Why Stubborn Play Calling And No Adjustments Cost Clemson, And How Panthers Can Still Steal The Division

We face the hard truths from a rough weekend: Clemson’s bowl game lacked adjustments and edge, ECU found answers at halftime, and the NFC South will come down to a narrow finish in Tampa. We call out bad schemes, soft standards, and lay out exactly how Carolina can still win.

• Clemson’s missed adjustments and poor execution in the cold
• Soft position rooms and why alumni hires backfired
• Quick-game concepts Clemson ignored when rhythm was needed
• ECU’s second-half surge fueled by takeaways
• Officiating consistency versus obvious no-calls
• Houston’s discipline and LSU’s penalty problem
• Panthers’ defensive effort wasted by Bryce Young’s miscues
• The face mask that flipped momentum against Seattle
• NFC South tiebreakers and Week 18 paths
• Panthers at Bucs: slowing Mike Evans, keeping Bryce in structure, and winning early downs

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Transcript

Welcome To Breakfast Takes

SPEAKER_02 0:02

The following footage is certified PG. Pretty great.

SPEAKER_00 0:10

Nice. I like that. That's pretty cool.

SPEAKER_02 0:15

Yeah.

Clemson’s Bowl Meltdown Begins

SPEAKER_00 0:15

I'm working on on uh on my uh intro for our breakfast takes show. Welcome everybody to breakfast takes. My name is Ed, also known as the dad hat, and with me I got my good friend with a very awesome looking hat. Yes, I've got my gear on my.

SPEAKER_01 0:35

Yeah, it's not a good weekend. Not a good weekend. I don't even know where to go with it.

SPEAKER_00 0:44

Tell me why wasn't it a good weekend, man?

SPEAKER_01 0:48

Man, there was so many great bowl games on Saturday after about 2 30 in the afternoon before three o'clock. After that, they were fantastic. But that first game actually the first two games. I mean the Pitt game, I didn't watch much Pitt East Carolina, but it looked like it was kind of a blah game. And our game, what a shit show. I mean, come on.

SPEAKER_00 1:09

It really was a bad game, wasn't it?

Klubnik Critique And Coaching Accountability

SPEAKER_01 1:11

It was very bad. And that's like I see all these people on the Clemson sites like praising Klubnik and where do you think he's gonna get drafted and w what a great career he's had, and it's too bad it's his last game. I'm like, are y'all freaking crazy? I mean, come on. I don't mean to bash the kid. He's a good kid. I think he has potential. I don't think he's lived up to it, and that could be a lot to do with uh with the coaching staff. And um I just don't I don't see it. I mean they're like you know, who do you think's gonna draft him? I'm like, nobody. And I saw another I saw another th person in the Clemson site posted, how did he go from this? And he shows highlights of the game against Texas in the playoffs last year, which we lost, but he's dropping dimes everywhere across the field, everything. And I mean, most of the season, everything he was throwing was overthrow. He was throwing everything high. Guys were having to climb the ladder to try and even get to it. And then he goes out there on Saturday and he's throwing one hoppers. And I'm like, what the hell is he doing? Yeah, I mean, I granted the the receivers weren't catching a lot of stuff yet. I was just gonna say so they weren't doing him any favors, but he wasn't put the at some point when you when you got a quarterback that's throwing you one hoppers or not getting you the ball, when he does get you the ball, you're like, fuck it, I'm not catching it.

SPEAKER_00 2:44

You know, like I've I don't need this exactly. And that was my issue. Like, uh because I dude, we were talking, and of course, you know I like how I like to instigate sometimes, but like I was like, this is a boring ass game. It was.

SPEAKER_01 3:02

I I don't know where you know it's funny because Dabo's like, we didn't call for the fake punt, we didn't, you know, I don't know where that came from. It's like they almost took it upon themselves to do it, and I could see where they would. The guy I lined up out to the right had no blocker on him. You know, he's a he's a gunner basically. And he was wide open over there. There was nobody there. I mean, it was ripe for a fake. The problem is he's gotta pay attention when he's gonna like he goes out and he looks back, and then he turns his head back downfield, and the ball's thrown, and it's not even thrown to where he's at. It's thrown to where they think he's gonna go. It's like they just it just totally just downhill after that. Between that and the missed field goal, and it's like my friend and I was watching the game with we didn't get together at the house or anything. We went out to um a couple of well, one's a little uh like tap house, and then we watched the first half basically at this tap house, then we went over to a local brewery.

SPEAKER_00 4:01

Um, I saw that you someone send me some pictures of your beer. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 4:06

And um we're sitting there, and it's so funny when he missed that first field goal. My friend Bart was just like, the guy's so damn cocky. He's been cocky ever since he hit that field goal against SMU last year in the ACC championship game that he just went out there and just blew it. Like he went out there, like bowed out, like, I got this, and then he didn't. It's like pay attention to what you're doing. He totally just like whiffed on that and started it right and it kept going right.

SPEAKER_00 4:37

Like, pay at the well, okay. So, you what you did before, great, awesome. Congratulations. That no longer matters. Like, what matters is what happened in the past, that's it. It's done, it's over with.

SPEAKER_01 4:48

Yeah, you can't go out there like it's like it's automatic. Yeah, you gotta you gotta go through the the process and and hit and and kick the ball, and you gotta look at the conditions and everything.

SPEAKER_00 4:58

And uh we just were I mean I'll say I'll be honest with you, I think it was a bad game for Clemson all around. It was just more granted. And we'll go into and by the way, guys, welcome to uh Breakfast Takes. This is uh the your show where we talk about Carolina and South Carolina sports, North Carolina, South Carolina Sports. Okay, we talk anything and everything when it comes to that. This weekend was not a good weekend for a lot of Carolina teams, except for ECU. ECU did get at the win, um, but it was just um it was not a good weekend. Uh and it can I was watching the game, and listen, and in my opinion, Clemson should have won that game because Penn State was not a good team this year at all. All right, they you you guys were better the better team. Um, but to be honest with you, man, it didn't look good.

The Fake Punt, Missed Field Goal, And Dabo’s Sideline Fury

SPEAKER_01 5:50

No, not at all. I mean again, and I'm not gonna harp on the refs because the refs didn't do us any favors, but they didn't do Penn State anything either. That was a horrible couple of things.

SPEAKER_00 5:58

I was just gonna say it wasn't badly officiated game all around.

SPEAKER_01 6:02

So it's not their fault that we lost. It didn't help that they didn't call a lot of early they didn't call a lot of pass interference on Penn State. But still, we were just doing horrible, and they they made some bad calls um you know for Penn State that that way too. But yeah, that was just that was a pathetic performance. You can't get on a Saturday at noon. You won the first games on Saturday, the weekend after Christmas, before New Year's, and you just like all you did was just tarnish your brand. 100% performance like that.

SPEAKER_00 6:36

Oh god, yeah, yeah, 100%.

SPEAKER_01 6:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 6:39

I just I don't get it.

SPEAKER_01 6:41

I don't, I mean, and the thing is, Dabo is so pissed off on the sidelines that whole game. And my friend Bart's like, Who who the fuck's he pissed off at? It's his fault.

SPEAKER_00 6:52

Dude, I was just gonna say the same thing. I was like, he should be pissed off at himself.

