Week 6 Breakdown: Overreactions, AP Poll Takeaways & MORE | Upon Further Review

Welcome back to the Cover 3 Podcast with your host, Chip Patterson, Tom Fernelli, Danny Kennell, and Bob Elliott. It's your call for the best college football coverage from National Signing Day to the National Championship and everything in between. CBS Sports presents the Cover 3 Podcast. Welcome back to the Cover 3 Podcast, here on CBS Sports, that's Tom Fernelli, that's Danny Kennell. I'm Chip Patterson, coming to you live at youtube.com/cover3 and everywhere you get your podcasts on a man. Thanks for hanging out. Smash that subscribe, smash that like and come and join us in the chat. Hey Kate, hey the Cover 3 tail gay. We're there talking about some conference realignment, dang I thought we had closed the conference realignment box, somebody left it open, we got a story to get to coming out of the Sunbelt and the American Athletic Conference. Also, dirty dogs, 92 jumped into the tailgate and said, need DK's thoughts on Gunners performance. We got a lot to be able to get to fall out, of course, from the massive, massive win for the Georgia Bulldogs against Alabama, we'll lead in to Polis Hassan, but DK, you came with some, some upon further review on the notepad already. Was this one of them because we can table it? It was not. It was not. Now, because I think in the pre-game show in the morning, I described Gunner Stockton as the most underrated, underappreciated quarterback in the country. Then we did a quarterback comparison between Keel and Russell and Gunner Stockton and I said, I'll take Keel and Russell. I still, even though acknowledging what he was, it's just, you kind of see the upside and you see what things can do, but Gunner is exactly what Kirby wants in his quarterback. It really is. He is, do not take this as a slight, he is an exceptional game manager. He knows how to manage the game. He's cautious with the football. He picks his shots to get plays. He's a tough runner who can show you his athletic ability when he needs to be there. He's the perfect fit for Kirby Smart. I do think, like, I think the question we all had for Gunner was we know the floor, what could the ceiling be for the Georgia Bulldogs? I think Gunner's proven, now do I pick Georgia Bulldogs to win a national championship? No, but I think his ceiling is a national championship. I think that's kind of where I've kind of evolved with Gunner Stockton, like, why can't he win a national championship? So I think I've elevated the ceiling for Gunner Stockton. Great stat here. Sorry, Tom, I just, uh, striker's pulling it up. So for the audio audience at home, I wanted to make sure Gunner Stockton career on the road is a starting quarterback, five and O record, completing 70.5% of his passes, 10 total touchdowns, Russian's, Russia's included there to just one interception. Um, you know, Tom, how about this? We've game, game manager, game changer, playmaker. We always use these terms to try to box in these quarterbacks. Tom, I just thought about this as Danny was talking. You know what Gunner Stockton in? He's a throwmaker. I can't promise that he is going to change the entire game alone on himself. And he is not going to be able to do all of the play. But if George's wide receivers can be on the other side, he made some throws in massive massive moments into tight windows, delivering the ball where it needed to be like, I, I might start calling Gunner Stockton a throwmaker. That works. I mean, yeah, he, he's not somebody that are asking to drop back to throw 45, 50 times a game and be the offense. Like you see with a couple of teams, he's just somebody who is like, they asked him to make a certain amount of throws every week and he's very good at making him. Like I, last week I put up the chart about his downfield passing, which had not been good so far this year against Alabama. He averaged like, I think it was 11.2 air yards per attempt. And he raised his throw on, you know, 10 plus from like a completion rate of 38 to 52 in one game. So like, he had probably, that was the best performance he's had all year. And it was at a really good time for him to have it. So yeah. Yep. All right. The George and Bulldog. Go ahead. Do you guys think they can win a national championship with Gunner Stockton? Yeah. Yes. Did you think that before last night? Yeah. Yeah. Or Saturday night. So I was a little bit more doubtful. But I mean, again, like what more stats do you need, what more evidence do you need than what he's done on the road, what he's done in big games, the dude has delivered every time. So before Fernando Mendoza, we had the year before we've been will Howard, JJ McCarthy, Stetson Bennett, Stetson Bennett, Mac Jones, you know, right? And so Mac Jones was a top 15 pick, though. So like, he's a little bit of an outlier and they threw it. They relied on him a little bit more. But those other examples are great examples of why Georgia could win with Gunner Stockton. Yep. 100%. All right. And surprisingly did take over the number one spot, but let's get into the rest of the changes and the rankings with the segment. We like to call all the assassin right there at the top. The dogs do take the number one spot, 66 of the first place votes, Notre Dame Miami and Indiana also catching a couple of strays. But this is a heavy, heavy hold on number one for the Bulldogs, a team that had looked great against everybody, finally played a top team and was able to come out victorious. Now Alabama, interestingly enough, in the wash, doesn't move at all. You know, some teams, some voters adjusted where they were by a spot or two, but in the consensus, the Alabama Crimson Tides stay where they were sitting right there at number six. Some light shuffling around them. The long horns fall out of the top spot where they were down at six spots to number seven. A little bit further down in the ranking. You do see a massive move up for UCLA, up nine spots to number 12, a big move down for LSU, down 12 spots. A lot of just loose shuffling, otherwise, congratulations to the Kentucky Wildcats. Getting back in, remember, they won. They fell out. Now they're back. They're back up into number 15. The Wake Forest Demon Deacons ranked, as we said on Saturday night for the first time since 2022, they are it checking in at number 21. Northwestern breaking through, getting 112 votes to Wisconsin's 92. I love this little big 10 battle between one-loss teams fighting for a little tiny number. The very few votes end up going Northwestern's way and they break through. Oregon falls out. The Florida Gators fall out. Panthers, obviously, 25. They fall out, that thoughts on what we saw from the movement within the APTAP 25 poll. I honestly, from one to 25, there are differences I would have in mind, but as a consensus, there's nothing in this week's poll that really bothers me much. There are some individual ballots, but I'm actually encouraged that we are seeing so far this year more drastic changes. On a weekly basis, you can call it over reactions like we saw with Florida jumping into the top 10 and then falling out. I think that's what this poll should be early in the season because we really don't know. We don't have enough of a sample yet to really know who's good and who's bad. I'm happy that we see more changes weekend and week out. That said, I guess we can wait, but there are some individual ballots from I'm scratching my head. I do think I'm glad to see, and I don't want this to sound the right way because I do think head-to-head should matter, right? If at the end of the season, let's say Ohio State and Texas both went out, I think you should be able to flip those back and you can say, you know what, Texas beat Ohio State, but I am glad that in this moment, the voters were, I'm sure there was some that hard