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I have one hope here on this big game breakdown Tuesday, I hope they cover I will miss you again. We're getting into Texas Tennessee, Ole Miss Florida, Texas A&M LSU, Oregon, USC, Oklahoma, Georgia, and so, so much more from a loaded week for yes, I saw the tailgate talking about it, sometimes we say big game breakdown and you say really guys really, no, we got a lot of big games to get to, so we're not getting into any news, we're not getting into any rankings, we're diving right in striker, let's break it down. We begin out in Knoxville where I am truly, truly elated to watch Tennessee play a game where I feel like I can learn about the vols, so I wanted to start with the Tennessee side of this because we've got a lot of, I think 36 3-0 teams or 36 teams with records of 3-0 or better, Tennessee is the one where I am, they're among the highest on that list if I was to rank them where I'm not quite sure what I've got. Danny Kennell, what are the vols to you right now? What do you feel confident about as they, because they're going into a situation by the way, they have lost 14 straight games to the AP number one team. Tennessee has not defeated the number one team in the country since 1985. What are we going to get from the vols here in this spot? What kind of team is this? They are a team that I think is pretty good, I think they have a young quarterback, but I think they also, when we talk about Josh Heipel, I think we picture him as a, and this happens when you get a guy who's an offensive guru who's done well with quarterbacks that have put up big numbers, I think we think of them as a passing offense, but they want to run the football. If you go back and look at the years when Tennessee has been at their best, they have been able to run the football. So that to me is as good as Brandon Fazon has been or Fazon Brandon, I know how to do that. Fazon Brandon has been through early this season. They want to establish the run game, and that'll be the biggest challenge for me for them. Is can that offensive line get that ground game going versus Texas's defensive front? Like that to me is the most important aspect of this game. We might have a mic issue, this might, I'm going to object to this one, actually. I think it's starting to be muted when the show starts, because I didn't hit mute. Uh-huh. Likely, excuse me. Flamethrower. Flamethrower producers. So that's, it's the go-to move. I would blame the producers every time. Sometimes it's definitely me. This time, it's not me. So like, when I look at this, Texas's tackles have been pretty good, as far as Pathro, you know, can you get to Archwood without having to blitz? Obviously, like Texas says the receivers, you know, Coleman, like could play a little better than he's playing this year. I think there's another level, you know, Arch has been, he has not taken the jump that I think we expected him to take based on how he played down the stretch last year. I don't think he's been bad, but I don't think he's been like a guy. It's like you can argue he's the best quarterback in the SEC. You know, Texas has been legitimately bad on the road under Sark, especially last year. I mean, they were over time Mississippi State, over time Kentucky, right? Like, you know, losing outright at Florida. Like they have not been good or trustworthy at all on the road under Sark. I think Faisen Brandon has been like, everything Tennessee could have hoped that he would be. But can you get to Arch? Like that's the thing. I mean, Tennessee, they lost some stuff off last year's D-line. Some of the additions have been pretty good for them. I think that's what it comes down to, really. Like if Arch has clean pockets, I think Texas will come out ahead here because I do think, like if you're not affecting Arch, he's probably going to pick you apart. If they can find a way to get to them, then I think you got a real game here. I kind of lean more towards Danny side here. I'm with you chip, like Tennessee is a team that like Georgia Tech was the one game I was hoping like learn about them. And then they completely took the game over in the second quarter and there really wasn't much chance to pay it or you didn't really have to pay much attention because the entire second half of that game was just a fate of complete. But if you look statistically, like Tennessee's offense has scored a lot of points, but they've been more explosive than they have been efficient. Like it's big plays. Not down to down, where they have been especially effective there is in the run game where they are currently 17th nationally and explosive rush rate, but they're facing a Texas defense that is seventh in EPA per rush and 30 second in defensive rush success. And let's remember they have played Ohio State. So those numbers, you know, are skewed a little bit by that game, but they're also still very impressive despite playing that game. And to me, that's where the game is probably decided, like if Tennessee is able to run the ball effectively for four quarters, then this will be a game for four quarters. If they're not, I don't think it will because if they are forced to be in a situation where they're having brand and drop back to try to win the game with his arm as a freshman playing a defense like this for the first time, good luck. I don't think it's realistic. So that's I think a key spot. And then another thing too, like, yeah, I would agree if arch has clean pockets, you're in trouble. The Texas offense hasn't looked great. They won that game against Ohio State, but the first three quarters of that game were not impressive by any stretch. And then last week, they looked bad against UTSA. They couldn't run the ball against the road runners. Now, you know, they haven't been very explosive on the ground. They haven't been very explosive in the air, the Ohio State game. You can excuse them, but that UTSA game, I don't. And it's like you just kind of wonder, maybe it was a sandwich spot. Maybe it was the let, you know, just like the natural let down to coming off that big win. And then knowing you've got your first road game and much tougher opponent a week later. So that could be it, but it is still kind of concerning to me that even if you're just being very basic and very vanilla, that you only had a rushing success rate of 44% against UTSA. Like, you should just kind of be able to push them out of the way if you're Texas and run all over them. So I don't know, we're going to see how that goes this week in Knoxville. It is their first road game of the season. It isn't early start and I could have an impact on them too. So this is a very interesting game in that I think we're still going to learn quite a bit about both teams. Bud said something though, I do. Like you said, if you have, if arch has a clean pocket, it'll pick you apart. Have we ever seen him like go a full 60 minutes and just surgically? I know what you're saying. I know the point like, but like, I, this is where and I saw Ryan Wilson, our Ryan Wilson. There's been this growing movement of Trinidad Chamblis. Like he should be the no more overall pick. He should be the first quarterback. And I think from what we've seen, I get it. It's college. There's going to be a whole evaluation process. But to the point, like I do think arch has been underwhelming so far in the jump he was supposed to take. I mean, I took him to go to the national championship game because I think arch still has a level to get to. Like we saw in some of those four downs against Ohio State, like some of the throws we saw make. And the Cam Coleman throw. I thought was a pretty good throw. The one that was intercepted because he dove for it and bounced up. But like he's been a little bit inconsistent. It kind of goes back to a lot of these quarterbacks. So we thought we're going to be, you know, the best things in sliced bread and then we're going to take this next step. They've all been inconsistent. And with the amount of parity that's in college football, like you have, you have a bad pick or a bad series or two and all the sudden Tennessee, they go.
