College Football loves chaos. The playoff picture is looking fuzzy for some of the countries best teams. Arkansas injury report suggests a shakeup in the backfield. The boys look at the Upcoming slate of SEC Games. This video is sponsored by Andre the Lawyer. Call Andre The Lawyer at 214-444-8808. Located in Dallas, TX, Andre helps injured Longhorns with car wrecks, slip and falls, 18 wheeler accidents, on the job injuries, and wrongful deaths. Visit https://gametime.co/ or download the Gametime app and redeem code On3 for $20 off your first purchase (terms apply). et your copy of THINKING TEXAS FOOTBALL Purchase The 2024 Longhorn Football Prospectus: Thinking Texas Football - 12th Annual Edition: https://sites.google.com/view/the-2023-burnt-orange-bible/home Written for the passionate, smart fan who wants more than recycled corporate media content. Find out why it's called The Burnt Orange Bible. Smashwords (compatible with any device, select epub for Apple/Kindle): https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1591653 Apple: https://books.apple.com/us/book/2024-longhorn-football-prospectus-thinking-texas-football/id6554008037 Amazon (Print): https://a.co/d/iVszuhf Be the smartest fan in the room and start Thinking Texas Football today. Be the smartest fan in the room and start Thinking Texas Football today. Listen to the Podcast: Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3P0cwAUPNZrsNrTOKOfa6x Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/inside-texas-football/id1721623113 Find Us On Social Media: Twitter: https://twitter.com/InsideTexas Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/InsideTexas/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/insidetexas/https://www.on3.com/teams/texas-longhorns/
Inside Texas Football
IT Live (11/14): Playoff Picture Chaos, Arkansas Injury Report, SEC Slate
- Good morning. Happy Thursday to everybody. Welcome to Inside Texas Live sponsored by, of course, us at InsideTexas.com. We would love it if you would join us. Not only here, obviously on our live feeds and if you're watching this a little bit later, thank you so much for being here. Please subscribe, hit that like button. It really does help us and roasters here. It's great. We've got people in the chat already. We really appreciate that. Guys, I have to tell you, outside of the occasional round table, I'm not used to YouTube being in the morning. So you'll have to bear with me as I get my liquid amphetamines going. Guys, we've got, we've got absolutely. Come on, let's do it. We've got some craziness that could potentially happen. And admittedly, Justin, this is something that I think you predicted. It was the prognosticators all over the world. We're predicting that there's always gonna be somebody left out of the playoffs. And one of the things that we're starting to notice now, and one of the questions that's been posited is, are we putting too much emphasis on a team's losses? And here, let me expand on that a little bit. Would you rather have, and I'll just use a very specific example, Georgia is currently sitting at five and two, potentially looking from the outside in on the playoffs. And you could have a Indiana team that is coming in, maybe 11 and one, and makes their way into the playoffs. Now, my question for you, and we'll start with you, Ian, are we putting too much emphasis on losses, or should we really be looking at the totality of the team and evaluating it from that perspective? - Yes, but it's not gonna happen. - Okay. - And I'll tell you why, because the current structure is going to increasingly emphasize the big 10 and the SEC at the expense of all the other conferences, which I think we all think is valid, 'cause those two conferences have all the resources, the best players, they're clearly a step above, right? But here's the awkward part, which is that there's like the big 10 SEC and everybody else, but then there's the SEC is another notch above the big 10. But those TV contracts and the money at stake is gonna say that we have to treat the big 10 and the SEC as roughly the same. So if you go 10 and two in the big 10, that we need to regard that as being roughly a kin to going 10 and two in the SEC. Even though we all know, like you look at Indiana's schedule right now, they haven't beaten anybody that's in the top, but would be in the top 60 SEC, right? Like we think we know that, but it's subjective to an extent. So it's gonna be at this endless debate. And then the awkwardness will begin if the SEC dominates the playoffs and dominates all their matchups with big 10 schools. Or they could try to avoid that happening by strategically placing a ACC big 12 G5 programs in there to avoid a embarrassment for the big 10. I don't know, there's a lot to tease out here and that final ranking is gonna be pretty fascinating. - Justin, where do you land on this? I know that you were early on calling for chaos in this particular instance. Where do you land right now? Given the current picture, obviously this could change on Sunday. We have a whole different outlook, but what are your thoughts right now? - Yeah, it was one of those things. When it was one versus two, the number three team was the one that was complaining. And that was a valid complaint because you had voters literally picking who played the national championship, which had worked for a hundred years, but when all the influx of money and everything jumped into it, fans didn't like that anymore. So they got a four teams. Well, it was the 15 that was complaining. And we kind of knew that, yeah, that 15, but that's an easier sell to the fans. That's an easier sell to people that, hey, you're not in the top four, just do a little bit better. You gotta eight, the ninth team's gonna complain. You gotta 12 teams now. The 13th team is gonna complain. Now granted, the further out it goes, the less it kind of means, but it's still there for debate. It's still there for complaints. I think the scheduled thing is a big deal because honestly, I think you gotta reward these schools that'll go play big schools out of conference. I really do. I think those guys have to get, Texas this year took it on the chin because they just so happened to schedule the reigning national champion Michigan Wolverines three or four years ago. Well, I don't think Texas knew that most of that team was gonna be gone the next year. Well, I think that needs to factor into it. Strength to schedule to me is a big thing. I don't think the loss when loss margin is as big when it comes to scoring. I think that can be very, very misleading. And so I'm not as big on that. But the thing is, we woke up and chose violence when we put these 12 teams together. That's just the way college football's gonna rock and roll. I mean, you've got people in the NCAA talking