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Heisman Race Update · The Craig Way Show

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  Speaker 1: I wanted to turn my attention, turn our attention. Well,
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  we were already talking college football, but another element of it,
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  in addition to mentioning how at this time of year,
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  that's when you start hearing the grousing and grumbling when
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  things don't go well for certain teams for whom more
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  was expected, anticipated and projected. The other projections that happened
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  this year, there's at this time of year, there's obviously
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  bold projections, there's playoff projections as well, and their Heisman
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  Trophy projections. Now, the mid season Heisman Watch votes are in.
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  According to our friend Max Olsen, the ESPN who covered
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  the Longhorns for a long time, and he has a
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  list of that we'll get to in a minute. But
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  first of all, I want to hear from the guy
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  who's projected to be if the Longhorns have a Heisman candidate,
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  would be Quinn Ewers. However, Quinn has missed two and
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  a half games before coming back last week against Oklahoma,
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  and he didn't have a Heisman like performance, but he
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  did well enough, certainly in the Longhorns victory. So here
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  was some thoughts from Quinn yours yesterday in the media
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  conversation that he had when they made the players available
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  for questions.
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  Speaker 2: We try to go into every week without anything changing
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  in our mentality of how we approach pro games. But
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  you know, we're human beings. We understand that, you know,
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  there's there's two really good teams coming together, and I
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  know our team is excited for the opportunity, and you know, again,
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  we're just excited. It's been tough just because you know,
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  throughout the week you don't have live bullets flying at you,
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  and you know the speed of the game is just
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  not the same in practice, but you try to emulate
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  it as best as we can. And then yeah, I mean,
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  I'm not gonna say see here in believer the point,
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  but I don't think I played as well as I
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  needed to play for the standard. And I'm just going
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  to try to continue and and and and try to
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  you know, practice as well as I can and pick
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  up the tempo within myself that I think that starts
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  earlier in the week and just knowing that there's going
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  to be swings and knowing knowing how big momentum changes
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  are and understanding that there's gonna be adversity. But it's
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  it's it's how you you come back and and and
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  see what happens after that. And it's it's I mean
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  I said it after the game, after the Oklahoma game,
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  it's it's ten percent of what happens to you, ninety
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  percent of how you how you overcome it. Don't get
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  too caught up and how big a game is or
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  what the environment of the game is going to be.
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  But just continue to to focus on us and at
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  the end of the day, just rely on each other.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah. Uh the important stuff for for Quinn years. And
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  if you talk to Quinn, if if you even bring
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  up the Heisman thing, he's very dismissive of it and said, uh,
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  I haven't done enough to be even mentioned the category.
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  Let me tell you someth Max Olsom with the ESPN
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  agrees with him because he in his Heisman watch he
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  has the top five candidates And have you looked at
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  this list? I have not. Okay, all right, so good.
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  I want to get your your your thoughts if if
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  you were to name let's start with number five, number
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  five on the list. I don't think you're going to
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  get this guy. He is a quarterback. I don't think
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  you're going to get him. But if you want to
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  take a take a shot.
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  Speaker 3: Is he power five? Power four?
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  Speaker 1: He is power four. I'll give you another hint. I'll
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  give you another hint. He's in the big ten.
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  Speaker 3: Dylan Gabriel.
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  Speaker 1: Dylan Gabriel is on the list, but he's not at
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  number five. He's at number four, So Will Howard it
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  is not worth rall. No, like I said, I didn't
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  think he would probably get this one. I'm trying to
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  think of who's who's undefeated. M go ahead and tell
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  me Cis Rourke quarterback Indiana. Curtis Rourke quarterback, Indiana. Okay,
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  so this is this is I found this kind of interesting.
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  And of course Indiana's big game this week. They've got
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  Nebraska on Saturday. I think that's the big newon kickoff
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  the Fox game.
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  Speaker 2: Okay.
