Show Notes
On this episode of Gameday, Nazario, Caden and Peyton preview the SEC West clash between Alabama and LSU, dive into the Michigan scandal and discuss the hottest topics around the country as the postseason approaches.
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Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: W v uafm tuscaloosa.
[00:00:16] Speaker B: Welcome back to 90.7 the Capstone. This is the game day show. I'm Nazaro Pengalo here with my partners Kaden Johnson and Peyton Davis. Thank you all for tuning, tuning in. We just got done talking about the Alabama defense and what they need to do to stop this LSU offense that has been fantastic all season. One thing that has not been fantastic for LSU is their defense that has struggled in a lot of areas, to be fair, to be honest. And they also have at least three secondary players out this game, if not four. So there is a lot of room for this Alabama offense to have one of their best games of the season. LSU does 106 in the country in yards per play, allowed dead last in the country and opponent red zone scoring percentage. They've also allowed 4.6 yards per carry, which is 94th in the country. They're just not very good on defense.
[00:01:06] Speaker A: No, they're super susceptible to the big play and they're missing their best defensive lineman, Makai Wingo, also it's across the board. It's a tough situation for them. But I think this game is a lot about margin of error for Alabama. Like on offense, your margin of error is not very large and of course not on defense, but offensively this game is every opportunity for growth from Jalen Millrow. He's faced much better defenses than this. There's no question about it. This Alabama offense flying has faced much better pass rushes than this. And then this team is the LSU super susceptible to big plays through the air, but also on the ground, very susceptible to big plays. So you saw the way that Ole Miss just torched him pretty much just unresisted. And when you see like 700 yards of offense, whatever it was, that's something where you're not going to need that, I don't think, today. But this is time to grow. This is not a game where you can win scoring under 30 points. I don't think. If this game goes under, then Alabama, I believe, wins. But I think many believe that. I think that the higher the score gets, the more pressure gets on this Alabama offense to capitalize. And it's all going to be on them. All the pressure is on their shoulders to execute because it's all there for them. It's there for the taking. And Isaiah Bond and Jermaine Burden on the outside are going to be facing freshmen defensive backs. They got, I think, two underclassmen at the safety, sage Ryan and Ashton Stamps, I believe, but underclassmen, inexperienced across the board. You see, Harold Perkins is a great player. We know how great of a player that he is, but he's been used more in an off ball role in the slot, kind of a situational pass rusher. It's kind of interesting to see, but it's probably just a testament to how they're kind of struggling at multiple position groups that they need harold Perkins to do a lot more for them. And he's capable of that. You got it. So another key is Jalen Millrow. Before every single play, you got to know where four is. You got to know where Harold Perkins is. You got to see your keys and see what they're going to do. I'm interested to see what LSU's game plan is. Do they send heavy pressure? Do they try to get after an offensive line that can sometimes struggle in pass protection? I could see that. And Test know his timing and know his processing in terms of the quick and short and intermediate game, I think I could see that. But every opportunity to get going on the ground early limit possessions for LSU's offense, and Milro could also have a bit. I mean, you saw him mix in the zone read game. You've seen him kind of try to build it in a little bit more and more as the season goes on. Millro right. He's probably as healthy as he's been all season just off this bye week. Now you can kind of unleash a part of your offense that you've kind of been holding under wrap so far in the Jalen Miller run game. I mean, I think he's averaging like 20 rushing yards a game and probably has a lot more to do with sacks and stuff like that. But we know he's capable of having a big day on the ground and I believe they do have a big day on the ground. And that's going to be the key to this whole game. Pretty much, yeah.
[00:03:58] Speaker C: The stats may not reflect it just because of the sacks, but everyone against Tennessee, Milro did have timely runs. He had a few big first down runs, especially towards the end of the game. He probably true rushing yards, I'm not exactly sure, but just throwing it out, I would say that he probably had 35 to 40 on the ground in that game sack with four times. Yeah, exactly. But as for Alabama, I think although they might be a little too dependent on the busted play, deep ball, kind of I don't know if this is a game that you want to steer away from that, like Peyton said, injury plagued LSU team. You've got freshman DBS lining up against.
[00:04:36] Speaker A: Guys that across the board.
[00:04:37] Speaker C: Yeah. So Jermaine Burton, Isaiah Bond, expect them to run a lot of goes, try to catch these young DBS off guard and just kind of play on their own.
And I also think that it's really beneficial for our offensive line that's growing to have played against Texas, Texas A M and Tennessee this year because obviously this LSU front seven is going to be much weaker than those teams. I think that's going to benefit our offensive line a lot. I think that we have seen more impressive front sevens than this one. I do think they're going to step it up today in a big way. They do got a big task in controlling and keeping contained.
Harold Perkins but Mackay Wingo being out is going to be pretty devastating for LSU in this one, I think.
[00:05:23] Speaker B: And one thing we saw in the Tennessee game that we really hadn't seen all season was Chase McClellan really be the number one back. 27 carries in that game. He averaged 4.3 per carry, 115 yards. And before that we'd never seen him, I think, get over 20, if I'm not mistaken. And do you think that there will be more of that? Chase McClellan, number one back, give him the ball? Most of the game that we saw.
[00:05:43] Speaker A: Against Tennessee, well, unless another hand gets hot. But I think that there's going to be room for it early on because they're not going I don't think they're going to leave their freshman defensive bags on an island, especially the success. I mean, at this point, it is a known fact that Jalen Millro has a lot of success throwing the ball down the field. That's not just a fluke anymore. So if you leave some of these guys on the outside with Jermaine Burton, we've seen Jermaine Burton time and again. He gives him a chance, 50 50 and he comes up with it. So I think that early on they're going to kind of space it out a little bit and that's going to open up the run game a little bit. You got to use Chase McClellan. This is not a team Alabama team where you're going to average like seven yards of carry. Four or five yards of carry is more realistic because of the way teams are going to stack the box against you. And to your point, these three front sevens that we faced, A and M, Texas and Tennessee, they're like three of the top ten in the country. So you're seasoned in that way and an Ole Miss defense as well. That is improving. But they played well then. So there is seasoning here and this is a team that's a lot less experienced, a lot more susceptible to big plays, and it's going to be a better game because I thought it was probably the best game that Kaden Proctor played last week or two weeks ago against Tennessee. And in the second half, the way they were able to hold up it starts with the run game and the way you can do play action off of that boot, jalen murrow out and use his legs and stuff like that. But that's going to open up down the field early on or later on if you're able to establish it early. And I think that's what they're going to try to do.
[00:07:11] Speaker B: Yeah, and I think one thing that will be very interesting is both teams are coming off a bye week. Both teams purposely want to prepare for each other. And obviously this LSU defense, their coaching staff knows they got inexperienced. They know alabama can push the ball down the field. It'll be interesting to see what their game plan is coming out and then how Alabama adjusts to it. One thing that we talked about is Jermaine Burton, Isaiah Bond more Jermaine Burton one on ones man coverage, jump balls. I would guess that LSU will not be doing that a lot during this game.
[00:07:39] Speaker A: Jermaine Burton more the jump ball guy, isaiah Bond More, the space creator where he just beats someone down the field.
[00:07:43] Speaker B: It would be interesting to see how much zone coverage they play, how much blitzing they bring, and the way that Jalen Milrow is able to read defense, as we've talked about it a couple times on this know, his little bit I don't know exactly the word you want to say just a little bit behind the curb in reading the defense. And so it'll be a big key if he can do that. And communication issues for this LSU secondary not playing a lot together, will they be able to communicate and we'll see a lot of that down the stretch and the adjustments that are made throughout this game. What do you think is the biggest key for Jalen Milrow? Pre snap to make sure that he knows exactly where he's doing. And Tommy Reese to communicate to him to be able to not let Harold Perkins take over this football game. Pass rush. If they put him in that position.
[00:08:28] Speaker A: Well, they're going to move him around all over the field. You got to know where he is at all times, like I said earlier. But also off of that, you got to make sure you can recognize.
I think they're going to try to blitz early, I really do, and get after Millro a little bit and get him uncomfortable. I think that would make sense from a defensive standpoint from LSU, that does leave you susceptible to the big play, but they're going to be like, can Jalen take advantage of that? And I believe he can. But when you talk about just freshmen on the outside and the gelling of this offensive line as a whole, you feel good about it. But this is also an LSU defense that they're playing their best football right now. I mean, they played Auburn and army their last two games and they allowed, I think, like eight points combined. But Auburn, army, not great offenses, but it's still probably good for them to get some confidence under their belt. And you heard Brian Kelly talk about it this week, how his defense is playing the best football of the season right now. We'll see they're going to be tested a lot early, and I think it starts in the run game, and I think that they know it starts in the run game, so they're going to stack the box a little bit. But I kind of just contradicted myself saying that they're not going to leave their guys on islands, but I think they're going to kind of disguise what they're going to try to do. I think they're going to blitz early and maybe not stack the box, but send corner blitzes, test them, not in the minds of Jalen Milrow and this offensive line.
[00:09:51] Speaker B: Yeah, it's not like LSU doesn't recruit well. They have talented athletes. These guys, I'm sure, are pretty solid recruits. So it's not like they can't play. It's not like they can't match up athletically. So we will see how their game planning and their adjustments go throughout this game. We're going to take a quick break and we will get into our X Factors players to watch for this game and then our predictions. Thank you all for listening. We'll be right back.
[00:10:26] Speaker A: WVUA FM Tuscaloosa defense be able to create turnovers and momentum plays by themselves as well as an offense who just is really efficient on the big play and continues to be. And then Jace McClellan finding his way for over 115 yards on 27 carries. That's what you want to see. And that's just super encouraging. When you look at how Tennessee and Texas A and M, their defenses are probably the strongest you're going to face in the SEC besides Georgia, and then moving into some of these weaker teams, you feel like you're more seasoned. Now if you're an Alabama fan and if you're the Alabama Crimson Tide.
[00:11:25] Speaker C: Yeah, 100% agree. I thought we came out a little flat in the first half, especially defensively. They look unprepared. Didn't look like they had watched a lot of film, honestly. Squirrel White came out and he was guarded in man one on one on the first drive of the game by Chris Braswell 40 yards down the field. So stuff like that. Just from a coaching perspective, you're kind of confused. And then there was a little bit like, Bruce McCoy gets hurt for Tennessee, so you should probably put more focus on Squirrel White just because you're going to think they're going to force feed him a little bit more. And he went ballistic in the first half. I want to say he had like nine catches for 100 yards and a touchdown, like just in the first half alone. So we could have game planned to stop him a little better considering he was probably their best weapon on offense. And we made Joe Milton look a lot better than what he had been playing the rest of the season in the first half. That being said, the second half was just a completely different team. It was kind of like the first half against Arkansas.
