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Week 6 Chaos: UCLA Shocks, Miami Rolls & Preseason Polls Get Torched!
17 Plays8 months ago
Week 6 of the 2025 college football season was pure pandemonium, and we're here to unpack it all! UCLA’s improbable upset over No. 7 Penn State stole the show, with interim play-caller Jerry Neuheisel and QB Nico Iamaleava torching the Nittany Lions. Florida shocked No. 9 Texas, Cincinnati exposed Iowa State, and Vanderbilt nearly toppled No. 5 Alabama behind Diego Pavia’s Heisman-worthy grit. Miami’s Malachi Toney lit up FSU, while Illinois and Michigan rolled with swagger. We dive into the fallout—preseason darlings Texas and Penn State are reeling, the playoff race is wide open, and underdogs are rewriting the script. Plus, what’s next for Virginia’s dream season and Alabama’s road tests? Buckle up for a wild recap of a weekend that flipped college football on its head!
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Transcript
Week Six Overview
00:00:00
Mike Bell
All right, welcome back to another episode of Blown Coverage. I'm with my co-host Caleb Schreuer. ah Caleb, week six is in the books. um Interesting week. We kind of thought it would be a bit of a down week, and it was compared to last week and maybe even the week to come.
00:00:20
Mike Bell
I thought the 11 a.m. window was maybe a little bit boring. i was trying to switch, find like a main game to watch, and The only game that was kind of competitive was the Michigan-Wisconsin game.
00:00:34
Mike Bell
The late window, you mostly just had the Miami-Florida State game, and you know that was okay, but it was mostly maybe Miami
2:30 PM Slot Highlights
00:00:43
Mike Bell
controlling the game. But the 2-30 window did not disappoint.
00:00:48
Mike Bell
At one point, ah Boise State over Notre Dame, Boise was winning, Florida was winning, UCLA was winning, And Van Heet was winning all in the second quarter.
00:01:00
Mike Bell
So there was some action there in the 2.30 window. ah Not all the games were the best, but definitely some great storylines to come out of this week and discuss. What were your general thoughts on the weekend?
00:01:14
Mike Bell
I know it was a little emotional for you specifically. like
00:01:19
Kaleb
um I thought overall it was, I mean, just like you said, um it's like 230 slot was just crazy packed. And of course that's when Texas played too. And just ritualistically, you know, that's the game I got to focus on as how to go back and kind of watch the other highlights of the other games, but.
Mixed Feelings on Texas
00:01:40
Kaleb
The 2.30 slot was insane. I thought the 6 o'clock slot was okay, too, um because at the beginning of the Mississippi State A&M game, it was pretty competitive, and then y'all started pulling away like in the second quarter and stuff.
00:01:51
Kaleb
But it looked like it was going be an interesting game. and we'll We'll get to the Florida State-Miami game, too. That was okay. But for the most part, Miami dominated. So, really, only slot worth mentioning, honestly, is just the 230 slot.
00:02:08
Kaleb
But it was still a really good week of football. lot of good storylines came out of it.
00:02:15
Mike Bell
ah Agreed, agreed. So i think we have to go in order of importance.
Penn State's Shocking Loss
00:02:20
Mike Bell
Two pretty important storylines to out of this week, but I think the most important and biggest storyline is Penn State losing to UCLA.
00:02:25
Kaleb
Yeah.
00:02:32
Mike Bell
ah You know, you so it UCLA came into this game winless. They had never led at any point this season. Head coaches fired, two coordinators gone.
00:02:44
Mike Bell
at least from their roles. And now number seven, Penn State, is coming in into town. And the spread on this game was at one point 25 points.
00:02:56
Mike Bell
towards Penn State and in their favor. And, you know, I was watching this game and Penn State just looked like a team that played for their entire season last week and just thought that they were done at least till their next big game.
00:03:09
Kaleb
ah
00:03:12
Mike Bell
And i don't even know who that is. i know they have, I think, Indiana on the schedule. I don't remember if Ohio State's on the schedule. I think it is. i think they are. ah And,
00:03:22
Kaleb
Maybe like within a month or something, yeah.
00:03:24
Mike Bell
Yeah, yeah. And they just came out flat. UCLA, they were just going right down the field on Penn State, the ah especially the entire first half.
00:03:36
Mike Bell
Penn State is supposed to have this great defense. I'm sure they do. you know They can have an off week. But you know holding Oregon to three points in that first half, you know They looked like, okay, this is a legit defense.
00:03:50
Mike Bell
But UCLA, I mean, they just drove right down the field on them. This is the first five offensive possessions for UCLA. ah Touchdown, field goal.
00:04:01
Mike Bell
Touchdown, touchdown, field goal. And Penn State offensively just looked unimpressive. Yes, I think their talent finally took over in the second half.
00:04:16
Mike Bell
you know because they able to nearly come back and
Drew Aller Under Fire
00:04:18
Mike Bell
win the game. But I continue to just not be impressed with Drew Aller. 19 26, 200 yards.
00:04:27
Mike Bell
like You need a guy that's going to take your program to that next level. ah To me, he just doesn't seem like the guy.
00:04:34
Kaleb
Mm-hmm.
00:04:35
Mike Bell
There's going to be questions now even more so about James Franklin, which I'm sure maybe you have some thoughts on that, and we'll get into him specifically. But, you know, UCLA, 446 total yards, what's supposed to be against what's supposed to be one of the best league defenses.
00:04:53
Mike Bell
Credit to UCLA. But to me, this is this is a game about Penn State, James Franklin. And, you know, Penn State, they had aspirations to win it all this year. That's not happening.
00:05:07
Mike Bell
But anyway, fun game to watch. What were your thoughts on the game?
00:05:13
Kaleb
I thought the game was interesting. I think so the tight end coach was the one calling the plays for
James Franklin's Job Security
00:05:23
Kaleb
UCLA.
00:05:24
Kaleb
Forgot his name. I think his dad was a coach or something at one point, just because the name sounds familiar, but. um Then another interesting thing was he was talking about how when he was calling the plays, he didn't even like know how to use the headset really. So there's some plays that he was calling and either the headset be up or he pressed the wrong button on the side panel.
00:05:48
Kaleb
So Nico didn't even get the play. okay and So think about that. like you know And that's normal too. I'm not saying that's anything bad. um I'm sure that's...
00:05:59
Kaleb
everywhere around the country if someone were thrust into that spot all of a sudden. But just think about, like, so many different turnovers and everything like that as far as, like, staff and just thrust in the new roles, and UCLA was a was able to go out there. and
00:06:18
Kaleb
offensively steamroll that Penn State defense. So it really makes you think, okay, did James Franklin like literally put their entire stock of the season into that Oregon game? Which, don't get me wrong, that's a huge game, right?
00:06:29
Kaleb
But at the same time, you can't necessarily look
00:06:36
Kaleb
at one week and not at least have some sort of a game plan prepared for the next week. I'm sure they did, but I don't know. It's just I find it like mind boggling, to be honest with you, that a team with this much talent lost to UCLA.
00:06:52
Kaleb
um So up to this point, Penn State had 34 straight wins against unranked opponents, and that ended yesterday, which is another kind of thing.
Florida's Unexpected Victory Over Texas
00:07:01
Kaleb
you mentioned so Nico had a great day he had 166 passing yards 70 completion percentage ah two passing touchdowns 138 rushing yards and three touchdowns which honestly it's kind of crazy I forgot his name but one of the he used to be I believe on the SEC network or not SEC network but the CBS panel and he was like he's starting to look like Vince Young out there and i was like
00:07:26
Kaleb
Well, those are stats like he used to have for sure. Drew Aller, I mean, don't get me wrong.
00:07:30
Mike Bell
Yeah.
00:07:32
Kaleb
I think he had a good day as well. Like, you know, I don't pin this Penn State or this loss on Penn State on Drew Aller. You know, he had 73% completion percentage. He had 200 yards, like you said, two passing in touchdowns and 78 rushing yards.
00:07:47
Kaleb
Really and truly, that's – who was pretty much the majority of their offense. You know, and it's kind of weird because Penn State, you know, just like any Big Ten team, honestly, ah or the majority of them, you just think, like, they'll have a good offensive line and at least a decent run game for whatever reason.
00:08:08
Kaleb
and And previous episodes, we've talked about how Penn State has one of the best backfields in the nation, and I still believe that. I just don't understand how they were not able to utilize that. I really don't.
00:08:19
Kaleb
Like, you can't sit here and tell me that Penn State doesn't have a better – wouldn't have better control of the line of scrimmage nine out of ten times that they played UCLA. And especially with a running back deal, they would, number one, have the –
00:08:36
Kaleb
They would have control of the line of scrimmage and then also with their elite running backs. you know And that's just a recipe for them to win pretty easily. Even if their defense played crappy, they can just control the clock and win it that way. and So overall, it's very interesting. ah James Franklin, i don't know.
00:08:55
Kaleb
ah Basically, they're in a situation where they've got to win out ah no matter what now. And even then, it could be potentially like could they even reach the playoffs? Who who knows?
00:09:08
Kaleb
Who knows? ah Two loss team. they There's a good chance they could probably get in depending on how they play the rest of the season. But they definitely made it a little bit more challenging.
