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Conference Championships Recap & Breakdown
26 Plays1 year ago
In this episode of Trouble with the Snap, Colton and Will recap the exciting conference championship games and discuss the status of a few players and programs around the country.
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Our Promo Code: twspod
TIMESTAMPS
- Intro and small talk: 00:00:00 - 00:03:18
- Game breakdowns: 00:03:18 - 00:27:39
- Advertisement: 00:28:05 - 00:29:20
- Discussion topics: 00:29:43 - 00:46:16
- Closing thoughts: 00:46:17 - 00:47:08
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction and Personal Updates
00:00:00
Speaker
in today's trouble with the snap Colton and I will be breaking down and recapping all of the madness from conference championship weekend as well as diving into quite a few discussion topics that we have before closing out the episode let's roll the intro
00:00:28
Speaker
He's going to try and run for it. Leap skips it around. Snap that shot to Cam Rising. Now he breaks it down and rolls out, Rising. Step out and gets absolutely demolished.
00:01:02
Speaker
All right, everybody, welcome back to the latest edition and episode of trouble with the snap. As always, I'm will joined by just, I truly run out of words to describe this man, the five star colleague.
00:01:15
Speaker
Best guy down in Austin, Texas himself, Mr. Colton Deutsch. Colton, how are we doing tonight, boss? We're doing great. We have had a couple of assignments, a couple of final exams coming up. We'll be done early next week and then off to winter break. So just trying to enjoy Austin for the end of 2023 before going back home. What about you?
00:01:37
Speaker
That's good. I'm just chilling. I have the majority of my finals online this semester because that's where all my classes took place for the most part. And so that's a pretty nice convenience. I was able to come home this past weekend for winter break, even though I still have a few assignments left. But aside from that, I got a few assignments to knock out, some finals to knock out. And once we're finished recording here, I got to go pack my suitcase because I'm heading out of the country tomorrow for a week for
00:02:06
Speaker
a winter break vacation. I'm really looking forward to it. There we go. I heard you're going to see some soccer too. Absolutely. I will. It'll be a lot of fun. I'm really looking forward to it. I've never been to an international soccer or football, whoever the hell you're talking to. I've never been to one of those games before. And so it'll be very interesting to see what all the hype's about. Yeah, I mean, I'm excited to hear
00:02:32
Speaker
how the atmosphere is because I know that there are fans that are pretty wild and so I'm curious to hear your thoughts and get your experience because I know that those are some pretty rowdy atmospheres and their fans are very serious. I will certainly let you know and I'll even go as far as to film you some video and pictures and whatnot and so I'll certainly share them with you once I get back to my hotel after the game.
00:02:55
Speaker
You need to turn into one of those variety fans, too. I probably should, you know? I'll look into it. I'll let you know what I find. Yeah, I mean, you've got to be somewhat invested in it. Absolutely. All right.
Conference Championships Highlights
00:03:10
Speaker
You ready to talk some ball? Yeah, this is a great championship weekend. Absolutely. You want to lead us off at the Conference USA? Conference USA, Liberty takes down New Mexico State 49 to 35.
00:03:25
Speaker
Back and forth game, good game there from Caden Salter through the air and on the ground. And Liberty with the two-lane loss to SMU, they find themselves headed to a New Year's 6 game to face the Oregon Ducks in the Fiesta Bowl. SEC, or sorry, Pac-12 championship.
00:03:42
Speaker
Washington defeats Oregon 34 to 31 clench spot in the playoff. This was an awesome game Washington jumped out to a pretty nice lead and look like they're going to kind of hold control the whole game until a couple turnovers and some nice play by Bo Nicks was able to Give the Ducks the lead after a turnover and from there honestly to me kind of felt like the Ducks were gonna find a way to run away with this one, but I
00:04:10
Speaker
I mean, the Huskies are just so tough. Dylan Johnson has been running really hard. Michael Panix had himself a pretty nice game, but this was all about Jalen McMillan, Roma Dunsey, and Jalen Polk. I mean, these receivers have been incredible all year long, and they just make plays. And I thought that Ryan Grubb and Caitlin D'Abor called.
00:04:28
Speaker
awesome games and it was kind of once again like the first game where it just seemed like every money down every fourth down Washington had some sort of response and in the end it led to the Huskies holding on for a 34 to 31 win and they clinched spot in the college ball playoffs.
00:04:46
Speaker
I thought that this was the absolute perfect kind of cherry on top for the Pac-12 to send them off and send them on their farewell. Just a great game all around. I really enjoyed it. A lot of fun to watch. As Colton mentioned a moment ago, Washington had a pretty comfortable lead, I would say, throughout the beginning parts of the game.
00:05:07
Speaker
And then, of course, they had some costly turnovers, things like that, just not playing as clean a football as they were earlier in the game. And Oregon was able to see some of those opportunities, especially late right down the stretch, I believe, like middle to late fourth quarter.
00:05:23
Speaker
Excuse me. Middle to late fourth quarter, Oregon had a crazy touchdown with like two minutes left, I think. And they got themselves right back in the game, right back within striking range, clearly is a field goal. And of course, at that point in the game, the Ducks went for the onside kick. And unfortunately, were not successful at getting the ball back in that spot.