line, head-to-head matter. I'm sure someone, that's probably why Texas only drops six spots. If you watch those two teams play and they have the same record and there is a head-to-head, I'm glad that Ohio State, even though they lost that game, is ahead of Texas because I don't think I mean even going into this game, we were like, are we sure Texas? The number one team, well now they get beat by an Oklahoma team, that's not that good offensively, and I think you can make a case that could be even lower, but I'm glad that the voters didn't go hard line, head-to-head this moment, like in this moment, again, end of the season, if it becomes, hey, they're similar resumes, they're right next to each other, then yeah, I would go ahead and flip those back and say you've got to give credit to Texas for winning, but right now, Ohio State has looked way better than Texas, so I like the fact that they drop Texas blow 'em. In terms of quality of play, I would welcome, you know, if you want to tell me your voting approach is going to go like, for Nellie rating style, no preseason bias baked in at all, it's just simply based on your performance. You could have Texas at a fairly decent, they won enough games, okay? They did win, like it wasn't just a head-to-head result, they did have to go and overcome that deficit and beat a very good Ohio State team. They have done things on the field this year that have been impressive and that are worthy of consideration for a lot of these spots that are up here in the top 10, but if you want to tell me that in terms of the overall sample, there has been such underperformance, particularly on the offensive side of the ball, that you just aren't going to sit there with the flashy roster spend and the big future NFL draft picks, and it's like, no, I'm sorry, you're not going to be able to hang on up there in one of those top spots. If that's your argument, you're not going to get a lot of pushback from me because the underperformance of the Long Horns is undoubtedly the biggest storyline in Austin around this program right now. To your point in the for Nellie ratings, Texas is 27th. That feels perfectly fine. You know, there's Keith before last week, and then Danny, that's just what you've done on the field, right? Which includes a defense that looks great, right? A defense that does that causes havoc, that it does a really good job of, of tilting the field. But man, so many three inouts, so many empty possessions, the mistakes, obviously from archmating in others, it's just penalties, it's just an ugly scene out there. The fornelli rankings, similar to the canal, the DK top 12, a little handshake, how you doing? The one thing too that I thought was UCLA, just people have a hard time like giving them credit for what they've done so far, and 12 is a huge jump, I don't know if it's high enough. Like, and they'll still, they'll be able to claw their way up, and they can keep winning games, and if they do, the other teams will lose, and they'll knock them off. But that was a big road win that, if that's Ohio State winning at Oregon, they're getting like love for being the best team in the country, and UCLA still is not getting, I don't think enough credit for what they've done so far on the field, including like, to me, I thought the big wake up win for UCLA, yes, this obviously was the big one, but 54 to 3 against Maryland on the East Coast was a, oh, this team, and I didn't give them enough credit, I thought Oregon would win the game, and we can talk about some of their quarterback issues that are unfolding, but I still don't think UCLA is getting enough credit for what they've done so far. I agree with you, like, I had UCLA in my pretend ballot at 10, but I will also say UCLA playing a team with its backup quarterback that turned the ball over seven times, one by two. Yes. Yes. So, hey, when's the win? Don't apologize for what? It's not like they were, it's not like they were tearing it up. Yeah, and, and also like a closer examination of like the San Diego State game certainly showed a lot of times where UCLA did not look like a championship contender, I mean, they're finding their feet just like a lot of teams in college football. I would say the, if for my own personal opinion, because on Saturday night, I'm trying to predict what these guys are going to do. Now here on Monday, I get to sort of offer my own thumb on the scale a little bit. I think Oregon's got better wins than LSU and LSU hanging on at 22. I don't know what, I don't know if the respect is for the Clemson win or the Texas A&M win or the Louisiana Tech win. Which one of those are supposed to be good? Yeah. Like, I mean, that's because I, I lost my mind, I checked, but I was looking at all the polls and saw Oregon, the coaches pulled so they can go thrown into this. They're stupid too, because I think the AP voters are stupid sometimes as well. I did not think LSU should have been ranked. Tom brought up Arizona, I think on the reaction pod. I think they're a great candidate, you know, a road loss that was, you know, it's double digits, it's a one great, but it's to a really good BYU team that they were in the game at halftime. I think Arizona should be ranked probably in their spot, at least in the top 25 in LSU should not. But, and I, what I can't figure out is I do, I do think people don't like Lane Kiffin and yet they still do kind of like Lane Kiffin and his track record, I guess, is a head coach, because I don't know why they're ranked. I'll go ahead. I was going to do this as a blind resume, but you just, you kind of ruined it, Chip. Strike your face. If you could put up the graphic, I sent you, I mean, to me, this was going to be a case of, like, what's more important to you, wins are good losses. And it's a test case, teammate in this graphic for those who aren't watching or are watching is Oregon. Team B is LSU. If using FPI, Oregon has better wins than LSU does on average by far, like their average FPI rank to their, their wins is 24th. LSU is 51 and a third. Yeah. Oklahoma State and USC is a pair of good wins. Not a lot of people can drop two cards on the table that you're going to be like, okay, those are pretty good wins. And the ducks can. But when you compare the losses by FPI, LSU's got the stronger resume there. So it really becomes a sample of, like, what do you prefer? But what I think is more interesting than anything on this is, like, they're both big brands. They are both highly ranked to start the season. One of them seems to be getting punished far more punitively than the other by the voters. And for whatever reason you want to move on for that to be, there's some reason between it. What will be interesting, because the FPI might be slightly slanted towards certain conferences, is if Oregon's losses look better than LSU's losses at the end of the season. Right now, they might look a little bit better, but if UCLA keeps winning, no, no mistake, if it's winning, those losses might be some of the best losses in the country. I'm going to, I'm going to defend FPI here. It is not a perfect power rating metric. There is no perfect power rating metric. But every single power, but finale ratings aren't a power rating. They're just a performance rate. Yeah. But my power rankings, guess what? I'm an SEC home or two. So is SG plus so is Sagger and so is every single power ranking because overall, the teams are stronger. Doesn't mean that they're going to win every game, but overall they're expected to. Yeah. Team strength and performance are two different things. Lots of, lots of strong, lots of teams with a lot of great team strength don't come through. I mentioned Oklahoma State earlier, I meant Boise State clearly, but the point still stands. I like the way you presented this. We'll get a little bit more on the ducks. I know here coming up in a little bit. And you mentioned Lane Kiffin's track record. Isn't his track record record to lose to Kentucky? Isn't his track record to drop some of these along the way? We had to assume that these were scheduled losses at least, and if you were close fan of history for college football, you should have known that something like this could be coming along the way. So can I yell at some people now? Yeah. Yeah. All right. I need to know what P.I.A.D. is smoking. He's from Spartanburg, South Carolina. He works at W.S.P.A. That's good to back up. You know, you start reading. I'm going to read the top. You're not going to really see anything too crazy here, but his top 10 are, you know, Georgia, Miami, Notre Dame, Texas, Ohio State, Indiana. He could be like, well, he's got two one loss teams ahead of Indiana, but then Alabama, Texas, Texas, BYU, Old Miss, Utah, Tennessee. All right. Hey, you know, high, high for balls, but okay, yeah, but we're perfectly. This is perfectly reasonable. All right. Let's get the team 13 Wisconsin. 