The tide looked great. They were moving the ball down the field. Well, on offense, explosive plays, that's kind of their identity now we've seen. And then as for the defense, timely play after timely play, big sack after big sack. And then Jahad Campbell, of course, comes in and just changes the game. And like you said, that's probably the loudest moment I've ever experienced in Bryant Denny as well. It was just an electric atmosphere.
[00:12:44] Speaker B: Yeah. And let's talk know we talked about the Tennessee rushing attack just being fantastic, being really the strong point of this Tennessee football team. And Alabama. Joe Milton was the leading rusher for Tennessee. Against Alabama, Jalen Wright held two yards per carry. Jabari small. Only 24 yards. As well as a team, they rushed for 3.5 per carry. Just talk about how well they did stopping this Tennessee rushing attack.
[00:13:08] Speaker A: Well, so the quarterback thing, I think just this front seven has proven that they're one of the stronger units in the country, there's no question about it. But this rushing attack, the quarterback run is going to be a huge factor today. We know that. And we saw Know motion out and spread out defense so it would get open lanes for Joe Milton, who's a bigger guy than Jayden Daniels, but he's not as explosive as a runner. Jaden Daniels is a guy who killed you last year on the ground in the second half in particular, he's playing better than pretty much any quarterback in the country. They run a similar they're going to go fast and stuff like that. I thought Tennessee was a good preparation for that, but I think Tennessee doesn't do pretty much anything better than maybe they run the ball better. But the passing game for LSU is as prolific as there is in the country. So it was a good prepare and barometer for where you are and you played really well in the second half and then you got an off week. And I've been hearing that Saban was getting after the guys this past week and getting fired up, which is great to hear. You want to see them come out and play a complete game. Because I think if you get down I believe the score at half was 20 to seven, right? If you get down 20 to seven at half in particular, if you get down I think it was what was it? 13 nothing early. And they got a few red zone opportunities. If you're going to keep punting, turn the ball of strip sack for Jalen Milrow.
If you're going to turn the ball over like that, you're not going to beat this LSU team. They're too explosive. You can't hold them out of the end zone forever. Then 30 points may just be inevitable today. But they haven't really played in terms of defenses. They haven't played anyone fantastic since Florida State. Florida State, I think, has a pretty strong defense, but they're figuring themselves out right now. They're playing as confident as they've been playing on defense. Even though it's against army and Auburn, they're still explosive on offense. They're hard to keep out of the end zone, no question about it. And that's in both run game and pass game with Logan Diggs and the Malik neighbors and Brian Thomas's weapons everywhere. So you got to be prepared for that. And I thought Tennessee was a good preparation game for them and they showed out in the second half especially.
[00:15:05] Speaker C: Yeah, I think this LSU team has kind of found their identity over the last few weeks.
And like you said, Peyton, they haven't necessarily played the most impressive line of defenses, but that being said, they have Jaden Daniels. And I think that Joe Milton did a great job preparing us kind of for some of the things we might see from LSU this week as far as quarterback runs. And Joe Milton actually did kind of have his way running the ball against.
[00:15:29] Speaker A: Us, second half especially kind of kept him going a little bit. I mean, it's pretty much the only semblance of offense that they were able to generate.
[00:15:35] Speaker C: Exactly. And he's not nearly as fast as Jaden Daniels.
[00:15:39] Speaker A: Big guy, six 5240. Yeah. But Jaden Daniels is like a four four guy.
[00:15:44] Speaker C: Yeah. Hard to bring down for sure. And then as for Jaden Daniels, his problem is just really not sliding and so maybe you got to take advantage of that as well.
[00:15:55] Speaker B: Yeah. Last year in the 2022 game, jane Daniels runs for 95 yards. He was the leading rusher for LSU. But this year, LSU, they bring in a new running back, Logan Diggs. And he's played absolutely fantastic.
[00:16:07] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:16:08] Speaker B: Played for Notre Dame. He was not the leading back, but he did have a lot of snaps. But Logan Diggs this year for LSU has played fantastic. They have been able to run the ball very well, which has complemented Jaden Daniels. And he's played a lot better as a know. He has that rushing attack, that ability to run the ball, but his actually has been on another level this year compared to last year because I remember a lot of people talking last year and then coming into this season, how is Jayden Daniels going to be as a passer? Is he going to be able to take this LSU team?
[00:16:37] Speaker A: And it didn't look Florida State, it did not.
[00:16:40] Speaker B: But since then he has been if one of the best, if not the best quarterback in the country. He has played absolutely fantastic. But let's talk about this rushing attack because it's so dynamic with Jane Daniels and Logan Diggs. And if you let this team run the football and dictate their offense, they can take deep shots with their fantastic receivers. So I think it comes down to at first stopping the run game. How Alabama need to do that today?
[00:17:06] Speaker A: Well, so I'm going to push back just a little bit. I think that their downfield passing game, the threat of that is the opener for the run game and that's how they are able to generate a lot of success in the run game, which I think they're going to be able to. And I think it's more about I think Logan Diggs a good running back in college. But I think Jaden Daniels, the thing that makes you most intimidated about this team is what he can do with his legs, because I believe in Kool Aid McKinsey, I believe in Terryon Arnold that they're going to be on Islands. They got to play well today. I mean, they're going to be one on one with Brian Thomason and Malik Neighbors, which know as good a duo in the country this year at receiver. But you got to trust your guys doing that because if you don't, then you're not going to have enough guys with their eyes on Jayden Daniels in terms of limiting him as a runner. So I believe that the defensive line before the buy, they were playing their best football, especially the guys in the interior like Justin Aboigbee and Jehemos, those guys are playing their best football right now. I believe in them to stop the run first. But it's about limiting the big plays and what the big plays do to your defense in terms of making you kind of susceptible to a ground attack off that. So I think it's about limiting big plays early, getting after Jane Daniels, making sure you don't lose eyes on them and you don't play man coverage, everyone turns their back to him and Chris Braswell and Dallas Turner, setting that edge, not allowing that rushing lanes, not getting too far upfield, not getting beat outside, going inside. So I think it's more about that first and limiting that because I believe that they're going to try. Know, you saw the way Tennessee came out. I was kind of surprised by it. There were bombs, kind of bombs away and Joe Milton looked great, but you made them uncomfortable. And I say it every week, every quarterback in college, if you get pressure in their face, you get pressure on these edges and make them uncomfortable. Most of them will fold. There are a few exceptions, but college quarterbacks, these guys are like 21, 20 years old.
Disguise some looks, get pressure in their face, and I think Kevin Steele is going to done a very good job of that the last few weeks.
[00:19:04] Speaker C: Yeah, I think so too. I think one of the biggest keys for the game for us this week is probably just to not get down early. We kind of talked a little bit about that, getting down thirteen zero and then 20 to seven to Tennessee. I don't know if we're necessarily built to come back from down substantial leads week in, week out, and I don't know if LSU is built to give up substantial leads. This offense is too explosive. They're number one in the country in yards per game.
[00:19:30] Speaker A: Ten points.
[00:19:31] Speaker C: Yeah, they score like 45 points a game. This team is legit. And then another threat that probably doesn't even get talked about enough is that Neighbors and Thomas are both top five to ten receivers in the SEC as a whole. Jaden Daniels has found his guys this year. Neighbors plays like a really physical playstyle. It suits them well, and they've just found the end zone all year.
[00:19:54] Speaker B: Yeah. One thing about their offense being fantastic, when we see great offenses and great defenses, they're going to get their yards. They're going to find ways to make plays. They're too talented to do that. You're not going to be able to do what they did against Leonard Fournette and shut them down to under 100 yards. They're going to get their yards. A huge key to this game will be red zone defense. Alabama's red zone defense has not been great, has not been bad.
[00:20:14] Speaker A: It was great last week or not last week, two weeks ago in the first half, limiting that kind of early start. And you can't get off to like we've said, you can't get off to that sort of a start, but it was good to see that.
[00:20:25] Speaker B: Yes. So red zone defense for sure, and if they can force a couple turnovers, will be huge.
First or secondly, we've talked a lot about man coverage, bump and run from these cornerbacks. Do you think we'll see more of an adjustment to go to zone to find a way to stop Jaden Daniels running the ball, or you think it'll be more of man coverage with a QB spy with one of the linebackers?
[00:20:46] Speaker A: Yeah, so Alabama's been predicated throughout the years on that bump and run man coverage styles. I think they stick with that. Neighbors, you know, he's a very interesting player because I think he's looked so much better this year than he did last year. To me, the versatility that he has is he's a physical player. He's fast, he's got nice ball skills. He's a very good route runner. Like, he's very good an all round, well rounded receiver. And Brian Thomas on the other side is just a big, imposing, physical guy. But if you stop him, I think bump and run is the best way to play him because I think Terryon Arnold can run with him, no question. But you got to prevent him from picking up speed because he's a guy that needs kind of room to get started when you talk about his speed. So if you get physical with him, you get under him, then you're going to be able to limit him down the field. And so I think they're going to be manned up on that outside and then QB spies and keeping your eyes in the backfield. You got to make sure to do that, there's no question. But I don't think zone coverage would be the way to go against this team.
[00:21:45] Speaker C: Yeah, I completely agree. I don't think we would leave what we've kind of, like you said, predicated our season on anyways. I also think that we're going to trust our guys in this one. While LSU has great receivers, we have a great secondary this year. I think downs will bring good help over the top, kind of like he did against A m. And I think sorry, like you said, just kind of jamming them at the line, not letting them pick up that speed, not letting.
[00:22:10] Speaker A: Them get downfield, slow down his release.
[00:22:12] Speaker C: Yeah, it's going to be pretty important today, especially for Arnold and Kool Aid because they're going to be tested well.
[00:22:18] Speaker A: They know that's what LSU does. They do those nine do. They do a lot of vertical stuff down the left side, down the right side. And Jaden Daniels has been extremely accurate in doing so. So you got to be on your game, there's no question.
[00:22:29] Speaker B: Yeah. And you talked already a little bit about getting pressure. And if you're trying to throw the deep ball, you got to have time to be able to throw the ball, let those routes develop. Right now, Alabama is ranked 9th in sack percentage as a defense, but LSU has been really solid pass protection. Their offensive line has played very well. Do you think we'll see more blitzes, less blitzes, disguised blitzes? What do you think is the key for Kevin Steele to ramp up the pressure for the defense?
