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The Midseason Reckoning: Who's For Real in College Football? · The Philadelphia Sports Table | Philly Sports News & Views

• 0:28
  Speaker 1: Welcome to Table Talk here at the Philadelphia Sports Table
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: Podcast Show, the longest running weekly Philly sports podcast show
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: in the world. Over 13 and a half years strong,
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: we got another great discussion coming your way on Table
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: Talk as we do every week. And this week we're
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: going to be diving into the college football season as
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: we are here in mid-October. Lots of teams doing some
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: interesting stuff, other teams not doing some interesting stuff. So
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: we're going to be getting into it. Joining us this week,
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: our good friend, From SB Nation. Been a while since
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: he's been on, but it is glad to.
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: See his face.
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: If you're watching on YouTube, you'll be hearing his voice
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: on audio platforms as well. Mr.
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: Mark Schofield, my friend. Thanks so much for taking the
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: time here, man.
• 1:07
  Speaker 3: Jeff, it is fantastic to be back. And we're doing
• 1:09
  Speaker 3: this at an absolutely perfect time, I think. We're coming off. Obviously,
• 1:14
  Speaker 3: you know, Texas loses in Red River, which is fascinating.
• 1:16
  Speaker 3: We've got third Saturday in October coming up, so we've
• 1:19
  Speaker 3: got Alabama, Tennessee. We've got some fantastic games coming up
• 1:21
  Speaker 3: this week. So lots to talk about, lots to dive in.
• 1:24
  Speaker 3: It's just great to see you again, my friend.
• 1:25
  Speaker 2: Good to see you. Yes, doing very well.
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: And look, look, the world of Philly sports, not necessarily
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: all that well right now, quite frankly, which is great
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: to be able to dive into some college football, my
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: Penn State football. A team not doing all that well either,
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: but college football is certainly interesting this season for sure.
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: And the big storyline coming off this week within the
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: college football ranks has been, did Alabama actually get jobbed
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: by the refs? And frankly, Mark, I mean, this is
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: a theme that we hear all the time when it
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: comes to officiating in the game of football. Georgia benefited,
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: of course, big time by a huge missed call, and
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: they are now number one in the nation. And when
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: I reflect on football week to week, whether it is
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: high school football that I watch every week locally here
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: or whether.
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: It is at the NFL level. Um, this game is
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: faster than ever before.
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: And sometimes yes, referees and offici officials miss calls. What
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: are your thoughts here on refs that sometimes miss it,
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: miss calls, even determining the outcome of games that really matter.
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: We saw it in the big 10 with, uh, Oregon
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: and UCLA this past week as well. Big 10 admitted that, uh,
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: you know, that there was some officiating that messed up
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: that gave UCLA the, the win. And we're going to
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: talk about UCLA in a bit, but, uh, What are
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: your thoughts here on this with refs that are sometimes
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: determining the outcome of games in moments like we saw
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: with Alabama and Georgia from this past weekend?
• 2:56
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, there's a lot there to sort of
• 2:58
  Speaker 3: dive into. It's been a year of this, right? I mean,
• 3:02
  Speaker 3: Western Michigan, Michigan, you know, to start the year with
• 3:05
  Speaker 3: Hail Mary and the one second put back on, you know,
• 3:08
  Speaker 3: we had some other calls. we've had calls in the NFL,
• 3:11
  Speaker 3: I mean, Seattle, San Francisco, that final play fourth down
• 3:14
  Speaker 3: Cooper cup. There was a lot of questions about that call.
• 3:17
  Speaker 3: And you know, you would think that in this era
• 3:20
  Speaker 3: where we can put cameras, wherever we want, we have
• 3:23
  Speaker 3: sky cams, we'd have drones, we have pylon cams. You'd
• 3:26
  Speaker 3: be able to, to, to fix all of this stuff.
• 3:29
  Speaker 3: But I also think that look part of the beauty,
• 3:32
  Speaker 3: at least of sports is the chaos are the mistakes. It's, Look,
• 3:38
  Speaker 3: I love the NFL. I think it's fantastic. I enjoy
• 3:41
  Speaker 3: college football more because the players make mistakes. The coaches
• 3:44
  Speaker 3: make mistakes. The officials make mistakes. And it adds that
• 3:46
  Speaker 3: little sort of chaotic element. And for Alabama, yeah, you know,
• 3:51
  Speaker 3: that interception, watching it live, watching the replays, I thought
• 3:53
  Speaker 3: it was an interception. Certainly the pass interference, no call.