00:05:48
Speaker
Either way, Washington, whether they didn't necessarily play the most clean through and through type of game, they still certainly found a way to get it done and clinch a spot in the college football playoff. And especially in a game like that with Oregon, you already beat him once this year on a game-winning field goal.
00:06:06
Speaker
You know, clearly this game as Colton and I thought would certainly come down to the wire and it absolutely did. But as I was just saying a moment ago, the Huskies are just too much to overcome. And that's the main reason why they're in the playoff. They earned it. They're that good. Big 12 championship. Texas defeats Oklahoma State 49 to 21. This was a game where Texas once again shut down. The opposing teams run game. Ollie Gordon really could not do much. And the post came out firing the ball down the field.
00:06:35
Speaker
And after hitting a couple of times, getting some pass interferences, Longhorns kind of adjusted and were able to shut that one down. And Quinn Ewers had over 350 yards passing at the half, finished with four 52 and four touchdowns. And Longhorns broke off a couple of big, big running plays. And big game from A.D. Mitchell, J.T. Sanders, and Xavier Worthy. Jordan Winnington also added in some nice catches as well. And overall, this was a game that was pretty much over in the second quarter. And the Longhorns kind of broke it open.
00:07:04
Speaker
late in the third and early in the fourth and Longhorns win the big 12 and end up getting a spot in the playoffs. But maybe the most competitive part of this game was the Dr. Pepper tuition challenge. Did you see that Will? So I, I'm not sure I saw this one. Oh, wait, wait, wait. Is this the one that had a bit of a controversy? Yeah, a lot of controversy. Yeah, I saw this one. Okay. It was, yeah, it was pretty funny. I mean, I think it went into what double overtime in the,
00:07:32
Speaker
Dr. Pepper challenge. And then the rules committee kind of messed up or the refs and messed this up somehow. So I think it was supposed to be like a college overtime type of thing where like every, where you each get one shot per se, but then they ended up doing like a sudden death thing. So then they ended up having to go apologize on Twitter. And then they gave, I think both of the students what it was like $50,000 or something.
00:08:00
Speaker
A hundred grand. Yeah. A hundred grand. So costly challenge for Dr. Pepper there, but yeah, that might've been the most competitive part of this football game. Also, it was there, which was very funny. I just think it's hilarious though, that we had a double overtime shootout kind of scenario like that for it. It's a Dr. Pepper tuition challenge. Do those stupid chess passes, just wind up and let it rip.
00:08:22
Speaker
Okay, well, to be fair, the dude and the SEC Championship, I believe it was the SEC Championship game, he went traditional old school, throwing them overhand, one arm, like how every normal person throws a football. And so I saw that there are actually a few people on Twitter calling him an American hero because he opted to be different than everyone else doing the chess pass. I think he is an American hero. I wouldn't argue with that at all, I agree. Also the Nelly concert, I don't know if you saw that, but it was really, really funny.
00:08:50
Speaker
Really? Because he was playing in the bands or the audience basically. So they were on the field and they were kind of mashing. It was really, really funny. I saw like a two second snippet of it online. I'm really sorry. I missed that though. I'm sorry. I couldn't have been there with you for the Nelly concert. No, I mean, that was the whole reason that I even went to the game. So it was great.
00:09:17
Speaker
I didn't even know there was a game going on. I thought you were just going for a concert. Right. All right. Anyways, back to ball, though. I don't really have much to say. I mean, Texas just absolutely manhandled Oklahoma State. And that's clear by that 49-21 final score. And Quinn Ewers is absolute. Feels like career day. And probably the biggest game of his career up to that point. Well, up to that point, I say that as he's playing a college football playoff game in a month.
00:09:45
Speaker
But yeah, anyways, the horns did exactly what I thought they would. You come in against an Oklahoma State team that certainly had some pretty big wins on the season and also some pretty glaring losses as well. And Texas, aside from that,
00:10:03
Speaker
One loss they suffered the last time they were in Dallas oddly enough They were able to take care of business hands down and certainly They just they just looked phenomenal and clearly it was good enough to clinch the number three spot and the college football playoffs So as for Texas they prepare for a pretty tough Washington team in their next game and as for Oklahoma State They're preparing for an even tougher opponent than any of those schools and A&M in the Texas Bowl. I
00:10:30
Speaker
I wish it was still the mine and keep car care while we were just talking about that. I forgot how many different sponsors they have. And now it's the tax act one. It used to be the academy sports and outdoors, Texas. Well, I think it wasn't so what last year is. Is this the tax act? Something like, yeah, I think so. Um, I don't know. It's, it's a revolving door of names, but either way it's still played same venue, same TV networks, things like that. Yeah. Unfortunately you and I have had way too many Texas full experiences. Yeah, absolutely.
00:11:00
Speaker
Mountain West Championship, Boise State destroys UNLV 44 to 20. Kind of an unfortunate end of the year for UNLV. They were having a very, very good season, and things kind of seemed to kind of tater off there towards the end of the season. But for Boise State, they win this game. Taylor Green has a pretty nice game. And then he enters the portal. Ashton Genet, one of the better running backs in the country, has a very good game. And they actually did all this without a head coach. They fired their coach.
