GSMC College Football Podcast

Week 13 Reaction: Ohio St Handles Indiana, SEC Upsets & more | GSMC College Football Podcast

Segment 1: Ohio State Handles Indiana, Closer To Rematch With Oregon In Indy | GSMC College Football Podcast
Ohio State continues its dominant march to the Big Ten title with a decisive victory over Indiana! On this episode of the GSMC College Football Podcast by GSMC Sports Network, we break down how the Buckeyes handled business and secured their position as one win away from the conference crown. Meanwhile, Indiana's CFP hopes take a devastating hit—can the Hoosiers recover, or is their playoff dream officially over? We dive into the game’s pivotal moments, Ohio State’s offensive firepower, and the defensive stands that made all the difference. What does this mean for the playoff picture and the Big Ten’s national outlook?

Segment 2: SEC Carnage: Bama, Ole Miss & A&M Stumble, CFP Hopes In Jeopardy | GSMC College Football PodcastThe SEC landscape was shaken to its core this week as Alabama, Ole Miss, and Texas A&M all suffered brutal road losses! On this episode of the GSMC College Football Podcast by GSMC Sports Network, we break down the chaos that unfolded across the conference and what it means for the CFP race. Alabama’s dominance takes a hit, Ole Miss struggles to keep pace, and Texas A&M faces an uphill battle to stay in contention. How did these powerhouse programs falter, and is there still a path to the playoff for any of them? We analyze the key moments, coaching decisions, and standout performances that defined the weekend.

Segment 3: Big 12 Chaos: Colorado Stumbles, ASU Tops BYU, Cyclones Stay Alive | GSMC College Football Podcast
The Big 12 playoff race just got a whole lot messier! On this episode of the GSMC College Football Podcast by GSMC Sports Network, we unpack a wild weekend of Big 12 action. Colorado's Cinderella run came to a halt with a stunning loss to Kansas, throwing the Buffaloes' CFP hopes into jeopardy. Meanwhile, Arizona State pulled off a surprising upset over BYU, and Iowa State remains firmly in the race with a critical win. What does this chaotic weekend mean for the Big 12's path to the College Football Playoff?

Segment 4: Top 25 Round-Up: Ewers Injury, Penn St Survives, Notre Dame Rolls | GSMC College Football Podcast
It’s another action-packed week in college football, and we’re here to break it all down on the GSMC College Football Podcast by GSMC Sports Network! From injury setbacks to clutch performances, the Top 25 delivered drama at every turn. Texas faces a major hurdle as star quarterback Quinn Ewers suffers a critical injury—how will this impact the Longhorns’ playoff hopes? Meanwhile, Penn State narrowly escapes an upset in a nail-biter, keeping their CFP dreams alive. Notre Dame flexes its dominance with a statement win, and other key games shape the playoff picture.

Segment 5: Week 13 Whip Around: Nebraska Bowl Eligible, Oregon St Wins Pac-12 | GSMC College Football Podcast
The college football season is heating up, and Week 13 brought monumental moments! On this episode of the GSMC College Football Podcast by GSMC Sports Network, we celebrate Nebraska’s triumphant return to bowl eligibility for the first time since 2016—a huge milestone for the Cornhuskers. Meanwhile, Oregon State capped off a stellar season by clinching the Pac-12 championship, solidifying their place in conference history. With these highlights and more, we take you through a thrilling whip-around of this weekend’s top games and storylines.

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Duration:: 1h 19m
Broadcast on:: 25 Nov 2024
Audio Format:: other

[MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] Welcome in everyone to another edition of the GSMC College Football Podcast brought to you by the GSMC Sports Network. I'm your host as always Tommy Brzee. It is Monday, November 25th around here. And we got a packed show. There's no two ways about that. It was a crazy weekend this past weekend. And we got a ton to get to. We'll start with what should have been the biggest story of the weekend in Ohio State, Indiana, kind of easing to the show. Somehow we'll ease into the show with the top five matchup of the day. Then we'll get into the SEC. We'll break down all the other games that have gone down. Old Miss obviously falls to Florida, Bama falls to Oklahoma as well as A&M to Auburn. Three games that we're going to have to talk about in definitely shake up the SEC and the CFP race quite a bit. Then we'll get to the big 12 miss. Obviously Colorado falls this past weekend. Arizona State beats BYU in a crazy fashion. Then you do have Iowa State surviving against Utah to stay in that fight. But going to be an incredible finish there and still about nine teams that are still alive for that conference. Then we'll get to a little bit of top 25 round up. We'll get to Texas and the Queen Ewers injury. We'll get to Penn State surviving against Minnesota, Notre Dame, rolling army and much more. And then we'll finish it out with a little bit of a whip around. We'll talk about Nebraska getting to a bowl game for the first time since 2016. We'll talk about Oregon State winning the very first PAC-12 championship or PAC-2 championship. A ton of different stuff that I want to break down at the very end of the show. But before we jump in, I do want to remind you all we get tons of questions and comments throughout the show. The best way for you all to get your question on the screen we can have a fun back and forth here is to use the Super Chat. At the bottom of the chat on the Sports Network page, you can click that at any question, comment you'd like. It'll pop up on the screen and we can have a fun back and forth here. Definitely want this to be as interactive as possible. We're getting into a crazy part of the season where I think a lot of people have some questions. So anything you have, I'm more than happy to answer it. Just utilize the Super Chat or GSMCPodcast.net does the exact same thing, so utilize that if you'd like to. But let's get into this because this is somehow the easiest story to start with. The top five game of the weekend kind of became a subplot of the weekend throughout the day. But let's get into this one. Let's kind of ease into the show with the top five matchup somehow. But let's jump in here. And I think overall, the biggest thing that kind of I came away from this with was at the very end of this game, when the clock hit zero, when it was triple zeros on there. I did not think Indiana deserved to be in the playoff. I felt like they did not prove enough on the field to be in the playoff. Then everything else happened. And now I'm at a point where if they are not in the playoff, if they win next week and they are not in the playoff, I got a big problem and we should all have a big problem with the way that we're going about business with the playoff. But at the end of the day, it started with an incredible Indiana drive. They went 75 yards, scored a touchdown. It looked like they kind of had this defense a little bit. The offensive line was playing incredibly well. You had two defensive pass interference against Davison Iqbalnossen, who has kind of that issue and likely will be attacked pretty much throughout the rest of the season. But throughout the entirety of the game, they had 170 yard drive to start. They had 175 yard drive at the very end to score. Between that, they had eight total yards. They were getting totally dominated on the offensive side of the ball between those two drives in. The mistakes were absolutely huge for Indiana. When you look across the entire game, they were doing things that they just don't normally do. Obviously Curtis were giving away the fumble there, but then you also have miscues on special teams that we talked about. You know, you had the Muff snap. They led to a three play touchdown drive. You had the return from Caleb Downs to open the second half, and that was really it. That's all you needed to give Ohio State, and they were going to end up burying you. So it really came down to... Indiana just wasn't quite to the physicality level that they needed to be in this game. And then on top of that, they made a couple of mistakes that they hadn't made pretty much all year. So it was kind of a perfect storm for Indiana in a number of different ways, and I think more than anything, the physicality advantage was very clear. At least towards the latter stages of this game, it became very, very clear. Indiana came out, played really inspired, played well for about a quarter and a half, and then just the size of Ohio State took over. It was just the energy, the talent level, the physicality was just greater on Ohio State's side than Indiana's side, and it started to show throughout that game. All that being said, I thought these running backs played pretty well for Indiana. It wasn't a great running day by any means, because you had in the sack yardage it was pretty ugly, but they went... Tysol Lawton went for 5.3 yards per carry, Justice Ellison 3.6. So it wasn't perfect by any means, wasn't necessarily what you wanted, but if you avoid some of those sacks, if you avoid some of those negative plays, probably was going to be enough to possibly win you this game. Obviously had to be a ton cleaner in a ton of different areas, but in terms of what the running backs did, I don't think it was all that bad from the run game, but for Ohio State, I mean, the defense was all over the place, that was absolutely incredible, but to me, the offensive line might have won the day. They had 4 yards per carry, no sacks allowed, not a ton of pressure on Will Howard throughout the game. It was really, really incredible, and obviously they're going to have to keep getting better. The defensive line that they're facing next week might be a touch better than Indiana, so they're going to have to battle through this and they're going to have to keep getting better as a group, but a very good first test for them and they pass with flying colors, and then overall really impressive stuff from the Ohio State defense. That was really what dominated the day. They kind of struggled early on that first drive, but 5 sacks, 8 tackles for loss, a turnover forced, a very clean performance overall from this Ohio State team, really. And then in that first drive for the defense, I think they played like they knew they had to win the game. There's so many different times in a football season where you have someone big go down and you know that you have to step up just a little bit more. It happened earlier in the year, when Quinn Ewer's went down for Texas, the defense started to play a little bit better, knowing they had to play a little bit better if they were going to win those games. And then in this one, you see Seth McLaughlin go down, lost the name there for a second, but you see Seth McLaughlin go down this week and you say, "Okay, it's probably going to be a little bit more up to us to win this game on Saturday and to win really the rest of the games on the schedule." And they really showed up. And I'm a little bit worried about it. I'll be totally honest, particularly Davison Ebeneausen, but overall, I think they're still a relatively attackable group. I don't necessarily think they're bad. I think they're really, really talented, really versatile group. But when you play a team like Oregon, or you play a team like Texas, or Georgia down the stretch, it's going to pit a lot of strain on that group, and you're going to have to play a whole lot better than you have throughout the season. So maybe that defensive line will just have to be