about putting 72 and 73 teams in the NCAA basketball tournament. In this instance, too much is too much. Sometimes they're trying to find that happy medium, that happy balance. I don't think we've achieved that, but I'll say this, it's better than it was. It's a better system than it was before. And the SEC and the big ten are gonna have the majority of these teams because like Ian said, they've got, they've locked up most of the TV deals. When the salary cap hits for NIL on July 1st, SEC and big ten are gonna have a different cap than the rest of the conferences. Why? Because they have 80% of the TV deals. - Yeah. - The way the world works. And so it's fascinating to see how it's gonna play out. And for us guys that get to talk about it on a regular basis, it's gonna be something every week. It's gonna be something we can discuss every week. And in regards to Georgia, I don't know what the hell's going on in Athens. They played the best half of their life in Austin. And now they can't find themselves before those games or even after those games. So it's, I can't remember, I was on the road in Houston this week and I just can't remember more coaches asking me, who's the best team in the country? Who do you think's gonna win the national championship? I have no clue. I think everyone is somewhere around the middle. And I think this is the one year we're gonna need a playoff to sort of sort all this stuff out, to kind of let the haves and have-nots have it. And in that regard, I think Indiana has earned the right to be in this thing. And if you put a two-wash Georgia ahead of them, I think it sets a bad precedent. It's Georgia, they have a better roster. Yes, are there more NFL players in Athens? Yes, but you gotta earn it guys. You gotta schedule somebody tough at a conference. You gotta have something good on the product on TV from September, October and November. Georgia has not. This is gonna be one of those things where, okay, let's complain about a one-wash team and a two-wash team from the two power two conferences. Hey, it gives us something to chatter about, but I don't think we're anywhere close to figuring it out. I wanna give them props here really quick, Ian, to AR who's thrown in in the super chat. Thank you for that $5. That obviously goes to the Ian Boyd Toyota Sienna Fund. He says, put a school like Bama in the Big Ten and OSU in the SEC for a season and let's see how they play out. I have to say, y'all, and I'm not trying to be controversial here. I don't think I am given where they're ranked. Oh, how say it's a damn good team? And I don't know that they would suffer that greatly being in the SEC. Certainly it's a different set up and I think their roster may be composed a little bit differently, but I do think OSU may not be the best example that you're going for there, AR, but I'd love to hear your thoughts, you're Ian. I have so many thoughts. Ohio State is certainly like the one or maybe now two Big Ten schools that are built like an SEC program, but they have gotten soft because they have been overprotected by the Big Ten conference for the last like five to 10 years. The Big Ten conference is always rigging their system to protect Ohio State with the schedule, with all sorts of stuff. Like remember the COVID year, they had rules about what you needed to do to make the playoffs and then they changed the rules because they realized Ohio State wasn't going to be able to play enough games to qualify for the playoffs. So they just changed all their rules and ditched the Michigan rivalry game so that they could push Ohio State through to collect the playoff payout. - You're right. - And you watch Ohio State every year now and they get into these big games against teams that are willing to take it to them and they just have, they have big, they have problems. - Now James Franklin always bales them out with his weird decision making, but they have been overprotected and it has made them softer and it has limited Ohio State's ability as a program to punch at the weight that they're aiming at. And so that's one issue. If you put them in the SEC, they would figure out real quick that they need to maintain a different kind of effort and do things a little differently in their program than they would adjust. They'd figure it out. But the other thing is, if you drop like a big 10 school in the SEC, like just make them play an SEC schedule, they're going to lose a bunch of games they're not used to losing. - Yeah. - But if you stick an SEC school in the big 10 and you make them play cold weather games all year, that's a very different dynamic as well. - And sometimes like steps in Bennett never had to play a cold weather game for Georgia. There's a lot of times we get these smaller - Man. - Players in the SEC. - You've been seven years. - That play, well, but yeah. - No, I know, that's a fascinating study. And really, I mean, the kid was there for-- - Well, somebody fact check me. Somebody fact check me. - No, no, no, no. - But I'm pretty sure-- - I'm pretty sure I'm ever perfect. - I was shocked if you ever played in a cold weather game against the competitive team that you keep up with Georgia. - That's fair. - It's always in like 70 degrees or domes or whatever. And then the playoffs side and the bowls often work that way as well. So those are both, those are both different wrinkles to this. - I want to get over to your journeys here, Justin, 'cause you have been on the road quite a bit. But before we do, there is a live ad read that I have to do. And I just really want to take this opportunity to test my cold reading skills and give you guys a little bit of information about our friends over at GameTime. Are you looking to snag some tickets to the Arkansas game in Fayetteville? Probably are. You gotta go with GameTime. So download the GameTime app or go to gametime.co and see all the available tickets. GameTime makes it easy to find the best deals and you don't have to worry about hidden fees with GameTime's transparent all in pricing feature. And it's not just college football. You can get great seats for NFL, NBA and NHL too. You can use the promo code on three for $20 off your first purchase. Now terms apply. GameTime has your back. Your tickets are guaranteed to be on time and authentic. Plus, if you find a lower price elsewhere, they will make up 110% of the difference. So get GameTime, get the GameTime app or visit gametime.co today and use promo code on three for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. All right, Justin, you've been on the road. You've been, God, all over the place. I want to hear about your trips. I want to, one thing I really want to talk about and I think this is important. And please include this, is I think people need to understand that at Inside Texas, we are boots on