00:11:27
Speaker
a few weeks ago, and they promoted their interim coach, Spencer Danielson, to head coach. So congrats to Spencer and the Broncos on another championship and a new job. All right, let's jump to the game that I was just talking about with the American hero himself. That would be the SEC title game between Bama and Georgia. Bama, as we all know at this point, won 27-24 over the dogs. So at the very start of this game, Georgia got on the board first. They got a
00:11:57
Speaker
I believe they scored a touchdown on their very first drive of the game. And I remember my initial thoughts watching that was there's just no way Bama could probably keep up with Georgia. But boy, was I wrong about that. From there, Bama just kind of took over. They just played old school Bama football. And they had the lead at half.
00:12:17
Speaker
you know that they were able to once they once they got the lead they never lost it so that's just a true testament to just how tough that team is and how good of a football team they are considering you're playing the number one team in the country at the time and they're able to hold on to that lead and never let go once once they first got it but
00:12:33
Speaker
Anyways, as for Bama, Jalemuro, he certainly started out the game pretty cold. I believe he was three of nine through his first nine passing attempts. So not the best start, but once once he got it going a little bit and kind of gotten a rhythm, a little bit of a groove, things like that, he really turned it on and did a great job in this game.
00:12:51
Speaker
So Colton, I don't know if you saw this or not, but right before halftime, I'm sure you probably did, right before halftime, Alabama had the ball and they were going, they were going forward on fourth down. It was like fourth and fourth, fourth and sixth, something like that. And Milrow passed to one of his wide receivers on an out route.
00:13:09
Speaker
Yeah, it was to Isaiah Bond. Yeah, Isaiah Bond. So he hit him right in the hands, something like that. But as soon as Isaiah Bond caught it, he kind of rolled over or flipped something like that. And long story short, there was quite a bit of discussion at least at halftime and throughout the rest of the game.
00:13:27
Speaker
because they ruled it a catch on the field, but the main thing in question was whether he had possession or not. But anyways, as I was saying, they ruled it a catch and Bama eventually got the first down and went on to score a touchdown on that a few plays later on that same drive. So there was certainly some controversy around that. So Colson, what was your opinion on that? Did you think he caught it? Do you think he dropped it? What did you think about that play?
00:13:52
Speaker
Yeah, it's tough. I mean, you can definitely see when he hits the ground and rolls over, the ball does come a bit loose. And so, I mean, I'm just really surprised that it wasn't reviewed, because obviously, every scoring play and turnover is going to be reviewed. But on a big fourth down like that, I would have just assumed that the boots were taking a look at it, or Kirby Smart would have called a timeout. But yeah, like you mentioned, that was a game change you played, because
00:14:20
Speaker
If they call that incomplete, it's probably still going to be 10 to 7 at the half. Or maybe Georgia finds a way to put some more points on the board and set it 17 to 7. So you're talking about a potential 10-point swing maybe.
00:14:31
Speaker
And then another pretty notable play in that game as well happened when Georgia sent out their kicker for, I believe, like a 49 or 50 yard field goal. It would have been his longest on the season to date. Excuse me. Let me just start over. It would have been his longest field goal to date for the season.
00:14:57
Speaker
There was a false start on the Georgia offensive line right before, right as the ball was being snapped. And so that backed up the dogs five more yards and on the new attempt, which was about 54, 55 yards.
00:15:11
Speaker
you know, kicker hit the ball and the ball ended up going right off the upright. And so just to think if there wasn't a false start there, that kick would have been good from 50, but clearly not good from 55. So just a pretty notable play I wanted to talk about.
00:15:26
Speaker
But I feel like I've talked way too long about this game. Just long story short, Bama, they went right back to doing Bama things. They got the job done. They won yet another conference title with Nick Saban. And clearly, that game was more than enough for the committee in order to put them into the College of World playoffs to take on the number one ranked Michigan Wolverines. Yeah, it's the little things. Like you mentioned, the margins are just so, so thin.
00:15:56
Speaker
really in most of college football, but especially in a big time game like that. But I thought Bama looked like the better team for pretty much the entirety of the game. Jalen Miller did not have his best game, but to his credit, he did take care of the ball and he was able to run around and extend some plays. And credit to Georgia, they never really quit. I mean, there were a couple of times where they had a fourth down, maybe not by 10.
00:16:22
Speaker
And if Bama stops, then the game's over. But they always were kind of able to find a way to stay in the game. Brock Bowers does look pretty dinged up, unfortunately. But I mean, Georgia really struggled to run the ball on the Bama front. And if Brock Bowers is injured there, there obviously are good skill guys there at Georgia. But it definitely hurts if you can't run the ball. And your best receiving threat is not really much of a threat or is not at 100%.
00:16:51
Speaker
With Alabama at the end of the game, Milrow has a couple big runs, and they're able to ice the clock. And actually, on his last run, Georgia punched the ball out, and he did happen to fall on it. But like you mentioned, it's just the little things, the margins are so very thin. But yeah, Alabama and Nick Saban, once again, find a way to beat Georgia and win the SEC. Yeah. The upside of the century, right? Didn't see that one coming.