[00:22:54] Speaker A: I do think disguised blitzes and I think know you got to depend on Dallas Turner and Chris Braswell to set an edge. But also you can also replace with your outside linebackers and trying to make sure you have that outside contained. So you can still stun up some stuff on the front four. But you got to make sure those guys in the back end or the linebacking core, they're not getting off their mark and opening these big run games or run holes, gaps, whatever you want to call them, you got to be able to blitz and then replace where those guys, the gaps that they're blitzing through. So it's disguising those looks and giving them different looks, making sure he doesn't have time to throw all day. Because I think that pass protection success that LSU's had has a lot to do with Jane Dale's threat as a runner and how you have to contain and you have to keep eyes on him. So that's going to naturally give you more time, but you're going to have to disguise some stuff and give him some different looks because you can't just sit back, only rush three, just contain all the way. I mean, they did that against Texas, Tennessee last year. I mean, that's how you get beat down the field. So, yeah, getting pressure in his face is definitely an important part.
[00:24:05] Speaker C: Yeah. His ability to run kind of forces defenses to play a little more laxed as far as pass pressure. And like we just talked about, that kind of opens up Brian Thomas. His release is better. Willing neighbors, they're getting down the field quicker, kind of open up that passing game for them. We got to do a good job of keeping that spy today. Making sure Jaden Daniels doesn't have time to see the pressure coming from the edges and step up into the pocket and make a play on his own.
[00:24:32] Speaker B: Yeah, we've seen a huge growth of Kevin Steele as this defensive coordinator this season. We saw early on that Texas game the inability to get pressure and the ability to Quinn ears to sit there and throw those deep balls. And he's done fantastic through the season against Jackson Dart and in the second half against Joe Milton and against Texas A M when our offense wasn't playing particularly well, they were able to stop the Texas A M offense and really capitalize on some big turnovers. So we'll see how that defense does in this game. We're gonna take a quick break. We will be right back talking more about this game and get into Jay Lamaro in the offense and what they need to do to get this W tonight in Brian Denny Stadium. Thank you all for tuning in Tuscaloosa.
Welcome back to 90.7 the Capstone. This is the Game Day show live on the University of Alabama here in Tuscaloosa, which will be hosting the LSU Tigers tonight at 06:45 P.m. In Brian Denny Stadium. We thank you all for listening. And now we're going to jump into this LSU versus Alabama game. X factors for this game, players to watch. Who are we going to talk about later tonight as the biggest contributor, biggest highlight of this game that helped Alabama win this football game?
[00:26:10] Speaker A: I think we're going to talk about Jermaine Burden or Isaiah Bond, one of the two. You're going to have to have success with them if you're going to win this game. And then also the job that Kool Aid does on Malik neighbors, I believe will be impressive.
He kind of got him a little bit last year, a few times in that second half. I think Kool Aid will be ready for this one for sure. And he's been as solid as you can be, possibly. I mean, this year he basically takes away a side of the field which you love when LSU is as successful as they are down the be. I think Malachi Moore is going to be one that we're looking at because he's going to be tasked with going against Kyrie and Lacey and there's going to be a lot of space. And Lacey is their kind of their slot guy. He's very fast, very strong route runner, not strong handed, but very sure route runner. I'm very interested to see the job that they do and then, as always, or in a game like this, deontay Lawson is extreme. I said two weeks ago with Jihad Campbell, who ended up playing, being the SEC player of the Wig all victory lap just a little bit, but said he'd be a big factor because of what they can do in the run game and how they spread you out and how you got to load up. You got to be strong at linebacker to do that. It's a little different now. They're going to spread you out LSU, but they're going to try to take you down the field. And Jalen Daniels is, you know, get around and try to scramble around a little bit. You gotta have speed at linebacker to keep up with him. And Deontay Lawson is probably the fastest or definitely the fastest linebacker Alabama has, and the best one as well. So I think he's got to have a career game, one where it's like, he's played great this season, we know that, but like a coming out party, and this is his turn to take that step into the next great Alabama linebacker as a sophomore. This is the game for him to do it, and it's the biggest challenge for him yet.
[00:27:56] Speaker C: Yeah, 100% agree. Just something random. Adding on to that. I just recently seen Ruben Foster highlights with LSU coming up. You like to think of Ruben Foster just absolutely leveling. Leonard Frenette, they dominated that whole game. It'd be nice to see some sort of dominance like that at the linebacker position today. Stopping that run game, eliminating the run not just from Logan Diggs, but from Jaden Daniels as well. I think the linebackers are going to be a big part. But all in all, I think that if we are to win this game today and contain that LSU offense, it's going to be a lot of serious hype around Kool Aid McKinstry after this one because the recipe for that is handling Malik neighbors and keeping him under control. Say if Malik Neighbors gets less than four or five catches, then yeah, and Granite Kool Aid is shadowing them the whole game. I think that's going to build a lot of hype around Kool Aid.
I think that's probably gonna be who.
[00:28:53] Speaker B: We'Re talking about after this know, I'm not gonna go with a player. I'm gonna go with a aspect of the game, and I think it's open field tackling. Open field tackling on Jaden Daniels, on Logan Diggs, on Bad, which was so.
[00:29:06] Speaker A: Poor in the second half last year. It's a good point because that's how LSU kind of got going offensively. A lot of mishaps.
[00:29:11] Speaker B: Yeah, that's a lot of how they want to run their offense. Obviously they have the big shots, but they want to get those read option plays on the outside, try to get their guys in open space. Yeah, and we saw that against Texas. We saw a lot of open field tackling and opportunities for it. I didn't really see a ton of it against Tennessee. They were more know, Joe Milton's, pretty tough guy to tackle. We didn't have a ton of run after catch from a lot of their other players. But that will be a huge part of the game. And I think it's going to be offensive line play and just finding where Harold Perkins is as a big part of it and finding a way to stop that. And so another thing about LSU's offense is their ability to bring a lot of receivers out there for receivers, spread it out. We will see maybe sometimes their ability for the Alabama defense to switch up their packages. Run the nickel set, run the 6th defensive back set. We might see some of Trey Amos get him in the game as well. And who's the other defensive back that I'm thinking of?
[00:30:07] Speaker C: Key.
[00:30:08] Speaker B: Jalen key as well. So we'll see them in the game. But another thing about two weeks ago we saw post game conferences talking about it being a personal game for this Alabama team and obviously coming into this game as well, it's pretty personal from that loss last week. How much do you think that will know? Motivation for both teams and motivation for these Alabama players that were in the game last year?
[00:30:30] Speaker A: Yeah, I think that it will be a big factor and I think this game and last year it mirrors a lot of what last year was, the two teams with the same records. But I think it mirrors a lot more to me. I think this season feels like it feels like what you want to see is like the 2015 season where you start out with the early loss and then LSU comes town and they got the Heisman favorite other team, which Jaden Nails, I would say, is. And you got to treat it like that because this team's better than a two loss team. I think if they had ranked a lot better than a two well, as they should be, they're somehow ranked below Missouri even though they beat them at home by ten. But that's the value of one loss versus two loss. I do believe that if they had gotten that squeaked out, that win against Ole Miss, then they would be probably in that probably top ten range, bright neck and neck with Alabama. But this is a game where it's got to have that sort of feel to it, where you just want to dominate and you want to show the country this is a national stage. Now. We've been flying under the radar a little bit. You've been since Texas, you lose to Texas, you've been flying under the radar a little bit. The Hype's building back up. This is the game where you got to prove it and prove that. Play your best game, play a complete game. I mean for dear Lord, play a complete game. I mean, you can't play half a football game like you have been against A M, against Ole Miss, against Tennessee. You gotta be able to play better than that early on. So you're exactly right though. I mean the big factor is limiting LSU early and then the offensive line protecting off of that. But the mirroring of the 2015 season, this game feels a little similar to that even though LSU was like a top four team. I believe they were undefeated at the time when they were, but with Leonard Frenette, but not the same here, but still a team with a playoff contender. Still, if they were able to squeak out, run the table and be an SEC champion, but as good a two loss team as you can find in the country, no question about it.
[00:32:31] Speaker C: Yeah, for sure. I think this I was thinking last night, this LSU team kind of reminds me a little bit of last year's Alabama team minus the close losses, I'd say more so just because it's a two loss team that might be out of playoff contention, but down the line.
[00:32:44] Speaker A: Of the season, but there's still a line. They don't need help. Last year when Alabama picked up their second loss, they needed LSU to pick up two losses and they lost against A M, they squeaked out a win against Arkansas. But they still control their own destiny to a degree. I mean, if they went out, beat Alabama, they're on top of the SEC West. They control the SEC west. They'll be able to get to Georgia or Atlanta.
[00:33:03] Speaker C: I'd say they probably need one of another game.
[00:33:06] Speaker A: They do. They need a little bit of yeah, yeah.
[00:33:10] Speaker C: All in all, the point being nobody in the country wants to play LSU right now, not just Alabama.
And another thing, I love the know kind of mindset being within the team, but when it gets out into the media like this, I feel like it's fuel to the fire for these other teams, too. It looked like Tennessee came out more fired up in that game than we were. You had Joe Milton talking before the game. A lot of Tennessee guys, they came out ready to play. This gets to them, too, and I think that we've kind of set this tone for them that they think, oh, Alabama just thinks we beat them on a fluke last year. We're going to come in and try to have the same success that we had before. That being said, though, I think this one's going to just be a shootout and yeah, it's going to be a tough game for sure.
[00:33:56] Speaker B: Would you like to give us your prediction, Gaden?
[00:33:59] Speaker C: I'm going to go 38 31 Alabama, and this might be a little bit of a hot take, but don't be surprised if this one goes into overtime. We've seen some classic Alabama sure hope LSU overtime games.
[00:34:08] Speaker A: For my heart, I could see this.
[00:34:10] Speaker C: One being an OT Classic.
[00:34:13] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:34:13] Speaker B: Peyton, do you want to give us.
[00:34:14] Speaker A: Your yeah, I got 41 33. I think the defense looks a lot better than 33 points. That's a big number and LSU has some big plays, but it's just great offense, will beat great defense every time in this day and age, and I think we're late enough into the season. You kind of see this in all levels of football where early on defenses are able to have a lot more success because offenses aren't like adjusted. They haven't gone through enough game speed and they're kind of playing slower now. Teams, it's, what is it, week eleven now? I mean teams are starting to catch their stride, no question. And offensively, I think both Alabama and LSU obviously has the top unit in the country. But Alabama playing their best football right now offensively, I'd say for sure, coming off their best half of any game all season. So the momentum off that. You got to show it wasn't a fluke. You got to play a whole game. Like we said earlier, getting down 20 to seven not going to work in the first half. So you're going to have to take advantage of a weaker defense in terms of experience.