13? 13. P.Anity has Wisconsin at 13 on his ballot. He's got the badgers ahead of Iowa, Oklahoma State, Mississippi State, Missouri. Kentucky. And this is my favorite. You know, who has it? 20th with all those teams. I just listed ahead of them. For 21st. No. You see a lay. He's got to feed his UCLA eight spots behind Wisconsin, whose best win is, I don't even know, like Michigan State, Penn State, like which one do you want to consider their best win? So P.Anity passed it. My brother passed it on down the chain here. Let's share it. Don't hog it all, dude. And then call for the audio listeners, by the way, another one here, Chip, you or Danny, you mentioned this team earlier. Here's somebody that does love them, all right? Koki Riley, more like cracky Riley, because brother, you know who, you know who Koki's got it? 12. Here, I'm going to air it. We'll do the same thing. Number one, Georgia, Alabama, Ohio State, Miami, Notre Dame, BYU, Indiana, Old Miss. Real quick. Real quick. Respect to the Alabama number two. I bet that's even higher than they had him before. Yeah. I don't hate that. I don't hate walking out of that game and being like, I think those are the two best teams. Georgia won Alabama too. I don't hate that. I hate that. But historically, listen, I've studied these, these guys for years. This is, this is what he, yeah, Koki, Koki is more of a power rater overall, like he does do some reaction to results, but he's mostly very power rating focused and that is driving a lot of what he does. That's what made this incredibly surprising to me, because I'm going down and you get to 12, Arizona at 12, four and one, I like it, Koki, four and one, okay. That's cool, but like, let's, let's go through Arizona's resume real quick. They beat Northern Illinois, Washington state, since the NAD, they didn't blow out Washington state. They beat him by 10 and Washington state's bad. It's an addy at West Virginia and they lost against BYU by double digits, okay? In provo, in provo, but you're still lost by double digits. Now again, who does he have Arizona ranked ahead of? Are you ready? Oh boy. UCLA. Oh, the undefeated Bruins that just won in Austin stadium. Utah, a Texas team who is beaten Ohio State and his only loss was to Oklahoma, which not great. But it's just why is Arizona 12, Koki, what are we doing here? You lost me. That's a little. I think they should be in the top 25, I don't know about that. Even if you're doing power rating style, how is Arizona near the top 12? I'll tell you what, you, we always say like, what's the value of a quarterback, three points, four points for Noah Fafita, peers like it's 9.7, you know, like that is what Noah Fafita is able to bring to a power rating. So yeah, what, look, Wildcats will have their opportunity in the same way that, you know, Northwestern to Wisconsin, like these teams are, these teams are going to get into the thick of conference play. If they want to really stand out and submit their spot inside the top 25, they'll have their opportunities here in the next couple of weeks. Any other balance? Yeah, go ahead. Just one more notice, like, I do think just because you win, you don't have to keep them the same or move them up, like Tennessee versus Arkansas was a little bit of a disaster. I'm like they're starting to sew a little bit of, like, And I know they played Texas tough, but they're having some quarterback issues. The resume isn't exactly the best. Like, I think you've got to be a little bit more willing to say, you know what? They might have won and they're going to drop them like 10 spots. But I just thought I was a little bit surprising. The Tennessee didn't docked for the performance against Arkansas. I did not drop them 10 spots on my personal ballot for the CBS sports 138, but I dropped them down to the 22, you know, you're just, I don't know, man, offense thinks they got, they got to find some answers. Or else they're going to get exposed in a big way. All right. Coming up on the other side, a couple quick news items, including some conference realignment, a celebration of the Pop Tarts bowl, crazy good team of the week, brought to you by the Football Riders Association of America upon further review. And more next. This episode is brought to you by PNC Bank. If you've ever watched a football game with someone who doesn't normally, you might have been asked, like, what's the point of running the ball up the middle? In short, to the uninformed eye, these plays are boring. But they result in a lot of short, reliable gains while managing the clock. It's just like why PNC uses a boring methodical approach because reliable gains while keeping an eye on the time are just as important for your money as they are in football. PNC Bank brilliantly boring since 1865 brilliantly boring since 1865 is a registered mark of the PNC Financial Services Group Inc PNC Bank National Association member, FDIC back here on the cover three podcast. And it is an honor here in the 2026 season for us to bring to you here on the cover three podcast, the weekly announcement of the Pop Tarts Bowl crazy good team of the week brought to you by the football riders Association of America. Now, the thing that is so exciting about partnering with the FWA for this award to me is the history. They've been given out this award for 25 years. And that means we've been able to go back and reference like, oh, we were able to say congratulations on winning the award. This is the first time you've won the award since this. The Florida Gators was one we were able to tie the last time that the Gators won the award and I believe is all the way back to a early season win against Utah. Well, the Pop Tarts Bowl crazy good team of the week four weeks six goes to a team that scored touchdowns on offense on defense and on special teams that launched a huge upset win. And then maybe turn to season around turned the season around potentially. Congratulations to the Oklahoma Sooners. Now, I mentioned the history here. There have been three hundred and 31 teams that have been honored by the football riders Association of America as the team of the week. This is Oklahoma's 10th selection, which means that they have the all time lead. They last got it after a victory over Alabama last November. They previously were recognized in 2002, 2003, 2008, 2013, 2015, 2018 and 2020 to very, very, excuse me, the winner of this game has produced winners in each of those seasons. So congratulations to the Oklahoma Sooners, whether it was a pair of late interceptions. We mentioned the coyes block of the punt and then the recovery for the touchdown. And then yes, you know, John Matier, you need to go get us in field goal, range young man, do not turn it over, but also move the ball forward completion of 10 