• 3:56
  Speaker 3: That was a bad call. You get a personal foul to, like,
• 3:59
  Speaker 3: give Georgia the game. You can't make mistakes like that.
• 4:02
  Speaker 3: That certainly wasn't the referee's fault, that player in particular. Yeah.
• 4:06
  Speaker 3: Alabama knows that, like, look, you lose this game second
• 4:08
  Speaker 3: Saturday in October, you've got the rest of your SEC schedule.
• 4:12
  Speaker 3: Maybe you get an SEC title game rematch against Georgia. Like,
• 4:16
  Speaker 3: because of the playoff, because of this extended season, mistakes
• 4:20
  Speaker 3: at this point in the year by officials don't matter
• 4:23
  Speaker 3: as much to a team like, say, Alabama. It might
• 4:26
  Speaker 3: matter to a team like Western Michigan that now has
• 4:28
  Speaker 3: a loss. And, you know, when you're one of these
• 4:29
  Speaker 3: fringe teams, it's a lot tougher for you. But I
• 4:33
  Speaker 3: don't think we want to get to a point where–
• 4:35
  Speaker 3: you know, we're in the middle of the NLCS, ALCS
• 4:38
  Speaker 3: starts tonight. We're recording this on Monday. You know, I
• 4:40
  Speaker 3: don't think we want like robot arms or anything like that.
• 4:43
  Speaker 3: There's that sort of uncertain chaos element that I think
• 4:47
  Speaker 3: helps make sports what we love. And does it stink
• 4:53
  Speaker 3: if you're an Alabama fan? Did you sleep Saturday night?
• 4:56
  Speaker 3: Probably not. But look, you get Tennessee this weekend. You
• 4:58
  Speaker 3: get a lot of opportunities over the rest of your
• 5:00
  Speaker 3: schedule to make things right on the field. And you know,
• 5:03
  Speaker 3: the good teams will do that. And now we'll get
• 5:04
  Speaker 3: to see if Alabama pounces back big game against Tennessee.
• 5:08
  Speaker 3: I think it's part of that sort of uncertain chaotic
• 5:10
  Speaker 3: element about sports that we just have grown to love,
• 5:13
  Speaker 3: even though it can be frustrating for you one week,
• 5:16
  Speaker 3: maybe next week, Alabama gets the calls. That's just the
• 5:18
  Speaker 3: way this game goes. This sport goes.
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: It's the human element. It's the human element. And that's
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: what does make sports interesting. As you're saying, Mark completely
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: agree with you for sure. But you know, every, every
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: now and then We see college teams and programs take
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: that next step, take that next leap. And we've certainly
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: been seeing that with a number of programs over the years.
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: Some programs stick around and are relevant for years and
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: even decades to come. Others pop onto the scene and
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: then end up fading away. And I wonder which direction
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: teams like and organizations like Indiana will go in terms
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: of this regard here, you know, I'm wondering, you know,
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: why has Indiana a do nothing football program for decades? Now,
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: all of a sudden they are basically a powerhouse in
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: the big 10 and college football overall.
• 6:08
  Speaker 2: What are your thoughts here?
• 6:09
  Speaker 3: It starts with Kirk Sinetti. I mean, you know, like
• 6:13
  Speaker 3: you said, when he was hired, like he wins, Google him.
• 6:16
  Speaker 3: And he's true. Like everywhere he's gone, every stop he's
• 6:18
  Speaker 3: made along the coaching tree. Like he he's won. He's
• 6:21
  Speaker 3: turned programs around. He's made programs that were good. Great.
• 6:24
  Speaker 3: He's made programs that were great, phenomenal. He's made programs
• 6:26
  Speaker 3: that were bad, phenomenal. He turned Indiana into a national champion.
• 6:30
  Speaker 3: And that's sort of where it starts. I think there's
• 6:33
  Speaker 3: a couple of things that he has done extremely well.