absolutely dominant. Maybe the past rush will have to get home time and again, if they're going to want to be able to handle this, because it does feel like that back end. While we're very talented and well very good, not quite to the level of a national championship team, if you're going to have to play Oregon, if you're going to have to play Texas and all these other teams with elite wide receivers pretty much all over the place. So a lot of different things going on, but the biggest thing for me was Ohio State proved who they are. They're a true title contender. Frankly, it might just be them and Oregon right about now when you watch the rest of the how this week unfolded, but at the end of the day, this team is as for real as we thought they were going to be coming into the season. It was a little bit touch and go there for a minute. The Oregon game wasn't all that pretty, but when you look across their games, they've been really consistent. It hasn't necessarily been necessarily super pretty throughout the entire thing, but they probably played about as consistent football just about anyone in the country. And I think there maybe haven't been like the buzz saw that all of us expected them to be and the offensive line injuries have had a lot to do with that. But overall, you got to feel great about this team. You got to feel like this team can win a national title. The offensive line troubles are a big worry for me and definitely make me lean a little bit more towards Oregon, but at the end of the day, everything's still on the table for this team. They had three goals when they set out. It was to beat Michigan to win the Big Ten and to win the national championship. Next two weeks, they can knock off two of those goals and then they got the final one at the end of the at the end of the road. But going to be incredible to watch this team unfold and let's get to the elephant in the room because that's the thing that everyone wants to talk about. That's the thing that everyone is interested in. I think Indiana deserves to be in the playoff and when I finish this game, I did not think Indiana deserved to be in the playoff, but you look back at what they have done all season. And yes, it has not been the toughest schedule by a mile. It has been a relatively, I don't want to say easy, but it has been a manageable schedule at the very least. They have played incredibly well against that schedule. They have played really, really clean football and I'm looking around the country and I cannot find a team that has played really clean football pretty much the entire year has not lost one of these games. They're not supposed to lose other than those four teams in the Big Ten really. Those are the teams that have kind of handled their business outside of the games that hypothetically they're supposed to or could have lost with the Ohio State Oregon game. Everyone up there is just kind of handling their business and I do think it speaks to a little bit of the division of the conference where you have those four teams and then everyone else pretty much, but still, those are the teams that are handling business. They're not getting beat by the teams. They have no business getting beat by. They're handling the teams that they're supposed to beat. I think Indiana deserves to be in. And I think if they don't get in, we have a really bad problem on our hands because if they don't get in, it means a two lost Clemson got in or a three lost Alabama got in or a three lost South Carolina got in. And that just can't happen. It will all do respect to all of those teams. Indiana has played really great football Saturday was not their day, but you take away some of those mistakes on the special teams. This is a much more tight game and although Ohio State missed their fair share of chances, no doubt about that, but I do think there's one of those games where didn't go all that pretty for Indiana on the field and if Ole Miss Alabama and A&M didn't lose, then maybe we're having a more real conversation here, but Indiana's got to be in as long as they beat Purdue next week, I expect them to be in and I expect them to probably be traveling somewhere and maybe even to one of those SEC schools for a game in the CFP. But keys to the game, how Ohio State was able to get this one done, efficient Will Howard. That's all you need. He does not need to be special. He does not need to take over games. Obviously, his legs are going to have to become a bigger part of this offense with the offensive line struggling, but it's just about taking care of the ball. He had one interception on a tipped ball, but three total touchdowns, 200 yards passing, 22 for 26. That's as good as you could possibly ask. If he's protecting the football and your defense is playing to that level, you can absolutely win a national title. No doubt about that. Now, the offensive line is going to have to continue to come along, but they look really good right now. They'll have bigger tests coming up. No doubt about that even one this weekend against Michigan, but at the end of the day, this is going to be a really, really good team and one that I firmly expect to be in the final two games, I suppose, in the season, get at least to the semi-final of the CFP. But then the special teams advantage. It was very clear. Indiana gave up 14 points just off their punt team making errors, where it was a muff snap by James Evans, the punter, and then the punt return from Caleb Downs. That was downright special. The first one Ohio State's had since 2014, and if you remember back to 2014, something rather special happened that season over there at Ohio State. So we'll see if they can follow suit there. But finally, the physicality advantage down the stretch was just very clear. Indiana came into this game knowing that they're not quite as big as the other team on the other sideline. It didn't show itself for the first probably quarter and a half, and then you got after halftime and it really started the show. You saw that Ohio State was just a little bit bigger. They were just a little bit more physical, and especially defensively, they were just a little bit more talented. So at the end of the day, it went roughly the way that I expected it to go. I knew Indiana was going to come out of the gates flying. I knew they were going to be playing really hard. I also knew Ohio State probably had a little bit more to give in the fourth quarter. So overall, didn't necessarily learn too, too much about these teams on Saturday. I think what I did learn is this Ohio State offensive line has been incredible. I think when you take into account all of the things that have happened this season with the injuries and all the different moves around and even Will Howard coming in as your new starting quarterback, a lot of things that they had to deal with, and they were able to handle it all, and obviously got a big win here, obviously some bigger tests coming up. But a huge win, and where do they go from here? I think the biggest thing is all three goals are on the table for Ohio State. You can still beat Michigan, which if you don't beat Michigan, ooh buddy. Ryan Day's got some problem on his hands, but then you do have to win the Big Ten. You got to get revenge on Oregon, and then you'll be the number one seed. You could go on and win the national title. That is the goal of Ohio State the rest of the way, and I think they're pretty well set up to do it right about now. Now, you got to handle goal one this weekend, then you could go to next weekend, and then it's going to take a while for goal three, and you might have a hard path to get there, but going to be incredible to watch this team for Indiana. I think they're there. I think they're in the CFP as long as they handle Purdue, which if they don't, then throw them all the way out of the CFP, but I think they will handle business there, and if they're not in the field tomorrow, we got some problems. I'll be totally honest with you. The CFP committee will have to answer to a lot of people if Indiana is not at least in the field. I don't expect them to be hosting. I expect them to be somewhere in that 12 to 9 range, but if they're not in that 12 to 9 range, I got some problems. I'll be totally honest with you. I've been someone that has leaned a little bit more toward the SEC, but when you watch the SEC this past weekend, you understand why I'm leaning very far away from them right about now, and we'll get into that right after this break. We'll get into Bama losing, Ole Miss losing, A&M losing, and trying to figure out what the SEC is going for. We'll break it down right after this, so stick with us. I feel like I'm losing my mind, because everybody in the world died. Please, Lord, give me a sigh. A sigh. I feel like I'm losing my mind, because everybody in the world died. Please, Lord, give me a sigh. I want to be the greatest. Everybody on the face, should I look around, I feel like everybody is the fakers, I make this. Every day in I'm in face, hoping one day I blow up on a basement statement. The top is so vacant, I don't need shit that I think is amazing, waiting for my day when I'm playing. So that shows were a thousand faces, hey, give me that crown, getting my way in to be put down. It ain't your place on this, my town, if I want that shit that'll get it right now. I'm losing it, the news that fits the news that shit is stupid, if you choose to live or choose to dip, you choose to fight or lose your grip and lose your gift. I feel like I'm losing my mind, because everybody in the world died. Please, Lord, give me a sigh. I feel like I'm losing my mind, because everybody in the world died. Alrighty, we just broke down that big game up there in Columbus, Ohio, Ohio State got a pretty comfortable win. I think a lot of us were relatively expecting that, loved what Indiana started with, loved what they ended with, they in between was all Ohio State. So it's going to be interesting to see how that plays out in tomorrow's rankings. I do think Indiana is still pretty firmly in the field given all the stuff that happened here. The SEC went crazy, no doubt about that. We talked about it on Saturday, we said there are a lot of different spots in the SEC where teams could go down, and I broke down four of them. Three of them went down, absolutely insane. Texas was the only one that survived, and they had probably the lowest chance of that happening against Kentucky, and we'll get to that one a little bit later. I thought I was going to be talking about it a little bit more, but here we are. We got three games I want to break down for you guys, and we'll start with this one. Florida is a really good team, and I understand, you know, there's a lot of questions around that team. They're only six and five, they didn't play well early in the season, got blown out by Miami. All these different things have unfolded for Florida, but a lot of other things did as well. They had Trey Wilson go down early in the year, he has not returned. Marcell Johnson went down for about six weeks throughout the season, they had to have Jaden Ball, they had to have Jacobi Jackson step up. They had a number, they had Graham Mertz go down for the season, DJ Lagway had to essentially learn on the fly, and getting to DJ Lagway, that's a star in the making. If you watch this kid and you don't come away astounded, I'll pay you money because this kid is insane. He does things on the football field that should not be possible. He can create in so many different ways. Former angles are absolutely ridiculous, he threw one out on the screen, that was just, I don't know why, I don't know how, but