Lane Kiffin Loses at Ole Miss and Trinidad Chambliss Is Heisman Favorite

All right.

Welcome to the show.

Others receiving votes.

I'm Pat 40 here, joined as always by my SI colleagues, Brian Fisher and Kevin Sweeney for the overreaction Sunday show.

Once again, we have much to overreact to.

At the end of the year, the last 3 years, the Big 10 has taken the spotlight.

But I'll tell you what, this was a Saturday of SEC drama.

Could not take your eyes off of everything happening in the South.

We had the Southern Gothic novel play out in Oxford, Mississippi, Lane Kiffin Bitter Bowl.

We had an utterly inexplicable ending in Nashville.

If you thought the Music City miracle in the NFL was wild, this was wilder.

We had a shocker in College Station.

We had a game that felt like maybe a throwback to the glory days for one or both teams in Auburn.

And uh not much happening in the Big 10.

All's quiet on the Big 10 front, but a lot to talk about here, guys.

Uh, and let's start.

First of all, I'm gonna say this upfront, right?

Every, every week on this show, we fire a coach.

We're not all firing Dave Doran.

All right?

It's too easy.

We'll fire him as the show goes along, but when we get to actually naming somebody to fire, you're gonna have to come up with someone else.

That's cheating.

So, Dave Dorn, we, we're gonna get to you.

Sorry, buddy.

Uh, but let's start in Oxford.

That's where Brian and I were.

Um, Only felt like the hottest place on the earth, but it was, uh, it was heated.

It was temperature hot, it was emotional hot, it was a dramatic game.

There was so much going on, so much to write about, uh, great, great atmosphere.

I thought it was peak SEC because of all of the simmering.

Uh, emotion involved, and the anger and the bitterness and the, the angst, uh, that went along with it and having a, a coach in another place, uh, which is an, an SEC staple, uh, and angering the old fans.

Anyway, great game.

Mississippi wins, kind of felt like it almost had to go that way, but it nearly went the other way.

They get an interception at the end zone in the last minutes to, to seal the game.

Uh, Brian, you were there with me.

I'm gonna start with you, just your biggest takeaway from the scene, and then the meaning of the game.

Well, it was a great atmosphere.

Um, you know, you, you mentioned peak SEC and you're, you're right.

From the Grove, which was in, in, I, I mean, peak form, I mean, that was, you know, the, the atmosphere there, the signs, uh, the revelry, uh, I mean, it was, you know, Oxford at, at, uh, turned up to maximum.

And, uh, you know, really throughout the entire week leading up to that, you know, you had conversations with folks at Ole Miss, uh, folks in town there, um, like they, you know, they were, they were expecting, uh, probably even more than, than they ultimately ended up getting, uh, there in town in terms of just people that were gonna come just to come, you know, and, and I think that kind of added to Uh, you know, just a, a really heightened, uh, game and, uh, super atmosphere that, the game itself, I think lived up to, to, you know, it's billing.

You know, you had Ole Miss jumping out to that 17-0 run and, and then, you know, in the second half, LSU responding with a 17-0 run, goes back and forth there at the end, uh, you know, play on 4th down to, to end up deciding it.

And I, I, you know, it, it was just everything in, in, Mixed into 11 game and, uh, you know, it's kind of hard to sum it all up because it was so hot , you know, like I, Pat, you know, I, I, I got back way, way late out of uh out of the Ole Miss locker room.

I think they were just, you know, taking some extra time for those showers because, man, it was, it was hot, it was humid, it was One of those like, you know, you just felt like you were in an oven, but man, the atmosphere just, just brushed that aside.

And, uh, you know, the game itself was, was phenomenal.

And I, you know, I, I give Ole Miss fans a lot of credit.

Not only were they there to, yes, they, they wanted to say goodbye to, to Lane Kiffin, but they didn't rush the field.

There were no objects thrown.

Like, you know, I, I, I saw some SEC officials there.

Like, you know, a Coke, a Coke bottle I saw come down and land not too far from Lane when he was coming off the field, but, but it was nothing like, you know, Tennessee from a couple of years ago.

Like they, they not only got, got this not a bombardment, that's for sure.

They not only got this on LSU fans, they not only got one over most of the.

SEC.

They got one on Tennessee who, who ended up catching a stray even though they were playing some nobody, uh, over the weekend.

So like this, this was a, a, a massive win for Ole Miss.

And I think for, for me walking away from that game, you know, like this is the first time I kind of thought, especially because of how good Trinidad Chambliss was, not only is he the Heisman front runner, but I was kind of thinking, Man, you know what, Ole Miss, I can actually see winning the national title right now.

You know, I, I wouldn't have said that before going into this game, and I wouldn't have said this going into the season, and I wouldn't even have said this last year, uh, you know, covering their run to a semifinal.

But I, I think now, seeing that team, seeing what they're able to do, especially after Uh, another impressive win early in the year against Louisville.

Man, I, I, I, I think this is a team that, uh, not only has, has legit aspirations to make it to Atlanta for the first time in a long time, but, uh, you know, possibly doing even more damage in the college football playoff.

And I think that is the ultimate legacy of this game.

This proved that Ole Miss was for real.

I mean, look, I, I think across the board, it proved.

That Ole Miss is, you know, ready to move on from Lane, like, yes, it is always going to be a fan topic of conversation.

Yes, for as long as a lot of the guys that were Lane guys are there, right?

The Kawan Lacy's, the, the Trinidad Champions, yes, it's gonna be a topic, but at its core, the decision was, I don't think I'm winning championships at Ole Miss.

I don't think this place is big time enough for me, and If you're telling the story of this game, to me, it's, yeah, Ole Miss is big time enough, right?

They , they handled this well, but as a fan base, as a community, as a football program, like, the poise they showed when they got punched in the mouth in the second half and got up off the mat and rallied and won, obviously, the quarterback's incredible.

Trinidad Chambliss has taken huge strides, and I thought, you know, in the first half was unbelievable, like, that was a clinic in quarterback play.

Second half up and down, but made all the big plays when it mattered.

Um.

And I thought Pete Golding was ready for the moment as well as a coach, right ?

Like, I, I think your team, you know, to, to show the poise that they did was very impressive.

The way that he managed the game on their final offensive drive and then the final LSU drive was very impressive.

Obviously, the two-point play, that was talked about quite a lot, you know, it'll be interesting to kind of get into his mind of, like, how, how that played out, was he trying to bait a timeout.

Um, what, what do we think it actually was, but at the end of the day, it worked out swimmingly and totally changed, kind of the energy of the game.

I thought as much as the touchdown, that two-point play, and that sequence was absolutely massive.