yards completion of 13 yards. Just those few throws that they needed to set up. Tate Sandell, Tom, what would you, what stood out? One last celebration for the Sooners as they turned the page and try to truly circle the wagons, the Sooners, scooters and turn this thing around. I mean, what was truly incredible about this is the rarity of instances like this happening. I'll give credit to David Eckert for pointing this out yesterday. In the college football playoff era, there have only been 16 games in which a team allowed fewer than 250 total yards of offense and scored at least 24 points in lost. Texas has lost two of them. And both of those losses came to Oklahoma in 2014 and 2026. Like this is like it's obviously the rivalry win of it in the aspect of it. But it's just the way that they did it is just not conducive to winning in a typical week for book, but for whatever reason, when it comes to Red River, Oklahoma knows how to muddy this game up enough. So like, yeah, it was a, it's a great win for him. It's a huge win. And as you kind of hinted to like clearly like he blood the anxiety rankings for me last week, Brent Venables feeling the heat kind of in a situation where they really needed this one. Because if they had lost this game, there was a very decent chance that the season might just completely spiral out of control. Because how many times have we seen this where there's a team with a great defense in an offense that can do nothing. And eventually that defense reaches a point where like so much of what you do defensively has to be by and believe you have to be willing to go out there and take the kind of punishment to get the job done to limit teams from doing it. But at some point when your offense isn't doing anything and you were losing games, a defense just says, well, why? Well, why would it breaks? You're going to stop seeing it. So there was a realistic shot that if they had lost this game, particularly after this kind of performance from their defense again, you might have seen this season completely snowball and crater and go down the crapper. But nope, they pulled it off and you know, turned our season around. Maybe we'll see. Danny congrats on the lock fight win. We this is our first time we've gotten to be face to face since since you took me down on Saturday. So you you called it, you sensed it. You've you've got a good antenna for these things. What what a weekend for the sooners. I was a little bit irritated. I didn't take the money line sprinkle on it a few when we were previewing this game. If you said, how would it unfold? It was defense would have to get a score, which they did. It's like, but here, please don't screw it up, which he didn't. And it was, I don't really trust arch, which I still don't. And that's exactly what happened. That's what led to the to the victory. I will say this. I do give credit to Venables and Ben Arbuckle. I was a little bit surprised. They didn't just settle for over time. Because mature, they let them throw it. And while it was only 19 seconds, they didn't have to go that far. And they got the best kicker in the game. So like, they don't need that much, but there was a part of me that was a little bit surprised that they let him throw it twice. And he made great throws, but every time he threw it, I was like, oh my gosh. Don't throw a pick six or don't do something crazy. And it's a thing made from great catches. And they were able to get it in the field goal range and the rest is history. But I was a little bit surprised defensive minded coach. The way their defensive played, that they let them do that. Credit for them for doing it. It was a phenomenal, phenomenal performance. Those money was on the table, Brent Venables and Oklahoma took it. That's what you got to do in a rivalry game. That's how you get to get that big ol hat. And that's how you get as the Pop Tarts bowl crazy good team of the week. A big ol box of Pop Tarts. So come in your way to the Oklahoma Sooners. Once again, congratulations to the Sooners for being named the Pop Tarts bowl. Crazy good team of the week. And thank you to the football writers Association of America for allowing us to announce this every week. Well, speaking of every week, we like to go under the hood with a few takeaways from the week that was we like to call it upon further review. There were terrible calls. Do you want to go ahead and jump in after further review, after further review? All right, DK, you five, you've, you've, you've got some, some presentations. Do you have some decks, you know, some packages at first? I do want to piggyback before I get to some of my presentations. Do you guys upon further review? I have a question for you too. Yeah. Do you feel like, who do you feel like gets more of the blame for Texas's offensive struggles? Is it arch or is it Sark? Sark. I think there's a trend online like I was and maybe it's because I got an algorithm that I clicked on one, but it was like, why is arch? You know, he's not even looking to Cam Coleman and I'm watching the play. And I'm like, I don't know that he's 100% not allowed to look at Cam Coleman. Like I don't think arch is seeing the field really well. I watched the first half. I'm going to watch the second half after we're done here. There was a lot of plays left on the field. Again, is this Sark telling him where to throw? I just looking at it from what I think the progressions are. I think arch makes some decisions where he goes off the script and does what he wants to do. And I think it's really hurting him. I don't think it's Sark is the problem. I mean, look at the numbers that Quinn yours put up. Like Quinn yours was great in the system. You know, traditionally, wherever arch or Sark has been, he's had pretty big offenses that have succeeded pretty well. I was curious to see what you guys thought because I'm sure there's criticism to go all around, but I think it's arch and I don't know why there's a hesitation to like point archmaning and maybe it's the last name, maybe it's the expectations. Thought he was going to be a highs and winter, but I don't think it's Sark. I think it's arch. I don't think arch has improved, which is a problem. I don't think that he has developed. I also think that while it's not all Sark's fault, I do wonder. And I'm not the only person that's wondering this at all. If it's time for him to give up play calling and just be a head coach and bring in like a legitimate just them handle all of that. And then obviously he could still have say in the game plan and what they want to run against a certain team because why wouldn't you listen to his input. But I just wonder if with some of the stuff around the edges where they just seem to be they're never like completely smooth where if maybe they would be better off if he just took on the role where he was overseeing the entire operation to make sure everything's running smoothly and then you let you delegated more. Like maybe your special teams wouldn't be such a mess if you spent more time paying attention to him rather than putting together a game plan because you're the play collar. And that's not anything too. You should like your special teams have been a legit problem for you for a while. But the coach that's running them is the same guy you brought with you to get there and it's no, at some point, it's got to hold somebody accountable. He truly is the most interesting man in college football. What is he had? What is he was he have made his untouchable, you know. You've tried, they've tried a lot. He is like, no, I'm me. You're not moving me. I like the way you phrased it, Danny. You said, who do you think shoulders more of the blame? And my instant response was Sark. And I think that there are explicit or implicit reasons that people are ready to make excuses for our remaining and