Daniel. We've got a new episode out now of Extra Nuggets, Very True Extra Nuggets Dot Show, the very very new podcast I co host with our good friend and just all around excellent person Adam Aman, in which we take two Jeopardy categories and deep dive all ten of the clues. One's more academic, ones more pop culture, and we just learn a little more about ten correct responses from Jeopardy. We've done Bob Marley, We've done compliments from movies. We've
done basic American history. There's a ton to come. I think it's just fun learning Ty.
The stakes are low, the potential for random new knowledge is sky high. It's you, it's our friend Adam Amin going out to Extra Nuggets Dot Show or search Extra Nuggets wherever you get your podcasts.
Yeah, welcome to the solid verbal all 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 at a steak? Is that whoa whoa and Dan and Tie. Welcome back to the Salibroba boys and girls.
My name is Ty hilde Brandt, that fine gentleman over there in the heart of the Midwest, the one, the only, always, the incomparable.
Dan Rubinstein, sir, how are you. I'm great. It's always a joy to be here, Tye, and I always enjoy this part of the year. I don't think it's the best part of the college football season, but the ability to go deeper into a limited number of games. So sometimes we do it with the New Year's six bowls or the playoff, and we go through all the bowls and preview and react and do everything like that in
December and January. But when we have this concentrated, this distilled number of games with big stakes, albeit somewhat irrelevant, weirdly, I enjoy like looking at deep diving the numbers and rewatching different you know, drives, and really trying to dig our information. Pause into conference championship games, I'm into it.
It is championship week. There are fewer games for us to discuss, but we will put the full force of the solidverbal behind it. That's what we do. It's nice to actually have just a few games a great focus on, as opposed to the normal allotment of sixty or however many games we try to list off in the span of a normal college football week, this episode, all of our episodes driven by our good friends over at Geico.
If you will be in the greater Atlanta area this Friday evening, it is an earlier show than we've done in the past. Six thirty pm Eastern Time. Solidverballive dot com is where you can go to get your tickets for the Atlanta show. We have locked in on content. We are inducting college football things into a Hall of Fame of our own creation. Legal has me say, not affiliated with the actual college Football Hall of Fame, which is also in Atlanta, conveniently enough. Conveniently enough, don't know
how that happened. So we hope if you're gonna be in the Atlanta area, you'll consider coming out to see us, shake our hand, maybe stop by afterwards. We're still trying to figure out where we're going to watch the Pac twelve game afterwards.
Right then, Yeah, we're gonna be right by Georgia Tech, which we'll actually get into some Georgia Tech I think here momentarily in that area of Atlanta downtown ish we will figure out a place to watch the game. There are bars and restaurants and I'm sure TVs around Terminal West soliverblelive dot com. Once again, I think I'm most concerned. I'm not concerned about putting on an excellent show because
that's what we do soliverblelive dot Com. And I'm not concerned about inducting the things that we are inducting from the twenty twenty two season into our Hall of Fame soliverblelive dot Com. What I'm most worried about is because we are so busy. We're recording stuff before the show. We are trying to hustle and get back to our homes on Saturday morning. My big concern is anytime I go to a great food city, is allotting the needed time, Like, oh man, I got to hit this like cheese steak
place that Tray Herbie recommend it. I gonna hit can kids. The spot can't confirm. That's my concern. So I'm like, I have my yarn and my my map in front of me. I'm like, all right, how do we get from the hotel to this lunch? Should we do two brunches? Should we do an early dinner and a late dinner. That's where my concern is because we're prepped and readysolivrablelive dot com for the live show Friday night at six thirty pm Terminal West, So Boom cannot wait. It will be a ton of fun.
We hope to see everybody out there, and as you mentioned, yeah, we're gonna be We're gonna be.
Very busy on Thursday.
For those who normally tune into the Spotify Live Show, we're gonna continue to do that. We're gonna do it from Atlanta. We're gonna have a bit of a different setup. We're also going to feature an interview that we are doing with the very funny Bert Kreischer. Oh Man may have heard of Bert. He's a world famous comedian. He's also a big time Florida State football fan. We have wanted to get Bert on the show for a good long time. Our good friends over at Spotify have kindly
hooked us up with his people. We're going to be doing that interview and airing it as part of the normal Thursday Spotify Live show. So we hope you can join us on the Spotify Live thing again. Sliverbl dot com slash Spotify for more information on how you can get over to that stream. It starts every Thursday night at five pm East two pm West.
The Machine. He By the way, Bert is who Van Wilder is based as correct?
That's correct.
I love that freaking movie. So also does a very funny podcast with Tom Segura. Two Bears, One Cave. We're very excited to finally get Burt on the show.
I think it'll be a whole time.
Can't wait.
Shall we just dive in Lat's I gotta save the pipes for the For the week ahead, we got a lot going on your updated college football playoff rankings. No big surprise. Dan one through four is Georgia, Michigan, TCU, and USC now checking in. All four of those teams will be discussed here momentarily, all four of those teams. In essence, you win. You're into the college football Playoff
nipping at their heels as number five Ohio State. There is probably still a path for Ohio State, though Boomsheck a lack of Corgan didn't really specify what that would look like, given the fact that Ohio State does not play any further games here in the twenty twenty two college football regular season.
We've also got.
Alabama at number six. It seems as if Alabama is out of this thing. We've learned maybe not to count Bama out too much, but at ten and two, number six, not a game in front of them to be had. It would seem as if Bama is out of at Tennessee is at seven, Penn State is crept all the way up to number eight, Clemson still in the top ten at number nine, and Kansas State checking in at number ten. We didn't have to spend a whole lot
of time on this. I know we've got news about coaches and transfer portals and the works, But any quick thoughts on what you see here anything surprise you.
No, it's the illusion that I made a little bit early. That would be all not ill that, why is Georgia play this game? Like should Georgia just send out a bunch of walk ons and be like, yeah, we're gonna force your hand leave us out of the playoff after we lose to LSU fifty eight to three with a bunch of walk ons. I'm a big believer now that you just can't let Ohio State into this, even if
TC loses, even if USC loses. At this point, USC was impressive enough against the best defense that they played all season long last week that you're rewarding Ohio State for losing comfortably with their big opportunity to get into the Big Ten championship game. And I know championship games are just sort of a construction with no real points see social and social construct that everybody just goes along
with competitive construct. Yeah, I don't see why we can't just have this specific playoff that was announced last night. In terms of the top four, it seems totally good to me.
Yeah, well, I'd be very curious to see if this is the way it shakes out. But I tend to agree with you. It's one of the points of contention as we go to twelve with this thing, especially this season, I think it kind of has has bared itself out an interesting way where if not these four, then then which four?
Right?
Which other teams do you want to add to this without feeling like too much of a retread. So again, that's your top four. We'll see how things materialize over the course of the weekend. But as it stands, again, we've got Georgia, Michigan, TCU, and now USC. On the coaching side, you mentioned Georgia Tech, they mentioned Brent Key, So there had been reports about Lillly Fritz early on. We had speculated about names like Deon Sanders or Jamie Chadwell.