the ground. We actually go meet the players. We go see the players. It's not us reading other people's reports and looking at box scores. We actually go out there and get the information firsthand. So, but before we get into the Texas aspect of things, I want to hear about a player in Florida that has certainly caught our attention. That's Grayson Littleton. Can you tell us a little bit about him? - I can, I can. Anybody that's on the site this morning saw that there was an RPM put in this morning for Grayson Littleton out of Wiregrass Ranch High School in Tampa, Florida. There was an RPM to Texas this morning and there had been a couple of crystal balls coming off of his official visit last weekend. This was a kid that Texas jumped into the mix here in the last three or four months. He decommitted from Clemson probably three or four weeks ago. Took an official visit to Michigan. They moved the needle, they did a great job. Came down to Austin and Sarc and PK and Joseph and those guys just hit it out of the park. Talking to a couple of sources this morning, Michigan's confidence has sorely faded on grabbing Littleton and all of a sudden it looks like Texas is going to be the spot for this kid. I can't wait to see how this plays out. They needed another corner in this class. The truth is they could use two more corners. They don't necessarily have to have two more but they have to have one more. And Grayson Littleton will fit that mold. About six, one, 175, kind of long, kind of rot, wiry. When you watch his huddle, initially watch his huddle, that's a lot of special teams touchdowns, which I'm all for, but he's actually a pretty good playmaker. He, Eric actually watched him in seven on seven back in the spring in Houston and he's got some skills. He's one of those kids, he's long, he can flip his hips. He's got a frame that can add some functional mass without getting too big. He's a good looking kid, good looking four star. And so, and you know how I feel about Florida recruits, I think they build them differently down there. And so, Texas is in a great spot there. Don't be surprised if you see another prediction for Littleton to Texas coming from inside Texas. Here's some time later today. We got a lot of stuff going on in inside Texas today. If there's one day to come see us, man, it's gonna be today. We've got a ton to deliver. But Grayson Littleton is the big story of a lot of recruiting news going on at IT right now. Texas needs this kid, Texas wants this kid. Let this guy get in this class. He will be an early enrollee, which means he'll be on campus in January. Texas just has to, they gotta close it out. So, it's, we're at that stage where Sarg's gotta put the coffee on. It's time to have your Folgers morning, get the coffee going and do what you gotta do because I think this thing is about close to being wrapped up. - Now, when you are, explain to the fine people, either listening or watching. So, you were on the road seven plus hours yesterday. Where did you get to go? Who did you get to see? What are some of the highlights of your road trip? - Yeah, you know, the last couple of days I went down to Houston to check out a handful of top 2025 targets that were committed to other schools. Coincidentally, Scott by Shadow Creek out in Maryland and saw Kobe Sellers. He is a four-star corner committed to Texas A&M. We found out that Texas is still squarely in the mix. He talks to Terry Joseph multiple times a week. They rarely talk about football. They really go over life and those kind of things, which that's the kind of relationship you wanna build. And so we think there's something there. And so that's something we're gonna watch and we reported that yesterday. We also got to check out Chris Stewart at Shadow Creek. He's the 2026 wide receiver committed to Texas and he's starting to feel out in his frame. I remember thinking in the summertime, man, that Joker is skinny. His legs are starting to develop. He's starting to grow and fill out and he looks great. And then we found this six foot two backup sophomore corner named Brandon Sherard, which remember that name because he looks like Kobe Black as a freshman now. Eric and I both had to go and check for his birth certificate 'cause there's no way that kid was 16 years old. He's only a backup because both their corners are committed to major colleges. One kid, the TCU commit got injured. Sherard slides in. He's one of the most beautiful corners I've seen this year and he's a backup. It's ridiculous at Shadow Creek. Coach Reed and those guys are doing a tremendous job out there. Really good to see those kids. I also like the running back Tristan Willis 2027. He's another one. I think it's gonna be on the Texas radar soon. That shot over to Fort Ben County. I went and hung out at Richmond Randall, which is led by head coach Brian Randall. I love that. I don't know why. Unbelievable guy, man. They've been in that program's been up for three years and first year, four and six, last year, three, three round run. This year they're looking at another three round run with a 10 and O regular season. They've got some real good dudes. It starts with Chase Sims. Six foot two and a half, about 280, 290 pounds. Three star defensive lineman committed to Texas A&M. Got to check in with him. Now look, he was on campus for Texas and Georgia. And he also had an official visit scheduled for Texas that got scratched a couple of months ago. And so Texas is still pushing there. You know they have got to have two more delimen in this cycle. They've got to have two more at least. And with Myron Charles flirting with Florida a little bit, I think Sims makes him in that much more important. So Texas is still trying to get in the mix there. I think they're making ground, to be honest with you. But Sims insists he's locked in. He's happy with his A&M commitment. We're gonna see how that plays out. And then there's a running back name, Landon Williams Callis. Man, he had 20 offers in eighth grade. Then in ninth grade, Texas, Georgia, Ohio State, and the big dogs came through with offers for good reason. And a 5'9", but compact, 190, 195 runs a 10-500 on the track. He's close to 2,000 yards rushing in his sophomore season. Texas absolutely loves his kid, and I found out why. He's beautiful, and he's a great personality. He's an old soul, doesn't say much, asks great questions, absolutely love catching up with him. Come to InsideTexas.com as soon as you're done watching this episode, because I posted some stuff earlier today about those two guys. And so it was fun being on the road, but when you're on the road, sometimes you've got to check on other things. Like my man, Richard McCleary. Man, we're on top of this one. Jamie French and making some noise in Florida. It's not just Miami. He's taking an