fast they get a couple explosive plays and all of a sudden you blink and you've got a game on your hands and then how do you respond? I do think that's something to look out for with arch. Like he's been a little bit erratic throughout all the way through last year and I know early it was ugly but even like when you thought he figured it out like against UTSA or was that the first game of the year? That wasn't UTSA. That was the was it? No, the first game to say was last week. The first game of the year, he had like this really bad interception where he just stared it down and made up his mind where he's going to throw the ball and it was picked. Like you can get away with that versus a team as a four touchdown favorite but this is the type of environment those could come back to cost you a game. Yeah, I don't think he's surgical. I do think he can make big time throws. I do think Sark can still scheme it up. I like some of the play calling better against Texas. Right? Like Texas was what really good against Schubert tried to remember. Was it inside zone or outside or sorry Ohio State was like really prepped for inside zone? I think it was and like they smashed that and then all of Texas counters there in the second half in the run game were pretty nice like they worked a lot of the like the width of the field early and then they had a little more downfield stuff late as Ohio State had to respect that. Yo man, one thing I think will matter a lot here is like Colin Simmons was in street close in the second half that UTSA game. He's the best defensive player in this game regardless of side. Maybe in the SEC. Yeah, you would put him on a short as a pressure. I think in the SEC, right? Yeah, I mean, I don't know. Stewart against Mississippi State was unbelievable, which kind of makes this like what Taylor did even more impressive to kind of have that guy around you all day and you're like, I'll just casually sidestep that this tremendous pass rush and launch a 60 yard rocket down the field. The thing is if Colin Simmons doesn't play or if he's not like at his high level, text defense might be in trouble. Like they don't have multiple amazing pass rushers. They don't have multiple like amazing first round pass rushers and David Sanders has been worth every frickin pinning for Tennessee because he's been like and I know they haven't played amazing schedules so far, but tech they're not terrible. They're just not good. Like he's just been dominant lights out. Like if if Simmons is not a hundred percent, Tennessee can help their other tackle and totally trust that David Sanders takes care of the blind side for the freshman quarterback. Like that, that's going to be a big deal in this one. Biggest question that I am excited to have answered might be this Tennessee defense. You know, I think they're happy about Xavier Gillum showing up. I think Mark Campbell's been pretty good, but those those are a lot of names that were not at the top of like an all SEC preseason list, right? So, you know, they are going to be tested. Who shows up going up against all of that skill with the number one team in the house? Honestly, the secondary, which was such an issue last year, it's been better this year, but they're going to face a test like they haven't so far. So, like you said, we'll find out a whole lot about the secondary too. Yeah, yeah. And most champ was on those Georgia staffs that for the most part handled the hypel offense pretty well. So, I expect you'll see that same plan. Should be very interesting. Any other final notes there, and then we'll take this thing on to Gainesville. Look at Mikey. Let's go. Let's go. Let's go. In the tailgate from Greece, you'll remember Mikey rocking with us for a long time stellar stud producer. Believe me, he's getting married this weekend, right? I think so. Yeah. Yeah, Sunday. I'm flying out tomorrow. Let's go. Let's be nice. Let's be nice. Mike, if I got lost in the mail, I guess, Mikey's playing with mine. Oh, yeah. Do you think that Mikey play? So, this is a great wrinkle in the no weddings and football season. Yeah, right. What if you're trying to get out of having to work during football season? Did he plan this weekend, you know, to. I don't know, man. He's got it there. Best of luck. Don't screw it up. As always, going into your wedding. Just follow the instructions. You'll be great. All right. Ole Miss and Florida both are running red hot. Who can keep it going? Do you know what I was thinking about? I was thinking about bachelor's. We can have weddings. I was thinking about bachelor parties, bachelor parties, wedding parties. I was thinking about golf trips, girls trips, beach trips. I was thinking about both of these teams had awesome Friday nights. Guess what? We can't be done. We got a lot more to accomplish here on Saturday. So, Bud, who keeps it? Who's in a better position to keep things moving after big wins? Because I think they beat very different opponents. And I think that they're going to be playing in different settings than they were last weekend. And there are different teams with different expectations. But undeniably, their common thread is they both came out of last weekend as some of the biggest winners in the country. Yeah. I think Florida's playing like a top 10 team right now. And Ole Miss pretty clearly is as well. I think they're both really good, solid football teams. Florida has a little more variance to me just because I think I know what I get from Trinidad pretty much every week at this point. He's a 24-year-old guy playing in college or however old. He's old. Just reliably, awesome. Pretty much every week. I'm interested to see how does Florida block Will Eccles? He changed that game as much as any player, not named Trinidad did for Ole Miss. On the flip side, I like Florida's corner. I don't know if I like Florida's safeties. I think Trinidad, because he throws over the field, like the middle of the field so well, it's not like he has to, you know, certainly he can challenge you outside and has the arm to do so. But I think he's such a surgeon over the middle field, but the between the hash marks throws. I think that's going to really matter in this one quite a bit. Like how does Florida answer that? You know, I think Ole Miss will score some on the flip side to me. It's just like Can Eccles be enough of a factor inside that it really messes up what the Gators can do? Because Florida has so many weapons on offense and I think Fyla operates his offense great. Like he just looks so comfortable, guys. I'm worried about Florida's defense. I mean, they started the season with what Campbell and Florida Atlantic and they played well and then last week. They give up 39 points to the same Auburn team that really struggled to move the ball against Baylor. Listen, Roll Homes, that's a top 10 FCS team. They just cracked the Optistats FCS top 25 for the first time in a long time. Go Campbell. Go Campbell. But it's just like they have not, they didn't look great last week against Auburn and now they are facing the best quarterback in the country. The best quarterback they've seen by quite a bit and I do wonder like along the lines of what you're saying, but is how they're going to perform against this offense and you look at them. Like even against these three teams that they've played, Florida ranks the defense ranks 71st in EPA for dropback. There also something to be concerned about here with Trinidad, even though this isn't his go-to, but he definitely has it in the bag. There are 106th nationally in Scramble, EPA and we saw that some last week with Byron Brown. We saw it in their other first two games. Like the quarterbacks have been able to find room and run and help keep drives alive against them. And then like when you look at their overall numbers in their pass rush, like they have a good pressure rate, they have a good sac rate and they had like a ton of sacs last week. But to me, from what I have seen, it's far more about the quarterbacks they're facing than their actual pass rush. Like guys just standing there and holding on to the ball or kind of running into the pass rush and getting the sac. So that to me is a concern for Florida. And offensively, like their first nationally in points per drive, nobody's close to him right now. They're killing it. It's just when you look at all the other stats, they're not really top five or top 10 and most of the other ones that like matter to me, which suggests that that's we're probably going to see some regression there. Like Jayden Baugh has kind of over, you know, overshadowing a lot of what they're actually doing on a down-to-down basis. He's just been really good. Yeah. Yeah. And then like for me, the biggest thing for all this is how do you get up again? Yes. Right. Like you peptide shot. I'm a big let down spot. And defensively, if you look at their overall numbers, they're not great, but they have also faced two of the best offences in the country from what we've seen so far in LSU and Louisville, which is going to skew your numbers compared to what everybody else has played so far at this point this season. And while they're, you know, we mentioned echoes like their past rush was completely non-existent until last week when all of a sudden they looked phenomenal. And their overall run defense numbers aren't great, but a lot of that has been Kindholson Levitt, who have kind of really torn them apart, whereas they've been pretty good against running back. So to that to me, I don't think you can stop Jayden Baugh. I think the question will be, can you limit his big runs? And if Ole Miss is able to do that, I don't know if I trust Aaron Fylo, go out there yet and win this game on his own. So this is a very interesting matchup to me. But again, I could also see a situation where Ole Miss is just completely spent and gets absolutely run the hell over. This line yesterday was crazy. Like it was getting out the four. Now it's back to three, which makes more sense, right? If you think these are both top 10 teams, you know, Gators at home, three. Okay. Like I can see the kids, like fours. I don't know, man. That's baking in a lot. That's baking in a big assumption that Ole Miss is spent. There's not a lot of uncertainty that the S2 if they actually are spent. John Summerall lost to Ole Miss 86-20 across two games last year. Now he did it with two lanes, roster. But there is familiarity here. I mean, again, the players have changed, but they they certainly