he did. And the numbers aren't crazy, 10 for 17, 180 yards, two touchdowns, one pick. It was not special, I'm not here to tell you that he tore Ole Miss to pieces. What I am here to tell you is he X-Q this offense at a very, very high level and made a number of plays that made my mouth drop open. The dude is insane, he can do so many different things on the football field and we probably won't get to really sink our teeth into him until 2025, but this is a really special player, and a guy that frankly, I think has a Heisman Trophy possibly in his future, but I won't get too far ahead of him there. We'll focus on this game for the time being. Jackson Dart had his first multiple turnover game of the year, first multiple turnover game in quite some time. Over there at Ole Miss, and the Florida defense did a great job, particularly the defensive line. I mean, Caleb Banks is a beast, he's an absolute monster, is a name that I probably should have known a little bit earlier in the season, but man, this kid can go really, really talented player, and the lack of the run game really hurt them. Jackson Dart was the leading rusher again, was never going to be a way that they were going to be able to go the rest of the way unscathed, that they didn't have the run game they needed. He had 394 total yards, two touchdowns, and then those two picks, almost three at the end of the game, but at the end of the day, a lot was put on Jackson Dart's shoulders, he did not play his best game by any means, but when you have an offense that doesn't have a run game like that, you're going to have a quarterback that makes some mistakes. That just kind of what happens, it comes with the territory. So, it's one of those situations where Ole Miss was playing with fire with not having that run game, and it finally came back to bite him against a defense that was really coming to play. So, the biggest thing for me, for the Florida offense at least, was Montcho Johnson came back. He was a huge piece for that team, he had 18 carries, 107 yards and a score. He was one of those guys that you missed throughout really the majority of this season, and Jayden Ball was great, and Jacoby Jackson was great. I think they needed that stabilizer. I think they needed that anchor, especially as they go into these games, and he was huge. He was absolutely incredible. When you needed those couple of yards, he came in and got those couple of yards, and more than anything, there were two plays in this game that really felt like when things started to flip, when it felt like, "Oh, Florida can really win this game." It was that fourth down stop on J.J. P. Geese, I don't know how you stop him frankly, but they did stop him early in the second half to get the ball back very deep in the Ole Miss territory. In fact, Ole Miss had three red zone trips, had a missed field goal, and two turnovers on down. So, that was really the difference in this game in a lot of ways, but the offense wasn't asked to do a ton really throughout the day, but they did make one play deep. It was a deep ball to shame DK in the fourth quarter on a touchdown drive in the fourth quarter. Huge game-changing play. So, those two plays really were the difference in this game. As crazy as it sounds, sometimes when you play these types of games, literally just two plays. It's literally just two, three plays that make the entire difference, and in my book, Ole Miss is out. I really don't have to think about it too much. When you lose to Florida and Kentucky, you probably deserve to be out of this thing. Now, chaos could happen, I suppose, but I do not see Ole Miss finding their way back in, and that gives you a big-time question. We'll start with Florida real quick. Where do you go from here? I mean, just galvanize all of this. Take advantage of all of this, bottle all of this up, and then move into the off-season with as much money as you possibly can have and go to work. That's really all you can do. Everything is in place. You have the quarterback, which has always been the biggest thing for this Florida team, is just finding the quarterback that makes it all work. Kyle Tras did it in 2020. They've had guys do it in the past, but it's been a lull for quite some time. You have that guy. You have the running back next to him, the two running backs next to him. I think you have wide receivers coming forward that are going to be really good players. Probably an area they're going to dip the toe into the portal a little bit more, but at the end of the day, when we talked about Billy Napier really throughout this year, it was always, he's doing a great job, he's trying his best, but it's coming to an end. He's doing his best, he's pushing these players, he's making them play hard, but at the end of the day, probably not going to end all that well for him. He just beat LSU in Ole Miss and back-to-back weeks, he is totally safe, and this program turned from one that I would not want to touch with a 10-foot pole to one that I might just pick to win the SEC next year. As crazy as that sounds, we will obviously get to that in time, but at the end of the day, there's a very talented team, and if they utilize this offseason right the right way, watch out for Florida in 2025. And then Ole Miss, this was it, this was the season. Everyone knows it, you know it, every booster knows it, especially know it. This was it, you put in all the resources to make this team, the team that takes you to an SEC Championship, to a team that takes you to the CFP, to a team that takes you to the title, and you won't get that, barring some crazy turn of events. You will not get that, you can win the Egg Bowl, you can roll in that Egg Bowl, and if you don't, I got some big problems, but it's 9-3. It's 9-3 again, under Lane Kiffin at Ole Miss, and this one hurts maybe a little bit more than the other 9-3s do, so it's one of those situations where all you really can do is reset for next year, but there's going to be quite a bit of resetting to do, and quite a bit of other teams in the conference that are not quite resetting to the degree that they are. So we'll see what happens, obviously a huge offseason ahead, but I don't know, it felt like this was the year for Ole Miss, and they fell on their face, and now you're looking around trying to figure out when the next year is going to be. But we'll see what happens, I still believe Lane Kiffin's a great coach, still got a lot of things to figure out. But this one, I don't know. I've never seen anything like this, I'll be totally honest with you. I've seen Alabama get beat, and I've seen them get beat pretty recently. I haven't seen them get beat like this. I haven't seen them get just outright dragged down, knocked out like they did on Saturday. Oklahoma went to work in this one, and the issues on the road for Caitlin DeVore are not good. Obviously they went on the road to LSU, so maybe it's not a road thing, maybe it's just a week by week thing. Staying up to the pace and playing to the standard every week is not something that they're doing, but you lose to Vanderbilt, you lose to Tennessee, you lose to Oklahoma, and now your CFP hopes are totally tiny. And more than anything, I do want to give a really big shout out to Brent Venables and Zach Allie. Brent Venables put together one of the better defensive game plans I've ever seen put together for Jalen Milro. He is as elite of an athlete as you will ever see in the country. He can do so many different things with his legs, and he had nothing. He had nothing going. He had seven yards on 15 carries on Saturday. It was domination. It's one of those things where you're finding more and more that Alabama offense is, "Hey Jalen, go make all of the plays in the world and we'll hope that we have enough points at the end of the day." That's not going to work against a team like Oklahoma. They have too many dudes, they have too well coached, they're too disciplined that you are not going to get that done. And for the Oklahoma defense in general, they only had one sack. They had nine tackles for loss. And it's really hard to sack Jalen Milro to be totally fair. So they only had one sack, but they had nine tackles for loss. They had three INTs. The big one was Cape Lewis playing a screen just absolutely perfectly and taking it back to the house to go up by 21 that they would not let go of really remarkable stuff. This defense was flying around. They knew that they needed this win. They knew they wanted to go to a bowl game for the 25th season in a row for Oklahoma. A lot of stuff was on the table and they really flew around. It's always so cool when you get into this era where you feel like a lot of guys are going to quit and you feel like a lot of guys are going to wrap it up when their team doesn't have a shot at the playoff and all this different stuff. When you see teams like Florida and Oklahoma that have had really, really tough seasons, had not gone their way at all and they're still fighting their tails off in the second to last weekend of the season, it's pretty special stuff. It's always really cool to watch and it makes me feel even more confident that Brent Venables is the right guy for that job. It's just going to take time and it's just going to take a little bit more talent in that room. But we'll see what happens this offseason. I do want to give a quick shout out to Jackson Arnold. This was a weird season for him. This was maybe the best example of what Oklahoma has been this season because he got benched a lot of questions around his future. Everyone's saying he's probably out the door. I tend to believe he's probably still out the door at the end of the season, but in this game alone, he only had 68 passing yards, which sounds crazy, but he had 131 rushing on 25 carries. He was everything for this offense and him and Xavier Robinson really were everything for this offense. They ran for 260 total yards on the ground, 5.3 yards per carry with Arnold and Xavier Robinson leading the way. Really, really impressive stuff and winning a game by 21 points against Alabama while throwing the ball for 68 yards should not be possible. But finally, we will get to that insane call. I don't know. I have no earthly idea. Maybe I don't understand the rules. From my point of view, that is totally legal. You are allowed to have a tight end and a wide receiver on ball on the same side of the ball as long as they're not another one on the other side. As far as I understand it, that's the way that it goes down. He was not covered. If that tight end caught the pass, then I would give you that. Then the tight end would have been covered. We would have to figure out he would not be eligible. He didn't catch the ball. So I have no earthly idea. What they were looking at, I have no earthly idea what happened on that play. It absolutely should have been a touchdown and it would have been a really cool one. Another really cool Ryan Williams touchdown. We actually got two taken away from us in this game. But at the end of the day, let's be totally honest. If that was the way that you were going to score, if that was the way that you were going to have to score, the next two touchdowns to tie this game, you probably weren't winning this game. So I understand that one is very upsetting. It takes away the momentum. It changes the game in a lot of different ways. I still venture to believe that Oklahoma would have won this game at the end of the day, even if that one stood. But we'll see what it's obviously won up in the air and Alabama fans will be fighting tooth and nail with me about that. But I do think if that's the way that you were going to have to