00:09:20
Mike Bell
Yeah, I mean, if they win out, that is their only chance because they do face Ohio State. But other than that, I mean, let's face it, they're probably not going to beat Ohio State. But I think even if they did if they beat Ohio State, you have to talk about them again.
00:09:35
Mike Bell
But, ah look, I just don't see it
Texas's Future After Florida Loss
00:09:38
Mike Bell
happening. I mean... I think there's got to be teams that are more worthy. People are going to remember that UCLA lost. And let's say face it, people don't necessarily think that highly of Penn State anyway.
00:09:50
Mike Bell
i think they think, you know, OK, it's a great program, but like you can't lose to UCLA and really.
00:09:58
Kaleb
but Especially with all that all the talent they have. I mean, that's the – and it's like – we'll get to it kind of and a second.
00:10:01
Mike Bell
Exactly.
00:10:07
Kaleb
But Penn State's, like, their players – A lot of them are like upperclassmen, you know, so these people that have been there, it's kind of the gardens ready to be you know harvested in a sense.
00:10:15
Mike Bell
Yeah.
00:10:19
Mike Bell
Yeah. yeah
00:10:20
Kaleb
Right. So it's from that perspective, from the play Penn State fan base, I'm sure it's pretty rough because they've had really good talent like there for four years now and they're about to go by.
00:10:34
Kaleb
right, go into the draft. And, I mean, what do they really accomplish with it? I mean, last year i think they won one playoff game, if I'm not mistaken, maybe two. i know they beat Boise, but.
00:10:46
Mike Bell
You know, I think it depends on what Penn State, the, I don't know, in college, it's not called the front office, but the board of directors, whoever, but um what do they think of themselves as a foot?
00:10:59
Kaleb
Athletic directors.
00:11:01
Mike Bell
What's that?
00:11:02
Kaleb
Athletic director.
00:11:03
Mike Bell
I thought, well, know they have athletic directors, but they have like, there's meetings with like a lot of people that whatever they're talking about, maybe getting rid of a coach.
00:11:09
Kaleb
Okay, yeah, boosters and all that stuff.
00:11:11
Mike Bell
Yeah, yeah, the boosters. And what they think of themselves as a program, because if they think highly of themselves, I think, and I didn't necessarily think this last week, even though I hinted at it, but I think losing to UCLA is a fireable offense.
00:11:18
Kaleb
Huh.
00:11:30
Mike Bell
And look at what point do you just say, okay, we've seen where James Franklin can take us. We respect that he's a good coach, but we think we can do better. i think Penn State's one of the best jobs in the country. I think it's like a top, probably a top 10 job, right?
00:11:47
Mike Bell
um
00:11:48
Kaleb
At least.
00:11:48
Mike Bell
It's,
Miami's Dominance Over Florida State
00:11:49
Mike Bell
yeah. So I wouldn't be surprised to see another big name coach want to go there. ah Look, it's just, you can't have that loss and get away with it.
00:12:00
Mike Bell
You know, kind of reading about it this morning, it's like, well, they're probably not going to do it because of the buyout stuff. And I get that. But look, it's probably not going to get much better than this year in terms of their opportunity.
00:12:16
Kaleb
Oh, yeah, because they're basically going have to have restart all over again.
00:12:16
Mike Bell
So,
00:12:19
Kaleb
And honestly, I'd have to take a look at, like, who they've gotten, like, in the recruiting – like, who is – who's behind Drew Allard to overtake his place.
00:12:20
Mike Bell
right.
00:12:29
Kaleb
And don't get me wrong, i mean, any huge football team like Penn State can just go into the transfer portal and, like, do a mass overhaul. Like, don't get me wrong on that. But – um
00:12:43
Kaleb
I don't know. Yeah, it'd be interesting. that um Coach Saban made a ah good point on Saturday.
00:12:46
Mike Bell
Well, here's the deal. Oh, go ahead, God.
00:12:53
Kaleb
He thinks that it's the most...
00:12:59
Kaleb
What words did he use? Basically, he was saying if you were to fire your coach like right now this season, it would have the most impact on your team than it ever has just because the 30-day window people can get this transfer out.
00:13:10
Kaleb
And think about the amount of people that would transfer
00:13:12
Mike Bell
Yeah.
Mississippi State vs. Texas A&M
00:13:13
Kaleb
out with James Franklin getting fired.
00:13:16
Kaleb
um So that's a very good question because, yes, I think up to this point, Penn State, I mean, they definitely have enough data on James Franklin to sit there and say – determine whether or not like, okay, we want to keep, keep you or not, you know? And the thing is he's, he's consistently had them at least a 10 win season.
00:13:39
Kaleb
and Okay. But not much more than that. Um, but then also if they pull the trigger, they're going to have to, I mean, it's not necessarily going to be rebuilding from the bottom per se, but a huge amount of talent that they have right now will leave more than likely.
00:13:56
Mike Bell
and That's true, but, you know, we've talked about the quarterback, and, yeah, Drew Aller is fine. I don't think he's great. But, I mean, i think you could say maybe that's a James Franklin problem too, potentially.
00:14:08
Mike Bell
Why is it that Dan Lanning can go from – who was the quarterback last year?
00:14:09
Kaleb
Yeah, with that time.
00:14:16
Mike Bell
Gabriel.
00:14:16
Kaleb
Dylan Gabriel.
00:14:17
Mike Bell
and And then this year, Dante Moore, just like that, the offense is clicking.
00:14:19
Kaleb
From OU.
00:14:21
Kaleb
He got from UCLA. Yeah.
00:14:24
Mike Bell
Right, right. um Even Lincoln Riley, who hasn't had a lot of success in terms of the overall team, but is able to put together at least an offense every year and a quarterback, find the quarterback.
00:14:37
Mike Bell
Ohio State, I know that's kind of a different level, ah but they're always okay at quarterback, right? Good enough.
00:14:44
Kaleb
At least serviceable to get them far. Yeah.
00:14:47
Mike Bell
And Penn State's never really had that. So that makes you wonder, okay, is that just the offensive system of James Franklin or is he just not finding the right guys? So, yeah, i I respect James Franklin and all that. I really do.
00:15:00
Mike Bell
But it's just like I think we've seen his capability and maybe it's best for both to just say, okay, let's see what else we can do. you know Maybe we're better without each other.
00:15:11
Kaleb
yeah
00:15:13
Kaleb
You know, it's very hard because, mean, throughout his tenure, I mean, you know, the Big Ten before all the additions like UCLA, Oregon, USC, Big Ten was a good conference to begin with, right? and And then it just, you know, and arguments could be made that they're the best conference in football.
00:15:39
Kaleb
So Penn State is one of the best jobs, but also it's probably one of the hardest jobs because like you just said, do you think a college player would rather go play at Ohio State or Penn State?
00:15:50
Kaleb
probably I think James Franklin has to rely a little bit more like on homegrown players versus Ohio State who can go nitpick from wherever they want in the country. So it's kind I don't know how to describe it, but it's almost like Penn State is like, yes, it is a great job.
00:16:07
Kaleb
but it's like a different echelon between Penn state in Ohio state or like the really, or Michigan, even, uh, you can make an argument there.
00:16:19
Kaleb
So it's,
00:16:20
Mike Bell
Yeah, yeah, I agree.
00:16:21
Kaleb
i don't yeah. So don't know. It'll be interesting kind of how they do the next couple weeks. Um, Penn State, I guess the only question to have is their defense.
00:16:35
Kaleb
Defense and their Penn State run game.
00:16:38
Mike Bell
Yeah, and does their team continue to fight and not give up? But you said that, ah you know, James Franklin... fighting for his job, all that.
00:16:51
Mike Bell
ah Speaking of you know fighting for their job, Billy Napier, really fighting for his job this week.
00:16:55
Kaleb
Okay. Okay.
00:16:58
Mike Bell
And you know look, no matter what happened this past week, I don't know if his job is saved. I didn't realize Billy Napier had actually been here now a full four years and really hasn't done much.
00:17:09
Kaleb
Doesn't feel like it.
00:17:11
Mike Bell
Yeah, it doesn't feel like And I think the reason they have held on to him is exactly what you were saying about James Franklin and, you know, the transfer window and all that. So, uh, yeah.
00:17:22
Kaleb
Because he actually treated very well there, right? I mean, he really has. And the thing is, Florida is like a very, very young team with very good players.
00:17:33
Kaleb
And so it's like if they fired him, man, those players would leave more than likely, and it would set them back another three to four years. you know People don't really think about that either.
00:17:41
Mike Bell
Right.
00:17:42
Kaleb
um I mean, I guess if you were to get like an elite team, like an elite head coach, maybe one to two years. But people aren't patient like that.
00:17:53
Mike Bell
Right. Right, right. Well, they may have made it harder to fire him because of the results this past week. I know this was a very big game for you being that you're a Texas fan, very emotional one. So I'll let you lead us off with this.
00:18:11
Mike Bell
Give me your thoughts on the Florida win.
00:18:16
Kaleb
So
00:18:20
Kaleb
last week's episode, we talked about how we could kind of see Texas either just coming out and blowing them out or it was just going to this ugly contest. I don't think either of us really thought that Florida would be able to just basically, like they led the whole game. Texas never led the game once.
00:18:39
Kaleb
I don't think either of us expected that. I think the most impressing thing about ah impressive thing about this game was Florida was 1-3. And we just talked about, like we just mentioned, how is Penn State going to show up the rest of the year for James Franklin?