understand each other at least. Oh, yeah, we're taking it all the way back to the Kentucky. It looked nice font too. Look at that. Yeah. Well, let's go Striker. He could have probably just screen shouted the research packet, but he put in the extra effort. That's what we're doing. Let us all be inspired by Striker to take this to the next level. Yeah, I was thinking about Pete Golding and John Somerah. I mean, they met in the mid Ed midfield before a college football playoff game that Ole Miss totally dominated. Again, different team that John Somerah was leading, but at least in terms of the tape that they've studied, the things that John knows about Ole Miss, right? He's gotten a couple cracks at him, hasn't been able to slow him down, but very different defense here as well. Ole Miss, we talk about Ole Miss getting run the hell over or run out of town, or if they know if they cannot score at all, that would be the biggest surprise of this game for me. Emotions would overwhelm what I see as, if Ole Miss runs out of gas and loses even by double digits, but it's a high scoring shootout back and forth. The fair, I get that. That would fall in line with the explosive start that they've had. But I think that Ole Miss should be able to score against this Florida defense with what we've seen from the Gator so far, even on the road, even after all that they've done. What do we think, Qon Lacey? I think it's a game time decision banged up. We don't know. I think that, go ahead. I think it matters. I mean, clearly it matters. One of the best backs out there. To your point about getting up for this game, I thought last week for Lane Kiffin and Pete Golden would be the easiest week of coaching ever because your players are dialed in. They're tuned in so much on it, so much on the line. They're going to stay after, watch extra film. This one is that I hate doing it because we say it all the time, this is the Nick Saban rap boys in game. For both of these teams, but I do think, here's, you'll get the juice on game day. You'll show up and you'll be amped up, but it's the week of practice. How dialed in, how intense are you? How's your focus? Also, you can't really be as physical because you have to let off your guys a little bit to let them recover. It's just very tricky to prepare for this spot. I think the best defense for turn out jambless is to keep them on the sidelines. That's why, again, it kind of goes back to the same thing with about Tennessee. You're the home team. If you can establish the line of scrimmage, if you can get jaden ball going, have some 11, 12 play drives that eat up the clock and don't let Ole Miss get into a rhythm offensively and keep turn it out jambless like frustrated like, oh, every time I get out there, man, it's got, I have to score this drive. Like that can be very frustrating for an offense that has a ton of success. I think some are all, and I think the offensive staff for Florida knows that. I think they're going to try to grind this thing down, try to keep it away. To me, again, it comes down to the physicality of that. I do think this is a lot on Fyla. He's made some big throws, but he's also made some mistakes, which you would expect. How does he handle the emotions of this game at home? What if Ole Miss does score? Is he patient? They could, they have explosive capability. Trinidad makes a couple plays. What if you look up, and it's 14 to three, can you stay patient with that run approach? Can you stay patient with that? That's a huge factor in this game for me. Anything else that's got your eyes as we're looking ahead? Obviously, our best bets, Bud was mentioned in the three and the four. Those would be points, Fred references. Those will come on Thursday, 11 a.m. Eastern time for our locks. The only thing I was thinking about, I think Florida's edges are a bigger test for Ole Miss, especially when you factor in the road environment than LSUs were. I think LSU has a better back-7 defensively. I think they run better than Florida does, and I think, you know, Chambers, if he gets protection, may have more easy throws against Florida, but I think the protection question is probably greater against Florida and the swamp than it was against LSU at home. I can hear it. Coming up on the other side, we've already declared it the anxiety bowl. Two proud programs with college football playoff expectations. One of them is going to be 0 and 2 in the SEC on Sunday. So what are the keys to the matchup? All that and more. Next. Back here on the Cover 3 podcast, Lane Kiffin on his way out the door said, "I guess I had to leave for y'all to have a good environment." I mean, that man will be trolling on his deathbed. It's incredible. Just can't stop, won't stop. So now, here's what's the environment going to be in Baton Rouge, right? You're welcoming home some losers. I mean, I don't think they are losers, but they are by definition losers of the last game they played, and now they're trying to turn this thing around against a Texas A&M team that had a poor performance. They played bad. Their head coach said they played bad. Everyone saw it with their own eyes. Texas A&M played a very, very bad game at home. Now they've got to go into Death Valley at night and they find themselves as sizeable underdogs. Tom, how does Texas A&M get up off the mat? It would help if they first started getting their throws up off the ground five yards before they reached their target. That would be thrown it into the dirt. It's not a great way to win football. Yeah. This is the anxiety bowl for very good reasons as we've gone over. Neither one of these teams wants to start off, oh, and two, if you do, you are in a very big hole as far as trying to accomplish what your goals are, and even if you kind of give up on your SEC title chances, you still think you want to get to the playoff and doing it with two losses already with three months of the season to go, not a great place to be. But regardless of all of that, don't you just kind of have a lot more trust in LSU than you do right now in Texas A&M? Oh, straight up. Yeah. Not even a question. Like LSU lost last week and it was a huge atmosphere and it was a disappointing loss, but they also, like the way that game started, I would have been worried about LSU if they had just gotten the doors blown off and stayed there. But LSU fought their way back into the game. They made it a game late. They had a chance to tie it and possibly go to overtime and win it in the end. So I was still overly encouraged by what I saw from them, even in defeat. I haven't seen a whole lot from Texas A&M this year at any of their games that leaves me very encouraged about them. Like even in the Arizona State win, I talked about it at the time. Like the defensive touchdown skewed that final score. Arizona State looked like the better team for a lot of that game. They looked like the stronger team along the lines of scrimmage. Texas A&M wasn't able to handle Kentucky last week along the lines of scrimmage. They didn't, you know, they couldn't get real pressure. They were having trouble protecting read. Like maybe LSU heals it because I haven't been super impressed by LSU's offensive line. And we mentioned last week, like old Mrs. defensive line finally looked like a real unit when they faced LSU. Maybe Texas A&M has that same fate. Maybe they show up against the SLSU offensive line and they suddenly look a lot better than they have through their first games of the season so far. I don't know. That's the one thing I would hope on. But just I have more trust in their quarterback. I have more trust in their offense. I have more trust in their defense than I do Texas A&M right now. So I get why both teams are worried but honestly as an outside observer, I'm not that worried about one of them. No, I'm not that worried about LSU assuming they show up. You know, like A&M. Didn't we all take their under on the season? I think so. I mean, yeah, I was I was being mean. I just sat back in Texas A&M from about June on because once I figured out that that's where my actual prediction was, I was like, yeah, that makes sense. You made the college football playoff. That was your peak year. You probably wish you had done more with your peak year than be a one in done in the college football playoff. But now I think that the way these things go in cycles, this is a little bit of a step back and I could see it 100%. Especially when you've lost Terry Bussey and Mario Craver is getting injured and all of a sudden you're looking around and it's like, oh, well, good. Marcel Reed is going to play hero ball, which has always worked and not led to 15 interceptions since the start of 2025, which has started most among FBS quarterbacks. Right. Somebody had a crazy stand on him down to feel for him. It's like a one of 15 past 10 yard or something like that. Like I that's probably not the exact stat, but it was like, oh my god, which matched the eye test. I do think LSU has a much better chance to lock down Craver. I think they could talk you did. I mean, Craver had 19 targets in that game. That's like shoot, but a quarter of A&M's plays, basically, like we're targeting Craver. And my thought was like, should be more like he's that offense basically. Like the run game, you know, kind of up and down, like, are you going to run Marcel Reed? Yes. Yeah. They haven't been doing it much so far. Well, he did in this game last year. In this game last year, he had four total touchdowns, two passing, two rushing, ran for over 100 yards. And what was it? Two years ago to get a touchdowns on the ground. Yeah. What are you going to do? Run Marcel Reed? Yes. But I absolutely think that's what they're going to do. Yes. I mean, like his next job's not going to involve running, right? He's going to be sitting at a desk with the rest of us or driving something or, you know, like, whatever. But like he's he doesn't throw it well enough to be called in the Uber driver. Or you know, maybe he's on the road, but maybe he's like a, you know, from a silver wrap or something like that, right? I'm just not. There's some stuff to like about the A&M team. To me, the whole question is a spread. Like, you know, that if you dig LSU shows up then a yellow shoe money line scrape that.