• 6:36
  Speaker 3: A lot of what he's getting credit for, right? Like
• 6:39
  Speaker 3: the portal and NIL, like he's got a lot of
• 6:41
  Speaker 3: credit for that. Like, yes, they've spent money, but everybody's
• 6:43
  Speaker 3: spending money. They've identify players in the portal. Maybe they're
• 6:47
  Speaker 3: the players you brought with them from jam. You players
• 6:49
  Speaker 3: from other smaller programs to Britain, to buy into the culture,
• 6:53
  Speaker 3: to do things the right way. You look at the
• 6:55
  Speaker 3: quarterbacks that he's brought in Curtis work to Mendoza. Now,
• 6:58
  Speaker 3: Josh Hoover, who, you know, I remember all summer long
• 7:02
  Speaker 3: and every college football preview piece I wrote, it was
• 7:06
  Speaker 3: Hoover needs to cut down turnovers needs to cut down turnovers. Well,
• 7:08
  Speaker 3: he certainly cut them down since taking over at Indiana.
• 7:12
  Speaker 3: So I think, look, he's done things the right way. He's,
• 7:15
  Speaker 3: identify players in the portal and gut them in, players
• 7:17
  Speaker 3: that fit, players that will buy in. But I think
• 7:20
  Speaker 3: another thing that he doesn't get as much credit for,
• 7:22
  Speaker 3: and I think he should, is retaining the coaches around him.
• 7:27
  Speaker 3: I mean, you look at two of his longest running assistants.
• 7:29
  Speaker 3: You've got Brian Haynes, defensive coordinator, Mike Shanahan, the offensive coordinator.
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  Speaker 3: These are two coaches that have been with him since IUP,
• 7:38
  Speaker 3: like all the way through. And look, they're both coming
• 7:42
  Speaker 3: off a title of their own. They're both coming off
• 7:43
  Speaker 3: a national championship of their own. You would think offensive
• 7:45
  Speaker 3: and defense coordinators would get looks as head coaches. They're
• 7:48
  Speaker 3: still on the sideline alongside them. That brain drain that
• 7:51
  Speaker 3: sometimes weakens other programs, right? You think about the saving
• 7:55
  Speaker 3: coach in Tree and Kirby Smart's coach in Tree. You've
• 7:59
  Speaker 3: got Lanning now in Oregon, for example. You lose the
• 8:03
  Speaker 3: coaches around you, and sometimes that can be a problem.
• 8:07
  Speaker 3: He hasn't had that yet because he's been loyal to
• 8:10
  Speaker 3: he's rewarded them. He's retained them. And I think that's
• 8:14
  Speaker 3: another element that maybe doesn't get talked about as much
• 8:16
  Speaker 3: as the NIL stuff, the, you know, players that you've
• 8:19
  Speaker 3: brought in through the portal, but that's a huge reason
• 8:21
  Speaker 3: why I think Indiana is still successful. And so I
• 8:24
  Speaker 3: think this continues. Now, if you start seeing, you know,
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  Speaker 3: Haynes leave Shanahan leave, maybe they start to falter a
• 8:31
  Speaker 3: little bit, but the nucleus of power right now in
• 8:34
  Speaker 3: the college game seems to be the big 10 and
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  Speaker 3: Indiana is right in the middle of it.
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  Speaker 2: Absolutely.
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  Speaker 1: And it, It's a great segue to in terms of
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: the Big Ten and what we are seeing this year.
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  Speaker 1: I mean, there's only two undefeated teams in this conference,
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  Speaker 1: Indiana being one.
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  Speaker 2: And also UCLA.
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  Speaker 1: Two years ago, Mark, I swear to God, I never
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: thought I'd hear myself say that phrase, that Indiana and
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: UCLA are the two undefeated teams in the Big Ten
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: here in mid-October, even though they haven't been a dominant
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: football team this season.
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  Speaker 2: And I'm talking about UCLA.
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  Speaker 1: Do you think UCLA is for real and possibly becoming
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: one Just a really good football team and a really
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: good football program that's kind of flying under the radar.
• 9:22
  Speaker 3: I think so. I mean, look, you go in to
• 9:25
  Speaker 3: Austin and you beat Oregon in their house. That's a
• 9:29
  Speaker 3: statement win. That's a win that can propel you into
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  Speaker 3: the national conversation. Let's think about the team we just
• 9:34
  Speaker 3: got done talking about, right? Indiana. What did they do
• 9:36
  Speaker 3: last year to sort of get themselves on the map?
• 9:39
  Speaker 3: They went into Oregon and won. That's a tough place
• 9:42
  Speaker 3: to play. And going into that game, look, you have
• 9:45
  Speaker 3: wins against California, Purdue, you blow out Maryland, like doesn't
• 9:49
  Speaker 3: really move the needle. Right. Beat an Oregon in their place.
