Chris Mack and Kate Constable open up the new year by reacting to last night's opening Semi-Final game of the College Football Playoff, which featured Penn State ruining Boise State's upset bid. Plus, just how far can Penn State go and what to make of one of the bigger upsets in bowl season history that also took place yesterday.
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It's Beck QL daily presented by BetMGM, the sports book born in Vegas from coast to coast and everywhere in between. We got you covered both on the Beck QL network. And of course, wherever you get your podcasts, you know, you can download us including right there inside that free Odyssey app where you can take us with you wherever you're going and whatever you're doing today. Maybe you won't make it farther than the couch after celebrating New Year's Eve. Maybe you got family plans today, whatever you're doing. We are right there with you in for Joe Oh and Sammy P. I'm Chris Mack alongside Kate Constable, who, good bless you Kate, they didn't hear it. But I just saw the sneeze the first quality sneeze of 2025. We're ready to go. We're alive. That's that that's that smelling salt action you needed to get things going this morning. You know, Chris, I actually used to have some smelling salt that I put next to my desk. It was like this organic thing that my sister-in-law who's an influencer. You know, she was promoting it. It was kind of nice. I wish I had it right now. But yeah, I hit the mute button before the sneeze. Hopefully you didn't see anything. It looks spraying everywhere. What a way to start 2025. But last night's game, an awesome way to end 2024. We've got a huge slate of games today to look forward to. I probably won't move for my couch today. I didn't move for my couch last night. And it worked out great. So I'll probably be doing the same thing again today. Nice. Yeah, for those of you that are recovering after what was hopefully a hardy New Year's Eve celebration, we welcome you in. There were other bowl games yesterday to sort of set the table. We'll get into those if we've got time as well. And I don't know. Did the Winter Classic, I was asking Paul Aspen, our executive producer Kate about this before you jumped on this morning, did the Winter Classic really even hit the radar? You're in Chicago outside of like the 10 block radius around Wrigley? No, I really don't think it did at all. And I'm not a huge hockey person. So I don't, especially the Blackhawks are so bad. Like I have not been following hockey very closely. So for me, it was like, oh, I saw on social media that the Winter Classic was happening, or was going to happen in Chicago at some point. I just didn't realize it was yesterday until people started posting about it. So it was not really a huge thing, at least not in my circle. Yeah, not at all. Yeah, it just I had legit sports fans walking up to me at the party we were at last night saying they already played the Winter Classic. What isn't it supposed to be New Year's day? I was like, Nope, no, New Year's Eve this year, they did it. It was at Wrigley. It was the blues and the Blackhawks, a game that otherwise would have completely disappeared into the NHL ether had it not been played at Wrigley Field on New Year's Eve. But as for the first of the four college football playoff games, Penn State 31 14 over Boise covers the 11 11 and a half depending on where you got it. Under the 54 and a half total, the notable part of this for me, Kate, was that Penn State handled Ashton Gente as well as they did. We knew they had big playability with their running backs. And we got that, you heard what Schusen's call of the Nicholas Singleton 58 yard touchdown run that got me jumping up and down at the New Year's Eve party we were at because that kind of locked in the cover at that point. But the fact that Penn State was able to bottle up Ashton Gente, hold him to his lowest rushing total of the season, just 104 yards, no touchdowns. Just the second time that happened all year for Gente and kept him 27 yards short of very Sanders all time rushing record as well. That was something that a lot of guys in that locker room talked about post game last night was very important to them. They did not want to be the team that gave up the record to Gente. Yeah, I was surprised. I'm not shocked but surprised at how well Penn State handled Ashton Gente because all season long, no one's been able to do so. Granted, Boise State has not played the caliber of team that Penn State is. I mean, what you know, V is probably the closest comparison. And I don't even think that is really a comparison. But for Gente to go for only 140 yards when his prop number was sitting at 124. So the under hit there minus 250 for an anytime touchdown. That doesn't hit. I'm sure a ton of people laid in anytime touchdown for Ashton Gente. So it was it was kind of sad to see him leave the field, especially they kind of gave him the curtain call late in the fourth took him out with what a minute left or so and got the crowd to cheer. But it was kind of sad watching him leave the field just knowing that he was so, so close to that record and just came up short. But credit to Penn State's defense, they were everywhere last night. Yeah, I think the interesting part, too, was that they were able to get after him and cause turnovers via Ashton Gente fumbling the ball twice, which he had done only twice all season. Gente putting the ball on the ground or as it was on the one fumble that was forced just popped up in the air and recovered on the