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Conference Championships Preview
21 Plays1 year ago
In this episode, Colton and Will preview every conference championship game, discuss the current state of the transfer portal, and pick their favorite moments and games from the regular season.
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Transcript
Introduction and Conference Championship Preview
00:00:00
Speaker
In today's trouble with the snap, we will be previewing conference championship weekend in college football before talking some transfer portal as well as our favorite moments from the 2023 regular season. Roll the intro.
00:00:31
Speaker
He's going to try and run for it. Leaps gets spun around. Snap that shocked Cam Rising. Now he breaks it down and rolls out, Rising. Step out and gets absolutely demolished.
00:00:50
Speaker
I don't want to alarm you. They has trouble with the snap. And the ball is free. And speak up by Michigan State State on what sticks in any scores on the last play of the game. Unbelievable. Hello, everybody. Welcome back to another episode of Trouble with the Snap. I'm your host, Colton Deutsch, joined, as always, by my 2022 World Series Champion. As his beanie says, Will Shamansky in
00:01:20
Speaker
Brian College Station, Texas at Texas A&M University. The Aggies, Will, how are you doing today? That was a hell of an intro. I'm really impressed. I'm doing pretty well. Just had a really low-key day. I didn't have class today. Knocked out some homework, watched some TV, watched some sports all the above, and just chilled. How was your day? How are you doing? It was pretty good. I have a couple of assignments I need to knock out before I'm
00:01:49
Speaker
Pretty much done for the semester, aside from finals, obviously. Should probably get started on that studying pretty soon. But I just have a couple projects and papers to knock out. But besides that, nothing too crazy. Honestly, just kind of ready for college football this weekend. Yeah, you and me both, man.
00:02:09
Speaker
That's the thing. I'm right there. I'm in the exact same spot as you are right now as well. I got a group project due on Sunday and a few assignments sprinkled in through there before college football. So I'm ready to get all that stuff behind me and just get to the weekend and get ready to crush finals starting next week. When is this volleyball game we were talking about the other night? That is a really good question. And I didn't give you an answer on that. So that's my apologies. Let me look this up just one moment. I'll beat you to it. You already got it pulled up?
00:02:40
Speaker
Yep. Let's see. This game is on. Oh, it's on Thursday. Nice. It's on Thursday at six o'clock. OK. Wait, that's today. Holy cow. It's already past midnight. I just realized. There we go. Man, you going to pull up then?
00:03:02
Speaker
I mean, look, if people are really waiting for a year from today, when our teams wait to learn football, that just wait the volleyball one is going to be much more intense. I completely agree, especially in that, uh, you know, anytime you're in like a roofed environment, like I get it, like football, everyone's like, it's the most intimidating because they have the most people.
00:03:20
Speaker
I don't know. There's certainly some college basketball venues that I've been to, at least here at A&M at Reed, that certainly give an average Kyle Field crowd a run for its money, just considering how loud it gets in there and all that. So I can kind of agree with you on that one for volleyball. I mean, I know we're not doing locks of the week this week, but I'm taking Texas volleyball as a lock of the week. Really? Because I heard the Aggies are going to pull the upset in Austin. That's just what I heard. Is that a lock?
00:03:48
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, granted all the sources that I have within the A&M volleyball program here, they're telling me they're feeling really confident traveling to Austin later today to take on the horns. I think they get it done, Colton. I think they're ready to shock the world and move on. Well, I guess we'll have to update the listeners on that one the next episode. But I'm feeling pretty good from what I've seen around campus. That's fair. Seems like spirits are high. Of course. That's always good. I've heard there's a disgusting game plan in place for the Aggies today.
00:04:19
Speaker
Is there? It's just things I've heard kind of just through the grapevine. Through your sources? Yeah, people have been talking, getting one chatting up at the diner. So we'll see. OK. I'm feeling real good about tonight. OK. Well, that's good, because as I said a moment ago, I'm feeling really good about the eggs tonight. So we'll see what happens. Yeah, this just got really awkward. It kind of did. You know what? On that note, let's just dive right into football. Colton, would you mind leading us off with our first preview, like always?
00:04:47
Speaker
Yeah, that was way too much high attention for 1230 in the morning, but. Volleyball can nonetheless. Right. Hey, this means something to me. We're just passionate about our schools. I really respect that for both of us. I mean, this is the biggest thing that's going to be going on on my Thursday now that I found out what day the game was. All right. Can we please shift gears now to football?
Game Highlights: New Mexico State vs. Liberty Flames
00:05:07
Speaker
Conference USA championship. The New Mexico State Aggies are playing the Liberty Flames.
00:05:13
Speaker
Flames is a fantastic mascot, by the way. Kayden Salter for Liberty, their quarterback. Will and I actually saw him play for Cedar Hill in the state championship game. He was at Tennessee for just a minute, then went up to Liberty and has Liberty undefeated.
00:05:27
Speaker
I'm really curious to see how this Conference USA and the American game kind of play out here because Tulane kind of has the upper hand right now by just about one ranking, I believe, for the Group of Five New Year Six spot, even though they have a loss. Liberty doesn't really seem to get too much respect from the committee due to the Conference USA being kind of down. But this could be a pretty good one, not only because it would be a championship win. Kavov in undefeated season, but New Mexico State is also coming off a win.