• 9:53
  Speaker 3: That's a big win. And I know people might say, well, look,
• 9:55
  Speaker 3: they were without Dante Moore. We're talking about Dylan Rayola,
• 9:58
  Speaker 3: who's one. who was a QB one in his class.
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 10:02
  Speaker 2: Not too shabby.
• 10:03
  Speaker 3: Originally committed to Georgia, then went to Nebraska. Like he's
• 10:06
  Speaker 3: somebody that, look, I am a Nebraska fan by marriage,
• 10:10
  Speaker 3: watched him in person last year. And when they came
• 10:13
  Speaker 3: to Maryland, like he's a very good, talented player. they
• 10:16
  Speaker 3: dismantled that offense. He was benched in the second half force.
• 10:21
  Speaker 3: What seven total turnovers in that game. Like this defense
• 10:25
  Speaker 3: is phenomenal. They are fifth in the nation and third
• 10:28
  Speaker 3: down percentage, you know, teams are completed converted third downs
• 10:31
  Speaker 3: of like 26% of the time against them. That's a
• 10:33
  Speaker 3: phenomenal number. They are 10th in defensive passing efficiency. This
• 10:37
  Speaker 3: is a very good defense. Oregon converted just one third
• 10:39
  Speaker 3: or fourth down opportunity in that game on Saturday. This
• 10:42
  Speaker 3: is a team that is right now for real. And
• 10:45
  Speaker 3: let's look ahead, right? They don't really play anybody the
• 10:49
  Speaker 3: rest of the way until USC at the end of
• 10:50
  Speaker 3: the regular season. Wisconsin, who's been a little bit feisty, obviously,
• 10:54
  Speaker 3: they've got some wins under their belt. Michigan State's not
• 10:56
  Speaker 3: scared of anybody. Nevada's not scared of anybody. Minnesota, yeah,
• 10:59
  Speaker 3: you know, they won the jug. They beat Michigan, but
• 11:02
  Speaker 3: that doesn't really move their needle, right? Illinois, Michigan, they
• 11:06
  Speaker 3: could be undefeated by the time that USC-UCLA game rolls around,
• 11:11
  Speaker 3: you know, which is around Thanksgiving time. Like, We could
• 11:15
  Speaker 3: be talking about a team that is because of the
• 11:18
  Speaker 3: SEC beating up on each other. Indiana, Ohio State, they
• 11:21
  Speaker 3: play each other this week. Like one of those teams,
• 11:23
  Speaker 3: either Indiana loses their first game or Ohio State has
• 11:26
  Speaker 3: two losses here in mid-October. UCLA could be a top
• 11:30
  Speaker 3: five team because everybody else has these tougher schedules by
• 11:33
  Speaker 3: the time we get to that regular season finale.
• 11:34
  Speaker 2: It's going to be incredible to watch for sure.
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: Again, folks, we're talking to Mark Schofield from SB Nation.
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: Head on over to SBNation.com. So much good sports content there.
• 11:44
  Speaker 2: Over there.
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: And I know while Mark really hones in on F1
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: as well, he's certainly in tune with the college football
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: season and the NFL season as well. Mark, before we
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: go to break real quick, tell everybody where they can
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: find you online if they want to connect with you.
• 11:58
  Speaker 3: Well, like you said, the best way is through SB
• 12:00
  Speaker 3: Nation and the best way is our brand new SB
• 12:03
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• 12:05
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  Speaker 3: I love it. Like the thing I love about it
• 12:10
  Speaker 3: is discovering sports teams, communities that like, we're kind of
• 12:13
  Speaker 3: flowing under my radar. Like I do a lot of
• 12:16
  Speaker 3: stuff on our feed for Oklahoma, Oklahoma state, the Washington capitals,
• 12:21
  Speaker 3: like go to the SB nation app. I absolutely love it.
• 12:23
  Speaker 3: Download it today. And if you look, if you're an
• 12:26
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• 12:28
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• 12:30
  Speaker 3: at the United States Grand Prix here and it's coming
• 12:32
  Speaker 3: up in a week or so. Um, you can follow
• 12:34
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• 12:36
  Speaker 3: I'll be track side. It'll be a lot of fun.
• 12:37
  Speaker 3: So go ahead, download it today. SB nation, the app.
• 12:40
  Speaker 3: It's a ton of fun. Please, please, please check it out.
• 12:43
  Speaker 2: All right. Very good.