sideline nicely by Penn State. They also also forced Maddox Madsen into three interceptions as well. Drew Aller didn't have a huge day. Looked really good early at quarterback for Penn State 13 to 25 by the end of the night for 171 yards. Struggled a bit late first half early second half, but still through three touchdown passes. A couple of which you heard there absolutely dropped one in the bucket on a pretty touchdown pass in the second quarter. A laser beam to Tyler Warren late in the first half as well who had two touchdown catches and that'll be the interesting part. I think going forward for Penn State as they face either Georgia or Notre Dame and we'll get into the sugar bowl a little bit later. PJ Glasser actually going to join us in 15 minutes or so here on Beck QL Daily with some looks at the other three college football playoff games including tonight's nightcap in New Orleans is how does Penn State's offense attack either defense whether it's the Bulldogs or the Irish it's going to be a very good defense they face and the semi final in the orange bowl and are they able to generate you know almost 220 yards on the ground again as they were against Boise or do they lean on Allermore you know they've been very creative at times with offensive coordinator Andy andy kodoneke in his first year there in state college but there's also been times including last night Kate where Penn State fans I think wondered are they going to just do what's the obvious thing and right in front of them and in last night's case lean on the ground game which they ended up doing late in the second half or are they going to try to be too creative and do too much and get too deep into their bag that'll be the question going into the orange bowl this message comes from Rome Rome premium performance clothing designed for life in motion the holidays call for more more connection more care more focus on what matters Rome delivers with clothing for every moment active at the office or at rest built to empower and made to last discover gifts worth giving at Rome.com that's r h o n e .com Rome forever forward so it's a new year 2025 and you're thinking how am I going to make this year different how am I going to build something for myself but where do I start Shopify is how you're going to make it happen and here's how Shopify makes it simple to create your brand open for business and get your first sale the best time to start your new business is right now get your store up and running easily with thousands of customizable templates no coding or design skills required all you need to do is drag and drop their powerful social media tools let you connect all your channels and create shoppable posts and help you sell everywhere people's scroll what happens if you don't act now will you regret it what if someone beats you to the idea don't kick yourself when you hear this again in a year because you didn't do anything now with Shopify your first sale is closer than you think send it for your $1 per month trial period at Shopify dot com slash Odyssey podcast all lowercase go to Shopify dot com slash Odyssey podcast to start selling with Shopify today Shopify dot com slash Odyssey podcast why would you do that why would you try and get too create don't get too cute getting too cute never works for anyone right you have you have essentially the um two-headed monster like the David Montgomery and Jameer Gibbs for the Lions in K-Tron Allen and Nicholas Singleton like those two together are so dominant and they can break tackles you saw Nick Singleton with that uh 58 yard touchdown like why would you not just lean on the run game Drew Allard's a great quarterback he's not let me back up Drew Allard's a good quarterback he's not a great quarterback right like is he one of the elite quarterbacks in college football that we've we've seen over the last couple years no I don't think so and especially with Penn State's record in big time games like I've been to James Franklin and Penn State Hater for a long time Chris I don't know if I can hate this year but as long as they don't do anything wild like don't don't get too cute here but I saw you react a little when I said Drew Eller isn't great are we not on the same page there well let me hold the aller thought for a second because I think there's greatness in there and I've made comparisons of him to one past great quarterback before and people get all over me for it but James Franklin I want to address that first because that's just his fourth win in 23 tries against the top 10 team he'll get another opportunity a week from Thursday night against another top 10 team I I will say this you are not it is not exclusive to other residents of big 10 country to meet games Franklin haters or doubters or questioners it happens right here in PA in my backyard as much as I love Penn State football the number one thing talked about when you roam the parking lots outside of Beaver Stadium on game day is oh if it's a game against the top 10 team if it's against Ohio State if it's against Michigan or Oregon this year in the case of the big 10 title game oh is is big game James or small game James as some people joke gonna show up today um yesterday despite it being a win against the top 10 team I don't think any races that stigma you know the win over SMU certainly didn't do anything to erase that stigma the win over Boise doesn't do anything to erase that stigma what we'll do it will be James Franklin beating Georgia or Notre Dame in the Orange Bowl next Thursday night and going to a national