honestly, I don't think A&M has a gear it can get to that can play with LSU of LSU shows up. I think this is the most QB wildcardy type game of the weekend because you kind of don't know what you're going to get with either one. Like I've talked about Sam Levitt, the inconsistency there. Like he just needs to settle down, play within the system, don't turn the ball over. But we haven't seen him do that. And for Marcel Reed, I think he's scary because it's one of those if he gets hot. Like when he's hot and he does what he did against South Carolina last year in the second half, he can absolutely be a backbreaker and even whether it's that with his legs or at times he does make some really good throws. You just can't rely on him to do it every time. That I think to me is what to watch out for is like this is a QB wildcard game. And I feel I trust Levitt a little bit more because he's playing at home. I think they'll be able to run the ball a little bit better, but I don't trust either one implicitly. But I do agree with you, bud. Like I, but I why wouldn't LSU show up? You know, they're feeling sorry for themselves, emotional let down. You know, it's kind of the same thing. There's a hangover effect of like where are you emotionally? Are you up all week? I think that would be the concern. But I think they should be up, you know? Yeah, I think they need to be up. I think even though Marcel Reed tore up this defensive coordinator before on the ground, when you ask about, you know, whether you're up or whether you're down, my impression of Blake Baker and he and I haven't, you know, sat together. So I don't know. I don't have a personal relationship. My impression of Blake Baker is he's going to have the defense ready to go. You know, I agree. As we've discussed in the fallout from the weekend, underwhelmed with this LSU offense, I don't think this is, I don't know if LSU can blow them out. Like I just, I don't know if LSU is clicking and consistent enough on offense to go blow them out of the water. But, you know, I do think that LSU's defense should show up at home. I mean, look, the again, locks, we don't we don't do props and locks because props aren't available for everybody across the country. But just take just parlay both the interception props. You know, like let's just let's go. There's going to be some dumb mistakes in this game and those will be opportunities that are there. We'll see how painful those are. But I think LSU's defense is the best unit in this game. The most trustworthy given the spot. I have looked it up so far this season passes of ariards of 10 or more. Marcel Reed is 2043. His completion rate of 46 and a half percent ranks 49th among the 64 power four quarterbacks. Sam Levitt ranks 60th. He is 15 of 36 for 41.7%. I tell you what, wait, you're telling me we've got shaky quarterback play. Tons of passion, pretty good defense. It's like a 2007 SEC game, you know, like when it, but before all of a sudden we decided that we were going to go hurry up and no huddle. This is what you want football to be. We'll see how things end up playing out there. Again, that is going to be your Saturday night SEC showcase. Big 10's got a big one also in the prime time slate. As Oregon looks to get off the mat and they are headed to the Coliseum, a place that they have actually had a good bit of success recently. Dante Moore, Jane, my have a phenomenal talented quarterbacks to offenses that have been lighting up the scoreboard, you know, over the last couple of seasons. It's like, Dante Moore's got nine touchdowns and zero interceptions. How awesome has he been, Chip? Not awesome. Bob, you know, like it's, you know, we're waiting to see everything really click together in a way that looks the part of our expectations. Danny, is it the quarterbacks or are there other pieces of this that? Oh, I think there's a lot of pieces this one. By the way, it's 12 touchdowns for Dave Miles, so make sure you put some respect on that name. I think this is kind of you, we're talking about the stress and the pressure and the pucker factor of the, the game we were just talking about. And I know that you don't have a loss for USC, but my goodness, if there was a time for Lincoln Riley to liver to deliver, it would be now against an Oregon team that did get beat on the road and still water that looks vulnerable. And this is your chance to kind of take that next step forward, position yourself in the title race and the playoffs, all of that. And then Oregon has there, if they go with loss number two, I think this game sneaky is a big time pressure game. To me, I think the biggest factor that I am trying to figure out, because I know what I'm going to get with Jade Mayava. I do think Trent Mosley out is going to be a significant loss. Still we're able to put up a bunch of points, but, you know, they had these three true freshmen in Kaden Dixon Wyatt, Mark Barron, and Trent Mosley were such a big part of it. You lose Mosley. They're a little bit, you know, dinged up, but this is all about the USC defense. For me, going against Oregon's offense, which has been a little bit erratic themselves. Like, we know what they're capable of, but like, what are you going to get from USC? Are they finally going to step up and get a stop? Like, they just have not been very good. And it's been one of, like, the first couple games, you're like, well, they were garbage time minutes and Lincoln Riley made a very big point of saying, you know, we gave up some garbage time points, but against Rutgers, you couldn't get the stops when you needed them. Are they going to be able to get the stops against Oregon? I do and I would agree. I think it feels like this could be a shootout type of game. Yeah, like, how much was Oregon able to get fixed coaching wise in these like in these last 13 days? You know, Portland state is, is Portland state. You can kind of name your number. They've clearly been working this game for two weeks. I'm going to assume USC after watching the Rutgers, you know, tape that Rutgers had put out into the first couple weeks of the season was also pretty, you know, looking ahead to Oregon. You know, Oregon has played a much tougher schedule than USC. Yes. Like, Fresno has been very dispointing so far. You know, Rutgers is, I think, clearly worse than both Oklahoma State and Boise. And UMass. And UMass. Right. Yeah. Honestly, it's got. So, like, you know, to me, USC is like very untested. They probably also haven't had a show quite as much. Like, they have some young guys who have flashed a lot. Are those young guys flashed is going to become consistency against a much better opponent. That's probably where this game hinges on. You know, like, if, if Luke, if he's able to actually get in and affect Dante more, like, that's a big deal. If he doesn't, you know, I don't think some of these vets on USC are amazing players. I think there's some solid ones, but like, I think most of their difference makers are their youngest guys, you know, and then how fixed is Oregon's back seven as far as like coverage and communication. They turn guys loose a lot this year. And, you know, with USC getting healthier, they're at the receiver position. Like, my name is pretty good. You know, like, if they're turning the guys loose, he's going to find them. To me, that's what it comes down to. Like, how much can Oregon tighten up? If Oregon tightens up, I think Oregon rolls them. If they don't, then I think we got a good, good ballgame. You know what this Saturday is for the Oregon ducks. Oh, yes, it is. Do you know what I'm going to say? Oh, I got an idea. No, I think he's got. No, no, you don't. You don't know chip because I'm going to call it a back to basic Saturday. You thought it was going to be gut check. I thought it was going to be gut check. You did, but you were wrong. It's a gut check for you, sir. Oh, here's the problem that like USC could write off and say we gave up all those points to the San Jose and Fresno with our third and fourth stringers. And it's true. You did. The problem is, you can't tackle with your starters either. And that is a big issue for this USC defense. They cannot tackle. They are a hundred and ninth nationally and mistackle rate, which is why they're 115th and success rate and their 98th and EPA personnel. And that was after playing Rutgers. They were missing tackles against freaking Rutgers. You could be looking ahead to Oregon all you want. You could have been resting some guys against Oregon or against Rutgers for all you want because I'm pretty sure if you look at USC's injury report, there were some guys who take the week off. But it was still the same Rutgers that got its ass kicked by UMass and lost to BC. And they were moving the ball pretty damn effectively on you because you couldn't wrap and get them down. So now you're facing an Oregon team that again, let's get back to basics boys. We should run the ball against this team and see if they can tackle us. We should do that thing we used to do where we throw a bunch of short little screens to our receivers and see if their defensive backs can tackle us in space. Because you know what? They haven't really shown an ability to do that. So USC needs to figure out how to tackle or else it could be a very long afternoon for this USC defense and they will find themselves in a back and forth shootout. But the good news for USC is as button Danny have touched on that they can get in a shootout and they can be very effective in a shootout because Oregon secondary has been a mess. It's defensive line has not been anything really worth what it should be so far to this season. So I think that if you look at Jayde Mayava, you look at this USC offense. There's every reason to believe they will be able to move the ball. This is, I mean, it's a classic Lincoln Riley team and you could change defensive coordinator. You can bring in Gary Patterson. You could start recruiting better in your high school rankings and get some better players talent wise on defense. But it's a Lincoln Riley team. They are going to score a lot of points. They are going to give up a lot of points and it's really going to come down to how good of a job does Oregon do of keeping that USC offense off the field by controlling the clock because that probably is their best method to stopping the USC offense to this point. So if USC can figure out how to tackle a guy the first or second time they get to them, they might have a chance to win this game if they don't probably not. Could you imagine how good USC would be with Oklahoma's defense and okay,