say, Oh, no, it's oh, my arch arch couldn't have done that. He's a good boy. Are you kidding me? No. I remember about one. My friends got arrested one time for stealing a space heater. And his mom said, my I'm not going to dox him right now. You know, but he was like, wait, I'll use another name. He's like, my Alex. Oh, no, it couldn't have been my Alex. Yeah, absolutely. He walked out with the space heater. Now we got some problems on our hands, ma'am. Yeah, I just think that people are ready to make excuses and quick to make excuses. It could be player performance. You ask like, how do you think the blame gets centered? I'm glad you're grading it so that you would be able to say like, Hey, I'm grading this as a quarterback. If I was the quarterback's coach of the Texas Longhorns sitting in there with the clicker and arch is on one side and sarks on the other. This is the way that I'd be breaking it down. There might be more that needs to be laid on arches at arches feet, but to me, it feels like a lot more is going sarks way. And there's a couple of things that you don't you cannot know, like, I know a lot of people break down film and you look at it, but unless you know what you're being taught, unless you know what's being told in his helmet, because a lot of coaches are doing that now. They're kind of cheating while the helmet calm is on. They might be saying, hey, take the shot here or take the check down, be like, whatever they're telling him you don't know those types of thing. And I'm telling you from the film that I just watched and that was only the first half, there were a lot of plays that would have taken some of the, it just would have made it easier. It goes back to like the 90% of the game that is supposed to be easy. Just take the easy underneath route instead of going for the home run or get it to your check down. It's just, it's not easy. Like it's hard. And I, I think it's because he's not making great decisions. But again, I'm not in the room. I don't know what artists are. Sark is telling him where to throw the ball, but it just looks that way. What else stood out to you this weekend, Danny? All right. We had a little fun with blind resumes on here before. So I'm going to throw up a little blind resume and ask you guys, who do you think you would rather have as a wide receiver? Oh, obviously they're pretty close to production. One has more touchdowns than the other. One has more yards than the other. One has a significant more yards per catch average. Any, any guesses? I'm trying to make sure that I'm not trying to guess who they are that I'm answering the question. I think that for one individual receiver, give me the explosiveness, the ability to like take the top off, to be able to wrap up the arch, to be able to have the big plays. I will take the receiver on the right, even though he has 10 less catches. I'll take the five more yards per catch and the one more touchdown, somewhat even otherwise. I know who they are. I'm going to take the one on the left. Just because you know who it is. I do think it is pretty wild. You start to get a little bit more recognition, but you are right. The one on the left is number four, Jeremiah Smith, who is probably going to win the Heisman trophy. But it is pretty amazing what Jesse LaGurie is doing at Oregon State. Let's go. I'll take it. Okay. As a true freshman, and here's what I think is even more impressive for Jesse LaGurie. His biggest game, he had 200 plus yards and got multiple touchdowns against Texas Tech. I know you could say he's playing against lesser competition, but he also had massive games against Texas Tech in Houston. Do were the better defenses in the big 12. As a true freshman, it is pretty amazing what he's been doing. Again, I know how state fans are like, what are you talking about? Jeremiah is going to win the Heisman, but I thought it was pretty amazing the year that LaGurie has happened. I think people are going to start paying attention to, though if he keeps up at this pace, it is pretty wild. Maybe he comes in next year and gets some Heisman love. Also, watch out for that team in the pack 12, and it's a potential playoff contender. Again, there are only two losses against pretty two pretty good teams, and they weren't close, but I think they could be a team that could knock off Boise State. The way that offense is throwing the ball around. Both of those losses are by less than two touchdowns. I know they weren't close, but we're starting to go back and we're starting to look at this Oregon State team. I know that I did the CBS Sports 138 this morning. They were one of the biggest movers up in terms of they just continue to stack these impressive performances. 66 points against Sean Lewis's San Diego State defense. That's just mean. It's like, oh, you can't stop this. We're just going to keep doing it over and over and over again. Marcus Shepard's done a phenomenal job, and he was a wide receivers coach, right? I believe so, as he was a position coach coming up, so like incredible job of being able to develop that. He was, oh, he was. How does he get out of how? Imagine if he's in Maryland with a Lee Washington. Lee Washington. Oh, man. How does the watching get out of town? I mean, obviously, I always slipped through the cracks like it happens all the time, but he's been amazing. Yeah. Yeah. Oregon State, the great season, Jesse Ligry, incredible story. Jamarcus Shepard's doing a great job with that movies. There's something amazing first year coaching jobs happening across the country right now, and that is certainly one of the ones that is deserving of a little bit of extra attention, a little extra celebration. Speaking of amazing coaching jobs, let's give some credit to Maryland. They held Jeremiah at a four catches for 93 yards and two touchdowns, but they have a great day. That's a great day. Locke said, no, sir, no, sir, anybody else. We wasn't the, it wasn't the run past ratio for Ohio State and they came. Yeah, that was 22. Yeah, there was. We got two touchdowns. Yeah, we got two touchdowns with Jeremiah and then we just decided we're going to work on stuff. Yeah, if if you take the Kent State and Maryland games and have them play a full four quarters, I think that Jeremiah is probably a bit ahead of Ligry and all those categories, but right. There's still something to keep an eye on. Tom, where would you like to turn our attention? This is very against my type, but you know, I spent yesterday looking up some insult stats for Dylan Riello, which is not something I would ever do. Just how bad was Saturday for Dylan Riello? Well, I'm glad you asked a striker if you could put that graphic up on an EPA per dropback basis. Not only was Dylan's negative 1.2 per dropback, that is over an expected point every time he took a snap and stepped backward. The worst of the season, it is the worst of the last three seasons by quite a bit like Brandon Nunez at New Mexico State versus Florida International in 2024. Kind of comes close, but just a horrible performance statistically. I also did this. Let me see. I tweeted it earlier. I didn't send this to you, though, striker, but if you look on the season for the highest single game, whoopsie daisy rates. Oh, no. Dylan Riello is whoopsie daisy rate in this game was 8.11%. Now, that was the second worst in a game this season. The worst was Malik Washington at 8.33%. What did those two have in common? They were both against UCLA in the last three weeks. I don't know what they're putting in the water in that UCLA defense, but a lot of whoopsie daisies taking place against the Bruins right now. I do think that's a, that was part of the book on the Bruins defense. You call them an attacking defense, right? A striker getting that graphic. An attacking defense. That would be something that I think you'd