FULL College Football LIVE | "Notre Dame vs. Texas A&M; Colorado has undeniable talent" - Howard

all mean 90° here in College Station and you know what that means Suns out guns out guys but not a lot of people out when it's 90° we've got these cooling things on our chairs more about that as the show goes on but for Desmond Howard and Stanford Steve and Pete thill I'm Jen l a big week of college football I feel like last week sort of wet the appetite for the college football fans but this week guys we've got some real barn burner games yeah I'm I'm fired up at we're here everything in College Station feels like it's new right new new buildings everywhere and now we got a new coach and they are fired up for their new coach I can't wait to see the atmosphere tomorrow starting with tonight here in College Station so every All Eyes here for week one for me I tell you what USC versus LSU big game I I think both teams need to prove what they can do defensively because they were horrendous on defense a year ago and then both teams are coming into this game without a highman Trophy winning uh quarterback so I like this match up USC versus LSU my favorite part of College Station other than the fun terminology is that every single thing in this town is geared towards this game tomorrow everyone you run into is either here for the game going for the game at 6:00 this morning people were tailgating Friday morning for a Saturday night game but energy is palpable there is a ton of pressure on Marcus Freeman Squad we'll get to that as The Show Goes On maybe not as much on Mike elco's team as he is a first year head coach there will be a transition period but he is very familiar with the quarterback that he will be facing that's Riley Leonard who averaged over seven yards on scrambles over the last two seasons only last year's Heisman winner Jaden Daniels who been referred to topped those numbers the defense that Elco inherits at A&M has been burned on scrambles the last two seasons allowing nearly nine yards per pop with Daniels doing a lot of that damage here's head coach Marcus Freeman on what he has seen from his new starting quarterback he's not afraid to run right he wants to run he wants the ball in his hand so um I think that's an added element to your offense uh I don't want to see our our quarterback running the ball every play and that's not our plan but to have the ability to have designed quarterback runs or or truly read uh Defenders with a quarterback that can pull it um is something that's going to help our offense have success Riley Leonard is gritty he is tough what do you expect to see from him in this offense uh first of all just connecting the dots to this game is just nuts you know these two coaches face each other last year we were there at Duke for game day now different schools Ry Leonard was ELO's quarterback last year he's Marcus Freeman's quarterback this year it's awesome but regarding Leonard you know Dez you were on those Packers teams you always heard about Brett far being too amped up before a game right and you got it home we call plays just to let him thow air it out a little bit I think the temperament of Riley Leonard's really important so again the connecting of the of line and how is he going to adjust how many quarterback designed runs are there going to be how many times he going to be get himself out of trouble with scrambling that's what I'm I I'm expecting from him to be really good at decision making it's huge for him yeah I spoke to coach Freeman he said the reason they wanted to get him out of the portal because they knew that he could play in big games they said he's a fierce competitor and they love what he brings to an offense but it's not just about Riley Leonard he has some weapons now too he has a receiver named Chris Mitchell they got him out of FIU average 17 yards per catch he can blow a lid off of a defense and then Jeremiah Love He's listed as a running back but Jeremiah love is like a Swiss army knife he can do so many different things because his versatility he's going to have to touch the ball tomorrow 15 to 18 times and on the other side of the ball Pete what are you expecting from Mike elco's defense I'm expecting a fun moment to start the game Mike Elko obviously worked here as the defensive coordinator he's never run out of the tunnel he would go right up to the booth so tomorrow night against Notre Dame he runs out of the tunnel for the first time what will we see Jen well we're going to see a really solid sound defense his first year at Duke they inherited the worst defense in the country in Total Defense they improved by 70 places Texas say I'm at a pretty good defense last year but with that line Steve mentioned I think they're going to be Stout I think they we're going to see a lows scoring game field goal special teams these are two defensive coordinators they're not going to call the game to throw the lid off so what's low scoring like 20 to 17 some get in the 20s you think I think 20 points wins the game I really do wow okay not like we saw from some of the teams last night that got blanked we'll talk about that as The Show Goes On You know I was talking to Folks at Notre Dame we talked about Riley Leonard one of the things he did to kind of ingratiate himself with his new team we talk about the trans report on how you don't have a lot of time to get the Rapport that you need he made flash cards of every one of his teammates and studied it like you would study for the SAT or a test in high school so that just goes to show the effort that he put in to try to be the leader of this squad all right history might be on Florida side when it hosts Miami tomorrow at the swamp the Gators have won 34 consecutive home openers that is the longest onfield streak in SEC history but back-to-back losing seasons have generated questions about Billy Napier's future in Gainesville so let's hear from Napier he said I'm not a fool part of leadership is you've got to have some self-awareness and you have to make tough decisions you have to make necessary changes we've done that I have a ton of confidence it is all part of the story Pete what