FiredUp Network
College GridIron Week 6
But you can see us on sports.TV and you can download that TrueTV Plus app anywhere you get your apps and we're available nationwide and even internationally, you can watch this in the great white north of Canada as well. And Alex, it was another crazy week highlighted, of course, by the big game, which lived up to the hype, University of Georgia, Alabama. A new look on an old rival as Caitlyn before showed. He can still out scheme and out out gadget people. I mean, he quite literally him and the curtains in time, they punched Georgia in the mouth. And Georgia wasn't ready for it. I mean, you could just tell. They were flat footed. They got caught by surprise. They made a mad dash and did a great job coming back. But it was a little bit too late. You know, if that game was another quarter, I think Georgia wins, because Georgia won the game after the first quarter. But yeah, yeah, all together. Yeah, it's just not how it works. And of course, the play to Ryan Williams at the end. I mean, without that, I mean, that is a miracle play that I think you could give them that situation. You know, 25 times, and they get it maybe three, maybe four, and that, you know what I mean? Which is such a sensational play. And really, like, it was kind of a flawed play. It's like every other sensational play by a freshman. It was kind of a flawed play. He didn't really even need to jump for the ball in the way that he did. I felt like if he just hands up and high points it, almost like, you know what I mean? He doesn't have to take as much risk as he did to even catch the thing. And then he's even in a better position to break the tackle. But my point is, it's like, he does this weird little jump thing. He lands the way he does, does a pirouette, spins out of that one. You know what I mean? Like, and he just takes off for the end zone. And without that miracle of a play, you know, Bama doesn't even win that game. And I said earlier in the week, you know, when we were on before that, like, I think that the most impressive performance of the night by far was just the entire Georgia, you know, really their defense and their offense, just as an entire team. Just the entire comeback in the second half. You know, you raised a good point that I think this game like proves two things. One, Georgia and Alabama are both legit. Two, Kailin Devore is legit, you know, as the coach at Alabama. You know what I mean? Because the way you're right, the way that he outcoached. He outcoached Georgia in the first half. I mean, he just came out with a better game plan and did a lot of unexpected things. You know, and, and to a lot of success and Millrow was just fantastic in the first quarter. So, yeah. Yeah, Jalen Millrow maybe didn't get the attention he deserved because Kailin Devore is looking to maybe get another guy high up there in the Heisman list. Let's take a closer look back at that game before we accelerate forward because I want to talk about Georgia's game coming up this week. It's, it's a rebound attempt for him in which they should make Kirby had this to say after the game. I thought it was pretty insightful comment. One hell of a game, great atmosphere, a lot of respect for Alabama's team, their fans, the venue. It was one hell of a game. Hell of two halves. Obviously we were not really prepared and that falls on me in the first half. We did do a great job, especially defensively. But we also gave him short field and with a short field in a quarterback like Millrow, it creates a lot of tough times. I am extremely proud of our team at halftime. I thought our coaches make good adjustments. Everybody was positive. And, and I talked to them, I told them, I said, look guys, I've been in the stadium, down to Texas stadium. Probably just as bad. And came back to make it a game and had a chance to win the game and didn't make more plays than Alabama. So, a lot of credit to them. And for us, humility is always a week away. We got to go get ready for another tough party coming to our place. Now, I think he's been slightly overly complimentary of the Auburn Tigers, because here's their last five match ups of all the games this season. They had a beat down against the chump team, 73 to three. Took on the Cal Golden Bears, not exactly a fierce opponent, lost 21-14. University of New Mexico, so no offense to the low votes, but again, a chump game, 45-19. Against the Razorbacks, they drop it by 10. And then not fairly good effort against Oklahoma. They ended up losing 27-21. This should be a easy rebound, basically like a two-handed stuff off the rebound for Georgia to get back to a W. They play them at home and Athens. Should be a good opportunity to move to 4-1 and 2-1 in the SEC. Yeah, I mean, Auburn, they can start whoever they want at quarterback. There's been a bit of transition there, like Peyton Thorne looks like he's probably going to be the starter going forward. Peyton Thorne was not awe-inspiring at Michigan State, not been awe-inspiring at Auburn, and they're just not a great football team top to bottom. You know, and they're kind of, you know, it's what's interesting to me. Sorry. He doesn't like Peyton Thorne either. Hang on just a second. I apologize. I don't want to do this for me. I'm going to kick him out of the room. Well, hey, I'm going to go ahead and we'll break down this line. University of Georgia is a 24-point favorite. It's a 53.5 over under, and you can see that game on ABC regionally or ESPN plus anywhere. I don't think there's a whole lot more we need to say about it. Georgia's 24-point favorite. I think they thumb them because they're going to come into this game with the attitude that they had in the second half against Alabama. And, you know, I think there's a little bit of reading a little bit too much of your press clippings. And you feel like, okay, hey, we got this one. Let's roll through another game this week. This is a uneven week. There's only a couple of games that match up top 25 opponents. But there's a few that I think are more interesting than you would think just at a glance. This one at the horseshoe in Ohio, that Columbus, the Ohio State University, they play host to the Iowa Hawkeyes. Iowa always a rough team to play. They try to slow the game down to a snail's pace. For