SPEAKER_01 6:56

Yeah, it's like, what are you yeah? I mean, who's he yelling? Who's he yelling at? Who's he yelling at? I'm like, well, he better be yelling at Garrett Riley on some of the offensive play calls. He better be yelling at Kay Klubnick.

SPEAKER_00 7:07

Yeah, and and and and the and you said this was Klubnik's last year, correct?

SPEAKER_01 7:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 7:13

Well, yeah, because he didn't either.

SPEAKER_01 7:15

I thought he had another year of eligibility, but apparently he did not, or it was just the way the way Dabbo worded it was, I wish I had him for one more year. Um, like, uh I mean he needed another year, but what's going on, Luke? Hey Luke. He needed another year in college, but with what we got the last few years, it's so Jekyll and Hyde with him. Is it I don't need it.

SPEAKER_00 7:41

Is it is it one more year with Clemson or one more year overall in college? You know what I'm saying?

SPEAKER_01 7:49

Well, Dabo said he wished he had him one more year to continue helping him grow, but he's looking forward to seeing how he you know grows on and off the field going forward. Yeah. So I don't know. We'll we'll see. I mean, there's a lot of players that said they weren't coming back if Garrett Riley was the OC. So I'm I'm keeping my fingers crossed finding that news out today.

SPEAKER_00 8:16

Mass is going on over there. Yeah.

Culture And Coaching: Nepotism And Soft Rooms

SPEAKER_01 8:19

I mean, and the the nepotism of hiring a lot of former players as coaches has got to stop. I mean, our running backs are horrible, our wide receivers are horrible, and I love those guys when they were players, but Grisham and Spiller, they gotta go. They're not coaches. They're like I said to this to somebody on, or may have even put it on uh on a reply post or something. They these guys, they're like the parent that wants to be your friend and not your parent. Like they don't discipline you because they want to be your friend. Like, come on, you gotta be a coach, you gotta tell you gotta be hard on these guys. You can't go in there and be like, yeah, I I played the game, I played in in the the league, and I know what to tell you to do to get to the league, and I'm your buddy.

SPEAKER_00 9:06

You're no, you're not my buddy. No, no, no, I'm not your buddy. That's not how that works. Okay, listen, at the end of the day, there has to be a clear separation. There's a head coach and then there's a player. Okay. I get it that you want to be uh you want to be player friendly, which that's understandable, and I get that that you want to do that. That's okay with that. But no, there's no way there has you cannot, because this is what you get right here. Exactly. And and you lost to a really bad Penn State team, which by the way, the their head coach wasn't there, right? Right, you know, they and um and and and they have a whole bunch of issues with recruiting, and that's for another discussion, right? For another show, but like at the same time, I'm like, come on, man, like and I was telling you this, right? Um, because I was watching both this one and the um the military ball, the pit and ECU game, which by the way, uh East Carolina won that one, right? Yeah, uh, that's why I'm wearing the ECU hat today. Um, but like Dabo, in my opinion, and and correct me if I'm wrong, but that there was no adjustment from Dabo uh during this game. They keep doing the same thing over and over and over and over and over. I'm like, dude, what you're doing is not working. Yeah, try something new.

Play Calling Failure And Ref Talk

SPEAKER_01 10:26

And I get hanging your OC out to dry. If you're gonna get rid of him, and you know you're you're probably going that route, which I again I don't know who Dabo is, but uh you know, all you somebody even said like they're he's just he's just letting him tighten the noose on himself or something like that. I'm like, yeah, but at the end of the day, you you gotta the pla for the players you gotta try to win the game. Like I didn't understand why you don't take Klubnick out. Listen, you got you got two or three other quarterbacks on the roster. Are they that bad that you're just gonna you're gonna go down with Klubnick because he's a senior? Like, I don't get that crap. I don't give a crap if he's a senior, I don't give a crap if he's you know frickin' Trevor Lawrence, if he's not completing passes, get his ass out of there and throw somebody else in and see what happens. Wake him up. I don't know. But it it that's that's an indictment on our quarterback room going forward as well. Yeah. And he better find somebody that can throw the ball. If you don't have anybody you can put in there in a disaster like that to change the the game a little bit, spark something, who knows? I mean, we've seen it time and time again where you've had a guy come in. I mean, hell, look at uh Hawaii. Their freaking quarterback goes down and and they think he's got a concussion, it's fourth down. The game's on the line. You've got one, you've got 10 seconds to go in the game. What do you do? You put your backup quarterback in. What does he do? He throws a freaking touchdown to win the game. Like, come on. If you can't put your backup quarterback to make some plays, that was a heck of a game. But if you can't put your if you don't have anybody on your roster when you've got a quarterback that's throwing one hoppers to the receivers that can go in there and at least for a series or two, like just wake his ass up. Like, look, if you're not getting it done, we're pulling you. We're pull right. That's my problem. Like, dude. I don't get that. He tries to stick with somebody. He's like, oh, he's got to work through it. He's better. He he's a the worst phrase I ever hate to hear a coach say is he gives us the best chance to win. Not right now, he doesn't.

SPEAKER_00 14:23

You know how I feel about Dabble, so I'm not even gonna go into that because and I wanted to give you the space to do it because I, you know, that's your team, that's your alma mater, right? Like that's your that's you right there. That's that's you. Uh me from looking from the outside in, I'm like, dude, and I was getting so frustrated on Saturday morning watching this game because I'm like, they are not making any adjustments whatsoever. Granted, was it was the weather shitty? Absolutely. So you changed tactics, okay? So if you're if you know that you cannot throw the ball during this in this weather conditions, start running the ball, start doing different things, start doing dink and dunks. Don't do the long passes, yeah, right? Do some play actions and things like that, but you didn't do anything, you just kept going to the same thing over and over to the same well over and over and over. You know, like what's the uh uh what's it the like uh what's the definition of insanity?

SPEAKER_01 15:14

You know what I mean? Oh, yeah. You keep trying the same thing and hope for different results.

SPEAKER_00 15:18

This was this was this was it. They're like you were expecting for a different result when you know the different result was not gonna happen, right?

SPEAKER_01 15:25

And I've been preaching this for several years. Well, again, I'm gonna keep harping on Riley. I'm not gonna apologize for harping on him because his play calling is absolutely garbage. But how do you not have guys, if you're not completing these passes, like you said, have your guys line up in the slot, take three steps, turn in, hit them with the ball. Take three steps, turn in, hit them with the ball. Like the end the end slant is your go-to to get a couple of completions, to get some momentum, and they don't freaking do it. All we do is throw these stupid ass screen passes off to the sideline, and by the time they get the ball out there, the defense is read it, and they've got four guys waiting to tackle them, either behind the line or for a two-yard gain or something.

SPEAKER_00 16:06

It's like well, not only that, but okay, then but at that point, if you're doing those two, three-yard pass lands, the defense is giving you that.

SPEAKER_01 16:15

Take that, take it till they don't, and then all of a sudden, as you line up like you're gonna do that, and you send the running back off the other side, and they you know, you turn like you you fake the you hand off, and you look like you're gonna make a quick pass to the right, and the running back's going left. Like and I know Eric gave me crap because I said this on our chat. It's like I could draw 20 plays better than what he's running right now. He's like, Oh, look at him. He could absolutely I could take a pizza paper right now.

