The Buckeyes prep for a primetime date with the Fighting Irish. Michigan hopes to iron out the wrinkles against Rutgers. Plus: buy or sell on Colorado, which Top 10 team is a fraud, and the art of pulling off a double-digit upset.
Follow us everywhere @RivalPod
Big thanks to our sponsors for their generous support:
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Chapters:
00:00 - Intro
5:41 - Michigan Week 3 Analysis
10:15 - Rutgers to The Rose Bowl
14:29 - Michigan Week 4 Predictions
16:31 - JP's Gas Station Adventure
19:15 - Ohio State Week 3 Analysis
27:15 - Ohio State Week 4 Predictions
33:00 - Special Announcment
34:18 - Stupid Genius Upset Picks
40:35 - Other College Football News
The Buckeyes prep for a primetime date with the Fighting Irish. Michigan hopes to iron out the wrinkles against Rutgers. Plus: buy or sell on Colorado, which Top 10 team is a fraud, and the art of pulling off a double-digit upset.
Follow us everywhere @RivalPod
Big thanks to our sponsors for their generous support:
Elevated Integrity: http://www.elevatedintegrity.com/
The JAE Company: https://thejaecompany.com/
Become a Patron: patreon.com/therivalry
Want more shows like this one? Visit riverradio.com
Chapters:
00:00 - Intro
5:41 - Michigan Week 3 Analysis
10:15 - Rutgers to The Rose Bowl
14:29 - Michigan Week 4 Predictions
16:31 - JP's Gas Station Adventure
19:15 - Ohio State Week 3 Analysis
27:15 - Ohio State Week 4 Predictions
33:00 - Special Announcment
34:18 - Stupid Genius Upset Picks
40:35 - Other College Football News
Follow your own. He's about as prepared as JJ in Michigan was this past weekend.
Speaker 2:How many wins does JJ have over Ohio State Think?
Speaker 1:he's two, think he's two, think he's two for two.
Speaker 2:He's been in their section for two, think he's two for two.
Speaker 1:Think he's two for two.
Speaker 2:For a team that hasn't beat Michigan this decade. We guys sure are arrogant still, man.
Speaker 1:you guys have a lot of time to think of those jokes during like the 12 years that we smashed guys.
Speaker 2:Now I get to say the vibes are way off yeah.
Speaker 3:It's the arrival. I came in a lead. We're straight for the title. Come on, ducks down.
Speaker 4:Marvin Harrison, Junior Marvelous.
Speaker 3:Catch pass Ransom.
Speaker 1:David Edwards Touchdown the done.
Speaker 2:There's nothing quite like the game Michigan versus Ohio State. This is the Rivalry, sponsored by Elevated Integrity Construction. Welcome back to the Rivalry Podcast. I'm Jayce, that's JP. That's Mitchell, one of the original members of the Rivalry Podcast. Let's go. It's a Michigan man and a Buckeye nut who thought you know what we should do a podcast together, and whether that's been successful or not is kind of up to you. We may never know. At RivalPod, on social media, subscribe wherever you're getting your episodes. Right now, let's break the ice with a little thing we like to call Wheel Route, and Wheel Route is brought to you by the Jay Company, creating your ideal living space at thejaycompanycom, the J-A-E Company. All right, we're ready for this. Spin that wheel, look at it, go. If you're not watching on YouTube at RivalPod, do that as well. Get the full visual. Biggest fraud in the top 10. All right, all right, guess, first.
Speaker 4:Oh man, that is a fantastic In the top 10.
Speaker 2:Really.
Speaker 4:OK, usc Wow.
Speaker 2:Spicy.
Speaker 4:I don't have a lot of meat behind this, but growing up in San Diego they were like what we would term the University of Spoiled Children, and that is always in my head. So whenever I see USC up there, the only positive I have with USC is that John Wayne played football for them, so that's pretty good. I think they should rename their mascot the Waynes or whatever.
Speaker 2:The fighting John Wayne.
Speaker 4:Think about the Wayne's World implications, but for none other reason than just personal angst, usc, so based on vibes.
Speaker 2:And this is why Vibes are all. Vibes are all. You're only a once a year guest, purely vibes. Vibes carry a lot of weight.
Speaker 1:If the vibes are off, the vibes are off.
Speaker 2:See, he knows who's your biggest fraud in the top 10, JP.
Speaker 1:I was super high on this team all season long, but this past weekend had me question you a little bit. Penn State.
Speaker 2:OK, tell me why Penn State. I think I know why, but tell me why we were talking about it on the way up to Michigan.
Speaker 1:We'll talk about that coming up. But I thought, going into the season, drew Aller, nick Singleton the running back duo they had was going to be great. I thought the defense was going to be amazing and they've won their games. Sure, west Virginia is bad. Well, sure they beat them. I forget the whatever Delaware, whatever the Blue Hens or whatever their name is, beat them horribly, but they did not look good against Illinois whatsoever.
Speaker 2:They had like five turnovers or five takeaways.
Speaker 1:They were in Illinois' side of the field for a majority of the game. It just couldn't capitalize on it and I thought that was a game that I expected to turn on and be like they're in complete control, and I just never got that vibe. The vibes were off.
Speaker 4:The vibes in Happy Valley. The vibes are normally good. The vibes were off.
Speaker 2:The vibes in the Coliseum are always bad.
Speaker 4:They were playing in Champaign, so that's some of that they were playing at Illinois.
Speaker 1:But the vibes, they're always good. But Illinois is not a tough place to play. No, it's not so them struggling against that, I forget.
Speaker 2:I think the West Virginia game was like 35-17, which isn't crazy impressive to me, I agree with you, at least as far Like Penn State still scares me a lot. But I agree with you that the number of times that Illinois turned the ball over versus the way Penn State played and what they did with those points, with those turnovers, was not terribly impressive, drew.
Speaker 1:Aller. I thought coming into the season was going to be better than Sean Clifford. He was going to be the next best Penn State quarterback and that's what really scared me is that they've always had serviceable guys behind center. This was a guy that I thought like he's got the potential to be dangerous. It wasn't his best and he didn't play that great. So now I'm looking at him and I'm going okay, I'm not as scared. In the top, I mean it's the top 10. They're all very talented.