Still athletic, like you said nazaria, they got athletic guys. It's not like they're a bunch of scrubs out there. They're not, this is not a defense. They might be ranked outside of top 100 in some things, but in terms of players and talent, LSU is not going to try to outside top 100 defense ever. They're going to have the recruits that are athletic enough. It's just been bad at times. Guys like Greg, Greg Penn II at linebacker, Mike linebacker, their leading tackler, their leader, their signature caller, all on defense. Then you don't have Makai Wingo but Mason Smith on the interior, six 6310, really athletic guy. That's going to be a test. At least he hasn't put up big stats. But it's going to be a test, at least for an interior offensive line that we can see struggle at times with Seth McLaughlin, who I've heard is going through a little bit of shoulder stuff on his snap arm, which maybe has something to do with the inaccuracy of snaps. And then also an experienced player like Jayden Roberts, he's played really well so far against Tennessee, which is one of the best pass rushes in the entire country. They neutralized it a little bit in the second half. They're playing their best right now and I believe Jaden Roberts, they found a player there in season with that switch that can fill in a lot stronger, but it's got to continue. It can't be fluky and now you got to take advantage. You can't get down early, you can't rely on your defense to get stops for you and put you in good positions. Keep this offense, keep this Jane Daniels offense off the field. If they're going to get the ball, they're going to receive the ball coming out, they're going to score, touchdown and then we're going to punt. That's where things look troubling for sure.
[00:36:42] Speaker B: Yeah. One thing Nick Saban talked about in his press conference was Kaden Proctor and his ability to, the reason he was playing better was to stop thinking and just play. And I think that's what it comes down to early on in this game, coming out with fire and just playing with a lot of passion early on in this game. And a huge thing, we talked about it in different variations, but staying ahead of the chains so that the LSU defense is not allowed to just dictate whether they want to blitz because it's a passing down or whether they force them into things.
[00:37:11] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:37:11] Speaker B: So that's going to be a huge key to this game. And obviously offensive line come out with a lot of fire and just bully this defensive line and just run the football. And so that game will be taking place at 645 tonight. We will all be there, I believe, right?
[00:37:27] Speaker A: Absolutely.
[00:37:28] Speaker B: Brian Day Stadium.
[00:37:29] Speaker A: Right there.
[00:37:29] Speaker B: We'll be rocking prime time. We cannot wait. We thank you all for listening to the first hour of our show. We will be back just a few minutes to talk about the rest of college football. We'll talk about last week's games a little bit. Kansas upsetting Oklahoma. Also the Oregon Ducks looked fantastic at Utah. We also get into some games this week such as Kansas State at Texas and of course the other big one in the SEC, the Missouri Tigers at the Georgia Bulldogs. Thank you all for listening. We'll be right back.
[00:38:12] Speaker A: WVUA FM Tuscaloosa.
[00:38:26] Speaker B: Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to 90.7 the Capstone. This is the game day show live on the University of Alabama. I am Nazario Pangal here with my partners Peyton Davis and Kaden Johnson. We just got done talking about the Alsu versus Alabama game. We are going to jump into all of college football and begin our talk with not a football game, but a football team. The Michigan football team fired their recruiting analyst Connor Stallions, who was found there's pictures of videos all over social media of a newfound picture of him on the sideline of the Central Michigan Michigan State game in Central Michigan coaching attire. And he also has been found with glasses that seem to have a camera implanted on them. There's also videos of him taking videos of the opponent's sidelines.
[00:39:14] Speaker A: It gets crazier by the basically the.
[00:39:18] Speaker B: Whole point of it is to steal the signs of the other team so that they will have an advantage and know the signs of all the teams that they are playing against.
Yeah. What do we think of this?
How big of a deal is this for Michigan and will something happen to them?
[00:39:34] Speaker C: Yeah, I think it's becoming a bigger deal as we move forward with it. It's kind of a progressing story. You talked about how the Central Michigan picture came out. It's just ridiculous too, just because that not only looks bad on Michigan, obviously, because it's cheating, but it also looks bad on Central Michigan. You're making a lot of stadium workers and staff just kind of look unprofessional because their coach even came out and said in a presser after the game like, yeah, we don't know who that is. He wasn't like a guy with a pass on the field. He's just a dude that's on the.
[00:40:04] Speaker A: Field wearing glasses at 07:00 at night.
[00:40:08] Speaker C: Yeah. And then I think the reports have said over the last as he's been employed, he's purchased tickets to, I think, 30.
[00:40:17] Speaker B: I believe he tried to hire other.
[00:40:19] Speaker C: People to do it as well.
He was bringing other people that he knew or sending other people that he knew to some of these.
[00:40:27] Speaker A: You don't think he's just an avid college football fan? He just likes to go into every game?
[00:40:30] Speaker C: Yes, I guess he doesn't have DVR, so he has to record them on his own. He keeps his own tapes.
But yeah, Stallions was making connor Stallions, that's his name, by the way. He was making like, in the mid 50s, thousands of dollars a year. I was just talking to them about kind of ironic. His LinkedIn profile page as of May 2022 stated he uses, quote, marine Corps philosophies and tactics to identify the opponent's most likely course of action and most dangerous course of action. So you can kind of like, connect some dots and tell me what you think that means.
[00:41:06] Speaker A: He's accusing the Marine Corps of stealing signs, apparently.
[00:41:09] Speaker C: But yeah. So this guy, ex military, basically goes to Harbaugh and he's like, yeah, I've got a way to make something happen. I've got a way to, I don't know, just game plan better for other teams. And I guess it's not the worst thing in the world to sign steel during the game. But once you bring technology into it, I think that's where people have a problem.
[00:41:33] Speaker A: That's the line that's cheating. So when you talk about these sort of things, you think of the Houston Astros back in 2017.
They're stealing signs. Stealing signs is a part of any sport. Pitchers tipping pitches, whether it's hand signals being exposed and stuff like that. And people have found ways to get around that and stuff with these obscure signs that have a bunch of different random cartoon characters or whatnot on it. But using when you're talking about the Houston Astros, the trash can banging, everyone knows about that. They had cameras installed in center field to get a view and butters to get a view of the pitchers and the coaches and the managers. Whatever signs were, know, trying to be hidden by whoever was pitching at the Dodgers or whoever would have know any sign that they were trying to hide from Houston, from seeing they could see from that outfield camera. And that's where things get dicey. And that's where cheating gets obvious when you're using technology to gain a competitive advantage. And there's an incriminating video as well that I saw where it's like a field view of the Ohio State Michigan game. And CJ. Stroud makes a check at the line of scrimmage or something like that with some sort of hand signal and the entire Michigan sideline all just starts pointing in the sky and doing stuff like this and that. So obviously there's something there and it's very incriminating. And by the day it seems more ridiculous and like, how did they ever think they were going to be able to get away with something like this? But what started as something where I was like, well, they'll probably get a few years probation and stuff like that. Nothing too major.
Harbaugh gets his extension pulled and the Big Ten Ads have a group, Tony Patetti and also in the commissioner and the Ads of the entire conference, as well as the three Pac Twelve teams that are joining next year, or four Pac Twelve teams. I believe they have a conference about kind of just getting a handle and feel for this whole thing. And I've heard it was heated, I heard it was tense on that zoom call, and I bet it was emotional as well, which is ridiculous. This whole thing just sounds ridiculous, but nothing.
If I were to try to educate an average college football fan on stuff like this, I would say you got to wait till the offseason to see these things play out because it's an in season investigation as weeks go by, we get later in the season and we're almost a conference championship play. And is Tony Pate really going to have enough evidence to be like, all right, Michigan, you're not on the hammer. You can't go to the playoffs this year. You can't do this and that. I don't believe that happens. In the next season, though, you could see major repercussions. Whether that's a death penalty, I don't know if I see that. I don't I don't think I could see that far. But Jim Harbaugh, who's a guy who's probably looking well, he had an extension in line to make him one of the highest paid coaches for the next few years in all of college football that gets pulled. He's got his eyes on the NFL a little bit, maybe a moderating the Bears head coaching job, maybe, but this is something that could impact the rest of his career. However this plays out, it is alleged.
[00:44:38] Speaker B: That Michigan has been gauging in this since 2021. Since 2021, the Wolverines have lost just three games and are currently on an unbeaten run. And looking that they're probably going to make the Big Ten championship in College Football Playoff.
[00:44:50] Speaker A: Well, apparently in their playoff games against Georgia and TCU, they didn't have any of the signs, apparently, when they got out of Big Ten play. Is that ironic? I don't know, but they got out of Big Ten play. They don't as much.
[00:45:00] Speaker C: I had heard a rumor. I'm not sure the credibility of this, but I did see a rumor like, contrary to that, that said that off TCU saying, hey, it's been like multiple big team coaches called TCU before the game, and said, hey, they've known all of our signs right off the bat in these games. And the TCU coaches, TCU had coaches giving their normal signs as a decoy with other coaches on the sidelines giving the real signs during that game.
[00:45:34] Speaker A: Well, it is interesting to think about because we would just think of these Michigan teams as just going to the playoff and just folding because against Georgia they just folded. And I guess it makes sense because you can stay in Big Ten country if you're Connor Stallions and stuff like that and you don't want to broad yourself too far outside of Big Ten. I don't know. It's something interesting to think about. I don't know how much of an impact it has, but we're just kind of speculating here with those three losses that they've had over the last, what was it? Two, three years? Two, three years, yeah, it's been unbelievable. They've dominated. Their team is great. I think their team just in general is very good this year in terms of returning starters and stuff like that and what have you. But this is something again that could follow you. And their biggest game, the season next week will be in Happy Valley, Penn State, a lot of noise around. Are they focused, stuff like that's an external factor. Penn State doesn't look great right now. We'll see. But something interesting thing about after Conor.
[00:46:30] Speaker B: Stanley's suspension and know they call it a resignation by him, harbaugh did come out the statement. He said, I do not have any knowledge or information regarding the University of Michigan football program illegally stealing signals, nor have I directed any staff member, others to participate in an off campus scouting assignment.
Do what you may with that.
[00:46:50] Speaker A: I don't think anyone that is his comment.
[00:46:54] Speaker B: We digress. We are going to move on to last week's football games. The biggest one of last week. To me it was a shocker, especially because Jalen Daniels was not even starting for Kansas. Kansas pulls off their first win against Oklahoma in almost 20 years. Kansas wins 38 33 touchdown, game winning touchdown with 55 seconds left to knock off the top ranked Sooners. What do we have to think about Oklahoma after this stunning upset?