ECU vs Pitt: Halftime Adjustments Decide It

SPEAKER_00 16:40

Well, I agree with you because at the same time, you're like, okay, so if you if the defense is giving you that, not one, you're you're controlling the pace of the game, two, you're getting the defense tired. What happens when the defense gets tired, right? The defense starts making mistakes and then they start you know missing plays. That's when you start attacking. But the they didn't do that at all the whole time. I'm like, like, like Clemson, and and and I'm I didn't tell you this, but like when I saw it and I saw the game, I'm like, Penn State's gonna win this game and then they're gonna win it because Clemson is not changing their tactics at all. They kept doing the same thing over and over and over again. And I'm like, come on, man. And if you have a quarterback that's not giving throwing you that far, change your tactics. Yeah, change your game plan. There's nothing wrong with saying, hey man, this is not working out. Let's change this play the the game plan. That's why you game plan, that's why you make a plan and you said, All right, what happens if this is not working? What do we do after that? They didn't do that at all, right?

SPEAKER_01 17:37

I mean, defense didn't tackle worth the crap on some plays, too. I mean, the guy they that 183-yard play they had, you had two two Clemson guys converge on that guy from each side, correct? And they basically bounce off of him and he just takes off downfield. I'm like, how do you not take that guy off his feet?

SPEAKER_00 17:58

Morning, Patrick. How are you, buddy? I give him so much creep, but Donnie deserves credit for his objectivity. By the way, good morning, guys. Morning.

SPEAKER_01 18:05

Hey, yeah, I I say it all the all the time. I am uh I am uh you know a reasonable fan. Not so much for Eric, but me. Yeah, hello from Brazil.

SPEAKER_00 18:18

All right, look at that. That's cool. Uh roll tie, can't say roll tie. Sorry, buddy. That's not gonna happen, not on this show. Uh I'm not even, I mean, my niece goes to ECU. I'm not even I didn't even go to school here. You know what I mean? I went up a school up in Ohio, so no.

SPEAKER_01 18:35

As a Simpson guy, the only thing I can say roll to is roll turd. That's my chant when I did that.

SPEAKER_00 18:43

But thank you for watching. Thank you for watching. Thank you for listening on the show. Appreciate that. Um yeah, again, like I said, we there was two games going on at once, which is interesting, right? Which this is when I really do appreciate having ESPN, uh, the app, because I was watching two games at once. The the two only bowl games that were happening at once, which was that game and the ECU Pittsburgh game, right? Um, because uh ECU Pittsburgh game was the uh Navy Marine Corps Memorial Stadium in Annapolis, was the gold bowling military bowl.

SPEAKER_02 19:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 19:15

Right. Uh your game, by the way, which was also kind of hurt you a little bit, right? Because it was your favorite college team beat playing in your favorite baseball team stadium and they didn't do anything. Um and so um that one hurt. I'm sorry. I I I know it hurt a little bit.

SPEAKER_01 19:37

So but everybody gave me grief about why I didn't go to the game, and thank God I did not go to the game.

SPEAKER_00 19:42

I wasn't spending all that money just to go see that trash of a game.

SPEAKER_01 19:47

I would have been I'd have been more livid than I am now, having spent money to go sit in the cold in the snow in New York to see that garbage.

SPEAKER_00 19:56

Yeah. Um you know, hey, Saban, uh when he was a head coach, listen, gotta hand it to him. Right now, he's kind of an idiot, uh, making some stupid comments.

SPEAKER_01 20:05

You know, he's not much of an analyst, but he's a hell of a coach.

SPEAKER_00 20:08

110%. You're right. I'll give him that. I'll give it.

SPEAKER_01 20:12

At times he can have some decent points, but uh he's like he's still too opinionated on some things.

SPEAKER_00 20:19

I'm like, yeah, this whole thing on like you know the power five and the that's still you know that that one irks me a little bit.

SPEAKER_01 20:27

So uh well he trained the SEC Kool-Aid for so many years and still does.

SPEAKER_00 20:32

So yeah, so I I told you we had this conversation. Like uh he started at my old school, my alma mater. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, uh, and he was he started his coaching career over there at Kent State. That's where I graduated from, Kent State University.

SPEAKER_01 20:46

So I heard uh the funniest thing uh the other day is that the event the SEC is gonna work on making a whole set of bowl games that where SEC teams play SEC teams so that uh they can win more bowl games.

SPEAKER_00 21:00

It's good cool. Hey man, listen, you guys are been successful for a long time, so I can't hate that on can't hate it on on the SEC. Um but yeah, I saw that.

SPEAKER_01 21:11

I like it though. Don't like it. Um well so it's back to the just Carolina team. So NC State did well in their bowl, and as you said, ECU did well in their bowl.

SPEAKER_00 21:23

So uh a couple of good uh good outcomes for for some teams in the Carolinas uh ECU was um you know like during that game in the Pittsburgh and uh um pirates game, which was interesting because at first I was like, man, I was like, but uh once the first half ended, I was like, man, this thing is boring as all hell, these two games. I'm like, these games are boring. And then ECU and Pittsburgh, you know, uh yoga guys all share this. Have a great day. Thank you so much. Appreciate that.

SPEAKER_01 21:54

Thank you for checking in.

SPEAKER_00 21:55

Thank you for checking in.

SPEAKER_01 21:57

Monday morning. Uh we talk sports north. South Carolina.

SPEAKER_00 21:59

So I appreciate you, man. Take care. Have a good one. Um, but then you know, those two teams heard my my saying, you know, to you guys like this game sucks. And it did. I the first half was absolutely atrocious. It was not good, right? ECU only had three points. Um, the the Panthers had uh touchdowns, so they were 7-3 at the half. And then all of a sudden, ECU came out, and I was like, All right, let's let's go ahead and you know get this going. And so did Pitt, you know.

SPEAKER_01 22:29

That's called making the half halftime adjustments, right?

SPEAKER_00 22:34

Going back to your game, making halftime adjustments. Like, uh, Donnie, did you see the Keith Adams Jr.'s comments after entering the portal?

Pop-Tarts Bowl Branding And Light Moments

SPEAKER_01 22:42

I did. That that goes back to what I said about CJ Spiller. He is not a running backs coach, and Keith Adams Jr. said the same. That's basically I I think if not at him, it's at some of the other coaches. It's probably at Riley, too, because Riley doesn't seem to uh believe in the game. He doesn't believe in the running back game at all.

SPEAKER_00 23:03

I mean I it was obvious.

SPEAKER_01 23:04

It was blately obvious on uh the off season, the off season with us, because we had lost some good running backs last year, was the fact that Randall was moving from wide receiver to running back, that he was he was born to be a running back, he's a big guy, he and he and he's already a receiver, so you know coming out the backfield he's gonna catch a lot of balls too because he's he's built to as a receiver, played as receiver, and he's tall and all that. And what do we do from the get-go, first game? We do not run the ball. Like it just like what happened? Like, this was gonna be our bread and butter to base the offense off of this running game with Randall back there, and then they didn't utilize it. And they didn't utilize any any running game all year long, and I don't blame Keith Adams for leaving. Uh, I wish he wouldn't. I wish some of these guys would stick around if changes are gonna be made, if changes are not gonna be made. I told you guys I'm gonna stop apologizing for Dabo because this is his chance. This is his chance to save for me uh seeing that there is a a vision there to get back on track.

Houston Over LSU And Penalties Costly

SPEAKER_00 24:12

That was that's my thing. Now you have an opportunity now because your players are telling you, and so all these players are entering the portal, telling you, guys, this is not working. Your dude right there, that's not working.