more can you add about Napier and his job security there well to Billy Napier's credit Jen he has contractual self-awareness he signed a 7-year deal when he got the Florida job more than 50 million guaranteed if they were to have another Bad season Billy na would likely be fired it's pretty clear he would be owed more than $26 million if he's fired on December 1st that would be the second biggest buyout in the history of college football the biggest yeah still paying for it right here and that was three times as much but $26 million to fire a coach is not something to sneeze at there's an interim president at Florida I don't think it's fate to comple for Billy nebor and part of that was he knew what he had to rebuild and they prepared for it contractually let's take it to the field Steve what do you you expect to see from Florida this week well first of all I love the way nap Year's handled this off season with everything going on court cases and all anyone wants to do is talk about the schedule in all this you know chaos what they did do last year as they as they took their lumps they had a ton of freshman play they had freshman scor 14 touchdowns they had seven true freshman start games that's the most in the country so they're not they're not this bad of a team you know but again everybody just keeps talking about the schedule cam Jackson the D tackle up front is an absolute stud but again the way he has not addressed all the stuff off the court off the field and focused on his team and getting ready for this spot the swamp opening up your season against an instate rival I love the way they've gone into this and I expect a good game from them what about Miami doz the the kanes believe they won the portal sweep Stakes they got Damen Martinez the running back out of Oregon State and they got cam Ward Washington State's quarterback and cam Ward I tell you what guys he's a Difference Maker I spoke to some coaches last week over there at Miami that said Des first and foremost we wanted him because he's an alpha male not only does he make the offense better he makes the defense the whole team better secondly his ability to escape I mean this guy has a thick lower body excellent balance and he's always keeping his head up in his eyes down the field when he's scrambling Elite arm Talent he's the type of uh quarterback that they need in this offense one of the weapons for Miami will be featured tomorrow on college game day we've got the story of Cam McCormick who if that name sounds familiar it's cuz he's been around for a while guys he'll be taking off his ninth season in college football you can see that on college game day so much more coming your way here on college football live football is finally here we've seen some ranked teams already in action we'll get you those highlights from Colorado and more after this plus Steve is getting a few more games in bets that you might not be thinking abouta State at Colorado this one a lot of folks tuning into see what those Buffalo will be able to do this season third and goal Colorado up for you probably heard the name Travis Hunter a loot insane catch completely insane handling coverage how does he catching the ball for the touchdown 3126 the final Desmond your biggest takeaway from the Thursday action well the the player we just saw Travis Hunter is a dude I mean the the level of play from him at two skill positions wide receiver and defensive back is just phenomenal and then the number of snaps I mean he has a stamina of a world class like marathon runner to take all those snaps so that last catch though that we saw that's cool that's that's all right that's nice but the last one for the touchdown it's harder than any one-handed catch you'll ever see on any level so his concentration his ball skills his confidence he's just a dude man Pete what did you see Thursday night so I saw cam Rising back and I saw Utah's offense go from completely dysfunctional in the throw game to like looking like Oregon Chip Kelly in 2009 he threw 15 passes he completed 10 he had five touchdowns he was out by the end of the second quarter it was like jarring to see the UTS move the ball like that so look Utah had the number 86 passing offense in the country last year really held them back they played quarterback roulette if Cam Rising can be cam Rising again I think Utah is the prohibitive favorite in the Big 12 and I I goed the SEC we showed him earlier Missouri a lot of guys L lost on defense but talking to Eli dtz his two words this year are air superiority and you saw that last night I I love what they bring to the table it's almost like they don't care about defense he knows he's got studs on offense and he's going to feed those guys they lost that defens of coordinator to the LSU that's a big loss for them I've got some air superiority happening on my my backside here I don't know about you guys I got some air superiority happening on the back side here combating these 90° temperatures here in College Station Steve some other games of note this week that we need to be hitting on from a betting perspective take us through your week one gambling guy yeah we uh talked about it earlier Florida is at home I call it a got to get game when you look at what Florida has on the table knowing what the future brings as far as the schedule you're at home instate rival all those freshmen are now veterans on your team matrell is going to be back he's going to play Graham Merz was very good last year in a situation where they didn't think they were going to be good offensively so I expect Florida in a got get game to cover those two and a half next Oregon everyone D you got him right title you got to win the title go duck so the boys in the in Vegas could cook up numbers according to the point spread and the differential of the point spread in the total so they are projected to score 51 points okay I think they might score 80 they scored 81 in a game last year Dan Landing in that attitude and what they just foot on the gas non-stop I expect a monster output to show us what Oregon has and then tonight Florida Michigan State Michigan State as much turnover as anybody