Speaker 2:He's going to carve both of our teams up, isn't he? He's standing right behind me, isn't he? I'll let Erica Kropa Drew Aller, standing over my shoulder, for a TikTok later. I'm going to go with Florida State. Okay, because I said before they played LSU that I didn't think that Florida State was the real deal. They proved it against LSU. But you can't beat Boston College by two points and get any sort of respect for me. No, that's really bad they were. It was what? Like 14-10 at the half, something like that.
Speaker 1:Well, they got lucky, even beating Boston College.
Speaker 2:They were up 31 to 10 in the third quarter. It's 31 to 10. It's not ideal. And you didn't score. It was like 11 minutes to go. In the third quarter you had 31 points. You didn't score again and Boston College basically shot themselves on the foot and prevented them from pulling off a big upset.
Speaker 1:They didn't have a weird penalty. It's very, very weird. We were listening to it, but it was choppy.
Speaker 2:Something very Boston College-like that prevents you from pulling an upset. It's all you need to say.
Speaker 4:It's a great t-shirt Something very Boston College.
Speaker 2:So I just Florida State may prove themselves. They've got to go to Clemson this week. That's going to be I don't care what kind of season Clemson's having. That's going to be a tough place to get a win. But until they do that, I'm going to call Florida State a fraud in the top 10. Let's talk about a non-fraud in the top 10. It's a mission. Okay. Would you quit? Okay? Also, are you wearing blockos on your Hawaiian shirt? Yes, is that why you should Do you expect anything different? I didn't, and that's why, if you're not watching this on YouTube, you should at Rival Pod.
Speaker 4:I need one of those. It's good, it's not expensive.
Speaker 2:I wouldn't say that it was heavily discounted. Michigan played Sure the worst game of the year.
Speaker 4:Isn't that music to your ears, gosh? I missed it. Still, I was there in person.
Speaker 1:I missed this stuff On the sideline, trying my hardest to not smile.
Speaker 4:cheese ear to ear, the SpongeBob, high-mount smile, every single interception, and all the people around me are just throwing a fit and deep inside.
Speaker 1:I'm just kidding.
Speaker 2:Michigan turned the ball over four times. Three interceptions from JJ McCarthy, I thought it was five.
Speaker 1:It was four. They recovered. Well, they recovered. I don't know if you consider the fumbled kickoff thing a turtle. It should be.
Speaker 2:It could have been a fifth one. Here's the thing, a wake-up call, that you still win by four scores. Fine.
Speaker 4:Permissible. Early in the semifinal I will say it's permissible. However, the thing that looms in my head is it's a one-point game with four 15 to go in half.
Speaker 1:That's.
Speaker 4:Can we get the same energy roll out Stain? I'm not concerned about that, I don't know, if you've listened this season.
Speaker 1:But every time Ohio State has this score it's Red Alert over on this side. So I just want to know you're up 14 to six against Bowling Green at home at a night game at the Big House.
Speaker 2:I'm not concerned.
Speaker 1:And all of a sudden five.
Speaker 2:Because here's the thing I've seen. Jj McCarthy's body of work. Kate is a two time defending Big Ten champion, been to the playoffs both years. I've seen his body of work. Kyle McCord I have not seen him do much of anything that's impressive until this weekend.
Speaker 1:Well, that's fair. We didn't watch this game because we were driving to Michigan, so like this like and we'll get to.
Speaker 2:we'll get to the Western Kentucky game, but if you're going to look at and go, well, why is it? You know all systems, you know Reddler, whatever for Ohio State when this happens, but not for Michigan, cause I've seen what Michigan does with JJ at the helm. I have no idea what to make of Kyle McCord yet.
Speaker 4:That's why he looks good. We don't have to get into it yet. But three interceptions against Bowling Green versus one, why and there goes, he's getting lower.
Speaker 2:Just lowered my seat, blake Corum, blake Corum. Suddenly it's Blake. I don't know if you can tell but I also like Blake, have been working out lately. I have not been Don't skip leg day here's the interesting thing, though Like for teams in the top 10, and I would say that USC and Ohio State were the exceptions here not a fantastic outing.
Speaker 4:There's always top five, I'll say top five teams. I would say in college football in general there's no top it's wide open.
Speaker 2:Georgia won and I will say I will give Georgia credit. South Carolina was a tough draw, but you were still you're still Georgia touchdown favorites against them, so did not look ideal. Texas messed around with Wyoming for two and a half quarters. We already talked about Florida State and Alabama. I don't know what's going on down there, but I love every moment of it.
Speaker 1:Can we take a brief second?
Speaker 2:Three to three, with South Florida in the third quarter.
Speaker 1:I think you guys see the clip of the USF running back Absolutely hitting the truck. Stick on the second year.
Speaker 2:Oh, that's fantastic. Did you see that?
Speaker 1:No, I haven't seen that Throw that in because it was the most beautiful thing. We'll put it on our Twitter account the most beautiful thing I've seen.
Speaker 4:I just don't know what's going on with some of these top five teams Talking about Alabama. Western Kentucky put up 41 points against South Florida. Okay, Western Kentucky we just played beat pre-scizably. Okay, they put up 41 points against South Florida. Alabama also played South Florida. Do you know how many points they put up?
Speaker 2:I mean 17. 17. So what's the point?
Speaker 4:I wish you better than Alabama. Yes, we know this. We know this. I just love to hear you say it. Can you admit it?
Speaker 2:Let's just keep going. There's a lot of teams better than Alabama. There are 12 teams ranked out of Alabama, right now Can I test my luck.
Speaker 1:Rutgers, no, okay. Well, there it is. You know what, though, I tried?
Speaker 4:At this point, I don't know.