parents, the sun is no longer the offensive coordinator, but it's not like it's been that big a change. I was doing what they do. They're 3-1, Ohio State's 4-0. This is a big game for Will Howard to step up. The transfer free agent, if you will, quarterback from Kansas State University to the Ohio State University. And if Ohio State fans are a little less than excited with Will Howard's line so far, 1,039 yards passing 8 touchdowns to interceptions. I wonder if they'd like this quarterback line any better, 1,459 yards passing, 14 touchdowns, 5 interceptions. That line belongs to former Ohio State Hawkeyes quarterback Kyle McCord, who is now starting for the Syracuse Orange closer to his hometown in New Jersey. I mean, I think what that shows is that maybe the issue wasn't Kyle McCord and that Will Howard's not really the answer because I saw Will Howard play the whole 4 years at K State and he is slightly more than just a guy. I'd say he's a Jag Plus. This is not a superstar. I mean, congratulations on getting over a million dollars in play for the Ohio State, but yeah, he's not the guarantee to a national title. How do you see this game going against a tough Iowa team? Well, and the one thing that you didn't mention was Kate McNamara, you know, against this Ohio State team, this Ohio State defense that has some of the same faces, not many, but there's some players that remember Kate McNamara from Michigan that are on this round. Sure. Kate, of course, is the one that really broke the seal on the Harbaugh team's beating Ryan Day and beating Ohio State. So, so Kate was the first one that let him there. And of course, JJ is the one that let him the national title, but Kate's got some experience in the horseshoe specifically and handling the pressure. A lot of times I think, you know, quarterbacks to come to and in a stadium that holds 100,000 plus and it is loud as that stadium is. It can be a hostile, especially to conference opponents, but Iowa, like you said, I look at Iowa every year under Kirk Ferrance is basically a more talented Navy. They're going to play with with the spirit of a lion at every single position, and they're going to try to run the ball and control the clock and play field position football from two decades ago. But it's just going to do and but the thing is, is that Kate McNamara fits that script pretty pretty darn well. And this they could move the I think move the ball against Ohio State somewhat inexperienced defense and make it a game. I don't know if you mentioned what the number is on this game Ohio State's going to win. But, but I would imagine I'd be looking at maybe the under and also Iowa covering. Yeah, I would definitely take the under. You know, the reports of Iowa's new offense have been grossly exaggerated. Kate McNamara, proven college starter, but this isn't a 2020 offense. He's 64 of 102 through five weeks for 588 yards. Three to eighties, two interceptions, so not exactly inspiring Ohio State's a 20 and a half point favorite, but the over under is only 44 and a half. When you play it a thousand times in a simulator Ohio State wins 89.7% of them. And yeah, I think Ohio State wins. I don't know. I would play the under if I play anything because, man, I'm not super impressed with what Ohio State's done so far. Yeah, they have. No, I mean, they're saying where they are. You know, here, like I wouldn't take the 20 and a half of them or were bigger than that. I think I might look out of it. That's to me, like three touchdowns, they could this game. It's so topsy turvy. You've seen it almost every week, like this seems like the prime game that could be a seven point game in the fourth quarter that all the sudden on a pick. Oh, it goes to 14 and then on a broken run play goes to goes to 21, but just like that in like a six minute span on the fourth quarter. It just it looks like that. But that said, because it looks like that it could also end that seven point game in the fourth quarter. You know what I mean? I could see it either way, but Ohio State wins. Yeah, I could easily see this being a 20 to six game with Iowa dragging the game down into the mud, slowing it down to a snail's pace. And running the ball three yards and a cloud of dust and just just making it miserable game to watch. Like you said, like a 1970 Steelers game like a 90, 90, Navy game, that kind of offense. A lot of teams like when they get down, like Ohio State has a tendency to get ahead of a couple of scores and when teams get down, they tend to throw more, which leads right into the talent of Ohio State's defense. Yeah, not Iowa. And not Iowa, like they're not going to give up on the run. They're not they're not going to. So they'll be able to, they'll be able to run the clock down a lot more than other teams. You won't see a 60 burger here from Ohio State, no matter almost what happens. Something that Kirk Ferrance, I think has that's unique to the current college football game. He would rather much rather. Okay, I know I'm going to lose, but I'm going to lose close, then go for the win. He's okay. He's perfectly fine finishing the season at eight and four has no problem with it. And that's what they've done for years. And you look at it, they have this game against Ohio State. Washington team that's down Michigan State, Northwestern, Wisconsin, eh, that'd be tough. A UCLA team that's down a Maryland team that's, well, they've been down since they joined the Big 10. And in the end of the season with Nebraska. I mean, they're going to cruise control to nine and three eight and four. I mean, they're, they're there. Yeah. Yeah. And they'll play in a major bowl game, just like they always do. Yeah, no, you're exactly right. The schedule sets up pretty well. They don't play kind of the big hog mollies outside of the Big 10 outside of this one against Ohio State, which I think everyone assumes they'll lose anyways this. The one that I think does still hurt, though, is the Iowa State loss because it is the rival because I think that game, it's a Iowa fan, like you can finish eight and four, but you better beat Iowa State. And I think so that one is the one that he can't continue to lose, but that really hasn't been an issue, even even under a lot of Iowa State's success. I mean, all the way back to, you know, Brock Purdy. Iowa