00:00Nobody better at breaking down college football than our next guest Paul Stone joins us courtesy
00:04of Paul Stone Sports. Make sure you check out his website and of course catch him on all his
00:08media appearances throughout the week but this is our prime time me and Paul when we get to go
00:13one-on-one throughout the week here on Thursday. Paul great to have you back here on Newswire
00:17once again appreciate it as we head to another big week in college football. One of the biggest
00:21games on the board will commence at 3 30 eastern time. Very intriguing matchup you don't see very
00:27often. Auburn takes on Oklahoma. We got a Heisman Trophy candidate by the way out of Oklahoma. I
00:33don't think a lot of people thought that going into the season. Sooners six and a half point favorites
00:37total 47 and a half. Kind of feel like I know what Oklahoma is at this point. Not really sure what
00:43Auburn is. I would love your opinion on this game and more on this John Mateer who is now
00:49on FanDuel very close to being the favorite to win the Heisman. Yeah I tell you I know it's only
00:55mid-September obviously Craig and I don't like to be the prisoner of the moment a prisoner of the
01:00moment but these teams come into this game both at 3 and 0. You know Auburn's got a pretty good
01:04pretty good victory. They went into Baylor that season week one season opening Friday night
01:10beat Baylor in Waco 38-24 and then Oklahoma hosted Michigan in week two pretty well in control from
01:19beginning to end defeating the Wolverines 24-13. But the winner of this game you know in my mind
01:26they're going to have you know a really nice data point on the resume. Certainly won't be in the
01:30playoff because the SEC is a gauntlet week in and week out but they'll have kind of a leg up. Both these
01:36schools fielding transfer quarterbacks has been well chronicled but Jackson Arnold Auburn's first year
01:42starting quarterback played his first two seasons of college football at Oklahoma. And then John Mateer
01:49took a circuitous route to Oklahoma but he is now Arnold's successor as Oklahoma's starting
01:55quarterback. And as you mentioned John Mateer currently at most books the betting favorite to
01:59win the Heisman Trophy. But an interesting story I'm here in the state of Texas. Mateer played high
02:05school football just north of the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex at Little Lamb High School. Denton
02:11Guyer High School in Denton, Texas one of the premier powers in the state of Texas. That's where
02:17Jackson Arnold played high school football. Mateer one grade ahead of Arnold but actually Arnold a big
02:23time five-star recruit could have gone anywhere. Ultimately initially signed with Oklahoma. Mateer
02:28on the other side thought of as much of a baseball as much of a baseball player as a football player
02:34originally committed to Central Arkansas, FCS Central Arkansas, to play both baseball and football.
02:40Washington State came in late, went to Washington State, watched during 2023. But when Cameron Ward went
02:48to Miami, he burst on the scene in 2024, a big year last year at Washington State, almost 4,000
02:54total yards offense. So John Mateer, a true dual threat guy. There's a lot to like about both these
03:02teams to this point. But I just like Oklahoma at home. I like their roster by a slim margin. They're the
03:08more complete football team. But what it really comes down to, in my opinion, the wild card from
03:13my chair is John Mateer. I mean, this guy just seems to be a man on a mission. They follow his
03:18lead. I think Oklahoma's a team on a mission. They're playing with so much confidence. He's just
03:23got that moxie. He's got that attitude. Statistically, he's thrown for 944 yards to this point, rushed for
03:30another 161. Last year, Oklahoma in the 134-team FBS structure. They were at the very bottom in almost
03:39every major statistical passing category. This year, they're much closer to the top. It's because
03:45of Mateer and receivers like Deion Burks, a field stretcher who has 17 catches for 225 yards and two
03:52touchdowns to this point. I just like this Oklahoma team. I think they're bound ultimately for the
03:57playoff. I like Oklahoma minus seven now over Auburn. Yeah, six and a half, seven. I guess that
04:04was the line maybe earlier in the week. All right. So now let's get to the next game, Paul, for you to
04:09break down. And boy, what a great story that was. I wonder if you have one for us here. All right. So
04:13Baylor faced Auburn, of course, in week one. And now we're going to talk about them. They're two and a
04:18half point favorites. Should be a very highly contested battle against Arizona State. In fact, a lot of love
04:25right now for Baylor quarterback Sawyer Robertson. Here's ASU head coach Kenny Dillingham on
04:31Robertson. Take a listen to this, Paul. Yeah, I actually recruited him out of high school. Didn't
04:36get him. Went to Mississippi State. And, you know, he's a heck of a player. He's accurate. He's tall,
04:44big, so he can see over the line, make throws over the middle of the field really well, which is
04:49obviously a strength of a, of a taller quarterback, super intelligent, better athlete than people give
04:55him credit for. Like he's a big dude. I went and like saw him throw live at a practice back when,
05:01back in high school. So really good player. He's had a lot of success the last two years
05:05there. So it's going to be a good challenge for us.