Speaker 2:Michigan looked like they. You always talk about how you don't overlook any opponents. Michigan looked like they didn't prepare well. They looked like they overlooked an opponent. You still won by four scores. I'm not here's where I'll be concerned, like Joe can say. Here's where I'll be concerned If you come out and you play the same type of way against Rutgers. You play mistake filled football against Rutgers. You're turning the ball over left and right. That's when I'll start to be concerned about it. Until then, this is not. I mean again, I'm looking at body of work from both this season, the last season as well. This did not look like the Michigan team that we've seen. Unless it repeats itself, I'll call it an anomaly. If we start to see the same stuff crop up on Saturday, I'm gonna be heavily panicked.
Speaker 4:I am so excited because there's a chance that that can happen.
Speaker 2:There's not a chance, there's not a chance. And when there's a chance, when it happens please, Lord.
Speaker 4:All I'm asking is one.
Speaker 1:Rutgers the Rose Bowl. He gets it.
Speaker 2:Mgo blog likes to do this thing called opponent watch, where they will rate opponents and they will give their fear level and then describe them with household or well-known objects. So this is how they described their fear of Rutgers, on a scale of one to 10, as a two, and they compared them to leftover chicken salad, like we met, or find outside chance of violent bowel movement.
Speaker 1:Well, let me tell you something. My dad used to say you ain't gotta be scared to get your butt whipped. That's true, so you don't have to be afraid to still lose. There's always a chance, okay.
Speaker 2:We're talking about Rutgers here right.
Speaker 1:Hey, put some respect on their name three and O Rutgers.
Speaker 4:Okay, three and O Rutgers.
Speaker 2:You're gonna talk to your kids about undefeated Rutgers. I have some. I would For one more week at least. So, rutgers, the Rose Bowl is still in play here, right?
Speaker 1:Between five out of five Shianos right now, baby.
Speaker 2:It's a good feeling.
Speaker 1:Three and O Virginia Tech was the game that I had circled, which sounds weird, but I thought this would be the game for them to really show me who they are. And hey, I'll take 35 points up against them. Would you say they are who we thought they were they were. I'm gonna leave out the detail that maybe it was Virginia Tech's second string quarterback plane but whatever. How was Gavin Wimps that? He didn't look great. He was like seven of 16 for like 46 yards. But you have to pass him time.
Speaker 1:You have to be better before. You don't need to when Kyle Monongueis running the ball as well, as he is Sure.
Speaker 2:It's now a good time to mention Michigan's like the number one total defense in the country.
Speaker 1:I couldn't really tell with the level of competition they played.
Speaker 2:The starters have given up zero touchdown, so far You're right.
Speaker 1:I think the thing's rushing to tack was something to be feared, you're right, I am not concerned about Rutgers.
Speaker 2:What Give me? Like, joking aside, give me what has to happen for Rutgers to win this football game.
Speaker 4:What's the weather like, because sometimes rainy days cause crazy things.
Speaker 2:When the snow is a little bit on the ground, what if they play this?
Speaker 4:game when the whole team has the flu for multiple weeks At Michigan State and it's snowing? What if that happens? What are you talking about? Sometimes, when there's crazy weather at Michigan State, michigan doesn't do so hot.
Speaker 2:Okay, we're playing Rutgers. What are you talking?
Speaker 4:about.
Speaker 2:I'm saying if that was to happen. This is why you're not welcome back. Why is a year is enough? I'm waiting for making that up. What would have to happen for Rutgers to pull off a massive upset?
Speaker 1:We have to see the similar thing we saw this past weekend. You've got to force turnovers. I think Rutgers offense is a little bit better than Bowling Green, and by that I mean a lot. I think they have better weapons than what Bowling Green had to offer, and so I think if you turn the ball over four times, rutgers is gonna make you pay at least on two of those, and they have a really strong defense this year. So I think the defense obviously will have to play a really tough game, basically perfect. I am a little bit concerned with the longevity of it. I think they'll play hard for a couple quarters than Michigan, like they normally do, will wear them down, but I think it'll be a closer game a half. It wouldn't surprise me if, similar to last year, rutgers was maybe even leading at halftime before the candle just goes out and they're just kind of done. They're tired. They put all their energy into it.
Speaker 2:Michigan's also got a lot of angst to work out, because there's nothing like coming off a game like that than having to wait a week as an athlete to get that taste out of your mouth, and so I feel bad for Rutgers.
Speaker 1:See, here's the difference for me. This past week against Bowling Green felt very uninspired to me.
Speaker 2:It felt like what you said.
Speaker 1:They came out thinking we're gonna blow these guys out which the first two drives.
Speaker 2:They did whatever they wanted.
Speaker 1:Some of the JJ McCarthy. Two of the three interceptions were just bad. Intercept we're just bad.
Speaker 2:The deep shot was just a bad look. The one in the end zone I can forgive, because I think Barnard's got a post up there, and then the other one. You just throw the ball away.
Speaker 1:That was a forced throw, the thing that I think is gonna be the difference this week is it's Harbaugh's first game back. I think that's a huge difference If there's a game that that team is gonna be up for, it's gonna be this one, other than the big ones, obviously, but like the head coach is back, he's gonna be fired up to get back.
Speaker 2:Especially, imagine watching that performance from your team and not being able to get in there riled up and whatever, I hate to be a Michigan player at practice this week.
Speaker 1:He may hang 100 on that. He's not gonna but.
Speaker 2:I. What's your prediction for this one?
Speaker 1:I've got Michigan 35, Rutgers 17. It breaks my heart.
Speaker 2:It's uncomfortably close, but still like it's far enough out that you like winning. You're like ah, okay, I did that. It's like drinking a Starbucks coffee. It's like it got the job done.
Speaker 1:Rutgers defense is better. I still think Michigan's gonna put up points in the end. It wouldn't surprise me if at half it was like 21, 17, and then Rutgers just loses out on it. The offense still has some weapons, but I just don't think they have enough to really keep up with them. Points wise Well.
Speaker 2:I think Michigan's defense has just been they've been lights out so far. Obviously they'll get actual tests as we get into the meet of the Big 10 schedule, but the defense has been very, very good. The offense is explosive. I think Michigan, I think Michigan rolls this one. I've got 38 to nine. I'm gonna give you three field rules.
Speaker 1:I'm gonna say the same thing you said last week to me about Western Kentucky you are underestimating the Rutgers offense.