They had decided that they're going to take the interim label off of Brent Key. Brent Key notably took over when Jeff Collins was relieved of command after a one to three start. Tech has been better since he took over.
They went four and four. In many ways, this is a big deal, not just for Georgia Tech, but also for Brent Kee, who was a former team capt in it was an All acc offensive lineman in his time at Tech from nineteen ninety seven through the year two thousands, So getting a big shot here to stay on and coach the ramblin reck.
He will be, to me a very good hire and it'll be looked at, it'll be smiled down upon, just because it's not the sexy one. It feels like the right one. It feels like when you have the familiarity with players. I always like offensive lineman, former offensive linemen and offensive line coaches with that background coming in because it's a really nice mix of intellect and physicality. The offensive line coaches, I feel like, you know, I think maryle christ Ball will improve, but I think he did
a decent job at Oregon. Obviously, Sam Pittman had the immediate success that he's had. Kirk Ference has been up and down. But I think all things being equal, if you were to give me former position coaches offensive line of former offensive line coach familiar with the program, I think is a very strong direction to go to. No. I think it's smart. Think he's a believer in Georgia Tech. He's not going to be a mercenary who's going to say, I, you know, was good for two or three years, What's
what's the next job I can get. I think he's in it for the long haul. And I like continuity a lot. You look around the sport and a lot of very successful teams higher from within, and there's a pretty strong reason why if the right guy is already on staff. And so I'm sure they did their due diligence with a number of options, and they said Brent
Key just makes the most sense. We're not trying to win a press conference, we're not trying to win Twitter or anything like that, and so I think I'm great with it. He has backgrounds at you know, he was
at UCF forever and has been at Georgia Tech. I think he turned down the UAB job way back when, and he has experienced in major major programs at Alabama as their offensive line coach, so from the outside looking in, especially with what he did as the interim coach, he seems to check more boxes than he doesn't.
No, I think that's absolutely true. I know when this news came out, there were many folks in the Georgia Tech world that were that were happy to see it, to get that kind of continuity, because he has been very, very good since taking over Tech. Finishing the year with five wins is not a bad thing at all considering where we thought this team might be at the start of the year, So good for him. We've also got is it Trent Dilfer to UAP.
Trent Dilfer to UAB. Okay, yeah, okay, okay, why I only couldn't tell you. He's a famous guy who's coached high school for three years and at one point was on ESPN and hasn't been for some time, and seems like a wild card of a personality without any working experience as a college football coach. And we've seen other you know, Todd Dodge at North Texas. Somebody pointed out to us on Twitter the worst coach in North Texas history, by the way, six and thirty seven was his overall
record there. I don't. I don't. It's one of those things where and it's not unique to college football coaching as an industry, where it's just like why grind, Why improve? Why network and form all sorts of connections and work your way through the industry. When Trent Dilfer is hired at a very successful UAB program, and so that's that's the disheartening thing that you're just like, man was did they interview four hundred and forty seven people before settling
on Trent Dilfer? And I guess there's always the opportunity, there's always the possibility that it works out.
But I mean, he's been involved with Elite eleven. I mean, he's been fairly prominent with respect to you know, some of the some of the camp circuits I know, and it obviously has made a name for himself as somebody who can recruit and coach quarterbacks and that type of thing.
So at least in that vein.
Who can recruit, how do we know he can recruit?
Maybe recruits the wrong word.
He's worked with prominent recruits on the coaching side, so you know, he's at least been around some of the better, more elite athletes that have found their way into college football. But in terms of running a program, Yeah, that's that's a different kind of recruiting.
Yeah, it's it's one of those things where like does u AB have an insurance policy out against making a bowl game? Like are they betting against Rachel Phelps style? Right? Like that that's the concern for me where it's just like, this is it's an unserious hire when especially when you look around the sport and you look like, okay, you don't want to spend a ton of money. You look at like D two coaches, you look at FCS coaches, you look at whatever, you know, coordinators at certain places
that are just killing it. Right, even in the state in Troy, it's just and he's not even if you go back to like Gus Malson, and Gus Malson came in as an offensive coordinator, not a head coach, but he came in so connected within that state, right he was at Springdale and you know the Mitch Mustanine thing in the Springdale mafia where you're just like oh my god, he is a name within this state, within this It
didn't work out. It We went terribly at Arkansas and he needed to go to Tulsa for a few years before in the Arkansas state gig. But like on the surface, it's just like oh man.
Splash, all right, all right, enough about Trent Dilferd. Will see how that goes in I guess less prominent coaching news. Kentucky fired Rich scan Guerrello after one season. Notably, he stepped in for Liam Cohen. Of course, was a revelation in twenty twenty one he left to go to the Rams. They brought in Scangerello. He is gone. Northwestern has fired Jim O'Neill and two other assistants following their just one
and eleven disaster season. It is worth noting Dan that the defense was the best part of Northwestern this season, and they were ranked seventy second nationally per the sp Plus. So I know one of the two assistants that was relieved of command was a wide receivers coach. They clearly have much more work to do on the offensive side of the ball. I eagerly await what Pat Fitzgerald will do to hopefully amend that side of things he's.
Been working on for about fourteen years. See Project Big. It's a it's a big fixer upper. Dan. Yeah, there's you know, there's the three game stretch of Clayton Thorson here and Dan Person there and Trevor Simeon for like four and a half like okay, okay, any other coaching news.
That's all I have the coaching show. That's all having the coaching front. I do have transfer portal news. Who want to get into that, I would love to. We got a bunch of names here, some that have been confirmed, others that have been reported. There is a zero percent chance I'm going to get all of these, So let me just list them off as best I can, and you can jump in and tell me if there's anyone
else of note. On the quarterback side, where of course I have trained most of my attention notre name again open for business. We've got Hudson Card from Texas, Mali Hornsby from Arkansas, Connor.
Basil act back in the portal, Yea from.
Indiana, Luke Altmeyer from Old Miss. The Padilla flotilla, Yeah, trying to escape from Iowa City in the portal, Cade McNamara whom we mentioned before for playoff quarterback playoff quarterback, Paul Tyson leaving ASU, Jeff Simms this I think we talked about Jeff Simms before, but Jeff Simms leaving Georgia Tech.
Davis Brent an interesting name from Tulsa quarterback also in the portal, Jack Tuttle and Hank Bachmeyer have been there for a while, but I just saw their names as I was going through and figured out list them anyway. On the running back side, L. J. Johnston from A and M is an interesting name. Trevi and Cooley from Louisville, Arlen Harris Junior from Stanford and Trey Sanders again has been in the portal for a bit, but Tray Sanders leaving Alabama could make an impact elsewhere.
Yeah.
On the wide receiver side, some names theo OEZ. I haven't seen his name officially in the portal, but it seems as if he's headed there from Oklahoma. Your boy Dante Thornton from Oregon in the portal Dominic love it from Missoo and two names here again just we always try to keep our radar up for names of guys from group of five or f CS programs that are looking to go elsewhere. Grant Deboe's is a name from Charlotte who I think could make an impact.
And MJ.
Wright.
He's not the Greek freak from Fordham, but he is from Fordham, yes, and looking to spread his wings elsewhere. I'm sure there are names I missed. I don't know if any jump out to you, but those are at least a sampling of what's out there in the portal at the moment.