say for one that's able to expose the whoopsie daisy for Malik Washington and Dylan Riello. So you're ready to give some flowers to the Bruins defense on this. Dylan coming out, taking ownership. We're living in the Dylan Riello main character world now, right? Also, I mean, I think there was some speculation, like would Dante more return to Oregon? Like, would he just shut it down and get ready for the NFL draft? I can't do that anymore. Like now you got to go and have a little talk. Be like, hey, I know you're, you know, how are you feeling today? Like I'm doing a whole lot more concussion protocol and discussions with Dante about coming back because it did not look good with Raiola. And that's what I do think like could possibly save their season. I'm not ready to write Oregon off now. I thought their defense played actually pretty well considering where they had been most of the season. And in never in a million years, what I said, the offense would have been that much of an issue for Oregon. That was gross. And I mean, they need more back for its shout out Bruce Feldman. He had a coach tell him about this and it's a great point. And I was a kind of pissed that I missed it or didn't think of it myself. But like Dante more can move. Dylan Raiola doesn't. He can't. The only moves he makes are to fade backwards out of clean pockets. And like he had a, he had a coach off the record say, you know, Dylan Raiola comes in and plays great against USC because you haven't game planned for that. You've game planned for a mobile quarterback and you can't just change your game plan. When you have a week to prepare for Dylan Raiola, you know exactly where he's going to be in the pocket on every single snap. You can completely change the way you defend that. You can go after him and not have to worry about him scrambling to go take off for a first down. That's why he was sacked a billion times at Nebraska. And it's why he was constantly under pressure against UCLA. Is talent as he is as with his arm when he actually decides to use it. He's not a mobile guy and it is becoming far more difficult to win in football at any level these days when you have a statue of quarterback. Like mobility has become such a key thing for every single offense. And he just doesn't have it. No, it's, um, it was a rough day for backup QBs across the board. And some of them that had played pretty well in relief. It is a different ballgame. When you, when you come off the bench, you're just thrown in and you just execute. You're not really thinking about it. And like you said, Tom, the defensive coordinator hasn't prepared for you. Specifically, it's just easier. There's no pressure, like you're not expected to do much. But then you've had a whole week of media attention. You've had a whole week of built up of expectations. And the defense has had a time to prepare for you. And all of a sudden, it's like you're supposed to deliver. And when you don't, like it can really put you in a spot, uh, holding Gerder for, uh, uh, pit, look disastrous. Man, it was rough. And I, I heard some people saying they really liked them and you always liked the backup where you are. George McIntyre comes in for phase on. Doesn't look great. Like it's, there's a reason a lot of these guys lose the jobs, like the starting jobs. I mean, these coaches kind of know what they're doing. And I know you feel like you have good backups. And yes, obviously some of them do. And I still think Dylan Raul could be okay, although I'm curious to see what this week looks like. The questioning that landing is going to get. What are you going to do? That'll be very curious, but it's just, it's not easy, but there was one that stepped up. Jeremy Hecklinsky, I know you guys hit it. That was impressive. This step, stepfather of the week, he's the daddy stepped up. That was impressive. That was phenomenal on the road. And he hit just enough big plays and capitalized on them. I think it might be a little bit more of a quarterback controversy, viewing, uh, brewing in Iowa city. Yeah. I mean, you said Saturday night time, it, it might be it, right? Right. Yeah. I mean, I, I, maybe you can argue like Hank Brown struggled against Ohio State. And maybe we shouldn't punish him, you know, for getting hurt and not looking great against Ohio State, but just everything about their offense looked better on Friday against Washington. Now, maybe that proves that it's just a Washington thing. Because when you think back to the off season with that quarterback battle, like everything you were hearing, like the staff at Iowa was split between Brown and Hicklinsky. There wasn't, it wasn't a situation of, well, we're just saying it to keep this guy, you know, whatever. Like the coaching staff was debating till the very end who the guy was, because it was that close in camp where somebody would have a really good day and somebody would have a terrible day. And the next day it would be the complete opposite. So who knows, maybe they just kind of have to play the hot hand. Like you ride with Hicklinsky next week. And if he plays well, you leave him in there. If he struggles, all right. Come on in, Hank, let's see if you can get it going again. Hey, man, there's, we used to see this in college football all the time. You know, a little to quarterback system. He's firm all the time. Also, like if you're, if you're Iowa, like we have seen them have this problem before, where the options were terrible. Like, oh, my God, do we want to go with horrible option A or absolutely awful option B? Now you have two options that you kind of trust a little bit because they've both showed flashes and played well. Yep. Without a doubt. Coming up on the other side, more of our takeaways from week six and more. And one of the pieces of late night action on Saturday, going on while we were having our instant reaction show, but certainly something that was worth revisiting laid into the evening. And then on Sunday was the practical plays that were being made by the Boise State Broncos. Because Boise State found itself in a little bit of a shootout on the road at Fresno State in a game that we had already identified as one of the biggest games in the pack 12. Now we're not used to seeing Fresno State with a lot of offensive fireworks. And so Boise needed to do two things. They needed to do number one, keep scoring, but number two, play a little keep away. To make sure that the Bulldogs weren't going to be able to fire up the home crowd. And so what they did was simple and it was stable. And it was a big double dose of Dylan Riley and Sire gains listening to Dylan Riley talk about it after the game. That is a one to punch. They are rooting for each other. They are fired up. They are trying to one up each other on every single rep, every single snap. And what did it do for Boise State? Dylan Riley paces the way 19 carries 150 yards and it's score Sire gains right there. Not a not as much explosiveness, but a lot of that hard work. 20 carries for 120 yards and a score that really took a lot of the pressure off of Maddox Madsen. And really was able to allow this Boise State team to just milk away that fourth quarter clock. Fresno was hoping they'd get the ball back. One last shot for Glory. One last shot to be able to go out there and try to give us a chance for a big peck 12 win. No, no, no, no, drip, drip, drip, running the football effectively. Just a smart, practical way to get it done. Gentlemen, I don't know if you all either staying up late or reviewing if you got your eyes on Boise State. But I thought that was a hard win. And I thought they did a good job finding a way to get out of Fresno with the victory. What you make of the Broncos? You know, you touched on it. Like what's one of the oldest, most practical addages about how to win football