still was a was one of their more and maybe even in certain years, most formidable opponent that then, and they routinely did not overcome. So I'd say, you know, as long as he keeps winning that one, he can keep going eight and four. But again, they're, they're going to lose this one. But that said, you're right, they'll play maybe in a January six bowl game like I can honestly see it. Eight nine wins. Probably get them. Absolutely. Well, in a power conference. Sure. Another team that I think is steamrolling their way to a nine and three. Yeah, probably nine and three. I'll give them that the Michigan Wolverines. They play Saturday night on NBC. They're in the top 10, despite taking the air out of the football almost completely. They're taking on a Washington Huskies team that is not your Huskies from a year ago. They're three and two, but they're a little bit on the downside. Washington's still favored by two and a half. This game is in Husky Stadium in Seattle. Alex, you're a big Michigan guy. Can the Wolverines win a game without acknowledging the forward pass on the road in the big time? Yeah, the Huskies can play a little defense, but I don't, I don't think that they're going to be able to slow down Michigan running the ball with maulings. And the scary thing for me, if I'm going against Michigan, a team like Washington that has struggled to stop the run so far, struggled against Ben and Guy a couple weeks ago again, or maybe a week ago against Rutgers. By the way, it looks fantastic. I can't wait to address them exactly what I thought they would look like before the season started. But yeah, I just, I don't know. I think this is another game Michigan wins. This is another one. They win as a dog, just like they did against against USC. And it's not to say that Michigan is a top 10 team because I don't think they are, but I do think that this game specifically sets up well because Washington has struggled to stop the run under fish so far. And because it is kind of like that, he's in a lot of transition on the roster period. It is not nowhere close to the team. They lost most of the talent they had on offense. And they're just, they're just not, like you said, the same Washington. So because of that. And if you look, specifically, I would say at the Rutgers game and how Rutgers won that game, it does not not lend well to what Michigan's game plan will be with arguably more talented players. Yeah, I mean, this looks like, look at the stat line for Davis Warren, your senior quarterback starting for Michigan. This looks like quarterback that would have started in early both Shembekler era. Look at this line. Through five weeks, 48 of 72 for 444 yards is only positive stat as he's completed 67% of the bounces. And that's because they're bubble screens and swing passes to the running back to touchdowns and six interceptions to go along with it. I mean, like I said, Iowa shows you can win this way in the Big 10. You're not going to win any championships. You're not going to win a ballgame. You're sure as hell not beating the aisle. Stay playing this way. Yeah. Is this something that Michigan is committing to? Are they pointing to Iowa saying, Hey, I like that we could do that. Or is this just a blip on the radar and they weren't ready to replace JJ McCarthy, which I mean, you should have been. It was his last year, or you knew he was going to the NFL. How were you not ready? Well, as I've said before, I just think that everything that Harbaugh did, like it's, I to me, it's just, it's, it stinks that he's got such great ties to the program, such great ties to the coaching staff and still didn't make an effort, an coordinated effort wish her own more to figure that out upon his leaving because the market was certainly there. Coming off a national title. You imagine Michigan right now with a quarterback like Cam Ward, that training Alex Orgy into next year. You know what I mean? Where Michigan could be competitive for for now. Two more years to at least favor to make a deep playoff run. Basically, if you, if you had a cam ward there for this year and then orgy trained by Cam Ward going into next year, what maybe, maybe just like Ward struggled early throwing the ball, he can, he can help. You know, orgy figured some things out throwing the ball just like he did, and they have an opportunity. Orgy's not ready to play and neither is Davis Davis warrant. I don't think Davis Warren sees a field in this game. He hasn't, he has not, you know, played since Orgy's taken over a quarterback. I think I think Orgy's due to start again. The reason he didn't come up when you look just because he literally throws the ball less than Warren does that. So that that's why if you look at the stats Warren's still the leading passer and he probably will be for a number of weeks going forward. Because, I mean, orgy's a good game for Alex orgy is going to be 95 yards going, you know, eight of 12 that that will be a fantastic game for Alex orgy. And so of, of you got to figure 70 plays they're going to run the ball 12 times, you know what I mean? And that's so a lot of Khalil Mullings. And again, I think the scariest thing if you're a team like Washington that struggled to cover the run so far is that Donovan Edwards, who was forecast to be one of the best players in the country has not really played that well so far, and is completely healthy. Like he, in all likelihood, will figure it out. Mullings is running for 130 yards a game. If they can, if they can give you another 100 yard rusher, Michigan becomes pretty formidable for the rest of their schedule. If Michigan can do that. And that will be the lynchman. If Michigan can win 11 games, 10 games, it will be because Edwards, you know, came on and both running back state healthy, and they ran for, you know, 1000 yards piece. And, you know, we're seeing it in the NFL and in college football to a little bit of a throwback a lot more running the ball a lot more emphasis on running another game featuring a top 10 team matching up in the big, the big 10 Penn State seven overall, they host a longtime rival UC LA at Beaver Stadium and Happy Valley. Yeah, Penn State favored my 28 points. Really, really down UCL team. You can see why Chip Kelly bailed out because he brought bailed out before he was going