00:05:55
Speaker
at Auburn just a couple weeks ago. So this one, I see this kind of going in the flames way there. I think Ken Salter will have a very big day and Liberty gets it done and wins the American. This is kind of a side note. Sorry. Regardless of what happens at Liberty, I mean, in my opinion, they could make it like, you know, go undefeated for like 10 straight years and eventually make the CFP all that.
00:06:16
Speaker
No matter how far the program goes, my favorite memory and the one thing that I will always think of when I hear the word Liberty football is that picture of Hugh Fries pointing down. The thumbs up from the hospital bed. Yes, from the hospital bed, the press box. That is every single time I hear the word Liberty, that is what I think of and I will always do that. Was that against? Who are they playing? Was that Syracuse?
00:06:39
Speaker
It might have been. I don't remember. It was so funny. Man, just ever since that happened, that's just exactly what I think of when I hear the word liberty football. So I don't know. It was so funny.
00:06:55
Speaker
All right, moving on. Next game, pretty big one here. First power five game on our slate. We're previewing Oregon versus Washington for the Pac-12. You know,
Preview and Predictions: Oregon vs. Washington
00:07:03
Speaker
it's a huge rematch. We've been looking forward to this one ever since these two last blooded heads. I believe that was probably every bit of six weeks ago.
00:07:11
Speaker
As we all know in the first game, Washington walked away with a dub on a final second game winning field goal. However, since that game, it certainly seems as if Oregon is trending up and Washington has not necessarily turned it down, but certainly had their fair share of lumps along the way to get to this championship game.
00:07:29
Speaker
You know, Bo Nix, as we all know, who will most likely be a Heisman finalist this year, has just been Mr. Everything for this Oregon offense. He's led their attack like crazy. And apparently, according to the CFP committee, he's the reason why Oregon is still in the top five over maybe potential better teams such as Alabama or Texas, things like that.
00:07:48
Speaker
Yeah, Bo Nicks, he has a, he's got a lot of pull this year because of his, his great play. But anyways, going back to the game, man, this, this is exactly what I'm looking for out of all the conference championship games. I certainly think this one will be the closest, at least from what I'm seeing at the moment.
00:08:06
Speaker
You know, and looking at Washington, of course, uh, similar story there, their, their biggest, uh, their biggest asset for the entire team has been the play of Michael Penix this year. Of course he has some, you know, a few star wide receivers and running backs, things like that. But the entire team pretty much has run through Michael Penix this year.
00:08:24
Speaker
So ultimately, in my opinion, as you could probably see where this is going, this game will just come down to which quarterback has the better day, who plays the more clean game, who protects the football, things like that. I know it sounds really kind of cliche and just very basic of me to say that, but I think that's the absolute truth in this game. So for my prediction in this game, I would definitely probably roll with the Oregon Ducks here. I think they'll probably get it done by about a touchdown.
00:08:52
Speaker
Um, because as I was saying, the ducks have just been hot and they've just been trending up and up and up since that one loss to the Huskies earlier in the year. And the Huskies have been, have, uh, kind of hit, uh, kind of hit a little bit of a skid, not, I mean, kind of a skid, but just kind of their ups and downs as the seasons, uh, wrapped up. So ultimately I do think that organ with that momentum, as I guess mentioned, we'll get the job done against Washington and bring home the pack 12 championship.
00:09:18
Speaker
Yeah, I cannot wait for this game. Like you mentioned, I mean, that was definitely one of the best regular season games, if not the best in this entire year. Look, in that game, Dan Lanning was super, super aggressive, which I liked in the end of the game when they were up by, I forgot how much they were up by, but I mean, they went for it. I think they were up by four, right?
00:09:40
Speaker
They went for it around midfield, trying to really put the game where they couldn't do that. Penix comes back with a strike to Roma Dunsey and, you know, Oregon misses a field goal at the gun there, but it was kind of a game where it felt like Oregon was, was the better team, but at Washington's credit, they were able to make a lot of critical softwethers on fourth down or inside the red zone. I'm kind of with you. I think Washington has kind of been living on the edge lately.
00:10:02
Speaker
And yeah, this is a potential Heisman showdown between PENIX and BONIX. But yeah, in this game, I just kind of think Oregon's a more physical team. I think they're the better team, which might sound weird because Washington did win the first matchup. But I think it's hard to beat any good team twice in a season, no matter what. And I think Oregon was probably the better team.