championship game that will finally finally get Penn State fans and college football fans of all kinds I think to take a step back and sort of jump off of James Franklin's back and say okay you you got there James you finally got there and you had a couple wins including one against a really quality opponent neither Georgia or Notre Dame if he gets there but that'll be the big test as for Drew Allen look he is not built with the same stature as this guy but the way he plays when the pocket breaks down reminds me of Young Ben Rothlasberger you may remember the way Young Ben Rothlasberger used to just run around like a chicken with his head cut off and then just chuck a ball 55 yards downfield and there would be somebody waiting for it Hines Ward or Antoine Randall L or whoever was on the other side of it you go oh my god how how how did he just do that Drew Aller has some of that in him he's also got the ability to sit there and read a defense like he did on that first Tyler Warren touchdown pass where Warren came all the way across the back of the end zone and Aller put it on a dot right where only Warren could get it but then he's also got moments where he just tries to do too much and I guess that's you know the double edge the other edge the other side of the sword here is that when a quarterback who tries to extend plays with his legs in and around the pocket tries to do too much you end up getting either mistakes or you just get the offense falling flat because he's trying to do too much and it kind of circles back around on what you said you know feeds into the offensive coordinators in some case in these instances everybody's trying to do too much when it should just be let's take a deep breath and hand the ball off yeah exactly that reminds me of Caleb Williams and the Chicago Bears right now sometimes getting out of the pocket scrambling trying to do too much and you just take a bunch of sacks like that's not great aller returning next year though Chris that's a that's a great sign for Penn State fans especially if um they you know find a way to win the semifinals win the championship like to have him come back and and potentially do it again like this is James Franklin's window to erase a lot of that stigma of you can't win the big game because going back to that Boise State is not the third best team in the country can we all agree on that they were the three seed in in the playoff because they won their conference but like Boise State can you even make an argument the Boise State's a top 10 team so I'm not marking this as James Franklin um finally getting a win over a top five team top 10 team maybe top 10 is a stretch I should give Boise State a little bit more credit than that um but he's got a he's got a win next next week whatever they play um Georgia or Notre Dame like that's gonna be the telltale and if Drew Aller shines in those games like maybe I will jump on board and say Drew Aller is a leaf but I got to see a little bit more in a in a bigger game even though playing in the quarterfinals of the college football playoff is still a big game but I want your opponent to be a big time opponent yeah it's gonna be a big time defense regardless of who they play in the Orange Bowl right Georgia or Notre Dame uh and again we'll get into that game uh the Sugar Bowl a little bit later Rose Bowl obviously Ohio State Oregon a couple other big 10 teams Peach Bowl kicks it all off at one Eastern today Texas with a huge number against Arizona State out to 13 now we'll get into all of it with PJ Glasser in just a couple of minutes as for the other bowl action yesterday Kate they kind of set the table where my SEC people at this is this is a question for for the Glassman in a couple minutes when he jumps in here PJ South Carolina loses to Illinois after Shane Beamer nearly fights Brett Bilema in the middle of the field uh you got Alabama getting absolutely smoked early and Michigan holding on to beat them in a rematch of one of last year's semifinals where am I all uh we're all my SEC people at Kate Chris Alabama was gonna be the death of me yesterday I had the first half under 23 and a half Michigan scored what 19 points all game 16 of those in the first half off of turnovers like just don't turn the ball over Alabama three straight drives with turnovers for Alabama that was disgusting and I lost my first half under pissed me off yeah and you talk about quarterbacks coming back for another year Drew Aller coming back to Penn State is huge obviously another year for him to solidify himself as a first round pick. Jalen Milro has to come back for another year at Bama after that performance yesterday that was atrocious talk about quarterbacks running around like chickens with their heads cut off I didn't see one positive play by Milro in any of those situations yesterday we can ask noted Alabama alum and fan PJ Glasser about that and of course the other three college football playoff quarterfinals to be played later today happy new year welcome in PJ Glasser joins us next and in about 25 minutes some new years betting resolutions as well right here on Beck UL Daily. 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Chris Mack and Kate Constable open up the new year by reacting to last night's opening Semi-Final game of the College Football Playoff, which featured Penn State ruining Boise State's upset bid. Plus, just how far can Penn State go and what to make of one of the bigger upsets in bowl season history that also took place yesterday.
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