SPEAKER_01 24:25

Yeah, I'm gonna go somewhere where I can play. You got a running back that tells you that, that's bad. I don't know how Woody Dancler would be as an OC, but he'd be better than what we got now.

SPEAKER_00 24:39

So, um, there's that. So let's go back to really quick here to uh let's uh go back to the ECU game because I was very happy with it, which by the way, ECU was wearing some beautiful uniforms. Yeah, that ECU on the helmet. You know I'm a I'm a massive fan when it comes to like you know helmet designs and all of that. And there were a lot of good ones on Saturday. They were, man. You know what my favorite ones? The Pop Tart Bowl helmets, yes, with the sprinkles right down the middle on the helmet, those were absolutely fire. Um, but anyways, ECU came out and uh in the second half, and they make some second you know half adjustments. So did Pittsburgh, they're like, okay, let's go ahead and get this going, and it showed, right? Because, you know, then right off the bat, uh and uh in uh in the third quarter, touchdown, right? Right off the bat. Anthony Smith, a 47-yard touch, uh pass touch on to uh Chess and Didda. Um, so that was a not bad at all. That put ECU up 10-0. Then Pittsburgh came back up and said, All right, Rasheed Vials, 23 yard fumble return. Good. Let's go. All right, so that put Pitt up 14-10. And I saw that fumble. I'm like, oh my god. Yeah, that was rough. And then here we go. All right, so and then this is all in the third quarter, okay? So in the third quarter goes Anthony Smith, 72 yard pass uh from Chaston. Uh did a boom, done. There it is. All right, so now you're up 17-14. Um, and then that was it. That was like really the only thing that happened. And there was two plays, 75 yards uh for that one in the third, okay? And so I was like, all right, cool, cool, cool. Why we we got this, right? All right. Then um there's a field goal from ECU, not bad. Another field goal from ECU. So they couldn't Pittsburgh decided they're like, all right, we're gonna allow you to get some yardage, but we're not gonna get you the give you the the touchdown. We'll let you get you know field goals. You get field goals out at the very least, you have an opportunity to say, hey, if we if we score a touchdown, then at that point then we can go ahead and and try to get it closer. Yeah. And um the only thing that Pitt could go could do was like with five minutes left, was get another field goal. And that was really it for Pitt. Again, great game. Well, not great game, great second half.

SPEAKER_01 27:02

Yeah. I mean, the and and then the total stats, I mean, if you look at the overall, uh East Carolina shouldn't have won this game. The only the one telling stat as to why Pitt lost the game and ECU did win the game is turnovers. Uh Pitt had five turnovers because they out outpaced him in passing yards and rushing yards. They both were horrible on third down, but ECU was two for 15 on third downs, but they had they had five takeaways and only gave up the ball once. So if you if you did not, if you're gonna turn the ball over, you're gonna lose the game.

SPEAKER_00 27:37

Pitt's simple. All the time of position as well, which is important.

SPEAKER_01 27:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 27:42

You know, yeah. Uh there is one thing that uh that uh ECU controlled, uh, and that was in penalties.

SPEAKER_02 27:49

Yeah.

NFC South Set-Up: Panthers’ Path

SPEAKER_00 27:50

By five yards, but at least they won that one. Right. You know, it was a very not a lot of penalties, okay? There was like some little small penalties here and there because uh Pittsburgh only uh had 35 three penalties for 35 yards, and ECU had five penalties for 40 yards, right? So not bad at all. Now, you know, overall, like and you said uh total yards Pitt had 376, where uh ECU had 249.

SPEAKER_01 28:17

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 28:19

You're right. Uh best part of the Pop Tart Bowl was the Pop Tarts. I'm sorry, you're right. You're 100% right. What was I thinking? I apologize, man.

SPEAKER_01 28:28

I love that they call that bowl the people's national championship. That is so I mean people absolutely do a phenomenal job with that. They totally killed it. The marketing of that bowl, the way they do everything, all of this stuff. They they they give no Fs. They just like we're all all in the the the Pop Tart costume people, they are fantastic. They just are into it. I mean, did you see the the the even the referees' flags, the yellow flags, had the sprinkles on? I mean, everything is like all these little they thought about everything. Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 29:03

They thought about everything, which and by the way, if I can get my hands on one of those uh three-quarter zip jet uh sweaters, yeah. Man, listen.

SPEAKER_01 29:14

Yeah, those are fantastic.

SPEAKER_00 29:16

Uh I mean, give us a minute. We will be talking about the NFL. Specifically, we're gonna be talking about the this disastrous NFC South. Yeah, because uh our Carolina Panthers here did not do themselves any favors. So we're gonna talk about that. Also, but it kind of like at the same time. What did I say though? I called it. I've been calling it. It's gonna go down to the last game, it's gonna go down to the game between Tampa and Carolina. Yeah, absolutely. There it is.

SPEAKER_01 29:44

Yeah, we'll get to that shortly.

SPEAKER_00 29:46

We're gonna get into that shortly, but I wanted to get into some of these uh other games that we had going on. Um, like I said, uh you know what? Here's what I want to do, uh, and not to really put some more salt on the moon or anything, my friend. I do apologize for that. But I want to take a look at the um the numbers overall for this game, uh for the Mowers Bowl, right? The the bad boy Moore's bowl. And so Penn State controlled uh yardage 397 to 236. There was no turnovers really on this game, it was even, which was surprising. Yeah, right. Uh first downs, Penn State controlled that one 20 uh compared to 16. Penalties, Penn State had more penalties, yeah, three penalties for 35 yards when Clemson played a clean game when it comes to penalties, which was five yards.

SPEAKER_01 30:43

And that that that goes back to the referee and crew because there were way more than four penalties in that game.

SPEAKER_00 30:49

You could, yeah, you could have seen it.

SPEAKER_01 30:50

Which I'm it you know at times you're glad they don't call them. And I guess in the end, had we won, I'd have been glad they weren't calling some things. But I just the obvious, the ones that are so obvious, I don't care which way it goes, it absolutely infuriates me. I mean, that one I sent you guys, and I know it was a pass interference against Clemson, but if it had been the other way around and still not called, I would have been like, How in the hell do you not call that? That is that is bad on the officiating as a whole. I don't care which team it is, because he basically tackles our guy in the end zone. The guy standing three feet from him looking at the play and goes, Yeah, nothing.

SPEAKER_00 31:27

Like, really there I'll say this they did let him play. They did, they let him play, they let them play.

SPEAKER_01 31:34

And and the reason there was no interceptions thrown, it's hard to intercept a grounder. Anyway, that's all I'm gonna say on that.

SPEAKER_00 31:42

Yep. Uh third down. Penn State had 11 made out of 19. Yeah, that's that's what's super glaring right there. That's where they won the game. Were for Clemson out of 15 that went for third down, five of them. Yeah, they controlled third down. Uh fourth down, uh, that was all Clemson right there, which was only three of them. They went two for one. And Penn State controlled the time and position 33 minutes compared to 26 minutes. Again, you control the time of position. In my opinion, I've always said this if you control the time of position, you're gonna win the game.

SPEAKER_01 32:17

Yeah, yeah, if you're gonna win the game, then you've made some other huge mistake somewhere.