00:10:21
Speaker
and they will get it done here. The line, though, at minus nine and a half for Oregon is pretty interesting. That seems pretty disrespectful. I will say, though, the main reason why I'm also rocking with Oregon is you look at the first meeting with these teams that we had about six weeks ago is what I was saying, if not a little bit longer. This game was a true home game for the Huskies, and they only won by a field goal, on a last second field goal nonetheless. So with this now being a neutral side game where the Huskies don't have their home field advantage there,
00:10:50
Speaker
I certainly feel even more confident in choosing Oregon to win this Yeah, I cannot wait for this game it'll be awesome moving on to the big 12 championship Saturday morning 11 a.m. You have Texas
Matchup Analysis: Texas vs. Oklahoma State
00:11:03
Speaker
and Oklahoma State This is a game that
00:11:07
Speaker
I really kind of think it's just a good matchup for Texas. It's one of those where Oklahoma State is really focused on trying to run the ball or that's at least with the strength their team is. Ollie Gordon is maybe the best back in the country. And look, Mike Gundy is a really good coach. It looked like they were going to fall apart this year after losing to South Alabama and being two and two, but they turned it around there and find themselves here in the big toe championship game. Mike Gundy kind of always has the Longhorns number.
00:11:33
Speaker
And you know that he's going to have a lot of wrinkles to throw out. I do kind of expect Texas to have guys open down the field just due to some mismatches on the outside with the receivers and Oklahoma State's safeties kind of being a bit suspect to getting beaten deep. And so I think if Quinn Ewers can play a clean game and hit the open guys, Longhorns shouldn't really have much of an issue.
00:11:54
Speaker
moving the ball and defensively I think as Longhorns play aggressive like that against Texas Tech, they said a pretty good chance of shutting down Allen Bowman in the cowboy offense. So I see the Longhorns getting it done here. We'll see if one, if they can just win and two, if they can put on some style points to impress the playoff committee should it come to that.
00:12:14
Speaker
Yeah, not really much for me to say here. I agree with pretty much everything you were saying. This game to me feels like one of the more lopsided, at least matchup wise, conference championships that we have on this slate. Texas has ever since they took that loss in the Cotton Bowl. Fairly early on in the season of Oklahoma, they've just seemed to get better and better. I mean, they've had a few slip ups here and there, but ultimately they were still able to grind out a win. And that's considering the Oklahoma game was the only loss.
00:12:42
Speaker
But with all that in mind and as well as Texas has played these past few weeks, I think that the horns will get it done here on Saturday. No questions asked. And I do also agree with what you're saying, especially with this being Oklahoma State's last time for probably a very long time to play the Longhorns.
00:12:59
Speaker
Mike Gundy, I mean, he certainly has a few tricks up his sleeve, he has in the past. So I'm assuming he's gonna be throwing the entire kitchen sink into this, not just because it's the Big 12 Championship, but also just because of it's Oklahoma State's last time to play the horns in a very long time. So if I were Texas, I would say expect anything. Don't be surprised by anything because he might come out just completely guns ablaze and we have no idea.
00:13:25
Speaker
But either way, even if he does that, I still like Texas in this game pretty, pretty confidently. I definitely expect at least a trick player to no questions asked. Absolutely. And I think it's kind of cool. I mean, it would have been fun to play Oklahoma again. Unfortunately, they do have to watch Texas from their couch while they wear those shirts that they made after a regular season victory. But I mean, with Oklahoma State, like they've kind of had Texas number and Sark actually hasn't beaten Oklahoma State. So
00:13:53
Speaker
And they're kind of the one team in the leftovers of the big 12 long words and get to play. So, I mean, it would be kind of a fitting and to this kind of last ride in the conference. So.
00:14:06
Speaker
We'll see what it's like. I'm excited to get to Jerry world, but also Nelly's performing at halftime, which is pretty funny. Dude, that's sick. He peaked in like what 2008 maybe. I know. It's so funny. I mean, I haven't heard that name in so long. Do you think he still wears like the band-aid under his left eye when he performs or is that like, is that long gone in the past? Do you even know what I'm talking about?
00:14:26
Speaker
I'll have to let you know. I mean, I would think that's just kind of a part of his thing, right? Well, it used to be that's what truly separated him back in the days. He had that little white band-aid under his eye, which was just incredibly interesting. I mean, out of all the things you could do to set yourself apart, you could wear a cool shirt or bright flashy shoes or things like that. The dude said, I'm putting a band-aid on my face. That's just kind of random. I've never even heard of a halftime show at any college game.
00:14:54
Speaker
Well, I mean, of course you have them in like the College of the World playoff, things like that. I remember when I went to the A&M North Carolina Orange Bowl game in like January of 2021, we were supposed to have a halftime show, but instead since it was COVID, they gave us a halftime drone show, which just sucked.
00:15:10
Speaker
That's so funny. I'm serious. It reached the point where, um, since we couldn't have the halftime show due to the virus, um, they pulled up like, uh, I swear to God, they pulled up 2019 halftime show the orange bowl and did a light show to it or a drone show. Oh my cat's brutal. Yeah, it was rough. Yeah. I mean, so I guess I'm getting a football game and I'm getting a Nelly concert. So that's what's up a two for one ticket.
00:15:39
Speaker
Yeah, explains all the ticket prices. Sounds kind of like Miami's ticket strategy earlier on in the season. Yeah, literally. I mean, this is going to be huge for Nelly. Absolutely. I mean, this can get his career right back on track. He can only thank the Big 12. I don't even know what I'm more excited about between the Nelly concert and the potential of winning a conference championship. So the thing that I'm hearing now is that you're going for the Nelly concert, and you just happen to have a football game on the side. You see what I'm saying?
