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Quick Take: College Football Playoff Semifinals Preview · Height Differential

• 0:00
  Let's start with the Fiesta ball.
• 0:02
  Who thought we were going to be seeing Miami and Ole Miss?
• 0:07
  Yeah, neither one of us, because I'm pretty sure we had those two
• 0:11
  teams as our least likely upsets and look what happened.
• 0:14
  They both did it. So if you listen to the High
• 0:17
  Differential podcast, which I, I hope you are, if you're
• 0:20
  listening, if you're hearing us, that means you are We don't know
• 0:23
  ball. So we don't know ball.
• 0:25
  We, we just talk a bunch of nonsense and did not expect
• 0:29
  either one of those teams to be in the position that they are,
• 0:31
  especially Ole Miss with all the kind of circus that went around
• 0:35
  the coaching turn over there and who's coaching, who's not
• 0:39
  coaching and, and all that. But man, credit to them.
• 0:42
  They played a great game against Georgia after, you know, they
• 0:45
  lost to Georgia early in the year, earlier in the year and
• 0:48
  and came back, got that revenge. I mean they've lost one game and
• 0:53
  they led for 3/4 in that game and then blew it in the 4th and
• 0:57
  that was Georgia and then they ended up getting a revenge on
• 1:00
  them last week. I mean, I didn't like all these
• 1:03
  games and now we've seen it teams with the buyer one and
• 1:07
  seven overall. Indiana's the only team that's
• 1:10
  one after getting a buy and we'll get into in their game
• 1:13
  more. But even them on their first Dr.
• 1:16
  Mendoza gets sacked twice. They go 3 and out.
• 1:19
  They kind of were able to get in the rhythm after that, but I
• 1:23
  didn't think Georgia played terrible in this game.
• 1:25
  No, it it was this game was definitely the game of of the
• 1:29
  quarterfinals. I mean it was back and forth.
• 1:31
  It was close pretty much the whole way.
• 1:33
  You know, Georgia kicks the field goal with less than a
• 1:35
  minute to play to tie it and Ole Miss goes right down the field
• 1:38
  and and kicks that game winner with six seconds left.
• 1:40
  So you know, it was by far the the the best game of the four.
• 1:45
  And you know, you, you talked about it with the, the teams on
• 1:48
  byes being 1:00 and 7:00. And we mentioned like, is it a
• 1:50
  disadvantage not playing for a month?
• 1:54
  Only these teams that are, they're coming off, you know, a
• 1:56
  game from the week before, the week 10 days before are back in,
• 2:01
  in game shape. And you know, you take that
• 2:02
  month off and it's like almost like you're starting a season
• 2:05
  over. Yeah, I mean, but I don't think
• 2:08
  that played that much of A role in this game because it's I
• 2:12
  don't I didn't think Georgia came out and and played poorly.
• 2:15
  I mean, they they built a lead and really looked like they were
• 2:19
  in control. And, you know, but the best
• 2:25
  player on the football field to me was was Trinidad Chambliss.
• 2:29
  And when they were able to, you know, get pressure on him, he
• 2:33
  was able to make those Superman hero plays to keep Ole Miss and
• 2:36
  drives. I mean he's running back to the
• 2:38
  5 yard. Line almost into his own end
• 2:40
  zone. He not ran into his own end zone
• 2:42
  and came out of it. And I mean, it helps when you've
• 2:45
  got the best player and on whatever day that was New
• 2:49
  Year's, New Year's Day, he he was the best player.
• 2:52
  And I think that he was the reason why they were able to
• 2:54
  come out victorious. I don't think it was because
• 2:56
  George was on a by and was kind of sleepwalking.
• 2:59
  I don't I don't think that was the case.
• 3:00
  That's been the case in some of these games.
• 3:02
  Yeah. And I don't think that was the
• 3:04
  case in that. Game, I don't think in this game
• 3:05
  it was either. I mean, like you said, Trinidad
• 3:07
  Chamas was the best player on the field and he threw for 362
• 3:10
  yards and two touchdowns. I guess the pretty good George
• 3:13
  defense Hey, yeah, I mean Ole Miss, Ole Miss won it for a
• 3:17
  little bit of that game. George.
• 3:18
  I used to Georgia was in controller up 9, but Ole Miss
• 3:21
  was just the better team that day.
• 3:23
  And which to me is just kind of surprising.
• 3:25
  Like I said, with all the the stuff that went off or swing
• 3:27
  around after their last game in the Egg Bowl and Lane Kiffin
• 3:31
  leaving and who's coaching and, and all that.