score, it probably wasn't going to go all that pretty to be totally honest with you. But for where they go from here, I think for Oklahoma, this is the one you needed, more than anything else. This is a very, very ugly season. You keep the 25 straight bull appearances alive. You get a lot of different things that just make your fans a little bit more happy. It was a very, very ugly year, no doubt about that. And I still think there's a lot of things there to like. They will make a new OC higher pretty soon. I've heard some noise around Ben Arbuckle over there at Washington State. Heard some noise around some other guys. So we'll update you with that as it comes out. But I think they have the defensive coordinator, Enzak Ali. I think they have a lot of the talent they need. Obviously, probably going to need to go get a quarterback and some wide receivers in the portal. So a lot of work to do, no doubt about that. But I feel pretty good that there's going to be a team that's going to ascend pretty aggressively in 2025. And then Alabama. This is just not a normal Alabama team. They're too reliant on Jalen Milro making all of the plays. They very much lack defensive toughness that they've had in the past and they have really little composure in these really tough moments. It feels like they kind of shy away from it, then step up to it. And I don't think that's necessarily all on Kaylin DeBore. I don't think that's necessarily all on anyone in that building. What I will say is a little bit different. There's no doubt about that. And I will say also just to kind of take a little bit of heat off Kaylin DeBore here. I think this was happening with Saban or without Saban. I'll be totally honest with you. I think the crack started to show over the last couple of years with Saban. And it was very clear in this game that I don't think it would have been quite this bad. I will say that. I don't think it was going to be all that pretty, even if Nick Saban was the head coach. I still think Kaylin DeBore is the guy over there. I still think he's going to put together a very good product over the next four or five years. But this year is definitely tough. And you're on the outside looking in and they actually have a weird path in, but I'd be surprised if they found their way back into this mix. So a tough loss for them and puts their season in a place that it hasn't been in quite some time where they have three losses. But then we got to get to this one. Oh my goodness. This was a special one. I was literally jumping up and down in my basement because it was so much fun, because it was so crazy, because it was incredible in every way. But this one was wild. This was an absolute show and I'll get to it first just to get this out of the way. Yes, the overtime rules are stupid. Let's just be totally honest with each other. The idea that it's a two point conversion off is just downright ridiculous. I did see Steven, Scott Vimpelt, Steven Vimpelt. Scott Vimpelt had an idea for it. It just started at the 50. We're starting at the 25 where you're awarded for doing essentially nothing. You can still kick a field goal if you run for zero yards on three straight plays. You can still kick a field goal and take the lead. I don't like that by any means. So I think starting at the 50 would be an interesting idea. It's kind of like if we started at the 25, it's almost like in baseball where they add a player on second and extra innings. You can get that guy in without doing anything. You can get out twice and that guy still come in to score. You go on to win the game. So I don't necessarily love the OT. Would love to see that fixed and Scott Vimpelt, I'm on board with your idea. I'll roll with that for the time being until someone gives me a little bit better of an idea to work around. But first things first, respect to A&M for finding a way back into this game. They were down 21-0. All the momentum was that direction. Jordan Hare was on fire and then everything kind of rolled backwards. A&M started to make some plays. Marcel Reed really elevated this game throughout this one. And they were able to get back in the lead. And then obviously Auburn comes down, makes that big time kick for the kicker that has been around for about five minutes. He made a huge kick to force it to overtime. And then I think the biggest thing for A&M coming out of this game is I have two big issues. And one's on one side of the ball, one's on the other. We'll start with the offensive one. I don't think Marcel Reed is where you need him to be. And it's not necessarily to say that he's not a great player, it's not necessarily to say his ceiling is not ridiculously high because I do think it is. I think he really does struggle when he has to make all the plays. When he is pushed into a situation where they're not in the lead, where he's pushed into a situation where he has to drive 80 yards and three minutes to win a game. He made plays in this game and it's not necessarily to take anything away from him because he made plenty of plays, found their way back into this game. But they got Texas coming up. It's not going to be a defense where you're going to be able to make all the plays in the world. And wide receivers are going to be running wide open. You're going to have all the time in the world where your offensive line can hold up, where you can make some plays. And he didn't really have that in this game to be fair. But at the end of the day, it just feels like a quarterback that is one season away. He is one off season away from being a real dangerous quarterback. Right now, he's just a little bit rough around the edges and that's really all you need for a team like Auburn or a team like Texas to really take advantage of that. So a little bit worried about that offensively and then defensively, these corners are a problem. Just plain and simple. These DBs in general are an issue because Cam Coleman, Keanjur Lambert Smith, ate them for dinner. Just plain and simple. And there were a number of different times where players got behind them. I mean, Cam Coleman got behind them. He has great speed. He has really like world class speed. He is not as fast as Isaiah Bond. He is not as fast as Silas Bolden. He is not as fast as Matthew Golden and a lot of guys on that Texas wide receiver room. If you're letting that guy get behind you and get behind you by a very, very aggressive degree, Isaiah Bond is going to get behind you. Silas Bolden is going to get behind you. You have a lot of issues on that back end that if you can't handle the Auburn wide receivers, the physicality did get to them. So I wonder if that's a little bit of an advantage where Texas is a little bit more speed. Auburn is a little bit more physicality. But at the end of the day, it's going to be a tall order for this back end to be able to hold up next week against Texas. If they hold up the way they did in this one, Texas is going to roll. I'll just be totally honest. There's too many wide receivers. There's too many playmakers and it's going to be a nightmare for them to deal with. Now, I do think they'll tighten the screws just a little bit here, but those DBs, if they play that way against those Texas wide receivers, it's going to get ugly in a hurry. I'll just be totally honest with you. But the A&M offense, the A&M defense, they responded. No doubt about that, but it was a gross performance. Overall, it was very, very bad. Now, the good news is you get a win next week and you get to Atlanta. Somehow you get to Atlanta with a chance to go to the CFP. I tend to believe that if they don't win out, if they don't get to the SC Championship, if they don't win it, they probably won't be in the CFP, but obviously we'll see how that unfolds. Definitely going to be crazy to see that. But Auburn, where do you go from here? I think this one was huge. No doubt about that. This is a team that felt like they had one in them this season and they finally got that one in. They might be able to get another one when they get over to Bama next week and have a chance to send themselves to a bowl game with a win there. So we'll be fun to watch this team going forward and into 2025 especially, but this is the one they needed. Just to get those fans more involved than they finally did. This one sucks for A&M. There's no doubt about that. It takes away any margin for error. It takes away any question of you getting an at-large bid. You got to win the SEC. That's plain and simple. You got to beat Texas and then you got to beat Georgia. That's a really tall order. No doubt about that. And we'll see what happens. Obviously, we will break down those games throughout the week, but going to be really interesting to watch that unfold and definitely a team that I still feel relatively good about, but I don't see getting into the CFP by any means. So we'll see what happens there. Obviously, with all of the craziness, some of those teams weren't hit quite as hard. Alabama wasn't hit quite as hard as I expected them to be, but at the end of the day, still probably a lot of chaos to come. So we'll break it all down as it does, but those games I feel like are going to have a huge effect and I feel like those three teams might have just thrown away their CFP chances, especially those first two and Ole Miss and Alabama. But we'll break all that down in time, obviously, but let's take our second break here. We've gone a little bit long here. We've got to hustle up. Let's take our second break here, and when we come back, we got the Big 12 Mets. We'll get into Colorado. We'll get into BYU, Arizona State in that crazy finish, and we'll get into Iowa State, being able to stay alive in the Big 12 race, but we'll break it down right after this, so stick with us. Looking for your daily fix of Sports Talk without having to pay for it? GSMC Sports Network is available on YouTube. Just search GSMC Sports Network. Get your fix of daily sports talk shows on YouTube. Absolutely free. NFL, College Football, NBA, MLB, MMA, UFC, Fantasy Football, and so much more. GSMC Sports Network has shows running all day long, with new sports shows starting every two hours. Just like on your favorite cable sports channel, except GSMC Sports Network is absolutely free. Just search GSMC Sports Network on YouTube to catch one of your new favorite shows, like the GSMC College Football Podcast, Chip Shot Football Podcast, Hoops and Heels Women's Sports Podcast, GSMC Basketball Podcast, and so many more. Check it out for yourself, GSMC Sports Network, now available on YouTube absolutely free. Search GSMC Sports Network on YouTube right now. Alrighty, welcome back everyone. We just broke down just the SEC craziness. I did my best to break it down. As of right now, A&M is the only one that has a very clear path to the CFP from those three teams that we just talked about Ole Miss, Alabama, and A&M. The path is to win the SEC. That's pretty much the only path for A&M to get back into this thing. Outside of that, I think we just lost Alabama, Ole Miss, and A&M from the CFP race. But craziness can happen. I'll just leave it at that. I'm not going to say anything with absolute confidence from here on forward the rest of the season really. But let's get into the big 12 because that gave us some answers, I suppose. We got one answer, which was Arizona State did get the win over BYU. We got Colorado, Kansas, and that's actually where we're going to start. We're going to start in Kansas City in Arrowhead Stadium, which is where Kansas is playing a lot of their games towards the back end of the season. And they got the win that I think a lot of us were worried about with