00:16:06
Speaker
Yeah, I actually plan on leaving after halftime. Oh, do you? I might just show up at halftime, just walk in and then walk out. I don't blame me. I mean, we do that at the rodeo all the time. We don't go for the actual rodeo itself. We just go for the concert and leave. Well, it's going to be a heck of a concert and maybe a heck of a football game as well.
00:16:24
Speaker
But I'll definitely get back with some concert reviews. Let's move on to some action. Miami of Ohio and Tulane in Ford Field reminds me of that awesome video with the high school team when they're preparing for the state championship game. And they're all the one, I think I got my swagger back video. Oh, yeah. Awesome, awesome video and team that also played in Ford Field. I see Toledo getting it done here. Just do it for the glass bowl. The Rockets are a great mascot.
00:16:54
Speaker
Boise State UNLV in Vegas for the Mountain West Championship game. Former Texas receiver coach Brendan Marion has kind of moved around all over the place. Now he's an offensive coordinator at UNLV. And this game was decided by computers that got these two teams a match up. Boise State actually doesn't even have a head coach. And around the conference championship game, I see UNLV getting it done here in essentially a home field environment.
00:17:20
Speaker
SEC Championship game, Will, what do you got for us?
00:17:25
Speaker
So it's Georgia
Game Breakdown: Georgia vs. Alabama
00:17:26
Speaker
Bama. We all know what to kind of expect with Georgia Bama. Shocker, right? Georgia Bama. Yeah. Once again, like no one saw this one coming. Oddly enough, though, I did see a stat that said in like the past, I believe, like 10 or so seasons, Georgia and Bama have only met either in a conference championship or the CFP. They haven't met in the regular season, but they are changing that next year when the conference expands. I thought that was kind of interesting.
00:17:52
Speaker
Anyways, as for this game, man, it's truly just a battle of college football Titans over the past few years, if not a decade or so. You know, Bama riding in with the hot hand, of course, feeling really good about that miracle they had on Jordan hair the weekend prior.
00:18:10
Speaker
You know, they've, they, they're one loss of the season just happened to be Texas in week two. And ever since that, they've been able to take care of business, no matter how good or how sloppy it may have been. Um, they still got it done. And as I've liked to say on the show, like a million times throughout the year, Bama just has just gotten stronger and stronger and better and better throughout the entirety of the season. Um, so it'd be very interesting to see what happens when the unstoppable force meets in a movable object. Um, as for Georgia, you know, undefeated, once again, big shocker, there you go. Um,
00:18:40
Speaker
But kind of similar thing here with Bama especially I Feel like especially since Brock Bowers came back from that injury, Georgia's just been back to just being plain old, Georgia You know, they went to Tennessee a couple weeks ago on the road and just absolutely handled business manhandled in there And just with all that being said with them being undefeated taking care of business. This is just
00:19:04
Speaker
setting up for another all-time classic, in my opinion. But if I had to make a pick in this game, that's really tough.
00:19:12
Speaker
I got to do it. I think Kirby Smart will get it done once again against Alabama. I got to roll with the Georgia Bulldogs. And I don't think this game will be particularly like a blowout by any means necessary. I think it could come down to maybe like a last second game winning drive as what we saw. I believe it was 2019 or like December of 2019 when Jalen Hurst led that drive against Georgia in the conference championship as we all remember.
00:19:40
Speaker
And so I think this game can certainly, when it gets down to it, can end in a very similar fashion to that. But ultimately, I do think that the Georgia Bulldogs will come out on top. Yeah, I'm really excited for this game. I will say, I'm going to pick Georgia as well. I don't think Georgia is nearly as dominant as, or just, I don't think that they're as loaded as they have been the last couple of years. They obviously are still incredible. But it felt kind of like it was just unfair. The last two seasons,
00:20:09
Speaker
Jalen Milrow, very, very big test. Look, we've mentioned it to his credit. He has done a great job improving as the year goes on. But I think, I mean, this is pretty clearly the best defense he's played since the Texas game. And I kind of think that George is going to make him a little bit uncomfortable, kind of force him into some throws that he maybe does not want to make or feel comfortable making. I do expect a very physical game. I am curious to see. And I think we mentioned before the year how
00:20:36
Speaker
It kind of just felt like the last couple of years of Bama has not had the receiving core that we've kind of expected from them and seen from them really since probably 2017, 2018. But Isaiah Bond and Jermaine Burton have really started to step up and we'll see if they can give Georgia some problems here, but I'm with you. I think it's going to be a pretty close game, but I think Carson Beck and the dogs are going to be a little too much for the Crimson Tide. Man, it's so hard to pick against Nick Saban.
00:21:02
Speaker
Absolutely and you know, I I've said this in the past on previous episodes I'll I'm kind of contradicting myself here But I have been on record saying that I'll never bet against an Alabama team as long as Nick Saban's on their sideline That but that's exactly what I'm doing for this game I just think Georgia will just look just sneak by and just get the job done. I really do Sure. I mean what's Georgia 29 straight?