to get fired. Now the offense coordinator at Ohio State. You see LA not doing well, making this move to the big 10. This is going to be another win for Penn State. They'll go to five and oh, and they don't throw the ball much either their quarterback. Better numbers than the rest of the ones we've highlighted drew all are but not looking exactly like the NFL first round pick he was being hyped as unless he can follow the Jay Jay McCarthy model. From outside of Cleveland Ohio, a guy who could be in Ohio State quarterback, but he's you know, not doing a whole lot his passer ratings good, but only 864 yards eight touchdowns one interception. So Penn State a very run heavy team as well. Penn State is also a run heavy team. But one thing that I think they finally caught on to last week is wreaking havoc in the backfield on defense and that's something that's been a hallmark of dominant Penn State teams. It almost seemed like they weren't really going to fully take off this year until they showed that they did. I think moving trying to move on from a guy like Chop Robinson is really hard to do chop probably probably the best pressure. Most at least most underrated and Russia I thought in college football last year. Remember, remember the game against Michigan last year where it was one that was Harbaugh was suspended for Michigan on the road at Penn State and did not throw the ball in the second half. And people think that that was, you know, Sharon Moore playing it safe sometimes people think that that was, you know, Michigan showing trying to show their dominance. Maybe it was, but I think more than anything, it was trying to avoid Chop Rob. It was like he was in the backfield way too much in the first half way too much pressure for McCarthy. And they thought, well, if we can run for five yards a carry, we'll take it, you know, and they did. And that's how they won the game but so that's been like I say a hallmark of dominant Penn State teams and I think that, you know, as long as they can keep that up, they'll be fine. Aller, you're right, has been slightly, I would say, slightly underwhelming. He is capable of making all the throws and has had complete games, but has met had had more I would say incomplete games than complete games. So, and it's almost like he hasn't fully, you know, risen to the talent level, you know, just yet. But he is definitely capable. And I think McCarthy is a great comparison because they're very similar, you know, highly touted five star recruits with amazing, you know, arm strength and arm talent. But I think McCarthy was showed that he was a better passer really from day one. So there is I think he had better coaching though too because, yeah, there's a lot of Penn State fans that definitely have the targets on James Franklin this year. Yeah, it seems like every week seems like a must win for Penn State this year because of Franklin's record like it, you know, they better be UCLA. That's not even a question, right? The bigger games almost seem like all must wins because it's, it's always like, well, they struggled against this team. They struggled against all the rivals and all the best teams. And the big 10. I mean, I don't care who you add to the big 10. Nothing's changed. It comes down to Michigan and Ohio State can beat those two. That's the end. They're the straws that stirred the drink. And so you can get by them. You haven't accomplished anything. And just like we saw with with Alabama, you can change the coach, but like they, Alabama is the national, I would say beyond SEC, the national benchmark. If you can't, you can't, you can't beat them. You that's the benchmark, you know what I mean? Like they are, they are the team and have been well to quote to continue our list of Jim Harbaugh references to quote Jim Harbaugh's good friend, the nature boy, Rick flair to be the man. You got to beat the man. Yeah. And team in the big 10 that's maybe making a challenge. Surprisingly, the Indiana Hoosiers, they're sitting at five and oh, almost assured to go to six and oh, they take on the Northwestern Wildcats in beautiful near Chicago downtown Evanston, Illinois, right on the Lake Michigan. It is one of the nicest looking campuses in the country. And it's right there on the North Shore suburbs. But a beautiful campus isn't going to help Northwestern, probably Indiana is a 13 point favorite over under 41 and a half. And in a rarity for Northwestern tickets are going for 129 bucks to get in. When I used to live in Skokie, I think I could go to Northwestern games for like five bucks sometimes. Nobody cared, but they have a little have a little bit of attention this year, Northwestern, a little bit better than normal. But this is going to be an Indiana win. What do you think Indiana's key to success has been so far this year. Yeah. Undoubtedly, it's been Signeti. I mean, they're new coach. When you see a brand new coach to a program that completely changes the culture, Indiana is a formidable team in the big 10. They're throwing for over 500 yards a game. That kid of work can really throw the ball. Signeti is a former, I believe, offensive coordinator, wide receiver and quarterback coach from Alabama. I think he was coach also at NC State. I know he came from James Madison who of course has a completely, you know, just electric charged roster we've seen already like you look at North Carolina game like he put that roster together. That 60 70 point a game monster roster they have at JMU. And that's what he's known for is scoring in bunches it's it's basically an air raid type offense in the big 10 which a lot of those big 10 defenses. Despite all of the and new influx of teams, a lot of those defenses are not set up to do that. They don't have to run first. They don't have to safety's play in linebacker like a lot of the more air raids style defenses do. So they're they're a bit of a, you know, a bit of a conundrum there and they're they're certainly certainly the favorite this weekend. So, yeah, I'm pretty high on the Hoosiers. Two teams that have been you know, Rutgers and Indiana and the big 10 that are just complete, you know, surprise dark horse big 10 champion type teams. Now I feel better about Rutgers though because I think Indiana is still largely scheduled driven. They're going to go to six and