Speaker 2:And how did that work?
Speaker 1:out for me. People always do.
Speaker 2:It did work out great for you It'll work out great for me.
Speaker 4:Mitchell, what do you have If I'm Greg Sciano? I'm gonna quote a legendary coach of the past where they say if we played them 10 times, they might win nine of them, but not this time. This time we take it to them. Okay, they need a miracle in order for this to happen, but miracles happen, guys, and so your score prediction is my score prediction is because, frankly, I have nothing to lose and would just absolutely love I'm sure the Carbaw's first game back is a loss to Rutgers. I'm gonna have 28, 24 Rutgers.
Speaker 1:Hey, from your lips to God's ears.
Speaker 2:Come on, I'll be on there and once again, we apologize and this is why you're welcome on life once a year at this point. Oh, my goodness, we did get the chance to be at the game under the lights at the big house. Yeah, man, crazy. Be sure to check out. We've got stuff on Instagram right now at rival pod Twitter across social media.
Speaker 1:We got more stuff coming from it too. I mean, we just grabbed so much stuff throughout the night.
Speaker 2:Here's, you know, and you can go see some fantastic shots, some great highlights. Jp did a phenomenal job down on the field, again at rival pod across social. I do want to mention that you know not all of you know being a media member is glamorous. We stopped at a shell gas station on the way home.
Speaker 1:I'm lucky.
Speaker 2:Please, please, describe your experience. Cause again context, context. We decided, no, we're not going to stay the night, we'll leave after the game, we'll drive through, we drove. I got home at 4am. We drove through the night. Yep, so at like 1 30 in the morning, you stop at the shell gas station in the middle of nowhere. Yeah, describe your experience. It was extremely dark.
Speaker 1:We're the only people on the road and I was like I'm gonna, I'm gonna wait until we have an hour left of our drive and then I'll stop and get gas. I had about 50 miles till E so I thought I'm good. So we start going and my gas light comes on. So then I start to get a little panicky.
Speaker 4:It was gas. Lighting you if your car.
Speaker 1:It was gas lighting me. So then I'm like I've got, I've got to find a gas station. So I find the next closest one. We pull off it as in. I couldn't even tell you, I think, carrie, sure, so which I know, that they have a really good football team because they're from my area, so I know that much. We go to this gas station. I'm not even confident. It was a shell station, to be honest. I was not looking around, I was get out.
Speaker 2:I'm gonna start pumping gas.
Speaker 1:So I started pumping gas and I left because I'd use the bathroom. So I go in there. There is one car. It is not well lit. There is somebody of water. I couldn't even tell you if it was a sewer thing, a little lake, a pond, who knows?
Speaker 2:what else? Great place to hide a body Great place yeah, Ideal murder spot.
Speaker 1:I go in. It is very dimly lit. There are lights flickering. Was the S flickering on this shit? Don't even know if they had that, to be honest. I go in and there's one guy just behind the counter and he's. I walk in, the little bell jingles and he just goes. It's pretty late out there and I'm like yep, Sure.
Speaker 1:And it's hot, sling slasher is coming and he's like, yes, it's really late out there, when are you coming from? And I'm like Michigan and I run to the bathroom, latch the door Jankiest bathroom I've ever been in.
Speaker 4:The walls will ooze green slime. I'm like I've got to get out of here.
Speaker 1:I was honestly nervous that he was going to be outside waiting for me and I walked out. I've never walked out of a gas station faster. I get in the car and we leave, but it was wow. Well, I'm glad you're here. Yeah, thanks so much.
Speaker 2:10 out of 10 would not recommend. Good to see you, just your conversation. When you got back in, you just shut the door and locked it immediately and we just start going. I was like how was that? And you said he just said pretty late out there, isn't it? It was real weird. And then he said well, you guys doing out there, so like it's like what?
Speaker 1:I am not an anxious person like that, Absolutely not. That's never really messed with me, so you know it was crazy.
Speaker 2:When I'm walking out.
Speaker 1:We've got to get out of here. That's incredible.
Speaker 2:Speaking of scary things, let's talk about the 126th ranked Western Kentucky defense. Ohio State put up 63 points, 66 points I lost track 28 points and nine points, just what I remember is like must have been having issues in the press box because it was 1410, like midway through the second quarter and then just lost signal and I don't know what happened to the rest of that game, but I assume it stayed. I assume it stayed close, probably throughout the rest of it. What are your takeaways from Ohio State's performance against WK?
Speaker 1:It was yeah. What else can you say? I mean yeah, it was the quarter.
Speaker 4:I'll, if you don't mind, please, if you don't mind. It was the quarter we needed when we needed it most, because things have been good for Ohio State. That's not a crazy thing to say, but we had such a long, a long haul of things going really well and every now and then just getting a good 50 plus score game in feels great and reassures you that you actually have a chance, even if it's a nobody, that you actually have a chance, and it had been a while since we'd had one of those. And so to actually have that second end of the second quarter and third quarter go the way that they did when the first quarter and first half of the second quarter were going the way that they were, everybody in Columbus just felt a huge sigh of relief and be like, okay, maybe we do still have this potential.
Speaker 2:So, going into the big game, you need those second halves where you can just get up and like make yourself some lunch whenever you feel like it.
Speaker 4:Right, I think it's so helpful and we've had that for so long and it had been a little while so to have that quarter happen. 28 points in nine plays happened. Going into this very challenging game was what it looks like going in this Saturday against Notre Dame. I think it was the perfect timing for it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I would agree. I think we and we talked about it driving back from Michigan every single week Ohio State has looked better overall.
Speaker 4:Correct, I agree with that.
Speaker 1:The defenses looked better. I remember last week Jace was giving me a bunch of garbage because I said that Western Kentucky was only gonna score 10 points and he said I was grossly underestimating their offense.
Speaker 4:On a garbage free sports show. I was really hoping we'd forget about that.
Speaker 1:And I have not forgotten. I have been anxiously awaiting this moment to say, Jace, how many points did Western Kentucky score against Anita? Setout-loud for the audience to hear it was one less than 11. What is that number?