games? Chip, run the dang ball and stop the run. Boise State rushed for 274 yards, held Fresno State to 69. Like that's a 205 yard differential between how much you ran for and how much they ran for. And hey, guess what? You went on the road and won a football game because of it. And it's a huge game in the pack 12, too, as far as the pack 12 conference title race. That's a huge win for the Broncos. Huge wins. Huge win for the Broncos. The other thing the run game does, it travels. Like there's nothing that sucks the crowd out of a game. Being able to just grind it and grind it. And that was one I thought Fresno State out of a due chance to win the game. Boise State has had a couple nice road victories. Western Michigan earlier dominated that game. This one, a little bit of a fight. So good teams do. They find multiple ways to win. They got it done. Yep. Big time win. It was a it was a fun kind of conclusion. I mentioned that the clock. There were just so many third down opportunities that Fresno State's defense had in the fourth quarter of that game to try and go get the ball back. And it was just a bruising rushing attack that leaned on them the rest of the way. So congrats to Boise State five and one on the season. Now two and oh in pack 12 play. All right, DK, you've all right. Get your eyes on Bullston. Yeah. Yeah. You know, we were talking about Oregon, how poorly they were playing on offense. Maybe they missed Will Stein because I was super excited. We already know he's a great play caller, but he had Blake Baker in a blender on Saturday night. Why, and this is just the two point sequence. I want to show you guys a couple things. So the first two point play they've going for two. Everybody knows it. He has the two up and they're going for the outright win. And he sends out I think he had seven or eight offensive lineman. You did not have Kenny Menchi in the game. He has a wildcat formation, runs them across. They force LSU into burning a timeout. So they call timeout. They come back to the sideline. And of course, you're not running the same group back out there. This time he runs Menchi back out there with a totally different personnel grouping. And then this is how it started, right? So this is what their initial formation came out. Notice the receivers on the right. They're bunched in. The guys on the left are getting in the slot. And you've got three backer type players in the middle of the field in the box, so to speak. But then Menchi says, all right, let's spread out. So they shift outside to the next look. And these are the routes they're going to run. So notice those three guys that are in the middle, they're spread out. These are the routes that they're going to run. And a lot of times when you hear in this situation a coach or a commentator will say, boy, I'd love to give the quarterback a run pass option, right? You think he's going to roll out or go to the outside? This is a run pass option with a quarterback draw as a part of the option. These are the routes going to run. They're great routes. He's got quick options. He's got deep options. He's got options all over the field. And the two guys that are kind of close to the box, they're kind of looking inside. But wait, one more second. When the ball is snapped, next shot. We'll see him up there now. Now look where they go as soon they turn to the outside. They literally have to face the receivers in the slot. And now let me go show you from the end zone. Because this is about as open as you're going to get. I mean, and this is great blocking scheme up front. Because they've already got the alignment that they want. 42, you can see where his eyes are going to the outside. They've got a double team on the nose to the right of the screen there and then that's right pre snap So Kenny, I bet you will sign is celebrating already knowing. Yeah, I mean you You either one of you guys striker tapped me. We could have walked this in the end zone It was such a beautiful play call It was such good like gamesmanship and strategy to show them one like come back with another This is what makes life easy on a quarterback because I'm sure it's been coached up I remember when I got this play. I was like, please stay in the box. Please stay in the box I just want to throw this It was like but as soon as they saw them split out They're like the Red Sea parted and it's an easy walk in touchdown It was well done Will sign with the strategy at the late game. It was phenomenal. I wanted the biggest wins of his career I mean, I wasn't yelling it because I was by myself but as soon as I saw that I was like to be drawn to be drawn Yes, same. I was that's one same thing. I was like going back. I'm like was it as easy as it looked and yes It was as easy as it looked. I mean, I I'm still a little bit shocked when you have a mobile quarterback That you wouldn't leave one of those backers in the middle just to kind of account form. They just left him unaccounted for Well, and it at three yards too because it as you were showing the clips I was thinking I was like well as soon as those hips move outside those guys are done But even at three yards even if they'd played it straight up you could probably get it if you don't have a body right there that can react and Tough scenes. Will Stein and then isn't Joe Sloan the offensive coordinator Yes, Kentucky. Who was that? LSU and was like all the subject of so much criticism and and hellfire during the end of the Brian Kelly tenure I mean a lot a lot of great stories a lot of success and a big night. Oh, God. You got to think Joe Sloan loved beating LSU Oh, why not? But that is part of the part of the principles of being able to get it done But the great job for the Wildcats. I love that breakdown right there Um, I've got a question for you Upon further review Something or nothing The average margin of victory in all games involving an FPS team Is the most of the 2000s 20.7 points per game right now And by the end right now it's the second most through week six So obviously we expect this to drop down a little bit you get more conference games You get less non-conference games. You're going to have less blowouts something or nothing We've got an average margin of victory in games between FPS teams that ranks among the highest to the last 26 years It's what is it 20.7 points per game I've got a philosophy I'd love to hear it. It's more of an indictment on today's youth Oh, Quitter. I think there's I think there's more of a tendency to throw in the towel Once you see the game kind of getting away from you I remember I sat with George O'Leary when he was at UCF And he told me he called it It was like a maddened culture They're used to playing video games and once they're down, what do they do? They hit reset and they start over They don't like fight it out I don't know. It's like a pretty deep like is it an indictment on the whole culture of our youth today But I do think there's more tendency and when you're getting paid Your paycheck is still going to clear, you know, like you're just not as I don't know. That's just my theory Not I don't know. Hey, I mean it's something to bring out like what is different. What is different now right like what it what could make it that be the case Where did you get this number from CBS research? Okay, the average margin of victory in all games involving an FPS team this season is 20.7 points per game That is the most in a season this century the second most through week six of a season this century So it's games involving an FPS not FPS versus FPS Got it Is that no is that what you're saying? The the the the the term is involving an FPS Oh, so it could be more lopsided because the gap is widening between their Group of six and non-conference or between or between the power conference and the g6 Okay, because what I'm