So, I think if you're an Ole Miss fan, you wake up this morning feeling great, not only do you have the, the, the, the, the, the excitement of, of the win and, and the statement to Lane, but I think you feel like you have a coach and a quarterback that can lead you very far this year, and a coach, hopefully, that can lead you very far, not just this year, but into the future.

Yeah, real quick, uh, Brian, you were there for the postgame with Golding.

What did he say about the two-pointer?

So, you know, he, he, he made a pretty good point in terms of saying, all right, and I think this was more him thinking that he knew Lane well enough, you know, he, he'd gone against him.

He, he'd known Lane.

If , if it came down to it at the end of the game, and, and he had kicked the, the extra point, Lane was gonna go for 2 at the end to, to go for the win, you know, like.

That, that just kind of, that reeked of that, that being lame.

And so I think he kind of had that in the back of his mind.

And I think the, the initial false start that they went through was, and, and this is how Pete explained it, was saying, all right, you know that field goal block is coming on from the other sideline.

So you can, Maybe catch them, burn the timeouts, you know, especially cause, you know, they, they gotta drive down the, the length of the field with time being, being pretty precious in that game.

So it's, all right, well, I'm gonna get him once, and then, and then I have a decision to make, um, in terms of, all right, it's half the distance to the goal.

Do we have a good enough play?

They got him to jump again and And then that made it almost easier, uh, for him to say, all right, well, then we're definitely going for it.

And, you know, I, I mentioned on the sidelines, you know, there, I almost thought it was not just, you know, knowing what Lane was going to do, but like if , if ever there was a case to say, all right, this, this is where, hey, we're proving who we are as a football team.

Uh, this was it.

This was a spite go for 2 almost to, to, to really kind of rub it into Lane's face.

Not only are we gonna win this game, we're gonna go for 2 in a, in a scenario where probably a few other coaches would, would make those same kind of moves in that game situation.

We're, we're gonna do it.

We're gonna get that and we're, we're gonna move on, move on and, uh, get that crowd fired up and, and they certainly did.

And, um, you know, came up with the, the defensive stop as well at the end.

And I think just a Phenomenal ending there.

Uh, and, and, uh, you know, give, give credit to Pete Golding.

I mean, I, I think that there were a lot of questions.

I mean, around him being a head coach.

And I think this was another example, not only in terms of playing all these top 10 opponents and, and playing all these ranked opponents, uh, you know, to start his tenure, 5 of his, uh, 6 games now, uh, being against ranked, ranked opponents.

This is a, a pretty good, uh, test case scenario that's saying, all right, he, he's a legitimate SEC coach right now.

Absolutely.

I mean, it was a phenomenal night for Pete Golding, phenomenal night for Trendon Jad Chambliss, phenomenal night for all the players on Ole Miss's team who might have felt like Lane Kiffin sold them short.

Uh, certainly a phenomenal night for the Ole Miss fans who thought that Lane Kiffin sold them short.

Kevin, as, as you said, this was the proof, you didn't have to go to Louisiana to hunt a championship because this team is good enough to hunt a championship.

I believe, we'll see, maybe they don't get there, but they have a lot of the pieces that you would want to try to do that, and they do have a coach that I thought, uh, totally lived up to the moment, uh, in Golding, not just game plan and intensity and having his team ready, but then, yes, the, the, the chess match, I, I just thought that was, Brilliant, really, frankly, that, that, you know what, and it goes down to that, as granular as you said, who's the personnel out there, personnel out there for field goal block.

And so, if we run out an offensive unit, they can't defend that.

So, maybe we just catch them and we can run a play , or maybe they burn a timeout, or we get them to jump.

And then they jump twice, and then, you know, then it's like they're, they're, they're, they gotta go 18 inches, and we, we were down on the field at that point, Brian and I, and Like the The, the, the joy from the Ole Miss fans as all of that was unfolding as Trinidad runs it around the end, and then they do that, and all of a sudden they're up 8, and they're up against it was unbelievable.

But then you could also feel the anxiety and the tension as LSU goes back down the field.

And then when it's over, I thought it actually took a beat for some of the fans to like, exhale and then start screaming.

I think they were so nervous, like, oh my God, if they put this thing in the end zone on us.

And it took us like just a second, and then it was like, oh my God, we just beat Lane Kiffin.

And it was, you know, like just that, the, the ultimate joy for them there.

Well, you know, I, I think LSU kind of contributed to that because it was not like a super hurry up, you know, we're, we're gonna save our timeouts in case we don't get it, you know, it was very much, I think, in, in Lane's mind, he'd seen Trinidad Shambles.

He watched that film against Louisville, you know, he, he doesn't want to give that guy another opportunity to come back down on him, especially with, uh, a, a field goal kicker that can bang it out from 55 plus, you know, like, uh, I think that was in the back of his mind.

I'm gonna soak up every single second.

I'm gonna play for overtime if we end up getting it into the end zone.

And so I think that kind of contributed to, um, really both sides being kind of nervous there.

But, you know, I, I, I don't think it was until, right, they were, they were saying, you know, that they had taken the knee and, and they were all running around.

A lot of the players were, were running to the, you know, the student section, and they started playing calling Baton Rouge, and then that was kind of like everybody was like, all right, now the party is on.

And I think that's when, that's when everybody kind of relaxed.

Yeah, and, and Kiffin was kind of, I guess, what you would expect after the game.

I went to the LSU postgame, and, you know, he's, he just, he's a fairly repressed person emotionally, but he acknowledged having emotions, the drive-in, said, you know what, hey, I actually felt it, and he said that surprised him.

And he admitted, hey, I'm glad this is over.

And I talked to a lot of Ole Miss people throughout the week who was the same thing, it's just like, can we just please have this over with?

You know, I think the, it had been emotionally exhausting, building up to it, and then it became this huge national story that kind of inflicted itself on Oxford and on the university.

And I just think people were like, oh my God, please just play this game, and I very much want to win, but now I think everybody can kind of exhale, take stock of where their team is, and move forward from there.

The, the two things that stood out to me, I followed Kiffin all the way to the bus.

Um, he came out, again, you know, nothing revelatory there, but Sam Levitt, the LSU quarterback, came out, went over to his family , and just sobbed on their shoulders.

I mean, it was, woof, he took that very hard, and I've written about him before, he's, he's an insane competitor.

So that comes with it, but I, I, he took this very hard, and he laid it out there.

I mean, he is not, you know, the world's most polished quarterback, but he is a battler, and he willed LSU almost to, to victory there.

Uh, at one point, he was crouched down and then he just sat down on the ground, and his family were talking to him, I think, kind of trying to pump him back up, but it was a tough one for him.

And then the other jarring sight was Tredez Green, their fantastic tight end on crutches with a knee brace.

We don't know how dangerous or, or how significant that injury is, but if it's, if it's long-term, that's, that's a tough one for LSU.

So, uh, we'll see how both teams come out in the aftermath, cause boy, they've got a lot of good, big games to play.