00:18:55
Kaleb
Well, Florida came to play Texas at at an elite level for Billy Napier. Yeah.
00:19:05
Kaleb
Basically, this was like the first game I've seen in a while that we did not dominat dominate the of scrimmage. Okay. I think like the...
00:19:17
Kaleb
Last game, I remember us like not being able to play this like well run or anything like that. I think we were pretty competitive against Ohio State last year. i would go back to the two – like the Georgia – anytime we played Georgia last year, that was the only team that made our offensive line look that ugly.
00:19:33
Kaleb
And just we could not get a run game going. And that's really what that what this game boiled down to was. Florida just dominated a ah the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball.
00:19:45
Kaleb
And, you know, whenever you do that, it makes a recipe for victory, right? ah Basically hit arch a lot. Every play almost, Arch Manning was about to get hit on every passing play. And basically we had no run game.
00:20:00
Kaleb
um And then Florida had some really good wide receiver play from two true freshmen, which is pretty insane too. um So Arch was sucked six times, okay?
00:20:13
Kaleb
And rarely had a clear pocket to throw from. and our run our run game was pretty much non-existent. Arch Manning had, well, he actually had more than 57 rush yards, but with all the sack yardage included, he only ended up with 57.
00:20:29
Kaleb
and ah
00:20:33
Kaleb
or excuse me, Texas had 57 or 52 rushing yards. Arch had 37 of those. and Okay. So that kind of tells you like, okay, Arch is just scrambling and that's the only run game that we had.
00:20:47
Kaleb
Okay. That, so it's going to make it to where the defense can just pin their ears back and go rush the passer, which they did. If you watch the game, the majority of the time Arch was just running for his life and people,
00:21:02
Kaleb
You know, it's a little irritating. People are like saying, oh, Arch sucks and, you know, bench Arch, whatever. What young quarterback, regardless of like if we took his name away and and we just looked at it from a first time starting quarterback.
00:21:19
Kaleb
How would you expect a young quarterback in their life cycle to react to getting hit that many times consistently?
00:21:29
Kaleb
You probably wouldn't think they would have an elite game, right? I mean, in Arch, by no means, did he have an elite game. I thought he like he had 55% completion percentage. He had like 263 passing yards and two touchdowns, two interceptions in the fourth.
00:21:43
Kaleb
However, I'm not saying that that that those two interceptions are drug justified by any means, but he was kind of just having to let it rip, and he was trying to get us a score. So would he have been a little bit more conservative if we weren't in that situation?
00:21:58
Kaleb
Probably, but still. So I think the biggest thing is is, you know, we were both very high on Texas defense. I think we still can be. I think just Florida has really good talent, and they finally put it together this week against us.
00:22:14
Kaleb
um I think – but My biggest question for Texas is how are we going to respond?
00:22:20
Mike Bell
Mm-hmm.
00:22:21
Kaleb
Because next week we've got Oklahoma. okay ah be Big rivalry. okay Arguably one of the biggest games of the year for us, if not the biggest. um Defense, are we going able to kind of fix...
00:22:34
Kaleb
what we allowed Florida to do. Florida had really, really and truly Florida had a really good balanced offensive attack against us. That running back had over a hundred rushing yards against us.
00:22:45
Kaleb
And then Florida's wide receiver had a ah Over a hundred yard game, true freshman, and it was his debut against us too. Now, Texas was down arguably our best corner.
00:22:58
Kaleb
However, we do have some younger pieces. I think that's the reason why we kind of got shredded is just because we had to really rely on some younger talent in the secondary. The thing that's really puzzling, like, so I kind of understand, like, while we got torched a little bit, the thing I'm curious about is what happened with our defensive line that's been I'm not going to say like the last three games because those were against cream puffs. Like exactly like what do you expect Texas to do? But Ohio State, they were really good.
00:23:28
Kaleb
Like Ohio State was not able to run the ball. Ohio State was barely able to do anything on defense. So how was Florida able to do this? I don't know. Will we fix it for Red River Week?
00:23:39
Kaleb
I don't know because ah Brent Vanderbilt's defense, they're – They're great. Are they to able to get pressure on Arch? Probably so, because we have a lot of young, and that's other the other key thing too I forgot to mention.
00:23:51
Kaleb
Our offensive line, i didn't even realize this until like we played ah the Ohio State game. We had a lot of talent leave for the pros. We only have one starter back from last year. He's got like 30, like 35 starts or whatever. And everybody else just has like three to four starts.
00:24:07
Kaleb
So very young off offensive line. They're good, but very young. Okay. So we are susceptible on that. um And hopefully they can just improve and, you know, whatever. And we have a shot as far as the season.
00:24:24
Kaleb
I mean, it sucked. Don't get me wrong. It sucked by all means. um I never expected us to go out and win a championship. You know i was like, okay, at best we can maybe go compete, but man, I don't know.
00:24:39
Kaleb
we we could be in some trouble. ah It will, ah for me, it will kind of just depend on how we do against Oklahoma. Are we able to bounce back and show some resilience? And if we can,
00:24:51
Kaleb
However, I would like to say that Oklahoma's quarterback, John Mateer, still being hurt. If we win against them, people are going to say, oh, well, they didn't have John Mateer. That is a fair point.
00:25:02
Kaleb
However, i think OU is a solid team. So let's just see how they bounce back and, I don't know, go from there, I guess. And if we can, if we can show the resilience, I think that's a good –
00:25:18
Kaleb
I think that's a pretty good indicator. Like, okay, you know, we we got a good culture in place. We got a good mindset. And frankly, throughout that game, even if we do lose, I trust the coaches we have. I trust the players we have. It's just their life cycles.
00:25:34
Kaleb
Brand new offensive line, basically. ah Young quarterback life cycle. We just got to wait for them to mature and kind of go from there. Yeah, and when whenever that does happen, we'll be good on that side of the ball. Defense, little bit more questionable.
00:25:49
Kaleb
We are young on the secondary a little bit. um Good linebackers, so it'll be interesting to see. What were your thoughts, I guess?
00:25:57
Mike Bell
Yeah, I think me and you are pretty much on the same page on this game. i I agree with you on the Arch talk.
00:26:10
Mike Bell
I thought Arch, don't get me wrong, he wasn't great, um but I don't think he was the problem.
00:26:14
Kaleb
Yeah.
00:26:19
Mike Bell
It's always so easy to blame the quarterback, but like you were saying, like for to Florida it was all over the entire game.
00:26:22
Kaleb
Exactly. and
00:26:26
Kaleb
Yeah.
00:26:27
Mike Bell
ah The offensive line was abysmal.
00:26:29
Kaleb
You could almost commend Arch for what he was able to accomplish with what he was, what guards he was dealt.
00:26:29
Mike Bell
um
00:26:36
Mike Bell
Yeah. Yeah.
00:26:37
Kaleb
I mean, literally he would hike the ball and literally have to run all around the field just to make something happen. And there were a couple misuse, actually, I forgot to mention.
00:26:45
Mike Bell
yeah
00:26:47
Kaleb
You know, he had two passes that he – if he had enough time to really look at the field. I mean, we had two open wide receivers. He could have just simply, you know, dinked. Two of them were on the same drive. So that one maybe just been one score.
00:27:02
Kaleb
And then we had like a little trick pass that Ryan Wingo overthrew our tight end, which could have been some more points. And he was wide open too. So who knows if our offensive line play had been a little bit better just on those two plays, who knows Texas could have pulled this out, but they didn't. And, you know, it just goes back to the offensive line play and just young players.
00:27:22
Kaleb
Yeah.
00:27:23
Mike Bell
Well, and yeah know it may have something to do with the offensive offensive line, but ah Texas has issues all across the board because, like you said running the ball is an issue. ah Arch Manning right now is on pace to lead this team in rushing.
00:27:32
Kaleb
Mm hmm.
00:27:38
Kaleb
Yeah, that's not a thing either.
00:27:38
Mike Bell
They are not running the ball well.
00:27:40
Kaleb
Yeah. thing either yeah
00:27:42
Mike Bell
Yeah, I believe, let's see, I think Texas ran the ball in this game outside of Arch Manning nine times for 15 yards.
00:27:52
Kaleb
yeah
00:27:52
Mike Bell
You know, not good, not good. So it's hard to put it all on Arch Manning. It seems like even their receiver room, I mean, obviously they were going to take a step back this year, but Wingo looks good. But other than that, they're having a little bit of trouble there, just maybe having guys open. So there are some definite issues. I'm with you.
00:28:12
Mike Bell
ah One, I think Florida is a legit defense, so you have to give them some credit. But look, there's some legit defenses out there. And OU is coming up and they are maybe better in Florida.
00:28:23
Kaleb
Yeah. Yeah. yeah
00:28:24
Mike Bell
so um
00:28:26
Kaleb
yeah
00:28:27
Mike Bell
So that's that. But here's the deal. If you had told me going into the game that that was going to kind of be the case, I'd be like, okay, you know, I could see that. But what I did not see happening, as you were saying,
00:28:39
Mike Bell
is Florida running the ball with ease pretty much down Texas's throat.
00:28:42
Kaleb
yeah know
00:28:44
Mike Bell
I mean, there was just like nothing they could do. I mean, in the later parts of the game, they were kind of stuffing Florida a bit more, but also just the tackling from Texas.