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: Yeah. It is a great app too. Very concise, very
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: concise when you're scrolling through and it.
• 12:48
  Speaker 3: Works so well.
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 12:50
  Speaker 3: Like the game chats too, like that we have, like
• 12:52
  Speaker 3: they're so quick. Like we've got them for races. We've
• 12:54
  Speaker 3: got them for, you know, football games, hockey games, baseball games.
• 12:58
  Speaker 3: We've got the wide game chats for like primetime games
• 13:00
  Speaker 3: in the NFL. it's a ton of fun. I've loved it.
• 13:02
  Speaker 3: So I hope people love it too. And I'm glad
• 13:04
  Speaker 3: to hear that you love it.
• 13:05
  Speaker 2: Absolutely.
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: All right, folks, we're going to take a break. And
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: when we get back more college football talk coming your way.
• 13:12
  Speaker 3: All right.
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: We are back with our buddy, Mark Schofield.
• 13:14
  Speaker 2: Let me fix that right there on the, on YouTube.
• 13:18
  Speaker 2: And as we're moving along with.
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: The discussion with college football here, you know, a lot
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: of us are already looking for, and Mark, you and
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: I have talked so many times over the years about the,
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: college football talent, translating over to the NFL. A lot
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: of us are already looking at the 2027 NFL draft,
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: trying to assess what college talent gets drafted, where, with
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: what teams. But as we know all the time, all
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: eyes are on the quarterback position. We're looking at talent
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: like Arch Manning, like Dante Moore, who you had mentioned earlier.
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: And Look, the reality is some of these quarterbacks have
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: cooled off a bit recently on the field. And I
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: do wonder, especially with Texas losing their number one spot
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: overall in the nation, does this really do anything to
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: the coming draft stock of Arch Manning here?
• 14:06
  Speaker 2: What are your thoughts on this storyline?
• 14:09
  Speaker 3: Yeah. Look, the fact that Texas lost that game is
• 14:17
  Speaker 3: not the reason why I think Arch Manning's draft stock
• 14:22
  Speaker 3: has taken a hit, but it's how they lost it.
• 14:25
  Speaker 3: It's how he played. And, you know, I watched that
• 14:28
  Speaker 3: entire game. One of the things I love about, you know,
• 14:31
  Speaker 3: college football and some of the coverage we get, I
• 14:34
  Speaker 3: was watching that game on the sky cam. So I'm not,
• 14:36
  Speaker 3: you know, no announcers, no piped in crowd noise or
• 14:39
  Speaker 3: anything like that. It's just natural crowd noise. You get
• 14:42
  Speaker 3: to see kind of an all 22. So you're seeing
• 14:44
  Speaker 3: plays develop, which is, I think a good way to
• 14:48
  Speaker 3: evaluate quarterbacks. Like I remember watching Oklahoma, Georgia a couple
• 14:51
  Speaker 3: of weeks ago and Gunnar Stockton made some reads and
• 14:53
  Speaker 3: some throws in that game that, you know, you see
• 14:55
  Speaker 3: it from the broadcast angle and it's like, okay, that's
• 14:57
  Speaker 3: a nice read. You see it from the sky cam
• 14:59
  Speaker 3: from behind. And it's like, wow, that, that you had
• 15:01
  Speaker 3: a corner route early in the game that like really
• 15:03
  Speaker 3: stood out to me. So you get to see from
• 15:06
  Speaker 3: that angle, what Arch is seeing and what he's doing
• 15:08
  Speaker 3: and what he's not doing. And that game, I think
• 15:11
  Speaker 3: was a microcosm of the frustration that a lot of
• 15:14
  Speaker 3: people in the sort of draft evaluation you've been already
• 15:16
  Speaker 3: have with him because you That game tie and drive, phenomenal.
• 15:19
  Speaker 3: Like that's, yeah, that's Arch Manning. That's the generational talent
• 15:23
  Speaker 3: he was built up to be. That's QB1. That's first
• 15:25
  Speaker 3: overall pick kind of stuff. The two interceptions were brutal.
• 15:29
  Speaker 3: Like that pick six was brutal. The interception late that
• 15:31
  Speaker 3: basically gave Oklahoma a chance to win that game, that
• 15:34
  Speaker 3: was brutal. And I hopped into a couple of group
• 15:36
  Speaker 3: chats right after that game to say like, okay, where
• 15:39
  Speaker 3: are we really on Arch? And some comparisons I got,
• 15:43
  Speaker 3: Paxton Lynch, Daniel Jones, Matt Schaub. Like that's where people
• 15:48
  Speaker 3: might be at right now with Archman. And now look,
• 15:52
  Speaker 3: we saw this last year, right? He had a slow start.