Yeah. I saw Penn had an edge rusher who seemed to be somewhat coveted by bigger programs, and he committed to UCLA. I want to say his first name is Jake. I apologize for not learning IVY League transfer as yet. They're for full names. I'm almost positive it's Jake.
Sure, I'm not one hundred per He's like Pele, he doesn't need a last name.
I think both Dominic Lovett and Dante Thornton are interesting names at receiver. Thornton actually came on pretty strong near the end of this year when Chase Coda got hurt for Orion. He's a big body, He's from the East Coast. He's from I think the Baltimore area and so he could come in and be like the guy for a good school to me. Also lost Byron Cardwell, who started at running back near the end of the twenty twenty
one season when CJ. Verdell went down and basically didn't play this year at all, and Oregon had the number one rushing attack in the country. So not saying he's bad, but for whatever reason, fell out of favor with the Oregon coaches. Otherwise, it's going to be fascinating, especially at quarterback. Right Hudson card appears to be the biggest name. He and Kate McNamara, depending on where they land, seem like
they'll have the biggest impact. There's already and I'm not going to give fuel to the rumors, but there's already rumors about some pretty big name receivers ending up at some pretty big name destinations for receivers. And so it's the new normal. And you can either yell and kick and scream about it, or you can say, all right, let's figure all it all out for next year, and once everybody's landed, let's see who really added to their roster and who seems to be in a kind of
disastrous place because as they're depleted. So I expect a lot of big teams, especially big teams who are finishing the first year of a new coach, so LSU, Florida, Notre Dame, Miami, Oregon, Oklahoma, USC, a lot of movement.
I just expect a lot because there's gonna be a lot of guys who felt like they were going to contribute more than they had under the previous guy, so they gave the new guy a chance and then perhaps didn't see the field as much as they they wanted to, and they're like, all right, I gave him a chance. Portal time, it's going to be a whirlwind.
Yeah, I think it'll be very intense. By the way, folks head on a swivel out there, the new age of Twitter has made it very easy to retweet potential transfers that are not actually transferring. I've seen a couple already and I almost fell for it myself. Head on a swivel, Head on a swivel. Make sure you know the source.
All right.
We will keep you posted as best we can on the coaching side, on the transfer portal side, for sure, A lot more to come in both of those worlds. Don't really have a Saturday nickname dan Championship Week, right, we don't need a nick correct it's Championship week and it's US Netherlands. Are they playing USA Netherlands. Yeah, I'll be back in time for the ten a m.
Game. I can give a preview at the end of this if you want at the end.
At the end, I'm prepared to big, big day of sporting across the United States. Daunt of the week. So typically what we do op sausage fingers McGee.
The second time that happened, I don't know what's wrong with my board.
Yeah.
Typically what we do is we push the Friday game till the very end, so that if you're listening to this a little bit after the fact, it's not going to go stale. But we're just going to do it in chronological order today. Yeah, if that's cool with you. Again, we will be in Atlanta watching this game or Atlanta excuse me, game at some place near Georgia Tech. I will leave that up to you to figure out where the best place is for tenders with tie in a
PAC twelve Championship watch party. This game is eight pm on Fox. It is in Allegiance Stadium in Vegas, featuring the nine to three Utah Utes the eleven to one USC Trojans, USC favored by three. Bear in mind that these teams played back in Week seven in Utah and it was about as evenly matched a game as we've seen all year. That was the one in which Cam Rising had a really big game through the air and on the ground. He ran a touchdown in with about
forty eight seconds left. Dan and then Kyle Whittingham went for two. Love it, love it, the anti Brian Harrison move, went for two. They got it. Utah won that game by a forty three to forty two score. Was a great game, a great game USC's only lost, so this is an opportunity for them to avenge that big old crooked one in the win loss column. I'm not going to act like I found anything, like I found a stat like I found an edge or something that gives
one team a significant advantage over the other. I feel like we have a pretty good sense for who these teams are at this point. It feels a lot to me, and we say it often. I'm not just punting on the preview here when I say this, but it truly feels like, whoever has the ball ass is going to win this thing?
Do you think so?
I do? I do?
It feels to me like it's that kind of game. Both teams have pretty good offenses. Obviously USC's is a little better. Utah probably has a bit of an advantage in the defense department, but it's not like we're dealing
with two shutdown defenses here. I think both will continue to move the ball at will on the other and it does come down to probably a few factors which maybe I can discuss here and why I'm going to go USC thirty eight thirty five agreed, disagree on that sentiment that whoever as the ball ass wins?
Disagree?
Okay, why I like USC here?
And this is where we get into the part of the year where we describe Winter one people that transcend just being weapons during the regular season and become problems, especially for defenses. But I think a winter wonder could be an edg rusher or something like that. And the way that Aiden Hutchinson right when the Blights got brightest last year, Aiden Hutchinson really shined that to me is the problem with Utah is what we saw from USC last week against Notre Dame, a team all too dependent
on a tight end. USC absorbed a lot from Michael Mayor. He made plays. He didn't have two hundred and seventy three yards receiving or whatever it is that Dalton Kincaid did in that first matchup. Who's excellent, full on excellent on the level of Michael Mayer in terms of national tight ends. He is in any conversation. The problem to me is games are one preventing and generating explosive plays, and Utah has played a number of terrible defenses and a below average one in Oregon to finish out the
back half of the season. And so to me, this is when you have Jordan Addison and Mario Williams now Travis Dye had a good game against Utah, he's for the year. I think he blew out his knee and that's a change. But at a certain point, if Utah can't go Haymaker for Haymaker with USC, which I don't think they can do this week, I think they did a great job doing it before Tavian Thomas out for the year, has already declared for the NFL Draft. I
believe so Utah shorthanded in the backfield. I think Michael Bernard is interesting, but he's not somebody who is going to pace a win to me for Utah in this matchup. So I think Utah will succeed somewhat on defense. They're down their best edge rusher, he's out for the year Van Fillinger. So I think Utah is a good team, but I think this is a when push comes to shove moment and USC wins this game by ten to thirteen points.
Yeah, I think you stole a little bit of my thunder there, but I'm sorry, No, it's okay.
I agree with you.
It's one of the two reasons of picking USC. You mentioned the big plays, and USC's ability to create him is one of those things that favors the Trojans by a pretty wide margin.
In this game.
They're much much, much more consistent at creating those chunk plays, and I have to believe that works to their advantage, even though they're really bad at giving them up right, they're just so good at creating them. On offense, They've got so many pieces, so many ways that they can beat you. It's hard for me to believe that in a big spot that if you want to say the Winter wonder thing.
Go right ahead.
Yeah, I have a hard time believing that isn't something that works to their advantage in this game second time through. So that's the first reason. The second is, you know, we come back to Caleb Williams a lot. I feel like he went next level with Notre Dame. In the game that we saw against Notre Dame this year, we saw a different side of him against a better defense with this offense than we had all season. Maybe I'm biased because it was against Notre Dame, but he's just
he's different, he feels different. Three eighty one and five touchdowns in the first matchup between these two, also fifty seven yards.