Seattle Outlasts Carolina: Bryce’s Bad Day

SPEAKER_00 32:21

Correct, correct. And so that's just one or one thing that I was saying. It's like you're not controlling the game.

SPEAKER_02 32:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 32:28

When you could it, and it was bad weather, right? Like, I mean, it was cold, it was miserable. Um, and but there was no I'm not even well.

SPEAKER_01 32:37

Penn State played inspired. That's the other thing. When you go against a team that's lost their coach for the year, yep, um, their their season just kind of went sideways fast on them. Those kids were playing inspired. They they wanted to prove something, whatever it was, they wanted to prove it, and that's that's something you've got to try to overcome, and we did not.

SPEAKER_00 32:58

So I'm gonna mention one um ball game here, and I get and I I apologize, guys, but I really want to talk about this one because it was such an interesting game to me. Such an interesting game to me, and that was the New Mexico Bowl. I don't know if you saw part of this game. Yeah, I watched a lot.

SPEAKER_01 33:17

Uh I didn't watch a lot of this game. I'm sorry. I watched a lot of the end of this game because it was a good one. This game was wild. Yes, it was.

SPEAKER_00 33:24

Um, North Texas, San Diego State, which by the way, the head coach with San Diego State used to be the head coach for my alma mater, Kent State. Right? Then he went for one year to Colorado, become the offensive coordinator of Colorado, and then he became the head coach of San Diego State. Listen, the dude stepped up. He went from Mac now to this. So, like congratulations to him. I wish him nothing but the best. I have nothing but great things to say about this head coach. Man, this this ending was wild. Yeah, okay, because their their main, their their starting quarterback was injured, so that he couldn't play. So they had the backup quarterback, he was playing, but then he got injured, right? Then they put the other this kid, and this kid went off. And this is when when San Diego um went off after that because they couldn't do anything. Um, but congratulations to the mean green of North Texas. The fourth quarter was one of the wildest things I've ever seen.

SPEAKER_01 34:22

I mean, San Diego State scored 27 of their 47 points in the fourth quarter. That's they they they were on the major comeback right there.

SPEAKER_00 34:30

They were. And you know what? They they made it very close. They needed a couple, they needed a field goal. But the problem is they made some mistakes on their when they were trying to score the last touchdown that really cost them that because if they would have scored a touchdown right away, they would have had an opportunity to you know do an onside and then possibly at that point, right? And again, there's a lot of things that could have happened, but they wasted a lot of time. And I think that that can be cleaned up into going into next year. Um, but they had a really successful year at 9-4. Uh, North Texas, you know, their head coach is moving on to another opportunity. He was still able to coach that game and got them to the 12-2, which I mean I respect that.

SPEAKER_01 35:11

Oh, yeah. Yeah, I mean, that's that's one of those things where he's not going to you know another team in the conference. He's not staying at the same level and calling that position a better position than the one he's at. He's moving up to a bigger school in a bigger conference, and you know, you can't be mad at props. No, props to North Texas. I mean, you know, at that level as an administrator and and as an AD, your guys are gonna be sought after for growth jobs. And that's what it is. And you've got to just you gotta you gotta always be prepared for that. And unless if you're not, then you're you're stupid.

SPEAKER_00 35:53

Right. And unless you're willing to cough off some money, right, uh for to keep the head coach there, you know eventually that head coach is gonna say, Hey, listen, I did my best, I did what I could. I brought your your team up to where I think it can go, as high as it can go. Um, you know, good luck to you. I'm going to a better opportunity, which again, you cannot hate on our head coach on that. He did it the right way.

SPEAKER_01 36:18

Well, and and you've got to hope, and a lot of times you have a situation with these smaller schools where you have somebody on that staff that's sort of in grooming for a head coaching position, and a lot of times that's the guy it's handed off to. Like he doesn't move up with that staff because he doesn't want to be a coordinator or coach at a next level, yet he wants to be a head coach now. Yeah. So a lot of times you've got that. Now that's not always the case. I don't think that's the case here, but there is a lot of times that is the case, or you also have guys at an even smaller level that are looking to move up to this level.

SPEAKER_00 36:55

So And again, listen, we're not saying don't move up, we're not saying go for the opportunities. I'm saying it was done the right way.

SPEAKER_01 37:03

Yeah, it was done the right way, it was absolutely done the right way.

SPEAKER_00 37:06

Simple as that. Um, there was the other couple of games. Um, I'm sorry, uh uh Patrick, if you are still watching and I don't know why you're up. This is your day off, my friend. But LSU did not play uh they played okay. Sorry. They lost to um uh Houston. Uh the Kinders uh Texas Bowl. I don't know what this meant, but you know.

SPEAKER_01 37:31

Well, Kinders is a sauce, like a um a sauce company. I have some I have several sauces. They make some really good stuff.

SPEAKER_00 37:37

So many names. I know it's crazy. Uh Virginia uh ACC right there.

SPEAKER_01 37:44

Um that was a good game. That it was a low-scoring game, but that was a good a good battle actually for that one.

SPEAKER_00 37:51

So uh Wyatt Pop Tarts bald, it said uh BYU's QB eats uh Georgia Tech's Pop Tarts for breakfast.

SPEAKER_01 38:01

I guess because they were they were winning. I guess they were they were although they weren't they weren't early, but they came back to win in the fourth quarter that game.

SPEAKER_00 38:11

So true.

Tiebreakers, Percentages, And Week 18 Scenarios

SPEAKER_01 38:13

Um yeah, so but uh imagine a Houston LSU game real quick because Houston Houston's been overlooked this year. Houston is their defense is a beast. I mean, I picked them to beat LSU in this game because I just didn't think LSU is a very good team overall. Um and it was funny L uh BYU, I'm BYU, LSU, uh they had Lane Kiffin up in the booth interviewing during the game. And then they they made a big deal about the fact after he did the interview, he left the game. It's like, why would you not sit there and watch this team that you're taking over and these players in person? Like you're just like, yeah, I popped in, did my interview, I'm out.

SPEAKER_00 38:51

And then I'm out. But you know, uh listen. Just the optics of that are about care who you are. The optics of it looks bad. Just stay there, dude. Stay there. You that's your that's your future team right there. And again, you don't want to be a distraction. And if you don't want to be a distraction, stay up in the uh up in the uh um stains in the stains.

SPEAKER_01 39:13

Yeah, it's yeah, the booth. I mean, there's there's got to be a box up there. You just sit up in the box and you just watch this team and study what they're doing, and if there's any guys that you know are coming back, what they're doing. So, I mean, anyway, that that was actually a pretty good game uh overall because Houston is so much better than anybody give credit.