official visit to Florida as well. Miami is still pushing. You're at a stage now where, without a state commitment, so close to National Signing Day, you got to watch them. In-state, you can usually feel better. Out-of-state, weird things happen. Why do weird things happen, Justin? What's the major difference between in-state and out-of-state? And what do we need to be watching for? You know, I don't know there's got to be some psychological basis to it. I'm not sure what it is. But a kid like Jamie French, who's been committed to Texas for a while, absolutely loves the horns, loves Chris Jackson, Sartre, Arch Manning, Colique Locket. He's found a home there. But his family may like him to stay closer to home. I see. And so when schools like Miami, who's coming up, keeps getting in the mix, keeps pushing, it can build up in his ear. And now Florida, they're looking to flip his high school quarterback, Tramel Jones, who I think we predicted yesterday would decommit from FSU. And if I saw on Twitter this morning, he did, in fact, decommit from FSU. Florida, instead of firing-- I like this. This is some proactive stuff from the University of Florida athletic department. Instead of firing Billy Napier and paying that ginormous buyout, they're going to allocate all those funds to NIO. So they're going to give him a treasure chest in the last three weeks to try to build out the rest of this Florida class. I got to say, I think that's a good idea. Texas has their hands full because they're pushing for Jamie French. They're pushing for Myron Charles, a defensive lineman, commit out of a Port Charlotte. And so this is the month you have to be at InsideTexas.com. And you have to watch the Inside Texas Football YouTube channel because so many things are moving on a daily, daily basis. Sometimes it's hour to hour. We're three weeks from National Signing Day. It is building up. The horns are in between a top three and a top five recruiting finish. A lot of big guys still on the board. A Michael Terry III, number one athlete in the country. Five star, Texas in the great shot there. They're still pushing for five star offensive tackle. Michael Vasusi. They still have an eye on five star corner Devin Sanchez. So many things in the mix. If you need to get caught up anymore, come see me at InsideTexas.com. I will lay it all out for you. And I hope I did a good enough job in this little six minute window. Are you sure did, Justin? And I want to make sure that I give you an opportunity to get oxygen into your system. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Remind us the name of that 10, 5, 3, running back. Because I want to look that up. That's not like-- Yeah, that'll be a notebook you and I collaborate on in the future. Here's a book about Landon William's callus. Get who his first cousins are, Jakesz and James Rogers. Oh, OK. Please tell me you remember those guys again. Yeah. Morgan State, all pack 12, you know, went to the NFL. Listen, those guys out of Rosenberg, those guys were absolute hell on the field. And they weren't that big. And Landon doesn't look that big. I mean, he's compact. He's a dense. He'll get to 210 and not lose any speed. And so that's a kid. He's fun to watch. Great personality, man. I actually got to spend a little more time with him than the others. It was like changing into classes. So him and I just kind of shot the shit for about 20 minutes. And he was a joy. I really enjoyed hanging out with him. He's related to Jakesz Rogers. I'm like, man, OK, I'm in, I'm buying it. You hit the gene lottery. I see it now. Somebody else who has hit the gene lottery is our very own Ian Boyd. And Richard McCleary wants to let you know, I haven't had a chance to throw kudos out to Ian, but he called Clemson Getting Exposed week slash months ago. So Ian, go ahead and take your cookies. You did really well here. Why did you think that this was something so obvious to you? They don't have NFL receivers. OK, that was easy. We can move on now. We've got to be-- This is-- Wesco could be one, the freshman Adam and Boogie could be one. Could one day be one. He's not now. He's not right now. You're right. Yeah, Brian Wesco. I have some doubts about that, though, anyway. Geez. Remember how many times we used to make those notebook jokes? I forgot. At some point, I was Ryan Gosling. And of course, Ian was-- Rachel McAdams. And Rachel McAdams, who I absolutely love. That's a lovely Canadian. Yeah, they both are. She's fantastic. We used to have a lot of that back and forth the notebook. It was always fun. That's something that Ian Boyager created inside Texas. Maybe 10 years ago, it's a staple. You'll really, really sorry I missed that. You were saying, Ian? When it comes playoff time, and you see who's actually in the bracket and who's not, if you're filling out a bracket or making picks or something, bet against the teams that don't have NFL wide receivers. Those teams will lose. OK. [LAUGHTER] It's really simple. Yeah, no. Yeah. Oh, you lost all their wide receivers, and it would happen to them. No, it's fair. I think it also-- you have somebody to distribute the ball to those receivers, is it pretty important. No, not as important. Overrated. Overrated, that's right. Overrated. You know who the two back-to-back champions are? The two quarterbacks that have won back-to-back championships in the modern era? Stetson Bennett. And AJ McCarran. Yeah, AJ McCarran. Right. I rest my case. OK. Not NFL quarterbacks. Yeah. McCarran, you know, hung around a little bit. No, they both did. Stetson Bennett plays for the Rams. They both did. But they didn't mean you're an NBA quarterback. I want to transition a little bit over to this upcoming game, talking about quarterbacks. Taelyn Green, this is the injury report. And if you can't read this, it's because the font is small. Arkansas has Braylon Russell running back, obviously. Taelyn Green has probable. And Jekwindian Jackson is also probable. So questionable here is Braylon-- so my point that I'm making here is given this report-- Yeah, we can get closer. Yeah, you ask me, it's super, super close. The thing that I want you guys to note here is that questionable and probable to me suggest that they are absolutely going to play. I don't know how you feel about that. But I would account for Taelyn Green. Should we go ahead and talk a little bit before we get into the rest of the SEC slate? I'd like to talk a little bit about this Arkansas game. Taelyn, I have a question for you guys real quick. I noticed. I believe the name was Anthony Switzer. Any relation to Barry? Well, if he's an Arkansas, I don't think so. That wouldn't go over well at Thanksgiving. Yeah, but he could-- oh, yeah, because Jerry Jones. And Chris Bennett's got a good question here talking about Arkansas. I just look up Anthony