oh and all probability and really have not played anybody open the season against Florida international. Followed that up taken on the juggernaut, the Western Illinois University Leathernecks, not much of a game there they pummeled them 77 to three. As we talked about a very depleted UCLA team. Yeah, then they took on the Charlotte 49ers not the San Francisco 49ers. The Charlotte 49ers have conference USA and played probably their toughest game of date. Last week against Maryland to Terrapins. If your best game. Five weeks in is the Maryland Terrapins, you really haven't played anybody so. And the schedule and super confident about them. It undoubtedly gets rougher like they will be challenged if you just look at the weeks beyond they face Nebraska Nebraska that will be coming off of Rutgers. So that means Rutgers has to play or Nebraska has to play Rutgers and then Indiana, which boy oh boy, after after already dropping a game that they weren't really supposed to. So now so then they go on to play play Washington, but that's in Indiana and I think that's a benefit to them. Michigan State and then Michigan and then Ohio State and then Purdue to end this season like Michigan and Ohio State are still obviously better than Indiana. I tell you one, the one that's interesting and though is that Michigan State game it's in Bloomington. And I that will be interested because it's two completely different styles. Michigan definitely is one of those teams I was talking about that does not play a lot of safeties at linebacker doesn't defend the past as in the same way that that that offense is structured to go. There's going to be a lot of mismatches they struggled with and they play a lot of man defense and they struggled with mismatches against Minnesota. You know that said they'll still be able to overwhelm offensively Indiana at the point of attack so that I think is the most interesting game on their schedule, you know, and one that will will definitely determine the overall outlook of their season. Yeah, that's your pivot point game because they're not getting Michigan or Ohio State. Well, let's talk about Michigan State. They are on the Friday night whites telecast on Fox, Fox needed something to replace WWE since they lost the smackdown contract. They college football, why not, why not, Michigan State is three and two, they take out the Oregon Ducks who are flying at four and oh by Dylan Gabriel Gabriel nine touchdowns and one interception so far. They're 24 point favorite I'd imagine they cover that and win over under 52 and a half. This hasn't been a super impressive Michigan state team, but they are three and two with a win over the four mentioned Maryland Terrapins and one time basketball to chump the Prairie View and fighting prayer docs. They beat the Prairie Docs 40 did nothing. It's the only game that scored more than 30 points in is the prayer view. Yeah, the prayer, you know, it's not good for Sparty. No, Sparty doesn't look great. They follow the three and they follow the three and three scheduled to lose to Iowa. The next week scheduled to lose the Michigan the week after and probably scheduled to lose to Indiana and Illinois, probably also Illinois. Yeah, they get for you. They can then rock and then rockers at the end of the year again with another. It's going to be a stretch to bowl eligibility for Michigan State. Yeah, I would, I would agree. I would agree. It's a lot tougher after this three and two start. I want to I want to focus in on this game because this is a game that matches up top 25 teams in the SEC. One team in a position to take a major step forward. The other team I'd say playing for their top 25 life. University of Missouri, the Tigers, they come in for an O taken on the Texas A&M Aggies there for and won Eli Drinkowitz talks about the challenge of face in Texas A&M. Obviously, we have a tremendous challenge to go on the road this week to play a top 25 team and one of the premier stadiums in college football. You know, Mike Elko has done a tremendous job wherever he's been as a head football coach and obviously this being his first year. He's really doing a tremendous job. I think developing the identity of that team, I think it starts with their new quarterback Marcel Reeve, who's clearly become the focal point of what they're doing offensively. You can tell, in my opinion, Coach Klein is very comfortable with him as the quarterback, his style of play reflects, in my opinion, what Coach Klein had in the past at K-State and this type of player that he was. Yeah, I mean, fair, Colin Klein is who he was talking about, former K-State Wildcat quarterback during the Bill Snyder era, hard running, big bodied quarterback, not a super accurate passer, a little bit complimentary to Marcel Reeve. He's not going to be compared to Colin Klein in the weight room anytime soon. He's 6'2, 180, but he has been a dual threat quarterback, 585 yards in the air so far. 6 touchdowns, more importantly, no interceptions, and he's rushed the ball for 230 yards, so he's been a pretty good player, but Missouri comes into this year with one of the best offensive weaponry sets in college football. The game is really close. It's a two and a half point spread and over under a 48 and a half, the ESPN simulator broke down to 51.7% for MU 48.3 for Texas A&M. Am I missing something here? I think Missouri's offensive weaponry, they should be able to exploit that A&M team way more than Notre Dame did. And get this win, which would set them up on a good path in the SEC. Notre Dame wishes they had to cook a quarterback. That's the difference right there, no name doesn't have the weapons. It's funny to say that Notre Dame doesn't have the weapons. Their ability to recruit is almost bar none, but they don't have the weapons that quarterback or receiver that Missouri does. Arguably, maybe a running back, although Notre Dame is pretty talented at running back. But certainly quarterback or receiver and drink has been so good as a coach there at Missouri. Really forming as kind of a blossoming legacy there almost, with the kind of continued win percentages he's posting and the type of team he's built over the last couple years with Luther Burden and with cook quarterback. It's competitive with the best teams in the SEC, which is something