There's one thing we've seen, the SEC is just gonna be loaded with big games and drama all season.

And speaking of which, We've got to talk about what the Wolfpack did in Nashville against Vanderbilt.

Guys, I don't know, I've never seen anything like it.

I, I've seen teams screw up a sure thing.

You know, we saw Joe Pisargic with the fumble of the Giants against the Eagles, and Herman Edwards runs it in.

We saw Mario Cristobal blow a game by not taking a knee.

We saw, um, Kevin Steele one time turn a victory into a 100 yard fumble return loss.

This was similar in terms of just finding a way to lose.

Uh, if you haven't seen it, well, just go find it.

Just like, you know, Google North Carolina State Meltdown or whatever.

Or, uh, if, as they say it, NC State bleep, uh, as, as it's, as it's known.

Uh, is that, because that's North Carolina State is a school in like almost all sports, just finds a way inexplicably to lose.

Uh, this, this one might be the capper.

Uh, so they're beating.

Uh, Vanderbilt in Nashville.

Gonna be a very good win.

Vanderbilt's been good lately.

And NC State was getting up off the deck after getting just smoked in the opener by Virginia.

All they gotta do is run out the clock, or in this case, they were gonna take a safety with CJ Bailey, a 3rd-year starting quarterback who they paid a lot of money for this year.

And He dropped back into the end zone to take an intentional safety, and if there were time left, a 2 or 23, whatever, then you, you have your, your kick, and, and Vandy gets maybe a chance at a Hail Mary.

But CJ Bailey does not take a knee, does not run out the back of the end zone, keeps the ball until he gets hit, until he fumbles, until Vanderbilt recovers, and the game is over, and somehow Vanderbilt has won.

Uh, on a scale of 1 to 1 million, Kevin, how bad was it?

I mean, close to a million.

It's really bad.

I , I, I was, I was watching with my brother and we were sitting there and we're gaming it out, like everyone is done.

They said, well, you know, the time, there probably might be a couple of seconds left, you probably gotta take the safety.

How do you do this?

It's a little awkward, it's around the end zone.

But you never think they could do it this bad, right?

Again, there was a world where you ran out with like 2 seconds, or you get called for intentional grounding to try to throw it away, and then Vanderbilt is still forced to make this, like, unbelievable, unfathomable play to win the game.

And then CJ Bailey just was like , hey, come go get the football from me, and he wasn't even, like, fully taking care of the football, right?

He was, he was totally like any old, and look, I, I think the instinct is to blame Dave Doran, he's the head coach, and I think that's fair, but, yeah, like, CJ Bailey's making a ton of money, and Dave Doran was pretty clear postgame, like, I pretty, I, I told them no, we're not taking a hit here, like, we're we're going out before and I think just as a competitor, you're you're barely like, man, can I kill another second or two and win the game and end it right there, and it's like, no, like, the only way we lose the football game is if we don't, is if we allow ourselves to get hit and fumble.

It's the only way we lose, and uh that's what they did.

I mean, also, the the the true salt in the wound was if you had bet NC State.

Uh, plus 3.5, and then they added the second.

Yeah, so then you had to kick the PAT, so then it's 35, 31 and you lose by, I mean, that would be enough to quit gambling if you had done that.

Yeah, I think that would be tough, but, man, just when you think college football has shown us every weird way to lose a football game, you get one of those.

That was, that was an unbelievable one.

Well, you know, I forget the stat off the top of my head, but he has been put out, like, you know, teams are like 1,001, uh, prior to this, you know, when, when, not lead, you know, leading throughout the entire game outside of the last second.

And, you know, the other one was, you know, the trouble with the snap in terms of Michigan, Michigan State.

This was, this was so much worse, you know, because of the swing of emotions for NC State fans.

Like, number one, you, you had that game, you know, for most of the game, it was pretty comfortable.

You were winning, Vanderbilt comes back, all right, and then, you know, you, you, you turn the ball over.

Downs, Vanderbilt starts marching right down.

And I, you know, I kind of thought, you know, Jared Curtis was dealing.

I kind of thought, oh, man, this is just gonna be, you know, a, a terrible way for NC State to lose, you know, they're, they're gonna lose to some freshman quarterback, making some insane throw, you know, you, you just see it coming, and, and then they get the interception or you , you're like, all right, everybody's, all right, we're, we're breathing, we're, we're relaxing, and then, and then this play happens.

So, and, um, you know, like, and I, I feel like, you know, you mentioned them being cursed, Pat, but like, If, if, if anything like this, this would be like one of those ones like, all right, I'm gonna take the rest of the season off.

Like if I was a fan, I'd be like, this is the universe, the football gods telling me to say, you know what, go ahead and sit this one out.

You know what?

And I, I think it, I think it's , I mean, Dave Dorn after that looked like he had seen a ghost, like, you know, he, he was just like ashen.

He might have seen the ghost of unemployment, Dave.

I mean, and, and I mean , truthfully, like that is a, this is a, this could be a multi-million dollar.

Changing of, of the guard right there in NC State because like, I, I mean, for Boot Corrigan, like this is, he's gonna have donors upset, you know, not only about this result, like if they underachieve with a schedule that was set up for them to contend for once in the ACC it was gonna be this year.

Like this was all the Schedule.

Everything was setting up and they already no showed against Virginia.

Uh, this happens to them against Vanderbilt.

Like this is starting off a promise, a potentially promising season, uh, you know, on, on, on the , the wrongest of wrong foots.

And so like this is a, a big thing for NC State.

You know, I think there's already some, some question marks around, uh, you know, bringing Dave back at the end of last year.

You know, they, they committed to this, they committed to CJ Bailey , um, you know, and I think there's a question, all right, what are we getting for, for, for all of this money?

And, you know, at some point, you know, as consistent as Dave has been there , you know, in Raleigh, um, at some point, like, you know, maybe the grass is greener, you know , on the other side of the fence, and maybe this is kind of the thing that does convince, the, you know, Wolfpack fans, the, the Wolfpack administration saying, You know what, all right, as, as much as it, it's been nice and, and comfortable, I, I guess having Dave Gordon around as your head coach, maybe we need to make a change for change's sake.

And, uh, I, I normally don't recommend that to programs because we, we do see that typically that leads to diminished results, but In this case, maybe this is just kind of the, the, the football gods and the universe saying, you know what, NC State fans, you know, you, you got your, your, your Hurricane NHL title, uh, a miraculous Stanley Cup.

Maybe, maybe you just celebrate that a little bit more, uh, this year instead of the football team.

Brian Fisher advocating for North Carolina State fans to just take the year off at this point.

That's, that's where we are.

It's basketball season in the triangle soon.

Uh, yeah, that, I mean, like, I don't know.

