00:02We've got the latest in college football with Bill Bender from Sporting News
00:05as we head toward another big week and we'll review everything that happened
00:09and go over a little bit of the future as well.
00:11We'll talk some SEC football with a big win for one team on Saturday night.
00:15Bill, welcome back here to Newswire.
00:16Let's take a look at the AP Top 25 where Oklahoma is the big mover this week.
00:22Of course, they played the biggest game on the schedule, fair to say,
00:25and ended up beating Michigan 24-13.
00:27So I guess we can start there with the poll and also if anything surprised you
00:32coming out of the announcement yesterday.
00:34Well, I think Oklahoma trusts their quarterback.
00:36That's the big thing there.
00:37John Mateer, he's going to move into the Heisman frontrunners of sorts.
00:42And if you look at him through two games, 62.9% passing on passes of 10 yards or more.
00:48I thought Oklahoma coach Brent Venables trusted him to throw the ball down the field.
00:52He made a huge pass in the third quarter.
00:54And then Bryce Underwood in Michigan is still a work in progress.
00:58You know, Sharon Moore had a conservative game plan on the road.
01:00It didn't really work.
01:02Bryce has work to do throwing the ball down the field.
01:04And it showed.
01:05And a huge win, like you said, for the Sooners and the SEC on a weekend where the SEC was 4-0
01:12against other Power 4 schools.
01:14Well, the SEC was, you know, certainly in the forefront this weekend and maybe not for the right reasons.
01:22Because, Bill, when I was on the show, when you were on the show last week, you asked me about the Gators covering that big line.
01:29And I remember saying to you, well, I don't know.
01:32Like, they don't seem to score a lot of points to get that done.
01:36But, Bill, I mean, I felt like I was watching, you know, my survivor pool in the NFL disappear in week one as the Gators lost to USF 18-16.
01:47Second straight year the Gators have lost early in the season to sort of end any chance to win a national championship unless that they were to win every game the rest of the year and then get to the college football playoff.
01:58Look, I mean, it's the same stuff again with Billy Napier and some weird, you know, play calling at the end of the game, to say the least.
02:06I mean, is there anything that you could give me positivity here?
02:08Because I don't, I mean, look, as a Gator fan, as everyone knows myself, this was about crushing the blows you're going to get.
02:14Paying a team a half a million dollars to lose at home.
02:17Maybe don't look at the upcoming schedule then.
02:19You know, with all the ranked teams that are there, three straight games against top ten opponents.
02:24I think the penalties were killer.
02:26Obviously, on the last drive, having 11 penalties for 103 yards, some questionable play calling when you're trying to put the game away.
02:34You know, I think you're going to see some odds on Billy Napier and his hot seat.
02:37We're right back where we were a year ago at this time when they started 0-2 and they fought through it in November.
02:43And I just, Craig, I don't know, too many tough games against ranked opponents.
02:48And there's going to be a lot of chatter about names ranging from can they take a run at Dan Lanning?
02:54Can they go get Elaine Kiffin?
02:56Does even Brett Bielema will be turning up as a name?
02:59I mean, there are going to be a lot of suggestions to replace him.
03:03And I think it's going to be very hard to control the levels of toxicity in Florida over the next couple weeks against this very tough schedule.
03:12Yeah, I just don't think there's any getting out of it this time.
03:15I mean, last year benefited the doubt, I guess, a little bit.
03:17But this time feels hard.
03:20All right.
03:20So now on the flip side, let's go to University of South Florida.
03:23I mean, credit to them.
03:25They beat Boise State and the Gators back-to-back weeks.
03:27They're ranked for the first time in seven years.
03:30And when you think about teams in the state of Florida, Bill, the Gators, the Hurricanes, you know, certainly the Seminoles are there.
03:37You see them ranked again this year.
03:39And I would even say the University of Central Florida in terms of football moved ahead of USF for a while.
03:44But this may be the Bulls' year, will it not?
03:47They're going to have a really compelling case.
03:49And I know the spread is what it is against Miami this weekend.
03:52But their ability to play really good defense, quarterback Brown played very well, under control,
03:58composed in these last two games.
04:01And Alex Golish is a name that's going to turn up in a lot of coaching searches as coaches drop off because of that up-tempo offense.
04:08You know, he has a background.
04:09He was at Tennessee.
04:11And people like that kind of style of play.
04:14So they have been the darling over the last couple weeks.
04:16That American Conference race with Tulane and Navy will not be easy.
04:20But I think this is a team and a program that could definitely make a run.
04:26And I don't care if they lose Saturday to Miami.
04:29As long as they keep it competitive and win the American Conference, they'll have a very good shot at that group of five playoff bird.
04:36Yeah, definitely a great start for them, best I've seen in years.
04:39All right, so what's going on with Clemson here?
04:41Let's get to them for a minute because, I mean, look, we talked about it last week.
04:45I think everyone sort of predicted that, you know, Clemson may not win by 60, but they're certainly going to crush Troy, right?
04:51They were down 16-0 in this game.
04:53They had to come back and win 27-16.
04:56So forget about even covering or having them in a teaser or anything like that.
05:00You just can't feel real great about what I've seen.
05:03Yeah, it's the worst when you know during the rain delay that you're not getting the cover in that game, which it was a 32.5-point spread.
05:10So for Clemson, it's really an interesting weekend coming up.
05:15It was some of that game against Troy a hangover from LSU, possibly.
05:19But they got it together in the second half.
05:21Cade Klubnick was better.
05:23Their receivers, Wesco, really stepped up, had a big game.
05:27And now they play Georgia Tech this weekend on the road.
05:30And this Georgia Tech program, that line's dipped a little bit.
05:33I think there's a little bit of backing at Georgia Tech, especially if Haynes King plays.
05:37So it's time for Clemson to go stand up.
05:40Meanwhile, top teams in the country had no problem with their cupcakes, I guess it's fair to say.
05:45Ohio State, no offense to Grambling, but they beat them 70-0.
05:48Penn State, their defense was huge, 34-0 win.
05:52And, you know, obviously LSU's game with a bigger spread was not covered against Louisiana Tech.
05:57But you would expect a little bit of a pullback after their win against Clemson.
06:01So you got to feel real good, number one, number two, number three teams in the country.
06:05I think that's the way that it should be.
06:07Yeah, I mean, they all look good.
06:08And, I mean, Ohio State, obvious, you know, it's obvious what they have there with Julian
06:12Sayan and what he's been able to do.
06:14Penn State, Georgia, LSU, that top four, all kind of took care of business.
06:18LSU, a little bit of a hangover, too, obviously.
06:21And now they bring Florida in there.
06:23I think they'll have their full attention.
06:25But Julian Sayan throwing the ball down the field, even against Grambling, it was good to see.
06:31I think that offense is dangerous.
06:33That defense is complete.
06:34It's going to be very difficult to beat the Buckeyes in Columbus, which my Bobcats play there this weekend.
06:43Maybe I got ahead of myself a little bit.
06:45Yeah, but I think your Bobcats had a big upset, right, this past week against West Virginia?
06:49They did.
06:50Am I right about that?
06:51Huge 17-10 win at Peden.
06:53So they have some momentum, even though they're heavy underdogs going into the shoe this weekend.
06:58Don't tell anybody, but I pay attention to all the schools in college football here, Bill.
07:03Great stuff, as always.
07:04We'll catch up with you again later in the week.
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