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  Speaker 1: Max Olson, who like I said, I admire his work,
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  does good work. His take on this and this is
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  the guy's number five, not number one. On was number five, says.
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  Finding a new starting quarterback in the transfer portal was
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  high on coach Kirk Signetti's to do list upon taking
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  the Indiana job. Remember, Signetti was the coach at James
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  Madison yep, and this is his first year and He's
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  got them six and oh for the first time since
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  nineteen sixty seven. He found a proven winner to build
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  around in Rurke, a thirty three game starter at Ohio
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  You who'd thrown for more than seventy five hundred yards
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  and earned MAC Offensive Player of the Year in twenty
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  twenty two. Together, they just keep winning. The six year
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  senior has been superb during the Hoosier stunning six and
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  oh start and rise to number sixteen in the Ape Pole,
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  passing for seventeen hundred and fifty two yards with sixteen
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  total touchdowns and two interceptions on a Big Ten best
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  eleven yards per attempt. He has a QBR ninety one
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  point nine, best among power for starting quarterbacks while masterfully
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  operating a rebuilt offense at scoring forty seven and a
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  half points per game. His experience and efficiency have injected
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  a ton of confidence into a team that went three
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  and nine a year ago. So there's that, and then
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  there's that. He lists a Heisman moment for each guy,
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  but I'm not going to go into that right now.
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  Dylan Gabriel is number four on the list, and it
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  talks about, you know, the move he made to Eugene
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  He's accounted for eighteen hundred ninety three yards and seventeen
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  touchdowns and three interceptions. He's completed a career high seventy
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  six percent of his passes. It says a twelve to
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  zero run through Oregon's regular season schedule looks entirely possible now,
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  which would certainly keep Gabriel in the Heisman race the
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  rest of the way. His Heisman moment, by the way,
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  he's listed his performance against Ohio State all right, number
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  three on the list. Another quarterback, another Power four.
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  Speaker 3: Got some Kim Ward or Jaylen Milroe.
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  Speaker 1: You got it the first time. It's cam Ward, the
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  Miami quarterback who, of course transferred in from Washington State
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  six games in. Ward is truly exceeding Miami fans wildest expectations.
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  Washington State transfer took over a team that went seven
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  and six in twenty twenty three and turned it into
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  the undefeated front runner to win the acc numbers for him.
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  He's averaging over twelve yards per attempt on third downs,
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  according to True Media, that is best among all FBS
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  starting quarterbacks. He is the Hurricanes heart number one nationally
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  in third down conversions. They're converting sixty percent of their
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  third downs. That's pretty dog gone good and Ward has
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  played sixty four snaps on third downs and has accounted
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  for five hundred and fifty nine total yards and seven touchdowns.
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  He's number three, Number two Travis Hunter. Very good, good,
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  very good. Travis Hunter said nobody else in college football
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  can do what Hunter does to way star future first
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  round pick got off to a dominant start. His Heisman
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  moment was his Heisman pose after they won at UCF
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  on that deal, although they did end up losing last
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  week against Kansas State because he suffered a shoulder injury
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  and had to miss the second half of the game.
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  So we'll see how he is going. So that leaves
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  number one, and I think you know who number one
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  is on the Heisman and nobody, nobody on the planet
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  I don't think would have picked this guy to be
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  the leader. Going to the back nine if you will here.
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  Speaker 3: Arch Manning, oh No, Ashton gent Yeah, the Boise State
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  running back who already has twelve hundred yards. He's almost
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  ninety nine yards away from eclipsing his season total for
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  last season. A fantastic running back and even when teams
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  put eight or nine guys in the box, he still
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  finds a way to break one loose.
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  Speaker 1: Native Texan, Texas high school football star, former Frisco lone
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  Star stand out running back. Here's some of the numbers
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  that are just crazy. You mentioned the twelve hundred and
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  forty eight rushing yards and eighteen total touchdowns. He's averaging
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  nine point nine yards per carry. So he is way
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  ahead of Barry Sanders records on a number of things.