• 3:33
  So credit to that coaching staff to get these guys focused and
• 3:37
  have a game plan together to to beat Georgia.
• 3:39
  Yeah. And and then on the other side,
• 3:40
  I mean, I don't think either one of us obviously didn't see this
• 3:43
  one coming as well as Miami's defense continues to play to
• 3:48
  play lights out in the playoff. They're not doing a ton
• 3:51
  offensively, but they haven't had to in the first two games.
• 3:54
  And I do think maybe the BI affected Ohio State a little bit
• 4:00
  potentially. I don't think they played as
• 4:03
  smooth as game as as I said, like I don't think it affected
• 4:05
  Georgia. I think maybe it did affect Ohio
• 4:08
  State, but I mean, Miami and their two games have rushed for
• 4:12
  330 yards. So it's a lot of people are
• 4:18
  comparing this Miami team to Ohio State, who made the run
• 4:22
  through four games and won it all last year.
• 4:24
  Yeah, I mean, the story is Miami's defense, obviously,
• 4:28
  especially their defensive line, probably the best in the country
• 4:30
  with Ruben Bayne leading the way there.
• 4:32
  And you know, they showed it once again against against Ohio
• 4:35
  State, They had that defensive touchdown, which really kind of
• 4:37
  set the tone when they're up 7 nothing to put them up two
• 4:39
  scores. Yeah.
• 4:42
  I mean, Mark Fletcher's a beast. They they dominated pretty much
• 4:46
  that they they were in control that whole game against Ohio
• 4:48
  State. And you look at Ohio State, it's
• 4:50
  it's did we over overestimate them?
• 4:53
  Like did they you know, that the three games where they played
• 4:56
  their quality team or they're the top three teams that they
• 4:59
  played all season, They put up low scoring number that what
• 5:03
  they had ten against IU or something like that.
• 5:05
  And against Texas, they put up a 13 and then 14 here against OH,
• 5:09
  Miami. So, you know, when when the
• 5:11
  competition gets tougher, Ohio State just doesn't seem to put
• 5:14
  up very impressive offensive numbers.
• 5:17
  Well, I mean, I, I think it's kind of what you see in college
• 5:20
  football. You don't get to play everybody.
• 5:21
  You're kind of stuck in playing your conference.
• 5:22
  You get one or two non conference games and then
• 5:25
  sometimes you get situations like this.
• 5:28
  But now we've got Miami and on this who, who are you leaning
• 5:33
  towards to to go to the ship? That's a tough one, man.
• 5:37
  That's a tough one. And if I had to pick a team that
• 5:42
  I would probably say, I mean, I keep going against the Canes,
• 5:45
  but I'm probably going to say Ole Miss would be my my favorite
• 5:50
  to win that. Like I said, they've only lost
• 5:51
  one game all year. They've been challenged.
• 5:54
  They played in the SEC. So they've been challenged
• 5:56
  against some good teams, mainly Georgia twice and some other
• 6:01
  good ones in Miami. You know, we keep on, I keep
• 6:04
  underestimating them. I mean, with that defense, I
• 6:06
  wouldn't be surprised if they won, but I just think Ole Miss
• 6:11
  might be just a little bit better.
• 6:13
  I don't know. Well, I I think whoever wins
• 6:16
  this game is going to have to score 20 points at least.
• 6:19
  Yeah. And who do I have more
• 6:21
  confidence in doing that? I don't know.
• 6:23
  Like we've talked about how good Miami's been rushing the
• 6:26
  football and that's what they want to do.
• 6:28
  They don't want to. They want Carson back to just
• 6:30
  kind of control the game, don't make mistakes and rely on that
• 6:33
  running game. Like I said, they have 330
• 6:35
  rushing yards in their first two games.
• 6:37
  Ole Miss has given up 150 yards per game throughout the entire
• 6:41
  year. So that lends to think that
• 6:44
  maybe Miami can have success running the ball.
• 6:47
  They still got to get to that 20 point mark.
• 6:49
  I think who wins that game to me when it comes down is because
• 6:54
  Miami's going to get pressure with their front four.
• 6:56
  They don't have to blitz. They're going to bring that
• 6:58
  front 4. They're going to get pressure on
• 7:00
  Chambliss. Can he make plays like he did
• 7:03
  against Georgia where he's out of pocket?