Yeah, he was awesome. He was really good, really good in that first game.
And if if it comes down to it, push comes to shove, I give Caleb Williams the nod here in that USC offense the nod in a game that I think will be high scoring. So I think it's close. I think these teams are very eavily matched, but I will go with our trusted excitable score of thirty eight to thirty five in favor of USC.
Yeah. The idea is, if you are able to hold Dalton Kinkaid to ninety three yards and some incredible catches, maybe two touchdown catches and ninety three yards, it's still not enough to get to forty. Right, Like, there's a certain basic amount of arithmetic involved here that I don't think I trust Utah in this spot.
Now.
I watched them completely demolish Oregon in this spot last year. I think that was a different team. I think that was a different team, especially on defense with what they lost, especially upfront. It just has not been the typical Utah defense that we've seen that helps its own offense to wear down teams on the ground. And Cam Rising scrambling for seven on third and six, he will do that. I just don't think you can beat USC with pickleball. To me, is where UTI is at offensively. So I'm
going to give USC the edge. Also, in you the biggest game of the back half of the season, Cam Rising turn the ball over multiple times, and that's what USC does. Their whole defense is not based around filling lanes and getting stops. It's built around flipping the field with opportunistic moments, and so I think it's just stacked up against Utah this week. So I'm giving the nod.
To this, we agree, all right, let's go to Saturday here, Yes, high noon, Doctor Pepper Big twelve Championship. But we get in a tuition throw this week, I would assume, So all right, more to come on that we can't really preview it. We don't know much about the participants, but we will have a full breakdown when we do the Sunday recap show, which by the way, will be a little bit later. I presume we need to wait and see what the rankings are and what the bowl matchups
are before we go live. So more to come on that go to forballers dot com if you're ever so inclined.
If you want to get early access.
To that show, maybe watch it live as we do it, but stay tuned on Sunday. This is an AT and T Stadium in Arlington. It's Case State, It's TCU. TCU favored by two and a half points. These teams also played. It's another rematch. Case State jumped out to an early twenty eight to ten lead back in Week eight. They led midway through the second quarter, Dan then they never scored again from that point forward. It was punt, miss field goal, interception downs, miss field goal, interception. That was
the ballgame TCU ripped off twenty eight unanswered. They won that game by a thirty eight twenty eight margin. Really impressive showing, I thought for TCU they never really lost their cool despite being in the hole early. They just kind of did their thing and found their way through.
What I was sort of hung up.
On here looking back on this thing is and we do this with every rematch, right, we have to ask what's changed since the last game, what has changed to impact the way we feel about this one. Obviously TCU hasn't lost, they haven't lost at all. Case State did drop a game to Texas, though it feels to me like they're better now than they were back in Well.
That was an Adrew Martinez game.
Was as Adrian Martinez thing. Yeah, so it's Case State's just in a different place than they were back then. Certainly more stable at quarterback now that they've got Will Howard in there as their QB one, I don't expect them to be as mistake prone this time around. I think they'll be a little bit more buttoned up, they'll be more locked in. So perhaps that's something that we can consider here as we talk through this. But I also come back to the big play thing with respect
to this game. TCU creates more of them. They create more of them high leverage spots. We've seen it all season long. This game, this moment, I don't think is too big for TCU because they've been in a bunch of nail biers this season already. They are more battle tested. You could argue a much more veteran unit than Can's State. I think they are in prime position to grind this one out. I don't think it's a blowout by any stretch. I think Case State will be up for it. I
don't think they'll make the mistakes. As a first game, I got something like thirty one to twenty seven TCU getting.
The job done.
I have TCU covering this spread as well, and maybe even by more points, by seven to fourteen somewhere in that like flirting with a double digit win. Here one, you have the Winter wonder thing in terms of consistency at receiver. If Quentin Johnston's health is in a good place,
I saw that. You know, you don't trust coaches and what they say about practice reports, but you know he looks like he looks better than he has for the last month, right, he hurt his ankle and he's been in and out of the lineup, so he's obviously somebody who can take the top off of a defense. Tay Barber is a big play guy. We know about Kendre Miller.
There's a lot about the weaponry on an offense coached by an offensive mind led by, weirdly, the best quarterback in the Big Twelve against the second best quarterback in the Big Twelve. My got it? End of twenty twenty you're like, hey, quick, little sneak prieve about twenty twenty two, Will Howard and Max Duggan are the clear two best quarterbacks in the conference and are going to play against each other in the conference championship game. You would have
a number of questions, and I have some answers. They got better. I don't see that level. I think Malik Knowles is very good. I obviously think duce Vaughan is very good. But Case State was not an incredible rushing team. They have an incredible rushing talent who is able to generate bigger plays, but they weren't super consistent. It wasn't like duce Vaughan could put this team on his back. And say I'm going to grind out five yards of
carry when everybody knows it's coming. That's the issue for me is that he's not a change of pace guy, but he's just a very specific back and just an incredible all purpose guy out of the backfield catching the ball as well. But it's just who terrifies you from this Kansas State offense. I think Will Howard's ascension is pretty terrifying if you're on the TCU defense. But this is also a unit who is pretty dramatically improved over
the course of the season. Or in the case of this matchup, they gave up zero points in the second half, is that true when they first played? So they did a terrific job adjusting to what Kansas State was intending
to do on offense. And this is at a certain point, it's not luck, right if we're going to sort of use the term lro luck running out, it's not luck when you're able to win in a number of ways, when you're able to go to Austin when game day is there and completely prevent that Texas offense from doing anything zero offensive touchdowns, if memory serves, I think it speaks to maturity. I think it speaks to evolution, and
I just think this TCU team is better. And I'm mister, before the season started, I was much more enamored with Kansas State than you were. And I think the story of Kansas State has been terrific this year. But this is another who's got the bright shining stars. Who do you trust more to get open in a three point game when there's a minute and a half left. To me, it's TCU's assembled offensive talents a little more than Kansas It's about trust, babe.
It's the wise prophet Ashanti. Yeah right, And on some level, yeah, this is just who TCU is. They are battle tested, They grind these games out. They've been good at being in these spots all year. I'm sure if they had their druthers, Dan, they wouldn't want to be in close games having to come from behind, but they've been very good at doing that. And on top of it all, you know, you talk about Case State being a good
story this season, they have. We've just sort of gotten to the point now with TCU where we're just kind of glossing over the fact that they're twelve and oh with a first year head coach on the heels of whatever went on at the end of the Gary Patterson era. Talk about good stories this season, you got to include TCU in that conversation. There's no two ways about it.
I really like their chances here. I really like their chances here to finish the job, and I hope for their sake and their fans that they're able to do so, you know, they ride here.
Gimme, okay, thought experiment, What is the score of a Kansas State win? And this is you know, you're you're predicting boom shack Laca Coregan and his crew right now. What is the score by which Kansas State wins this game? That forces the Committee's hand to say, well, a ton more people are going to watch Ohio State against Georgia
or whoever in the playoff. And while we love what TCU was able to do this year, for sure, them losing thirty five to fourteen to Kansas State makes it very difficult for us to pick TCU a non conference champion, Whereas we feel that Michigan might be the best team in the country and Ohio you know, suddenly you're doing you know, the Rube Goldberg machine to talk yourself into Ohio State.