00:21:26
Speaker
Something like that. It's just something absolutely ridiculous. That's incredible. If I'm being honest, I can't, sorry, I don't mean to cut you off. I was just going to say, I don't even remember. I can't even physically remember the last time Georgia lost a football game in my mind. It was to Alabama. Was it to Alabama? Championship game. With, uh, Devontae Smith making that catch? No, no, it was to, so in 21, they lost to Bama in the championship game with Bryce Young. And then they played again in the Natty. Oh, you're right. You're right. You're right.
00:21:56
Speaker
So they have, that's their loss. So that was their last loss. Yeah. So then I think if you don't want to count that because they ended up avenging it, I believe it would have been 2020. They lost to Florida. I remember that. That's crazy. What a run they've been on. Yeah. They're, they're insane.
00:22:18
Speaker
American Championship, SMU versus going to New Orleans to play the Tulane Greenway. Like we mentioned, Tulane and Liberty are kind of the top two G5 schools there for the New Year's sixth spot. And I think Tulane gets this one done. Unfortunately, SMU quarterback Preston Stone has had a really good year, has a broken leg, so he obviously will not be playing. And yeah, I think Michael Prad and Tulane are able to get this one done. And they find themselves in a New Year's sixth game, probably the Peach Bowl,
00:22:48
Speaker
Sunbelt Championship, Abstaid versus Troy. I wish this was James Madison, but I think Abstaid, you can just never bet against them. And I think that they're going to defend JMU's honor and win the Sunbelt. Big 10 Championship. Will, what are you liking from our Hawkeyes? I was getting it done right now. No, I'm just playing.
00:23:11
Speaker
As always, as we've talked about Iowa, the thing I love about the team, the defense, the thing I absolutely loathe and despise about the team, the offense, um, just straight up. So I think I love their offense. Oh, do you? It's so funny. You know, I love Iowa. I wouldn't change him. You don't want to get you for Hanukkah Colton. I'm going to get you one of those shirts that we've seen on TV during their games. It says I cheer for the punter and like black and gold. I'll wear that.
00:23:35
Speaker
I have an Iowa 2015 Big 10 championship shirt, I'll wear that for sure. Okay. As for this game, you know, Michigan, this will be the first game that they have Jim Harbaugh back on the sidelines since his three game suspension. Clearly coming off a third straight win against their biggest rival in Ohio State. Boys are feeling really good. As I said, another undefeated season going into another conference championship.
00:24:00
Speaker
Um, and to them, all they gotta do is just handle business here. And without a doubt, they're certainly a lock for the college football playoff. Um, so ultimately I do think Michigan will get this done. Even though JJ McCarthy, he is just completely relying on the run game. As we all know, I still think he will get the job done and his boys, um, will bring home the big 10 championship as much as it pains me to say, cause I truly do love the Iowa Hawkeyes.
Michigan's Edge Over Iowa
00:24:23
Speaker
They're just so fun. Um, as for Iowa,
00:24:28
Speaker
It's just the offense. I feel like Michigan, if they score 14 points, that's enough for them to score, just considering how dominant the Michigan Wolverines defense is and just how sputtering and awful the Iowa offense is.
00:24:43
Speaker
And the only scenario where I see Iowa winning is if they truly just play a perfect Scott free game, meaning that their defense just makes no mistakes, is able to keep Michigan in check all night. And their offense is able to drive down and maybe kick like three field goals.
00:25:00
Speaker
So in the only scenario I see Iowa winning would be like a six three or six nothing game or nine three, something like that, just all field goals. But I just, that's not a really realistic outcome. So I certainly am going to rock with Michigan in this one.
00:25:18
Speaker
Yeah, I think there still is a chance that our conspiracy theory is true, that Iowa has a special playbook loaded up for this weekend that involves double triple passes, Fumble Ruskies, Statue of Liberties, and everything in between hook and ladders.
00:25:35
Speaker
To me, if that is not the case, I just don't see how Iowa is going to score any points, really. And not having Cupid Eugene definitely does not help your defense or team or return game at all, considering the only way they could probably score in this game would actually be off a return and that's not happening.
00:25:53
Speaker
the gene is not back there. I do think it's really interesting. Well, let me know what you think about this. I think it's pretty crazy to say because I was a 10 and two team, but I think this would be one of the biggest upsets in college football history if they pulled this off.
00:26:07
Speaker
I completely agree, because if you look back to earlier in the season when Iowa took their first loss of the season, when they went to Happy Valley and lost to Penn State 30 to nothing, clearly Michigan is a much more powerful, just more dominant overall team than Penn State was. I get it, the game was the whiteout for the Nittany Lions, but I was still lost by 30 points. So pretty much what I'm saying is,
00:26:34
Speaker
I just, I just, I don't see how this is going to happen for Iowa no matter how bad I want to like, you know, will them to victory. It's just, it's just not going to happen. It's crazy to, to have, what is Iowa ranked 16 to have a top, have a top 16 matchup. And it's almost.