05:09Paul, 10 touchdowns, two interceptions in this early part of the season. Great start for Robertson.
05:19A breakdown there of Sawyer Robertson. He not only signed with Mississippi State,
05:26the coach when he signed at Mississippi State was the late Mike Leach. So just a little bit of a,
05:31of a nugget there, kind of a sad, uh, uh, you know, nugget to, to bring that up with coach Leach
05:37no longer with us, but Sawyer Robertson, man, he is the man. He, uh, in their first two games against
05:42a couple of pretty good football teams, uh, talking about, uh, Auburn in, uh, week one. And then they
05:48fought, he followed that up against SMU on the road through for 419 yards. And that lost to
05:53Auburn, then went to SMU through for 440 yards in that overtime victory. Uh, they've averaged in
05:59those two games, 8.8 yards per attempt. So almost nine yards in an attempt in those games against
06:05Auburn and SMU. So that's a really robust average and the difficulty with Baylor as well. And I know
06:11Kenny Dillingham knows this is they don't just have one or two receivers. You gotta, you gotta cover.
06:16They got a lot of guys that can catch the ball in space and make things happen. In fact,
06:20they've already had three wide receivers have 100 yard receiving games through three games this year.
06:26Uh, those guys being Josh Cameron, Ashton Watkins, and Cole Wilson. Then they also have a tight end
06:33that they use. Michael Trigg was a big time recruit. He was second team, all big 12 last year,
06:38uh, Trigg this year, so far 13 catches for 151 yards through three touchdowns. And I didn't even
06:45mention Kobe Prentice, the Alabama transfer. He only has 10 catches, but four of them for touchdowns.
06:51So Baylor's got a lot of receivers. It's hard for most teams to match up. Auburn gave up, uh, 419
06:57passing yards to Baylor in that opening, uh, uh, game. Um, I'm getting off on, on a different game
07:05here. I'm sorry. Got confused. Imagine that. But, uh, you know, I just think that, uh, you know,
07:11Baylor's going to be able to pass the ball on this Arizona state team. And like I said,
07:17uh, and maybe I didn't say it, but Blake Chapin in that Mississippi state victory over, um,
07:24Arizona state in week two, 24, 20, Blake Chapin, Mississippi state's quarterback through for 279
07:29yards, 8.5 yards per attempt. So he threw the ball quite well on them. I think Robertson and Baylor,
07:35although Mississippi state's passing game is good. Baylor's is very good. Robertson's got a lot of
07:40receivers at his disposal. I think they're going to throw the ball big numbers. I think they're
07:45going to beat Arizona state by a field goal or more Saturday, two and a half point spread there.
07:50All right, Paul, let's close it out with a game that, you know, if you asked me to break it down,
07:55Paul couldn't do it. That's why we have you here. North Texas takes on army with North Texas,
08:02uh, mean green, right? 50 and a half is the total here. We know that there's going to be a lot of
08:08running in this game because that's what army does. Tell me more about this showdown at noon
08:13Eastern on Saturday. Well, it's a contrast in styles. Like you said, all army, this does a
08:18whole lot of running. They try to churn that clock. They try to possess the ball. They try to keep it
08:23away from their opponent. And that will be especially important against North Texas because North Texas
08:28is a team that likes to throw the ball all over the yard. Average 43 pass attempts last year to North
08:34Texas, uh, through the ball on 60% of their, uh, offensive plays. But I just like this army team,
08:40their quarterback, Dwayne Coleman, uh, missed their week two victory over Kansas state. They beat the
08:46wildcats 24 to 20 as a 16 and a half point underdog after losing their season opener as a 14 and a half
08:54point favorite loss to Tarleton state of the FCS 30 to 27, but Tarleton state's really good. Uh, I like this
09:02army team. I think they're going to possess the ball. Kay, uh, Kel Hellams, uh, played in relief
09:07of, uh, Coleman in the victory over Kansas state. Hellams had 41 carries, 124 yards, two touchdowns.
09:14I think army keeps a hold of the ball. I like army plus one and a half to two and a half over North
09:19Texas. Always great stuff. We'll see you next week. Hey, thank you guys. Appreciate it. Have a great weekend.
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