Colorado. When you came into this season with Colorado, it was okay. The talent level has risen by a considerable amount, especially on the offensive and defensive lines. They've gotten a lot better at the linebacker position. They're a lot more tough. They play a lot more clean football, and they have more options on the outside to go to more consistently. Everything was a little bit better than it was last year. And then there was that little thing in the back of your head that just said, "What if there's a team that can run the ball really efficiently? What if there's a team that can just batter you over and over and over again for four quarters, and then at some point it was going to break." And that's what happened in this one. It was just the game that I was a little bit worried about and the game that I think a lot of people were a little bit worried about in the Colorado fan base. But Kansas did make history here. They became the first sub-500 team to beat three ranked teams in three straight weeks. Would be absolutely incredible work from Lance Leipold after a very, very tough start to the season. Being able to handle it this way has been absolutely incredible. And they got a shot to possibly go to a bowl game at the end of the year, which sounds crazy when they were two and six a couple of weeks ago. But Kansas had 333 rushing yards in this game. 6.1 yards per carry. Devin Neal had 37 carries, 270 yards rushing, three touchdowns rushing. They had four catches, 80 yards and a score through the air. It was his game, plain and simple. Devin Neal totally took over this thing and they just couldn't tackle him. They absolutely had no answer to how physical this guy was and not a lot of people do to be totally fair. But Colorado is just one of those performances that it felt like you were waiting for. The offense played incredibly well. They moved the ball. They did a really nice job throughout this game. But at the end of the day, when you can run the ball that efficiently against this Colorado team, it's going to be a tall order for them to get back into this. But Kansas only didn't score on two drives in this game. And it was the kneel down at the end of the half, which was one play. It was a kneel down. And then at the end of the game, they went 10 yards, 53, or 10 plays, 53 yards and six and a half minutes to close this game out. So there really wasn't a part of this game that Kansas did not roll in. There really wasn't a part of this game where this offense did not get downhill. There wasn't a part of this game where it felt like Colorado had any answer defensively. And it was going to happen. I'll be totally honest. I don't necessarily think this surprised me too much. It felt like Devin Neal, Daniel Hyshaw, this one game in general was going to be a lot. And it was, no doubt about that. But the Colorado offense did play well. Considering they got doubled up in time of possession in this game, as you can imagine with the run game they had, but the performance they gave was really incredible, especially from the dynamic duo. Shadora Sanders was 23 of 29, 266, three touchdowns. Travis Hunter, eight catches, 125, two scores. I think he might have locked up the Heisman this past Saturday, but more than anything, really incredible performance from Kansas. One of those performances that was a little bit worried about with Colorado. It felt like it was coming at some point. They played so well, played so physical, but Saturday was just the last straw on the camel's back. That was just the end of the story. And definitely still alive for the big 12 race, but need a little bit of help to get there. But the biggest thing here, and I just kind of wanted to touch on this here for a second. The hit on Shadora Sanders should have been an injection. I don't know why it wasn't. I don't know what we're doing if that was not. Because I have a huge issue with these targeting rules, because we kick out players for a game or even for the next game, for the first half of the next game, for really hard, good hits. And some of them are a little bit dangerous. I fully understand that. Football's dangerous, guys. They're going to get after each other. They're going to fly. They're going to make some plays that are a little bit sketchy, a little bit dangerous. That's going to happen. If we are going to not allow those to happen, not allow the really hard hit over the middle of the field on the wide receiver from the DB, if we're going to take that fully out of the game. Okay, fine. All well and good. I don't agree with it, but all well and good. You have to take that play out of the game. That is a way more dangerous play than a lot of the other plays that we're penalizing guys for. I mean, a guy got kicked out earlier in the year for targeting a guy's butt. He hit his helmet with his butt, and he got kicked out of the game, but that doesn't get an injection. He actually puts so many different parts of Shadora Sanders' body in a very, very compromised position. That's cutting dry to me. And everyone's making a big deal about Shadora Sanders bumping the ref. Give me a break. I'll just leave it at that for the time being. Give me a break. That guy absolutely should have been kicked out of the game. I don't know why he wasn't. The refs there should take a long look in the mirror. That's all I'm going to say on that, but ridiculous. I'll just leave it that for the time being. But we're just canes, let's go from here. You're the Ruiners. Why not just go ruin the Baylor season? It's a five-game win streak right now, and they're still somehow in the hunt for the Big 12 championship. Might as well ruin their fun, right? You can get to a bowl game if you win next week after being down two-six and being two-six throughout the first eight weeks of the season. Somehow you can make a bowl game. It would be crazy, but I'd be absolutely here to watch it. And then for Colorado, this one hurts. There's no doubt about that. They need to win and then get losses from BYU and Iowa State to Arlington. So they're probably in a pretty tough spot. BYU does have a Houston this upcoming weekend, so I expect them to get that win and kind of move forward. And then Iowa State, if they win, they would be in over BYU. But a lot of different things unfolding here. This season was a huge success. I understand there are going to be people that are readily to dunk on Dion in Colorado and say this was a failure and say they're terrible. This was remarkable. One of the best coaching jobs of the entire year, and if they can finish it strong with a win over Oklahoma State, nine and three after going four and eight last year, ridiculous. And every sense of the word. So I'm going to give them their flowers. We'll do a little bit more in-depth about this down the road. But remarkable stuff from Dion, even with this loss, cannot say enough about what he's done this year and what this team has done this year. And then we got to get to this one. What a finish. This was absolutely incredible. And it was one of the weirder things that I've ever seen. And one of the weirder coaching decisions that I've ever seen with all due respect to Kenny Dillingham. He knows infinitely more about the sport than I will ever know. Here's the thing. I do know that when you have the ball within the 10 yard line with about two minutes left, about 140 left, something like that, they do have timeouts on the other side. That's all well and good. Just make them use them. Run the ball up the middle. Make them use one. Run the ball up the middle again. Make them use the second one. And then run it up the middle again. Lose 14 seconds of clock. You're probably down to somewhere in the 20, 30 margin right around there. Then you just run the ball one more time. If you don't get it on fourth down. Okay. They stopped you and they get the ball back with 20 seconds left having to go 97 yards. Instead of getting the ball with granted, getting it back with one second left, but a chance to get a Hail Mary. So it was a weird decision making down the stretch of that game. They got away with it to be totally fair. But I don't think I've ever quite seen something like that. That was absolutely insane. And definitely something that I don't think you'll ever do again if I had to imagine. But Arizona State finds themselves in the catbird seat for the big 12 championship. They're one win away from Arlington at the end of the year, which just sounds crazy. Considering all of the craziness that has gone around the sport. I mean BYU has been one of the crazier stories, but maybe we haven't talked about them enough just because how crazy they have been. But then Arizona State been just as crazy as well. A lot of that incredible magic that BYU had might have rubbed off on Arizona State somewhere along the way because they have so much juice going in the direction and much likes the Kansas Colorado game. How it belonged to Devin Neal? This one belonged to Cam Scadaboo. He had 28 carries for 147 yards, three scores in this game. He and Jordan Tyson were essentially the offense for Arizona State for much of this game. But a remarkable comeback from BYU in this one. It looked like they had just nothing going in the first half. It looked like it was going to get ugly. They had to turn over on downs and interception up punt. And then a surprise onside put him down 21 points. And also, surprise onside. Much respect to Kenny Dillingham. That was a big time move. And if anyone gets mad at the NFL kickoff rules, that's the biggest one I'm mad about. I want those surprise onside kicks and those have been taken from us. But at the end of the day, they were down 28-9 early in the second half. We're able to battle back into this game. Really impressive stuff from a team that has been making it really all their year based off just being fighting. Fighting a little bit longer than the other team on the other sideline. But the other part of this is a lot of the stuff that had gone the way of the Cougars, pretty much the entire year, had gone against them the last couple of weeks. This was no different. They lost the turnover battle. They struggled to play complimentary football, did not finish off drives very well. That was kind of what they really were incredible at early in the season. It's tapered down the last couple of weeks. But the final sequence, it was insane. I don't understand why you don't just kneel down or run the ball and shoe clock. But they got away with it. I'll leave it at that for the time being. But all that being said, Arizona State is sitting pretty a remarkable job. What Kenny Dillingham has done over the last two years. We'll actually talk about that along with Dion a little bit because really remarkable stuff from those two guys. And where do you go from here if you're Arizona State? I think it's a very fun team. Your job now is just be Arizona next week and a team that has not played well over the back half of the season. And then you're in Arlington. And I might like you in Arlington, depending on who you're playing. If you're playing Iowa State, I think I'd probably like you. If you're playing BYU, maybe we have another classic on our hand. So it'll be really interesting to watch this unfold. And definitely a lot of different stuff that we will absolutely break down tomorrow, break down all the different tiebreakers and all the craziness as we get into the final week. But Arizona State's definitely sitting in the catbird seat right about now. Then for BYU, you're somehow still alive. You gave yourself at least enough of a buffer where if you win an Iowa State, lose it to Kansas State, which is not all that