College Football Playoffs Heat Up with Exciting Matchups

SportsGrid

Watch College Football Playoffs Heat Up with Exciting Matchups - SportsGrid on Dailymotion

Transcript

00:00Always good to have Bill Bender from the Sporting News with us as we get ready.

00:04College football playoff quarterfinals, one game tomorrow night, three games on Wednesday,

00:09New Year's Day, as we get ourselves a little closer to a champion. Bill, great to see you.

00:13As always, Happy New Year, all those good things. Before we get to the big four games,

00:19track meet in Music City, Iowa and Missouri going up and down the field, and all the bowls so far,

00:27most of them, large percentage of them, have been pretty fun and entertaining. You've had crazy

00:33five, four, five, six overtime games. You've had high scoring. That Iowa State-Miami game was nuts,

00:40yet Cam Ward not playing the second half. The bowls have actually been, and this is not hard

00:45to do considering how bad the four first round games were, they've been highly entertaining so

00:50far, Bill. Yeah, bad news for the bowls are meaningless crowd. For people that say bowls

00:56are meaningless, there are an awful lot of people weighing in on Cam Ward opting out at halftime,

01:01or Colorado getting beat the way that they did by BYU, or Pitt not going for it on fourth down

01:08and one after a tight end through a pass to a defensive tackle. I mean, I find fun in bowl

01:14games. I enjoy them, you know, from the sprinkles on the sideline at the Pop-Tarts Bowl to the

01:19baseball stadiums and everything in between. So I enjoy why we have it, because we'll be

01:24complaining about it when we don't. I know one thing, Bill, we're getting close. A few more

01:30weeks, there's no college football till August. So we'll all be wanting games once these ones are

01:36over in a few weeks. Let's get to the big four. We'll start tomorrow night. And like I said,

01:42we only have to go up. The first round games were tough to watch. They were blowouts,

01:47no problems there. All the winners, all the chalk gets through. Penn State and Boise State,

01:52Fiesta Bowl, New Year's Eve, big number here, been hanging around ten and a half.

01:57Will Gente and Boise be able to hang around with the Nittany Lions?

02:02They're going to have to run the football to do that. And I'm saying that like there could be

02:06three yard carries, four yard carries, four yard carries, and then maybe bust a big play.

02:11Penn State looked really good in their first round matchup against SMU. They have a top

02:1510 rush defense, and I think their defense gets undervalued a little bit.

02:20The team that can run the football in this Fiesta Bowl, whether it's Penn State or Boise

02:24State, will be in good shape because you're taking pressure off Maddox Madsen, who doesn't make a ton

02:28of mistakes, to be fair, and Drew Aller, who maybe he'll take a few more shots down the field

02:33against an underrated Boise secondary. I've gone back and forth on this one all week.

02:39I think Penn State wins, obviously, but I actually think Boise State can sneak in a cover here,

02:43especially if Ashton Gente goes off. And I am glad they are the Cinderella

02:48story of this playoff, in a way. You know what I mean? I know they're the three seed,

02:52but they are the Cinderella. Oh, they absolutely are. And I did already

02:57see that they're going to, which they should, try to change that next year. They're going to

03:00have discussions about changing the automatic buys and just having it as the top four seeds.

03:07But they'll find something else, Bill, to complain about after that. So we always know that once we

03:11fix one thing, we're going to complain about something after that. All right, Wednesday,

03:15three games. We'll start with the first one, Peach Bowl, Atlanta, Texas, and Arizona State.

03:21This was 13 1⁄2 for a while. We've started to see some people maybe not believe Arizona State

03:26can win the game, Bill, but a lot of people believing that maybe they could stay within

03:30this number, down to 12 1⁄2, even 11 1⁄2 in some places. Yeah, and what a fun game from

03:37the standpoint that the Big 12 powerhouse, Texas, leaves, and now they're playing the

03:42Big 12 champion, Arizona State. I mean, if I would have wrote that sentence 10 years ago,

03:46I'm not sure Sporting News would have ran the article or kept me around much longer.

03:52This Texas team, though, I don't like this matchup for Arizona State. I think that Texas defense

03:57is active. They get a lot of pass breakups in the secondary. Their run defense around

04:01Anthony Hill is very good. And in three of their last four games, they've ran the

04:05ball for more than 200 yards. So, while we stay transfixed on Quinn Mewers and Arch Manning and

04:12that quarterback dynamic, their running game has been dominant. So, I can see it hovering around

04:17that number. Did you say it's still at 13 1⁄2? If it is, go ahead. Down to 12 1⁄2 in most places.

04:25I've even seen an 11 1⁄2 here or there. So, it's been coming down from the 13 1⁄2.

04:31If that's the case, give me the Longhorns. I'm taking the value in the Longhorns. I think they

04:35win by a couple scores. They are in Atlanta. And there's a reason why they're the betting favorite

04:39to win the national championship. I mean, I don't know if they are the best team, but they've got

04:43a pretty good look at it. Rematch at the Rose Bowl between Ohio State and Oregon. Of course,

04:49they played that great game out in Eugene back in October. Ohio State favored after the way that

04:55they smashed Tennessee last week, minus 2 1⁄2. Ducks, number one team, undefeated. In my opinion,

05:02they've been the best team all year. Yeah, and they were rewarded with a really tough

05:06matchup here. And that's why they need to receive this thing. And I know we talked about that last

05:10time I came on. For Oregon, can they keep Dylan Gabriel clean again? He didn't take a sack

05:16in the last meeting against the Buckeyes. They really didn't touch him. They got like two hits

05:20on him the entire game. And their receivers weren't afraid to attack Ohio State down the field.

05:25On the other side, Will Howard, same deal. I mean, they got to let him throw the ball down

05:29the field to Jeremiah Smith. They've got to trust it. I do think this will be a little bit

05:32of a track meet. It has all the makings of an instant classic Rose Bowl. Again, two Big Ten

05:38teams going at it, which makes it even more fun as a Big Ten guy that I grew up as. And I think

05:44it's going to be a fun game. I still like the Ducks to win. A close one. I'm with you. If you

05:49want to take Ohio State, that's fine. I get it. But I just think 13 and 0, all that time to rest

05:54and an aggressive approach from Dan Landy and the Ducks get it done. Two Big Ten teams, but a

05:59traditional Rose Bowl matchup. The Pac-12 Big Ten playing each other in the game. And finally,

06:05Notre Dame and Georgia, Sugar Bowl, New Year's night. We know the deal. No Beck, Gunnar Stockton

06:11going to be in there. You know I love Notre Dame, Bill. I just know they never win these games.

06:16Please tell me that's going to change for me on Wednesday night. If they can hold Georgia under

06:21four yards of carry and get more than four yards of carry, and Riley Leonard makes a couple

06:25explosive passing plays, they'll have a real good chance. This one was the toughest one for me to

06:30pick for a lot of reasons, because I believe Notre Dame can win the game. But I've been down this

06:34road before against an SEC team. I'm still going to take Georgia. I think Gunnar Stockton, that

06:40offense will be functional enough to make a few plays. They're close to home. And for the Irish,

06:46it's not a moral victory. I do think this will hit the under. I like it at like 20 to 17.

06:52I'm with you. I think it's a blue collar game. It's a game where every yard is going to be

06:57tough to get. And I got to see the Irish do it, Bill, before I can believe it. That's the

07:03thing for me. Bill Bender from the Sporting News. Happy New Year. Enjoy all the games.

Category

Transcript

Recommended