Speaker 2:That's hard to tell.
Speaker 1:Would it be?
Speaker 2:10? Is it this many? I'll say this I was very impressed by Ohio State's defense, because I did. I thought I had music in my ears.
Speaker 2:It won't happen again, so you won't bet on repeat. I hope you saved that for a while. No, I told you that I would not be surprised if Ohio State scored a bunch of points, but I was really curious to see if they could stop Austin Reed in Western Kentucky, and they did a great job of that. I think the offensive performance is it's gonna be inflated. That defense is very bad.
Speaker 1:Yeah, they give up 400 something on the ground.
Speaker 2:By that same token, I'll be fair to Kyle McCord and say exactly what you said they have looked better every single game. I'm not going to go all the way to the extreme of like he looks so good man, he looks so he did what you needed him to do.
Speaker 1:See, I just think that's just the hater. Jason perfect.
Speaker 2:Of course, based on the full body of work that you've seen in three games 300 something yards, three touchdowns. I'm not saying you played bad. I'm saying, if you're going to extrapolate that I would go guys.
Speaker 1:Kyle McCord is great now, but what would he have had to have done? What would he have had to do more in this game for you to feel better about him, Because to me he's like essentially a perfect game.
Speaker 2:It's not about playing. I played one perfect game. It's about does that have any bearing on what happens in South Bend this weekend?
Speaker 1:I think having a game like that is a huge confidence after, as a starter. It's a confidence, mr Bond.
Speaker 2:I'm saying does it change your opinion of him in the long term having one good game like that?
Speaker 1:Absolutely because it's not just been one. It's so irrational, it's so irrational, but even more than that even more than that.
Speaker 4:It's not even about next week in South Bend. It's not about what happened at the shoe. It's about how did he look in comparison to the Michigan quarterback. And when I look at these two games that are against relatively nobodies, somebody played a little bit better than that.
Speaker 1:All insane is hold on, hold, on hold on QBR. Right now McCord or JJ, so it sounds like McCord does. I think, McCord does.
Speaker 2:You're telling me that if you could choose right now your quarterback for the rest of the year, you would take McCord over McCarthy. Absolutely, yeah, without a doubt. That's absolutely insane.
Speaker 4:Based on what we've seen so far, that's absolutely insane Based on what we've seen so far, absolutely.
Speaker 2:Holy cow guys, Absolutely. We've alluded to it, let's talk about it. South Bend is coming this weekend Again. Shameless plug, JP. We're going to be there. Part of rival pod. Make sure you follow at rival pod across social media.
Speaker 1:And we've got a crazy cool thing happening. If you follow us on Instagram, it is Instagram specific. You got to follow us at rival pod. We're giving away an Amazon gift card and a rivalry t-shirt. We don't have any on today, we're just going to go ahead and do that right now.
Speaker 4:We'll post that, you don't? I'm working on it. Wow, I have never been.
Speaker 1:You don't follow your own. He's about as prepared as JJ and Michigan was this past weekend, so hey, how many I like this guy.
Speaker 2:How many wins does JJ have over Ohio State?
Speaker 1:About as many as in your section that he had this past weekend.
Speaker 2:Thank, you Stu for two.
Speaker 1:Man, it is the plot.
Speaker 2:For a team that hasn't beat Michigan this decade. We guys sure are arrogant.
Speaker 1:Man, you guys have a lot of time to think of those jokes during like the 12 years that we smashed guys. So Notre Dame is going to be the vibe's over here. Probably good the vibes are horrible.
Speaker 2:Now I get to say the vibes are way off. Notre Dame obviously going to be one of the toughest games on Ohio State's schedule. They come in with the fourth ranked total defense, the third ranked passing defense and on the offensive side of the ball, sam Hartman has thrown for over a thousand yards already, 13 touchdowns, no picks. I think now I am not going to be a Notre Dame apologist as a Michigan man Like. I think that's one of the things that kind of like Alabama, both you and I and all three of us can agree. We would love to see Notre Dame just suffer in perpetuity, okay, except for this week. Well, so I will say I will say that Notre Dame has not played the best of competition thus far. However, there's an exception to that, and them going on the road and beating NC State by three scores is pretty impressive to me.
Speaker 1:NC State's bad.
Speaker 2:They're not good, but I wouldn't say you call that, but I wouldn't say that they're bad.
Speaker 4:They gave up 24 points to NC State.
Speaker 2:Notre Dame is going to be a problem, I think. What are you looking for? Why put it this way? Ohio State is favored right now. The line is three. That surprises me because it feels like an underdog mentality. Am I off on the little I?
Speaker 1:feel like, yeah, I'm surprised. I don't think Ohio State should be the underdog, but it doesn't surprise me. It surprises me that the nation doesn't consider that. I will say this Notre Dame team feels a lot different than Notre Dame in the past. I feel like even when they're highly ranked.
Speaker 1:I always kind of feel like they're a joke team. I know that sounds weird to say, but I don't look at them as a serious threat. This year changes things because I feel like they're quarterback the last time I remember Notre Dame having a solid. This is the guy who was maybe to Sean Kaiser, and even before that I would say Brady Quinn, maybe you tell me, last year's Tyler Buckner experiment didn't go well, well. I just didn't get fooled from the Alabama game against USF, so no.
Speaker 2:If Notre Dame had even a and I've said this before if Notre Dame had even a remotely competent offense last year in Columbus, they win that game. They were very good, but they didn't yeah, they, they but now they have Sam Hartman.
Speaker 1:They pulled it together. Sam Hartman definitely changes things. This is a tough one. This is to me, I think, the stuff that has to go right for Ohio State, and I'm feeling a little bit more confident because McCourt has shown progress through each week he's been able to find our receivers that are-.
Speaker 2:It's always good for the quarterback.
Speaker 1:How hard is it for you to go out and find Marvin Harrison Jr? It can't be that hard.
Speaker 4:It's not so. He's gonna feast.