We Ohio State lost by what twenty two to twenty three points? So is it fourteen? Is it fourteen? Is case State winning like thirty eight twenty four? It might be one point, it might be twenty four to twenty two.
I hope it's not. But yeah, I don't think you're wrong.
There is something to me. And this is the the cynical part of all of our brains, yep, that the playoff is a television program and there are four hundred and forty two TCU alumni a live in America right now. That's the issue, and it's unfair, it's bs. But that's the cynical part of my brain that the margin for error and the bar that needs to be cleared for TCU I think continues.
To be higher unfairly. But that's where we are. All right, let's go to four pm. We agree again. By the way, four pm CBS. This is the SEC game. They played at Mercedes Benz Stadium in Atlanta.
A good job, thank you.
We will be there against Sliver, butle live the day before. If you're going to be in town, come on out, see us, shake our hand, watch the PAC twelve game with us. Wherever we go parts unknown after the show, Show After the show, LSU at nine and three, Georgia at twelve and oh Georgia favor by seventeen and one half points.
Dan.
These teams did not play during the regular season, and of course until last week, it looked like LSU may have had an outside shot at the playoff, but you know, they drop a third game on the road to a five and seven A and M team that pretty much killed it. Those chances are pretty much down the drain now, still a lot to play for, and I think we would both agree that on some level LSU is a dangerous team, especially in a situation like this where folks
are already counting them out sight unseen. What are your thoughts, Here's what's your read. Does LSU have a shot?
LS who has a shot? Just because they're not playing for anything? So there's like this element of danger with LS a good coach and Brian Kelly when healthy. They have a very good quarterback in Jade Daniels, They've got some scary people up front on defense, and they have playmakers on both sides of the ball. Georgia is not where they were last year, the way they separated themselves from everybody at least leading up to the you know, the SEC Championship game that they lost Alabama in. That's
the danger with LSU. The other danger is there's a two word term that I hate seeing leading up to the game with a quarterback, and that's walking boot. Oh yeah, with Jane Daniels's ankle, yes, brained ankle. And so it's concerning to me to see those two very specific words when he is responsible for so much of that offense, not just throwing the ball, not just running the ball, but buying himself time, rallying the team, big moments, scram like.
It's just he's the heartbeat of this team. He's the Zerbiak, as we like to say, if you remember while he's erbiak being responsible for like seventy seven percent of his team's points at Miami Ohio. That's the concern to me that any LSU victory very specifically glows through goes through Jaden Daniels. And what Georgia has done this year is they've been ruthless on offense, albeit not as incredible at
times because their loss of talent from last year. That's more pronounced on defense, but they've come out of the gate so strong, and I just don't know if I love this LSU team playing from behind. If all of a sudden, Jadan Daniel needs to throw it fifty three times against Georgia, like, I think there is a very specific like, if you're able to throw the ball only thirty four times against Georgia, it probably means you're having some success on the ground against his bulldog team, which
not many teams do. I just it's hard for me to construct this win knowing Jaden Daniels is, even if he's eighty ninety percent whatever he is, needs so much. We saw the most explosive offense in the country become completely grounded against this Georgia team. And the games in Atlanta, games not in Dallas, games not in Chicago, games on in Seattle. It's gonna be a ferocious home crowd for the Dogs, and I just think there's too much speed
and there's too much opportunity for Georgia here. So I have them winning by and also LSU limping into this game after the A and M game.
I don't know.
I think it's at least two touchdowns for the Dogs.
Yeah, I think I think I'm with you on paper, This looks like a pretty good mismatch for obvious reasons. We can get into that, But to me, the LSU story is very much that of an unfinished product. A good product, yeah, a good product that is getting better. Jadan Daniels just started coming into his own second half
of the season, but Tigers aren't quite there yet. You can see the pieces, you can see an assembling for twenty twenty three and beyond, and I think it won't be long before Brian Kelly has this thing fully optimized and tuned up and really to go and to push forward as a true contender. But it's it's just not there yet. The numbers say that Georgia can run an LSU, and in general, if Georgia can run on you, that's kind of the flywheel for the rest of the operation.
You know, it makes it easier to pass. You can create different looks, you can use motion, you can create mismatches down the field. That's my biggest concern. Also, you keep the defense on the field, keep the defense on the field, you keep wearing them down. And by the way, none of this is anything new. This isn't rocket science. If you've watched Georgia football, this is the way they
beat everybody. It's a concern against literally all of George's opponents, Right, how are they going to deal with Georgia upfront?
And as they start grinding you down on defense?
So you know, you'll hear a lot about Jayde Daniels this week in the Boot, and he's a great story.
The team trusts him.
I was very wrong about the quarterback position this season for lsu Mia Kalpa right had a huge dove for Brian Kelly in any sense of the word. But I don't like the scenario in which Georgia can run on you and your offense is basically a one man army, right, you know, Jane Daniels, one man army with the boot trying to solve the Georgia defense does not seem like
a great setup to me. They've got playmakers, right. I don't want to disparage Josh Williams or Malik Neighbors or kashn Booty or I mean like they've got playmakers, but it just feels a lot like it's gonna be Jane Daniels out there trying to solve this thing.
And I don't like that at all. That's a bad matchup for me.
I'm on the dogs here. I could see this being one of those games where LSU hit something early before Georgia settles into the game. We've seen that, right, that wouldn't be a new thing. But crock potting the rest of the way. Crock potting the rest of the way.
Who's the team that you think has the best chance to be Georgia this year? Who is built constructed, has the ability to win in different ways. If the runs taken away, if the pass is taken away, that they can get to Stetson Bentley. Who is that team?
I mean, is it Michigan?
I think it's the best of Ohio State? Unfortunately?
Yeah? Or USC?
I mean USC could be an interesting matchup because of the offense.
But if that game comes down to a twenty seventeen type back and forth, you trust USC. No no I. Unfortunately, we don't live in a universe which the best of Ohio State exists every week. But if you're talking to me about playmakers up front on defense and quarterback as being the keys to winning the national championship, the best of Ohio State, which again doesn't really exist against the best teams they play, I mean they played Penn State really really well and they broke that open at the
end of the game. That's the closest thing to me, Well, that is a threat because nobody else as that. Nobody else has JT. Tuamalu and CJ. Stroud.
But here's the thing, this is not twenty twenty one, twenty twenty two.
It feels like there is a.
Lack of greatness when we talk about these teams.
They're very good.
Georgia and Michigan I think far and away are the best two teams right now. But each of those teams is beatable. On any given day, they're beatable, and it is not like last season where it felt like we had infallible teams right at the top. Could USC be twenty nineteen.
LSU, I don't know.
I don't know.
They've got the generational quarterback. We'll see what they can do against a really, really good defense.