Switzer, and I do not believe he is related to Barry. Well, I got to say, it's not like-- I can call somebody right now that I know is related. I feel very confident after seeing his picture. OK, very good, very good. But I was just going to let you know the head football coach at Carthage High School, Scott Surrett, his wife, Summer Switzer, is actually related to Barry. And that's why they're all boomers sooners over there. And so if I needed to make a call, I could do it. All right, this is our question from CB. And just to give a little bit of historical context here, I'll let you take this one, Justin. What-- why did we lose Mr. Jackson? Why did he leave Texas? Sorry, Ms. Jackson. I can't believe it's that Outcast said it best. You know, when you're quinten, one of the most competitive kids I've ever seen in a high school football game, like just Alpha, Alpha, Mel, the Lion King, wanted to play quarterback. Adam in, he's a quarterback. And Texas appeased that. Tim Beck said, all right, you got a shot. Come through. And when he came through, it didn't work out. And so they suggested-- why don't you play running back? Because you could be an incredible running back that might be your future in the NFL as it running back. Jacquelyn is like, no, bro, I ain't a quarterback. I want to play quarterback. So he transfers, like a lot of kids. You don't hear what you want to hear, so he transfers. Heads to Utah, becomes the starter, becomes the all-conference at running back. Because Jacquelyn and Jackson is a bad, bad man. Trust me, one of the most intimidating interviews I've ever done, it is different. Now he's in Arkansas, and he's been a little dinged up. But when he's on the field, he's been affected. And you know what he looks like? And NFL running back. Well, let's talk about-- Let's talk about that running back. Dynamic, and he's tough, and I think he is going to have a little added motivation. Granted, this is a different staff. But Jackson, I know Jackson. I know how he compartmentalizes things. He's going to bring it. This is going to be-- these hogs are coming to eat. Like, Taelyn Green, overlooked from Louisville. Jacquelyn Jackson, overlooked from Duncanville. There's Andrew Armstrong, overlooked transfer out of Texas A&M Commerce. There's guys there in Hogville that remember Texas well. And Jacquelyn Jackson is one of those guys. Texas wanted him to play running back. They thought that he had a future and could play in the NFL running back. He didn't see it as a 19-year-old. He certainly sees it as a 21-year-old. So Ian, one of the things that you wrote about this week is whether Florida exposed our run defense or not. And I think it's important to understand that Georgia, our only loss of the season, still only averaged 3 and 1/2 yards per carry. So that was very, very well contained. And then we've also got Vandy. They were coming in at 3.7 yards per carry. So this has been, up to this point, against running offenses. Pretty stout in terms of the defense. But Florida got away from us a little bit. And I'm just curious what you're seeing, Ian, that should give us confidence if we should have any confidence that players like Mr. Jackson can be slowed down a little bit coming into this game. I think it'll be a different focus this week. Containing green and then making sure they have defenders in the box in position to stop Mr. Jackson. I don't think Texas is going to be as worried about the Arkansas passing game. There's a chance that Arkansas has some positive runs. Like PK doesn't really like to sell out to stop stuff. Hill, if you can chip away, he'll be like, OK, you chip away. And eventually, you're either going to have to convert in the red zone, or we're going to get you in third down. And when we get you in third down, if it's five or more, we're going to have Hill, Trey Moore, Colin Simmons, Ethan Burke, all chasing after your quarterback while we play coverage behind it. And that's going to be it for you. So there's a chance Arkansas runs the ball decently, but the Florida game is mostly like they caught some backups a couple of times with some of their runs. They caught-- they had some good runs on like third and seven, third and eight. They ran the ball. They picked it up yardage. They didn't have to face third. Nothing gap at that stage. A 42-nothing gap. Let's just be honest, human nature. Sometimes there's a let up on the field. It's only natural. Yeah, there's that. They didn't have to face Vernon Broaden in the first half. Who's probably-- Oh. There's so-- I mean, I think also Florida has a really good run game. And they're very good. They're very good at preventing negative plays and picking up yardage and chunks. So there's just a lot that went into that that doesn't make me concerned at all. Not for Arkansas, at least. Texas A&M is a different animal. We'll get to that in a few weeks. But, I mean, yeah, Texas is not a weak defense in any dimension. Richard McCleary is asking-- and this is for you, Ian. There's two questions I want to throw at you from the chat. Do you foresee Hill as a spy on Jackson much of the game? Or what does that look like in defense of him? Have we done that in the past? Have we put a spy on a running back? No. No. I don't see the advantage of that. I mean, your linebackers are basically always spying the running back. The running back is one of their keys. I misread that. I was thinking that was Jack Green. That's right. I was thinking, too. I couldn't understand it. Because usually a quarterback is the one you would use a linebacker to spy on. 100%. That's probably the one to the next question here. And this is from Ryan Nelson. And this is to do with Bobby Petrino's strengths as a play caller. Someone that, obviously, with the exception of motorcycle safety, Bobby Petrino is very successful when it comes to moving things forward. And Sarc himself called him an elite play caller. And I'm just curious, Ian, what are your views on Bobby Petrino's strengths as a play caller? Well, for the last 10, 15 years, the only thing he's really done well is maximize freak running quarterbacks. So like at Louisville, he had a nice little run there when he had won Lamar Jackson. Is his quarterback? Yep. He made the best running quarterback in the NFL. The best running quarterback, maybe, of all time, right? Not named Michael Vick, yeah. Maybe another show. I don't know. But-- Just be honest. I don't know about that one. But he-- Trust me, Ian. When Jackson left Louisville, their offense cratered. Petrino did not a lot from the time between then and now. And now he's doing OK with Taelyn Green. I think he's really good at designing a playbook for a running quarterback. They use the pistol very effectively. Other than that, I mean, I think he's-- Well, they are currently-- He fixes side