[00:47:24] Speaker A: Well, this kind of encapsulates the turnaround of the Kansas program because the way that they've schemed and the way that they kind of run their offense is all it's to what the football truther or someone who's been around the game for a while would call gimmicky. It's a lot of misdirection and advantage of space and trying to get on the edges and getting a step ahead of your guys and whatever. And it's worked in terms of them making themselves a viable program.
I believe they're in the top 20. They've made the top 22.
[00:48:01] Speaker B: I believe 22, actually 21, I think.
[00:48:03] Speaker A: And Jason Beam, a guy, well, you look at this game and if you said going in they're at home. They're a nine point home dog, but there's a rain delay in the middle of it, which they were winning still. They were still dominating.
[00:48:16] Speaker C: If anything probably hurt, it probably did hurt them.
[00:48:18] Speaker A: It really did. And that's something where it's interesting, that's not an excuse there. And if I told you that jalen daniels is not going to start and jason beam, the backup, is going to go 15 to 32 for 200 yards and two picks, you'd be like, okay, well, oklahoma covers and they win by a lot. But it wasn't great from oklahoma's offensively, especially through the air. And it was a rainy day. It was kind of a slippery day for them. And Dylan Gabriel didn't look great, but they ran the ball with success. Just a game that kind of got away from them late. And even though when it looked like they were going to pull through and escape with a together, kenz puts together a great game winning drive.
Devin Neal. Shout out Devin Neal. Yes. Shout out. Daniel Hinshaw Jr. And Jason Beam, those guys are all extremely dynamic with the ball in their hands. And this guy, Jason Beam is where he lacks in passing, he gains and run. I mean, I think his top speed he reached on his touchdown run was like 22 and a half miles per hour. That's unbelievable.
A big athlete like him.
For Oklahoma, it's a disappointing loss because now you kind of look vulnerable in the eyes of the committee. The Big Twelve looks a little more vulnerable.
So say you go to the Big Twelve championship and you face Texas and you beat them again, your best win all year is Texas twice, which is really, really that's strong. And it might be, but is it strong enough to get in the playoff? We'll see. It might be. But I think Texas, if Texas were to in that Big Twelve championship hypothetical that everyone kind of foresees happening, which would be awesome, that rematch texas gets them that time and they win. Then their resume is they beat the team that beat them and they beat Alabama at home or in Brian Denny Stadium. So that's to me a lot stronger of a resume, obviously, than Oklahoma would have. So I think Texas would sneak in the playoff at that point. But I digress. This game, though, is telling just from a standpoint of Oklahoma just got kind of caught lacking early and then couldn't recover late with their offense. And to me, even though they have a really, really good team and a really well rounded team, their offense is a little limited because they lack explosiveness in a way, even though the way Dylan Gabriel played against Texas was phenomenal, but I don't know if he's that quarterback every week. So they lack explosiveness, especially through the air. They're strong on the ground. They're going to beat you with defense, and they're going to beat you on. The ground, know, pushing you around, but when they get that leaves you susceptible to when you are falling asleep early and you go down early, that you have to come back from a large deficit against on the road in a rainy environment that leaves you vulnerable if you're kind of limited in that capacity.
[00:50:55] Speaker C: Yeah, I think it's a monumental loss for the Big Twelve just because I think it played them out of controlling their own destiny for a playoff spot. Like you said, they could have had.
[00:51:03] Speaker B: An opportunity for two teams if Oklahoma went undefeated.
[00:51:06] Speaker C: Yeah, it's just tough because you kind of get sold on these Big Twelve teams like this and then they just kind of fall apart. Similar to like Pac Twelve, which we'll talk about that later at Pac Twelve is in the process of doing that.
[00:51:18] Speaker A: Right now with Washington's trying very hard. Exactly.
[00:51:22] Speaker C: But yeah, Oklahoma, this is really bad. Just because Kansas did not have a great game. This wasn't a game that Kansas probably deserved to pull off. An upset with Jason Bean is not necessarily sustainable. Like, they need Daniel, give him credit, but yeah, I'll give him credit. But the second pick he threw to, I don't know if it was Stutzman that picked it off, but it was one of the Oklahoma linebackers. It was a terrible pick. Like, just puts it right into his.
[00:51:50] Speaker A: Really, we've seen Jason Beam play a lot these last few years and we haven't seen much improvement.
[00:51:54] Speaker C: Yeah, exactly. And that's what's really mind boggling is that he's fifth or 6th year player throwing picks to a linebacker at the line of scrimmage in the crunch time. So, yeah, that's not sustainable, especially for them moving forward. Kind of off topic, but they have Iowa State today who's a great team, and I think that Kansas Hype could go right back down today. I think they could easily lose that.
[00:52:18] Speaker B: One they're underdogs at Iowa State.
[00:52:21] Speaker C: Okay, yeah, I was already thinking I'm actually feeling Iowa State in that one, but yeah, as for Oklahoma, I think this is pretty detrimental to them. Dylan Gabriel wasn't really able to get it going. Kansas kind of had their number. They did establish the run pretty well. Gabriel had three rushing touchdowns. But yeah, as far as the passing game, they're going to have to be a lot more dynamic than that moving forward, especially when they play Texas again with that front seven that they have.
[00:52:49] Speaker B: Another game from last week was Oregon absolutely dominates Utah 35 to six. That was, I believe, Utah's first loss at home since, I believe 2019, if I'm not mistaken. And this game was never close. This game was never close. They outgained Utah 390 to 241. Bo Nicks, efficient as always, 24 for 31, two touchdowns, no picks. Bucky Irving, over 100 total yards of offense. They ran for over five yards per carry. They did not allow a sack. They held utah to 2.8 yards per carry. Picked off Bryson Barnes twice. Fantastic performance by Oregon. And the more that we keep watching Oregon and the more that Washington keeps.
[00:53:30] Speaker A: Playing, we sit and really, the better team.
[00:53:33] Speaker B: Oregon looks like the better team, without a doubt, even though they lost to Washington.
[00:53:37] Speaker C: But coaching, coaching was a lot of that. I feel like those decision makings on that fourth down is really just haunting them the rest of their season.
[00:53:45] Speaker A: And then I think this is kind of a telling game because Utah, we see, kind of sneak under the radar in the Pac Twelve, but they always have an advantage on the offensive and defensive line, line of scrimmage, and they push teams around. And Cam Rising has been great and all that. And I believe that Cam Rising would have had a factor in this game, but I don't know if it would have been a big one because Oregon up front, defensively and on their offensive line and defensive line and how efficient they are on offense and how they don't make mistakes, they don't shoot themselves in the foot, and they're just complimentary everywhere. They are as complete a team in the country as they're like that. I believe that this is a Pac Twelve team that could be a factor in the playoff, more so than Washington. And that's what I believed before that Washington Oregon game. They fall apart late. Michael Pennix comes up big, but it has not looked good since then for Washington. They have escaped by the skin of.
[00:54:34] Speaker B: Their teeth, especially the worst two teams in the Pac Twelve.
[00:54:36] Speaker A: Yeah. The worst two teams in the Pac twelve, especially Arizona state. If they hadn't thrown that pick six, then they were driving. They were right there.
[00:54:41] Speaker C: And Stanford is really bad.
[00:54:43] Speaker A: Stanford is really bad as well.
And Stanford's get it up and down the field on them. I mean, that was a game where Pennics played better in terms of not being as bad as he was against Arizona State, but still not an impressive win there. So I believe Washington is open this week, or then they have USC.
[00:55:00] Speaker B: USC. We'll talk about that later.
[00:55:02] Speaker A: Yeah, we will. That is an interesting one. Two teams that are not playing very well right now, but Oregon, like I said, very complimentary team, very, very well rounded team, and a team that can be a factor, I believe, when they run the table and beat in the wind. The pac twelve.
[00:55:14] Speaker C: Yeah, lots of takeaway from Oregon in this game. I think Bucky Irving is, I mean, just awesome, for lack of better words. If you watch Oregon play, you'll oftentimes see these drives where it's literally just Bucky Irving left, bucky Irving right, irving in the flat. He can touch the ball seven times on a drive and be good to go. He's so explosive. He's so good at creating space. He's so good at getting out into space.
[00:55:38] Speaker A: Troy Franklin, also a really underrated receiver on the national stage.
[00:55:41] Speaker C: Exactly.
And then even Trey Sean Holden's had a little bit of an impact for them this year. Little bit of an impact for them this year. But, yeah, as for Utah, I think this was just kind of an exposed game. I personally saw this one coming just because playing with the freshman quarterback, their quarterback play has been really rough this year. Even in the games that they have won, like Baylor and Florida, in the games that they've skimped out, it has not been because of quarterback play.
[00:56:06] Speaker A: Also, another former Alabama player, Kyrie Jackson quietly kind of made it a name for himself a little bit on that Oregon defense.
[00:56:14] Speaker C: He actually got a decent amount of reps here, too.
[00:56:16] Speaker A: Yeah, he did. And I believe he was the one who got beat in the championship on the go route to Ad Mitchell.
Seems like a generation ago, but that was just two years ago. So it's good to see Kyrie Jackson kind know, rounding out his game and finding his way in college football because he's played great this year.
[00:56:36] Speaker B: All right, we are going to take a quick break, and when we come back, we are going to preview some Week Ten games for you guys. Thank you all for listening. Right back.
[00:56:53] Speaker A: WVUA FM Tuscaloosa.
[00:57:05] Speaker B: Um.
[00:57:08] Speaker A: And.
[00:57:08] Speaker B: We are back live here on the University of Alabama. This is 90.7 the capstone and this is the Game Day show. I'm Nazario Pengalo here with Kaden Johnson and Peyton Davis. We are going to dive into some Week Ten matchups, multiple top 25 matchups this week. Starting at 11:00 a.m., the Kansas State Wildcats are ranked number 22nd in the country, heading to number seven, Texas. Texas, playing without Quinn Ewers. Malik Murphy will be the starter and we have a great matchup on our hands. Only a three and a half point line here at home for Texas. At home only favored by three and a half. Do you guys believe that Kansas State could pull off an upset?
[00:57:47] Speaker A: It's kind of a shocking line. If you were to look at this game a few weeks back when Kansas State picked up at I believe it was a Friday night or Thursday night loss at Oklahoma State, which is a tough environment, of course. But ever since then, Kansas State has been playing some of the best football in the Big Twelve. And they have experience. We know Kansas State always kind of I mean, they won the Big Twelve last year when no one thought they would after they blew that lead to TCU.