Oklahoma would be with USC's offense. - Oh my god. - It is kind of wild how things work out like that. - Oh, I was just thinking about that the other day. - So I think chip hit on this, like have the coaches figured out Oregon. I think that was something we all, I'm guilty of this. I think we probably glossed over the change of coordinators. And like the way I watch Oregon and they look so nonchalant and like just cool, which is a good thing. But also it is Will Stein. And now that we've seen him more in the public does he seem like somebody that would accept like mediocrity or just be okay with no? - No, I don't know. - And I don't know Drew Maranger, like I don't know. I don't know him from Adam. But and then on the flip side, does Tosh Loupoy seem like somebody who would just be okay with like a lackluster performance? That was one of the most intense dudes I've ever come across. Like scary dudes. And it's not even so much about X's and O's and the plays or schemes you're calling. It's about the standard and like the intensity level. Oregon just seems to lack that urgency that you have to have if you were a great football team. And whether it's because they're making a ton of money, everybody was picking them and they were reading the press clippings. I want to see Oregon with a sense of urgency in this game. And if they do, I think they're the better team, I think they win. But like if you see Dante more in that offense, go three and out or you know, he just kind of goes and they just go out the field and they're okay with it or the defense gets drive and they're just kind of okay with it because they're like, we'll be fine. I start to worry that Oregon's not going to be fine. We get it's time for them to step up and deliver on what we thought they could be in the preseason. - Go ahead. - Yeah, I want to see more schemed up stuff for Oregon's offense. Oregon's offense, if you look at it compared to what looked last year and what Kentucky looks like now, it looks stagnant. Like I want to see more motion. I want to see more created off-play action. I want to see more-- - And one of the time was awesome at that. Schemen up in this make that were easier plays. - 2013. - 2013 and this is an unfair comparison because Oregon is not one national championships. But 2013 and 2014 Alabama, my memory, has them nonchalantly dominant and they both ended up getting bit for it. They both had so many talented players that went to the NFL and maybe they were left over from the 2012 title team or maybe they ended up being key pieces of the 2015 title team. But the 2014 team that just got stunned by Ohio State when all the families just figured they were going to save their money for the championship game. But the 2013 team that obviously got undone by the kick six, it's just those groups. It must have happened on the fringes and Nick Saban had to make some changes. He had to bring in some new assistant coaches. He had to shake some things up. Lane Kiffin, interestingly enough, ended up being part of shaking that up. But this Oregon team's in an interesting spot. They could come out and they could have a thunderous answer. Like, no, we are that team. If they go on the road and they, especially if the defense can do a really good job of limiting USC, then we start to change our tune a little bit. But man, I'm very interested to see. Oh, we mentioned USC and sitting out. We're going to see Torell Anderson. I think it was a reported stress fracture late in camp after he'd had a good camp. Haven't really seen him make an impact this season. Transfer over from NC State to No Kinds is another player who I know the people close to the program discussed as a guy that they expected to be a leader and someone who stepped up. Those injuries have allowed some of the youth movement to shine in a big way, certainly. But if all of a sudden these injuries stack up, you might be looking at a group that is hampered and leaning on some inexperience and some special places. OK, anything else on USC organ, that's Saturday night. OK, then we're headed to the big house. The Iowa Hawkeyes come into town, taken on the Michigan Wolverines. And the Wolverines, what are you laughing about? I just saw the total. What do we, 44? 38 and a half, but I'm sorry. Yeah, we'll be on America's most watched network, the network of stars, Brad Nestler, Charles Davis, and Jenny Dale on the call. You can watch it on CBS. You can stream it on Paramount Plus. This will be a heritage game, you know? This game is going to make you feel warm. I might go find like a 1987 LL bean jacket to put on for this one, you know? Place up, play a little puttin in field position. I'm excited about it. Tom, I got to come to you first on this one. How are we, where are we seeing the pivot points in this matchup? Who can score points? I mean, that is a pivot point in this matchup. That is my deep dive big game breakdown as can either one of these teams score enough points. I had concerns about Michigan's defense coming into the season. I don't anymore. Like they haven't faced an elite offense or anything, but they've done everything you want to see against, you know, like a good defense is going to do against the teams that they have faced. That, you know, you don't face an elite offense, you want to dominate them. They have been pretty damn dominant. They have a very good past rush both from getting pressure and from getting home and getting, you know, getting the actual sack. They limit big plays. They completely shut you down and hold you to feel goals in the red zone if you even manage to get there. Like the one thing they haven't really done a great job of on defense is forced turnovers. Like obviously against Oklahoma, they had the interception with material that really set them up. But overall, they're just not compared to everybody else. They're not forcing them at a high rate. So if they start to do that, look out. It could be one of the best defenses in the country, but on the flip side, Iowa's defenses looked pretty damn good too. Shock of all shocks. Now, I don't think Iowa has played nearly the same schedule as Michigan does. Like, I don't know how you guys feel, but I would argue that Oklahoma and Western Michigan are better than anybody that Iowa's faced. Sorry, Iowa state, it's just how I feel. Yeah, but like, so this is a huge test for them going on the road to the big house. Can this offense, which has been pretty effective on the ground as we typically see and does have a guy in Tony DS who is a big play threat at the receiver position, are they going to be able to find enough plays to put points on the board against this Michigan offense? 'Cause they're not going to show up and just start pushing them around and marching down the field for a bunch of drives and being incredibly efficient play after play. That's just, I don't care who you are. That's not who Iowa is and it's probably not gonna happen against this Michigan defense. And also, as I mentioned, can they take care of the ball? Because to this point, incredibly good job of taking care of the football. And I honestly think turnovers are going to play a huge role in this game because it is going to be lower scoring and both of these defenses are going to be dominant. So it's probably going to come down to who doesn't mess up. And if you're looking at the thing so far, that kind of skews Iowa's direction. They have a team whoopsy daisy rate of 0.5%. That is the best in the country. Michigan's team whoopsy daisy rate is 3.98%. That's a hundred and 18th. Like Michigan. - Oh, buffed font. There is a point to win moment in this game. - That's what I'm saying. So this is again, it shocks you. Whoever can score points and whoever can score points in this game, it's probably going to come down to defense and special teams creating those points for them. So it's a, I hope you enjoyed the Vikings Bears game on Sunday because this one could look real similar. - Time for DK's basic pitch stats. - Yep, let's go. - Iowa has plus three in turnover margin. Michigan minus two. They have four fumbles, Michigan does. I think the one thing that's interesting about this game, Iowa knows every single year exactly what they're going to be. They have an identity. Now you might think Michigan does, but I still think Michigan is figuring out what to do with Bryce Underwood and that relationship with Jason Beck. Like, do we run 'em? Do we let 'em throw? Like they're, and I think they're kind of leaning on and especially in this game. Like maybe you just kind of go back to Michigan old school and you try not to eliminate those turnovers and just try to bully your way through this game, but that plays right into Iowa's hands. So I think it is about who protects the football better and who takes care of the rock. Which, I mean, who do you trust in that category? I mean, I don't know if you trust either one yet, but probably Iowa. - Iowa. - Yeah. - I think Phil Parker is the dude. Phil Parker is so good too. I mean, he's one of the better coaches in college football that gets a lot of credit, but in this type of game, I think it'll be really interesting to see what he does against Michigan's offense. - Yeah, I kind of like Michigan here. I think Michigan will have a plan to force Iowa to throw the ball to somebody not named DS, right? Now maybe that's Matt's Bandersey, the tie-down, assuming he's good to go. And like certainly a really good option. I think for Michigan's offense, it's probably gonna be a big running back game. You're gonna see obviously a ton of zone for Iowa because that's what they do. They do it extremely well. They play their principles. They mix it. Like I think that's the right approach, probably against Bryce Underwood 'cause you wanna keep a lot of eyes on him. Like you wanna 11 eyes or 11 sets of eyes on the quarterback to prevent some of the running stuff from him, obviously. But that also means you're gonna get some good RPO looks. And so we'll see just how well Underwood can execute those. That's been a real mix bag so far. Some of it has been accuracy. Some has been decision-making. So if you get those good looks to throw against, 'cause you're not getting a whole lot of man from Iowa, can you take advantage?
that. I think that's going to be something pretty big. I do think he'll get time to throw, though. Iowa's defensive line, their past rush has not been any good at all. It's pretty mid this year, so I would expect Michigan, their offensive line handles Iowa's defensive line in terms of giving underwood time. If your Iowa, you're like, "I will take that bet." We're going to put this on underwood decision making and accuracy. I guess we'll see how it goes. I think there are some good things for Michigan here, but obviously Michigan's favorite, so everybody thinks that too, I guess. Savion Heider in the past game has been something that's been a little interesting to, I mean, he only has a couple of apps on the season as whole, but most of them have been big. Conversion moved the stick style plays. That just seems to be, you get him the ball and let him go try to run through somebody, but the past game, you talk about it being a running back game, but it's kind of because the running back's got to do a little bit of everything. It's everybody who you need for the most part. I know JJ Buchanan special as an individual, but a lot seems to be happening out of that offensive backfield. Again, 3.30 p.m. Eastern time, big, big, big one on big time in the big house. You can watch it on CBS America's Most Watch Network. Coming up on the other side, turn our attention to a very challenging position for the Oklahoma Sooners. What do they got in the tank as they head between the hedges? All that in more. Back here on the Cover 3 podcast, and as you might have heard, as we've told you a lot, Cover 3 is proudly sponsored by Homefield. The industry leader in top-notch vintage apparel made by and for true college football fans. Homefield makes the most premium apparel on Earth. Say goodbye to those low effort design or cheap quality because our friends at Homefield, well, they design and research everything from the fit and the fabrics and vintage logos, and it makes standout gear that defines your game day. Homefield just launched their can't miss kickoff line this August to style your game day. But can't miss kickoff? It's not over yet now that the season is kicked off because the Homefield team is going on tour around the country to college campuses for the can't miss kickoff tour presented by Madelo. Our friends at Madelo, also friends of Homefield Apparel. And this week, this week, they are headed to Athens, Georgia, for the dogs and the sooners. So be sure to head out and see them. Look for details on their socials, especially their new events page at Homefield IRL. Again, that is Homefield IRL for Homefield Apparel events. If you can stop by, you can shop the very best in game day apparel for your team now with Homefield and let them know when you go see them, Homefield IRL. When you go there, tell them cover three sent you and take 20% off your first purchase with code cover three at checkout for Homefield Apparel online or on the app that C-O-V-E-R-3, the number no spaces at