that Mizzou has really had a target on their backs since joining the SEC in a way, and not as in a weird, almost stepchild kind of way. Anytime that they can put, you think back to chase Daniels, and anytime they can put seasons like this together, it's better for that university because especially when you consider it in the light of how big the SEC is becoming. And you include teams like Texas and Oklahoma, and that prestige thing just matters more and more and more. And they're in a position to, I mean, really have a pivotal game. This is going to be a game that could elevate them all the way up to the top of the 25. You hit this game against A&M, that moves you probably to six or five. You're going to get a win against UMass on the 12th should get an easy win against Auburn on the 19th. That puts you at seven and oh, getting ready to face off against Alabama in Tuscaloosa on the 26th so potential for one of the biggest games you've had, and what has been, I'd say a surprisingly successful transition to the SEC. I think Nebraska would love to have had the success that Missouri's had in the SEC in the big 10. And I think a lot of other schools are can saw in terms of football in the SEC. So Missouri has done some things and they're in a position, even if you lose Alabama, you get Oklahoma tough game, but then South Carolina, Mississippi State and Arkansas. I mean, they've got the, they've got the path laid out for them at worst case, and the regular season with two losses. Yeah, yeah, no, I agreed, and it all comes down to that, like you said, that match up against Alabama and Tuscaloosa is rarely what it all comes down to the whole season is there. I mean, they could lose that one and pretty easily still get into playoffs just because if that's the only one you lose and Bama stays ranked number one. I think you're pretty much in at that point. And you're honestly, it's almost the best case scenario. I keep looking at this thing thinking that like, man, where you want to be is the fifth spot. I just, because you're going to get to be the favorite in almost every game you play. If you're in that spot, yes, you won't get the first round by, but you're going to get, you know, a G five in the first round and then likely an ACC or big 12 opponent in the second round you're not going to play an SEC team again until the final. Which is a game, you know, to be the man, you got to beat the man. So there you go. You're going to get one of those games out of four. And that's better rods than every other team in the mix. Anyways, I'll continue to hit on that as the season goes because I think that that's it's, you're going to see that with, you know, these bigger conferences and with the 12 team playoff specifically teams are going to be angling for certain position in that 12 team playoff. It's undoubted and they'll be campaigning for those spots and to get the last spot, there's certainly be a huge campaign and a huge rush for a lot of teams. So anyways, but that's just one thing like Missouri is a team that I would highlight, you know, with a star next to him as one of the potentials for that fifth spot. Oh, very much, though. Now, a team that had playoff aspirations coming into the season, but everything's kind of falling apart. It's been a field of broken dreams. The Kansas J Hawks stumble into a Saturday night game against Arizona State Arizona State, the Sun Devils, three and one. Oh, and one in the big 12 KU one and four and a disappointing 0 and two and big 12 play. Is this the week that KU gets back on the winning side or have they been crushed enough. By these four losses that they're pressing so much that now they can't pull out of it. This is the thing that's really surprised me. I'm convinced that the quarterback Joe that he's not healthy. He's he may be healthy. He's probably healthy for day to day regular living, but having had a broken back in sports myself and having had major back surgery. He looks like a guy recovering from back surgery. He doesn't. He's not able to twist. He doesn't have explosive movement, which was the key to his success. His first couple of years. Okay, you last year was a wasted year with injury too. He just doesn't seem quite right. And the team seems to be making lots of undisciplined kind of like panic mistakes, which was the thing that they didn't do. And the thing that historically Lance life holds teams didn't do. They didn't beat themselves. This Jayhawk team, they're beating themselves. And then Jalen Daniels is just walking around and pouring a little gasoline out of the fire occasionally. Yeah, exactly. And I think you just nailed it. Like the whole thing right there. The entire thing you described is exactly the problem. It's that it's that they need to have faith in their starting quarterback. And while they do, they can't because he's like you said, not really ready to go. And by whatever measure, whether that's just not fully physically or mentally coming off that injury, maybe not ready, just either way, he's clearly not ready. Some of the mistakes that he makes, especially, I would say he's still it's funny because you can still see that gamer mentality in him like late in the game, he makes far less mistakes than early in the game. Early in the game, though, I mean, glaring mistakes that, you know, in his history of playing football that we know of, he hasn't made. And you know, you, like you said, have first-hand experience with that. And maybe he just isn't quite right. And like you said, a lot of his gamer relied on that explosion. But the reason is that that they're, the rest of the team is also committing mistakes is because you have to be able to believe in the quarterback. And right now they don't, but it's probably also a guy that they really like, you know what I mean? So it's a nice guy. You know, it's great with the media does try hard, but I honestly think it's a case of the mind is willing, but the body is enabled because you have you have a major back issue. It affects you. It affects everything you do. And if you want to try and throw, here, if you have a football, and I don't want anybody to hurt themselves. But if you just watch football and you don't have any reference to how hard it is to throw a 15 yard out, and you're just looking at it on the screen, you