00:26:55
Speaker
like unfathomable to think that Iowa could win the game. I can't even really muster up scenarios and where they score more than a touchdown. This like truly is like the David and Goliath game of the season. And it's not even because Michigan is that good. Michigan is obviously really good, but I wouldn't even score two touchdowns against Nebraska. I know. Or really anyone, basically. So yeah, this would be one of the greatest and funniest ups in the college history.
00:27:25
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, I think Michigan could probably get up 17 to nothing and just pull everybody. Dude, they could get up 14 to nothing and pull everybody. Seven to nothing might do it. Three to nothing? Honestly, two. The rare one point safety might bail them out. Yeah. One point could also do it. So yeah, I think, I think Maize and Blue is going to be pretty happy with a third straight Big 10 championship come Saturday night.
00:27:53
Speaker
ACC
Florida State's Challenge Against Louisville
00:27:54
Speaker
championship game. Me personally, I'm hoping that Texas gets the job done so I can have a lot of rooting interests in this game. They would need a Louisville victory here. This game is interesting. I wonder if people are a bit down on Louisville after the Kentucky loss, which Louisville just kind of committed a few too many turnovers, a rivalry game. Louisville has been good this year. They did take advantage of a favorable schedule, but you play who you play. Jack Plummer and Jora Jordan have been
00:28:20
Speaker
Very good this year. I'm just a little bit concerned that Florida State might be too athletic for them, and that that D-line with Jared verse could really cause some problems. I think if Louisville is able to hold up in pass protection, they might have enough juice to put up some points here. And if you ever see, I don't know that you want to get in a shootout considering you have Tate or automaker and not
00:28:40
Speaker
Jordan Travis, but I kind of get the sense that Rada Maker is probably going to be better this week than last week. I think last week he was kind of trying to figure things out and obviously having a new quarterback in, you have to learn how to play with him. Look, I just think having Johnny Wilson and Keon Coleman and Trey Benson and those guys are really enough weapons for Florida State to find a way to get this one done if their defense is able to get after Louisville.
00:29:03
Speaker
I completely agree with you on that one. As we've mentioned previously, Louisville is with their first year head coach. And it kind of feels like up to this point, they've just been completely exceeding expectations, no questions asked. So it'll be really interesting to see just when that first year head coach kind of magic runs out, I feel like.
00:29:28
Speaker
I don't want I'm not trying to like downplay that Lou like saying Lou was a bad team. They're absolutely not by any means But maybe they're just over Exceeding just a little bit. Maybe just if you see what I'm saying So
00:29:43
Speaker
Clearly in this game in my opinion, I think Florida State certainly as Colton just mentioned. They're just more athletic They just got more freaks on both sides of the ball that can just wreak havoc at any given time Of course, the biggest story here is Florida State's playing this game without Jordan Travis, you know They did that last week against Florida State against Florida. Excuse me in the swamp and still got the job done which is a very impressive road win I mean the swamp is one of the hardest places to play in the entire
00:30:09
Speaker
the entire country. In this game though, I will rock with the Seminoles just because straight up they are just more freaky athletic and just a better overall team. I think that they'll be able to overpower Louisville. I think they'll be more physical on the lines of scrimmage. I think that
00:30:29
Speaker
as Colton mentioned, wide receivers like Johnny Wilson, guys like that, they'll just give the Louisville DBs hell all game. And even on a backup quarterback, I still think Florida State will certainly find a way to get the job done.
00:30:46
Speaker
one of the better conference championship weekends that I can recall in some time. And I think it was really close to getting even better. I mean, I think if it was Texas OU, and if Louisville had beaten Kentucky last week, I mean, this would be it all timelessly. But I mean, I think there's pretty much every championship game has big time implications.
00:31:08
Speaker
Especially, I mean, the Pac-12 is basically a play-in game. Texas Oklahoma State is an elimination game for Texas. Georgia Bama is a potential play-in as well. I mean, obviously Louisville and Florida State and Michigan have a lot to play for too, so I'm really excited for this weekend. And I guess it'll be nice to, I guess we can kind of get to focus on maybe one to two games at a time instead of 10 games at a time, but that's kind of how it is. It is always fun.
00:31:38
Speaker
It's winding down. So we got to enjoy it. Seeing this championship slate just makes me realize just how awesome the 12 team playoff will be next year when it's implemented. It's just going to be so much fun, especially when you factor in like on campus playoff games and just things like that. And just like, oh, it's just going to be so awesome. I truly cannot wait for that next season. I keep seeing all the hypotheticals and I see a Texas Penn State matchup in Austin. That would be incredible. Yeah.
00:32:07
Speaker
And especially if you're a school that's going to have a big time non-conference game, start the year. If you make the playoffs, you basically get another one if you get to host, which is going to be really, really fun. But we'll just have to enjoy the end of this year and get to that next year. But yeah, with that, that'll.