looking at has it read if it's just FPS versus anybody it is at 23.2 That's even larger. Yeah, so what's with it? It's FPS first FPS that number drops to 17.6. So what's with the blowouts? I think that it's We've discussed it in many different ways. I think there's a flattening at the top But there's not a flattening in the middle or the bottom. I think that the flattening at the top is because everybody is separating from the bottom There's a there's a you does that make what was it? I think I don't know I'd be tending because here's the other thing that popped out to me is I can't even say That the blowouts are all going to be of the non-conference fcs nature Because UCLA ran through Maryland and wake ran through Stanford and like this is My okay, let me try to explain it this way Georgia, Ohio State, Oregon, all the teams that we expect to be great are still great. Right. They're the same level. They've always been We've seen a flattening at the top because more teams are kind of catching up with them and shrinking that gap The reason those teams are being able to shrink the gap is because they've stolen from the teams beneath them Right. So while it's getting tighter at the top the distance between the top and the bottom Including teams in the same conference is getting wider. So you see UCLA crushed Maryland You see Arkansas losing by 40 points per week in the SEC Because just it's yeah the top is stronger and there's more parity in the top 15 top 20 But there is not nearly the same parity between 35 and 50 Mm good point Because I was thinking about I was thinking about Oregon State San Diego State too I mean, it's just you you see some some wild wild numbers pop up on the scoreboard when you're Going through and looking at James Madison beaten teams. I mean they barely survived in statesboro But speaking of James Madison to the American Athletic Conference all the news happened fast and furious The school voted to leave the Sunbelt this morning and with intention of applying to the American Athletic Conference right before we got on Here today on Monday. I believe I saw the announcement from the American Athletic Conference that includes Let's see here's the language No later than July 1, 20, 28 So no guarantee that James Madison will be in the American next season for 20, 27 But according to this again from the American Athletic Conference the unanimous decision by the American to admit JMU as a full member of the conference No later than July 20, 28 so for functional purposes we might have another year of JMU as a Sunbelt team for big picture purposes what what should we read or take away from this move? Uh, I think that I think the ultimate determination about when JMU will join the American will probably depend on how quickly They can add a 16th team because I don't think they want to do a year with a 15 team Because the buyout for the Sunbelt is not large. I don't think JMU is going to have any problem getting out of that early if they want to Uh, I think that what you're seeing is kind of the same separation You're seeing from the power for even in the g6 level like Conferences are looking to separate themselves and put themselves in a better position To get those playoff spots And if you're the American and you add James Madison Like you are taking like the Sunbelt in recent years is like on a power rating level has kind of not caught up to you But it's closed the gap considerably If you take James Madison from them who is clearly one of their better stronger programs You kind of put a nail in the Sunbelt's chances to earn a playoff spot over your champion in all likelihood Doesn't mean it can't happen But it really solidifies you with what the pack 12 is kind of building As the conference to look at to get that spot far more often than not And then depending on who you get next And I think it was McMurphy who reported last month that it was James Madison Miami and you con Were the three schools that were in contact and talking to the Americans. I would expect it to be Miami or you con Yeah, I was the meeting area if it was here Who was the who was the meeting in the minds? Do you see that that took place with Sean McVay There were like all these Miami, Ohio connections and McVay was there There was like three or four NFL guys that were together. They were having a meeting And I wonder if they're trying to orchestrate this move What's happening is you're just trying to keep up with the Joneses now your Joneses might be different than the next people But you just don't want to be left kind of you want to try to work your way up the ladder So it means clearly what James Madison's trying to do The American athletic conference has a little bit of an ACC situation on its hands And I'm not an expert in this field so I don't want to Miss speak, but it's right around 2019 2020 they locked in a 12 year deal at 2019 2020 prices that extends all the way to 2030, 2031, 2032 kind of in that range. So I that was my thought guys. I was like wait a second. Is there deal up? Does do you get James Madison in and you get to run that number up go to market and then be able to generate more revenue for your schools But I had this might be consolidation, right? I mean soon the American could be at 18 teams just like the big 10 is And then all the sudden we just start to see the bottom of the FBS kind of get locked off along the way also Like long term planning buffer Because I mean we know with the PCSA they're trying to cap conference realignment. And it is no surprise to me that we're seeing this news break now before this thing gets enacted, right? Well, when the ACC loses teams to the big 10 in the SEC, guess where they're going to go? The American. So you're trying to bring in James Madison, although hell, maybe James Madison ends up being a team five years ago. You're trying to strengthen numbers. You're trying to give as many schools in your league as you can. So when the ACC comes and takes some of your schools, you've still got enough left. Yeah, that was it when when things were moving hot and heavy with Colorado and with, you know, the before the Oregon and the Washington, Utah, that was the phrase that was getting used a lot was it's not conference realignment. It's conference consolidation. And maybe that's a little bit of what we're seeing here as well. But interesting to see again, the move is official. The American will be welcoming James Madison, no later than the summer of 2028. Anything else upon further review that we need to are any other ours for a UFR? No other ours? Okay, we are going to be back with you because look, the week seven slate, we thought week six was good week seven. It's just going to give us another huge robust slate of games. So we're going to do one of the things that I honestly think we do best. Break them down Tuesday 11 a.m. Eastern time you come hang out to watch live youtube.com slash cover three or fuck get us wherever you are on demand. We're talking Florida, Texas Notre Dame BYU Ohio State, Indiana, Alabama, Tennessee, Oklahoma State, Houston. I mean, it is just games on games on games behind between some of the teams that we are very excited to discuss not just this week, but the rest of the way in the college football season. And you can follow him on Twitter. Tom Fonelli, you can follow him at Danny Kinnell, you can follow me @chip_patterson. Gentlemen, thank you very much. Thank you. See you. On Paramount Plus, our hits hit harder. Hit dramas like Mobland. This family is on the brink of civil war. Lion S. I'm a soldier. This isn't the end of a fight. This is the start of one. Tulsa King. You take your rid of me. And hit thrillers like Dexter Resurrection. I've been killing killers for half my life. And the final season of Yellow Jackets. 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