go, man, that's easy. It's only a 15 yard pass. It's hard. Okay, it's not that easy. Get a, get a football, get a regulation football. And I said, get your doctor's clearance first. I don't want anybody getting hurt because they said, hey, we saw this on TV. I want to try it. So caution out there the disclaimer is given. But take a football. Take a step back, turn and try to throw it 15 yards in the air to a side. It's a hell of a lot harder than throwing it straight ahead. Because you have to rotate and you have to use your core to drive the ball. And I don't think he can do that. His successful passes, if you slow it down and watch the video, are when he's rolling out, throwing a one man route and throwing the football like a dart straight ahead. Anytime he's doing anything different than that, it's shaky at best. And if that's the case, I mean, I played quarterback in high school. If that's literally like day one tryouts. If you want to be a high school quarterback, we're going to have the receivers all line up, run 15 yard outs. And if you can continually hit that, then we can go from there. If you can't, that's day one cut. And again, that's high school because you're right. You said it's that specific throw that it's a lot more difficult to make. And it's every one of those specific throws that's more difficult to make. And then you can actually see, you can see the indecision in action. Again, especially early in games where it's like some of the layups, some of the easy, some of the dump it off to the fullback and the flat type throws are like, you know, five yard out. From the tight end type throws are behind the receiver are overthrown over the receiver are, you know what I mean, lots of stuff that you just didn't really see before. And I think it all all bleeds into both the injury and the the trepidation in his actions that the injury is causing. And it lets you know they don't have a whole lot of confidence and backup coat ballad. They may be waiting for Matt Nagys son, the high school star currently playing at Blue Valley Southwest to come to KU and he'll be the next quarterback, the chief's offensive coordinator. Hey, one last game, wanted to hit on. It is the University of Miami Florida, the Hurricanes. They're number eight in the country. They're five and no. They're taking on a long time ACC rival to California Golden Bears at three and one. Miami 10 and a half point favorite. The game is in Cal. Cam Ward out of all of the quarterbacks that were transvers or free agents. Man, he's far and away from the best 1,782 yards in the air 18 touchdowns. His addition really turned around Mario Cristobal's fate because he was a guy who was on the hot seat going into the season. Now he's almost on a glide path. Yeah, yeah, exactly like he almost he almost looks like a guaranteed, you know, Heisman Heisman finalist. But this is a game that was pretty interesting. One, it's really late. I think it's like a, you know, 10 p.m. Eastern kick. Yeah, it's 10 30 Eastern 930 central. Yeah, there you go. So it's a really late game, especially for a true Atlantic coast team. But two, they're not a great football team, but the reason that their record is not terrible. Jaden Ott is one of the best running backs in the country. The running back they have and on a good team would argue be another one of those Heisman guys like he is that good. So, Ott is incredible and they will lean on him heavily. And so they will slow the game down and doing so. I think it'll be a relatively low scoring game. They could get in a little trouble. I think they'll pull it out. But again, we've already seen this Miami has a tendency, Cristobal has a tendency at Miami of playing down to his opponents. This is a game that on the road like this and against a new conference opponent at night under the lights. I don't like it. I think I looked at this one earlier. I think the odds are plus 330 California. I, you know, I might take a flyer on that one. Because it could get interesting. They should lose. Cal should lose. Miami should beat them. I really like Miami. I've talked about it a lot. But that's an interesting toast over type of game. Yeah, I mean, their season is going to be determined really, I think this week and next week, next week. Well, they get an off week and then in two weeks, they take on the Louisville Cardinal. After Louisville, he got a Seminoles team that's in a death spiral, a depleted Duke, Georgia Tech, Wake Forest and Syracuse, who's, you know, they're okay. But I think Miami is going to take care of Syracuse. They have the potential to go undefeated. And really, their last two hard games are these next two games. Yeah, I'd say Miami is undoubtedly the best team in the ACC so far. Clemson looks like they're rebounding a little bit and could provide a challenge later on. And maybe like an FCC or ACC title game, which I think that will probably be the title game matchup. It'll be interesting to see if club Nick and Clemson can win, but Miami will be the favorite going to that one too, probably. And you can say the same thing for Clemson. They have a matchup against the Louisville and then really, I mean, nobody. I mean, that's their next top game. And Louisville Seminoles this week. I know Notre Dame's defense is tough, but Louisville was really underwhelming in that Notre Dame game. So, yeah. Yeah, but that's, that's about it. Hey, I wanted to mention one more thing as we wind it down. Talk has come out. And you've been hearing about it for a couple of months, just in the background. But the former college football commissioners, league commissioners, ADs, and more importantly, TV executives that are working with. Private equity firms. So they're getting some private equity money. Who knows? Maybe getting some Saudi wealth fund money. They release their proposal for the college football super league. The CSFL, which is going to take the 136 teams and college football and split them up to a 72 team super league consisting of 16 12 16 divisions of teams from the power five historic power five. And then everybody else you're going to be in the other, you're going to be in the other subset. So they're looking at a model like the English Premier League, where the top teams are in the premier ship, and the next wave is in the championship