Transfer Portal Updates and Player Movements
00:32:25
Speaker
wrap up our conference championship preview and predictions. Let's get into a little transfer portal stuff here. The portal opens up on Monday, but if your coach has gotten fired, or at least for another job, the portal opens immediately. You had two big quarterback moves here. First, Max Johnson, the former LSU and Texas A&M quarterback, commits to North Carolina. To me, this seems like a pretty good fit. Carolina's losing Drake May, and
00:32:54
Speaker
Max Johnson, well not great. I always think he's been a pretty tough and solid quarterback. So I think it could work out pretty well for Carolina. At least have an experienced guy back there as you lose your star in Drake May.
00:33:08
Speaker
Yeah, I will always love Max Johnson for his time here at A&M. The dude was able to somehow work a little bit of magic with feels like horrible coaches. And the one thing that will always stand out to me about Max Johnson is just his toughness, week in and week out. The dude is just an absolute warrior. He, especially this past season,
00:33:31
Speaker
with how bad A&M's offensive line was. I believe A&M's O-line ranks bottom five in the entire country for things like QB pressures, QB hits allowed, things like that, sacks. So for him to take all those hits, just play after play and still stand in there and just compete and fight for his team, it's really...
00:33:49
Speaker
It's really admirable. And I really, really appreciate what he's done here at A&M. So Max, I wish you the best of luck. I know you'll tear it up at UNC, especially with Drake May going out. It's your show to run. And it'll be kind of interesting, though, because Mack Brown is still the head coach at UNC. And we all know Mack Brown used to square off with A&M a lot back when we were both still in the Big 12. So it'd be kind of funny, I guess, at least in my opinion, to have a former A&M quarterback be coached by Mack Brown. It's just kind of weird.
00:34:18
Speaker
I don't know, kind of cool, I guess, at the same time. Yeah, no, it's a nice little crossover. We had another big move on tobacco road, obviously with Michael who going to Texas A&M definitely makes it understandable for a lot of Duke Blue Devils to enter the portal. Riley Leonard, the star quarterback who really played well in 2022 and was having a really good 2023 year, being able to be Clemson and come down to the wire against Notre Dame. Unfortunately, when he got hurt against the Irish,
00:34:45
Speaker
It kind of just ruined his season and most of Duke's season as well. They had some pretty legit ACC championship hopes. And even though Leonard was a warrior for trying to come back and play, it just didn't really ever click back for him. Just still kind of battled an injury. But their name is losing Sam Hartman. And they could use another experienced quarterback to try and reload. And it seems like that's where Leonard is rumored to go. So I think that'd be a pretty good fit and nice pickup for the Irish.
00:35:15
Speaker
Absolutely. Riley Leonard, it felt like when he was healthy before that Notre Dame game with that injury, he was just doing it all for the Blue Devils this season. Something to note, as Colton just mentioned, Riley Leonard has, in fact, been linked to potentially transfer to Notre Dame. The Irish seem to be like the front runner for him, things like that. So in a hypothetical scenario, Notre Dame, to open up the season, comes to College Station next year.
00:35:46
Speaker
So we could have a bit of a crossover event here in College Station open up next year's season with former Duke head coach and defensive coordinator at Notre Dame, Mike Elko leading his Aggies against his former quarterback at Duke, Riley Leonard. And Mike Elko, as I just said a moment ago, will also be squaring off against his former team that he was a DC for. So it's kind of a lot of moving parts there if Riley Leonard decides to make the switch to the Fighting Irish.
00:36:14
Speaker
But yeah, I mean, it'll be very interesting to see how this plays out. I mean, pretty much everything I've read up to this point has linked him to Notre Dame. So at this point forward, I would pretty much assume that's where he's headed. But either way, no matter where he goes, whether it's Notre Dame or not, whatever school officially takes them in, they're getting a stud quarterback and they're getting someone who can truly just get the job done as we saw earlier this past season.
00:36:44
Speaker
Yeah, he also has a no contact tag, I believe is what it's called. And typically players put that on when they enter the portal and they already kind of have a destination in mind. So W seems like he'll be playing in blue and gold next year, but we'll keep y'all updated. But I think with that, that'll
00:37:02
Speaker
pretty much wrap up any of our discussions.
Reflecting on the 2023 College Football Season
00:37:05
Speaker
So I think we're just going to try and close it out with, I know we're talking about conference championship weekend, but this has been such a fun regular season. I think the regular season is truly the best part of the year, even though it is fun to have high stakes games, but it's just obviously more craziness going on in the regular season. So they were just going to talk about our favorite moments. So Will, what do you got?
00:37:25
Speaker
So out of the absolute million different choices I feel like we've had this regular season, the one that I just for whatever reason loved the most was the Texas Tech possum that ran on the field about three weeks to a month ago.
00:37:40
Speaker
Um, just absolutely hilarious. I thought, I thought, um, I thought it was funny as hell, especially when, um, the grounds crew was kind of like dragging him and he was just kind of screaming and so on and so forth. But between that video itself and all the memes that had been generated on, you know, social media, Twitter, Instagram, things like that, um, that without, without a doubt is, um, certainly my favorite little kind of meme whatnot moment of the year.