chicks really nicely. So I'm a fan of Petrino. And that disaster that him and Jimbo put together last year in college station, I mean, that was remarkable. We will obviously get to the picks tomorrow during the round table. But what-- you know, Arkansas is coming in with fifth overall offense, right? So it's not like this is a team to overlook. This is a team that we absolutely have to respect. They are 56th in FBI offensive efficiency. Well, yeah, but that's not a fun stat if you want to like create drama, Ian. I mean, what do you mean to tell him? It's boomer bust with him. I need some drama. You're doing that a view. Let's build up some drama here, man. You're absolutely right, fine, fine. Explain to the fine people what that means and why that's important. It's just an opponent-adjusted statistic, the FBI. Actually, I don't even remember what all Fromo puts into it. A opponent-adjusted-- You're going to talk garbage time. And I think those are the main ingredients. If you run up the score on Oklahoma State in the fourth quarter against the backups, it's going to have a different skew than if you try to run up the score on say Tennessee and you're running to a wall because, well, Tennessee's better. It's a good stat. It's a little misleading. They're very boomer bust. Eric had a good-- no, Ian, you had a great post earlier your day about it. I think you said something about it. It's an A or an F. I can't remember. It's your call to that. It's a call. And that summarizes Arkansas's offense. They're either going to get an A in that class or they put their head down on the table and got an F on that day. And so it's boomer bust. There's no middle ground with them. What were you actually going to ask, Kelsey? What's that? What were you actually going to ask for that derail? Oh, you know what? I mean, what I was going to ask was going into this game and, like I said before, we're going to get your picks tomorrow for the round table. But what are some things early on that we should be looking for? And I think the answer here is probably still to do with Quinn. That seems to be the answer all year round. Is Quinn effective early in the game? But do you have anything that deviates from matters? That's still the metric we need to be viewing early in a game to see the success of this team. Well, Arkansas plays the fly over. Three deep safety, three defensive lineman defense that they used against Tennessee, which I think they will in this game. And they've had a bi-week to prepare it. Then how Texas runs the ball is another factor to look at. Like, Texas could just throw it anyway. A lot of times this year, they just throw the ball no matter what. And then everything rides on Quinn and maybe a little more specifically on whether or not Sark gave Quinn enough different designs to execute. But if they do that and Texas can just run the ball, then it'll be a really short day at the office for Texas. So I would look for-- I would look for A is Arkansas going to do that. I suspect they will, but we've got to see. And then B, if Texas can run the ball against it like they did against Oklahoma, then game over the end. Justin, before we start looking at some of the other SEC games this weekend, we are not going to have you tomorrow on Roundtable. Because once again, you're on the road. I would just love to go ahead and get your take on the game. Yeah, usually, you know, full disclosure, usually I read what Ian says. And I just feel like there's a lot of change words around. You make it sound like what I'm talking about. In college plagiarism? Yeah. Yeah, it's just-- it works. It makes me look smarter. Sure. But I really do feel like this game is-- it's not a trap game, so to speak. But it has a feel of a trap game, even though it shouldn't be, even though Arkansas is better than that, even though going to pay it goes tough. I want to tell you, I love the 11 AM kickoff. I think that benefits Texas tremendously. Because I've been in that stadium when it's a nighttime kickoff against Texas and rowdy does not sorta summarize it. And so I do like Texas. I think it's going to be close. Of course, I thought Florida was going to be close. And I was wrong on that one. I do think it's going to be close just because of the atmosphere. And you know, Quinn's clicking. Ian made a great, a great point a little while back. You know, when Quinn came back from his injury last year, it took him a few games. And it was that big 12 championship where it felt like, OK, he's kind of back. He's hit his stride. The confidence there, the help was there. I think we're kind of approaching that territory with him now. And so this could be a great game for him to go in there and kind of continue what he's doing. I think Sarks kind of figured out a little bit more how to help him. But honestly, I think it's the O-line playing cleaner than the last two weeks. I think it's the run game. You get 200-something yards from the running backs. That's what's going to make SEC defenses play you honest. And so I like Texas. I like him probably in the 35 to 20 range. I think Arkansas gets in the end zone a couple times. But I think Texas, you know, Isaiah Bond, I felt like against Florida really showed us the difference he can make on this team. I mean, we knew it was great. We know he's going to play in the league. But like, I think he was missed more than people thought in that little two game stretch, two and a half game stretch. I like Texas 35 to 20. I think they get some touchdowns early. I think Arkansas makes them have some big plays. Don't be surprised if Texas gets a defensive score because the pigs like to put the ball on the ground. They do turn the ball over and Texas is really good at creating those, especially in the secondary where they lead the SEC in interceptions with 14. That's going to be the difference. I don't think it's going to be so much about Quinn and what the offense can do because I believe they're going to put up points. I think it's going to be the defense that actually controls things on Saturday. And if they can hold this team under 300 yards, there's only one team this season that's got 300 yards of total offense on this Texas defense. If they continue that trend, Texas is going to lead favorable happy arms. We are going to get into the other slate of games that again are going to impact the playoff race, but I want to take some time, 45 seconds and listen to our friends or listen to me rather. Talk to about our friends Laura Baker. Hi, I want to tell you about Laura Baker. If you're looking for a new home in the 512 or even at this point, let's face it 737 area code, there's only one number to call. That's Laura Baker at 512-784-0505. As a member of the elite Andy Allen team with Keller Williams, Laura has helped Longhorns find the home of their