00:28:56
Mike Bell
Not good.
00:28:58
Kaleb
Yeah, know.
00:28:58
Mike Bell
Not good.
00:28:58
Kaleb
this was the first game from our defense in like several years. Like that looked like an old Texas defense, just like players just not tackling. I was like, oh, my gosh, is this the beginning of the end here?
00:29:10
Kaleb
Yeah.
00:29:11
Mike Bell
Right, right. So, you know, Lagway playing hurt. He was 21 for 28, nearly 300 passing yards.
00:29:18
Kaleb
Yeah.
00:29:18
Mike Bell
ah That was surprising to see because let's face it, Lagway has not been great this year.
00:29:23
Kaleb
hold
00:29:26
Mike Bell
um So you have to give credit to Billy Napier for sure for putting together this game plan and going out competing. Like we said, coming into the week, it was a must-win game for them, and they pulled it off. So credit to Florida.
00:29:43
Mike Bell
ah you know Coming up for Florida, they go to Kyle Field.
00:29:44
Kaleb
but
00:29:47
Mike Bell
but But yeah, it was a you know fun game to watch, even though it wasn't maybe – It was semi-competitive, but Florida, I thought for the most part, controlled the game.
00:30:00
Mike Bell
And it is going to be very interesting.
00:30:01
Kaleb
Oh, yeah. Like the entire game, pretty much.
00:30:04
Mike Bell
Yeah, yeah. It's going to be very interesting to see where both teams go from here. Because, yes, in terms of the playoff hunt, I still think Florida is out of it. But Texas is in it, but they got to be perfect.
00:30:19
Mike Bell
And this is a spot this week where they need to get back on track. I know they have a few games coming up that it's like, okay, you can kind of get right at Kentucky at Mississippi State before you have Georgia.
00:30:31
Mike Bell
um But yeah, for Texas fans, it might be, as much as it may suck to think about, a little bit more of a rebuild year, kind like you were saying.
00:30:40
Kaleb
Yeah, that's that's what I was thinking about as well yesterday, you know just thinking about it. you know Here's the deal. Fans just want success right from the get-go.
00:30:52
Kaleb
Okay? And when does that – I mean – We can make an argument that the transfer portal has made that a little bit easier to accomplish. Yes, but it's not necessarily like a bulletproof thing. like that Just because you get these elite players from the transfer portal portal, which Texas, we got a couple players. And that's one thing I really enjoy about Sark is he just really nitpicks and gets only a couple players that we really need.
00:31:16
Kaleb
We don't do like this overhaul and we were 10 players very well. But... Like you said, honestly, you know, like there's there's issues across the board, wide receiver room, ah which I think they're good.
00:31:31
Kaleb
Like Wingo's good, DeAndre Moore's good, and we actually just got back, I believe his name's Evan Mosley, a Stanford ah really good freshman wide receiver last year from Stanford. And he he looked good on a couple plays that Arch had time to throw him the ball.
00:31:46
Kaleb
We have too many issues, I think, right now to really sit here and say, oh, yeah, there can be a serious contender for the championship. Now, that being said, yeah somehow, that miraculously, all that stuff gets fixed, could we make a run?
00:32:03
Kaleb
Maybe. That's a stretch, though. And plus, it's a stretch that we're going to be able to get all those things fixed and running at an elite level. ah Is it possible? Yes. I mean, we got two losses. And, you know,
00:32:22
Kaleb
one argument that people had was, who's the more disappointing team? Penn State or Texas? And don't get me wrong. Like, you know, it is a little bit of a disappointment for me to like go through this as a Longhorn fan.
00:32:35
Kaleb
But I was like, guys, like all the sports media people put all this pressure on, like put all this crap on Texas. You know, i guess that's how it is every year, right? Like all these people put all this crap on like specific football teams.
00:32:51
Kaleb
And it's like,
00:32:55
Kaleb
I don't know. It's like you guys just but saw Arch Manning and he sat there and put number one on Texas because of that, basically, and didn't really look but between the lines and sit here and say, okay, there could be some potential issues here. Okay.
00:33:10
Kaleb
And they should have. And so... Do I think that's a fair comparison against Penn State? Not necessarily. ah Penn State's a more mature team, like we just talked about. Them, like, this is where they're cultivating that garden.
00:33:23
Kaleb
You know, their players are more like senior, junior, like, and whereas our that was our team last year. This year, we do have a good balance of that. However, we did have a lot of production leave, and we're having to replace that. So our life cycle on the team is a little bit different.
00:33:37
Kaleb
So anyway, that's what I like to say.
00:33:38
Mike Bell
Mm-hmm.
00:33:40
Kaleb
Am I worried? Like, yeah, it sucks. Am i worried? Yeah, potentially. I'll have a more of a definite answer for you next week against OU because John Matera looking to be out.
00:33:54
Kaleb
I mean, we played, I think it's Hawkins is the quarterback's last name. We played against him last year. And we controlled the ball pretty well defensively.
00:34:06
Kaleb
We you know got after him. He really wasn't able to do much. So it'll really just be ah watching the offensive line for me.
00:34:17
Mike Bell
Yeah, that'll be fascinating. And, you know, to your point, it just goes to show, this has been a larger conversation kind of in the college football world recently, but it just goes to show the somewhat meaninglessness.
00:34:29
Mike Bell
And, you know, maybe we shouldn't even have it, but the preseason polls, you had, you know, Penn State, Texas, Florida, Clemson, LSU, Notre Dame, all in the top like 12, I believe it was.
00:34:40
Mike Bell
Where are they now? And you have teams like OU, Miami, moving up in those holes significantly. So it just goes to show you don't know how these teams going to be. There's a lot of variance in college football. But ah speaking of Miami, I think that's the next game we got to get to Miami versus Florida State. Okay.
00:35:03
Kaleb
Let's pause it real quick before we get into that, because Ivy is whining.
00:35:03
Mike Bell
what
00:35:06
Mike Bell
okay
00:35:08
Mike Bell
Alright, well let's get into this Miami vs Florida State game. Now I must be 100% honest with you. This late window, I was pretty busy. you had some pretty big UFC fights on that I had to watch. Obviously the A&M game, but I was able to watch the majority of this Miami Florida State game.
00:35:29
Mike Bell
Although I admittedly in the fourth quarter was like, okay, well, I think I've seen enough. I get it. And then I look up and I see Florida State has scored and then scored again and they've scored again. um I think I get the gist of this game, though. i do not think this was as close as the final score suggested.
00:35:47
Mike Bell
I thought Miami controlled the game. Miami has been impressive all year, every single game. You know, I put them at number two this week. You know, and you probably have a great argument for them to be number one as far as I'm concerned, but I get, you know, not wanting to put them above Ohio State, fine.
00:36:06
Mike Bell
um But what they've done with, it's debatable for sure.
00:36:07
Kaleb
I almost think that's a little debatable. almost.
00:36:12
Mike Bell
Yeah, I don't even know where I stand on that.
00:36:14
Kaleb
Yeah.
00:36:14
Mike Bell
I'm just telling you, I think they're for sure a top three team in the country.
00:36:18
Kaleb
Oh, for sure.
00:36:18
Mike Bell
ah They're elite. And ah just so impressive what they've done with that football program. You got to remember where they've been the past several years.
00:36:26
Kaleb
Yeah.
00:36:27
Mike Bell
And for them to, you know, they're not just winning versus bad ACC opponents.
00:36:27
Kaleb
Yep.
00:36:31
Mike Bell
They've got some very impressive wins this this year, this week going against, I mean, we were just talking about the Texas game, how it feels like a must win game for Florida. Look, this was a must win game for Florida State.
00:36:43
Mike Bell
And Miami went in and pretty much rolled them.
00:36:43
Kaleb
Yeah, it was.
00:36:46
Mike Bell
We've had the storyline of, well, hey, look, this team's only going to be as good as Carson Beck takes them.
00:36:53
Kaleb
And he had a, yeah.
00:36:53
Mike Bell
Well, Carson Beck has been poised. 2427, 241 yards, four touchdowns. He's been fine. He has not been an issue. Very impressed by their true freshman receiver, Malachi Tony.
00:37:06
Kaleb
Yeah. Mm-hmm.
00:37:07
Mike Bell
Seven passes, 107 yards. ah He's been very good. um You know, we were talking about coming into the week, Florida State. They've been scoring at will, putting up a ton of yards.
00:37:22
Mike Bell
This week, what was it, three points going into the fourth quarter, three points in the third quarter or something like that? they didn't
00:37:29
Kaleb
Yeah.
00:37:29
Mike Bell
they had They weren't scoring. So the Miami defense is legitimate defense, you know because that's a legitimate offense they were just going against, not fluky at all.
00:37:34
Kaleb
Really good. Oh, yeah. Offense. Top three offense.
00:37:40
Mike Bell
ah For sure, for sure. a Florida State, 230 rushing yards in its first four games, held to 132 yards carries impressed with... this game against miami so ah couldn't be more impressed with Miami, uh, Florida state, Florida to state side. i think they're out of it.
00:38:02
Mike Bell
I mean, the ACC and the way these schedules are, built, uh, I don't, I think Florida state is going to be like the fourth team in the ACC.
00:38:03
Kaleb
and Yeah.
