Man Cunningham, he's full on good Mississippi State after going up fourteen nothing to give up what they did into the fourth quarter of thirty one straight, it's it's just a rough watch. If you're I'm sure a Mississippi State fan. We saw Louisville get pushed around by Kentucky on the ground and the Bulldogs really not get much going from I know.
Kylon Hill was hurt, he tried and he was within reach of a record, but you know, Klangan not being able to run it at all against this Louisville defense, which.
Is not good. This is not a good Cardinal defense. I think eventually it should be, but this is you should be able to score more, and you know, good for.
The Cardinals taking advantage of state mistakes and turnovers and everything like that, and finish the season. You know, it's a seven and five year with a Bowl win. That's how I tend to view these things. But it's not unique to Louisville. I think there is, at least going into the early offseason in spring ball, every reason to.
Be pretty excited if you're a Louisville fan. Agree, one hundred percent. Nice win for Louisville thirty eight, twenty eight again in the Music City Bowl. Dane, Let's let's talk about the Tony the Tiger Sun Bowl now if we could. Yeah, it's time as I prepare for this recap and I'm not making this up, swear to God. Okay, it's a windy day here in eastern Pennsylvania. There is a giant barrel of garbage blowing across my backyard. Oh ty, if
that's not a metaphor for this game. I don't know what the hell is Arizona State twenty, Florida State fourteen. Eight total turnovers in this football game. That includes six by Florida State. So if you got the cold sweats thinking back to the two thousand and eight Sun Bowl, you weren't alone three to nothing after one quarter, nine to nothing at half in favor of ASU. The Knowles, to their credit, came back. They made it fourteen to nine after three quarters, but then they gave up a
field goal. They threw a pick six early in the fourth quarter, and that's what did him in. Did not a not a particularly fun Sun Bowl to watch. Sometimes it's really good when the most extreme weirdo in your life finds another extreme weirdo to start a life with and get married or whatever. It was nice to have these two offensive lines and in case we made offenses quarantined in the same place during bowl season. This was ugly.
Yeah, what ASU doesn't score, doesn't get into the end zone until the very end of the game. Yeah, what ten minutes left in the fourth quarter and still looked like the clear better team with what James Blackman was throwing up out into the universe and the offensive line play in this game. I guess good forray sUAS you
finished with a strong recruiting class. There's reason for optimism with Florida State moving forward and the Mike norvel Era and what they've been able to do recruiting, and you know what their offense should look like and what they return on defense. But good that we could get these two teams together to have their little party in l Paso and just move forward.
Move forward, all right? Gator Ball Tennessee twenty three, Indiana twenty two. Weird game here? Weird close to this game definitely, Let's say, because Tennessee scored twice within thirty seconds late in the fourth quarter, they were down twenty two to nine. They steal this one off the back of a truck and win by a twenty three to twenty two score.
Tennessee got, you know, bad, Jarrett Garantano. At the start, they had opportunities and you just couldn't connect. I thought to a takeaway for Tennessee is how excited people should be for Eric Gray, who looked sensational on the ground, like a new era of Tennessee offense. We'll see if Guarantano can develop or if Tennessee goes after somebody in the transfer portal of this offseason. Who knows what happens there,
But yeah, I thought. Also the story was Tennessee's defense doing a good enough job against a strong Indiana offense, losing their offensive coordinator and Kaylin de Borr back to Fresno State. They did a good job against Indiana on the ground, they did a good job against IU in the air, through the air, whatever, and still needed everything in the world to come back in this game. So yeah, weird game, fun game, strange ending, and good for the
balls who have the pieces. If they can get good quarterback play wherever, they should improve upon well, they seven and five season via the tennisance at the end, they should get to eight or nine wins next year, presumably. Jeremy Prowett, I'm I have a healthy amount of optimism, not a crazy amount, a healthy amount.
The Red Box Bowl. I really hate that I can't make this joke about Oregon. Yeah, where's my Rose Bowl Championship hat? Todd cal riving thirty five Illinois twenty four touchdown passes for Chase Garber's makes you wonder about Cal's season, what it would have looked like, if Chase Garber's didn't get hurt, I think it would have taken on a much different feel. But yeah, a good story for Illinois to get to this game. I think we both like
Cal a great deal going into it. Not gonna lie and say I watched a whole lot of this game, but my main takeaway is nice win for Cal, nice cap on the season, and really a story of what could have been if their quarterback did not get hurt. If their quarterback doesn't get hurt, they beat ASU, they probably beat Oregon, and they definitely beat Oregon State. They lose to Utah, they lose to SAE because they lost
both of those games demonstrably well. Who knows where they end up bowl wise, But yes, Cal has and had a competent offense, if not a pretty good offense, balanced offense with Chase Garber's and what Chris Brown in the backfield when everybody was healthy there. And it's a bummer, but you can get Illinois in the Red Box Bowl and beat up Illinois down a number of players on both sides of the ball. But this wasn't an ALLIONI team who was putting a ton of points on teams
or completely shutting them down. It was a nice improved story for the Allion I and Cal does a great job on defense. I said, Haven Weaver set some records and it was expected, I guess would be what I would say. Cal scoring thirty five is new. That's sort of a new sensation to me.
But I don't think Illinois could expect much given you know who they are and who they were missing. So good for Cal, good for Illinois. Hey, sometimes it's just a good story.