• 7:06
  Because if he starts running around and making those lineman
• 7:08
  run all over the place and wears him out a little bit, maybe that
• 7:11
  plays in the favor of Ole Miss. I, I think it's a tough game.
• 7:15
  I thought you were going to go to Miami.
• 7:17
  I really did. And I was going to go on this
• 7:19
  because I just, to me, Trinidad Chambliss is the best player on
• 7:22
  the field at this point. And that makes me want to lean
• 7:26
  Ole Miss. I didn't go on this last week
• 7:27
  because of all the coaching staff stuff.
• 7:29
  And now there's more changes. Some of them are driving or
• 7:32
  flying back and forth between Oxford and Baton Rouge.
• 7:35
  That's. True, I I This is why I had it
• 7:38
  as the least likely upset last week.
• 7:40
  Yeah. And or and now I'm kind of
• 7:44
  flipping to where I don't think it matters.
• 7:46
  I just want to roll the momentum and see them go all the way
• 7:51
  without lane given. Yeah, it's, I think it's going
• 7:54
  to be a close game, I think, and I think you're right.
• 7:56
  It's, you know, you score the 20 points, you're probably going to
• 7:58
  win. I think Ole Miss wins if they
• 8:00
  don't make mistakes and turn the ball over.
• 8:02
  So they don't turn the ball over.
• 8:03
  I think their offense is good enough to get to that 20 point
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  mark. I get even though Miami's
• 8:08
  defenses is top, you know, 10 in the nation or top whatever they
• 8:11
  are in the nation. I mean, you look at Ole misses
• 8:13
  offensive outputs in the last. I mean they haven't scored less
• 8:16
  than 30 points since October 11th when they scored 24 against
• 8:20
  Washington State. But ever since then they put up
• 8:22
  over 30 and even into the 40s. So their offense I think is good
• 8:26
  enough to get to 20 points against Miami.
• 8:28
  As long as they don't turn the ball over, I think Ole Miss
• 8:30
  probably does win. It's definitely a game where
• 8:32
  it's a tale of two strengths. It's my Ole Miss's offense
• 8:34
  against Miami's defense. If Miami is able to get a lead
• 8:38
  early by running the football and then then may I, I think it
• 8:43
  definitely leans in favor of the Hurricanes.
• 8:45
  This is not a game that they want to get behind.
• 8:47
  And no, no, they they won't. They won't.
• 8:49
  Yeah, they won't win. Play it from when when you need
• 8:52
  Carson Beck to come from behind. If they get up 10 O early, I
• 8:55
  mean, I know we saw George, our oldest, come back against
• 8:58
  Georgia. I think, I think Miami's defense
• 9:01
  is, is a little better than George's.
• 9:03
  Can they do it two games in a row against a better defense?
• 9:06
  I don't know, but I I'm surprised you're going on this.
• 9:10
  I'm going on this as well. Yeah.
• 9:12
  I mean, it wouldn't shock me if we went the other way either.
• 9:16
  I think it'll be close. Nothing's going to shock you at
• 9:18
  this point. No, it's true.
• 9:20
  And look, here's the thing. Like either way, we get to see
• 9:23
  Pete Golden take Ole Miss to the championship.
• 9:27
  Without. Half the coaching staff or we
• 9:30
  get to see Miami play for a championship in their home
• 9:33
  stadium and they're the last team that got in and now they
• 9:38
  have a chance to to play for a title and potentially their home
• 9:41
  stadium. Yeah, that would be good.
• 9:43
  Yeah. Well, to get to the Peach Bell,
• 9:45
  just I guess First off your thoughts on you already kind of
• 9:49
  touched on a little bit, but your thoughts on Indiana is just
• 9:53
  putting it on the Crimson Tide. I mean, it was a dominating
• 9:56
  performance. I mean, I mean, 38 to three, I
• 10:00
  didn't, I did not see that coming.
• 10:01
  I thought IU would win, but I thought that it would be maybe
• 10:04
  A1 score game. But I mean, it was just dominate
• 10:08
  the IU defense. Absolutely outstanding offense.
• 10:12
  Also great. You know, Mendoza didn't have to
• 10:14
  do too much, but what he did, he was almost perfect.
• 10:18
  He was 14 of 16 for 192 yards and three touchdowns.
• 10:22
  And then on the ground they ran for 215 yards.
• 10:25
  So offensively, A+. Defensively holding Alabama to
• 10:30
  three points, A+. And I know Simpson went out with
• 10:34
  an injury. Was that right after halftime?
• 10:37
  So at that point the game was pretty much over anyway.