00:38:11
Mike Bell
I don't see how they get into the playoff at all. I don't see how they get in the ACC, uh, championship as you know Miami's for sure now pretty much going to lock it up bar sort of disaster and then you have Georgia Tech and Virginia which are undefeated in conference play and Duke now and undefeated in the conference play those teams don't have a tough schedule they don't face the Miami FSU Clemson trio at most they face one of those teams and I know Georgia Tech doesn't face Miami or Florida State from here and I believe that's the case with Virginia as well so
00:38:37
Kaleb
Right. ryanan
00:38:46
Mike Bell
So this is just bad news for Florida State in terms of what they want to do Very interesting season because, look, everyone was high and on after they beat Alabama, and rightfully so.
00:38:58
Mike Bell
But I don't know where they go from here. I don't know what to expect from them. But to me, this is about Miami, and I'm excited to see what they can actually do in terms of the playoff race and and all of that. But we're a long ways from Miami.
00:39:16
Mike Bell
From that, but that's just kind of my general thoughts on this game. You have anything to say about it?
00:39:23
Kaleb
Well, I think, yeah, I mean, I pretty much agree with everything that you have just said. I think really what it boils down to is Florida State gave too many turnovers to Miami.
00:39:35
Kaleb
miami capital Miami capitalized on two of them, and Florida State's defense held up on one of them. I think it's an interesting game because I think Miami just flat out dominated the entire game.
00:39:46
Kaleb
um I thought it showed pretty good resilience that Florida State at least came back and Had a very, very small chance to come back and win it. ah They just didn't recover that onside kick at the very end there. But um Florida State has had six turnovers in the last two weeks.
00:40:02
Kaleb
You know, that's a very big – that's very – that makes it very easy for the other team to win the game, right? If you're sitting there giving them more possessions, you know, that's just going to give them more of a chance to score.
00:40:15
Kaleb
So if they really want to be successful this year, and by all means, I think that their playoff race is done and over with. But if they want to be able to, I don't know, still have a 10-win year, they're have to be nearly perfect. okay And ah written pretty much they should...
00:40:36
Kaleb
I'm going to take a look at their schedule real quick. They really shouldn't have anybody else that's like, oh, crap. I mean, they have Clemson. Clemson and Florida, those two games. Those could be very interesting. um And really and truly, if Clemson shows up and Florida shows up, then they could lose those games too.
00:40:53
Kaleb
So I could see them being 8-4 or, you know, Either way...
00:40:54
Mike Bell
yeah Yeah, I mean, I would say no.
00:40:58
Kaleb
either way
00:41:03
Kaleb
I don't know. i guess the question is was it a fluke game that Florida State had against Alabama?
00:41:14
Mike Bell
I think they beat them completely, legitimately. Florida State has the talent. They have great coaching. And, you know, the game versus Virginia was a little bit of a trap game.
00:41:26
Mike Bell
To me, I think this game was more just about Miami. I think Miami is just that good. And Florida State just put themselves in a bad position against Virginia. Yeah, Florida State getting that win overrated themselves.
00:41:38
Mike Bell
ah Just because, I mean, look, you just beat Alabama. But let's not forget they were at home. First game of the season. you know, for whatever reason, Alabama wasn't clicking at that point. Things like that happen.
00:41:51
Mike Bell
But... No, I still think Florida State is good. They're just not elite. You know, they're probably not top 10 good, but they're good.
00:42:00
Kaleb
you were mentioning miami uh just this being about miami and i i completely agree with you um Stop Florida State, which arguably is a top three offense, seven straight drives, four punts, three turnovers.
00:42:14
Kaleb
Okay? Held them to – Florida State has had 230 yards or more rushing in every game leading up to this, in the first four games.
00:42:24
Kaleb
um Miami's defense held them to 132, okay, on 38 carries, which is 3.5 yards per carry. and That's not easy to do against this ah offense. Okay? Also, and at the end of the day, what does this boil down to, a team success? I mean, a huge majority of it is on the quarterback's shoulders.
00:42:42
Kaleb
Carson Beck is playing very good. This game specifically, he played pretty much a perfect game. You can ask more from your quarterback. Carson Beck is battle-tested.
00:42:55
Kaleb
He's been in huge games pretty much every single year. Okay. So I think the, I still think this, ah the success
00:43:08
Kaleb
is on Carson Beck's shoulders. If he has a flu or if he has a bad game or something, puts him in a bad situation. I think Miami has like proven them themselves. If they were to lose a game, um they probably still could get in the playoffs, but Anyway, it'll be interesting.
00:43:25
Kaleb
um And they've hope they've got a good supporting cast around them on that ah offense, too. Like you said, that true freshman wide receiver. And even their other wide receiver, I forgot his name, Daniels.
00:43:38
Kaleb
He was pretty good, too, their senior wide receiver. um There somebody else I was thinking about on the offense. Can't remember. But anyway, Miami looks really good, really good.
00:43:50
Mike Bell
Agreed. ah Agreed. Well, speaking of teams that look really good, e the Vandy-Alabama game, Alabama continues to look really good. ah You know, I was very curious about this coming into the week. Would it be a competitive game, not a competitive game? In many ways, the opposite of the Miami-Florida State game in the sense that, you know, the Miami-Florida State, that game was not as close as the score suggests.
00:44:14
Mike Bell
This game was closer than the score suggests. And i have to be the first one to say I was wrong about Vandy. Not a lot of people are maybe going to be having that takeaway from this game.
00:44:27
Mike Bell
ah But to me, I was very impressed by Vanderbilt. They were right in it there in the first half. They were ahead in the first quarter. Alabama was playing as if they were going against the boogeyman out there.
00:44:40
Mike Bell
is like, oh, crap, we've got Vanderbilt.
00:44:41
Kaleb
if the success.
00:44:42
Mike Bell
We don't know how to play. like They just looked off. They thought Vandy was going to do some sort of crazy voodoo magic. And then they did do some crazy voodoo magic there in the first half. But as much as we talked about Pavia, and rightfully so,
00:44:58
Mike Bell
What impressed me in the first half was the Vandy defense. I mean, they were really holding Alabama. Alabama was struggling to move the ball.
00:45:09
Mike Bell
They weren't scoring. And, ah Alabama's defense, it was like, okay, they're front seven. They can't figure out this quarterback option that Vandy has going on.
00:45:21
Mike Bell
And it looks like it could be a long day for the Alabama defense. It reminded me, he was on the sideline, but it reminded me Johnny Manziel.
00:45:28
Kaleb
Yeah.
00:45:30
Mike Bell
I mean, he was he was really, Pavia was really doing well. But it just goes to show ye can't be one-dimensional and you can't be one-dimensional against a team like Alabama because in that second half,
00:45:46
Mike Bell
They completely figured it out. And there was nothing Pavia could do. And there's only so much the out the vander Vanderbilt defense could do against a player like Ty Simpson, who, by the way, in a year where there's no clear Heisman favorite, I think you have to start talking about Ty Simpson more and more, especially if Alabama runs the table.
00:46:04
Kaleb
Oh, for sure.
00:46:08
Mike Bell
340 passing yards They continue to air it out. ah He's doing great. And, you know, as the Vanderbilt defense was, they kept having to come out there and be perfect.
00:46:20
Mike Bell
You're just always so perfect you can be against team like Alabama.
00:46:22
Kaleb
Yeah.
00:46:24
Mike Bell
So credit to Vanderbilt for keeping this close. I mean, it really was a close game. The 30 to 14 final score does not do it justice. ah And ah Vanderbilt, unfortunately for them, their schedule going forward,
00:46:39
Mike Bell
is just brutal. Like seriously, they may finish like 6-6 just because of their schedule, but they're better than 6-6 team. I mean, they basically have Florida's schedule.
00:46:52
Mike Bell
So sucks for them, but they're a legitimate top 25 team, not a fluky top 25 team. They are very good. I respect Pavia.
00:47:02
Mike Bell
How far can he take them? I don't know. But, you you know, one of the stories of this game specifically is was the Alabama time of possession. Basically doubled Vanderbilt in terms of their time of possession. They controlled the football, didn't give Vanderbilt all the chances in the world. and so when Vanderbilt did have the chance, they had to be perfect.
00:47:24
Mike Bell
And that really isn't their game. Alabama clearly back here to stay. They've got some interesting games coming up, including this week at Missouri.
00:47:35
Mike Bell
That's quite the three game ah stand for them, Georgia, Bandy, and then at Missouri.
00:47:39
Kaleb
Yeah. Yeah.
00:47:42
Mike Bell
That's going to be interesting. That's going to be a very interesting game, but interesting storylines for both going forward. And, Yeah, that's that's kind of my thoughts on the game.
00:47:55
Mike Bell
Continue to be impressed by Alabama. Legitimate top 10 team. And yeah, what were your takeaways?
00:48:03
Kaleb
So I think I pretty much agree with what you're saying. um you know Vanderbilt, throughout the week, people are like, okay, yes, it's Vanderbilt. It's a different team, which it is. Do not get me wrong.
00:48:19
Kaleb
um However, there is still there's still separation between the Alabama players and Vanderbilt. um And really, i really commend Vanderbilt because that being said, if you sit there realize, okay,
00:48:35
Kaleb
Alabama has a clear distinction, or there's a clear distinction between the talent level on both these teams. Vanderbilt, until like the third quarter, made this game very competitive.