dreams in central Texas. Just ask our resident SEC symbol, Ian Boyd, who moved all the way from Michigan to Texas with Laura's help. Laura can help you find what you're looking for in the 512, the 737, or even parts of the 254 and the 210. Just give her a call at 512-74-0505. Her email is in the description as well as the rest of her contact details. She's a friend, give her a call. I want to, before we get into that, I again want to pay homage to the friends of ours that are going to throw in these super chats. We really appreciate it. This is another $5 for the Toyota Sienna Fund, AR asks or says rather, "I hope SARC lets some of the players from the 2021 team be captains for the game." That would be really nice. I think it'd be nice to have some of those folks out there doing that. It's a lovely sentiment. We obviously had last night, somebody suggests that we used Justin Tucker and our new baseball coach, Coach Flosch is the honorary captains, probably not going to happen, but that would be for the A&M game rather, so not for Arkansas. It seems like, anyway, because aren't those players like Barron and Collins and Rob? There's 11 guys on the roster that were on that roster in 2021, eight or nine or starters. You're going to see guys like today, Barron and those big boys. They'll be up there as captains. Those guys are going to be the difference, to be totally honest with you. Let's just go down just by way of schedule here. Obviously, the Texas Arkansas game is a noon Eastern kickoff. All of these times will be noon just so we can adhere to the East Coast sports virus. The next here is ULM versus Auburn. That's coming in at noon 45. This is not the sexiest of games. If you consider that Auburn is currently 0 and 6 when they average less than 6.5 yards a carry, which is a tall task, even against a team like ULM, but I do see Auburn taking this one. Any thoughts on that Ian? That's an amazing stat. Isn't that great? That's the only thing I can add to your summary there. That's fair enough. Moving on at 1.30 Eastern, we've got Murray State facing a Kentucky team. Now, the thing to note about Kentucky, they are currently 123rd in total offenses in the nation, which is not good. I don't know how else to describe that, that is just not good. When your quarterback still has a Motorola flip phone, that could be a problem. I don't like that Texas is basically playing two consecutive teams that are coming off a buy. Right. Because this is a buy. This is the SEC buy week for a lot of these teams. Well, for a lot of these teams, yes, we plan to win this week. When we start, when Texas starts scheduling these FCS teams late in the season, I'm curious to see how long it takes us to do that. But moving over to do that, two p.m. we've got Mercer versus Alabama. And if you're just looking at this and you know nothing about Mercer, you probably don't know that they are the number one defense in the FCS. They're number one on 3rd down. They're only allowing 21%. And they are in takeaways, they have 28 on the year in FCS. And they're number one against the run. And number one in FCS in sacks and tackles for loss. So Mercer is coming in at 9-1 against an Alabama team that just absolutely worked LSU last week. So with those statistics, I mean you would think that they're probably not going to lose by, I don't know, more than 50. What are your thoughts on that, Justin? Mercer is, it means no mercy in English. This is going to be a translating English language at all. Sweet. All right. Well, this is the type of thing. This is the thing about the SEC. This was the one thing that I'm so glad Crystal Conti has come out and said. We're not doing this. We're not going to throw Sam Houston State on a schedule in mid-November. There's nothing good comes from that. And so, yeah, Mercer, Bama, Jalen, Mill, Roe, Pad, Stats, you'll see backups early on. That's just, it's Cupcake Week in the SEC for some of these guys. And we have to wait until 3.30 Eastern time until we get to LSU and Florida, which, which is it? Wait, wait, wait. Tell us the spread and the over-under on that Alabama, no mercy game. Yes, I absolutely can tell you the spread on the Alabama, no mercy game. That is currently 41 and a half with the over-under being 57.5. Yes, it's a lot of points. Man, I would be tempted to take that. Absolutely. Absolutely. I don't think that's going to turn out like that. And Dubor has shown that he has a tendency to produce different efforts in big games than in not big games. So we have an emotional letdown coming off LSU, which is natural. Yeah. Hershey's there for the taking. LSU is averaging around 322 yards per game, lag weight. We don't know exactly whether he's going to be back or not. What do we, I think in all likelihood, he is not. Yeah. What are your thoughts on this one, Ian? Where is it? That's a great question. They're at Florida. In Florida, because that's where all the Texas, some of the Texas commits are visiting this weekend. Now the line is only, the line is four and a half with the over-under being 55.5. So the prediction here is a relatively under-touch, it's an under-touchdown difference in score. I still think LSU is going to get it. I think Kelly will get them back on track a little bit for this one and then to close out the year against the Oklahoma Sooners. So I think LSU has more to play for. Florida is still kind of beaten down. I'll take LSU. And don't forget, the secondary for Florida didn't show us much on Saturday, Ian. And I think Garrett Nussmeyer, who's going to beat your NFL quarterback, I think this is a game. He can get back on track. They've got a potent passing attack, usually, it's just not consistent. But I think this is a game with Florida's down where LSU can actually stack some points. Moving on to the 4.15 game, we've got Missouri at South Carolina, Briekook, obviously out of the game. Now one of the interesting statistics here is Mizzou is currently best in the SEC in terms of time of possession. So keeping the ball out of the hands of their opponent will be necessary. Because let's face it, the line for the line for South Carolina, not the strongest ever. But you know, Lenora Sellers is balling out, the kids are stud. I really like watching him play ball. I'd love to see him absolutely ball out this weekend. It is South Carolina at minus two and a half with an over-under of 44.5. So I don't know, I think South Carolina obviously the favorite in this game, but I would love to hear your thoughts here, Ian. So is Briekook playing in this game yet or are they still with Drew? It's still the Drew Pine era, I think. Yeah. South Carolina. Yeah. Look, South Carolina may have the best defensive line in the SEC in as crazy as that sounds. It's true. And I think they're getting better. I think the team is getting