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  First of all, the single season rushing record, he's ahead
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  of that pace. Remember Barry Sanders ran for twenty eight
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  hundred and fifty yards and had forty four touchdowns back
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  in nineteen eighty eight. Remember that twenty eight hundred and
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  fifty yards and forty four touchdowns. Right now he is
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  on a pace to have twenty nine hundred rushing yards
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  and fifty touchdowns. He's on a pace to break all
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  of that. Soh His Heisman moment was against Oregon, even
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  though they lost. Of course, he ran for one hundred
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  and ninety two yards against the number two ranked Oregon Ducks.
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  So he, according to Max Olsen, is the Heisman front
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  runner right now, and I don't know that anybody could
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  really argue with that. It's amazing numbers that he has
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  put up. Now again I understand, by and large most
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  of his action has come against the Utah States and
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  some of the other teams and say, well, yeah, what
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  about the competition. Hey, he ran for one to ninety
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  two on Oregon. Now, Oregon's defense is not top tier level,
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  it's not even I don't think it's Texas level on
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  the defense, but they find ways. Obviously with Dylan Gabriel, taluts,
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  slug it out, scoring, you do all that sort of thing. Still,
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  in all, that's a G five school with a G
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  five offensive line and a G five supposedly running back
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  could play on any Power four team and had one
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  hundred and ninety two rushing yards against him.
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  Speaker 3: And there's a chance that you know, Boise State can
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  run the table whin the Mountain West and they can
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  be that group of five team in the playoff, which
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  would give Janty more time, more games to break that record,
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  get on the national stage. And I mean this is
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  you know, it's always a weird award. It goes usually
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  to the best quarterback on the number one team in
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  the country. But Janty, I don't think there's been a
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  quarterback that we've seen really blow anybody away. It was
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  Milrae after the Georgia game. For the last two weeks,
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  he has not looked good at all. Carson Beck has
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  had a lot of interceptions thrown, and Quinn Yuers has
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  been hurt, and he's been hurt and didn't play well
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  against Oklahoma. Now he could throw for four hundred against
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  Georgia and all of a sudden he's back to number two.
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  But I think Jante by far is leading this race.
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  Speaker 2: Now.
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  Speaker 3: I think Travis Hunter is the best overall college football player,
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  but Janty so far having the best season.
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  Speaker 1: I think you make a great point on if Boise
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  State makes the playoff. And I've said this every week
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  for the past several weeks, I'm going to say it again.
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  We have had more conversation about G five Group of
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  five teams than ever before. Why because a G five
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  school is guaranteed to be in the playoff, the top
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  four of the Power four conference champions all will get buys,
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  But that fifth spot, it's the top five highest rated
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  conference champions who get in. The reason why they say
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  highest rated is because of all the G five leagues,
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  the American Conference, USA, Sun Belt, min American you know
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  all of those so and Mountain West. Well, of course
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  he's in the Mountain West. Boise State has one loss.
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  Boise State is not a fan of Army or Navy
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  right now, they're really going to be a fan of
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  Notre Dame. They want Notre Dame to beat hand Army
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  and Navy losses so that they can have in the
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  Beauty Contest be the best and highest ranked one loss
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  conference champion. The one loss was that air tight shootout
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  with Oregon, so that's what they're hoping for. But if
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  Army Navy continue on this unbeaten collision course, and my goodness,
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  if even one let alone both should find a way
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  to beat Notre Dame, all bets are off at that point.
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  Then you're gonna come down to the final thing. As
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  Flounders said in Animal House, Oh Boys, was great. It's
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  gonna be a lot of fun to watch that the
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  way that that goes. All right, we've got more coming
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  up here. We'll have some more NFL notes when we
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  continue on this Tuesday afternoon here on Sports Radio AM
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  thirteen under the Zone and the IR Radio app.