00:48:46
Kaleb
Okay. ah I really think that Diego Pavia, ah he played he played good, not his best game by any means, but you know like I told you a previous episode, Vanderbilt can't put...
00:49:07
Kaleb
They can't be one-dimensional, and they can't put this on Diego Pavia to go throw and win for them. And that's kind of almost what they did, basically. ah And Alabama, their offense, you know, i really think that Alabama,
00:49:26
Kaleb
man, I know we were both really – think we're both high on Miami. I think we're ah also both pretty high on – Alabama, and we'll get to this in a little bit and talk about the AP poll, but with them being eight, it's a little questionable in my opinion, but we'll get to that here in a little bit.
00:49:44
Kaleb
um Rocky said earlier, Ty Simpson having a huge game, which he did, but also the running back at 136 rushing yards. So Miami was able to still have a balanced attack, really balanced attack.
00:49:57
Mike Bell
Alabama, you mean, yeah
00:50:00
Kaleb
Yeah, Alabama, uh-huh.
00:50:01
Mike Bell
yes. You said Miami, go ahead.
00:50:03
Kaleb
oh Oh, excuse me. Yes. Okay. Alabama had a really balanced running attack for sure. um So think the other team so far that has solidified themselves as like, okay, they've actually played really decent opponents and played really well against them. I think it's got to be Alabama.
00:50:21
Kaleb
um Alabama and Miami are like, I think they're separating themselves. So it'll be very interesting to see. um Vanderbilt, they play LSU next.
00:50:32
Kaleb
and Okay. I think that's very interesting too, because believe last week's episode when LSU played Ole Miss,
00:50:41
Kaleb
we were both kind of like, ooh, you know, and I'm just curious. Number one, i think will be interesting is how does Vanderbilt show up? Okay. Did they put a lot of stock into this Alabama game, which I'm sure they did. I mean, who wouldn't, but how How will they show up to the LSU game? Are they going to show that same consistency as far as like approach, good overall gameplay?
00:51:03
Kaleb
Or is it just going to be like LSU just goes out and like steamrolls, you know? And I think it will be very impressive if Vanderbilt is able to punch toe to toe with him. um
00:51:17
Kaleb
I'd probably still pick LSE to win, but what would be impressive, even if Vanderbilt still loses, is that it's very competitive in the late in the fourth quarter. And that kind of shows you, okay, Vanderbilt's got something right going on here. And like you said, they may end up 6-6, but they're deserving of a top 25 spot.
00:51:32
Kaleb
um And with the Alabama-Missouri game next week, it'll be very interesting. And like you said, very tough, tough stretch of games to play, especially this early in the season when everybody else is just now playing maybe their first hard game.
00:51:47
Kaleb
Alabama has already gotten several under their belt. So anyway, ah very, very interesting game.
00:51:59
Kaleb
Commendable service by the Vanderbilt Commodores. However, Alabama just powerful.
00:52:07
Mike Bell
They're just, yeah, they're just better. You know, Alabama's schedule coming up, like we talked about at Missouri, and then hosting Tennessee. So, you know, they've they've got plenty of chances.
00:52:20
Mike Bell
They've already done it, but they've rebounded from the Florida to State loss. But they've also got plenty of chances to prove that they're not flawless. And they're against some pretty good teams. I mean, and after that, they've got at South Carolina.
00:52:34
Mike Bell
You never know about those road games. And then they host LSU and they host Oklahoma. So it's going to be an interesting season for the Tide.
00:52:39
Kaleb
Well, yeah, exactly.
00:52:41
Mike Bell
It's it's not it's not over yet in terms of what they're going to do.
00:52:47
Kaleb
i mean, they're definitely like – Alabama is very good. I mean, there's holes like many teams have. I mean, like let's say – I don't know. if all If Alabama were to play Ole Miss right now, who would win that game? It would be very interesting because Len Kiffin – Like we talked about last week heading into this Alabama-Vanderbilt game, ah mobile quarterbacks give Alabama's defense fits. Okay, well, Lane Kiffin always has a mobile quarterback.
00:53:15
Kaleb
Lane Kiffin's always... like a really good play caller, rush the ball very well. And that's what Alabama's defense has problems with is controlling the rush. Okay. And Diego Pavia still, by the way, had like 58 rushing yards too, on top of all his passing.
00:53:30
Kaleb
So they didn't necessarily stop them. And then they had a couple other players like 40 yards, 30 yards, whatever. So I think Alabama like control Vanderbilt enough, but then again, it goes to the talent level. Like,
00:53:43
Kaleb
Okay, yes, Vanderbilt has Diego Pavia. I get that. But would Alabama be able to stop the rush like they did against Vanderbilt, against Ole Miss, or ah like another you know really good team in the SEC?
00:53:57
Kaleb
I don't know. It'll be interesting to kind of see how they play.
00:54:02
Mike Bell
Agreed. Well, I think you would agree that that was kind of the big four this week. And there were still other games that maybe we that are worth briefly mentioning. i don't know if you had any specifically you wanted to talk about. I have one that before this podcast, we didn't discuss, but I want to bring it up.
00:54:23
Mike Bell
And it's a team I continue to be impressed by. They've got a big game this week. A lot of people were ready to just write off this team, and I get it. But that is Illinois. They beat Purdue.
00:54:36
Mike Bell
And just to show you how different this team this year is compared to years past, because obviously we've never talked about Illinois, like, ever This is the first time they've had back-to-back wins against Purdue since 2002. That has been the state of the Illinois program up to this point.
00:54:58
Mike Bell
This is one I kind of had on a side TV, but Altmaier, 19 for 22, 390 yards. There were questions about him coming into the year. Can he be really good for them? He has been really good.
00:55:13
Mike Bell
This game started out Purdue scoring seven quickly. It's like, okay, does Illinois just have a problem playing on the road because of how they were against Indiana at Indiana?
00:55:24
Mike Bell
But then Illinois, 24 unanswered points, Very impressive. ah Purdue, by the way, ah team you got to beat, but they're a competitive team in the sense that they were playing with Notre Dame ah right up until like the third quarter there.
00:55:41
Mike Bell
And then Notre Dame pulled away from them. ah Purdue is known in the Big Ten as a team like one of those sleeper teams that you kind of got to watch out for.
00:55:48
Kaleb
Yeah. yeah
00:55:51
Mike Bell
You know, they could just put up a fight any given day. So credit to Illinois. Got to give them credit for what they're doing. I'll be very excited this week. They're at home against Ohio State.
00:56:02
Mike Bell
Very tough for them, but I continue to be very impressed by them. ah you have any thoughts on that game? If not, what other the game kind of caught your eye this week?
00:56:13
Kaleb
I didn't necessarily have any thoughts on that game per se. like However, i remember watching several games last year from ah that Illinois played. you know I really like their coach, Brett Bulema. Very interesting what he's been able to do.
00:56:26
Kaleb
think last year they were able to get up and into like the teams as far as rankings go. This year they were in the top 10 for a couple weeks until they lost to Indiana pretty badly. But we'll see kind of like – how good or bad that loss would have been, I guess. But I think Illinois is very interesting team. Luke Altmaier has impressed me going back to last year. You know, is he a flashy quarterback? No, not necessarily. But he doesn't always have to be for them to win. Brett Belima likes to run the ball.
00:56:56
Kaleb
First and foremost, control the line of scrimmage. And so Luke Altmaier, all he really has to do is just, you know, not throw any – hold on one second.
00:57:11
Kaleb
Sorry about that. It's just, I think my, hold on one second. All right Basically Luke Altmaier has to just play good game, not turn the ball over. And then Illinois is in a good spot.
00:57:24
Kaleb
I think the other game that I wanted to kind of briefly talk about was the Texas Houston game. I think Texas tech just dominated that game um against an old quarterback of yours.
00:57:38
Kaleb
Interestingly enough. um But, yeah, Tech just dominated the game. Defense looked great. Offense was, like, really balanced. Are they the team to beat in the Big 12? I'm not sure. But if they can come out and win the next three, ah well, really the mean the next two, I think we could probably have our answer to that question.
00:57:57
Kaleb
They play Kansas next, which that's – A sleeper game Kansas is unranked, but they still have, i mean they have capabilities of upset okay, um and then Arizona State okay, that so the next two games for tech will be crucial they'll be big, um it'll be interesting to see kind of where.
00:58:16
Kaleb
they're sitting at after those two weeks. um And I don't know if you saw this, but they just had another five-star commit this week. And so now Texas Tech has the number one edge and the number one defensive lineman in the country for, I believe it's next year.
00:58:31
Kaleb
So I'm not sure how. But their coach is – well, actually, do know how. I guess it's boiling down to money. But it's interesting how – I'm wondering what he's paying these players. But there're they're really starting to turn the culture around. I think it's an interesting story in college football um because, like you said – or like what you have said a little bit, Texas Tech, are they a premier school?
00:58:55
Kaleb
Not really, to be honest with you. and Now that could change in the next couple years. But –
00:59:01
Kaleb
with the landscape of NIL, their coach has done a very good job as far as pivoting them into good situations and growing that football team to being a serious threat in the Big 12. So, you have any thoughts on that game?
00:59:21
Kaleb
That's odd.
00:59:22
Mike Bell
I didn't have very many thoughts on that game. I know Wigman, I think, came out of the game. He got injured.