There's, there's, uh, Kevin, as you were saying, there's plenty of ways you can game out maybe how to try to do this.

Obviously, the, the most important thing, the, the, they say you've gotta take care of the ball, you've gotta take the knee, OK, or you run out the back of the end zone.

The other thing I thought of.

Uh, is rolling to the back of the end zone and throwing the ball as far as you can, but throwing it out of bounds in the general direction of a receiver.

And the clock will go until somebody touches the ball out of bounds, as we know from the big house, uh, or until the ball just lands out of bounds.

I think that might have been a way you could have killed the whole clock.

You'd obviously have to have a legitimate receiver in the area to avoid it being grounding, but then even if it's grounding, all right, you take a safety, and you free kick it away.

So, there're just, there were so many ways this could have gone better than it did.

But that's NC State bleep, and it gave us something to talk about.

It is week 3.

It is week 3 of the college football season, and we've had multiple end of game, end of last second scenarios that we've had to discuss, and it, it is wild.

Like, uh, you talk about teach tape.

Uh, there's one every week at this point.

It is, it is, I mean, if the rest of the season is gonna be like this, well, this podcast will be very fun.

I hope you all will listen to us because we'll have.

Much to, excuse me, much to discuss.

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Uh, and we do still have other things to discuss in the SEC.

Shocker in College Station , top 10 Texas A&M doesn't just get beat, but gets handled by Kentucky.

Uh, Kentucky showed a little moxie.

Will Stein, the new coach there, 2nd game, had Alabama down at halftime, but maybe that's not that big a thing because Florida State also had Alabama down at halftime.

Uh, but then, they finished the job against A&M and Uh, I think the question there, Brian, are you more impressed with Kentucky and what Stein is doing, what with Kenny Miny and everything else there, or are you more, uh, concerned that Texas A&M was a fraud?

Well, I think those concerns for Texas A&M started last week against Arizona State, you know, just in terms of how they're kind of pushed around by a Big 12 team.

Um, you know, I think at times, and yes, the defense came to play in that second half, but like there were, there were some glaring red flags there in that Arizona State game that said, you know what, maybe, especially with the tougher SEC schedule that maybe the Aggies were a little bit more in trouble, certainly not to the level that they were, uh, you know, last year as, as a playoff caliber team, but give credit to, to Will Stein, like, um, you know, it's not only, uh, Kenny.

You know, being 14 of 18 and, and, and looking like, uh, you know, a guy who can throw the ball downfield with, you know, with, with ease at this point.

But, you know, getting the running game going, you know, just the, the way that he has built up that, that program, identifying guys, you know, on the offensive line.

Like this is, this is a, a much better team.

And, you know, keep in mind, I mean, they had, they had the halftime lead against Alabama, you know, the week prior.

So like, it's, it's all gonna, it's gonna be about finishing.

And in this game, they, they finished against Texas A&M and I, I think there is definitely concern there in college.

Station.

I mean, um, you know, Mike Elko said, you know, like I, I take nothing, you know, positive away from this game.

And, and you could tell like he was severely disappointed and, you know, like this is when you're replacing multiple coordinators.

Like this is one of those games where, where you can circle.

There's no, no scenario where Marcel Reed needs to be throwing it 49 times.

Like that is, that is a recipe for disaster for the Aggies.

And I think that's, you know, kind of getting back to, yes, they were playing from behind for, for, for a good chunk of the second half, but like, Uh, you, you got to stick to what your, your program is, is built upon.

That's, that's running the football, playing the defense, taking care of the football.

You know, they, they really did not do any of that, uh, in, in this one.

And, uh, you get upset as a top 10 team there at Kyle Field, that, that, that one's gonna sting.

And I think it's gonna sting particularly because, you know, there, there are tougher games left on that schedule for the Aggies.

And, um, not to say that they can't, you know, pull some upsets here or there, but, you know, in terms of, you know, your overall outlook of the season, especially given the way things ended last year.

Um, in terms of those struggles to, to close out better teams, um, yeah, there's, there's, there's gonna be some question marks there surrounding Mike Elko and, uh, this program moving forward .

I just, I just don't know how you trust this group with Marcel Reed at quarterback right now, because he's just so volatile, like, yeah, he threw it 49 times, and yeah, it was a lot of it was because they were down early, but they were down early because Marcel Reed was missing open receivers, right?

Like.

Like the accuracy on, like, schemed open looks.

I mean, they, they had layups, they, they couldn't make layups, essentially, and It, for a team that lost so much, you mentioned the coordinators, the talent along the lines that they had, right?

Like, you have to see the next step from your quarterback, right?

If they were going to stick with Marcel Reed after last year, it had to have been thinking that he is going to take this next step, and it's obvious that he hasn't, he's the same guy, which is a guy that um can be great in individual moments and can be, like, how is this guy an SEC starting quarterback and others, and There was a lot more of the latter than the former, uh, here on Saturday, and, and that's how you lose games, and that, their, their floor is just too low compared to the other very good teams in the SEC because of the quarterback play right now.

And, yeah, I think they're gonna have to to reshuffle and try to lean on the run game and, you know, grind it out, but I, I, again, I don't think they have.

The elite personnel that they did last year.

Um, it is a bit of a transition year in that regard, with, with, with how they're built, and Kentucky certainly took advantage.

I give credit to, to Kentucky, I think, coming off of, you know, a disappointing second half, right?

You hype, you hype up this game, it's on your home field, you have the lead.

And to get blown away the way they did and get up off the mat and have a great week of practice, obviously, and come out super prepared on the road, that was a a really good sign of coaching from from Will Will Stein.

I think that, you couldn't be more impressed with that, but to me, the story is Marcel Reed and, you know, I just don't know where A&M goes um with, with him under center at the, with the way that he's playing right now.

Yeah, all credit to, to Will Stein in Kentucky for pulling that off.

That was, that was truly impressive.

And I do, you just, you watched him.

And that is, there's something to be said for A youthful, enthusiastic fearlessness in your head coach.

And he, he's reminding me a bit of Kenny Dillingham in terms of like, walking in at a young age, first job, and like, I got this, man, let's go, follow me.

Uh we're, we're going someplace we haven't been.

And I think Kentucky needed that.

The Mark Stoops era had certainly gotten cold and tired, and, uh, I think that, that he's, he, they, they brought in some players cause he can also scheme.

Like he's not just, he's not just an energy guy, he , he can scheme, and so I think he had his team super ready.

Uh, I agree, the, the A&M defense has not been very good this year.

Um.

14th in the SEC in yards allowed per play at this point, and doesn't have the offense to make up for that.

Uh, as, as Kevin noted, the, the Marcel Reed thing is, I mean, he's had 3 bad games in their last 5 games, and they lost all 3.