• 15:55
  Speaker 3: He looked really shaky against Ohio state early in the year,
• 15:58
  Speaker 3: came on down the stretch and really looked like, okay,
• 16:01
  Speaker 3: this is the quarterback we were all waiting to see.
• 16:04
  Speaker 3: So he can sort of turn it around. The talent
• 16:06
  Speaker 3: is there, but I think there's a growing concern that
• 16:09
  Speaker 3: as we all know, development, not linear, we get that.
• 16:13
  Speaker 3: But when you're still struggling in the same ways, week
• 16:17
  Speaker 3: in and week out, year in and year out, against pressure,
• 16:21
  Speaker 3: against muddied pockets, against clouded coverage looks. You want to
• 16:26
  Speaker 3: see a quarterback get better, at least marginally, in those situations.
• 16:30
  Speaker 3: And he's not yet. And the problem is some guys
• 16:35
  Speaker 3: are coming, man. Austin Simmons, Darian Mensah, Trinidad Shamless, and
• 16:39
  Speaker 3: Drew Messamaker. Those four right now are the four that
• 16:42
  Speaker 3: I'm most excited about.
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 16:44
  Speaker 3: The way they've played so far, we'll probably talk about
• 16:46
  Speaker 3: a couple of them here in a few minutes. But
• 16:48
  Speaker 3: the problem for Arch is, look, he hasn't sort of
• 16:50
  Speaker 3: set himself apart from those other quarterbacks. There's still time.
• 16:54
  Speaker 3: A lot of football left to be played. And we
• 16:56
  Speaker 3: do sort of expect Texas to be in the playoff. And,
• 16:59
  Speaker 3: you know, if he has a phenomenal run and they
• 17:01
  Speaker 3: get to a title game or whatever, he'll change the conversation.
• 17:03
  Speaker 3: But right now that conversation is pretty muddled.
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: And I think it's a good segue into the next
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: topic here, Mark, with a bunch of teams. at this point,
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: really needing to hunker down. Teams and talent on those
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: teams needing to hunker down as they look to potentially
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: get into the college football playoff.
• 17:21
  Speaker 2: Which teams do you.
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: Think are really under the radar that we may not
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: be concentrating on, that the national media necessarily may not
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: be concentrating on right now, that may end up making
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: the college bracket at the end of the season? What
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: are your thoughts here?
• 17:36
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, let's kind of go by conference. I mean, look,
• 17:40
  Speaker 3: you know Notre Dame. They're now number two. They're sort
• 17:43
  Speaker 3: of in the mix, and they never fly under the radar.
• 17:45
  Speaker 3: They're a national brand, an iconic brand. They don't really
• 17:49
  Speaker 3: fly under the radar. But the team right behind them, Miami,
• 17:52
  Speaker 3: they're the number three team in the country, but they
• 17:54
  Speaker 3: are flying under the radar. It's probably a function of
• 17:57
  Speaker 3: who they've played. They haven't played a tough schedule yet.
• 17:59
  Speaker 3: I mean, you look at who they've beaten. Certainly, Clemson
• 18:02
  Speaker 3: doesn't scare anybody. Stanford, Florida A & M. You know,
• 18:05
  Speaker 3: but they get Florida State, which Mike Minovell is coaching
• 18:07
  Speaker 3: for his job. Then that huge game against Notre Dame. Yeah,
• 18:11
  Speaker 3: that's looming large at the start of November. And so
• 18:13
  Speaker 3: we're going to see, you know, where those two teams
• 18:15
  Speaker 3: really are. But Darian Mensah has been phenomenal. He's thrown
• 18:18
  Speaker 3: 21 incompletions and 15 touchdown passes. It's incredible. That's absurd.
• 18:24
  Speaker 3: You know, when you have that kind of touchdown incompletion
• 18:27
  Speaker 3: ratio and like mid-September, that's one thing. But we're in mid-October. Yeah.
• 18:31
  Speaker 3: And I know they, yes, haven't played a ton of
• 18:33
  Speaker 3: top-level teams yet, but that's still eye-popping. Miami's kind of
• 18:38
  Speaker 3: flying under the radar, even for the number three team
• 18:40
  Speaker 3: in the country. Go to the SEC. I mentioned Austin Simmons.