But they always seem to find themselves there with just solid play, solid coaching, run the football, all this and even without Deuce Vaughn this year. But they're playing some really good football right now. And it's reflected in this line, three and a half that would have them as a kind of substantial home favorite. I believe I would have them at a three point home favorite. So when you look at that, Vegas values these as equal team or kind of equivalent teams with Malik Murphy at quarterback who's been steady but not too.
[00:58:45] Speaker B: Early, turnovers and played well after that.
[00:58:47] Speaker A: Yeah, it's kind of too early to tell on him. I think he's got a lot of talent. But they're going to obviously it's going to be running the ball. Jonathan Brooks is going to getting after them in the run game and establishing that early. But, yeah, Texas has kind of looked vulnerable ever since yours went down. Even with survive have survived. They survived against Houston and Ken State blew out Houston just a few weeks back. So it's going to be an interesting one. I think Texas has enough late and enough juice in them. Late and Sark I believe is the coaching job he's done this year. They're not going to let this one slip away at home, especially when they know what's on the line. They know that they just need to get to Oklahoma the second time to have a chance to make the playoffs and they feel that they're very capable that we saw I mean, we saw them here. We know how good of a team that they have all around. But can they just survive these next few weeks without Quinn Ewers? Are we going to see any arch Manning? We don't know. We'll see. He'll be on the sidelines. Sark's been kind of hinting and whatever. He's not giving too much away. But I'm going to say Texas wins 24 to 20. It's really close.
It's kind of sloppy, it's ugly, but it's a game that looks like it's the way that Kansas State wants to play, which is kind of in the trenches. They want to play kind of in a game where they're not from, where they're not behind, where they're able to stick to what they do best.
They keep it close, but Texas finds a way.
[01:00:08] Speaker C: Late. Yeah, I think Texas really clamps down on Kansas State today. I think they have a great home environment there. I think they'll feed Jonathan Brooks. I think Murphy will find Saunders and Worthy and Ad Mitchell out in space. I think that it's going to be a tough game. This Kansas State team has solid wins. They're kind of one of those big twelve teams that's in that mix that they have going to see who's going to be in the big twelve championship game. And this is a game that your traditional Texas team I feel like, would lose. But with the culture that Sarks built up and kind of the team that he's built around this year, I think they're above that this year. I think they're above losing these type of trap games to Kansas State. And I like Texas in this one. I think it'll be kind of on the lower end of the scoring. I like Texas 20 817.
[01:00:57] Speaker A: And when you think about where they are now as a program and they pick up the biggest win that they've had in their program's history of the last over 15 years for sure it's got to be at Brian Denny Stadium to waste that because if you lose today then to me they're done with playoffs. Oh absolutely.
[01:01:16] Speaker C: No chance.
[01:01:16] Speaker A: Oklahoma beat them. Oklahoma?
[01:01:18] Speaker C: Yeah.
[01:01:18] Speaker A: Oklahoma is kind of the only team that's got a that's got a chance there. Unless chaos ensues of course, which the Power five I see is really strong this year. I digress. But I believe Texas, that you're exactly right. The traditional Texas teams of the last decade plus would lose a game like this and their season would feel like a waste and they would end up being like eight and four somehow. But I think this team's too good to do that. I think that they're going to find a way today but it is ugly.
[01:01:44] Speaker B: I hate to have us all agree on the same team but I can't disagree with you guys. I think Texas wins this football game. I think their defense comes out and flexes a little bit. Kansas State, they've been great rushing the football number fourth in the country but.
[01:01:57] Speaker A: It'S on seven for Texas. We know how good that is.
[01:02:00] Speaker B: Texas is built from the line of scrimmage. They have great talent but they have great line of scrimmage play on both sides of the football. They are number 20th in the country in yards per carry allowed and number 14 in rushing yards per game allowed. I think their defense flexes a little bit. I think they really dominate this game to show that they're and Malik Murphy plays not a game manager game but just keeps the ball away from Kansas State, doesn't turn it over. They run the football well. I think they win 28 to ten. Another 11:00 a.m. Game with another three point line. Texas A and M heads to Ole Miss. Ole Miss trying to stay right there in this SEC West battle. I mean nobody's really talked about them a lot but they're right there.
[01:02:42] Speaker A: They're right there. So Alabama picks up a loss today. Then they look pretty good.
[01:02:44] Speaker B: LSU wins this football game, I believe Ole Miss will be in the lead, I think.
[01:02:48] Speaker A: I believe they have a tiebreaker in.
[01:02:50] Speaker B: Some way because they beat LSU. They have one loss. They lost to us. That's their only loss.
[01:02:55] Speaker A: That would be in front.
[01:02:56] Speaker C: No they wouldn't because we would have the tiebreaker over them.
[01:02:58] Speaker B: But they beat LSU. LSU would be us. I don't know what the tiebreaker would be but it'd be a three way.
[01:03:03] Speaker C: Tie out of conference.
[01:03:05] Speaker A: So that would be our true we would be lost. Yeah. It's an interesting thing to think about.
[01:03:09] Speaker C: But they're right there quietly.
[01:03:11] Speaker A: Quietly right there in the top ten. Good for Lankin.
[01:03:13] Speaker B: Defense playing better. This is their first time being back to back seven and one starts since I believe 1960 219 63. Texas A and M looking to become bowl eligible. They were not bowl eligible last year surprisingly with all the talent that they have. Does Texas A and M go into Ole Miss and get it done or do the Rebels keep on trucking along and give us a top ten matchup in Athens next week win this game?
[01:03:37] Speaker A: I think the Revs keep on trucking along. I think they find a way today to win. I think it honestly looks pretty good because I think that even though this A and M's defense it looks great right now. All the talent looks great but I can see the cracks. You can just see it after they lost Alabama the wind gets taken out of their sails and then they go to Tennessee and they allow 200 rushing yards which is something they wouldn't even dream of doing all year before that.
But yeah I think this is a day where Quincy Junkins is a big day. He started to get going a little bit which is huge for them offensively and then defensively this is probably the best defense Lane Kippin's had I think at I mean without a doubt and it's kind of testament to the job that he's done in the transfer portal. I believe that they've basically kind know formulated this offense around Quinchon Judkins, transfer Jackson Dart and then Zakari Franklin those other transfer receivers and then some guys on the other side. We know how good Lane Kiffin is as a recruiter but yeah I think it looks pretty good today. I think Ole Miss goes over 30 points. I think they win 35 to 27.
[01:04:42] Speaker C: Yeah this is a tough one to predict just because I'm personally not necessarily sold on Dart and Ole Miss yet but they do have that LSU win that looks more and more convincing every week. It looks like a better win every week I should say. And this is a Texas A M team that while watching them with the eye test they look pretty good week in week out but they just have yet see the cracks.
[01:05:05] Speaker A: You really see the cracks.
[01:05:06] Speaker C: You also see the cracks and they have just yet to win one of these big games like this this year and Ole Miss has won one against LSU. I think that's going to play a factor playing in a close game like this. Texas A M just you know, something they've had a hard time doing. Establishing with their culture is like establishing the expectation to win these big games and knowing how to win these big games that they necessarily shouldn't win. I don't believe in Texas A M going on the road today and beating Ole Miss. I think Ole Miss pulls it out. I do think it's going to be a really close game. I'll go 34 31. Ole miss.
[01:05:39] Speaker B: One thing about Texas A and M is all these computer models, all these different statistical models that they see always really likes Texas A and M. And I am not completely sure why, because every time you watch them, I'm sitting there like, this team is not that great. And again, we are all going to pick the same team for back to back times. I don't know if that's ever happened.
[01:05:59] Speaker A: It just looks clear to me when I see that a Jimbo Fisher coach team after they picked up a few losses, things start to unravel a little bit and the team's less disciplined and they're less ready to play and stuff like that happens. And it's like woe is me pretty much with Jimbo Fisher.
[01:06:15] Speaker B: Seems like also going to take Ole Miss with you guys. I think Jackson Dart is going to make a couple of big plays to Trey Harris down the field because this secondary, Texan M lets up a lot of big plays. We've seen it before. And then they're going to be able to get their run game going off of that, I believe Ole Miss wins 31 to 20. We're going to preview one more game before we take a break, and that's the one in Athens, Georgia, maybe the SEC East championship. We have the SEC West potential championship tonight, but Missouri goes to Georgia. Missouri ranked number twelve in the country. Georgia, number two in the College Football Playoff rankings. That's the first time in a little while they haven't been ranked number one.
Do any of you guys believe Missouri 15 and a half point dogs? I believe in this game. Did they have a shot to make this game close and be close in the fourth quarter with the Bulldogs?
[01:07:03] Speaker A: Well, I sure hope so, but I don't think so. I think the committee through, even though it makes sense that Missouri should be ranked. It's a great story. Elijah Anklewitz has done a great job this year, and Brady Cook and all that, that's a very strong offense. Luther Byrne one of the best receivers in the country, we know that. But this team defensively, I don't see a way that they're able to stop Dejon Edwards and Rah RA Thomas and all those guys. Dominic Lovett and then Carson Beck, who's playing the best football of his season right now with no Brock Bauer still. But even without him, I just don't really see a way that in Sanford, in Sanford Stadium in Athens, I just don't see a way that Missouri is able to get off to a good start. I think it gets kind of ugly ish early. I think that Missouri struggles to move the football. They kind of feel the pressure of Sanford Stadium and Carson Beckett's, like they put up 14 in the first quarter, then it never really feels close. But I think the committee kind of threw Georgia bone a little bit because I don't know if I'd call Missouri top twelve team in the country. And they're going to have that on the resume once they get this one.
[01:08:06] Speaker C: Kind of like you talked about earlier, they're ranked ahead of LSU, which just I guess LSU has the two losses.
[01:08:12] Speaker A: But at home they went to their house and beat them by time.
[01:08:15] Speaker C: The K State win for Missouri does look pretty good, though. And it is. It's a great win because this team is a good, solid team. It's a solid team. Yeah. Not trying to take anything away from Missouri. They have a great offense. They've got a lot of seniors. They've got a lot of experience. Brady Cook, it feels like he's been there forever. They're running back Cody Strader, I think he's pretty old. And then you got the crazy talent of Luther Burden, who's probably one of the most talented players to ever come into Missouri. Their best receiver.
[01:08:45] Speaker A: Dorial green beckham that's what I was saying. Took the words right out of the.
[01:08:49] Speaker C: Yeah, that's he reminds me a lot of him. Probably the best wide receiver to play for them since him.
But as for Georgia, Missouri is just unlucky. That Georgia's playing this one at home. I think that switch and Missouri did compete with Georgia last year at Missouri. If they got them at Missouri again today, I think the line would be a lot closer. I think it'd probably be like a seven point game, ten point game, honestly.