[email protected] or on the Homefield app Homefield, the official outfitter of cover three and of your game day. I think, uh, do you think that Brent Venables after this game will maybe look for a good Homefield shirt to swap into. So maybe you won't be recognized. Leave it. Yeah, is this a, is this, is this going to be a game where you don't want to come to the post game press conference? I mean, it might be in mean here. This is the worst team for Oklahoma's offense to face. It really is. Maybe in the country. I mean, it cannot be much worse timing. Oh, good. You're going up against Kirby Smart and this Georgia defense. Okay. You don't have the crowd helping you with your progressions. It's going to be tough. I know. Do not say that out loud. Do not just keep those stories to yourself. Mateer, come on. Oh, everybody, everybody that we were hyped about coming out of the summer. It's a, you're just stepping in it, man. Arch, Mateer, Marcel's not stepping in, he's throwing in it, you know, but it's just like all these quarterbacks, just returning starters, do not return with all the glory right off the bat. Maybe that's our fault for expectations. We can probably take some blame in that, but how do they score? How does Oklahoma score in this game? It's probably just has to be off turnovers. You know, like, their offense has looked pretty terrible, right overall, but I mean, there's a chance, you know, like, I think, you know, like David Stone being out for Oklahoma is probably pretty big. Yeah. Like that got reported last night, a couple of places that he got injured. I don't think we know the extent of it yet, but there are a lot of reports about I guess we'll see what the injury report says, but it's not crazy to think that like, look, Georgia's offensive line, it's well possible if they're the most talented offensive line in the country, but, but there's also a lot of guys starting for Georgia's offensive line and playing a lot of reps whose age starts with the number one, you know, and it's not crazy to think that Vendables could confuse some of their protection stuff, you know, could, could create some free runners. Like, look, I, I think Georgia's quarterback is a good player, but I don't think he's like a takeover guy, you know, it's, he's more like a take advantage of what they give you type guy and Georgia can win a lot of football games, you know, with him, but if he's got a bunch of free runners at him, if Vendables just finds a way to just coach his butt off and gets guys open, then man, like, maybe we're doing it, you know, like, maybe it happens. I could see it. I don't think it's like incredibly likely, but it's, it's possible. And then Matthieu to Stenja, I guess, Matthieu running around like crazy. The thing is, like, Georgia's really good at linebacker. And Georgia's defensive line, I think, is living up to the hype. So, you know, they could probably control that. I think Oklahoma can make this game uncomfortable. Me too. With their defense or you think your offense can, with their defense. I mean, I, you, you hit on a lot like who you played, how you played, the how you played Georgia, no questions asked. They've played incredible, but they haven't played anybody with a pulse. This will be the best defense that they've seen by far. And their offense has had great numbers. But again, like Bud just mentioned, it's, it's a good offensive line, but it's a young overall offensive line going up again, stay very good defense. That is very, it can confuse the crap out of you. You have to hope Gunner with all his experience is able to kind of help his offensive line out as far as like the pre snap reads and checks, making sure everybody knows where everybody's coming from. But they're going to blitz the hell out of you. It's what they do. And you have to be ready for it. You have to be able to pick it up. And if you're not, they're going to make life uncomfortable. So how comfortable can Georgia stay and get will they be able to run the ball effectively enough to kind of slow the Oklahoma pass, rush down and give them, you know, take some pressure off of that offensive line. And then on the other side, yeah, I, I don't know how many points Oklahoma home scores that they're going to need to force turnovers to give themselves a shot. I just, I have very little faith in this offense right now because they have not looked good at anything. And I don't know. I will say like we the Michigan's really good, right? We think their defense is really good. They left some points on the board. Not a ton. It's not like they would have lit them up. But like that's the one wild card is mature. If he does connect on a big player, too, if he runs because he's kind of squarely, he can get out of there. Like I think that could make it interesting. And I know Georgia fans are all excited that Georgia's offense looks fixed and it's explosive now. And, you know, Gunnar Stockton's running for 79 yard gains. I don't, that's what I'm kind of most curious to see is Georgia's offense versus Oklahoma's defense. Because I think that's going to be a challenge. Even without David Stone, I just, I'm not sold 100% that Georgia's explosive now on offense. So I'm kind of curious to see how that works out. And I do think with Oklahoma, it's kind of a wild card. Like they're enough scary where they've got some dudes, but if they they haven't been able to run the football. Like I know we're talking about material. And he hasn't been crisp. They have not delivered on giving him a run game, which was supposed to be the big thing that we're going to fix this off season. They have not fixed that. So like it could be a really long day. And like I don't expect Oklahoma to score a lot of points. But I do think material kind of he's just kind of dangerous enough where if he scrambles around, makes a big player to, you know, connect on a throw that he's missed, you know, the first few games, that could make it uncomfortable. So I don't, I don't think it'll be as ugly as Michigan versus Iowa. But I think it could have that type of old school SEC type feel. Trinidad did run around against this Georgia defense and connect downfield. But it's the connection that I think is fair to question when we move from a Trinidad to a John Meteor proposition. Yeah. What did the reporting that you saw? There's a growing component. That's what I'm saying. And you're when you were reading the reports on the David Stone injury, did they include any details on how the injury happened? Just in practice. Yeah, I saw some some said it was on offense, and some said it was on offense. - I don't, I don't, I don't, I don't.
like a source source thing for the Oklahoma beat, whichever they don't care about. I just care like, does he play or not, and when's he coming back? - Agree, which is why I didn't want to mention it first and I didn't want to interrupt you, but I did want to include that if they hurt their best defensive lineman because they were trying to help their offense, this is truly a curse season for the Oklahoma Sooners. You know, it's like, oh, how David Stone get hurt. Well, we were trying them out at running back. Like, oh, God. - Okay, what? - I do think like some reports say they got a shot to get Fussusi back this week and the backer back this week. Like that, that matters. Fussusi, I think, is at least a decent player and maybe a lot more and the kid they've been running out there is not. And if they don't have Fussusi and it left tackle, Oklahoma's screwed. Georgia will eat that backups lunch all day and they'll get at least like one strip sack or just like turnover directly related to just an OLA block and it'll be, like Oklahoma just can't give Georgia those opportunities, if it has any shot to win this game. - I got, you guys go ahead. - I got one question for you boys here that I'm just wondering. Like we are, we're Oklahoma, we're two in one or two touchdown underdogs going on the road to face the frickin' Georgia Bulldogs. Our quarterback has looked awful. We're reportedly trying out our best defensive line at Wildcat QB, which again, that was refuted by a lot of sources, but let's just go with it. - I think it's funny. I think that he got hurt doing that was refuted. I, if anybody's refuted that, like he actually is playing some Wildcat QB. - Okay. - So we're clearly trying things for our offense, trying to find a spark. What are the odds we learned that maybe we try a spark with Witt and Newbauer at quarterback during this game? - Oh, just bench him? - Like what if material gets benched? - Too early. - Too early, you might be two and two. - There's probably politics in this. I mean, what I'm gonna try to out-meteer is like a good player in the off season face the program type thing. He's all over the college role series, you know, with, like, sometimes politics play into this. - And if I was to try somebody else, maybe it's the same thing. - Sometimes the politics of appeasing your fans, who might be sick of seeing John Matier plays into it too. 