level. They're even going to have relegation and promotion aspects. But the divisions are ones based on geography, Missouri. You know, K state, KU, Arkansas, all in a division, because, hey, they're right next to each other. Why not? That's a novel concept. Yeah, they're looking to start it in 2032, which is coincidentally when the TV contracts and for the SEC, the big 10 and the big 12. Do you think it's time? I mean, have we have the leagues have the schools done enough to utterly destroy the traditional rivalries and college sports that it's time to reset and put them back together the way they always were, but then add to it. A modern aspect where you play everybody in your division every year, you play a division from the opposite conference every year, and then you play a couple of like finishers, there's your 12 games, and then we go to a playoff. Yeah. What I think is that, you know, it's an, this whole thing is an illustration of how like economic growth is slow. It just is. And the, the capitalistic nature of football was always going to creep and crawl into college sports. It just, it just absolutely was. It was just a matter of how it did and when it did. And this is how it did. And how it's doing it. But because it involves a lot of different things it involves business and even politics to a certain extent and, you know, you know, all those commercial outfits and so much more than just the football or certainly more than the colleges or the students themselves. Because of all that, the gears move slowly and there is not, there was never going to be a perfect, you know, mix of everything all at once we were never going to get the 12 team playoff and perfect conference alignment because what the 12 team playoff meant was a boon in commercialism. Well, the boon in commercialism created a boon in commercial money, shocker. Yeah. We even have this thing, name, image and likeness that's supposed to be based on commercial money. Although in many cases, it's not the conference realignment at the very least has really been the real NIL. The conference alignment has actually been based on name, image and likeness. It's the ability to market yourself as a premier program to be sold off to the highest bidding conference, namely the SEC or big 10. But like, like I said, it was never going to work perfectly all at once. I hope that one day we get to something like that that's more based on I think we all do. We all love college football and we're going to love it in this or, you know, set just as much if not more than we did before because the games are cooler and bigger now. But I think everything all of us that enjoy it. What we also all of us want is more common sense alignment and more common sense scheduling where, you know, Miami against Cal isn't a conference game. I don't care if they play at a neutral site. I don't care if Miami and Cal have a one in one, you know, even, but I don't want to see them in the same conference. I don't think anyone does. And I think everyone would appreciate that's the one thing that the biggest college football fans still want to see like the old big eight. You know what I mean? Like the biggest they want to see the big eight big East play football against each other. They don't want to see anything close to what we have now. So, but that said, the football itself, though, the actual entertainment product, again, getting back to the football in the field is going to get better and better throughout this. It's almost undoubtedly so. Yeah, I think it's coming because at some point, I think what's going to be the straw that breaks the back is the fact that athletic departments. Well, let's take records, are going to have to send the women's volleyball team from piscat away to Eugene. Yeah, to UCLA. And they're going to have to fly them on a charter flight because title nine requires you to treat the athletes the same. And they just get insanely expensive. And at some point, they're going to realize, wow, hey, we broke it. Okay. Hey, we tap out. And the natural break point is coming in 2032 when the TV contracts run out. So, watch out the college football, the college athletic super league may well be coming. Hey, let's wrap up college football. Got our champion of the week. Brought to you by the wrestling spotlight and a heart of a champion foundation. Hey, what's up, guys? This is Tybell when Aloka and you are watching wrestling. Alex is your champion as a week. My champion of the week is the Rutgers Scarlet Knight to beat Washington last week in Piscat away and will face Nebraska this week. In a marquee game, I believe that will end up with them being ranked in Nebraska spiraling downward for the rest of the season. So that's my here of the week. And I'm going to go with the University of Arkansas pine bluff marching team and dance team. They performed the theme song for Cody Rose, your WWE undisputed universal champion kingdom. And Cody saw it and he is bringing the University of Arkansas pine bluff marching band and dance team with him to Atlanta for the bad blood premium live event coming up this Saturday, you can see it on peacock. I had a chance to talk with the PR director for the University of Arkansas pine bluff athletic department going to try to get him on wrestling spotlight to talk about it. But great job by the band for breaking through on social media and getting a nice trip up to Atlanta courtesy of the American football team. There you go. And you can tune into wrestling spotlight as well. You can get it on the true TV blaz app and also on sports.TV. We're going to be talking to Camaro Jackson in the spotlight. And also highlighting some of the work that FTR is doing to help benefit victims of Hurricane Helene in Asheville, North Carolina. Cash Wheeler is running to go fund me. If you follow my Twitter account, my ex account at local underscore wrestling or just search wrestling spotlight. I've got it posted there and that money will directly benefit people that are really suffering from a unprecedented storm in Nashville, North Carolina. Cash also gets the first recipient of the heart of a champion foundation award from wrestling spotlight. We'll wrap it up and we'll see you a little bit later this weekend with NFL coverage. Thanks for joining us here on Friday.