Right, he was bad against uh Miami in the playoffs, he was bad against Texas at the end of the regular season, and then he was fine against uh Uh, Arizona State and finding, you know, whoever they played in their opening blowout.

So, it's troubling, I think, if you're A&M.

You, you gotta be sitting there saying, hmm, what exactly, what's the plan now ?

Can we stick with this plan and do anything that we actually wanna do?

Uh, and the answers have to be quick because the next game is at LSU.

They're also at Missouri, at Alabama, they got Tennessee, at Oklahoma, Texas.

I mean, it is a, It's an SEC schedule, man.

So, a lot there.

Uh, one other SEC game to hit on real quick, Florida Auburn.

Two teams, new coaches, uh, both kind of in similar situations.

I, I think one of the downturns of the SEC the last three years is that both those programs have been bad.

And usually at least one of them is good, often both of them are good.

There are high hopes that both of them have got the guy to turn it around.

Uh, a shootout on the planes, 44-39.

Uh, Florida won the game .

Uh, Kevin, thoughts there on, on what you saw?

Are the Gators back, uh, with John Summerall?

I mean, it was a Buster Faulkner masterclass, right?

Almost 40 minutes of possession, running the ball effectively, obviously, it helps that, you know, Florida retained a stud in in ball, he's phenomenal to watch, but Philo's really good, um, he, he's, he's fun to watch, he's managing the game effectively, they have weapons at receiver, and it just feels like right now in college football.

The way to win offensively is the way that Buster Faulkner's teams wanna play, right?

They're, they're big and physical upfront and can run it down your throat and control the clock, they can hit big plays and play action.

The quarterback has, you know, enough mobility to, to beat you in in in individual spots if needed, right?

He's not gonna blow up the game, but he's also, you know, might, might steal a third down here and there, um, like, they're, they're efficient.

They're they're, they're very impressive to watch, and obviously, Summerall has done a great job, you know, building up the organization, the talent, um, you know, their defense obviously didn't have their best day, but that, that, that score ballooned late.

Like, I didn't think their defensive showing was, was, was bad.

Auburn put, put them on in the 4th quarter when they were chasing it.

So, um, very impressed by Florida.

Uh, I believe they are favored.

Next week at home against Ole Miss, which will be, uh, will be interesting.

Uh, yeah, Florida by 2.5 early, so, um, that tells you where the SEC is at right now and where, where, where the books think Florida is.

Uh, I think they're good, I think they're probably a win like that away from really talking about them as a potential playoff team, but that was an impressive performance and, yeah, again, can't say enough good things about what the Gators look like offensively right now.

I mean, it does speak to, to John Summerall in terms of identifying, you know, who, who he needed to keep, you know, right away when he took over that job.

There was, you know, as much as, you know, the, the Billy Napier era, uh, went out with a whimper, like there, he did have talent on, on that roster.

I mean, you know, Jaden Ball, you know, 1st, 1st and foremost, you know, Dallas Wilson going out and making sure that those guys stuck around.

Like that was a, a massive win in the offseason for John Summerall and then, you know, to have the, have the coordinators bring in a, a, a quarterback that was familiar with the system like this was.

Um, you know, identifying how we can flip this and, and make this a program that can contend pretty much right away.

Like, you know, and, and, and this is something that he has done, uh, time after time in terms of taking over at Troy, taking over at Tulane.

Like this, this is his MO and I, I do give him a lot of credit.

Like this was very, a, a more deceiving scoreline, uh, in, in terms of the actual, you know, watching this game.

Like this, this definitely felt like this was Florida's game, um, but, I, I mean, you know, credit to, to the Gators for, for turning it around and, um, really, you know, the, the way they, you know, like you're saying, Kevin.

The way they play, you know, that, that can lead to a lot of wins.

That can lead to a lot of games where, let's face it, it's going to come down to, you know, a score here, a play here or there.

That's just gonna be the margins in the SEC, especially against some of these teams, you know, like Ole Miss, like Georgia down the road.

Um, and, and, you know what, the way they play, that, that can lead to some wins down there.

And, um, you know, whether they're a playoff team, I'm not quite ready to, to go there, but can they win 9 games?

Yes, they, they can definitely win 9 games this year.

And I think that's a, that's a massive turnaround, massive proof positive for John Summerall as a head coach and I do give, give a lot of credit for Auburn, like Byron Brown, um, you know, I, I, I did question at times, you know, how, how he would do, you know, against SEC defenses and, and, uh, I, I mean, he carried Auburn in, in this game.

Uh, I mean, just, just absolutely put them on, on his shoulders and, um, you know, like 3 touchdowns through the air, uh, another one on the ground.

He was their leading rusher, uh, as well.

So like, I mean, you, you understand, uh, he, he's going to be He's so fun to watch, you know, and I think it's just, he does not have enough help around him to really make Auburn more of a threat, but they they are moving in the right direction.

I, I think this is another game that even for Auburn fans, they can say, you know what, there, there are enough positives to take away from this game that I can actually be more optimistic about this season going forward.

So I think it's, uh, it was actually one of those games where I think both teams and, and both fan bases can walk away and saying, all right, you know what?

I, I think we have something here that, that we can actually enjoy watching for the last couple of years where that has not been the case for anything in terms of the product on their field, on the field.

Yeah, it's hard in the SEC to, to find hope and joy out of a loss, but I think if you're Auburn, I would do that.

And especially Byron Brown, I was really surprised he threw 3 interceptions against Baylor in the opener because I'd seen him last year and thought that dude.

And play.

And I, I was glad to see him bounce back and have that performance, uh, even if it was in defeat.

Uh, Kevin, to your point about Buster Faulkner and what he's doing there.

I mean, they have got.

A formula, and it does remind me, it's, it's slightly different than what they did with Haynes King at Georgia Tech, but in terms of This is exactly how we're gonna play around our quarterback.

I'm gonna give you Aaron Philo's passing stats for the 3 games so far this year.

First game, Florida Atlantic, 16 of 21 for 275 yards.

Uh A rating of 223.

8, rating's not important.

Uh, anyway, 16 to 21, 275.

2nd game, Campbell, 16 of 21, 242.

3rd game, Auburn, 15 to 22, 204.

Like, it's the same thing.

We're going to throw it in the low twenties, we're going to complete a high percentage, and we're going to hand it to our stud running back.

And that's exactly just, that's how we're going to work this thing.

And even the stud running back, we're not gonna necessarily kill him.

They did give it to him 26 times against Auburn, but he's only got 54 carries through 3 games.

They were judicious with him in the 1st 2 games, cause they didn't need him to do a bunch.

I would imagine he's gonna be up over 20 on several occasions the rest of the way.

But I just, I, I like Summerall and Buster Faulkner together, like, they've, they've already put together an identity.

Of how they want to play, which is impressive in 3 games in the transfer portal era, where you're just kind of pulling things together to a degree, uh, from year to year.

