College Football Season Excitement Surges with Expanded Playoff

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00:00Bill Bender, our man from the

00:04Sporting News, is with us now,

00:06because there's a lot to dive

00:07into. Bill, good to see you, as

00:09always, my man. And I think the

00:11first thing that I want to ask

00:13you this first, because this was

00:14the one thing that I've been

00:15thinking about here in November

00:16with college football, there was

00:17so many people that tried to

00:19tell me that the regular season

00:22in college football is not going

00:23to mean as much anymore going

00:25from four teams to 12 teams,

00:27that it's not going to be not

00:29going to be as exciting in

00:30November, there's going to be

00:32Bill, they couldn't be more

00:33wrong. Because there are so

00:35many more games that years ago

00:37we would have never been

00:40highlighting or looking forward

00:42to or saying mean a lot than we

00:44do now. Because with three

00:46weeks to go, Bill, this thing is

00:48all over the place with this

00:50committee and what the 12 teams

00:51that are going to get in

00:52specifically in the SEC.

00:55Right. And the Power Four is

00:56like four separate NFLs.

00:58Basically, when you look at the

01:00tiebreaker scenarios, and you

01:01sort all that out, at least the

01:03NFL, it's just to AFC, NFC, you

01:05figure it out. Now, when you

01:07dig in to the SEC tiebreaker

01:10scenarios, you come up with a

01:11couple conclusions. If Texas

01:13beats Texas A&M takes care of

01:15business against Kentucky this

01:16weekend, which I think they

01:17will, the Longhorns will have

01:19one spot. If you have this

01:21multi team tiebreaker, it could

01:24work its way down to a

01:26tiebreaker, which would be the

01:28combined winning percentage of

01:30their conference opponents. And

01:31right now of those two lost

01:33teams, the one that has one

01:35that's 500 or better, is that

01:37who? Alabama, of course. So for

01:39all this, like, you know,

01:41posturing and trying to figure

01:42out all these doomsday

01:43scenarios, we're probably going

01:45to end up with Texas and

01:46Alabama if those two teams take

01:48care of their business in the

01:49next two weeks.

01:50Yeah, and I was saying in the

01:52break before that LSU doomsday

01:55scenario that was out there

01:56last week was was pretty wild

01:58because on paper bill, it kind

02:01of looked plausible when you

02:03first looked at and you went,

02:04all right, you know, at the

02:05favorite team. But as we've

02:07kind of gone to learn this year,

02:08especially even in the SEC, the

02:10whole favorite team to win

02:13definitely is not how this year

02:15is going, especially in that

02:16league. What did you think of

02:18where the committee put the SEC

02:21teams last week? And how much do

02:23you think they'll switch it up

02:24this week? Because they I think

02:25they purposely left Georgia as

02:28the last team out because they

02:29knew they beat Tennessee this

02:30week. They're going to rifle

02:32them right back up a little bit

02:33higher in the rankings. What did

02:35you think of where they kind of

02:36have those teams in the pecking

02:38order right now?

02:39I think they they honor head to

02:40head all the time. That's

02:41something to keep in mind as we

02:42get in. Now I say this and I'm

02:44going to sound like a hypocrite

02:45in about five seconds.

02:46Alabama, Alabama, Tennessee.

02:48There it is. You stole it from

02:50me. I was going to get there. So

02:52I'll get there first. I'll say

02:54they're going to honor Alabama

02:56beating Georgia before they

02:57honor Tennessee beating Alabama.

02:59And I think they'll move Georgia

03:02in tomorrow night. And I think

03:03they'll move Tennessee out,

03:05which is going to cause Tennessee

03:07fans to lash out. And I think

03:09they're going to find if they

03:10can't lash out within their own

03:11conference, they're going to

03:12find the next closest thing. And

03:14the next two closest things are

03:15going to be Indiana. If the

03:17Hoosiers lose by a bunch of

03:19points in Columbus this weekend

03:20and Notre Dame, who is

03:23attaching their Notre Dame's

03:25playing really well, by the way,

03:26but they lost to Northern

03:27Illinois and their two most

03:29impressive victories might end

03:30up being Navy and Army if they

03:32take care of the Army game this

03:33weekend. So I think that's where

03:35Tennessee fans are going to try

03:36to go because the way the

03:38playoff picture is set up,

03:40you're probably going to end up

03:41with four big 10 teams and four

03:43SEC teams. They're going to need

03:44Indiana to lose by a lot for the

03:46committee to consider knocking

03:48them out with one loss in big

03:5010 play.

03:52Yeah, I was kind of going to go

03:53there next and I'm going to

03:54circle back to Notre Dame

03:56because I do want to bring them

03:57back up as well. Indiana, Ohio

03:59State is clearly the marquee

04:00game this week. Indiana has

04:03rode this 10 and 0 mark. Have

04:04they played anybody great? No,

04:07they haven't. They finally got a

04:09big test for Michigan last time

04:11out before they went on their

04:12bye. I think you said it

04:14perfectly. If they could stay

04:17within the spread 20, like what

04:22is the number where Indiana has

04:23to prove to that committee that

04:25at 11 and one provided they beat

04:27Purdue in the last game that

04:29they are more deserving than any

04:31of those other SEC teams who are

04:34going to have two or three

04:34losses or a second, which I

04:37don't think is possible anyway,

04:38a second big 12 or ACC team.