Speaker 1:Ibuka's gonna feast. I'm calling it now live on this podcast. It's a Cates Dover game this upcoming Saturday in South Bend. I'd like to see that Farmer Gronk's gonna make quite an appearance. I'm gonna call the stats too. Seven receptions, 96 yards. Oh my gosh. Two scores, market. That's my Cates Dover prediction. Osu is gonna get the run game going. Henderson's getting back to his old ways. The defense is gonna be electric. Mccourt is gonna be lights out. Ohio State 38 Notre Dame 31.
Speaker 4:That's a wrap.
Speaker 2:I mean it's tough to Mitchell go ahead because I gotta gather myself after that.
Speaker 4:I'm gonna go on on most of that, I will tailor it with. We're not talking about defense, and defense seems to be the whole that Notre and everybody talks about their offense because they're doing great. They're putting up 45 points a game Okay, they're doing what they're supposed to be doing on offense, but when you're giving up 24 points to NC State and 17 points to Central Michigan, it's just not super confidence instilling when you're gonna go up against the Buckeyes. So I do think that this is a team to be reckoned with. We're on their turf. I think it's absolutely going to be one of the the pivotal game before the game. I don't think that Notre Dame will be able to stop the long ball and the run game of Ohio State because, man, they were just fast.
Speaker 4:Henderson looks great If he beats you to the corner just go to the locker because you're not going to catch him Collect your things. He's so fast so you can take his shoes if you want, it doesn't matter. So teams have tried that and it doesn't matter. That was good, I'll give you that shot, that's good, so anyway, I'm on board. I think it's going to be 42 to 28 Buckeyes, You're not?
Speaker 2:scoring 42 points.
Speaker 4:I think it's against a team that gave up 24 to NC State. I think it's pretty possible 42.
Speaker 2:I wouldn't hate that at all. 42 points All right, this will shock nobody, but I could not disagree with you more. Benjamin Morrison is a preseason All-American at corner for this defense and I think that he is going to be a problem. So you are likely to see him locked in on Marvin Harrison Jr, which that battle alone should be a just a ton like from a objective college football perspective. That's going to be a really fun battle, and so what I think you may have to see is you may have to see McCord and I hate to give you any credit, JP, but you may have to see McCord find guys like Stover, because I think as good as Marvin is, you know Notre Dame is going to be keyed in on him. You're going to have your preseason All-American lock in with him. It's like that's your guy.
Speaker 1:I wonder what it would be like to have another first round NFL talent in your wide receiver room named a Mecca Boca. I wonder what that?
Speaker 4:would be like.
Speaker 1:So that if per chance he would lock up Marvin Harrison, it would be super nice.
Speaker 4:I think you're right. That's what he just said. Here's what he just said.
Speaker 2:Here's going to be. A huge difference, though, is that Ohio State's offensive line, though, is going to have to give McCord time. That is fair, and I just that is, for me, that's a huge question mark that I don't buy. Yet If they win that battle.
Speaker 1:I'm on an edge to decide.
Speaker 2:If Ohio State wins the offensive line, the defensive line battle, I would say Ohio State would win that football game. But I don't think that they will. I do not believe in Ohio State's offensive line. I think honestly you just carry up for next week again, ohio State's offensive line is a huge question mark. You're not welcome back. I'll be here. You better believe it. I think Ohio State's defense also has a huge chance to decide who wins this football game. Because if the defense is as elite as they have looked over the first few weeks and again, competition, I think, is a huge factor here. But if they are for real, if they're for real, we're going to see it on Saturday in South Bend and if that's the case, this is a team to be reckoned with. If it's all just posing against weaker opponents, they're gonna get eaten alive.
Speaker 4:I think Ohio State's weaker opponents are better than Notre Dame's weaker opponents. Well I think that's something.
Speaker 2:I mean we, I don't think that's. You played in FCS school, my brother and Christ, that's okay.
Speaker 1:We've hyped up Sam Hartman a ton, but I also just don't think he's faced a lot of defensive pressure this year either. So I think I'm excited to see that That'll be a big question too. Yeah, I think can we make him uncomfortable? I'm not scared of their running game at all. I think if they're gonna beat us, it's gonna be on the air, and so, and in the air also.
Speaker 2:Well, in the air, yeah, whatever On the air we're on, the air we're on the line. I do not buy Ohio State in this game. Wow, 34 to 20. No chance, 34 to 20.
Speaker 4:As you've been doing this for so long. You're still coming to this level.
Speaker 2:I think McCord's gonna have a hard time. I think he's gonna have at least two picks. I just I don't buy Ohio State being ready for this game. If they play them in November, maybe a different story, but this is the first real. Indiana does not count. This is the first real road test for Ohio.
Speaker 4:State it doesn't count.
Speaker 2:Indiana is barely a state.
Speaker 4:Indiana is better than any of the teams that Notre Dame has already played.
Speaker 2:That's just not even remotely true. It is true, it's not remotely true.
Speaker 1:Oh my goodness, I would normally side with you, but I do think North Carolina State might be a tad bit better than Indiana.
Speaker 2:They just have a competent quarterback. Yeah, oh, if you want more of this to continue, we also have a Patreon RiverRadiocom slash rivalry and because our friend Erin at Elevated Integrity Construction does want this to continue, we're grateful to EIC for sponsoring this podcast. Your home build, church build. They do the design element as well, because your project is too important to just guess. Why don't go with the folks with integrity in their name? It's Elevated Integritycom. Elevated Integritycom.
Speaker 1:And we do want to give another shout out real quick that we are going to be at the game this week. Yes, so, make sure you follow us on all of our socials. At RivalPod, We've got Patreon that you can find us on. We've got Twitter X whatever you want to call it, we have an.
Speaker 3:Instagram it's still Twitter. It's still Twitter. Yeah, I'm not calling it that, we're not doing that, elon, it's Twitter.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you can't force me to do any of that, getting your spaceship and flying out of here, so you can make sure to follow us.
Speaker 1:Like I said, if you follow us on Instagram, you're going to be eligible to win a rivalry T-shirt and an Amazon gift card. And yeah, we got some cool stuff planned. We're going down Friday, so we're going to explore the campus a little bit.
Speaker 2:Beautiful campus Going to be a beautiful time.