SPEAKER_00 39:33

Yeah, they're they are 21st in the country right now, right? I mean, they're 10 and 3, brother. 10 and 3, right? We're talking about two teams already there are you know top 25. We were talking about the uh North Texas who uh is 12 and 2 and is 25th in the country. Then you got the Houston Cougars who is 10 and 3. Listen, you know, um and and if we go look at the uh time and position, Houston controlled it and it was big. 38 uh minutes uh to compared to 21 minutes. And uh Patrick, you're right. LSU blew it. No excuses. Absolutely 110, right? Uh 32 first downs for Houston compared to 17 downs for LSU. All right. Uh total yardage 437 for Houston compared to 344 for LSU. LSU only had one turnover, and that was it. That was only a turnover. Uh again, the most glaring thing for me right here is these first downs 32 to 17. That's that's over half right there, man. That's that's half right there. Exactly. That's insanity. Uh penalties was horrible. All right. This is this goes to coaching, down to coaching. Okay, so listen to this LSU, nine penalties for 95 yards. Yeah. Compared to Houston, who had four penalties for 29 yards. Um, Van Buren hasn't impressed me. Yeah. I wonder what he's and listen again, we're talking about a current team. We don't know what's gonna happen now with with Lane, right? What what what Lane's gonna do, who he's gonna bring, uh, transfer portal, and all that. We haven't gotten into that whole situation because we don't know. We just don't know what who's gonna be like everybody is saying up this players, although I have been seeing so many this player's into going to the transfer world, this play is going into the transfer portal, this play. I'm like, Lord Jesus. Like, what is going on? And you are I know how you feel about this. Uh, even coaches getting penalties, I agreed. So um, that was uh it's not a good game. No, no, not a good game at all. But you know what wasn't uh also a good game either?

SPEAKER_01 41:57

The Sunday game, the Sunday game.

SPEAKER_00 41:59

The games, two games specifically, right? Because here's what needed to happen, right? Um let let's let's fill it a little background. Like we you know, last month that we talked about this is like it really is upon Carolina to they win and they win the division. That was it. Like that's all they needed to do, right? They were at home and they needed to win the division. That's all they needed to do. Again, it was against Seattle, right? In Seattle, we've been talking about Seattle's defense, it is top five. They are a really good defense. I'm not saying anything that uh I knew it was gonna be a tough one, but when you go into the game and you look at what's going on, you're like, why aren't they playing better?

SPEAKER_01 42:42

Yeah, right. I mean, the the weather was kind of miserable, uh, but these guys are used to that. It wasn't as bad as a lot of other games can be or were.

SPEAKER_00 42:54

You should see the Pitts or uh Cleveland Pittsburgh game. That was a crappy game, right?

Panthers At Bucs: Keys, Matchups, Predictions

SPEAKER_01 42:59

Otherwise, but you had you had the Seahawks on their heels to start the game and you didn't put them away. I mean, and a lot of that has to do with their defense, not letting Bryce do anything. But when you had the Seahawks not not making plays offensively and you kept getting the ball back, you have got to you've got to capitalize on that. If I'm a defender for because our defense got worn out, that's why the second half was just yeah, that was it.

SPEAKER_00 43:28

And yeah, absolutely, 100%. Like you knew that like as soon as like the the defense got tired, it was they were gonna start making mistakes, which they did. Uh, do you do have you seen um the numbers for uh Bryce Young?

SPEAKER_01 43:42

Uh I have not. I haven't looked specifically at the box score on that list.

SPEAKER_00 43:45

All right, so let me do that. Uh 14 for 24, 54 yards, one interception, did not throw a single touchdown. He got sacked twice, and his rating was a 45.

SPEAKER_01 43:57

Yeah, that's just that's bad.

SPEAKER_00 44:01

That is not good. Granted, Sam Darnold wasn't better either. Sam Darnold was uh 18 for 27, 147 yards, uh, one touchdown, one interception. He got sacked three times for 22 yards, and his rating was 77.

SPEAKER_01 44:20

Yeah. You gotta capitalize on a bad day by Darnold, and they didn't do that. I mean, Charbonnet is what killed him. I mean, the running game. I got so sick of hearing Charbonnet. It was like it was like a waiter was bringing another glass of Charbonnet to the table. It's like, come on. Two touchdowns.

SPEAKER_00 44:38

He scored two touchdowns.

SPEAKER_01 44:40

But he was, I mean, yeah, it it it just was crazy. I mean, we just didn't have anything going. We couldn't get the running game going. Again, props to Seattle's defense on that. Dowdle, 59 yards on 12 carries. Um, you know, Bryce got one rushing touchdown. Uh, that was a pretty good play in itself. But um uh Tetaroa McMillan went with went out, I think, with an injury in the game, and that didn't help either. Um just the passing game was just non-existent, really.

SPEAKER_00 45:13

Um it was not good.

SPEAKER_01 45:15

No, not at all. Um the the but that you still had a chance going down the stretch, and that face mask penalty by JC Horn, absolutely I mean I Rhonda was looking at me because I was screaming like I was just livid, like I was gonna bust a vein or something. It's like these guys just flail their arms, and I mean, I get in the heat of the moment sometimes. You don't think about it, but um like you can't be like if the guy catches the ball, you can't just be like throwing your hand up like you're trying to grab, like push him out of bounds. You're right there on the sideline. Just put your hands into his side, shove him out of bounds. You cannot take a face mask. I mean, that they had him stop. It was gonna be fourth down and they were gonna punt.

SPEAKER_00 46:03

And then they gave him the face mask.

SPEAKER_01 46:05

You give them the face mask, they go down, they get a touchdown, then they get another touchdown. It was just like that the wind went out of Carolina for sure.

SPEAKER_00 46:14

Bryce Young did Brian showed Bryce Young giveth, Bryce Young take it away, is what I'm gonna say on that. Because he didn't play a good game at all, man. He man, it was a horrible game. Uh, and by the way, I I can't I have to mention it. The uh Glass of Charbonnet, see what you did there. Um, that's a dad joke right there for you guys. Uh Patrick appreciates that. Exactly. Bryce Young played like shit. That there's no other way. I pardon my language, yeah. I apologize, but he played like shit because you you knew and and what you needed to do. You knew what you needed to do. Like you played a good game last week. And by the way, also my daughter was like, because I was kidding. I was like, Are you kidding me? That and Mia goes, that is just a game. So I got reminded really quickly what the game was.

SPEAKER_01 47:07

Um, and so well, you know, and the other thing is they kept harping on this in the broadcast. The fact that um they weren't showing the Tampa Bay score anywhere in the stadium. Maybe they should have, because if they'd have seen Tampa Bay was losing that game, it might have been inspired to do that.

SPEAKER_00 47:23

They probably would have lit a uh fire on our ass, because my God. Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 47:28

It was not good. I had both games going side by side, and I was excited that Tampa Bay was losing, waiting for us to do something, and it just never came. It just never happened.

SPEAKER_00 47:37

I just wish I wasn't right. I really wish. I really wanted to be wrong on the whole, like waiting for the end of the last game of the season to decide what the um the outcome of this division is gonna be, and here we are. Two eight and eight teams. And it's not here's the thing, though. It's become harsher now because guess what? It's in Tampa, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 47:57

Yeah, now we got to go down there and beat them at their home in order to win, not the other way around. I'd feel better if it was the other way around and we had already beat them there.

SPEAKER_00 48:07

I'm not confident, no, me neither.

SPEAKER_01 48:10

And maybe I should just look at it that way as like, you know what, I'm not confident.

Closing Notes And Upcoming Games

SPEAKER_00 48:14

Um but I'll say this um Miami showed up for that Tampa game, Battle Florida, uh, because um Miami scored 20 on on Tampa. They, for the most part, you know, I gotta hand it to uh Quentin Ewers. Quentin Ewers was um 14 for 22, 172 yards, right? He threw two touchdowns, did not get an interception, he was sacked twice. Excuse me, but his rating was eight 118. Then you go over to Baker Mayfield. Baker Mayfield made some mistakes, but you know how Baker Mayfield is. Baker Mayfield is a gunslinger, right? And so he went 33 for 44, 346 yards, he averaged 7.9, he got two touchdowns and two interceptions. There is that was his mistake right there. So his rating was 93.6 percent, which again, not bad if you consider who the person is. Right. Um and so the fact that Tampa is 789 and has a 54 chance uh percent to make the playoffs versus Carolina, who is 8.8 with a 46 chance percent, is wow, 110%. How insane is that that they're giving a higher percentage to Tampa over Carolina? Um I don't I don't understand that.