04:40Well, let me throw a score out

04:41to you. I went and watched or

04:44you remember this game a couple

04:45of weeks ago. If Ohio State beat

04:46Indiana the same way they beat

04:49Iowa about a month ago, it was

04:5135 to seven. It was close at

04:53halftime and then Ohio State

04:54pulled away. I still think

04:56Indiana would be fine just

04:57because I will competed for a

04:59half and I kind of see that's

05:01what's going to happen on

05:02Saturday. I could see Indiana

05:04hanging around with Curtis

05:05Rourke. Will Howard and Rourke

05:07are the two top most efficient

05:09passers in the big 10. They're

05:10not fancy, but they get the job

05:11done. Curtis Rourke's had a

05:12really fantastic season and I

05:14could actually see this being a

05:16little bit like an Ohio State

05:17Michigan game where they go

05:19back and forth. The defenses

05:20control the tempo and if they

05:21stop the run, one of those

05:23quarterbacks will make a handful

05:24of pass plays and that will be

05:25that. But what they can't have

05:28happened is what happened to

05:29Michigan State a few years ago.

05:31Remember they came into the

05:32shoe, Mel Tucker team, and I

05:33think they got, it was 49

05:35nothing at halftime. If that

05:37happens, those things we talked

05:39about with Tennessee and the

05:40other SEC schools would become

05:41in play.

05:43I mean, the book still has

05:45Indiana minus 350 to make the

05:47college football playoff. So

05:49they think that the Vegas still

05:51thinks that they can get in even

05:53with a loss to a team that

05:54that's their 12 and a half point

05:55dogs do. That number has gone

05:56from 10 and a half to 12 and a

05:58half over the last couple of

05:59days for Indiana. Notre Dame.

06:01People used to cry all the time.

06:03They don't play in a

06:04conference. They shouldn't be

06:05in. They have an advantage. They

06:06don't play a conference

06:07championship game. This is when

06:08there was four teams, Bill. Now

06:10that there's 12, I'm starting to

06:12see it even more. I'm a Notre

06:14Dame fan. I usually defend by

06:17saying Notre Dame usually

06:19schedules at least three or four

06:21of their games pretty good, just

06:23like everyone else. It's not

06:24their fault this year that

06:26Florida state and USC, I'll even

06:28throw Louisville in there.

06:30Aren't very good this year. I

06:31don't, I don't think it's fair

06:32to Notre Dame to do that to

06:33them. They thought those were

06:35going to be marquee games for

06:36them. Yeah. Do you think they

06:37planned on Florida state being

06:38one in eight or one in nine? I

06:40don't think so. And they, they

06:42schedule USC, they schedule

06:43across all the conferences.

06:44They've taken advantage of that

06:47ACC arrangement. And quite

06:48frankly, the last month or so

06:50they've played well, they're

06:52really good on the defensive

06:53side of the ball. You can't

06:54throw on them that you have to

06:55earn every yard. Um, and I, I

06:58kind of look at them as one of

06:59these top 10 defensive teams.

07:01If you look across most playoff

07:03projections, you're going to

07:04find eight of the top 10

07:05defenses in college football

07:07there from a scoring standpoint.

07:08So I think as we get into the

07:10college football playoff, some

07:12of these games might be fist

07:13fights, you know, like 24, 20,

07:1524, 17 type games. And in that

07:18setting, Notre Dame could win a

07:20game or two in the playoff. So

07:21I'm going to defend them here as

07:23long as they don't lose the

07:24army, which is going to be an

07:25interesting game when you're

07:26going up nation's leading rush

07:28offense and a tough defense for

07:30the black Knights. I think it's

07:31going to be a lot of fun, uh,

07:33four horsemen memories, you

07:35know, look that up, but I like

07:36the Irish to win this week and

07:38finish 11 and one and possibly

07:40depending on how it shakes out,

07:42uh, get a home game in the

07:44first round. Yeah. Uh, that

07:46game at Yankee stadium to

07:48against army, uh, coming up

07:49here on Saturday night. Uh, so

07:51that should be very

07:51interesting. I got about a

07:52minute left though. Um, BYU

07:55loses this week. Colorado's on

07:57a big role right now, Colorado,

07:59BYU, or does Arizona state who

08:01people are leaving out? Uh, you

08:03know, they're right in the mix

08:04here with BYU this week. I like

08:06the sun devils this weekend. I

08:08do. I think they went at home.

08:09BYU hasn't been there since

08:101997. Sam Levitt's a hot

08:13quarterback, three touchdowns,

08:14each of the last three weeks,

08:15they can run the football,

08:16pretty complete domination at

08:18Kansas state over the weekend

08:19as well. So man, if I had told

08:22you last year, Arizona state,

08:23Colorado pair of three and nine

08:25teams are going to be in the

08:26big 12 championship game. I

08:27mean, how hard would you have

08:29laughed me off this show? I

08:30think it's getting closer to

08:31becoming a reality. Uh, 20

08:33seconds. Will Miami or SMU open

08:37the door for Clemson in the

08:38next two weeks? I think they

08:40both win Miami SMU. That's my

08:42ACC championship game. They

08:43closed that store. If one were

08:45to open it, I think it would be

08:46Miami.

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