crazy in the world, you absolutely can get back into the Big 12 title and then get another shot at this team. So it'll be interesting to watch what happens. And you're only three yards from beating him in this one. So who knows? Maybe you can get another one and get one in the Big 12 championship, move on to the CFP, but a couple of really tough weeks for BYU and they're just hoping they get another shot at this Arizona State team. Iowa State is still very much in this conversation, a game that could have been very unimportant, became very important. The second that Kansas won because if Iowa State got this win, they were in a place where they could just win out and get to the Big 12 championship and that's exactly what they did. Now Iowa State did their darndest to give this game away. I'll be totally honest. They had a pick six from Beck in the red zone. They also had Utah, or to give Utah the lead early. And then they had a muff punt to give them a free field goal. They had a missed field goal. They had a punt return to loud. That's about 20 points that Iowa State either gave to Utah or gave up themselves. It was very ugly in a number of different ways for Iowa State and on the other side, do want to give a quick shout out to Luke Batari, a very, very talented kid that came in for Isaac Wilson after a sketchy tackle. I'll leave it at that for the time being, but he went out with an injury and Luke Batari came in and did really good work. Was not also necessarily all that pretty, but 10 plays, 91-yard touchdown drive that gave them the lead with only six minutes left. ISU obviously was able to come back down and score, but really, really impressive stuff. He led another drive and then they missed a field goal at the end of the game. So a really impressive player and maybe just the guy that you might want to start in that final game and see what happens there to see if you have that quarterback in the future. But a rough performance as it was, the final game, the final drive, the offensive performance for Iowa State was very ugly. And that final drive of 10 plays, 75 yards, only one negative play and it was a negative one-yard screen. Really impressive stuff from Iowa State. Really when they needed it, they really showed up and Jayden Higgins was a huge reason for that. He's very quietly putting together in a thousand-yard season, had 155 in a score and this one had 77 catches, a 100, a thousand and 15 yards and eight scores on the season. The dude's an absolute problem and KSU is going to have their hands full next week. But Iowa State got what they needed, which was a win. That was as plain and simple, it did not need to be pretty. They needed to get the win and now they're sitting in a really good spot. They could go to their first big 12 championships since Brock Purdy was their quarterback and would be a pretty special thing for this team. Still work to be done, but we'll see what happens there. For Utah, it was a nightmare season and no other way to put it. Camarizing goes down and everything starts to spiral. I do think we've probably seen Kyle winning him coach or we will see this upcoming weekend. Him coaches last game at Utah. If that's the case, then a really tough ending to a just downright Hall of Fame career. One of the best coaches in the country and it showed year after year, this one was just a couple too many things stacked against them. And then for Iowa State, still alive. That's the only goal. Just stay alive throughout this entire thing. Beat Kansas State next week if you can and then you're on your way to Arlington, which would sound absolutely crazy. If we know anything about the big 12 crazy stuff tends to happen. So maybe Arizona State and Iowa State miss out. What do I know? But at the end of the day, it was an incredible weekend in that conference and we will break down all of the craziness in that conference on tomorrow's show. So definitely check out that. But let's take our third break here. And when we come back, we got to get into the top 25 roundup. A ton of teams that I want to break down right after this. So stick with us. >> For the best and latest podcasts available anywhere, go to the podcast app on your cell phone and type in GSMC to access free content rich podcasts on health and wellness, book reviews, sports, entertainment, relationships, social media, movies, technology, finance, and even weird news. Subscribe and download the GSMC podcast network's family of shows available everywhere podcasts are found. >> I apologize. Lost my place a little bit there, my fault. But let's get into a couple other things here. We just got into the big 12 and broke down the craziness that is that conference right about now. But let's get into a couple other things. We'll do a little bit of a top 25 roundup here. And we'll start with the team that in the SEC that actually handled some business on Saturday, which was Texas at home against Kentucky. They win this game 31 to 14. And I thought this one was going to be one that I'd be talking about a little bit more. But then everything else happened. And it became a very, very minor story. Now the big story from this game was we did get an injury to Quinn Eures on a run when he was trying to get a first down, got rolled up on from behind and that ankle looked very tender really throughout the rest of the game. It sounds like the MRI came back. It's just a mild ankle sprain, should be back for the A&M game, should be close to 100%. How close? I don't know and definitely could be a difference in this game. But especially for a guy that struggles with mobility, yet another hit to that. So it's definitely going to be interesting to watch that unfold and definitely a really tough hit to this offense. He did play the rest of the game, but there was a lot of running the ball. In fact, there was a touchdown drive that put this one away where they went 15 plays, 15 rushes and a touchdown. So that's the other part of this kind of the flip side. They really good sided the offensive part of the game. The defense was incredible. They're always incredible. They forced two turnovers. They had six sacks. They had nine tackles for loss. The Texas defense is absolutely ridiculous. But on the offensive side of the ball, the thing that they've been trying to find for the last really the entire year and feels like it's starting to come into fruition is the run game. Besides the fumble issues in the third, which were really weird, really on both teams. Everyone was just losing the ball in the third quarter. I don't know what was on the balls, but at the end of the day, hopefully that is not a big issue for Texas going forward. But they did roll for 251 total rushing yards, 5.5 yards per carry. You had Trey Weisner went for 158 on 26 carries. The game ceiling drive as we talked about 15 runs, zero passes. If they can tap into that, if they can get more of that throughout the rest of the season, this might be a team that's starting to find their stride offensively. And then Penn State, another one that I probably thought I would be talking about a little bit more, but they actually survived their upset alert as opposed to a number of other teams. They were able to get through it. And the fake punt was one of the most insane and one of the best calls that I've ever seen from James Franklin. It was a call that I can't fathom that James Franklin made. I'll be totally honest with you. I did not think that he would ever make a call like that. But it was the perfect time in the perfect game and the perfect execution. Everything was absolutely perfect because Minnesota, you have just enough time left to where they're probably going to punt of the way they got the timeouts. They're not super worried. They're playing really good defense. That's what they're thinking on that sideline. It's a perfect game where not a lot of things are going offensively for you. So they're thinking, okay, they trust their defense just a little bit more. And then the perfect execution. You got the tight end off the outside side and he went going. It was really, really impressive to watch and kind of put this game away. And then just went for fourth and one down towards the goal line just to put it away. And it was really, really impressive to watch. And I think gave me a little bit more confidence in what James Franklin can do in these big games. Obviously not the biggest game in the world, but down the stretch when you need the play to be made, he trusted his guys to make the play. And I think that's a really important thing and definitely give him some confidence into that room. But Penn State survives this week, plenty as far as I'm concerned with all the different things going on. I'm more than happy if you just win the game. Now it's just Maryland standing in the way of them in a home CFP game. They're in a really, really good spot and maybe they could even lose, but I wouldn't even tempt that fate. I would just go on and beat Maryland and possibly find your way into a host position for the CFP. Then you do have this game. Notre Dame was able to make this one ugly. And I wish it wasn't, but it was very ugly. Pretty much from the jump. It was a totally different ball game that ARMY was playing. And I think we all knew that, but I think a lot of us were holding on to hope that they would be able to figure it out. Bryce and Daley did grind for over a hundred yards rushing in two scores, but that was about it for the Army offense pretty much for the entire day. Notre Dame is just one of those teams. They know exactly who they are and they know exactly how they want to execute it. And in a year with so many teams that are trying to figure that out week to week, that's pretty valuable. It's going to be really interesting to see what this team can do. And what they do is run Jeremiah Love. Seven carries 130 yards, two scores and a receiving score. The kid is special in every sense of the word. He's one of those guys that I cannot, for the life of me, figure out why we are not talking about him more. But one of the best athletes, one of the best running backs and one of those guys that if he was draft eligible this year, I would want my team to draft him. He is so good, but he is a sophomore. So we'll get one more year of him and then we'll see what happens. But remarkable stuff from Notre Dame. They handle business. Keep moving on to USC next week. Still need to win that one. And then for army, I still think you're in it. You do need a Boise State loss and then you need to win out and possibly get a little bit of a lean over UNLV. But you're still very much in this race if you win out and beat Tulane in the AAC Championship. Oh, excuse me. Then you do have Wake Forest Miami. A little bit more of a straightforward game. There was a moment where it felt like Miami had, was going to play their game. Was it going to play that game where they played really, really ugly for the first half and had to claw out a win? And that's kind of what happened. They did kind of put it on them in the fourth quarter, make this one look a little bit better than it was. But the good news coming out of this one was the defense was a huge reason why this game went the way that it did. You had a pick six from Mich Pal, which was huge early on in this game and then only gave up seven points defensively total. They were really, really incredible all over the field. Because they had a kick return from Wake Forest. So only seven points given up defensively, very much what they needed, especially against a team where you probably should be able to do that, if I'm being totally honest. But a great performance from them