00:17:16
Speaker
It is crazy to think, though, that pretty much any other year, this Georgia team is still in playoffs. But this has been such a wild year. Yeah, absolutely. That team was just, they were so good and ranked number one for so long. It's just bizarre to see after a three-point loss like that, you go from one to six, I believe, which is a
Bowl Games Preview
00:17:36
Speaker
pretty substantial drop. But yeah, it's just kind of crazy. We talked about this last episode just to not see the Georgia Bulldogs in the college football playoff.
00:17:45
Speaker
Yeah, and I think even at a certain point in the season, probably around the Ole Miss game, I just resigned myself to the fact that Georgia was probably just going to go and win a three-peat. Yeah, I did too. Really hard two, three-peat. This is what it is. This is called college football. American championship, SMU shakes up the group of five. They take down two lane, 26 to 14. SMU did not have quarterback Preston Stone, who unfortunately broke his leg. So they did start Kevin Jennings. And he was not great by any means.
00:18:15
Speaker
Three turnovers, but they were kind of able to hold this two-lane offense in check. Two-lane cannot run the ball at all. Michael Pratt was fine. Big game from Jalen Knighton, and SMU finds a way. And unfortunately, they did not make the New Year six. They were 11 and two undefeated in conference, and their only losses were to TCU in Oklahoma or as a team like Liberty. I actually had the worst training schedule in the country, but
00:18:43
Speaker
I guess being undefeated counts for something sometimes with the playoff committee. Going to the Big 10. Well, our conspiracy was not true, unfortunately. As Michigan, Iowa 26 and I think the secret playbook is potentially being saved for the Cheez-It citrus bowl. I'm sure hoping they whip that thing out, man. They need to. I would hope it's the last game of the year.
00:19:10
Speaker
Yeah, no kidding. I think the most notable part of this game that Will actually brought to my attention was that this bar in Cedar Rapids was offering free drinks until Iowa scored. Not a touchdown. Not even a field goal. A safety. Field goal, safety. Any points on the board. They called it poor till they score and they didn't score. I guess that bar is still serving.
00:19:31
Speaker
So yeah, that was a main talking point, of course. One, everyone was checking in to see if the people who attended that bar during the game wanted to see if they're still alive. And two, people were wondering if this promotion lasted until the next Iowa Hawkeyes football game, which obviously would be next August. So I don't know. Colton, if that promotion is still going on right now, you and I might have to take a trip up to Iowa and get some beers.
00:20:01
Speaker
I would love to and the funniest thing about this game and we did joke about it how if this game was three to nothing or two to nothing it's probably over that's kind of how it felt because this Iowa defense huge shocker they played incredible and Michigan got up 10 to nothing really just because they had a very long power turn that set them up inside the 10-yard line other than that I mean Michigan could not run the ball JJ McCarthy had a fine game but
00:20:29
Speaker
nothing special by any means. They kicked four field goals, just I hope it can do anything. I mean, 18-32 for Deacon Hill for 120, no touchdowns, no picks. They averaged 1.5 yards a carry. I mean, they had 155 yards of total offense.
00:20:50
Speaker
Yeah, it reached the point because this game was on during the Florida State Louisville game, the ACC Championship, which we'll talk about next. It reached the point for me where I was sitting on my couch and I had a split screen going. I was able to watch both the ACC and Big Ten Championship.
00:21:08
Speaker
And I was just so bored watching the big 10 championship and I was mainly watching the four state game anyways. I turned off, I turned off the split screen. Shoot, probably like 10 minutes into the game. I'm like, I just can't do this anymore. So, you know, I mean, it's funny you say that we did the exact same thing we had.
00:21:34
Speaker
For some reason on our TV, the only split screen we could get, it was obviously the mission game and the Florida State game, but the Florida State game was on this ACC network type of deal where they had like this big stat thing kind of up the whole game. And so eventually I was like, guys, there's no point in watching this Iowa game. Let's just go full screen on the Florida State game. That one was not that pretty either, but I don't know that we expect anything outside of this Iowa Hawkeyes team.
00:22:04
Speaker
Yeah, the thing too is I'll mention this in just a second when we get to the Florida State Louisville game. Even though Iowa didn't score, the Big Ten Championship had more combined points at half than the ACC Championship came. Yeah, the nightcap was just very ugly football.
00:22:26
Speaker
Yeah, pretty brutal. All right. Anyways, let's just take a quick peek at the ACC championship game real quick, if you don't mind. Florida State beats Louisville 16 to 6. Man.
00:22:41
Speaker
I don't even really know what to say about Florida State anymore. I mean, they just capped off an incredible season, a hell of a season, if you will, with the undefeated conference championship. I don't know. I'm not going on another rant about the playoff. But anyways, Florida State finished off a perfect season conference championship. They looked.
00:22:58
Speaker
Offense, you know, starting your third string quarterback, true freshman. It's his first, it's his first start in college and he looked okay. He, I mean, nothing too crazy. He just kind of managed the offense a little bit. You know, he's obviously by no means any Jordan Travis, but, you know, certainly a win's a win no matter how you get it. And, and this game, Florida State was absolutely relying on their defense to make play after play after play.
00:23:23
Speaker
And every single time Florida State's defense was challenged, they always aced it. They always rose to the occasion, rose to the challenge, and they just got the job done. They did a great job. Louisville came into this game.