Speaker 1:Incredible time.
Speaker 2:Mitchell, as our resident Catholic, do you feel conflicted in this game? Not at all, not at all, no wait.
Speaker 4:Notre Dame is so polarizing, like it is so polarizing. You've got some people that are all about the brand and the history and it does have a good history but there's a lot of people that are Catholic that are like I don't know if Notre Dame is anymore.
Speaker 2:I want you to know that's the only reason you weren't fighting on this episode.
Speaker 4:I'm just all in on the Buckeyes. Their campus is beautiful. You guys are going to love it. The main church there is incredible. It's gorgeous. The intricacy of the artwork, the whole place is amazing. And I'm still all for the Buckeyes, because they're a little crazy sometimes.
Speaker 2:Have you ever worked in sales? Because you balanced. That. It's just beautiful. That is wonderful.
Speaker 4:Can I confirm more tonight?
Speaker 2:I'll take that as an endorsement to follow at RivalPod. There you go, all right, before we go around the rest of the college football land, let's do stupid, genius upset pics of the week. This was again presented by our friends at the J Company. Fall back in love with your home again at theJAEcompanycom. Crazy genius. This year we start keeping tabs on this. You get five points for getting your upset pic correct, plus whatever the spread was, and you do have to have at least a 4 and 1 half point underdog to qualify. Last week you picked South Carolina at Georgia.
Speaker 1:I was wrong. You're not that wrong.
Speaker 2:That's true, you weren't that wrong.
Speaker 1:I was 20 something point favorites.
Speaker 2:You were still wrong. Against my better judgment, I went ahead and took Florida over 10 C. So that gives me five points for the win, five points for the spread. I'm up to 22 to nothing in stupid genius this year.
Speaker 1:I'm not looking great until this week when I get it right and I'm back in the game.
Speaker 2:All right. What is your stupid, genius upset? Pic of the week, again presented by our friends at the J Company.
Speaker 1:You know what I want. What my heart of heart says is I can't say it out loud Come on, if you pick Rutgers, I will walk off this. No, because I knew you were going to pick that. Give me my theme music. I don't know what that means. Colorado Buffalo's over number 10, oregon 20 and a half point. Underdogs Deion, shadr Sanders I saw today. Travis Hunter is out for three weeks, so they're going to be missing him.
Speaker 4:Deion just closed a $1.3 million sunglasses deal with blenders because people want the same glasses.
Speaker 1:Walking out the haters. All I'm saying is Walking out the haters. There's a team that's motivated and ticked off. It's Colorado. So to be clear, think of this sunglasses.
Speaker 2:So to be clear you're taking a team that are three touchdown underdogs without Travis Hunter. Let me check. Yeah, that's it. This is why you have no points in this category.
Speaker 1:It's about to tell today, when I'm up 25 to 22 after this game.
Speaker 2:Deion we trust. I will say that. Ok, I will say this. You know what? Let's talk about Colorado right here. I'll give my stupid genius thing a minute.
Speaker 1:Get off your chest, come on. I want it to be said that I made this because I knew this was going to happen, so please, I'm going to stare into this camera right here.
Speaker 2:I do not buy Colorado. I do not buy them for a second. And let me tell you why. Thanks for asking A middling TCU team that they beat. Now, granted, let me set up the context here. This is not about wow. It's amazing that a one in 11 team from last year now is stringing some wins together. That is impressive, like that's real. That is impressive Objectively good thing. What I'm talking about is the national love for Colorado. Like this is a national championship contender. What's wrong with that? They beat a Hold on.
Speaker 2:I'm talking I'm talking to America right now, if you got that reference. Thank you Talking to America right now. They beat a net TCU team. They struggled with Nebraska which I don't know how much Nebraska football you've watched lately, but no one should be struggling with Nebraska and then took two over times to beat a 21 point underdog in Colorado State and then rushed the field, but it was fun to watch. Hey, it was. It gave us something to listen to driving through the night, or a shell station.
Speaker 2:Matters. It's good for the sport. I don't buy. Colorado and Oregon is going to beat the snot out of.
Speaker 1:Why would you not want to root for an underdog like that?
Speaker 2:They won one. I have no problem, you do.
Speaker 4:They won one game?
Speaker 1:I have no, they have won three to start the year. They have beat both of their rivals.
Speaker 2:Their quarterback in Shadura Sanders is my husband Do you feel like them? Beating their rivals is something that you're trying to live vicariously.
Speaker 1:Well, no, because I, majority of my life, have experienced that.
Speaker 2:So I know it's now we're talking about. I know it's new.
Speaker 1:Here we go. But what you just literally brought up the past, so I just, I have no problem.
Speaker 2:I have no problem rooting for Colorado Like I'll root for Colorado to upset Oregon.
Speaker 1:I know we don't want you, but after that I don't.
Speaker 2:I don't get the hype, I don't get the buying in. As this is a legitimate national title team, I don't think people think that.
Speaker 1:I think that they're just excited about the way they talk about it. It is, they do. They won one game.
Speaker 4:You have coached prime. What if you have to see Dion just actually coming close? He bothers me.
Speaker 2:I don't care for him. I do not care for.
Speaker 4:I love every single part of that team. I love the antics.
Speaker 1:I love the quotes. The second I heard his press conference where he said I'm bringing my baggage and it's Louie Because people are watching it.
Speaker 4:If I was in, Colorado.
Speaker 2:I'm slapping season tickets. People are watching the Gen Z tied pods on Instagram Not that long ago too. Man doesn't mean, it's a good thing.
Speaker 4:Probably it's good for Marist. I just watched.
Speaker 1:109,000 people watch that Michigan game this past weekend, so people will watch dumb stuff.
Speaker 4:Man he's on today. Stop high fiving, I'm one of those, let's go.
Speaker 2:I will say this there's not for super genius upset picks there were not a lot that I looked through that I went yeah, that's bound to happen, I'm going to, I'm going to go with the best one I could find. I am going to take Iowa at Penn State. Ok, iowa, the line right now is 14 and a half. It's not even that. I, because I believe in Iowa, I mean I've seen, I've seen Kate McNamara this year. He's fine, he's always just been fine. He wouldn't give JJ the time of day and so I don't really care for him.