[01:09:12] Speaker A: And if you're at 11:00 A.m. As well, that'd be another factor.
[01:09:15] Speaker C: I could see Georgia treating this game kind of like they've treated Kentucky games of the past, like this is their all right, we're going to reassert the dominance. You want to put Ohio State at number one.
We're going to show you what we think about this.
[01:09:28] Speaker A: Looks like it's going to be obvious.
[01:09:30] Speaker C: And then a lot similar, very similar to last year with Stetson Bennett. Carson Becks kind of came into his own. And the longer the season goes on, people think, okay, this team's dominating their quarterbacks. Got to get some more Heisman Hype and Carson Becks actually kind of played his way into the top ten for Heisman, I'm pretty sure. And he's looked like one of the better quarterbacks in the SEC as a whole. So I think he establishes himself as a great quarterback today. I think Georgia wins. I don't know if they cover just because 15 is a lot and I think Missouri really is a good team. But I am going to go Georgia by 17 today. I like 38 21. Georgia.
[01:10:07] Speaker B: Yeah, Missouri. They're going to have to get off to an early start. They can't turn the football over. Luther Burns going to have to make some big plays. One tough thing, the best thing about this Georgia defense so far, number one in third down conversions allowed. They have been fantastic. Only allowing 25% on third down. Missouri is going to have to do that.
I don't believe they're going to do it. I got Georgia flexing their muscles 40 114. And if you look at this, they got Ole Miss and then they got to go to Nealand. They got a tough three game stretch right here. Really will test this team. We will know how good they are after these three weeks and I think they flex it this week.
[01:10:41] Speaker A: I'm going to go 45 27. I just think it's this Missouri defense. I just don't really believe much in and I think the offense is really good. But when you got to play with.
[01:10:50] Speaker C: I hope at Georgia too.
[01:10:52] Speaker A: At Georgia just feels like that type of a game.
[01:10:54] Speaker B: I hope we are all wrong.
[01:10:55] Speaker A: Yeah.
[01:10:55] Speaker B: And Georgia makes talking tonight and Missouri pulls off a stunner.
[01:10:58] Speaker A: But stunner or just it makes it a good game. That would be fun to see.
[01:11:01] Speaker C: But even like last Miss, if I get a game like that, I'm happy.
[01:11:04] Speaker A: Ole Miss next week, tennessee the week after.
[01:11:06] Speaker C: Like that.
[01:11:07] Speaker A: Going to Tennessee as well. That will be kind of the two tests.
[01:11:10] Speaker C: I think those are much bigger.
[01:11:11] Speaker A: Ole Miss is a bigger test for sure. Bigger threat. I think they're like a better version of this Missouri team, kind of.
[01:11:16] Speaker C: Yeah, I agree. In a couple weeks when we're talking about Georgia playing at Nealand, I think we might that's the game that I've.
[01:11:21] Speaker A: Been circling all year.
[01:11:22] Speaker B: But we talked about that in the preseason.
[01:11:24] Speaker A: Tennessee, look at every yeah, yeah. I don't know if they look great.
[01:11:27] Speaker C: Yeah.
[01:11:28] Speaker B: All right, we're going to take a quick break. We have a few more games left to preview for you guys. Thank you all for listening and we'll be right back.
[01:11:46] Speaker A: Vu AFM Tuscaloosa.
[01:12:02] Speaker B: Welcome back to 90.7 the Capstone. This is the Game Day show live on the campus of the University of Alabama. We are jumping into some Week Ten previews. We've got two left for you today. Started going out to Stillwater, Oklahoma. This is maybe the final, final bedlam for the foreseeable fish future for a little bit. Yeah. Oklahoma at Oklahoma State classics cowboys, just like Kansas State, have turned their season around early on.
[01:12:29] Speaker A: They look terrible.
[01:12:30] Speaker B: They lost to South Alabama earlier this year.
Kind of just seems like an Oklahoma State thing to do. Remember that year they lost to Central Michigan on that crazy play on the lateral?
[01:12:39] Speaker A: Yeah.
[01:12:40] Speaker B: But they're back in the top 25 and they are tied to top first place in the Big Twelve. They win this football game, they have a clear path to the Big Twelve championship. Excuse me. And they have one of the top running backs in the country. And Ali Gordon. Interesting stat for you. How many carries do you think he had?
[01:12:58] Speaker A: Peyton against South Alabama, 17.
[01:13:02] Speaker B: Three carries against South Alabama. And since then he's had 18, 212-92-9254 straight 100 plus yard games, back to back games of 270 plus rushing yards. Absolutely fantastic. Oklahoma coming off a game in which they got the ball ran down their throat by Kansas. They ran for over 200 yards, over five yards per carry. Oklahoma, though, comes in as six and a half point favorites at stillwater. Will we get another bedlam classic? And can oklahoma state pull off an upset?
[01:13:34] Speaker A: I'm taking the points with oklahoma state. I think the way they can run the ball, but the way oklahoma runs the ball as well is interesting. It's going to be a different feel to this bedlam series. It's not going to be your typical, what, 63 to 59 game or something like that that you've seen over the years. I think it'll be more in the I'm going to say Oklahoma squeaks 130 to 27 because they figure out a way at the end to kind of assert themselves as a team that we thought they were before Kansas.
I think they do a little bit better job against the run today than they did last week. And they wake up for the game. It's not a night game. It's 230 game here locally on ABC in stillwater. I mean, it's sad to see the series go because it's given us so many good ones in the past, but I think oklahoma makes it it's another class. It's got to be a fitting way to end this series for at least a little bit with a close game and oklahoma pulls one out. But you could so see oklahoma state winning this game.
[01:14:34] Speaker C: Yeah, I think that oklahoma has owned this rivalry in past years, but just with it being the last bedlam in ten plus years close.
Yeah, I feel like it is too. And it's at Bps. So I think it's going to be an insane atmosphere. I think the lines down to oklahoma by five now. I do like oklahoma state, though, in this one outright. I think that teams have kind of gotten the blueprint for how to beat oklahoma now. You can just absolutely dominate them on the run. And texas had a lot of success. Exactly.
Looking forward, I kind of think we've got a little bit of an oregon washington situation and I think this one is more so prevalent. I think that texas is a better team than oklahoma. I just think that oklahoma had a lot of momentum in that game. Dylan gabriel played out of his mind in that game as well.
[01:15:18] Speaker A: It felt like texas might be the number one team in the country if they had won that game. Yeah, I agree.
[01:15:23] Speaker C: I agree. And this oklahoma team, I think, has their holes and I think brent venables has this program going in the right, you know, people overreacted last year after they were six and seven or whatever, I think this team is going to be back into the competing for a national championship probably pretty soon, especially in the SEC. That being said, I think oklahoma state capitalizes off the holes in their. Defense today. I think Oklahoma state gets out to a lead early and finds some success early on the ground. And I think their defense capitalizes off that. I've got Oklahoma state 31 21 today.
[01:15:56] Speaker B: A big part about this game is whether linebacker from Oklahoma, danny Stutzman, their star linebacker, whether he plays, he's going to be a game time decision. If he doesn't play, I will without a doubt, have full confidence in Oklahoma State. Even if he does play, I'm still taking the cowboys. I like how they run the football, as you guys said, and I didn't like how Oklahoma played last week at all. And big thing about it is a lot of their rushing attack for Oklahoma has been Dylan Gabriel. Their running backs have not played fantastic. Offensive line has not played fantastic. They're going to have to turn that around if they want to win this football game. A lot about Oklahoma last year, as you talked about, didn't have a great season losing close games. They won their first close game against Texas last week. They played another close one, did not pull it out. I think we get another close one here in bedlam. I think there's more motivation for the Cowboys and for their fans considering they're kind of the little brother to Oklahoma and this is the last bedlam. They get it in their place. Oklahoma is leaving them to go to the SEC. I give all the momentum to the Cowboys. I think they win this game outright. I'm going to go 28 24, cowboys.
[01:16:58] Speaker A: Yeah, you can see yeah, you could see that. But you're going to have to have Alan Bowman make a few plays in this one through the air. He's going to have to make a few big throws against a secondary that's I think stronger than the defensive line for Oklahoma. So to me, Dylan Gabriel bounces back a little bit in the past game and there's no I believe the forecast says it's going to be clear skies, I believe, as opposed to last week. So I think that gives Dylan Gabriel a little bit better of an advantage in the passing game, a guy who's already kind of limited as a passer in terms of arm strength, but still very capable when the conditions are right. And I believe they will be today. But, yeah, Alan Bowman, I think I gave him the quarterback edge and I think that's kind of the separator.
[01:17:38] Speaker B: All right, we got one more game to preview for today, and it is the Washington huskies, number five in the country, heading to Los Angeles to the coliseum to play Caleb Williams and the USC Trojans. USC coming off a 50 to 49 win over a cal. Thrilling game.
[01:17:56] Speaker A: Absolutely thrilling comeback somehow against what, four and four Cal teams.
[01:17:59] Speaker B: Yeah, not very good, but they played pretty well that game. And then Washington coming off a nine point victory against Stanford, if not for a fourth down conversion drop.
[01:18:08] Speaker A: Stanford, man, he was going to run a long way with that one, too.
[01:18:12] Speaker B: So does Washington bounce back? Do they go back to the team that we saw against Oregon or does USC find a way to turn their season around and get their first big win?
[01:18:21] Speaker A: Well, so this is one that's so fascinating because both these teams feel like they're just wounded at this point. I mean, two weeks ago, Washington hosted Arizona State and that high powered offense was held to 15 points and actually eight points if we're not for a pick.
[01:18:34] Speaker B: They did not score an offensive touch on that.
[01:18:35] Speaker A: No, they didn't. They didn't. What was the second touch?
[01:18:38] Speaker B: Three field goals.
[01:18:39] Speaker A: Three field goals.
[01:18:40] Speaker C: I was about to bring that up. They only won that game because the pick, Arizona State went for it on the Washington.
[01:18:52] Speaker A: It was like a motion. I'm going to try not to delve too much into this play, but there was like a motion across the field into the field side, and off that motion, the guy ran like a five yard dig. And so it was like a 25 yard lateral throw or horizontal throw, what you want to call it. And it was just like you're asking to throw a pick six.
[01:19:09] Speaker C: I'm pretty sure it's a true freshman QB.