00:23:39
Speaker
Averaging just over 30 points a game and the Florida State offense was able to hold them to get six points through four quarters So that or excuse me the Florida State defense is able to hold Louisville to just six points in four quarters So that's that's a damn good job by that Florida State defense
00:23:54
Speaker
All in all though, great job by Florida State. I once again apologize for them being shafted in the college football playoff, but there's nothing I could do about that. But yeah, great job for Florida State. And yeah, I hope that Billy Napier will see how these somewhat lawsuits are going right now with the College Football Playoff Committee being potentially sued, I believe, over this. I think I saw something talking about that earlier today. Yeah, I saw something about that too, but also I don't.
00:24:24
Speaker
I don't know what they're gonna do about that, but I mean there's nothing they can do it's more for pride at this point, but
00:24:30
Speaker
Yeah. And we talked about in our emergency episode Florida state deserves to be in the playoffs. It's dumb that they're not, but nonetheless for Mike Norville's program, I mean, I just realized I said Billy Napier. I'm so sorry. I mixed up my Florida schools. Yeah. There's a big gap. Yeah. I'm so sorry. It's all good. It's late at night. I apologize. Good Lord. I'm sorry about that.
00:24:55
Speaker
But yeah, for Florida State and Mike Norvell, I mean, when you walked in this job, it was a pretty big rebuild. And you went through some very, very dark days. And going undefeated and winning the conference, MSU hasn't done that since 2013.
Transfer Portal and Coaching Changes
00:25:08
Speaker
So obviously, a great season. And look, you find a way to win games, even though you have a 13-quarterback. Didn't really have anything going on offense. But man, this MSU defense is incredible. They had seven sacks. Jared Verus is an absolute stud.
00:25:26
Speaker
I'm just really surprised that Louisville could not put up more points. I mean, Louisville has been a good team this year. Jeff Prom is a very good offensive mind. Jack Plummer and George Orton have been good players this year, and they just could not get anything going. If this was your only time watching Louisville this year, you would have thought that Jack Plummer is not a good quarterback at all. In reality, he's a pretty solid one. And Louisville is a very solid team, but the Florida State's defense just really, really stepped up.
00:25:56
Speaker
got it done. And so there you go for Florida State, you win your first conference championship. So yeah, you do want to be in the playoffs. Obviously, you did get screwed, obviously. But hey, 13-0, you win the conference. That is definitely something you should be very, very proud of and excited about.
00:26:12
Speaker
So the main kind of drive, I feel like that just truly, as soon as I saw this happen on the field, I just knew Florida State was going to win. And of course, I'm talking about when Louisville was able to successfully block Florida State's punt. Was it even a blocker? They just like straight up tackled the punter. I'm pretty sure they just sacked the punter. Yeah, I think they did that. Yeah, they did, because the punter tucked it and kind of ran with it, and they kind of decked them. But anyways. Which actually was pretty smart, because if you had a punter, they could have blocked it and scored a touchdown.
00:26:42
Speaker
Yeah, no, I totally agree. But anyways, as soon as that happened, it wasn't 16-6 just yet. It was still closer. And as soon as that happened, I realized if Louisville is going to win this game and win the conversation championship, they got to get it done right here. They got to get a touchdown, got to get some points. And Florida State's defense was able to hold them to
00:27:07
Speaker
two straight stops I believe on first second down and then they Louisville elected to pass for it on Florida State's probably eight yard line something like that and the ball was picked off in the end zone and so as soon as I saw that with Florida State's just true just guts and all the all the heart that they were playing with in that game I just knew as soon as that ball was intercepted that there's just no way the Nolz are gonna lose this game.
00:27:33
Speaker
Yeah, it just seemed like no matter how many opportunities the Cardinals got, they were just not going to get it done that night.
00:27:39
Speaker
Yeah, that sucks. All right, Colton, I'm actually a little bit excited about this. Believe it or not, we have our very first sponsor of the show. I know, pretty crazy concept, but we're kind of those guys now, Colton, that's just what we do. We are big time. We are big time, absolutely. And so with that being said, here is a word from our sponsor.
00:28:05
Speaker
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Speaker
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00:29:01
Speaker
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00:29:24
Speaker
a lot more of where that came from, by the way, but that was great. Absolutely. I've been working, I've been working hard behind the scenes, just like working all these deals and just, man, I'm really glad it's finally starting to pay off Colton. Yeah. Support Zencaster. Absolutely. Please do. Absolutely.
00:29:44
Speaker
All right, now let's jump into our second and final topic of the show. Of course, it's everyone's favorite. It's our discussion topics, our discussion segment. So let's just jump right in. We've talked quite a bit about the playoff in our last episode. We touched on it a little bit more here. So I feel like it's only fitting that we discuss the other New Year's six bowl games. Colton, which other New Year's six games just kind of jump out, jump off the page? What are you really, really excited to watch?
00:30:14
Speaker
Yeah, I think we kind of run down them pretty fast. I mean, Georgia Florida State in the Orange Bowl is obviously fun and Florida State is going to be extremely motivated to win that game after getting snubbed in the playoffs. But I just don't see how Florida State is going to be able to win this game without a quarterback. I know that they'll have Tate Rodmaker back and so that will probably make it a little bit better than Brock Glenn was in his first start.