Speaker 1:He's never had a defense be able to score like Iowa Right. Yeah, I saw him.
Speaker 2:He's never had a real serviceable defense, like I was before. Is it at Iowa?
Speaker 4:No, it's at Penn State. They don't even have the emotional story to get with, I think.
Speaker 2:I think Penn State some of the vulnerabilities that I saw that Illinois defense was able to give Penn State trouble for a big chunk of that game. Iowa's defense is far better than Illinois's and Iowa's offense is a little bit better, at least in Illinois's, Because, again, Kate is Kate is a good quarterback. He's not a great quarterback, but he's a good quarterback and that's really all that I would need is they need, I'll call it he's a game manager. I know he doesn't want to be called that Kate's a game manager, but that's what you need in a game like this where you're too too touched on underdogs. I will take Iowa's defense giving Drew a call or some fits, and I think Iowa surprises a lot of people and gets a big win on the road. I wouldn't hate that.
Speaker 4:I actually disagree with you.
Speaker 2:Am I hearing some agreement? Disagree with you oh.
Speaker 1:I think he's more of an assistant to the game manager.
Speaker 4:The game manager.
Speaker 2:But I guess where you're coming from. The last thing we'll mention here is we'd be remiss not to mention Michigan State on this podcast. Mark Dantonio coming back my guy Absolutely obliterated At home in his redebut yeah, keeps me warm at night.
Speaker 1:I was disappointed at the Michigan game that they didn't display that largely. Yeah, and get a loud cheer, because you need a little bit of uplifting and encouraging Would you say up.
Speaker 2:I've been River Radio dot com slash the rivalry. You know, one thing I've noticed after that 41, seven dropping really over the last couple of weeks is on YouTube. We had that Michigan State fan kind of check in about after Central Michigan. I haven't heard from first name bunch of numbers in a while and I really hope they're doing well. It's one of those things you love to see, I hope. I hope things are good in East Lansing and, as a reminder, michigan State did offer a head coach who's now suspended, a 10 year 95 million dollar contract and the team that he built just got beat by like five touchdowns at home.
Speaker 3:You really hate to see it Times are hard.
Speaker 2:Yikes, Closing thoughts. Give me your top six. Give me your first your four playoff teams right now and your first two out.
Speaker 1:Oh, don't start with me. No, you won't. Ok, I'll go for it.
Speaker 2:I'll play off teams. First two out In order.
Speaker 1:I've got Georgia one. Even though they struggled, I still think South Carolina was a.
Speaker 2:South Carolina at two.
Speaker 4:What? That's what I was thinking as well.
Speaker 1:OK, no, no, no, no, even though they struggled and lost. Georgia one, Michigan two, OSU three, USC four, OK Washington five, Florida State six.
Speaker 2:Some of that was really good.
Speaker 1:I thought every single one of it was perfect.
Speaker 2:I'll give you mine so much so I have a little more time to think on this. I agree with you on one and two. I've got Georgia, michigan. I have Texas still at three because I still think, even with the struggle with Wyoming, ohio State quarterback, when yours oh, I was great, joe Burrow, ohio State Great. I have Texas at three because I still believe in that team a lot. I have USC at four just because I don't have a reason to keep them out of the top four. Right now there's three and oh, they haven't played anybody but they've dealt with their business. Caleb Williams is a good quarterback. I have OSU at five. I had a ranked, I think, seventh last week. I'll move them up to five because I was impressed with the defense. And I put Florida State at six because I just don't know how you, how you play like that in Boston College and then still have a top four spot Doesn't make any sense in the eight people. Florida State is six and that's kind of being generous, right now.
Speaker 1:So why are you leaving Washington out Washington? To me is so similar because USC, where they both of those teams, only because you're looking at the top 10. Those are two teams that every opponent they played they've dominated. I agree, and I think. What are they ranked right now? No, I'm trying to remember.
Speaker 2:Yeah, they're like eight or nine.
Speaker 3:I'm just because.
Speaker 2:I couldn't, I couldn't jump them. I couldn't jump them right now over Penn State. I couldn't jump them over Notre Dame. So there's a lot of other teams I'd have to drop to move them up. I can't do that quite good. I just simply based on where they started the season ranked. That's the only reason.
Speaker 1:I just think Michael Pinnickson is 19th year of the eligibility he is my new Stetson Bennett.
Speaker 2:We call that the JT Bear syndrome.
Speaker 1:He's my new Stetson Bennett. Hey, that works. Can we just point out that a couple of years ago that man was playing for the Hoosiers, and can you imagine being a fan of that and then having to watch this Washington team go out and play with him?
Speaker 2:I mean Indiana is one Michael Pinnickson junior from being a national title contender.
Speaker 4:That's what I was telling you earlier.
Speaker 2:Mitchell, finish us out here on the Rye 40 with your top four and first two out.
Speaker 4:Well, I'll start with saying you're not going to like it, I think, I think. But I know my hometown of Columbus is going to like this, because Ohio State, one for sure to Georgia, because you know they're still doing pretty well. I wonder what would happen if those two played each other. Three, let's go with. Let's go with Texas, because of Ohio State, great. And then for Washington, let's just, let's just make that spicy. What are we talking about? Let's just make that happen.
Speaker 2:I think you're first to go. Huh, you're your first two out five and six.
Speaker 4:I mean meat chicken would be a good one to put in. Five. You think, you think. And then USC, just because I want to see him battle but then lose it at the very end.
Speaker 1:That is a little bit sweeter.
Speaker 4:Yeah, that's so. Chew on that, think about it. We'll see in a couple of weeks how that pans out, because I'm thinking that's what it's going to look like in about three weeks. Mitchell, it's good to have you.
Speaker 2:It's good to be here. You should be part of this. Don't forget you can win an Amazon gift card and a rivalry t-shirt just for following on Instagram as we head to Notre Dame this weekend at rival pod on Instagram. Follow across social media at that same handle and consider becoming a patreon subscriber at River Radio dot com. Slash rivalry.
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