'Cause there's not, from what I, the, the Oklahoma fans, I interact with, not a lot of support and belief in John Matier right now. - Aren't they playing in our buckle though more? I mean, I don't, I'm kind of saying. - They were chanting fire our buckle. - Right, which I don't think is really fair. Like, I, like, I think if you watch the quarterback play, it has not been like, he's missed some throws. Again, I mentioned Michigan, like, they should have won that game. That wasn't on our buckle. - Everyone. - I mean, the reality is they're all under, like, the offense was like, "Trocious." So they're all getting blame. And if you are our buckle, I mean, you came with Matier, you've just got to go out with your fastball and hope that he's able to go, "Do you, you don't have to?" - You don't think so? - You could try a new quarterback. I mean, it's not like there's a law that says, just because both of you came that you have to remain a package deal. This is a weak, weak sport, man. - I know, but it's, I, I, I mean, maybe if it's 14, three and a half, and it's your defense plan, they're tails off, and you're off, yeah. - Yeah, man. - I'm not saying new power starts the game, but I'm saying if things go poorly in this game, can you make people-- - And what's the worst? - And what's the worst of rolling out their first series or two? - I'll, a thought here is that George's tight ends could have a big day if Brent Venables gets too aggressive, and they leave those spaces of the field vacant and gunner stocked in with his experience. If he sees it and he can identify it, then I mean, George has got awesome tight ends. Guys, you won't believe this. Kirby, smart, Georgia Bulldogs have a couple tight ends that can all go out there, you know, get out there, make a catch, and then maybe even shake off an arm tackle. So I think this is one of those games where, yeah, George's downfield passing attack, I do not think we'll be successful against Stoke, like overwhelmingly successful against this Oklahoma defense. It's not like they're gonna be able to set up these long developing plays, but if this Oklahoma defense gets their hand stuck in the cookie jar, I think it's gonna be because these tight ends are gonna be able to have some open space in key downs, and that's just gonna be really, really tough for Oklahoma to be able to handle if Georgia can string together long plays throughout this game. - Chip, is there, is the reason you don't want new power playing? Is there some like, Raleigh kind of rivalry here? Is he like from a family that you just don't like? 'Cause he is a Raleigh boy. I'm surprised you're not supporting him. - What high school? - I don't know, he's just from Raleigh. He went to Mercer out of high school, transferred to Oklahoma from there. I mean, this guy is six, six, 240 pounds. I'm just saying, that's a unit. - Didn't that, didn't that Bradenakinson kid, didn't he come from Mercer too? Is Mercer a quarterback victory? - Yeah, what if Mercer's a QB factory? We're just sitting here with John Matier. - Well, see, we got frickin' Bradenakinson sitting on the bench ready to sling it all over. - Well, the reason why I asked is, you know, if he played it Garner, and I didn't know about him, that's on me. But if he's one of these North Raleigh Christian Academy, you know, eight man football types, then look. I mean, you're all tools and no substance in my book. Come on, man, let's step up into North Carolina High School, athletic association, big levels. - He went to Cardinal Gibbons. - Oh, yeah. - No, they've actually got a football powerhouse. But, oh, golly. I'll keep my rivalries to myself. Okay, anything else on Georgia Oklahoma? Okay, let's take this a little bit open. Bud, what sort of like next in the list of games that you want to make sure we get here in BGB with at least a word or two before we get out of here? Rapid fire. - All right, just, I mean, honestly, like I want to see the Camario show. You know, like we may only have like 20 games left for him in college football. So, you know, Missouri going to Mississippi state, like line open up. Like, yeah, now it's, you know, probably close to seven, I would think just Camario, Camario, Camario. Honestly, like Missouri has not looked good. Like that, that win over Kansas looks worse after you saw Arizona State Kansas. I do think Simmons has done some nice stuff. I don't really like the pieces around this year. I know Missouri fans got really mad. And I was like, I don't, I think they had a downgrade at offensive coordinator in the offseason, but like so far, kind of unimpressed with it. Like a lot of this good stuff they've done, I feel like has been Simmons just throwing lasers to the wide side of the field, which is, you know, like something he does physically. So I don't really like what they're doing on offense quite as much this year. They're probably gonna have to keep pace 'cause that Missouri defense is decidedly worse than it was last year, which is what's expected because they lost so much off last year's defense. And I just wanna see if Camaro, you know, can cook them. - A bunch of basic top 25 bitches on this show. - We haven't talked about Vegas game of the week. - You messed that state. - Boys, he's going for it. - Boysy getting on the plane, flying east to Kalamazoo, asking where's Waldo Stadium, trying to go up against the Western Michigan Broncos in a game that could really ultimately decide who the G6 playoff team is coming to the end of the year. - Yep. - So what do you think? What do you think Lance Taylor's boys are gonna have for them? 'Cause I feel like I know more about, I mean, look, we saw the game against Michigan and we were able to apply all of the accolades that came from that. But I feel like I've watched a little bit more boysy state on the season as a whole. So what do you think the Broncos will have for them? - I think they're gonna have a tough defense form. I think they're gonna make life difficult for Maddox, Madison and those guys coming in as touchdown favorites to go in there and just walk away. And I also think they're gonna, you know, throw a lot of Jalen Buckley out of them. They're running back. See if he can help control that ground attack and help keep them, you know, keep that offense on the field. And Ken Brock Lowry, who has not made many mistakes at all, he's got 400 over 400 yards passing. He's got over 100 yards rushing. He's got, you know, five touchdowns on the year. Can he, you know, keep things on schedule? Can he avoid the mistakes? Because in this spot, as an underdog, you can't afford mistakes. And I think that Western Michigan, you know, they might have a little something up their sleeve for those Boise State Broncos. - I agree. I think if you look at Boise Memphis, you know, Boise was the right side in that game. Boise outplayed Memphis that game. Also kind of spiraled off that punt return, you know, and then it was kind of like a fighter that couldn't get to the corner. And Boise just kind of dog pile up. - Was Tipton the name of the Memphis Titan? He was out for about a quarter in the middle of the game before coming back in, got a little shaken up. You know, they've got a really good big Memphis does. But to your point, yes, it was a, things went from bad to worse than a road game and Broncos just were able to roll after that. - Yeah, I mean, if Boise gets this one, they're like the massive favorite to make the playoff. You know, there's still quite a few teams alive. Obviously, North Dakota State is very much alive. JMU is certainly still alive. I mean, it's, I don't think it's a fact. It's my opinion that if it's close, they're gonna go with somebody who's not JMU. You know, just based on what happened last year. And that's not really their fault. Like, you're not gonna do anything it's Oregon, in Oregon Stadium. And they sent your fault to Bears of Caleb Williams we're playing and everybody switched it off what once Oregon got up to 38 to 3. But like, if Boise gets this, you got to like them the rest of the way. - They still gotta go and win the games though. They still gotta go and take care of this. - No doubt, no doubt. - No doubt. but these were those now.
conference games that help decide which conference gets the benefit of the doubt at the end of the year. Well, don't you not have to win your conference, though? You do not have to win your conference for the group of six. The, the, the, the qualifications. The qualifications just require that one non autonomous team is in the field. Right. The autonomous is powerful plus Notre Dame. So which I think we read is like a ceiling end of floor, probably, right, unofficially, right. Why even have G6 conferences now? Just get rid of them and just let them all just just play the best G6 teams have to play off all regular season long. I mean, do we have that with Toledo hosting San Diego State kind of kegs and eggs out there in the glass bowl. It's a super interesting one. Like Toledo with that crazy outside kick pulled it out against temple. I think San Diego State's defense is still pretty reliable. Denegal is not just rough, man. Yeah. At JMU San Diego State game was a tough watch for the Aztecs because they'd come up with a good stop. They might even have good field position. But yeah, that ball didn't go to the end zone though, not often though. I think that mean early kick, by the way, that's on CBS Sports Network 12 o'clock. Yeah, Toledo, they are trying to ride that incredible comeback and recognize the opportunity that's there with another quality opponent that's coming in. They're trying to create a little bit of an atmosphere for that game. I'll be tuning in for sure to be able to see San Diego State set your alarm Saturday in Toledo. If they get the kegs and eggs going, that would be a fun story out there in a program that just saw a coaching change. Let's see Arkansas Tulsa. How many strokes does Traylon get against the hogs? I mean, Arkansas might get a win because Tulsa's quarterback is out. That'd be a ranked win according to Ralph Russo. Yeah. We didn't discuss Wisconsin Penn State. Do you think that's a game? Yeah. There are a lot of 3-0 teams that we're about to find out a lot more. Yeah, I think that's a game. I mean, it's, what's the spread? Nine, 10. Yeah, it felt a little tiny to me. Tiny. A little tiny. Oh, tipping his hand. I don't know if I can't unlock it. I don't know what this is bouncing back. But hold on, let me set a calendar alert for when you're going to be backing Luke fickle in a lock fight. Yeah, all right. We can maybe even put a fickle on it. There are a lot of there are a lot of 3-0 teams that, you know, fan bases are excited. Penn State's one of them. We're about to find out about Nebraska at Michigan State on the road. Jamal rule, taking the field. You can see how he can run the ball against that Michigan State Cam Edwards. I think it's a good running back matchup, but Nebraska's feeling a lot of positive Mojo. I think Michigan State's playing tougher. They're just, they're, they're a tougher out than they had. Danny, I saw a quote that said, Pat Fitzgerald to say, and don't take the rat poison. I said, for what? I don't know where he's all that. Like Bud said, Bud said Michigan, I kind of like, maybe they weren't playing to beat Notre Dame, just kind of make it not that bad. This is the type of game they're going to roll out everything to try to beat up by Notre Dame, by the way. Yeah, that's concerned. Nebraska has looked pretty good after a shaky start against Ohio. Jamal rules a stud. We'll see. We'll see. But they're also Nebraska's on the road as a favorite. Yeah, exactly. It's like, okay, Nebraska can score some points. Michigan State has not shown the ability to score any points against anybody with a pulse, but we also really haven't seen Michigan State against like a mid-level team, right? We've seen him against Notre Dame, which we knew would shut them down. And we've seen them against some max schools, which we knew they would score some points against. I don't hate. Why do I hate Penn State? I think I hate Penn State. Matt thinks you hate Penn State. It was, it was so funny. Not Michael Snowden, but another, we've