00:30:37
Speaker
I don't really know that this game is going to be particularly close. Liberty Oregon is interesting just because it's two good quarterbacks, Bo Nix and Kayden Salter, but it sounds like Nix is going to play and I just feel like this Oregon defense will be a little bit too much. For the Flames, probably the one I'm looking forward to the most is probably Missouri and Ohio State in the Cotton Bowl. I think that's potential for a lot of points and
00:31:02
Speaker
Like we'll get to Ohio State is not going to have Colin McCord starting because he is in the portal. So see what they can do without him. If they're going to be starting Devin Brown and then try and transition into this new era of Buckeye quarterback reign next year. What about you? What are you kind of looking at?
00:31:21
Speaker
So same thing what you just talked about a moment ago. I'm really looking forward to the Goodyear Cotton Bowl classic there in Arlington between Missouri and Ohio State. Huge game, both teams coming off very strong years, although for some people in Columbus, Ohio, no matter, even though they've only had one loss the entire season, they'd still probably call it a bit of a failure just because they didn't be Michigan.
00:31:46
Speaker
But anyways, I'm really looking forward to this game, no question, as Missouri, as we've all talked about quite a lot on this show throughout the season, they are having a damn good year. Head coach Eli Drinker was, I don't know what the hell he told him going into the season. But whatever he told him, it's clearly paid off. They have just been falling out of their minds so far this year. And so it'll be really fun to see
00:32:10
Speaker
and SEC team, the caliber of Missouri this year, go up against Ohio State in the Cotton Bowl. And of course, you know, you have, as Colton just touched on a moment ago, Florida State taken on Georgia in the Capital One Orange Bowl.
00:32:24
Speaker
I don't think that Florida State has much of a chance in this game just by how good and how deep Georgia is. But considering the whole headlines around the playoff in Florida State this past few days, it'll certainly be a lot of fun and it'll be really interesting to see just how they handle this kind of revenge game, if you will, whatnot.
00:32:43
Speaker
And then finally I'm actually look I'm really looking forward to the Peach Bowl a little bit between Ole Miss and Penn State You know Ole Miss Lane Kiffin, they've had a they've had a really good season, you know another 10 win season for Lane down in Oxford they look good they have a lot of good pieces on that team and It'll be really interesting to see what they can do against pretty pretty powerful program with a big 10 in Penn State
00:33:07
Speaker
Yeah, definitely looking forward to seeing how this Ole Miss offense stacks up against a very elite Penn State defense. And if you're a guy like Drew or Laura at Penn State, I don't think that you had the type of first season starting that you really wanted to. Obviously, players can improve, and a lot of improvement can come in this bowl season where you have 15 extra practices allotted for your team.
00:33:32
Speaker
This is a, seems like a pretty big next two weeks for a guy like Drew Larr, who's the man there at Penn State and really has to improve if the Nini Lions want to kind of climb from being a very, very good program every year to getting to that elite status where they are winning 11, 12 games a year instead of 9, 10. And a couple of non New Year's six games that stand out to me, the Alumable, Arizona, Oklahoma, I'm
00:34:00
Speaker
Really excited about Dylan. Gabriel is in the portal for Oklahoma as we will get to. So Jackson Arnold, the freshmen is going to be the guy there for this game and the foreseeable future in Norman. The pop-tarts bowl, obviously NC state, Kansas state is fun.
00:34:15
Speaker
as Will Howard also in the portal. Another freshman starting there for the Wildcats, but I think the best part is that the Pop-Tart mascot is actually going to be eaten after the game. Sounds pretty gross, but it's kind of cool, but it's also just nasty. I don't know. Yeah, I'm looking forward to seeing how they actually pull that one off.
00:34:39
Speaker
And Iowa, Tennessee, and the cheese at citrus bowl is one that you got to look forward to just cause anything surrounding a cheese at bull is fun. And these are two teams with, I woke up feeling the cheesiest coach. Yeah. Two teams with pretty good defenses and not so great offenses. Although Tennessee's offense is still much better than the Iowa Hawkeyes, but maybe this is the game where IO explodes.
00:35:00
Speaker
I'm telling you, dude, I'm still holding out faith and hope that that trick playbook that we've been talking about for so long for Iowa, I'm really hoping and I believe that they will whip that out against Tennessee. Especially because who the hell wants to win a conference championship when you can win the cheese at Citrus Bowl? Why not? I'm hoping that the Hawkeyes have their priorities pretty straight.
00:35:23
Speaker
Well, the thing is I wouldn't in theory had nothing to play for it because they weren't going to make the playoffs, even if they win the big 10. So you may as well just kind of save all your bullets up for the ball game. That's what I'm talking about. They probably had some inclination. They're going to be the cheese at Poland. So if you can get a cheesy Gatorade bath, I think that's, that's just about as good as winning the big 10. I can't agree more. I'm, I'm really hoping that they save those bullets and spend them wisely against a pretty stout Tennessee defense.
00:35:50
Speaker
Any other Bowl games that kind of catch your eye, or do you want to move on to Transfer Portal? You know, I think if he wouldn't have opted out of this game, the one I have my eye on is the DirecTV Holiday Bowl between Louisville and USC. Of course, the guy I'm talking about who has not opted into the Bowl game is Caleb Williams.