• 18:44
  Speaker 3: Missouri's been really good, you know, quietly coming up the
• 18:47
  Speaker 3: ranks a little bit, up the rankings a little bit.
• 18:49
  Speaker 3: You know, they're up to number 13 right now. They're
• 18:51
  Speaker 3: doing it without perhaps their best player, Ahmaud Hardy, their
• 18:56
  Speaker 3: running back, off-season gunshot wound, Jamal Roberts. He's picked up
• 19:00
  Speaker 3: the slack for them. He's got, you know, 828 yards
• 19:03
  Speaker 3: and 147 carries, eight touchdowns, 5.6 yards of pop on
• 19:07
  Speaker 3: the ground. That's a fun team to watch. Tennessee, their
• 19:10
  Speaker 3: only loss is three points at home to Texas. Again,
• 19:14
  Speaker 3: haven't played a ton of good teams yet, like Arkansas, Auburn,
• 19:17
  Speaker 3: things like that, but obviously a huge one this week
• 19:19
  Speaker 3: with Bama. Kentucky coming off a big win against LSU.
• 19:22
  Speaker 3: Will Stein has done a phenomenal job with that team,
• 19:26
  Speaker 3: so Kentucky could be in the mix. I like the
• 19:28
  Speaker 3: Big 12 a lot. They've got five ranked teams right
• 19:32
  Speaker 3: now in the Big 12. BYU's at 8, Texas Tech
• 19:35
  Speaker 3: at 10, Utah at 11, Houston at 20, but my
• 19:37
  Speaker 3: favorite might be Oklahoma State at number 18. Obviously, the
• 19:41
  Speaker 3: win against Oregon looks.
• 19:42
  Speaker 2: A little different right now. That's who I'm looking at.
• 19:44
  Speaker 2: Oklahoma State, by the way.
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: That's who I'm looking at.
• 19:46
  Speaker 3: The win against Oregon looks a little different right now
• 19:48
  Speaker 3: with how they've sort of struggled a little bit. The
• 19:50
  Speaker 3: best to make it has put himself in the mix.
• 19:52
  Speaker 3: A lot of people are now saying he might be
• 19:54
  Speaker 3: QB one, his connection with Wyatt Young, the two played
• 19:57
  Speaker 3: last year at North Texas. That's phenomenal. Eric Morris has
• 20:01
  Speaker 3: done a phenomenal job, you know? So I think their
• 20:04
  Speaker 3: team that's probably sneaking around and, maybe not flying under
• 20:08
  Speaker 3: the radar anymore, but they were certainly to start the year.
• 20:11
  Speaker 3: Big 10, look, Indiana, UCLA, we've talked about them. Ohio State,
• 20:14
  Speaker 3: Jeremiah Smith, they're phenomenal as well. But Indiana, Ohio State,
• 20:18
  Speaker 3: either one of those teams loses a game or one
• 20:20
  Speaker 3: of those teams now has two losses, which is fascinating. Iowa,
• 20:23
  Speaker 3: you know, they're a feisty little team. You know, that
• 20:25
  Speaker 3: win in Ann Arbor was kind of nice. Nebraska, they
• 20:28
  Speaker 3: hunned with Indiana last weekend. So that's an interesting team.
• 20:32
  Speaker 3: Boise State. you know, we got the new pack 12,
• 20:35
  Speaker 3: they're coming off a big win. You know, they're at
• 20:37
  Speaker 3: number 23 right now. They're a team that's sort of
• 20:39
  Speaker 3: handing around. Would it be surprised to see them get
• 20:42
  Speaker 3: into the mix? And so, you know, I threw a
• 20:44
  Speaker 3: lot of teams out there. I'm holding one back for
• 20:46
  Speaker 3: the final question we've got here, but a lot of
• 20:49
  Speaker 3: teams that are sort of simmering around, you know, the
• 20:52
  Speaker 3: fringe of the rankings, the fringe of say the top
• 20:54
  Speaker 3: 12 or so, a lot of stuff will get sorted
• 20:57
  Speaker 3: out here in October and certainly into November when we
• 20:59
  Speaker 3: get some real rivalry games. But, That's why this sport
• 21:01
  Speaker 3: is great because like we saw with Indiana last year,
• 21:03
  Speaker 3: like we're seeing with UCLA right now and some of
• 21:06
  Speaker 3: the other teams we've mentioned, teams can make a run
• 21:09
  Speaker 3: and it makes it a lot of fun.