better each week and you said LC Sellers is a, that's a big drink of water. When he's healthy and motivated, he's tough to bring down. I think South Carolina is a sneaky, really good, what are they, you know, like what eight or nine points from being seven and two, eight and one, something like that? Yeah. They've got a lot of close games. Yeah. This is a team to watch not only the ending of this year, but in the next few years, because that defensive line is also young, they have absolute monsters on that side. I do like Beamer as a coach as well. I think he's, he's building a program over there. Let's see. Well, we can talk, you know, we may be serenading your wife to San Tasia. I'm in. Okay. Any thoughts on this one Ian before we move on? I don't know what Justin was referencing on that one, but. Oh, who's that, who's that from really, really, really quick after they beat A&M at home, they destroyed them. Yeah. Last birthday. And apparently they sing a song during practices called, it's from Fantasia, it's a, when can I see you? And it's a great like late 80s R&B song. It's very catchy. It's actually a really good song. I got it on my phone, the whole team sang that song with Shane as he was kind of serenading his wife in the locker room, wearing a giant probably turnover chain, just a lot of fun and a good time. And it looked like Goose and Maverick in that bar, except the enthusiasm. Which part of Fantasia has the 80s R&B song? I don't remember that. It's not the anime. Like 2000s R&B, I'm sorry, like 2008, it came out 2008. That's not helping me. They'll see. And this is not the animated film, everybody, let's just, let's just go ahead and. No, it's not. And Ian is a musician. So you know, some of this, it's a great, I'm going to send it to Ian. It's a really good catchy song. She was kind of a one hit wonder. I think she was on American Idol at some point and she didn't win or got voted off or whatever. However, you do that, survivor. I'm not sure. Slowly, I'm slowly catching on. This is just a modern recording. Right. Well, it is importantly too slow for my taste. Let's move on. We've done it on the Tennessee and Georgia, Georgia in a must win game. They are playing maybe with a sense of desperation. They cannot afford to lose another game. Tennessee is currently number two in the nation on third down stops. So I think that is, that is noteworthy and they have nine takeaways in the last four games. Now, here's what's really fascinating. This is a home game for Georgia. We are, we are in week 12 and this is only the fourth home game for Georgia this season. That's a, that's an incredible statistic when you consider how many neutral site games they play. They only have, this is only going to be their fourth home game this season against the Tennessee volunteers. Georgia, a 10 and a half point favorite with the over under coming in at 47.5. Love to hear your thoughts here again. Wait a minute. George is the favorite. Yeah. Niko is in concussion protocol. Niko. Oh, that's right. I'm really out of it. My God. I was in Tennessee. Clearly, they made an adjustment to the concussion protocol in the last year or so where it is theoretically possible to clear it in a week, but you're, you're like not practicing most of the week. And then you're, you know, lying to the trainer about your symptoms and whatever else. It's, it's difficult to navigate. If Niko can clear it, he might be okay in this game, although I don't love that matchup for Niko, it gets that offense and defense in general. If he cannot go and it's the backup, much worse still. So I think I would, I would lean narrowly towards Georgia, no matter what. But the fact that Tennessee has these question marks at quarterback makes me think that it's fait accompli practice can mean a lot of things, uh, vol in East Texas. Uh, DJ, lagway, practiced before playing Texas and, uh, yeah. Any thoughts here, Justin, before we move on to the nightcap, no, I'm with the, and this is a game Georgia has to win. You said that. I'll see. Yeah. The Georgia has to win this game. I, I like Tennessee spunk though. I like their defense and Carson Beck has been a turnover machine. Yeah. That 10 points. You can touch that. We've got closing out the night. We have got New Mexico State at Aggieville. That is currently Aggies are favored by 39 with an over-under of about 54 and a half started in semicolon. Also the Aggies, yes, it's Aggie versus Aggie. It's Aggie on Aggie and what you need to know about New Mexico State is man, do they love to run the ball? They're averaging about 40 runs per game, virtually no passing offense whatsoever. This game, in my opinion, will not be close. Any thoughts on that, Ian? Uh, no, this will be, are they committed to Marcel Reed now? What were the Aggies doing last week? Did they have a buy? Yes. I believe they did. Yeah. They're committed to Marcel Reed until he messes up at some point in the game. And then they'll flip back to Connor Webb, AKA Jason Lee from Lost Boys. Perhaps during the Texas game, uh, might be when that happens, but, uh, both of the green game, all they wanted in, there's a lot going to happen. I bet you, Marcel Reed gets a lot of fundamental foundation laying, passing game work in this game in Texas, and maybe let's them hang around a little bit just so that they can practice stuff that Marcel Reed is going to need to be able to execute to close out their schedule. It's, it is a, a slate of games that again, this is, this is when the SEC traditionally schedules their buyout games where they, they pay a team to come in and play them. Uh, hopefully I agree with, I hope CDC sticks to his guns there and does not do this. I think Texas has been great so far in terms of scheduling their non-conference games. I want to thank everybody for checking in with us today. Please join us at inside Texas.com. Use that promo code IT1 to get two months for one American dollar. And if you're doing the math, that's going to get you into the playoffs. You also please join us there. There's lots of great content from Justin and Ian and the entire gang. I, uh, appreciate you guys hosting me, having me here today to cover for our young friend Cookie. Uh, we wish him and his family all the very best in what they are doing. And they're a very exciting time in their lives right now. We thank you so much for being here. We will see you tomorrow for the round table and we've got inside the program before we get into our pre and post games, lots of content about this Arkansas game coming towards you. Thanks so much. We will see you soon. [inaudible] [inaudible]
College Football loves chaos. The playoff picture is looking fuzzy for some of the countries best teams. Arkansas injury report suggests a shakeup in the backfield. The boys look at the Upcoming slate of SEC Games.