SPEAKER_01 49:45

The higher you say that again, the higher percentage is for Carolina?

SPEAKER_00 49:49

The higher percentages for Tampa.

SPEAKER_01 49:50

Oh, it's for Tampa, yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 49:52

Yeah, uh they're 7-9 right now. Tampa, 7-9. Okay, they have a 54 chance percent of making the playoffs, and Carolina has a 46% chance. Who is and Carolina is eight and eight, Tampa is seven and nine. Yeah, the um I I that one to me is just uh and I know where you went there because I guess I was looking at it on the playoffs uh picture there. Um they're talking about uh the percentages if you go on on ESPN, it gives you a pretty good um look at what they have going on. Uh yeah, 48.6 percent, actually, uh Patrick. The the uh Panthers have a 48.6% chance of making the playoffs, and then you got the Buccaneers at a 51.3%. So pretty much what they're saying is this is an even game.

SPEAKER_01 50:44

Well, there's the thing is I saw this this last night and I didn't follow it because it was so fast on NBC. Um there's still a scenario that if Carolina and Tampa end up tied, that Carolina can win the tiebreaker, but it's up to Atlanta, and I don't want to put my faith in Atlanta. But I wouldn't either if Atlanta it's not out of the realm of possibility. If Atlanta can win the last game of the season against New Orleans and um Carolina and Tampa are tied, Carolina would win the tiebreaker. So we need we need Atlanta to beat New Orleans in the last in the week 18. So uh we'll have to see. We'll have to see.

SPEAKER_00 51:28

Interesting. Um I and and and then we should talk about this one. I right now I'm not too confident, and by the way, we're gonna break down this game a little bit more on Tuesday on the DSC Sports Show at 8 p.m. Eastern Time. Um, I I'm not confident. I'm gonna say that right now. I'm not too confident on this one uh because of the way that this is going. Uh the way that and uh and to be honest with you, the way that um that Bryce Young has been playing leads me to believe that like I don't know if he got it. Yeah, exactly. Because this was a big game for them to win. This was a Seattle game. You you had the opportunity, like you said, the defense was playing really good. They they had Seattle right there, and you cannot expect the the defense to be playing that much all the time, and then all of a sudden, you know, the offense is not, you know, like they're not helping you out. Like the defense, the the defense got you the ball back, and then you just cough it out right away. Like that's those are the kind of things that just it infuriates me, right? And like, come on, man. That that interception by by Bryce Young was in the fourth quarter, it was not good. Um, then you had uh Dotto who uh fumbled the ball. I mean, dude, dude punched him perfectly. Like, I mean he got punched perfectly and coughed off the ball. I mean, it happens. I get that part, but it's like with with Bryce Young, you can control where you throw the ball. And you and you threw the wrong person.

SPEAKER_01 53:02

Right.

SPEAKER_00 53:04

So it it angers me. I was uh I was not and granted, this is not my team. Okay. If you guys already know by now, my team is the Cleveland Browns. And that was even more infuriating. But at least they got the win. I cannot wait. Mike's not here this morning. Um, but Mike, don't you worry. I uh I'm gonna be waiting for you to pay up on Tuesday night.

SPEAKER_01 53:28

It was funny. You texted me about you and Eric were texting about him not showing up, and as soon as y'all did, it was like the the universe must he must have heard something in the universe because then he texted me and I shared that with you guys. It was like y'all were both on the same wavelength with that game at the same time.

SPEAKER_00 53:45

So it was a shitty game, yeah. It was a shit game. Um, and I'll touch on this. Pittsburgh concentrated so much more on one player.

SPEAKER_02 53:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 53:58

That's it. That's all they did. They were like, no, we are not gonna let Miles Garrett get the record. And look what happened, you lost the game, and now you have an opportunity to possibly not make the playoffs at all.

SPEAKER_01 54:08

Right.

SPEAKER_00 54:09

And have Baltimore beat you because they play in Baltimore.

SPEAKER_01 54:13

Right. I mean, as bad as the Ravens have been all year, the fact that they could still win the division in the last week of the season is insane to me.

SPEAKER_00 54:23

That goes to show you how bad. Okay. So they obviously Miles Garrett needs one sack. That's it. That's all he needs. He's we need one sack to get the single six single season record, which I think he will. He'll get it next game.

SPEAKER_01 54:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 54:41

But they doubled him up so much and they doubled and tripled him so much during that game that uh they allowed the defense to dictate the outcome of that game. Right. The Steelers allowed the defense to dictate the outcome of that game. Yeah. So there goes through that. All right. So we we have about a few minutes here. I want to talk about um the this matchup between Pittsburgh, uh not Pittsburgh, I mean Tampa and Carolina. What are your thoughts?

SPEAKER_01 55:17

I don't know what to think. I mean, Tampa's been walking wounded week in and week out for a while now. They started getting everybody back healthy. They still don't look good.

SPEAKER_00 55:26

No.

SPEAKER_01 55:27

Um Baker's made a lot of mistakes. Um I want to say I think we've got the better defense, but we can't make stupid mistakes on defense and let them let them get easy plays. I mean, you got to control Mike Evans. He's always the Carolina killer as well. Um, so we've got to control Mike Evans, and our defense has got to control the pace of the game. And then like we say with Bryce, I mean, Bryce can't lose the game for you. He may not win it. I mean, I know he's got some comeback wins. We don't need a comeback scenario. We need to get out, get ahead. Yeah, we don't need a comeback scenario in Tampa. We need to get ahead and stay ahead early in this game. Um, I mean, we got we got to get Dowdle running. I mean, the weather hopefully will be good because it's in Florida. Uh, we won't have hopefully any weather issues to deal with. And hopefully uh our you know Tetaroa is gonna be okay and and we just gotta get we just gotta get on track offensively. We cannot make mistakes. Man, it's you can't but you can't go into this game as a player like so hard pressed that you've got to win it. I know they gotta win it, but you can't go into it thinking we gotta win it. You gotta go out there and just play a clean game. Yeah. I don't know if we have it in us. We'll see. I'm fingers crossed. Um if they win it, great. If they don't, well, then they kind of they've had a good season, but it'll also be sort of a falter here at the end on what could have been a better thing. Uh first round in the playoffs, they're probably gonna get beat. So I don't know who they play, but it's like you gotta at least make the playoffs, win the division. At least that's an accomplishment.

SPEAKER_00 57:23

They're playing on Saturday. Okay. Their game is on Saturday, Carolina at Tampa. They're playing at 4 30 on ABC ESPN.

SPEAKER_01 57:32

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 57:33

Okay, so that's what they have. Um, and so the line is right now, they're giving Tampa the three points.

unknown 57:42

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 57:42

So that's a pick'em game, basically, because they're getting pretty much exactly.