• 21:10
  Speaker 2: Absolutely does.
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: And before I let you go here, Mark, to close
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: us out, any college football programs that you believe just
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: aren't getting their due and hype at this point in
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: the season as that up-and-coming college football program?
• 21:25
  Speaker 2: What are your thoughts here to close us out?
• 21:28
  Speaker 3: Northwestern my friend oh.
• 21:30
  Speaker 2: My god they have been.
• 21:32
  Speaker 3: So much fun this year i mean the one loss
• 21:35
  Speaker 3: on friday night yeah lackey game at home against indiana
• 21:39
  Speaker 3: aiden chiles their quarterback is electric he's jaw-dropping for good
• 21:44
  Speaker 3: and bad reasons like there are some moments where you're
• 21:46
  Speaker 3: like what did.
• 21:47
  Speaker 2: You just do exactly yeah what are you thinking yeah.
• 21:51
  Speaker 3: But there are moments when he makes plays and it's
• 21:52
  Speaker 3: like OK, look, maybe he's not a first round quarterback,
• 21:56
  Speaker 3: but he's fun to watch. And he's certainly somebody that,
• 22:01
  Speaker 3: you know, it's fun to watch the college level. You know,
• 22:03
  Speaker 3: if the game improves overall, like maybe he could be
• 22:05
  Speaker 3: like a day to pick that kind of situation. Chip
• 22:08
  Speaker 3: Kelly is coaching out of his mind right now. That offense,
• 22:11
  Speaker 3: they will run like wing T influence trap with a fullback.
• 22:15
  Speaker 3: on first down, like it's 1962. And then they'll come
• 22:18
  Speaker 3: out with five wide outs on the next nap. Like
• 22:20
  Speaker 3: it's 2026. That offense is so much fun. Their game
• 22:24
  Speaker 3: a couple of weeks ago, they ran the ball for
• 22:26
  Speaker 3: like an absurd amount of yards against Penn state.
• 22:29
  Speaker 2: Are you talking about Penn state?
• 22:31
  Speaker 3: Yeah. I mean, it was just like, they were just
• 22:32
  Speaker 3: running all over the place. They got the new stadium, which,
• 22:35
  Speaker 3: you know, it's still not big by big 10 standards.
• 22:38
  Speaker 3: So the smallest stadium in the big 10, but it's new.
• 22:40
  Speaker 3: It's state of the art. Like it shows an investment
• 22:42
  Speaker 3: in that program. Look, The coach has done a very
• 22:45
  Speaker 3: good job since taking over an interim basis, you know,
• 22:48
  Speaker 3: got him to a bowl game that year. Like what's
• 22:50
  Speaker 3: big 10 coach of the year when he took over
• 22:51
  Speaker 3: for that year, they're a fun up and coming team.
• 22:55
  Speaker 3: Will it stick? You know, we'll see how much changes
• 22:59
  Speaker 3: year to year, the college game and a lot of
• 23:00
  Speaker 3: these players. Probably get some big offers from bigger schools
• 23:03
  Speaker 3: and things like that. But right now, they're one of
• 23:05
  Speaker 3: my favorite teams to watch.
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: Northwestern, obviously a team to watch for sure. Again, going
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: back to the Penn State game, vibes are high. Vibes
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: are high.
• 23:14
  Speaker 3: Vibes are high, right? That's a great way to put it, Jeff.
• 23:16
  Speaker 2: Northwestern, absolutely.
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: Folks, he is Mark Schofield, SB Nation. Head on over
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: to SBNation.com and download the SB Nation app. Great, great app.
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: Very fluid. Everything is concise. My friend, thank you so
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: much for taking the time to join us. Great conversation here.
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: Let's talk again down the road. And let's not, I'm
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: not going to make it so much time between that.
• 23:37
  Speaker 2: Let's not go like.
• 23:38
  Speaker 3: Six months between that chat. Exactly. Let's see you in
• 23:40
  Speaker 3: a couple of weeks.
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: Sounds good, man. That's going to do it for us
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: here on Table Talk this week. Please share our podcast
• 23:47
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• 23:49
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• 23:54
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• 23:57
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• 24:03
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• 24:14
  Speaker 2: Take care and we'll catch you next time.