00:36:10
Speaker
So I think if USC was at full strength, full, no guys opting out, things like that. If they were just at, I'll just say full health. If they were at full health, that would be a lot of fun to see what they could do against a pretty stout Louisville team with obviously a damn good offense this year.
00:36:30
Speaker
Obviously, that's not the case. Kayla Williams is already dreaming about the NFL. Of course, I would be a bad, I would be a super center as we call them on College Station if I didn't mention the A&M Oklahoma State Texas Bowl here in Houston. Not really much to say about this. It's just another year, another Texas Bowl, I guess. But hey, I mean, it's better than what we were doing at this time last year. So I'll take it. Beggars can't be choosers. Also looking forward to the first responder
00:36:59
Speaker
Is this the armed forces ball right between rice and Texas state. Let me see here. Yeah. It's just the serve pro first responder bowl. Yeah. Yeah. Texas state rice. Just two Texas schools are on the complete opposite side of the spectrum academically and socially.
Conclusion and Listener Engagement
00:37:15
Speaker
Hey man, I'm kind of liking the owls in this game.
00:37:18
Speaker
I'm like, that was a year, you know, Luke McCaffrey is on the bring him in a thousand receiving season. That's crazy. Um, speaking of which, did you see that, uh, speaking of rice, did you see that JT Daniels is, uh, like medically, medically retiring from the game, I believe. And he's focused on becoming a coach. Yeah, it's unfortunate. He actually was starting to play some pretty good football this year. Yeah. So definitely sucks for him, but that's good. He's had a pretty wild career. Crazy. I think he was the number one quarterback in his class, but he's had a pretty wild ride.
00:37:48
Speaker
But it's definitely good that he's going to be able to, I'm sure, have opportunities to hop into the coaching game and get that kind of going pretty early and not have to worry about anywhere wearing Taron's body. So hoping it works out for him.
00:38:03
Speaker
Alright, let's shift gears a little bit now, take a look at the portal. So the transfer portal officially opened for all schools, all FBS, FCS, all the above. It officially opened yesterday, which was Monday, December 4th. So now, instead of it being limited to certain teams, certain schools, every single person is now open into the transfer portal.
00:38:26
Speaker
Since yesterday, we have heard and found out about quite a few notable players, mainly quarterbacks at this point so far, who have declared that they are either entering the portal or have expressed interest in entering the portal. So let's just run through the list real quick. We got Oklahoma quarterback Dylan Gabriel, Ohio State quarterback Kyle McCord, UCLA true freshman quarterback Dante Moore,
00:38:48
Speaker
Cam Ward out there, Washington State quarterback, DJU quarterback of Oregon State, Riley Leonard, the quarterback of Duke, and Tyler Van Dyke, the quarterback of Miami, all entered the portal or expressed their interest in entering.
00:39:05
Speaker
Yeah, Colson Portal season's here. What kind of jumps out to you about these guys? Any thoughts on potential landing spots for a few of them? Or just, I guess, what's your reaction to all this? I mean, I think the first one that really jumped off the page is clearly Ohio State quarterback Colin McChord. He definitely did not have a fantastic year by any means. And I think that we all thought that you'd probably do better at quarterback. That being said, it is his first year starting. He was a pretty highly touted guy.
00:39:35
Speaker
And look, I mean, he's one touchdown drive away from preparing to play in the playoffs right now. Now he's 11-1 and he's out of there. And one thing that I kind of saw on Kyle McCord was that apparently his dad or him or both of them met with Ryan Day and they wanted some sort of promise or commitment that he would be the starter next year to which Ryan Day was not going to just hand him over the job.
00:40:00
Speaker
And so we'll see where Ohio State turns. They have a guy, Devin Brown, behind him. He was in his second year. He was a very talented guy, but he's not gotten much playing time up to this point and did not win the job in the offseason. And there's obviously the transfer portal. Dylan Gabriel, very good quarterback, just kind of seems like, oh, he's ready to move on to the Jackson-Arnold heir, the freshman there. And so I've seen a lot of Oregon talk with Dylan Gabriel. Dante Moore, you mentioned he had a,
00:40:25
Speaker
up and down here at UCLA, mostly down, honestly. But he's a true freshman. UCLA was not very good this year either, particularly on offense. So I've seen some look there from Michigan State as he is from Michigan. And Riley Leonard, Notre Dame, seems like the spot there. Cam Ward and DJU, Tyler Van Dyke, I really haven't seen too much on where their potential landing spots are.
00:40:53
Speaker
One more player I forgot to mention as we were about to touch on just now. So Alabama quarterback this past season, Tyler Buckner, he transferred going into this past season from Notre Dame to Alabama. Had a chance to start this year, didn't look very good. I believe it was week three is when that was against South Florida.