SPEAKER_00 57:46

So they're giving Tampa the three points right there. So it's 50-50 from what they're saying. I and I agree with you. I think if Carolina's defense is gonna be the the key for me. Like if they're able to dictate the the outcome of the of the game, I think they that Carolina wins.

SPEAKER_01 58:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 58:06

Um, but again, that's an if, right? It's a big if because um we have been able to see the, you know, like we saw they they were playing really good. Um, but then you had um the offense not do anything. They were very anemic uh this Sunday against Seattle. And again, Seattle's defense is good. Guys, this top five. I'm not taking anything away from Seattle's defense. Uh in the last, I think it's like two, three years, Seattle going east coast, traveling east coast, they're nine and two.

SPEAKER_01 58:36

Yeah, it was funny because you know, got y'all pick on me, and I I get picked on for the fact that I bring up teams traveling for a one o'clock game, that it's a thing, and it's like it's not a thing. It is a thing, but set Seattle has figured it out, and what vindicated me was that even uh I and Eagle said, Well, Seattle wins another east, you know, traveling east one o'clock game. Like, he wouldn't bring it up if it wasn't a thing. Seattle is on its own. Um they they've they've broken the code.

SPEAKER_00 59:05

Yeah, yep, yep, yep, yep.

SPEAKER_01 59:07

So not some of the other teams.

SPEAKER_00 59:08

Um if you were to like you know, and I'm not gonna hold you to this, right? I mean, because we haven't made our picks yet, but like if you were to make a pick for this game, who would you got?

SPEAKER_01 59:26

I would say just sitting here right now, hopefully, with a lot of hope in my heart, the Panthers 17-14. I don't think it's gonna be a high scoring game. Um it's not a shootout. Um I mean, it could also be one of those weird scores because of field goals or something. I mean, like a 15 to 12 or something weird like that. Yeah. But it's gonna be something around that, and I just I hope that that's what it ends up being that we hold them to 10 to 14 points max and we can outscore them.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:05

So I like it. Um I think it'll be decided by a field goal.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:14

Yeah, absolutely. And I think it'll be a less than three point. Yeah, like that field that it'll be a field goal to to win by one or two, either way.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:23

I agree. The way that these two teams have been playing, uh and again, listen.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:29

Or it could be a 13-10 win. It's like 10-10 boring ass game all day long and a field goal at the end. So, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:36

Right, exactly. And listen, uh, I think and again, please don't take this as like, you know, Ed is throwing the the flag on on Carolina's Zen already. But they've had a really good season compared to what they had the last couple of years, right? They have been in the toilet for so long. Trust me, I know what that looks like. I'm a Browns fan. Um, Carolina has, you know, with Canales. I to I told you this, right? Canales is a really good head coach. He's done an absolutely wonderful job with what he has to work with. I'm not a fan of uh Young. I neither are you. Um, I think you know they they hold the number 18 pick in the uh in the draft as of right now, right? Yeah, um, they need to do a little bit of a better job in the offensive line, but then so does a lot of other teams uh this year. Offensive line has been the key for me that I've noticed this year that has not been a good thing. Um, but coming back to this game is uh I'm gonna give if if I was to pick right now, if I was to pick right now, I'd give Tampa the age a little bit right now. Um they they got Godwin, they got Evans, um, God, what's that kid? Um, their running back. Um is it White? No, not White. Um the um Bucky.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:59

Bucky Irving. Bucky Irving, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:01

Right. They got some good weapons. Right. And the key is right now is uh Baker Mayfield is a better quarterback than Bryce Young.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:11

Why he even with throwing all of the interceptions with uh with uh with um Baker Mayfield, I gotta give the edge to Baker on that one.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:24

Yeah, I mean he's got the experience. Um he's got more weapons, so yeah, it's just a matter of uh controlling him, defensively controlling him and and controlling the run game.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:37

Also, I think Baker has kind of like a extra grind against Carolina. He did get released by them. You know what I mean? He never really got an opportunity in Carolina.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:47

Yeah, this will be the third week in a row, although we played Baker one of the second game out of three in a row that Baker or Darnold, who were both with the Panthers at the same time, play against the Panthers to finish the season. It's crazy.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:00

And then they went, and then they decided to stick with um with Young.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:07

So and listen, congratulations to both San Darnold and Baker Mayfield. They've both gotten some good quarter, uh, some good um uh contracts out of it, right? Up in Seattle and then up down in uh Tampa, and I'm happy for both of them. Congratulations on that. I just wish Bryce Young was better, man. Like, I mean, but he's anyways.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:27

He's he his ceiling is where he's at right now, in my opinion. Uh uh maybe a hair more. He might have one step left to get there, but it's not he doesn't have a big ceiling beyond where he's at, in my opinion.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:39

Uh so right now, as of right now, you know, and again, this is just my opinion is gonna probably change. Yours is probably gonna change as well. But as of right now, you got Carolina, I got Tampa, and I think we both agreed it'll be by less than three points. It'll come down to a field goal uh for this game. Stay tuned. Uh on Monday, we will break down this game because this was gonna be on Saturday, this will be the deciding game for either Tampa or Carolina. One of them will go to on vacation, the other one will be preparing to host a playoff game uh in the NFC. So, congratulations, both of them guys. Make sure you follow both the mayor and myself. Uh, we are on all of the socials. Um make sure you hit the subscribe button on the YouTube channel so that way um you know when we're dropping new uh new shows and things like that. So thank you again. Uh Dani, any parting words, my friend?

SPEAKER_01 1:04:32

Just hope that this week's better than last week. So I mean, the only thing I got left is the Panthers. Clemson season's done. We're we're winding down to the football. Uh looking forward to the bowl games, although Tuesday's bowl games are not looking uh promising. But uh we'll have some playoff games coming up here uh over the the week, and uh we'll have you know some other things to talk about next week with heading into college football championship or the next round of playoffs and all that mess.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:03

So correct. So uh tonight actually we have one. We got the Birmingham Bowl, uh, we got App State playing uh Georgia Southern.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:15

I mean that could be a pretty decent little game.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:17

Yep. Uh tomorrow we got Coastal Carolina going against Louisiana Tech and the um uh Radiance Technologies Independence Bowl.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:29

Uh and then I don't have a lot of hope for coastal in that game, back by the way.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:34

No. Um then you got the Music City Bowl, Tennessee and Illinois. That should be an interesting one. And then the Alamo Bowl, SC, USC against uh TCU in the uh uh live from the Alamo, Aladome. Alamo Dome, sorry, I apologize. So those are the games that we have Tuesday and Monday. So today we have one uh which is the uh Birmingham Bowl, uh, which will be at 2 p.m. Um from Birmingham, Alabama, guys. Thank you so much. Uh we will see you guys on Monday. Make sure that you turn on later on tonight uh for the break even sports. Uh we are going to be having a special guest. Um we are going to be talking and well, not we, you guys will be talking about a lot of wrestling. I'll just I won't be.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:19

I'm I'm not gonna be there tonight, actually. I'm not gonna be there tonight, but okay.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:22

So you won't be there.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:23

I won't be there, but I can't add to the wrestling. My my wrestling knowledge goes back 45 years, and there's much more exciting wrestlers to talk about since then.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:34

So I have no clue, none whatsoever. I'm with you, so we'll see. Uh, thank you guys. We we will see you guys on Monday at 8 a.m. at six a.m. six a.m. Wake up, babe. I know, I'm still tired. We'll see guys.