against a team that they should dominate. They did dominate. So Miami holds course. It is Syracuse standing in between them and the ACC title berth. If they get it done, they're fully in the ACC title. And right now, it looks like that as long as SMU and Miami handle business this upcoming weekend, feels like the loser might be able to find their way into the CFP as well. So would be huge for them if they could at least find their way into Charlotte and avoid any craziness of trying to get in that large bid from the ACC. So would be incredible to watch. And right now with the way the ACC is shaken out, feels like they're going to get two teams in. And it could be Miami and this team right here. SMU has officially punched their ticket to the ACC Championship in year one. Remarkable stuff from Rat Lashley and the boys. They were really, really impressive in the defense. As I talked about it when I was breaking down this game, I said the defense might just be a little bit mad from the performance they put on last week. They were very mad. They gave up less than 200 yards of total offense, had nine sacks, had 12 tackles for loss. They were all over the place for the entirety of the game. And Virginia did their darnedice, but there was just no openings on the offensive side of the ball. So a great performance from SMU, one that they very much needed. And I think just got more important because 11 and 2 ACC team is very much in play. So that next game against Cal, I think you're in a really good spot where if you were to win that game, you might just ensure yourself a spot in the CFP, regardless of what happens in Charlotte. So all the talk about, you know, I said last week, you know, maybe this was a spot where they could rest some starters if they felt like they didn't have anything to gain. Now they have something to gain, a possible at large bid after losing in the ACC Championship. So I think they're going to play all out in that game. If they get that win, I think they're pretty firmly in the field. I'll be totally honest with you. Then we do have Boise State. They're actually number 12 in the country, but we do have Boise State. They survived yet again. This is a team that I become less and less enthused by the more and more. I watch him and it's nothing to do with how good this team is. It's nothing to do with the ceiling of this team. Ashton Jainty's just hurt. He's just not playing at 100% by any means. He had an injury on his arm coming into this game. There were reports of an injury with his ankle coming into this game. And then he hurt his foot and then he got a concussion in this game. He's getting battered in every which way. He probably has four or five injuries that he's dealing with right now. But he was able to come back late and just drag them to a win when it was very, very ugly offense. They couldn't get anything going for pretty much any time that he was out of this game. He came back in and made a big time play and really just kind of grinded out a win. So overall 19 carries 169 yards in a score. That's just who he is at this point. Frankly, I don't think the Heisman race should be over by any means. I do think it is to be totally fair, but I don't think it should be. I think this kid should be right there with Travis Hunter because what he's doing is just absolutely ridiculous. But they were able to survive and that's kind of the important thing right now. Boise State is in the Mountain West Championship. They will host the Mountain West Championship. So it's going to be UNLV or Colorado State. I do believe if UNLV wins and Colorado State wins, it will be UNLV, but obviously something will break down in time and definitely going to be interesting because they have Oregon State this upcoming weekend. They might be able to take a loss, but you're definitely towing a little bit of a line with how closely the American and the Mountain West are kind of ranked right now. I would go ahead and get that win and just ensure no craziness happens before the Mountain West Championship. And the team they might face there, a team that got to watch all the craziness unfold on Saturday because they were sitting on their couch. They handled their business on Friday night and it was kind of a tale of two halves. Really struggled in the first half, including a safety on a punt. And then in the second half just kind of unloaded. The offense really got going. Jayden Thomas was the big story from this one. 26 carries 135 yards in a score. Kyle and James added 48 yards in another score. They were really, really good stuff and the past game overall just struggled against a very solid San Jose State secondary. They just didn't quite get it going to the degree that you would want. But at the end of the day they get the win and I think for UNLV, very impressive stuff. Now the most impressive thing of the entire game was shutting down Nick Nash. She had one catch for nine yards in what I would consider the Blintockoff favorite as far as I'm concerned. A very, very talented player and puts UNLV in a really great spot. You know the CFP berth is still technically alive. Although I think it's a little bit far fetched at this point, still alive for that possible CFP berth. But also you're very much in a place for the Mountain West Championship. If you win next week, I believe you were in that dance in. You get another shot at the team that knocked you down earlier this year. And then you do have Illinois Rutgers. This might have been the ending of the week even with A&M Auburn. This somehow might have been the ending of the week because there was a timeout right before a missed 58 yard field goal. So one of those situations where you call the timeout but the kicker says I'm going to take my free one real quick. So he goes ahead and kicks it. He misses it. And now you got to figure out what you're going to do. So they take a timeout. They're trying to figure out what they're going to do and what they decide to do in the craziest turn of events. They're just going to throw a pass and they're not going to throw a deep ball. They're not going to throw a Hail Mary. They're going to throw just a crosser to about the 20 yard line and then just let Pat Bryan do his thing. And boy did he. There are about five defenders between him and the end zone and he just kind of runs around him. It wasn't like he did anything special. It wasn't like he broke a ton of tackles. It wasn't like he ran through people. He kind of just ran around him and it was absolutely insane. It was a really special performance from Pat Bryan as well as Luke Altmire. I mean Altmire went for over 300 total yards. Had three scores. It was really good running the ball in this game. And then Pat Bryan. Seven catches a hundred and ninety seven yards. Forty of them coming on that last play. And then that final touchdown. Really remarkable stuff and a remarkably underrated duo. And this 2024 has become one of the more fun quarterback wide receiver duas in the country. So this doesn't do too much to the CFP picture. But a little bit of help to Penn State gives them another quality win. There is chaos where Illinois slides in but let's be honest that probably not happening. Really remarkable finish and just a crazy finish among all the crazy finishes from this past weekend. But let's take our last break here as we are really running on time. Let's take our last break here. When we come back we just got to do a quick whip around all the other games. We had Bowling Green set themselves up in a good position in the Mac. We had Nebraska punch their ticket to the bowl game for a first time in a very long time. Oregon State won the pack too in so many different things. I want to break down for you right after this. So stick with us. [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] Alrighty. Welcome back everyone. We just broke down all the other top 25 teams. We have a little bit of a Queen you were injury. We had Penn State absolutely escape. Notre Dame just rolled army and a number of other things that I wanted to get to there. But let's get to a little bit of a whip around to all the other teams. We have a number of teams that are playing some important games, some not so important games, some games that matter to those players on the field and not so much to the media. But at the end of the day these are going to be really really important games down the stretch of the season and could be the last couple of games for some of these teams. So have to give them some love as we head into the final weekend of the year. But Bowling Green, let's start with them because we got to give you the Mac update that you've all been waiting for. But Bowling Green has been absolutely incredible this year and they've set up a Losergoes home game against Miami of Ohio next week. This game was absolutely incredible and like so many of Bowling Green's games, it was Harold Fanon. It was the Harold Fanon show, 9 catches 125 yards in a score. If this guy is not right there with Tyler Warren in the Mackey award, I'm going to be very mad. This dude is absolutely incredible and I don't care that he's playing the Mac. The dude can do things that are just ridiculous. So I would very much like him to get some love for that award. I do think it's going to go to Tyler Warren. But at the end of the day we'd love for those two guys to get a little bit of love. Maybe cut that thing in half, who knows. And then Connor Basilak was really really good while the run game did struggle. You had 2.7 yards per carry, only 170 yards total. So really really rough performance from the running backs but they made up for it and then some in the past game. And then for the Mac, you're heading into the final week. Four teams are still in play. The winner of the Bowling Green Miami of Ohio game, they will go to the title. One way or the other, whoever wins that game will go to the title. Then it comes down to Buffalo and Ohio. And essentially it just comes down to Buffalo would need a loss from Ohio to this Ball State team if they were going to get in, if Ohio were to win, which they are likely to do. It would just be Ohio against the winner of the Bowling Green Miami of Ohio game. So going to be really fun, 3 teams that absolutely have played really good football this year. Would love to see Harold Fan in that thing but would be incredible to watch Brett Gabbard as well over there in Miami of Ohio. So cannot wait to see that unfold in one of the best conferences in college football. And then we did get Wisconsin Nebraska, remarkable stuff. I realize now that I put the scores wrong and I apologize to Nebraska fans. You won this game and you deserve some love for winning this game. Apologies for a little bit of a mishap there but Nebraska will play in postseason football for the first time since 2016. It's crazy to say, but that is the case. Dylan Marola came in in this freshman year and did what they've been waiting for. I understand this was a very weird year that was very up and down. You beat Colorado and then kind of go on a lull. Being able to get to a bowl game is huge. Let's just be totally honest with everything that has happened around there with all of the bad years and all of the terrible years. Being able to handle this, get to the bowl game is absolutely huge. And then you build going into 2025. But great performance from this Nebraska offense, probably one of the best of the year under Dana Horerson. They're really starting to get rolling in. It's Dylan Ryle 28 for 38, 293, and a score. You also at Emma Johnson tallied almost 200 total yards. Three receivers got over 50 yards. Just really awesome