In the Liberty Bowl, we had Navy twenty to seventeen over k State. Fun weird game. Yeah, one weird game, very weird game. We had Cincinnati all over Boston College. We all saw this one coming a mile away. But thirty eight to six. In the Birmingham Bowl. Cincinnati wins Western Kentucky by three over Western Michigan, twenty three to twenty in the First Responder Bowl, and Wyoming by twenty one, thirty eight to seventeen over Georgia State in the oft forgotten Arizona Bowl.
Yeah, well let's start there. Xavion Valaday. They built the whole thing out of him for Wyoming. He's sensational both through the air, big play dude, and on the ground goes for over two hundred yards.
Wyoming.
I think we both liked Wyoming in this one. In the Nova Home Loans. That's right, Arizona Bowl. You mentioned what Western Michigan Western Kentucky as good a game as the Hilltoppers had on offense. The job they did in coming back and winning against Levonte Bellamy and this Western offense. Western Michigan offense I thought was pretty admirable. Kansas State did a whole lot of bending but actually didn't break too often against a Navy team that ran all over them.
But Navy with that late suffocating drive that ends as the clock hit zero field goal, nice win for them. They have some missed opportunities very early on. Skyler Thompson really struggled against this Navy defense and Kansas State really struggled between I guess the twenties against this Navy offense. So eleven wins for Navy after a pretty down twenty eighteen I color me impressed, high? Yeah, color me impressed.
Sure. The final game you mentioned was what Cincinnati and Boston College.
Cincinnati Boston College, Yeah BC, didn't I mean AJ Dillon sitting out, they lose, they fire their coach they're without their coordinator. It's just not going to happen for BC. But Cincinnati a relatively easy way to get to what they finished with eleven wins, wins, only losing to a playoff team in a new Year six team in Ohio State and Memphis. A nice complete win for Cincinnati as they head into next year with a lot of promise young talent. I don't think you mentioned Ohio Nevada, Ohio.
I guess Weather's a late comeback effort, but they jump out to a pretty big lead here. I think they were up thirty to nine going into the fourth quarter. And the end of Nathan Rourke's career ends with a win, and the end of Frank Solich and Nathan Rourke's time together ends with Frank Solich being doused in French fries.
Oh yeah, right in the famous Idaho Potato Bowl, Dulane Monster third quarter after a sluggish first half, comfortably beating Southern Miss And as of recording, I think that those are all the games.
Those are all the games. We've got two left. We've got the Lending Tree Bowl Louisiana against Miami Ohio. Again. We talked about that one before Louisiana a pretty big favorite. We'll have to wait and see if Billy Napier has ties to that Mississippi State job. And then there's the
big Tamali. Yeah. Next Monday, January the thirteenth, it is number one LSU at fourteen and oh it is number three Clemson also at fourteen and oh they're playing the championship game in New Orleans, so a bit of a home crowd for LSU, I'd say so in the Superdome. Currently they are a five and a half point favorite over Clemson over under about sixty nine and one half. Here is our plan. We're going to preview this game
about midweek or so. We can't do it yet because all the fun little props that we like to include as part of the coverage they're not out yet. Okay, so we got to give it a few days, let the bookmakers do their things so we can have fun with it. Hopefully midweek or so, sure, talk turkey. And then after that you and I will convene next Monday night to watch the game and Tuesday morning, bright and early to recap the National Championship.
All right, I'm ready, I mean, maybe this will be our penultimate Tues Cruise, depending on when we record it. Maybe we'll structure the National Championship preview the way we structured twos cruise. We could do that with various activities.
We could do that. You're out how we feel. It's like a real cruise ship when you've got different activities you can do, like the flow Rider pool that.
We'll do a midnight pizza buffet, we'll have it all. We'll recap the National Championship either late Monday night or probably early Tuesday and get that out pretty quickly. And otherwise we just sail into the off season with an unlimited amount of content.
All right, Dan, Well that is all I have here. Yeah, we appreciate everyone tuning in again. Happy New Year, thanks for stopping on by. We will be with you all off season. So if you haven't yet, please do subscribe. You can subscribe to the show anywhere you get your podcasts. Dan and I are already planning for a huge twenty We're exciting.
It's true, a lot of stuff to come. Do you have a good Christmas? Good New Year's stay up until the ball dropping.
I did make it up until the ball TI up, Yeah you did. I did I stayed away? Oh my god, looking, I know, upset of the century?
It was it specifically because you wanted to watch Times Square and just ring in the new year, or were you just like deep in a Wikipedia black hole learning about some spy plane from nineteen seventy three.
I mean, I'm not above that, and you know that. I absolutely know that. Now I was out. Now I did text you Happy New Year around midnight, and oh yeah, as you said before on the show, generally we can tell, we can tell the alertness level on the other side of things based on response times. When I didn't get anything within about ten minutes, I knew, oh danz out, I was out.
I think I made it till ten something, Okay, did yeah?
I leave a very active, exciting life. Ty that wears me. No, I stayed awake. I watched it, But there were plenty of other instances over the holiday break here where I was asleep very early. Ask solid life, Kate, Great, I love hearing me for that guy over there, my good friend Dan Rubinstein, for myself, Tie hild him Brand. We will catch you all in a few days. Help you're off to a good start in the new year. We'll talk to you soon. We meantime stay solid. He