So, kudos to the Gators, we'll see what happens with them going forward.

Uh, so we've talked a bunch about the SEC.

You know why?

Because there's nothing happening in the Big 10.

Terrible schedule this week, uh, in the Big 10.

I think it's kind of like they just took the week off.

Uh, very strange to me about the way this thing came together.

There was one notable result, I thought, and that was Kevin Sweeney's alma mater, the mighty Northwestern Wildcats, absolutely thumping, uh, Colorado.

I think we learned about Colorado a little bit too, but, but we learned about Northwestern.

Got it done 41 to 7 there.

Otherwise, It was a bunch of nothing.

Oregon played an FCS team.

Michigan State lost to Notre Dame, but did it about exactly how I expected they would, grudgingly, lower scoring , uh, refusal to, to knuckle under.

Uh, Indiana played another cadaver, Ohio State played a cadaver.

USC Rutgers, we could talk about that one because, uh, USC won, but holy moly, that defense, yikes.

Penn State played a cadaver, Iowa played a cadaver, Michigan played a cadaver, Minnesota played a cadaver, Wisconsin played a cadaver, Illinois played a cadaver, Nebraska played a cadaver, Washington played a cadaver, uh, Virginia Tech beat Maryland, UCLA beat Purdue.

Uh, I, it just disappoints me for a league that A has 18 teams, and B has a lot of good teams, so that's the schedule.

Was there anything to take away from this week in the Big 10, Kevin?

Yeah, not, not a whole lot, um, you know, I'm, I'm, I'm gonna save one take for our firing segment, um, but, yeah, I, I, I did, look, Northwestern was good, um, Chip Kelly, I, I, I was trying to find it, I haven't found the stat yet, but it's been a while since Northwestern's had 2 straight games with 400 yards of offense.

Um, they, they, they found a way to do that.

Um, they've got a scatback Joe Hyman, who had 3 receiving touchdowns.

I mean, talk about a defense that was unprepared.

I was watching these clips, I mean, it was, like, wheel route central for, for the Wildcats against the Colorado D, uh, and yeah, the clip of, uh, of the Colorado players running out into the lakefront, uh, Northwestern Stadium saying it sounded like a library, this place stinks, uh, and then losing by approximately 100 points was, uh.

Not a great look for Dion's boys.

Uh, yeah , not, not, not a great week for, for the Buffs.

Not a great, uh, transitive result for Georgia Tech either.

Let's just, no, yeah, no, uh, first two games of 2022, they were over 500 yards each game.

22.

wow.

Oh yeah, yeah, that would be the, uh, the Ireland game against Nebraska, yep, and then against Duke.

Yeah, yeah, lost to Duke on a, uh, Missed a fumble at the goal line at the end and then didn't win again the rest of the year, so.

Correct, yeah, they were an unstoppable offensive juggernaut for two games and then they were terrible thereafter, so.

Anyhow, Brian, thoughts on the Big 10?

Uh, yeah, you know, I mean, go ahead and skip, skip this weekend, you know, fast forward.

I mean, like, I, I feel like you know , you know, Gus Johnson, you know, for the Ohio State Kent State game, just like, and they scored again, you know, like Gus Johnson, like that's that, that's summed up, you know, Mr.

Energy Energy, um, who, who is a 5 hour ball of energy, like every time you see him.

Uh, especially for, for a McDoon game, he's, he's fired up, and then, you know, by, by easily by the 2nd quarter or 3rd quarter, like he's, all right, let's, let's move along to, to next week.

Like that didn't sum up the Big Ten's week, and, you know, credit to David Braun.

Like you get the extension and, and then Colorado like that.

Like that is, you know, that is impressive.

Like I, I have been skeptical in terms of where, where the program is at, but like, you know, bringing in Chip Kelly, you know, what they've looked like this year, um, yeah, I think it's, uh, you know, positive vibes, you know, especially going into.

Uh, a couple of weeks opening the new stadium, like, I, I think Northwestern was probably the big takeaway.

Kudos to, to UCLA too, um, you know, a bit of a shootout there.

Like, I, I do think Purdue is very improved.

Like this is, this is a team that they, they lost by a lot last year.

They're losing by a little bit this year.

Um, you know, it's kind of like, you know, Barry Odom has made some, some progress with the, with the boilermakers, but, um, that was a fun game for, for UCLA.

And I think for Bob Chesney in particular, like having, having the proof of concept at at UCLA, winning games, kind of getting everybody to buy back in.

Um, you know, especially with that running game, uh, that he has there for, for the Bruins, like that's, that's a, that's a big positive there in Los Angeles.

So, um, you know, I, I think it was another weekend where, yeah, you, you could probably peruse the box scores and not really learn, uh, a whole lot more than, than you would even if you actually had to watch the, uh, watch the film of these Big 10 games.

Yeah, all right.

Um, I've got 4 teams that I don't think we've learned enough about that are highly ranked.

Tell me which one you actually believe in here.

Georgia has bludgeoned 3 straight teams.

One of them is Arkansas, which should count, but Arkansas is so bad, and if you guys saw the clip, there was a skunk running through the stadium before the game, like, that was a four-legged metaphor, if you've ever seen it.

I mean, He actually went up the stands, went up the stairs, like it started off at field level and then just said, I'm going up the concourse , see if I can find some popcorn or whatever.

Uh, so we have the skunk there.

We've got Arkansas fans maybe boycotting.

We've got the board of trustees coming out saying we've got to give more money.

Like Arkansas is as big a debacle as any P5 team other than P4 team other than maybe Rutgers.

But speaking of Rutgers, they did give USC a game.

So, my teams, my list of four teams that Our highly ranked and winning games.

What do we know about them?

Georgia, Indiana, USC, Penn State.

Is there one, Brian Fisher that you like, you really have sunk your teeth into and think is really good?

Uh, I think it's Indiana.

Uh, you know, look, well-coached, we know that, you know, with Kurt S Cignetti, and I think there were, you know, the big question mark coming into the year was, all right, a new quarterback after, you know, replacing Heisman Trophy winner, you know, how, how is Josh Hoover gonna be?

And I think he's, he's at least answered the questions.

Yes, competition has not been great, but, you know, let's face it, he's operating the offense like we all expected.

And so I think that is huge for Indiana moving forward.

I think they're a team that, you know, especially when you look at the schedule, they're gonna set up to contend, um, and maybe Make it back to Indianapolis this, uh, this, this season, uh, with what they have.

And they, they've truthfully been dealing with a lot of injuries too early in the early part of the year, um, you know, especially the secondary was beat up.

They've, they've held some guys out, uh, this past weekend.

So like, I, I still think this is an Indiana team that can get better.

Um, I'm, you know, jury's out on, on Georgia until they play some, some, some better teams.