stuff. No doubt about that and definitely gives them some juice as they head into the back half of the season and maybe into the off season if Dana Horerson sticks around. But a huge moment for this program. You know, you get to the bowl game, if they can knock out a knockoff Iowa on Friday, this season gets to about seven wins and it's ugly. No doubt about that. It wasn't quite the way that you saw this going, but a win as far as I'm concerned. A win, no doubt about that. And then in 2025, it's about taking that real step to nine, ten wins and becoming a little bit of a contender in this conference. But this was a huge step in. Finally, they will be able to play a little bit of postseason football. Then you did have Louisville Pit. This one, it was the who's still fighting bowl and we got a very, very clear answer. It was Louisville. Louisville absolutely rolled in this game really from the jump. They scored the first 34 points in this game. Saw three different quarterbacks, forced three interceptions from those quarterbacks. It was tough. No doubt about that. It was a tough day at the office for Pit and Louisville got the run game that they really wanted all year. You had Isaac Brown go for 93. Duke Watson go for 69. Kenyon Brown and Maurice Turner got involved as well. Five yards per carry to 14 total. That's really what they needed. Really early on in the season. It felt like if that run game could get going a little bit better, those deep passes, those deep crossers would open even more. Didn't quite get that going, but now they have. A really, really impressive performance and definitely one where you can salvage your season just a little bit more next week when you play Kentucky and likely cutter bully who played some pretty good quarterback against Texas this past weekend. Going to be fun to watch to see if he makes his first start. And then for Pit, they finish out the season with Boston College trying to avoid a five game losing streak after starting seven and oh, going seven and five would be really, really tough, but that Boston college team is very tough and we'll see what happens in that game. But two teams that definitely got a tough hit last weekend. Louisville was able to get back up. Pit not quite so much. Moving over to the Pac-12, we have our first Pac-2 champion in Oregon State, remarkable performance from the Beavers and puts them still in the realm of possibility for them to get to a bowl game. They do have Boise State next week, so would have to get that win. But if they can, it would be remarkable and they would go to a bowl game in that first year in very weird circumstances, but overall going to be a really, really fun game and geometry here, although he came out on the wrong side. He was special. He had 17 for 23, 325 total yards, four touchdowns, two passing, two rushing. He was everywhere. He was absolutely incredible, but really two mistakes were kind of the big time thing here. Now, on one side, Oregon State did make a mistake giving away a pick six to Washington to give them the lead, but then they were able to piece together a 16 play, 75 yard, eight minute touchdown drive and really to intake the lead back that they would not give back. But then the big part of this, the two big plays that Oregon State made down the stretch of this game were a fumble force from Kyle Williams on the Washington State 36 and gave them the opening to get that 55 yard game winner from Everett Hayes. Really remarkable stuff from Oregon State and they win the first Pac-2. One of only two champions that will be crowned in the Pac-2, hopefully Washington State can make it an even next year or maybe Oregon State goes for the sweep in this very weird format they have right now. A lot of bragging rights around this game, so a huge win for the Beavers and keeps their bowl game hopes alive, keeps the skid for Washington State going. And then LSU got the win they needed. Just about as badly as anyone in the country, at least when you talk about the grand scheme of things, they needed this win very badly. It was not necessarily a perfect performance, but the defense really showed up in a number of different ways. And when you have the few amount of drives that the teams had in this one, overall a really solid offensive performance. In fact, in the three drives that LSU had in the second half, they went 10 plays, touchdown drive, 13 plays, field goal drive and 11 play put away drive to finish. Really, really good stuff from this offense really throughout the day, but especially in that second half played really, really well. Vernonville mostly followed suit in that to be totally honest, they got a field goal, they got a touchdown, but they had one three and out. And that was really the difference in this one, let LSU lengthen that lead just a little bit more and that was about the difference. And on top of that, a very impressive performance from Garrett Nussmeyer. He has Oklahoma next week to continue to salvage the season, get to eight and four and at least feel okay. I suppose at the end of the day, but Vanderbilt is staring down Tennessee hoping they just got a little bit more magic in them. Going to be incredible to watch that one unfold, but moving forward to the big 12 once again, Kansas State stays alive in the big 12 race as crazy as that sounds. They are still technically alive and they did it in pretty dominating fashion. Avery Johnson was really incredible in this game, 13 for 23, 147 yards, two scores passing, 10 carry 72 yards and a score on the ground. Really incredible stuff and something about them playing at home just seems to click a little bit better. DJ Gins added 143 and two scores on the ground, really impressive stuff. And if that run game gets going like they did on Saturday, they're allowed to deal with. So that's what Iowa State's going to have to slow down. Now they stare down a game against Iowa State where they're going to need a little bit of help even with that win to find their way into the championship, but they'd love to ruin Iowa State's fun. I promise you that. So it's going to be really interesting to watch all of this unfold and it definitely can happen. I think that's going to be a rock fight, but Kansas State gets the win, stays alive somehow in this conference and is going to try to screw up Iowa State's chances here in about a week. Then you got USC and UCLA and this one went not the way that I thought it was going to go. I'll be totally honest with you. I thought we were going to get some points in this one. I thought we were going to get a little bit back and forth, a little bit of energy from this one, couple of big plays. Instead, we got four field goals in the first half, three from inside the 10 yard line from USC and a pair of touchdowns and field goals in the second half. So I'll take it, I guess, but it was a very, very weird game. Not necessarily went the way that I thought it would, but both quarterbacks in general had pretty... solid games and not make a ton of mistakes. Jay and my Ava had a very solid performance, 19 for 35, 2, 21 in one touchdown. Nothing flashy, but plenty to get the win here and especially when your defense is playing all that well, really impressive stuff and a win that they very badly needed. It does knock out UCLA from the bowl game hopes, but at the end of the day USC gets a much needed win and now they got to get ready for Notre Dame. It's going to be incredible to watch that one unfold and the very last chance that someone has to upset Notre Dame and ruin their hopes will be next week, but one little side note on this game. J. Michael Sturdevant is an absolute NFL player. The dude is really, really incredible on the outside. If you have not watched him at UCLA, go ahead and tune in to one of their games because it's really special stuff. Now, they do fall out of bowl contention, but they do have Fresno State next week. You get that win, you go five and seven in your first year under Tashawn Foster, not all that pretty, but still plenty in your first year in the Big Ten and then you move forward. You see what you can do the next year and I think there's a program that's moving in a pretty good direction going forward. And then finally, got to give you one more Mountain West update. We got Fresno State. We got Colorado State and Fresno State was able to open the door just a little bit for UNLV. If I'm not mistaken, right now Colorado State would need to win the game next week and then have UNLV lose next week if they wanted to get a spot in the championship for the Mountain West now. Obviously, a really, really good season for Colorado State, but you fall this late in the season, always going to hurt you a little bit, but the star of the game was Bryce and Donaldson. The running back for the Bulldogs, 13 carries 150 yards in a score, really impressive stuff. And as of right now, it does look like Colorado State is going to be on the outside looking in. They do have Utah State this upcoming weekend. Maybe they can get a win and find their way back into the Mountain West Championship, but as of right now, they're on the outside looking in for Fresno State. So if you can go get a win over UCLA and then this season on a really high note with the interim coach in, then maybe make a new coaching hire. Who knows what happens there, but going to be incredible to watch all of that unfold, especially in those group of five conferences that still have a lot to figure out. But definitely going to be awesome to watch all of this go crazy over the next little bit. And this past weekend was college football. It was as good as it possibly gets. It was everything that we ever want in this sport was on full display on Saturday and we will piece through all of it tomorrow. We'll get into all the craziness around the CFP and all the craziness around who gets in from where, how many teams from the SEC will figure it all out. I promise we'll get into it tomorrow to start the show. So definitely tune in for that. Also just a side note for this week in general tomorrow, we will do a couple of picks for the upcoming weekend. We'll at least poke our head into the week 14 slate. Wednesday is going to be all of the picks. We're going to break down the biggest games of the week in A&M Texas and Clemson, South Carolina and all the other big time games. We'll break those down on Thursday on Wednesday. We will not have shows Thursday or Friday with Thanksgiving on Thursday and then Friday we're going to leave those days alone. We will not have shows those days so a little bit of an abbreviated week when we get ready for this rivalry weekend but we got a good setup for you. We'll do a little bit of wrapping up tomorrow, a little bit preparing you for week 14 and then Wednesday is just everything. We'll break down every single game you need to know and we'll get you ready for what should be an incredible week 14 rivalry week. But that'll do it for this edition of the GSMC College Football Podcast brought to you by the GSMC Sports Network. Your support means a lot to us so please remember to subscribe to the show, leave a positive review. It does make a huge difference. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, Instagram, all the social pages for all the content and updates you could possibly need. We have great people doing great work across every single sport you could possibly want. So anything in the world of sports you could possibly need, come on over to GSMC and we have you totally covered. But thank you once again for listening and I will be back tomorrow to type some loose ends on this week and then get right into that week 14 slate. [MUSIC]