But I mean, I would have a conversation about Alabama just because nobody is I mean, besides Caleb Williams, is what Bryce Young is in terms of rabbit out of hat And they also have, you know, great edge rusher and stuff like that, But just the defense and two all over the place as a whole that I don't know if I fully trust them. But still, you know, Will Anderson and Bryce Young, I'm willing to have that conversation, but right now, no, there's nobody obvious that, like, we
know Bryce Young can meet the moment. Sure, we don't know that about c J. Stroud. I don't know if we know that about JJ McCarthy. But I think I trust CJ. Stroud a little bit more to win in a number of ways. But it's we just don't live in that universe.
So I don't know, No, I don't know.
We could have some interesting playoff conversations here when we get the final matchups. The USC matchup with Georgia is one that intrigues me. It feels a lot like the Tennessee game. So maybe not as intrigued as I say now here in week fourteen when the Rubber meets the road, but we'll get to that. I'm on Georgia thirty five seventeen. I think the number the points breads seventeen and a half's right around the correct.
One nineteen and a half.
Holy hell, big number. Yeah, it's number thirty five seventeen is my.
Final My other wild card Is Brady Cook and Mazoo because they've already shown in that's all right, Let's go to eight pm on Fox the Big Ten Championship game.
Two teams that have not played this season either. It is eight and four Perdue. It is twelve to Oho Michigan, another big line. Michigan favored by sixteen points.
Stan.
I've seen this one jump around anywhere from sixteen to seventeen. A high probability here that we've got to blowout. And I say that for a couple reasons. First Off, you know, Perdue's defense is not terrible against the run. However, they definitely profile as a team that will get pushed around up front and eventually give up some long runs. And that's basically the way Michigan beats you everyone. They've played right, grind down the defensive line, pop up with that pinata
play late. Yeah, we saw it last week with Donovan Edwards. We had this two long touchdown runs late with one arm, with one arm. The same holds true against the pass. Purdue's defense not bad against the pass, but they do give up big plays, so there's potential there for this thing to get out of hand late. Also, the dirty secret on Purdue.
Is the offense all that good? Do we think the offense at Purdue is really that good? I think they've gotten a little bit better in terms of appearing to be more complete. Yeah, you got your guy, Chuck Sizzle. Chuck Sizzle, we got I believe look Ivkaby. I'm not anti Purdue, but I think what a lot of people think of Purdue. They think, Okay, they're gonna air it out, they're gonna score points for better or worreas a lot of people still think of Drew brees Perdue when they
think of Purdue an offense. They've had the best offense in the Big Ten West, which is a little bit like being the one eyed man in the land of the blinde.
But I don't know, like it's a lot of short stuff. Yep, it's a lot of not having popped down the field that'll get you to the Big Ten championship game. Right A O'Connell and Devin mackaby got into it, and am O'Connell's beat up too, and is beat up and Chuck Sizzle like all these guys are are good names and they've had a good season, But the offense is such that it'll get you to this game.
It won't get you.
Pass this game.
It's not gonna get you past Michigan. So to me, this looks like the most blowout potential of any of these games, like forty one seventeen somewhere in that.
I mean, look, we saw a similar situation with Michigan last year beating Ohio State, you know, breaking through in ann Arbor, and you're like, oh, man, is there let down potential against Iowa been forty two to three. So I just assume they're going to be locked in.
I'm gonna I'm going to this one up, by the way, I'm gonna.
I just I'm not I I can't construct it in my brain of you know, saying this is what happens for we're doing this freak occurrences that it's special teams, that it's busted plays, that it's Jeff Brahm wizardry or whatever. But it also doesn't feel like the kind of team, yeah, that Michigan will struggle with the kinds of teams that they've struggled with. You know, I guess Maryland early on
going for it downfield. They've got better receivers than Purdue does, and Illinois who was able to get stops and force Michigan to you know, win the game four yards at a time with Jake Moody, I just don't think that is that is where we land with the Purdue experience. So yeah, I have Michigan big yeah.
All right, Well let's go to then the final Power five championship game. Then we're going to talk very quickly about some of the others that you know, weren't mentioning. We have to mention all of them. This one eight PM. It's the Subway ACC Championship. Gave Subway getting in on the action. Dan, I don't know.
The last time I went to subway. The reason I don't go to subway, among others, is that, yeah, wah wah.
Well, I mean I have wahwak close by, but you go into a subway and your clothes smell like you were at a subway. Oh man, can't wash that out of the jacket.
Man.
My first radio show in college was above a subway in the Oregon Student Union.
You can't wash that out, am.
I to understand foot long subs are now like eleven dollars? Is that a thing?
Really?
I That's what I've been told, but I haven't been to a subway. I think subway is fine, but I just haven't been in.
A long good five dollars foot longs back in my day, man, I remember, yeah, the halcyon days, five dollars foot long?
What was your order? Not a sponsor could be, But did you have a subway order?
Definitely not a sponsor could be. I mean I'm always big on the turkey sub you know me, straight turkey, I mean with toppings.
But yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah yeah.
I load it up with with veggie toppings, but not not too creative from a sandwich architecture standpoint one.
With a meatball sub, well, they're not bad, pretty good, all right? You want to talk Clemson, North Carolina or veggies and meats.
Clemson ten and two a seven and a half point favorite against North Carolina nine and three. Again, these teams did not play during the regular season. Both have sort of limped to the finish in a sense. We had Clemson losing last week at home to South Carolina. The Tigers also lost earlier in the month to Notre Dame, a game in which they thoroughly were beaten on the ground.
Just got the ground, Yeah, yeah, and then Carolina has lost two in a row, both at home to Georgia Tech and NC State in that rivalry game a week ago. I've got this one at like forty one, let's say forty one to twenty eight Clemson.
I'm right there. Yeah, I hate, I hate doing this chalk thing. I favorites.
I know.
I'm worried about both teams.
For different reasons.
My worries on the Clemson side stem from the quarterback insta mm hmm. And let's be honest, that's really not going to be a problem this weekend. That's not a problem when you play North Carolina.
Oh man, I don't know. It's not a problem when Carolina.
Whoever plays quarterback in this game is going to throw for like two point fifty three touchdowns and not really have much issue because that is who Carolina is as a defense. Clemson could also give the ball to Will Shipley thirty times and that'd be enough. Basically, it's create your own offense. It's whatever you want to do in this game will probably work and you will score forty
points against Carolina. My other concern on the Clemson side that's probably more relevant here is the packet up packet in situation for the Tigers, and there's no stakes after Yeah, like before last week they had a shot at the playoff, and this would have been a one loss team with a primetime matchup with a game left to play, maybe an opportunity to impress the committee of things in front of him go Haywire. But is basically a meaning this game in terms of the national conversation. And I just
wonder what version of Clemson we get. The concern on the Carolina side is pretty obvious. They don't play defense, and there could also be a big time limp to the finish in them continuing after what we saw for the last two weeks. Yep, So I think I come down on the Clemson side. I got it forty one twenty eight. I don't feel great about this one at all, but I think Clemson's a better side.
The question is do you take the team with the better quarterback if you're confused about the outcome? Now, Drake May's kind of fallen off these past couple weeks against what NC State and.
Who they played the week for Georgia Tech.
They played Georgia Tech and lost, and I think scored seventeen in that losing effort.