I think they, you know, the positive is like, you know, you're not hearing Mike Bobo calls, you know, uh, into the local Athens radio stations at this point in the season.

So I think that's probably a good, good sign there for the Bulldogs and, and good sign for Kirby Smart.

Um, you know, question marks abound though for, for Penn State and USC and we'll, we'll see.

Like, is USC been saving things up for this, this upcoming game against Oregon?

You know, this is gonna be a big test for Lincoln Riley.

We'll see against Penn State.

They also play USC in a couple of weeks.

So like this is, those two teams in particular .

Like I, I have no clue, you know, how, how really truly good they are, but, uh, I, I do have some belief there, especially in the talent level at, at Indiana and Georgia.

I, I, I think I trust Georgia the most out of this group right now.

Um, watched a little bit of, of, of at least Georgia and, and Indiana here the last couple of weeks.

I think, I think Georgia is really good.

I think Stockton's been super, super sharp.

I think they have legit dudes on defense, they've managed, um, the, the workload for these backs really well, these 1st 3 weeks, right?

Like, If you're gonna play Cupcake Central, it's nice to come out of it feeling pretty healthy and feeling like you gave a lot of guys reps, and I think Georgia has done a great job with that.

Look, I think Indiana's really good, uh, I think they are going to continue to hit their stride, right?

This is not a team, right?

We, we could talk about last year struggling with a little bit with Old Dominion, week one.

Obviously turned out just just fine, but there have been a couple of bumps in the road for, for, for this group, like, they were not great against North Texas in the opener.

They were good, they probably weren't phenomenal.

They were not great against Western Kentucky, right?

A Western Kentucky team that got bludgeoned by Nevada, uh, was in that game with, like, 1 minute to go in the half, and if not for an atrocious Brock Glenn interception.

I mean, Made one of the worst, like, ill-advised throws of the day, like, they, they go into the half down 7, probably against Indiana.

Again, that's not to say there's any concern yet with Indiana, but, like, I wanna see it against a good team because they haven't quite been as sharp as you would hope, uh, 3 weeks.

Yeah, we'll see whether Indiana can kind of copy the flight plan from last year, which was, as you said, they were, they muddled through a terrible non-conference schedule, and then all of a sudden, Big 10 opener, Illinois comes in.

touted game and they beat Illinois as badly as you can beat a good team.

And right then and there, I was a believer, they're gonna play Northwestern on Friday night in Bloomington.

I think that's gonna tell us about both teams.

So, I, I am looking forward to that one.

producer Kent passes this along about how bad Arkansas is.

Uh, at one point during a commercial break, Georgia was working on defensive line drills after not getting enough work on the field.

Smart says defensive line coach Trey Scott would be the better person to ask, except you can't ask the assistant coaches at Curt Georgia, so what's the point, Kirby?

But anyway, uh, quote from Kirby, there's a belief that Coach Scott has that we're not getting enough work.

They're not running the ball, they're not being physical enough, we need to get work.

So he has, so he gets work between snaps and between huddle breaks to make sure we're getting enough to earn their NIL every day.

Kirby's a hard dude, man.

He, he will not compromise on the way things need to be done in his program, including the fact that, at least according to the athletic, they aren't paying anywhere near what some of the uh highest salaries are, and they're still getting results.

So, uh, Indiana and Georgia, I think are both good.

But, but I need to see more.

USC I think, woo, that, that raised some questions for me.

All right, real quick, before we get around to handing out the Heisman and firing some people.

Uh, let's talk a little Big 12, some significant results there.

Friday night, Texas Tech, Houston, heck of a game.

Brian Fisher and I are watching the end of that on his phone in the Peabody Hotel Friday night, uh, surrounded by LSU fans who couldn't give a damn.

They were only concerned about their game.

Uh, Texas Tech hangs on to win.

Houston, I think, is much improved and is really well-coached.

But Texas Tech, do we have concerns there, Brian?

And then how do we feel about West Virginia going neutral field and taking it to Virginia?

BYU crushing a Colorado State team that thought they might have something going on.

What's your thoughts there on the Big 12, Brian?

Well, I do feel like way better about, you know, our, our pick preseason of, of having BYU in the playoffs or the Big 12 than Texas Tech because it's not been, it's not been crisp for the Red Raiders.

It's not been the kind of dominance we expected.

Like, I mean, they're, they are the outlier in terms of roster spending in the Big 12 by a significant margin, and you would think that would show up like it did last year on the.

Field.

So far it has not.

And I don't think it's necessarily even just a Will Hammond thing in terms of operating the offense.

Like this is, you know, guys are just not on the same page and I think that's for, for both sides of the ball.

And, um, you know, can they still muddle through and, and still win the Big 12, you know, playing like they are?

Yeah, sure, but, you know, going undefeated in, in conference play, I don't think that's, that's kind of in the cards at this point.

Um, you know, even, even with a pretty light schedule.

And so I think there is concern there in Lubbock.

Maybe it is just kind of, you know, growing into things, you know, some, some new faces and all that, but, um, I think there's some, some legitimate concern there for, for the Red Raiders and just in terms of how they've played, um, you know, the Christmas, crispness is just not there.

And I think for, for BYU, I mean, like they, they are the favorite at this point.

I, I would definitely throw out Utah, like another team that, you know, in terms of not playing a few, few, few good teams, like, yes, they did blow up.

Arkansas, but, uh, you know, I think the way that the Utes have looked, um, you know, early in the Morgan's Valley era, I, I would think that, that definitely puts some emphasis on the Holy War even more than, than it usually does, uh, in, in Salt Lake City.

So, um, you know, I, I think the Big 12, very intriguing as, as we always expected it to be.

Don't count out Arizona, Arizona State, like, I mean, there's, there's gonna be a lot of games that, uh, you know, we, we know we're gonna come down to tight margins in that conference and that's ultimately gonna determine who's gonna make it to Arlington.

Yeah, I think some of these teams in the middle are just, like, a little better than we thought, like, I think West Virginia, you know, Hawkins was electric, um, in that win over Virginia, outdueled Bo Perbula, uh, I think they're better than we thought.

I think Oklahoma State, obviously with the win over Oregon.

On aggregate, probably a little better than we thought, despite the, the Tulsa loss that that hurts a little bit.

I think Arizona's good.

I think Houston's a little more dynamic than I thought they would be.

Um, they have, they've, they've looked pretty good, looked the part.

Um, Arizona State, I think, is probably a little bit better than we thought they would be with, with Boley.

And these receivers, man, like, they have, they have some dudes out wide that will be interesting to watch.

So, again, the question with this league is, is just, does it beat each other up too much?

Do we end up with a bunch of teams kind of glutted at 9 and 3, 10 and 2, and that doesn't, that doesn't get you anywhere, but from a playoff conversation?