• 10:40
  Yeah. So I don't really think that
• 10:41
  they were going to come back, but dominating performance on
• 10:44
  both sides of the ball for Indiana I.
• 10:46
  Mean it kind of looked like what Alabama used to be right yeah I
• 10:51
  mean just fundamentally sound not missing tackles like they
• 10:58
  just do everything perfect like it really like they just execute
• 11:04
  everything. Oh they don't miss tackles in
• 11:07
  the open field every play they run I feel like they run it to
• 11:11
  perfection. It's just I didn't think like
• 11:16
  everybody was talking about that's that's one of the few
• 11:18
  things I think we got. I got right is I didn't think
• 11:21
  Alabama was going to be in Indiana and you waver on a
• 11:25
  little bit just because once had you see Indiana and you see the
• 11:28
  name Alabama and it makes you waver.
• 11:30
  I mean, that's really what it what it was, yeah.
• 11:33
  But what we've seen all year long is Indiana, if they play an
• 11:37
  inferior team, they put it on and I don't care if this team is
• 11:41
  Alabama, they still were an inferior team and they put it on
• 11:45
  them. I mean Indiana is the clear cut
• 11:49
  best team in the country and they if they play 2 games as
• 11:56
  well as they can and should play, they'll win a title.
• 12:01
  Yeah, I mean, I'm, I'm a little worried about the game coming
• 12:05
  up. I know they've already beat
• 12:06
  Oregon once and we'll get into it, but I, I think Oregon's the
• 12:10
  best team, the left. I mean, if they get through
• 12:12
  Oregon, I think they win the title.
• 12:14
  Well, I, I guess we'll go ahead and switch over to to Oregon,
• 12:18
  who? I mean, we talked about Texas
• 12:21
  Tech's defense, yeah, and being one of the best in the country.
• 12:25
  But offensively, they had moved the ball all year and they don't
• 12:32
  get a point against this Oregon defense, who obviously played
• 12:37
  their best game defensively that they had played all season, just
• 12:40
  needed 23 points to win. And now, I mean, there really
• 12:45
  isn't a lot to dive into that game.
• 12:47
  It was just a dominating performance by Oregon.
• 12:50
  Yeah. I mean, do you have anything to
• 12:51
  add? No, I mean, you shut out Texas
• 12:54
  Tech. Yeah.
• 12:55
  Like you said, only 23 points to win and you still win by 23 at
• 12:57
  the minutes. That's pretty good.
• 12:59
  You know, the Oregon offense against, like we said, that
• 13:01
  Texas Tech defense was was their strength all season.
• 13:04
  It you know, Oregon still put up, you know, 390 yards on them,
• 13:08
  245 passing, only 64 on the ground.
• 13:10
  But they really didn't need to do much to to win.
• 13:14
  So no. And for all everybody's
• 13:16
  questioning their defense after James Madison in the second-half
• 13:19
  was kind of having their way, they they put they put those
• 13:22
  questions to bed real quick. And I mean 4.
• 13:25
  Turnovers, 4 turnovers by Texas Tech really kind of did them.
• 13:27
  And I think there was one pick in the end zone in that game as
• 13:31
  well. And so, yeah.
• 13:32
  But really just a a clear cut dominating performance by both
• 13:35
  of these teams. And, and now we do get a rematch
• 13:39
  in the Peach Bowl. I mean, do you say any way that
• 13:43
  the result is different this time?
• 13:45
  I can see it, Yeah. I mean, that was it.
• 13:47
  The the the game in Eugene was was a close one.
• 13:50
  I mean, IU didn't win it until late.
• 13:53
  And when they had that interception to kind of seal it,
• 13:55
  they only won by what was it like 3, I believe and find that
• 13:58
  score. No, they ended up winning by 10,
• 14:01
  but they put it away late. But that game was close almost
• 14:03
  the entire way. It was 20 to 20 in the fourth
• 14:07
  quarter. So, you know, Oregon was right
• 14:10
  there with them. I know that was at home.
• 14:12
  So it makes it more impressive that IU went into Eugene and
• 14:14
  won. I can see the result being
• 14:16
  different. I don't think it will be
• 14:17
  different, but Oregon's a really, really good football
• 14:22
  team. Like I said, I think they're
• 14:22
  probably the second best team left in this playoff.
• 14:25
  So if I you can get through it, I think they they probably take
• 14:28
  the whole thing. I mean, for the rankings, yeah,
• 14:31
  they are. I mean, I think talent wise, I
• 14:34
  think overall they are like you just use the eye test.