00:41:12
Speaker
Didn't look too great That was the game that ultimately Nick Saban decided that he was going to stick with Jalen Miller for the rest of the year And thankfully he did is that ultimately ended up being the best decision? However, the biggest news surrounding Tyler Buckner that came out the other day was not actually him entering the transfer portal The biggest news was him transferring back to Notre Dame or expressing his intention to transfer back to Notre Dame but as a lacrosse player
00:41:39
Speaker
I think he's hanging up the football cleats and grabbing his lacrosse cleats this time. So I just kind of just completely blindsided me. I didn't really believe it when I first read it. But supposedly, it's true. Yeah, it was a very funny headline to see, because at first, I just think that he enters a portal. And I don't think anything of it, because like you mentioned, he did not play well when he played sparingly. And obviously, Milrow is the guy there this year and next year.
00:42:08
Speaker
Yeah, then you find out he's going to go play lacrosse. And apparently he was a very highly recruited lacrosse player out of high school. And obviously I think we can see why you would want to pick football over lacrosse. There'll be more potential there for money fame and whatnot. Maybe he also just likes football better, but I think it's pretty cool. I mean, he gets to go back to Notre Dame, get his degree from there and he gets to keep playing sports. So I think it's pretty cool for him, but definitely a pretty wild headline to see in the story out there.
00:42:37
Speaker
And so I saw that Notre Dame's lacrosse team actually won the national title just last year. So it's not like he's joining just some middle of the road program. He's joining the reigning national champion. So I mean, good for him. I see he gave football a try. And I guess he's going back to his ultimate calling and whatnot, which could be lacrosse. I don't know. We'll see how it goes. I wish him the best of luck. It's clearly a pretty serious commitment. Yeah.
00:43:05
Speaker
I mean, it was just crazy, too, when you get up. I mean, I wake up on Monday for a scene. I see his column records in the portal. And I'm scrolling. I'm probably checking every 10, 15 minutes to see who's in the portal. And I think it's also interesting, too, for the four teams in the playoff. I mean, you're going to have exit meetings. You're going to have guys enter the portal. But it's kind of a weird situation, because I think that a lot of guys that are probably on the fence, you want to stick around if your team's in the playoff, because you don't know if you get a chance like this.
00:43:32
Speaker
It's very interesting to see kind of how players balance it out, especially if any quarterbacks, any backup quarterbacks on playoff teams like to enter the portal. I mean, if you're a quarterback, you kind of got to get it done pretty fast because spots are getting taken. And the other thing is, I mean, if you enter the portal for the backup quarterback, you're one hit away from playing in a national semifinal or championship game.
00:43:58
Speaker
Just looking forward to seeing how it plays out with those four teams there. It's this very interesting game to balance. Okay, aside from the portal entering, I believe the other biggest news out of these past few days, few hours, whatnot, have been that Tulane head coach Willie Fritz has decided to accept the job at U of H. So U of H has their guy. I think they have a damn good hire in Willie Fritz.
00:44:25
Speaker
Considering what they're moving on from to who they're going to, it's a complete upgrade in my opinion. I'm not trying to sound like I'm throwing shade at Dan Holgerson at all, but the dude has just had some up and down years at U of H since he took that job a couple seasons ago. And I think this hire is pretty big time for U of H if you ask me. I'm really excited for the Cougars. And it'll be really interesting to see what Willie Fritz can do now that he's in Houston.
00:44:53
Speaker
I'm with you completely. Fritz is a great hire. I mean, Tulane is not an easy place to win. He was there for seven years and always seemed like a very well-respected guy. I remember even when Tulane was not doing great at the start of his tenure, people still just loved talking to Willie Fritz. And where he's gotten the past couple of years is pretty incredible, winning the conference, winning a Cotton Bowl, and then
00:45:14
Speaker
This year, you know, maybe they beat us. I mean, if he's not in contract negotiations, right? I mean, it's, yeah, we've seen this happen before. And so, yeah, with U of H, I think you just get, you just get a damn good football coach. I mean, you don't really do the whole Holgerson thing where you have previous ties to a guy. I mean, I think you just go there, you get a guy who kind of understands the South and the guy that just went. So I think very good hire. I'll see how it works out for the Cougs in H-town.
00:45:43
Speaker
Yeah, I'm right there with you. I completely agree. I think that this hire, at least on paper as of right now, of course, anything's possible once the pads and helmets gets all strapped on and you play games for the first time. But as of right now on paper, this seems like a home run hire. So great job by U of H. It'll be really fun to see what exactly he is able to do with that program.
00:46:05
Speaker
Um We already talked about our favorite bowl matchup. I think that was just about do it for us Is there anything else that we missed or anything you're thinking of right now? Anything you want to touch on before we close out? I think we covered it all All right
00:46:18
Speaker
Well, I agree with you as well. That will just about do it for this episode of Trouble with the Snap. As always, if you have any questions, comments, concerns, anything like that at all, you know where to find us. Follow us on Twitter, follow us on Instagram, and check out our website, yada, yada, yada. Y'all hear this at the end of every show.
00:46:37
Speaker
But yeah, that was just about do it. I'm not too entirely sure when we'll talk to y'all next. It'll be in the near future. It's just with bull season not starting up yet, no more regular season, Colton and I are still discussing when this will be. But either way, we will have a few more episodes out the month of December, no questions asked. So just keep an eye on our socials and we will certainly update y'all there whenever we do upload. But yeah, that was just about do it. Thank you very much for listening and we will talk to y'all the next one.
00:47:07
Speaker
Thank you all.