I'm worried in particular about that side of things. When I say limp to the finish, I'm being perhaps a little too simplistic. I'm worried that teams have figured out Carolina and Drake May.
Drake May is still.
Holding up numbers, but I'm worried that teams have figured something out because those are two games that I don't feel they should have lost.
True, although he's a freshman and maybe you slow down at the end of the year, it's a freshman wall a little bit as people, as you mentioned, figured out like some of your tendencies. But he's also good improvising and buying himself time and you know, finding the fourth or fifth guy. Like he's a quarterback well ahead of his years.
He's well ahead of his years, and that would definitely hold some water if his numbers weren't still good. Right, his numbers are still good. In the offense has sputtered a bit, so defenses have figured them out in some way, shape or form to keep him out of the end zone.
And that's that's problematic.
So here's the question. The question then becomes who do you feel more comfortable taking a not heavy favorite, but a comfortable favorite when you say eight and a half points, seven and a half, seven and a half points, So comfortable favorite with the potential to collapse via the passing game. I'm trying to be nice here, not name name, and not be mean to specific people. Yeah, prone to collapse via the passing game, and the passing game on defense
as well. Like it's one of those things where we say a lot of people have figured out, you know, North Carolina a little bit. People have figured out the secondary of Clemson all year long, essentially, and so that to me is the concern that North Carolina could win this game forty two to forty, right, that you're able to score many points against this Clemson secondary and like a very inconsistent, weirdly pass rush from Clemson. I'm going
Clemson here. I'm going Clemson here, not because I think DJU is going to pick on the North Carolina defense, but I just I'm with you that the limp to the finish thing has me a little bit spooked, and I think Will Shipley and some timely running from DJU I think should be enough to ultimately in the way that they paced a you know, a comfortable win against was it Louisville a couple of weeks ago, and that
was a Brent Doman game. I know that, But I think I'm good with with Clemson winning this game by Clinton thirteen.
Clemson should give the ball to Will Shipley thirty five times. Yeah, they should just give him the ball. He is their best offensive player. They should give him the ball and they should let him score. It will be a hot Knight through butter against this Carolina defense. That should be the game plan. It won't be, but should have it.
They've improved a little bit the Carolina defense. They have not what they were against.
That they have they have, they absolutely have. They're still not good. Okay, they should give Will Shipley the ball thirty five times and they'll win going away.
But they won't. They won't.
They won't do that.
All right, some other games here, if I could go around the horn here, Group of five action is also taking place. Let's go back, Let's travel back in time. Dan Friday, seven thirty, CBS Sports Network, the Conference USA Championship Game in the Alamodome.
That's where UTSA plays its home games.
UTSA by the way, ten and two this season. Yep, your boy, big Frank Harris against North Texas North Texas seven and five. These teams met back in Week eight. UTSA won that game pretty good game, thirty one to twenty seven at home. Frank Harris needed a touchdown pass with fifteen seconds left to.
Get the dub.
This is another home game for UTSA. H I think it could be fun. I think this could be a good matchup. North Texas lives and dies by the big play, which always makes for interesting viewing. If nothing more, both on offense and defense.
That is just their mo.
I trust big Frank Harris again and UTSA again to get win number ten in a row to get the conference championship. I think their offense a little bit too much for the mean Green. So I don't know about minus eight. I don't have a read on that point spread, but I like UTSA to get the conference championship.
Here. I think I'm going North Texas to cover in this one. Okay, I think I could sign at large. I should sigh large the UAB game, nonwithstanding, the defense proved over the course of the year. They were scoring over the course of the year. The win against Western Kentucky was impressive. I went back and watched some of that. I'm just I think North Texas keeps it close. It's been a nice bounce back year.
Saturday high noon on ESPN. It is the MAC Championship. They play at neutral site at Ford Field and it's the Battle of Ohio. Toledo at seven and five a three point favorite against the Ohio Bobcats at nine and three. These teams did not meet during the regular season. I am on Toledo as am I. I am on Toledo here. This is a fairly even matchup on paper. But I do think the loss of Curtis Rourke for Ohio is pretty significant, and they're going to give the start CJ. Harris,
He's red shirt sophomore. ESPN thinks very highly of him, dan so highly that they linked his name up to the wrong CJ. Harris, who plays linebacker for Kent State, also in Ohio. So so yeah, I just I trust to lead a little bit more given circumstances, and I got them the win and cover.
Yeah. I have Toledo because of the defense here. The offense has not been incredible, but because of the Toledo defense, the ability to get after the quarterback, I'm going with the.
Rockets Saturday, three thirty ESPN Sun Belt Game sun Belt Championship. They're playing it at Veterans Memorial Stadium, that is the home field of Troy. Troy also ten and two this past season, hosting uc NO hosting Coastal Carolinas.
Yeah yeah.
Coastal went nine to two, but lost forty seven to seven last week James Madison. That is at least in part because they are without their head honcho, Grayson McCall. Quarterback Grayson McCall out for the year. Hence the big points bread here. Troy is favored by eight and a half points. I went back and checked. I was really high on Troy before the year.
Good I should have been.
I was high on Troy because of that defense, and the defense has not disappointed. They've now won nine in a row. There are only two losses this season were at app State and at Ole Miss. These teams did not play at all during the regular season. I'm not confident they can't cover this or really any spread, but I'm also not at all confident that Coastal is going to be able to score on this defense. So I will say Troy twenty one to ten. Relatively low scoring. I have them to cover.
I'm not confident, but I like the Trojans here to win at home, as do I. I think they comfortably win this game Coastal, even without Grays and McCall. Even with Gray and McCall, excuse me, defense was kind of a disaster this year. So I'm going Troy here to take advantage and comfortably win.
Saturday, four pm ABC, the American Championship Game. It is in Yolman Stadium in New Orleans, Louisiana. This is UCF at nine to three. This is Tulane also, oh god at ten and two, so many two Lane favored by three and a half points. We have rumors all week. I don't know to what end they affected the preparation here about Willie Fritz potentially going to Georgia Tech. That did not happen. Brent Key of course got that gig. But I think a letdown spot maybe for TWU Lane
week after beating Cincy. Yeah, I don't know. I'm curious. It's a week after they beat Cincy. But it's also a revenge game for Tulane because UCF one when these teams played back in week eleven, so in that game, for whatever, it's Worth was a fairly comfortable win for UCF because they led.
Wired to wire. Yeah, they led wire to wire.
They kept two lane at arm's length, even though it was kind of a closer final score. They rushed for three point thirty six. Your boy John Rice Plumbly had a monster game on the ground there and through the air.
So I hears played well though in that one, did he not? Yeah, Taj Spears, Yep, yep. I'm going to lane here. I'm going with the home team who can run the ball. I'm one with the better defense on the on this kind of stage, UCF is fine. I don't think they can win in multiple ways. I think they could, but I'm going with the home team Tulane, who comes in with a good deal of momentum. UCF, who they lose two a couple of weeks ago, Navy. Don't love that. Navy's defense is pretty decent, but I
don't love that loss. So I'm going I'm going to lane here to win by a touchdown.
I went UCF back then, I'm going to go UCF again here. And there's a lot to like about Tulane. Michael Pratts had a good year. Yeah, Willy Fritz is the man like, we both.