00:59:29
Kaleb
Yeah.
00:59:29
Mike Bell
I don't know how significant it was, but yeah, just one of those things where
00:59:32
Kaleb
Yeah. He didn't play well when he was in there, though. He didn't play well.
00:59:37
Mike Bell
Yeah, and I don't know if I can blame him because Texas Tech, I think, is just on a another level from Houston.
00:59:40
Kaleb
Yeah.
00:59:43
Mike Bell
That is a fascinating conference to watch with. You have Cincinnati, Arizona State. I think TCU's put themselves maybe out of it, but I think if TCU's perfect, they can have a shot.
00:59:54
Mike Bell
But I guess it does lead into the next game. i was kind of watching in that 12 o'clock window, 11 o'clock window for us. is the Iowa State-Cincinnati game. In our picks this week, you chose Iowa State to win the game outright. Great pick by you.
01:00:09
Mike Bell
ah Of course not, but Cincinnati pretty much handles Iowa State. Now, Iowa State had a lot of secondary guys out in this game.
01:00:18
Kaleb
Yeah. Yeah.
01:00:21
Mike Bell
I'm glad Iowa State lost because I've kind of been watching them and I just don't think they're that good. I don't think they were deserving of the number 14 team. But give credit to Iowa State because Cincinnati was blowing their doors off.
01:00:33
Mike Bell
Iowa State came back in the second half, made this a game. Had a very real opportunity to win this game.
01:00:37
Kaleb
yeah
01:00:40
Mike Bell
Couldn't pull it off. ah Cincinnati... is now right there in contention to be in that Big 12 title game, win the Big 12 potentially. I don't know where they're going to go.
01:00:52
Mike Bell
i know they, ah believe, beat Kansas last week, and I expected Kansas to win that game. So Cincinnati's been interesting. Their only loss is to Nebraska, and that was 20-17. twenty to seventeen So ah watch out for Cincinnati the rest of the way.
01:01:08
Mike Bell
But like i said, impressed by Iowa State's fight. They're not out of it by any means, Iowa State. Because they did have guys down on that game. So, you know we'll see.
01:01:17
Kaleb
Yeah.
01:01:18
Mike Bell
But, ah yeah.
01:01:20
Kaleb
I didn't really have any like thoughts on that game specifically. You know, i thought Iowa state just, you know, they had a really good balanced attack. They fought back, like back, like you said, and I really think I'm going to have to start really taking a note on Cincinnati and really, frankly, the big 12 too, because BYU still undefeated, uh, in there as well.
01:01:40
Mike Bell
Yep.
01:01:40
Kaleb
And, you know, um I think when it gets to December time or November, December, I think the big 12 be a very interesting conference. Not necessarily because I think it's fantastic. Like it's a top, it's like the top conference, but it's just almost like, okay, there's quite a bit of teams here that could win it all, which one will do it, I guess.
01:02:07
Kaleb
And
01:02:10
Kaleb
I mean, really and truly You know, Texas Tech, I don't know. I think they're to be the team for me to sit there and do it. But we'll see. I think next week, like I said, will be a good test for them playing Kansas.
01:02:27
Mike Bell
I think Texas Tech is kind of, there's a bit of a gap between them and the number two team in that conference, but we will see because That, you're like you were saying, like, yeah, it's not the best conference, but there's a lot of chaos in that conference, and it's just fun to watch.
01:02:41
Mike Bell
A lot of people think, actually, that BYU is really good.
01:02:41
Kaleb
Mm-hmm.
01:02:45
Mike Bell
They were really good last year. i don't know. i haven't seen it yet with BYU, but look, they've got a chance to prove it. ah But it's a fascinating conference to watch for sure.
01:02:55
Mike Bell
ah Now, look, we are hour in. ah I'm kind of done with the games I want to talk about before we move on to the AP poll. Was there anything else you wanted to say on the games this week or do you want to move into the AP poll?
01:03:12
Kaleb
um I think it might be the only other game, which I'm kind of surprised you didn't want to briefly talk about it, was the Mississippi State A&M game. and like ah Briefly, I thought, have to well, okay, I'm trying to sit here and think how to say this.
01:03:31
Kaleb
Mississippi State made it pretty competitive in the first quarter. Then after that, you guys took over. You guys had a really good run game. Marcel Reed, he had an okay day passing. I'm kind of curious what your thoughts are on him, like his game. He had 180 yards, two touchdowns, one interception.
01:03:46
Kaleb
And the interception was like pretty early on in the game. And then after that, he was, you know, really good. But what are your thoughts on him? Because – You guys have a really good running back field. And honestly, I think that you could argue that could they dethrone the Penn State or, uh, gosh, what was the other team where we come up last week with the running back duo?
01:04:10
Kaleb
Anyway, you guys have a really good running back.
01:04:12
Mike Bell
Notre Dame.
01:04:13
Kaleb
Yeah. Notre Dame. and Exactly. Um, And you guys have really good wide receivers too. Okay. and So we're, we discussed Marcel Reza just a little bit, I guess, on your, your take on him.
01:04:27
Mike Bell
Well, my thoughts on him and the team were basically the same as they were last week. And it's maybe a different direction than a lot of, say, A&M pundits would take it, but I just don't want to hear him anywhere near this Heisman conversation. There is thing that we do where if a team is doing well as a team and you know they're undefeated like A&M is, it's like, oh, well, we got to talk about the quarterback for Heisman. No, you talk about for Heisman the players that are performing best.
01:05:01
Mike Bell
And Marcel Reed, this is a hot take, what I'm about to say.
01:05:06
Kaleb
Thank you.
01:05:07
Mike Bell
and I brought it out to some people and they're like, yeah, that's a little too hot. And I agree, but it gets the point across. I don't think Marcel Reed's been much better than Arch Manning this year.
01:05:19
Mike Bell
If you watch the games, Marcel continues to miss open guys that are just standing right in front of him. ah Is he a dull threat?
01:05:31
Mike Bell
A little bit, but not actually that much of a dull threat because he's so small, they don't want to run him too much because he's going to get hurt.
01:05:37
Kaleb
You said that last week, and I made sure to kind of watch him a little bit. it He actually is a little bit smaller than I realized.
01:05:45
Mike Bell
Yeah, yeah, so he's...
01:05:46
Kaleb
Just thinner. you know He doesn't have that much meat on the bones, so to speak.
01:05:50
Mike Bell
Yeah, and he he's already gotten hurt in games twice this year. Nothing significant. But, like, am I going to be surprised if he just goes down and he's out for a game all of a sudden? Like, no, I'm not going to be surprised at all. So, look, am I, like, out on Marcel?
01:06:04
Mike Bell
No. Kind of like you were saying with Arch Manning, like, you got to let these guys develop. But here's the deal.
01:06:08
Kaleb
Yeah, he's ah he's a sophomore.
01:06:08
Mike Bell
You just said, he's a sophomore.
01:06:10
Kaleb
So it's not like, yeah. I mean, and yes, he's had more starting.
01:06:13
Mike Bell
Well, we...
01:06:14
Kaleb
He started more games than Arch has, but still a sophomore. We're kind of getting used to these.
01:06:18
Mike Bell
Well...
01:06:21
Kaleb
What?
01:06:21
Mike Bell
and Not many more games. Yeah.
01:06:23
Kaleb
Well, no, not many more games, but I'm just saying, you know, a couple. And people are just like, i don't know really what it is.
01:06:28
Mike Bell
Yeah.
01:06:31
Kaleb
you know And honestly, maybe this could have started off with Johnny Menzel, just people to be true freshmen coming in and just lighting it up and just being the best thing ever. And historically, that's not been the case. you know ah Like look at Joe Burrow.
01:06:43
Kaleb
He had that amazing season his senior year. and I mean, there's other quarterbacks too. You got to be patient the quarterback. um I think he brought up a good interesting point you know with him being like on the same level as Arch Manning. I can't necessarily contribute to that argument because I haven't sat there and watched Marcel read like I have ah Arch.
01:07:02
Kaleb
But i would probably I think it's a safe bet to say that you guys at least have a better offensive line than we do. You guys, for whatever rate, in it's kind of odd, but you guys always have at least one offensive lineman that's like going in the top three rounds of the draft every year.
01:07:08
Mike Bell
Yes.
01:07:16
Kaleb
It's kind of odd how that goes. Yeah. um So with that being said, Marcel Reed having a better offensive line to work with really good. And, ah you know, probably i would maybe take just where your wide receivers are at right now.
01:07:32
Kaleb
I'd probably take them, you know, Concepcion. And then I forgot the other guy that, but he's really good too.
01:07:37
Mike Bell
Marcel Kraber, yep.
01:07:38
Kaleb
ah k Craver. Yeah. So those are really good wide receivers. And like I said, one of the best backfields. So Colin Klein, or Yeah, that's the that's the name of the offense.
01:07:49
Mike Bell
Yes.
01:07:50
Kaleb
Yeah. Colin Klein, he's got some toys to play with on that offense. And, you know, ah I remember telling you, like, whenever you guys hired him, I was like, I think that's like a really good coordinator for you guys with what Mike Elko wants.
01:08:06
Kaleb
um And plus, I mean, I remember playing against – I mean, Colin Klein – Played at Kansas State under Bill Snyder. Very run-heavy team. I mean, honestly, one Bill Snyder, one of the best coaches in all of college football history. and Okay, so Colin Klein's definitely learned a lot from him.