[01:19:10] Speaker A: Yeah, it was an awful play call and they were right there kind of. But Washington able to squeak by that one. And Stanford, they get USC today, and I think it's really close. This is going to be an interesting game. This is one where Caleb Williams, if there was ever a time this is the first time I've heard in a year plus year and a half that Caleb Williams is in the consensus number one overall pick. I've seen Marvin Harrison going ahead of him and I still wouldn't go that far. I'm still taking Caleb Williams. I'm not giving him a stake in my franchise like he wants, but I'm still taking him. But this is a game where this is a huge one for Lincoln Riley. And I mean, he's got right now, he's the same record as the previous head coach, which his name is slipping me right now. But USC's previous head coach, Clay Helton. Clay Helton. Clay Helton. He was at also forgetting that, too. But anyway, I digress through however many games, they have the same exact record, 1st, 20, whatever, plus games, same record.
They both have the same record.
And it's one where Lincoln Riley walked in with all the hype in the world national championship or bust and stuff like that. And now he's walking it back. He's like, whoever's assuming we're going to win the national championship, it can't happen this fast.
But, yeah, they refuse to tackle still. They're still playing. I mean, this is a get right game for sure. If you've ever had one. If you're Michael Pennix Jr. Who played well last week, but not well to what we expect from him early on at least. And then utah beating USC. You saw the way they looked last week that oregon offense torched them and the oregon defense absolutely suffocated them and they put up 34 against USC. Cal put up 49. They were up 14 in the fourth quarter. It's just unbelievable to think about. But this is one where caleb williams, the way he's played lately, I mean, even last week I put up 50 points. It seems like it would be good, but 23 or 40? He's not the efficient player that we saw. He's not those off balance throws. Those miraculous plays that he's making kind of are drying up a little bit. He's got to play more within himself, get the ball out quickly and play smarter. And if he does that, then they can pull up an upset. But I'm still going to take washington.
I think it's like 48, 43, something like that. It's very high scoring.
[01:21:32] Speaker C: Yeah, this is another one that's pretty hard to predict.
[01:21:35] Speaker A: It really is hard to predict.
[01:21:36] Speaker C: It is at USC. And USC doesn't really have much of a home field environment like coliseum going for them there. But I do think washington having to travel and play a little bit out of their comfort zone will play a factor today. I like what you said a lot about caleb Williams getting the ball out of his hands because washington is going to bring pressure off the edge.
[01:21:53] Speaker A: That's a really good pass. Right.
[01:21:54] Speaker C: The focal point of their defense.
[01:21:55] Speaker A: Huge game for clay williams. Huge game.
[01:21:57] Speaker C: Yeah. I mean, as far as shutting down the because I also have know if the cardinals get that first know they might keep kyler go marvin harrison at number one. I think caleb williams could kind of reestablish himself as that generational QB talent that is an undoubted number one pick. No matter who's the team today, I think they have an opportunity to do that. That being said, this USC team is just so bad defensively, it really can't be talked about enough, even if it is the first thing you think of when you think of USC, it rightfully is so because of how bad this defense is. Like we said, this is a cow team. Cow scored 49. That's the team that put up ten against auburn. At home you've got utah, who just gets blasted, scores six points. And the week before bryson barnes looked like a great quarterback against USC. So that being said, I think washington pulls this one out. Washington has experience in these close games against inferior opponents. These are both two teams that like to squeak by, but I think washington plays up to their competition today a little bit.
I think they get a win. Like peyton said, it's going to be just like a messy pac twelve early 2010 shootout.
I like washington in this one. Kind of random to predict the score just because it's going to be so high scoring. But I'll go 49 42 Washington.
[01:23:21] Speaker B: Yeah. We saw against Oregon, this Washington defense, they got a lot of yards let up. They were able to run the football.
[01:23:27] Speaker A: Against way out game in that game.
[01:23:28] Speaker C: Yeah.
[01:23:29] Speaker B: And I like the way this USC wide receiver corps that they have. They have brendan Rice, Zachariah Branch, Taj Washington. Those dudes are fantastic. They have to get the ball to Marshawn Lloyd and run the football. If they can establish a run game early on, then let Caleb Williams do his thing. That's what they got to do. This Lincoln Riley offense, they got to be able to run the football. He's been able to run the football years at Oklahoma, a little bit at USC. They're going to get that going. I think Caleb Williams comes out. I think they play fantastic and they got to bounce back. They need this game more than Washington needs this game. And I know it's a crazy thing to think about, but they are still in the race for the Pac Twelve championship. They only have one loss in Pac Twelve play. If they can win this game, they still have a path to make the Pac Twelve championship. I think they find a way to win this football game. I think it's going to be incredibly entertaining. A ton of points scored. I'm going to go 56, 53, USD absolute, 109 points total. Hammer. The over hammer.
[01:24:24] Speaker C: What is that? 77 and a half.
[01:24:26] Speaker A: 77 only. That's the biggest over I've ever heard of, I think. Yeah, I mean, it makes sense according.
[01:24:33] Speaker C: To all of our predictions. Oh, it's going to hit.
[01:24:35] Speaker A: Yeah, but that's insane to hear that number.
[01:24:37] Speaker B: 77 and a half is an absolutely unreal number.
[01:24:39] Speaker A: And we're saying take the over.
[01:24:41] Speaker C: Yeah.
[01:24:42] Speaker B: Expect listen to us.
[01:24:43] Speaker A: Expect points. It's a huge game for Caleb Williams. I would love to have the I'm not going to go back on my prediction, but I don't want to see USC win. But I think that this is lining up for them to finally play well for the first time in a month.
[01:25:00] Speaker B: All right, we got four minutes left in the show. We're going to talk a little bit about the Heisman race. We talked about Caleb Williams. He can have a Heisman moment.
[01:25:08] Speaker A: Okay, he's done. We're not. No Caleb Williams.
[01:25:11] Speaker C: No shot.
[01:25:12] Speaker A: He would have to put up a historic year to win the Heisman two times in a row. There's no way.
[01:25:17] Speaker B: Yeah. Jaden Daniels, though, tonight. Michael Pinix tonight. Both have big time platforms, primetime games to make big splashes in their Heisman races. Do you see them making their big splashes or do you see another person coming out? Whether it's Marvin Harrison Jr. Whether it's Drake May's, probably a long shot as well. But anybody else in the country.
[01:25:39] Speaker A: Right now, it seems like it would be Pennix and Daniels. Daniels already has two losses. If he has three losses, then it seems like that. I mean, Tebow won with three losses, but I don't think no, they won with two losses. I believe I think might have been three. Well, they might have picked up, didn't they?
[01:25:56] Speaker C: I mean, I don't know. I just remember all those A m. Teams were so spotty.
[01:26:00] Speaker A: Yeah, but that that's well, that's the team that beat Alabama when they destroyed Notre Dame. Sorry, Nazaria, but not really.
I still think I'm still going to lean Michael Pennix, even though it's been so bad the last two weeks, I'm still leaning him. If they're able. He has the clearest path to me. And today this is a game where if they win, stay nine and he plays like as well as he's played all year besides the last two games, then I see that he has a very clear path because right now it's kind of just whoever's award. And right now I think Jay Nails should be the favorite and is the favorite and the path for him is tonight.
If Jalen Daniels and I don't want to talk about this, but if Jay and Daniels wins tonight and they score a lot and they play really well, he locks up the heisman to me a little bit. Unless they pick up another loss, which could happen. Which could happen. Of course, you never know this year, but Jane Daniels has played the best lately, but Pennix has the undefeated record and still comparable stats a little bit. So I think that this is a Michael Pennix tonight plays really well. They win, they squeak by USC. He throws for 400 yards and four touchdowns, puts himself right back in that conversation. And Jane Daniels has a big game tonight, but there's a few moments where he makes mistakes like he did against Florida State. Even though he had 350 yards at Florida State. He really didn't play that well. We know that in the first half they were struggling in threat. The second half they were struggling until a 75 yard touchdown to end the game, but to lose by 20 points I think that this is still Michael Pennix's award, but right now he rightfully should not be the favorite.
[01:27:41] Speaker C: Yeah, I think it's another thing too, as the season progresses, it's easy to just throw hey quarterback on a top tier team.
Heisman candidate, and that's bo Nick's, quietly, quietly, bonus Beck and JJ. McCarthy getting thrown up in those conversations, I've heard. Agree. I agree. I'm just saying it's easy for people to just say, hey, best quarterback on a top tier team, throw them in there. I think that's kind of what's happening as the season goes on. But as of right now, I'd say that Pinix is in the lead with Jaden Daniels close behind just because of how Washington's played those last few games against Arizona State, against Stanford. But I do think that Pinix will probably end up winning it just because he has the clearest path. Another kind of dark horse, like Peyton said, is another one after that is Jordan Travis, too. I know he's kind of fallen off a little bit, like down into it, but they have big games ahead of them. They have Miami, they have Florida, they have the ACC championship. Those are three games where he goes for 300 and a couple of touchdowns. In those three games, he's going to be at least maybe in contention to go to New York.
[01:28:46] Speaker B: I like Marvin Harrison Jr. I think he's the focal point of this Ohio State offense. He's the reason they're undefeated, obviously, against Penn State, he was fantastic. They're going to keep feeding him the ball. He's going to be able to it's.
[01:28:57] Speaker A: Got to get lucrative because he's not even the leader, and maybe in touchdowns, he's the leader. Not receiving yards.
[01:29:03] Speaker B: Not yet. But I think he has a lot of big opportunities left, and they get Michigan. I think he has a shot. I would say if there's anybody not a quarterback, I could see him go to New York.
[01:29:11] Speaker A: I just see him go to New York.
[01:29:12] Speaker C: My thing is, it's hard to give it to a receiver or running back or whatever position if they're not just by far the best at their position. And I feel like with Luther Burden and Malik neighbors playing as good as they have, this just it's hard to say that Marvin Harrison Jr. Has been a better wide receiver than them this.
[01:29:30] Speaker A: Year, let alone heisman and Roma Dunes.
[01:29:32] Speaker C: Yeah, exactly. And the thing about when Smitty won is Smitty was just so up and.
[01:29:38] Speaker A: Beyond, it was like a joke.
I think Marvin Harrison's all great. I mean, shout out to that guy. He's putting in clutch numbers for my college football fantasy team right now. He's 35 a game. It's nice.
I'm on a heater, but, yeah, just.
[01:29:53] Speaker C: Going over the Smitty season a little bit more, that's just probably the best college receiver season ever.
[01:30:00] Speaker B: All right, well, we thank you all for listening. We hope you guys are tuning into the Alabama game tonight, and hopefully they can beat LSU tonight. Next week they will be taking on Kentucky. We will be back at 08:00 A.m. To talk about that game and hopefully talk about Alabama beating LSU. We thank you all for listening. And, as always, Roll Tide.
[01:30:30] Speaker A: WVUA FM Tuscaloosa.