Beat my precious Kansas State.
Yeah, we both like Willie Fritz a lot. Yeah, I'm just in on UCF in this matchup. I think it's a matchup that favors him again, So I'll go UCF plus the points.
I think I went chalk? Did I go chalk? Other than North Texas?
I believe?
So here's your opportunity to not go chalk. We're both not go chalk here. In the Saturday four pm Fox game, it's Mountain West Championship. They played on the smurf turf at Boise and it is Boise.
State nine and three.
Boise State, a three and a half point favorite against Fresno, stayed at eight and four. This is a really interesting matchup. To me, this is a fun matchup. These teams played back in Week six. The Broncos won by twenty. Notably, this was a game for Fresno without Jake Hayner. Yeah, the logan five game logan five games, So Hayner was out. He missed some time due to injury, but he's been back for about the last month or so. Fresno hasn't lost.
Fresno has been really really good since he came back, and this matchup, in particular to me, is really the culmination of two great stories so far in college football, teams that got it together and have both gone on a run. So on the Boise side, since they brought over Dirt Cutter to run the offense, they're scoring thirty four points a game. The numbers have been really impressive, especially in the ground, close to two hundred yards per
game on the ground. Taylor Green, who they installed at quarterback, has been really, really solid. They've won seven of eight since making that switch at both coordinator and quarterback. And then on the Fresno side. Fresno keep in mind, this Fresno team lost by three at the Gun to a nine to three Oregon State team. They got destroyed by USC, but USC might be a playoff team now, and in the process of that lost a bunch of guys got hurt. So it was during that spell they lost to Boise,
they lost to Yukon. Since then, they've won seven in a row as they've gotten healthier. They're winning by a large margin in all of those games. The defense has played well. They're giving up like fourteen points a game something of that ilk and they've got Jake Cayner back Jake Cane. So I don't want to go straight chalk all weekend.
I'm with you. I'm gonna go Fresno here.
Out right, I'm going Boise. I'm going Boise. You can call me Sir Leonard Chockington, But what a jerk. I know it's in Boise. It's gonna be cold about thirty degrees. Guys from Fresno not used to that chill in the air altitude tie. I'm just not there. I think Fresno's a good team. I think you go defense at home with a good quarterback, which I think they both have good quarter But the ability to run the ball is
sort of interesting to me. For Boise, ability to get after the passer, I just think it's lining up Broncos.
Sorry, we got one more game to talk about, dan Okay. Patriot League action here Week fourteen college football season. They play this one Saturday high noon ESPN Plus if that's the thing for you. Fitt and Field and Wooster Mass, New Hampshire at nine and three, Holy Cross across Saders at eleven and oh I try to find a point spread. I couldn't, Okay, which is typical when you look for an early week point spread for an FCS game the Crossaders.
They qualified automatically by virtue of their conference win, by virtue of going eleven and oh being ranked highly enough in the FCS ranks. I am inclined to go holy Cross here. I think we got to go holy Cross. I think we got to ride the Patriot League wagon as long as we can here to keep this thing going throughout the college football postseason.
I'm looking for odds here and I can't.
I couldn't find a damn thing.
Uh No, I found something. Scoresan odds dot com has New Hampshire as a seven and a half point favorite.
Really, that's interesting. That's very interesting because.
If you if you on hold on, this is basketball, the game already happened. New Hampshire beat him by fifteen.
The only thing that I could find is that holy Cross is something like a twenty five to one, a twenty five to one long shot to win the FCS championship, and New Hampshire is like eighty to one.
So I can surmise from.
That that holy Cross should be a pretty good favorite here.
Yes, I would think so. Yeah, I'm looking right now, New Hampshire. Nothing coming up. Nope, spread na.
We should have been more prepared for this, but I couldn't find it. I looked everywhere.
No, I mean that's preparing. You just couldn't find it. I'm going cross Aders by forty four points here four points. Yeah, No, I think New Hampson will get on the board. I have it as something around sixty to sixteen. Sixty to sixteen, yeah, a nice score A GAMMI outcome.
No, I like that.
I'll go speaking you score a gamies, We'll go. Let's say thirty seven to nineteen.
Okay, what did you lock up? You locked up Michigan?
I locked up Michigan.
Yeah, I should offer a lock here. I'm going to lock up t see you.
How about that? Lock up? The week?
About that.
TCU?
I like it?
Big weekend of games. If you are going to be again in the Atlanta area, please come on out. So oliverablelive dot com your last chance to get tickets. The room will be filled, it will be it will be a fun show. We're very excited to do this before a live audience. It's one of the coolest things that we get to do when we do this podcast, to go out and meet people. So often, and you'll hear us say this if you come out, I'm talking to a wall right now, I'm looking at myself and a
camera lands. It's it's not often that we actually get to do this in front of real people who listen to the show. It's one of the true privileges of doing the solid verbal. So I don't know, hope, if you're in the area, if you've got some time to kill again, it's an earlier show, so it doesn't nuke the whole evening. If you've got other plans on Friday night coming out, say hi, share a drink with us, Come and watch the Pac twelve game with us.
It'll be a ton of fun. Agree. Do you have chicken tender dipping preferences if people want to, if they don't want to bring yeah, like we don't want to have, you know, fourteen people bring you a beer. That's not not that productive. But if somebody's like, hey, ty.
I heard honey mustard, I gotcha and listen, I'm I'm I'm ready, willing and able to try all dipping options, okay in the Tendo's apartment, Yeah, yeah, and don't I don't. I don't want a thousand beers either, because I need to get to the airport to fly my rickety flight back home bright and early Saturday mornings so I can watch USA Netherlands.
Okay, and you also mentioned you wanted to joint the size of a barrel, So if anybody is especially like you just wanted like a comically large look after this week. It's been a very busy week for us. Yeah, very busy week.
I might need that.
Yeah, yeah, all right, so it's uh, it's not just tenders with tie, but it's get faded with tie. There you go, there you go, and then and then more tenders.
Yeah, more tenders for sure.
Yeah, we appreciate everybody stopping on by listening to the Championship Week preview episode. Don't forget Soliverble Live Again is where you can go to get those tickets. Don't forget Soliverble dot com, slash Spotify. Come on over, listen to the live show, enjoy our interview with Bert Kreischer. Yeah, we're excited, but we've been trying to get Burt on for a while, so that'll be freight. I'm looking very
much forward to that conversation. Last, but certainly not least, tell your friends about the show, subscribe to the show. We are going to be ratcheting up our Winter Wonders Bowl Confidence Pool competition here momentarily, but it's only available to folks at for Bowlers dot com.
And I've got my system. I got my foolproof system for Winter Wonders.
You got your system, I got mine. It's one of the most fun things that we do all year, the confidence pool. Forget about points, breads, forget about all that we're going to talk about. We're just going to dig deep into the well and pull out some crazy logic and pick some of these games.
Love it for Bowlers dot Com. Dan, I will see you tomorrow, all right.
Can't wait for everybody out there. Enjoy your weekend.
We'll talk to you all soon.
Hope to see you in Atlanta. If not, stay solid peace,