00:38:04
Speaker
What about you? Yeah, that was so funny. And it was so Texas. Second, my opinions just be out there in West Texas and I'm a possum running around the field. I thought that was funny as hell. I'm surprised he wasn't like 500 pounds, though, considering they throw tortillas on the field constantly. Yeah, you know, they even did that in Austin. Did they really? Yeah. Oh, nothing like when I was in the class year. That was that was a sight to see. Yeah. But for me, I'm going to stick with a moment that also involves animals. However, this one does not involve a real one. It involves the Oregon duck.
00:38:34
Speaker
What is his name actually? The mascot? Is it Puddles? Something like that. Let me look that up real quick. I think it's Puddles. But regardless, yeah. So the Oregon mascot, I think as some people know or might have seen, but typically when a team scores a touchdown,
00:38:50
Speaker
or really gets any points on the board the mascot does push-ups for the total number of points that they have but they have to continue it and they have to start over each time they score so oregon against portland state scored 81 points the oregon mascot had to do about 500 push-ups and there's a very funny picture of him laying down looking exhausted as i'm pretty sure he was after doing 500 push-ups so that was very funny
00:39:15
Speaker
So according to Google, the ducks official name is just the organ duck. Um, it's not puddles. It's puddles is kind of like a nickname that was given to him. Although it's not like his official name. Like people still know him as puddles. Does that make sense? Okay. Cause I was going to say, I could have sworn that I heard puddles before you definitely have heard puddles, but his true like official government name is the organ duck. Pretty self-explanatory.
00:39:43
Speaker
Wow. What a name. I think Puddles is better, but I'm going to let him do what he does. Yeah. Yeah. And then I think last thing I'm going to close out with is our favorite game of the year. For me, it was the week five Ole Miss LSU game in Oxford. Ole Miss wins 55 to 49. Just a wild game.
00:40:04
Speaker
a typical or a typical shootout for the SEC. And I mean, you had the play early in the game when Jay and Daniel just got rocked and fumbled the ball. It seems like every game Daniel was just throwing around like a rag doll.
00:40:20
Speaker
You have Ole Miss having to come back down late in the fourth quarter, then they end up getting a stop in the red zone late, and crowds storms the field. You also had the video of that Ole Miss student who was standing on the crossbar of the goal post. Security tried to get him down. He attempts a front flip and lands on his back. He was okay, but very funny video. I heard it was deemed the flip and the sip, so Ole Miss LSU, excellent game, excellent crowd storming. That was my favorite game of the year.
00:40:49
Speaker
So my favorite game of the year, I know we bash on big 10 teams the most, but oddly enough, one of their teams gave me my favorite game. I'm referring to Ohio State Notre Dame from week four. September 23rd, Ohio State won 17-14 in South Bend over the Fighting Irish. Just classic quintessential slugfest. I feel like if you all haven't picked up on the trend of my favorite, like my preference of game,
00:41:16
Speaker
I'm not sure that made sense. Let me start over. I'm not sure y'all have picked up on my my preference. Like my favorite style, my favorite game style. Good lord, that was hard to say. But I really prefer the kind of old school, old fashioned kind of slugfest, like kind of the low scoring kind of defensive style games. So that's why I love Iowa so much. This is all they do. But
00:41:38
Speaker
Anyways, I I chose this game just because of that slugfest style nature As I mentioned Ohio State won 1714 if we all remember
00:41:50
Speaker
Ohio State had that late drive in the fourth quarter. A little bit of a questionable, not questionable, but we all remember that play at the very end of the game that just sealed the deal for the Buckeyes. And of course, you can all forget the infamous Ryan Day, Lou Holtz rant, and that pretty much sparked all the beef between those two. Because I would love to know where Lou Holtz is right now if you're just asking me.
00:42:13
Speaker
Yeah, without a doubt. That was probably my favorite game of the year just between the slugfest and of course the Ryan day Just rant that was pretty hilarious in my opinion and they're named having ten guys in the field. Yes, that's what I couldn't think of that. Yeah
00:42:29
Speaker
Yeah, Ohio State really just kind of finding a way to survive. And they run behind a guy from our high school, Episcopal legend, Donovan Jackson, there for the win. And yeah, I mean, the Ryan Day thing has turned into such a meme. It's very, very funny. But yeah, that was a great selection.
00:42:49
Speaker
Alright, well I think that will just about do it for this episode of Trouble with the Snap. Wow, this kind of went by fast in my opinion. I was having a lot of fun talking ball. As always, if you have any questions, comments, concerns, any things of that nature, any ideas,
00:43:05
Speaker
suggestions, anything, you name it, you know where to find us on our socials on both Instagram and Twitter. Also, I gave it a little bit of a plug last episode, but I'll continue to do so just because I thought it's really fun. We have a website now, so if y'all would be interested in maybe learning more about the show or things like that or keeping up with the latest news around us, our website is linked in our Instagram bio, so please feel free to check that out anytime if you'd like to.
00:43:32
Speaker
But yeah, with all that being said, thank you all very much for listening. We had an incredible time doing this throughout the regular season, and we are very excited to wrap up this season with a lot of bowl games coming up, and of course, the CFP. So thanks for bearing with us, and we will talk to you all in the next episode. Thank you.