01:08:23
Kaleb
Playing underneath him, anyway, i think offensively, you guys are pretty good. i think, really, Marcel Reed, just kind of like Luke Altmyer, just – altmeyer just Don't give the defense any turnovers, any interceptions, fumbles, or anything like that, and I think you guys will be fine, honestly.
01:08:44
Kaleb
so and
01:08:45
Mike Bell
Well, we'll see. Here's the deal. I disagree on a couple points. First of all, the k Craver and Concepcion duo, and you were talking about backfield, but specifically the receivers, I don't think it's crazy to say it's the best receiver duo in college football.
01:09:04
Mike Bell
I really think that. I think they've both been extremely good. But that's kind of my problem is, like, we have these weapons, and, And really, the offense outside of the never Notre Dame game, but even if you watch that game, there's a bunch of missed opportunities from Marcel Reid.
01:09:22
Mike Bell
And yes, you know, he needs to develop and all that. But where I disagree with you, and I've disagreed with you since last year, and a lot of A&M fans disagree too, is Colin Kline.
01:09:33
Mike Bell
yeah I don't think he's been good. I don't think the offense has ever really been clicking. And again, is that him or is that Marcel Reed? don't know. i know also, and this is just a coaching problem in general, two years, it's second year.
01:09:44
Kaleb
He's been there for like two years, right? Yeah, he's been there for
01:09:48
Mike Bell
um But the penalties for A&M, I think we're 125th in the nation in penalties, meaning that we can commit a lot.
01:09:56
Kaleb
for...
01:09:58
Mike Bell
And that's killed us. It kills us every week on our ah first off offensive drive, we have penalties. And so we start out in a hole. And then as far as what you're saying, oh, you know, credit to Mississippi State for the first quarter, keeping it competitive.
01:10:11
Mike Bell
I don't give credit to Mississippi State. I think it was all A&M, just not clicking, not firing at all. cylinder Mississippi State offensively couldn't do a whole lot. Give credit to the A&M defense. They're showing up.
01:10:25
Mike Bell
The only team that has really put up numbers against them is Notre Dame. They're doing that to everybody. I think A&M, if you look at that final score, thirty one and nine and you say, oh, they blew them out.
01:10:36
Mike Bell
The second half, we definitely pulled away. But we were not – we have were yet to put together four quarters of good football. And, look, that could be a good thing.
01:10:47
Mike Bell
That could be like, okay, well, imagine when you do because you can move it offensively. Your defense is looking formidable. But the problem is like, okay, but why haven't you yet? There's clearly some sort of execution issues.
01:11:02
Mike Bell
um So I'm not sitting here telling you that A&M is here, that they are just an elite team. I don't think they're there yet. I think they have the capability to be, but I want to see a lot more from them.
01:11:16
Mike Bell
And they're going to have an opportunity to do that in the weeks coming forward. But I really worry about this team going on the road at Missouri, at LSU, at Texas, You know, you got to be playing better than you have been.
01:11:28
Mike Bell
And yeah, that's that's my general thoughts on A&M.
01:11:31
Kaleb
I think it's a good, I mean, i think that's a good question. Is it more Marcel Reed or Colin Klein? And Colin Klein, you know, he's been there for two years. Who has his quarterbacks been?
01:11:42
Kaleb
Connor Wegman and Marcel Reed for the most part. And then maybe there was one other quarterback too that played for Connor Wegman.
01:11:48
Mike Bell
No, that was it.
01:11:49
Kaleb
Yeah.
01:11:54
Kaleb
Connor Wegman was like injury prone, just yeah
01:11:59
Kaleb
Basically, what I'm trying to say is like all the quarterbacks that Colin Klein has had to work with are young in their developmental stage. He has yet to have like a quarterback that's like a senior, junior, whatever.
01:12:12
Kaleb
That's really got some games under their belt in football. you know So I totally get we're like where the dissatisfaction is, but this also goes back to that patience. and And don't get me wrong, I have that problem sometimes myself, especially whenever you have all the toys around that you could want in the world and you're not able to capitalize on them because of where quarterback's development is.
01:12:33
Kaleb
But anyway, yeah talking about the next couple weeks, I think next week is going to big game for you guys. Florida. See how Florida, like if – If Florida is able to approach or is able to come to that game and play you guys the same way that they did against us, you guys might be in some trouble.
01:12:51
Kaleb
I think it could be a slogfest, but we'll see. is florida be is good Is Florida going to be able to be consistent in their gameplay that they were with us this past week? If they do, potential trouble.
01:13:04
Kaleb
um It could be Marcel Reed coming out of that shell and being better. I don't know. We'll kind of see.
01:13:10
Mike Bell
We'll see. Yeah, next week's going to be exciting, especially whenever we break down all the games there.
01:13:13
Kaleb
Yes.
01:13:15
Mike Bell
But let's talk about the AP poll for this week. I will give you kind of my opening thoughts, and I will be the first one to tell you i usually very critical of these polls.
01:13:27
Kaleb
Mm-hmm.
01:13:27
Mike Bell
I actually thought they did a good job this week. I don't really see any major issues. I quickly will tell you I think the coach's poll is a joke. for a few reasons i just now saw this someone has texas a and m as the number one team in the country okay that's ridiculous but i wasn't even i literally just now saw that but also in the coaches poll also in the coaches poll texas and penn state are ranked which is ridiculous they should not be ranked at all that's crazy so i was
01:13:49
Kaleb
yeah
01:13:56
Kaleb
Oh, wow. Jeez. yeah God almighty. what What's the rank on Texas? Just...
01:14:03
Mike Bell
Texas is 19, Penn State 22. And yeah, I think that's insane. i So I saw this come out yesterday and i was like, oh my God, is the AP gonna follow suit? and People are going crazy, but the AP did the right thing.
01:14:16
Mike Bell
I have no issues here. Miami, number two, fine. Oregon, three. um Top 10 looks good to me. LSU, 11, fine.
01:14:28
Mike Bell
i mean, I'm going down here. i'm happy Notre Dame is you know top 16. Illinois, I'm happy they're in the top 20. Still don't really understand how BYU got that high, whatever.
01:14:39
Mike Bell
um Yeah, I'm happy to see Memphis and South Florida ranked, and I'm happy, I'm actually happy Florida State is still ranked, but I agree that they should be right on that edge. So I'm okay with this poll.
01:14:50
Mike Bell
What about you?
01:14:53
Kaleb
I would probably agree. yeah i mean, kind of earlier when we were talking about the Alabama game and I get maybe why they haven't moved them more ahead is just because everybody ahead of them right now is undefeated.
01:15:03
Kaleb
ah But, and Yeah, I pretty much agree with it for the most part. I mean, maybe arguably Georgia over Tech, but I mean, that's a very, very little difference. So I can't sit here and nitpick it too hard. I'm glad that Notre Dame is still at 16. We're both very high on them.
01:15:25
Kaleb
um I'm glad Vanderbilt didn't really go – because I think they were 18 before the Alabama game, and they only went back to 20. twenty So that's very good. um So they only fell two spots.
01:15:37
Kaleb
um Yeah, I think it's overall a good week as far as the ap poll goes. Now the coaches poll, now that is ah a different story.
01:15:47
Mike Bell
insane, insane.
Should Texas Be Ranked?
01:15:49
Kaleb
that You know, do I think Texas should be ranked – No, no. I mean, but the other aisle, maybe just because, like, how many teams would win against Ohio State
Florida's Hypothetical Record
01:16:04
Kaleb
right now, I don't know. But the Florida game, and I think we both would agree that
01:16:10
Kaleb
they're unranked, but depending on the schedules, could Florida have a better record if they didn't play such a hard schedule? Probably so, but still – what, Florida's two and three now, and we lost
Penn State's Ranking Criticism
01:16:25
Kaleb
to them. I mean, we don't deserve that, especially Penn State, the fashion that they lost to UCLA.
01:16:29
Kaleb
so
Texas and Penn State's Weak Schedule
01:16:30
Mike Bell
Texas is one of Texas and Penn State are two of four teams to have not beat anyone in the top 100 yet. So you got to beat somebody eventually.
01:16:30
Kaleb
and Well, yeah, exactly, for sure.
01:16:42
Mike Bell
And those teams have a ton.
01:16:44
Kaleb
Yeah.
Ranking Cincinnati Higher?
01:16:45
Mike Bell
But But yeah, okay, yeah, the only team that maybe you could argue you should be the rankings, but I agree that they're not. And they're number 26, that's Cincinnati, ah but they're right there, whatever. I'm good with
Upcoming College Football Excitement
01:16:58
Mike Bell
all this. So yeah, interesting way of college football. I'm really looking forward to this one coming up, and we'll get more into that later in the week.
01:17:06
Mike Bell
ah So yeah, e any closing thoughts?
Reflection and Anticipation
01:17:11
Kaleb
We had an interesting week with not as many like headlining games. I think next week there's a ton of headlining games. It's going very interesting, so make sure to stay tuned and see our preview for that.
01:17:25
Kaleb
and And then, of course, after the games, stay tuned to see what we thought of each game.
01:17:32
Mike Bell
All right, sounds good. All right, well, Caleb, I'll see you next time.
01:17:36
Kaleb
All right, see you.