got like a couple of Mike's Mike Mike Mike. We got a couple of Michaels in the tailgate. I was saying, what, what about the ACC love? Rough ACC week. Like if you go and you sort your CBS sports app by scores and ACC, it's not great. But I would want to turn your attention. Because big game, Brom, it's late enough in the podcast. He's had a refractory period before. It's got Wake Forest coming down. The older you get, the longer it gets. It is a focus, a challenge of focus because Wake Forest is good enough to take an unfocused team and make them sweat a little bit. So there are a lot of games against FCS opponents. If you're really into just, I don't know what the vibes are going to be in Carter Friendly Stadium as the app state goes to play NC State in the wake of the disaster in Nashville last week, the debacle. But yeah, Louisville Wake Forest is the one ACC game that I think has my attention the most. The reason. Good day. No, go ahead. If you got something on this game, because there's another game that's jumping out to me that you're not putting out there. Yeah, the reason why I didn't put this on my Game Watch guide is because the only reason with this game is interesting is if it's super ugly and it probably won't be a good watch. Got it. What were you? What was I missing? What about Clemson? Did they find their quarterback? Is anybody watching Friday night? There's no way I'm losing sleep to watch. I'm losing sleep to watch this Clemson offense. And I hate this cowl offense. It's like free JKS, please. I will be watching. I think that's a sneaky good game. Does Davo, does he get off his hot seat? Do they figure it out or are they looking at an L where they're an underdog on the road? Oh, Danny. I do they get beat. I regret to offer my admission that I think Davo might be on one. He might actually turn this thing around and like start winning a couple games. And he's going to talk about this 8 and 14 like they should hang a banner. Are you saying the lighting delay was biblical chip? He said the good lord showing on him. He says, I know God don't don't pick who wins football games, but we got a little favor today. Every single Clemson games had a weather delay. Correct. Correct. And now they're playing a game on a fault line. Oh god. Quick. Hey, and you know what else? They said it's a long trip out here. But if I remember correctly, we were we won a national championship not too far from here. You know, like you can start start wafting it into the air. I Graham Neff the athletic director on the field after the game taking the shot and sharing it might be the start of something special. Yeah, we we went from trying to Barry Davo to maybe having him to find a little something extra. We'll see. We'll see. Cal Cal 100% could wake up Sunday morning and Tom can let us know when he gets through with the earthquake delays on Friday night. He'll let us know in the cover three group chat. What Davos said after the game. I mean, I think the Friday night schedule is perfect because by the time Cal and Clemson are kicking off, Indiana should be up 70 on Northwestern by that point. So you're going to want to find something else to flip over to. I think that could be a test at all for half for Indiana. Yeah. No. No. No. No. No. No. No, I'm just saying they did just have an impressive win versus Colorado 41 seven. Like it's Colorado. I get it. But I would expect maybe a good fight early. Remember that picture of like in the offseason of Colorado going to practice and everybody on the team was like five eight hundred and twenty pounds. And like you mentioned it and like all the Colorado fans are getting on your case. So God damn, they looked five eight and 120 pounds against Northwestern last week. Didn't they? Yeah. They were DBs and receivers and probably walk on. I would hope. Yeah, but still the Guardian caps didn't do them no justice. They didn't look like a video. I hate the guard. That's right. You're right, Danny. I forgot Northwestern is full of just giant human beings, not a bunch of nerds. Let's see Vanderbilt Auburn. That's a little bit of pressure on Polish. Yeah. And I like he's the must win game for him. Also in the I mentioned UMassak State. We got Toledo San Diego State. A Colorado State UTSA game, which you know, we've got to check in on the quarterback health situation there. Oh, this is fun. Did you know, we got a little Army Navy double header Friday? Yeah. Four o'clock. Yeah. Friday afternoon game. I know it's great. Army and Navy both playing on the road on four o'clock for I think the Army game and then seven o'clock for the Navy game. They're playing Temple and UAB off the top of my head. Little service academy Friday. I don't know. Is there veterans days not for another six weeks? I'd always hear for respecting the troops. Is there any any reason to throw this together? Not reason, but I mean, no, here for it. Yeah. Four o'clock football. Let's go. Let's do it. I got I got another game that's worth attention. Okay. It's got a weird start time though. Like I don't big time network has started kind of throwing in these odd, like, off kilters. - 130.
Eastern time. Yeah, 130 Eastern. Maryland is hosting UCLA. Maryland coming off the lost of Virginia Tech UCLA. Three and O start. Danny, you've talked about it. Gonna learn a lot about some three and O teams. They've played on the road, but it was at Cal. They have not left the state of California. Now they're flying all the way across the country to play at what is 10 30 AM local time against a Maryland team that's looked pretty good and like they lost to Virginia Tech, but it's not like they looked bad doing it. Just going to find out something about a UCLA team that I think has been a great job of running the football, but it's kind of playing one handed this year. They're not. They're not the greatest passing offense that I've seen so far. So well, that'll be a fun game. UCLA road favorite. Mm hmm. Again, traveling all the way across the country, early morning, start time and a road favorite. It didn't play well last week. No, but I think Purdue deserves some credit. For sure, but Bob Tessney was saying, after the game, he was like, we were sloppy. There were a lot of things that we missed. There were a lot of things that weren't really clicking. Purdue definitely deserves credit, but I think his own assessment of his team was a lot to clean up, a lot to work on moving forward. Bill Roth, who's been the voice of Virginia Tech for a long time, was with our friends, West Arm and Roddy Jones. He called it sea of maroon, orange and aluminum, as in the bleachers were empty. And the Virginia Tech fans in the DC area had took it over. I mean, it's just, you were talking about Virginia Tech fans how they're feeling. They are rotten high after being able to hand Maryland that kind of result. So, yeah, I mean, locks has got to circle the wagons. This is a big circle. The wagon spot after the assessment is that your fans were outnumbered by the time the clock hit zeros in your own stadium. Do we think ruins fans will make the trip? They don't even make the trip to the Rose Bowl. I don't think they're good. What if what if the argument is that it's actually easier to fly to DC than it is to get on the floor. Right. It's a shorter trip. And look, I'm not in LAX. I don't have my frequent flyer LAX card, but LAX is, to me, has been a good and airport knock on wood. But like, getting in, getting out, I haven't had any horror stories. To me, it isn't about necessary the flights. It's about getting to your flight, like through the traffic around the stadium is the biggest issue. Oh, it's also my LAX, the airport. No, I know. Yeah, it's not necessarily the flight. It's just, if you have to return a car, you got to ride a bus. If you're driving there, I've been in an Uber and had to wait, like, you get there and you think you're, oh, I got plenty of time. And then there's like a mile of cars dropping off people. That, to me, is the biggest issue with LAX. Okay. Any other games that we have not given any appropriate or needed attention to? People keep asking me about the Illinois Ohio State game. We're going to find out how many yards, you know, Ohio State rush for in a single game. That's what we're going to find out. Because I mean, Jeremiah Smith, I don't know if he's going to even see a target, because they probably won't have to throw. Yeah, I'm expecting. What's the name of that? Is CPAC the conservative convention? Yes. Yeah, Ryan Day's going to be in his CPAC bag with this one. You know, we don't have to do a lot. We're just going to, I got a good, we're blocking and tackling boys. That's what we're working on today. You know, it's going to be a pretty fun game. What? 3-0 West Virginia at home, playing against Drew Mesta maker. Oklahoma State. Very fun game. That's a fun game. Pit 12's got to be interesting. This is such a stacked weekend. Last weekend, I was a little overwhelmed like holy crap. How do I keep up with everything? This weekend is going to be even bigger, like keeping eyes on everything. Yeah, you're not going to watch 60 minutes of Kansas State Cincinnati, but that's not like there's going to be stuff that we can learn from that game that's going to be very informative moving forward. So I got a prediction here week four from now on, like there's like six or seven matched ranked matchups this week. Week four every year is going to have a ton of ranked matchups because week four will be the every cent nobody's played a conference game yet in the big 10 in SCC. Everybody who's three knows ranked. So all of a sudden you've got a bunch of quote unquote ranked games. Whatever. I'll take it. That's fine. If people need little numbers to get excited about it and come to watch big game breakdown, sure. I am, I'm not only, you know what? Some people want to abolish the AP poll. I want to codify it, okay? Congress. I want to make sure that the AP poll codified as law in the United States of America. We've been doing this. It's 1936, okay? This is heritage. We are going to be back with you here at youtube.com/cover3 on Thursday 11 a.m. Eastern time to give you our very best bets for this loaded week four. So come and hang out in the tailgate. You get up the likes. We give you the locks, the locks. They'll move the lines one way. Maybe for us maybe against us. We'll see you in the recap screen. And you can follow him on twitter at time for now. You can follow him @dannecano. Follow me @chip_patterson. Gentlemen, thank you very much. Thank you. See you. Rising UFC stars take center stage inside the octagon. What a fight. What a night. Natalia Silba. She is an absolute killer versus Wong-Tong. Wong-Tong defies the playbook. In the first female championship main event in more than three years. Wow! The queen of the world! The women's UFC flyweight title Saturday October 30th on Paramount Plus with no more pay-per-view.
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