• 14:37
  I think they are. Going into the Tech game, the,
• 14:40
  the one thing that I said about Oregon is their offense has not
• 14:44
  been that great when they're playing top level defenses.
• 14:48
  They, they didn't score a ton of points against Indiana.
• 14:50
  They didn't score a ton of points against Iowa.
• 14:53
  And you know, I mean, they scored 23 against Texas Tech,
• 14:56
  but that's, I mean, and they really didn't need to put a ton
• 14:59
  of points up. So I, I can't, I think you can
• 15:01
  kind of push that one aside. But Dante Moore threw for less
• 15:06
  than 200 yards the last time out through 2 picks, was sacked 6
• 15:10
  times. Yeah, but Oregon has now seen
• 15:13
  Indiana's. Defense, I was like to say
• 15:15
  you've probably have learned from that like you, you know
• 15:17
  what Indiana can do and you've seen it first hand.
• 15:20
  So now you make those adjustments and you know Dante
• 15:23
  Moore's one of the top quarterbacks expected to go in
• 15:25
  the draft. Like if it's not Mendoza one, it
• 15:27
  would be him at 1. So you know it's.
• 15:29
  A little bit on the other side, who is trying to get a six year
• 15:32
  come back to Ole Miss, but these are three of the best
• 15:34
  quarterbacks in the country. So like Moore's got the talent
• 15:37
  to improve on 186 yards and two touchdowns.
• 15:39
  Like I would be shocked if he puts up better numbers than
• 15:42
  that. But like you said, like you've
• 15:44
  seen this defense, once you're you're you know what you're
• 15:47
  getting yourself into, you make the adjustments.
• 15:50
  And Will Stein is who's still the offensive coordinator there
• 15:54
  before he goes to Kentucky is 1 is regarded as one of the best
• 15:57
  offensive minds in college football.
• 15:58
  So I think he he makes the adjustments necessary.
• 16:02
  And I would expect Oregon's offense to perform better than
• 16:04
  what they did. Yeah, we'll see.
• 16:06
  We'll see. And you got to try to get, they
• 16:09
  got their defenses got to get some pressure on Mendoza.
• 16:13
  You know, the one thing that he does sometimes is take sacks.
• 16:16
  So they they got to try to make that happen.
• 16:18
  But I I just, there's there's nothing.
• 16:21
  There's no way that I can bet against Indiana.
• 16:24
  No, I wouldn't. I would not either.
• 16:25
  I, I mean, if I think Indiana wins and I expect it to be a
• 16:29
  largely pro Indiana crowd down in Atlanta because it's not too
• 16:33
  far from from Indianapolis and in the heart of Indiana.
• 16:36
  So I mean, it is a drivable trip.
• 16:38
  It's not for the other guys. It is not for not for Oregon.
• 16:42
  So I would expect it to be a pro huge pro Indiana crowd, which
• 16:46
  plays into the Hoosiers favor. And like it's, I think they
• 16:49
  ultimately they do win, but I think it will still be a pretty
• 16:52
  good game. One thing we didn't touch on was
• 16:55
  the offensive line and what Pat Coogan.
• 16:59
  What winning the the Rose Bowl MVP?
• 17:02
  Yeah. I mean, they did give up two
• 17:04
  sacks on the first drive, so I was kind of surprised by that.
• 17:07
  Well. After that.
• 17:07
  They were, yeah, they were lights out.
• 17:10
  After that. And look, we're talking about
• 17:12
  the BI not being ready. They weren't ready for three
• 17:14
  plays. Yeah.
• 17:15
  And then it was, it was like, all right, let's go.
• 17:19
  Yeah. But do you really, whoever wins
• 17:21
  this game you think wins it all? Yes.
• 17:23
  So I'm not so sure on that. Do you think Ole Miss could beat
• 17:25
  one of these teams? Because you have Ole Miss
• 17:26
  beating Miami. So you think?
• 17:28
  I think I think Ole Miss or Miami could can beat Oregon.
• 17:32
  Could they beat Indiana? OK.
• 17:34
  I mean anything can happen, but if they both teams play their
• 17:37
  best games, no? Indiana's a national champion
• 17:40
  football team would be unbelievable.
• 17:42
  I mean, we've talked about it. Blows my mind.
• 17:44
  There's there's nothing, there's nothing comparable about it in
• 17:49
  in college athletics and athletics and athletics maybe
• 17:52
  ever.