But it's gonna be a fun race.

I've, I'm, I've, I've enjoyed it so far.

I think there's some teams we need to learn a little bit more about.

Um, K-State, a team that I would like to learn more about, they've had 3, you know, non-power games so far, but Avery Johnson does look good with Colin Klein, so excited to see what they look like as well.

They could maybe be in the be a factor in this race.

Yeah, I'm glad you mentioned them, because that's intriguing.

Colin Klein is, like, Avery Johnson seemed like, Kind of one of those guys, not like, like a poor man's Drew Aller, where it's like, surely by year 3 as the starter, he's gonna break through and be better, and, you know, maybe not, but then it looks like now he is breaking through.

So I think Colin Klein is, uh, is finding some ways to make him work, and I, I say watch out for Rich Rod in West Virginia, man.

I mean, we all know he can coach.

And he's probably gonna win some games where you're not even thinking about it or expecting it.

So, uh, well done for Rich Rod to get that win in Charlotte.

All right, guys, let's go ahead and fire some people.

Dave Doran, we've already established, has already been fired, uh, unanimous firing earlier in the show.

So, you gotta fire somebody else.

Uh, Kevin Sweeney, do you, do you have somebody you wanna hand a pink slip to?

Yeah, unfortunately, I think it might be time for Mike Locksley, um, at Maryland.

I mean, look, to, to lose to Virginia Tech, who you're gonna recruit against a lot, uh, to lose, you know, essentially in month one of the James Franklin era, when you have this quarterback that you believe in heavily in in Malik Washington, who's really talented, might be a, you know, might be a first round pick one day.

It's just, that, that is the type of result where you look up and it's like, So what exactly are we paying you for?

Like, what, what, what is the long term aspiration here?

Because it just, it seems like we're headed towards 4 and 8 yet again, so, yeah.

Yeah, I'm gonna go with, uh, Gary Patterson, uh, 460 yards for, for Rutgers offensively.

The team that lost to UMass.

What are we doing?

Uh, 6 of 11 on 3rd down and 3 of 4 on 4th down.

This is Rutgers.

I thought we were, you know, we heard all offseason like Lincoln Riley talking about , we've got Gary Patterson over there.

The defense looks great.

I, and I look, I know.

Yes, travel issues going east and west.

Believe me, I know that better than anybody.

It, it can be, it is definitely a thing, um, you know, the injury list for USC was long.

I think they were holding out quite a few guys for the Oregon game coming up, uh, this weekend, but like there is no excuse to let Oregon or to let Rutgers do that to you, you know, and, and I think that, uh, Gary Patterson, like, uh, you know, take a hike, especially if Oregon runs all over him this week, like there's, it's gonna Be some real questions because Lincoln Riley and this program invested a lot on bringing him in, turning the keys over.

He's going to be the head coach on defense.

He's gonna take some stuff off Lincoln Riley's plate.

Uh, you know, this is the year everybody was aligned.

They got the guys, they got the dudes that look good, that, uh, look like USC, uh, defensive of old.

Well, that was not the USC defense of old.

So I'm gonna, I'm gonna fire an assistant coach this, this week.

Uh, deserved.

I, I mean, that they talk about, yes, false hype or hype that has been harpooned is when Rutgers throws it all over you, that you've got some issues.

Now, they, Rutgers has a phenomenal receiver, KJ Duff.

Like, holy cow, he's gonna be one of those guys like great player, bad team, that uh we're probably at least giving some respect to all season.

He's got 6 touchdowns, 400 yards plus this year.

Uh, so I kind of feel bad for him.

But, Gary Patterson not showing what was expected.

Um, I'm firing the hoodie.

That was a bad loss against Clemson.

Clemson was so awful to start that game.

And North Carolina did not take full advantage of it, and then just fell apart.

And you could talk about that, and I will talk about that, there was a long lightning delay, like a 2-hour lightning delay when they're like, 1st in goal or 2nd in goal on the 7.

And did that take the air out of their sails when they were maybe gonna push it in for a touchdown that could have won the game?

Yeah, probably, but so what?

And Clemson's not good, and you had the chance to beat Clemson, you were dominating them early, and kicked too many field goals, uh, and then just collapsed defensively.

So, given everything else that's going on at Chapel Hill , I am, uh, I am terminating Bill Belichick.

All right, Heisman, who are you giving it to?

Uh, Brian.

Uh, well I, well, I kind of want to give it to the, the Vandy defense for, for forcing that, at, at the last play.

I don't know if we could single out, uh, somebody.

I, I, I think I'm gonna go with Nate Shepherd at Duke.

Uh, another phenomenal game for him, 154 yards against Stanford, uh, nation's leading rusher at this point.

Like he, he cannot be stopped by defenses.

Like, you know, you're talking about like he goes through arm tackles like it's nobody's business.

Uh, you know, two or three guys need to, to, to take him down.

So I'm, I'm going with, uh, Nate Shepherd at Duke.

I'm gonna keep it in the running back room.

We've got a, we've got an old school revival of the position.

Shout out to to Newman, Wayne Knight, UCLA, uh, 8 touchdowns now in 3 games.

Uh, they're explosive, man, and he is, he's a lot of fun to watch.

18 carries, 177 yards running through the vaunted Purdue front, uh, very, very impressed with, with the entire UCLA run game and, and the way that they've schemed things up, but Wayne Knight is, he, he is, he's a small back, but he has a lot of fun to watch and if UCLA has a big year, he will be a big reason why.

There you go.

All right, um.

I would like to give like an honorary Heisman to Rutgers punter, Jacob Anderson.

Rutgers can't throw the Rutgers does one thing with the ball.

Well, they do, two things.

They throw it to KJ Duff or they throw interceptions.

Those are the only two things that happen.

They have 9 interceptions and 102 passes.

They're having 9% of their passes are being intercepted, which is an unconscionable rate.

But Jacob Anderson, 4th and long out of the end zone, fake punt pass completion for 40 yards.

By far the best thing that has happened to the Rutgers passing game.

But I also, I do wanna shout out Kenny Minci.

Uh, we talked about him briefly at, uh, at Kentucky.

Notre Dame transfer, Notre Dame really liked him.

They just, he couldn't beat out CJ Carr.

And Will Stein went and got him, it was a very competitive market for him, and he has come through fantastically.

14 of 18, 252 yards, 2 touchdowns against Texas A&M, uh, running the team really well.

So I'm giving Miny the Heisman there.

Um, plenty of other good performances out there though, this week, and a skunk in the stadium at, at Arkansas.

So , all right, guys, that's our show for this week.

We'll be back to overreact again next week.

There's always something ridiculous going on.

I'll be back also on Thursday with Gene Wojciowski to record, uh, and we will talk to you all later.

Have a great week, everybody.