in college football Aiden Charles is the guy earlier this week he said you bet take the over okay well I'm listening I'm taking the over between these two teams Tom Herman's got a lot of guys back from the team that's a very interesting game tonight we'll certainly be paying attention to the Oregon game talk with your pads might be the quote of last season other than let a n back he played at LSU he played here at Texas A&M is going to be out for the remainder of the Season m brown called it a hip injury last last night uh they were determining whether or not he'd stay in the hospital overnight he is now out for the remainder of the year with that injury that means Connor harrold will be the starter for UNC we saw him run the ball five times for 50 yards last night he's a dynamic dual threat guy he started the Gator Bowl against West Virginia for UNC last year but yeah really bad news for UNC veteran quarterback Max Johnson who came to be the starter at UNC is out for the year tough that's tough and that of course is the uncertainty of college football what else do we need to know about headed into week one well we need to know that some day we're going to see two quarterbacks again in an era where over 50% of the starters are transfers these are two guys that stuck around behind Heisman Trophy winners right there we see Miller Moss he's a local kid from California waited out behind Caleb Williams then obviously uh we have Garrett nus who did the same thing at LSU we'll see how those explosive offenses transition to these new eras an old friend starts for South Dakota State you may remember Mark granowski he has 37 wins as a starter if South Dakota State goes on and wins the national title in FCS as their favored to do he'd be the all-time winningest quarterback in all of college football jack rabbits are about a 10-point underdog in Stillwater beware Cowboys so the Georgia running back situation is going to be the most fascinating thing to watch as we go into the Clemson game on Saturday they are expected to be without starback Trevor ATN Rod Robinson his expected backup is out with an injury so this means we're going to see a lot of Branson Robinson and a lot of true freshman Nate Frasier he's from Los Angeles he's been the buzz of Camp look for number three to give them some explosion tomorrow and speaking of those dogs it is time for our goodye road test the road to the college football playoff begins and ends at mercedesbenz Stadium Clemson taking on Georgia in the afflac kickoff game tomorrow that's at noon Eastern on ABC then we'll be right back there on January 20th oh yeah right back it's going to go so fast for the cfp national championship Dez this is an ACC Goliath in Clemson and SEC Goliath in Georgia what will you be watching for in that matchup well look at Clemson's offense right you know Kade kumnick you know he was up and down a year ago now they went out and got him some wide outs they brought in two five-star freshman wide outs one name is Bryant Wesco he's about 6'2 170 lbs can run like the win and then you have TJ Moore 6'3 190 you put them on on the field with an Williams you got something special and they still got F mafa 6'1 230lb running back so I want to see this offense now with all this new Talent around Kade kutnick that's what I look at too with mafa and that identity they established when he was in the game last year you know kmck didn't have the experience he got as as the season went on and Shipley they moved him around all over the place they didn't have an identity when mafa was in the game the offensive line knew he was getting the ball and there was a mindset the guy is a punishing Runner I to get the ball a bunch of times and we haven't even mentioned Georgia but Clemson needs a jump start to this game they have to start fast if they want to be in this game because we know what Georgia brings to the table with Carson Beck in that offense so I'm going to double down on what Desmond said about the receivers I think that unit has been Clemson's weakest link as they've gone from Elite to just very good so I want to see that whole unit Antonio Williams back from injury Wesco coming in as a five star do they have Mike Williams do they have these they had freak shows at that position they had the best unit in the country they had mediocre ACC units they need that unit elevated I think they have the best pieces they've had in the last few years excited to see them against that Georgia secondary great a great test George is excited too fresh meat out there in the perimeter and that's what I'm wondering guys how much of a chip on their shoulder does Georgia have after what happened last year with them being on the outside looking in I mean just look at who their head coaches he wakes up with it so yeah it's there's I mean Clemson's got to love being the underdog and playing that role you know they don't get to do it often but georg's got plenty to prove as you know they lost out of the playoff you know beat Florida State didn't get any credit for it they're they got to be jacked up for this one ESPN fpi has Georgia with an 82.4% chance to win that game so probably going to go Kirby Smart's way let's take some picks let's make some picks for this weekend's action and we begin with temple at Oklahoma Pete give us a quick thought on the game so Jackson Arnold era starts for Oklahoma five star from Texas lot of hype what will they look like behind a revamped offensive line Oklahoma's tired of people talking about Texas Texas Texas Texas Oklahoma's going to go out and make a statement in this game yeah I feel bad for temple I mean coming in SEC you get a Friday night game that fan base is as good as there is in the country you mentioned Jackson Arnold score a lot of the defense is going to be great for Oklahoma this year and that's I think the big thing they can fall back on as this SEC schedule starts but that offense will go crazy tonight sorry you for sorry for for the owls yeah that was a bit of an easy one let's move on fa at Michigan State Pete what should we be watching for Tom Herman's most dangerous teams when he was at Houston and he was a coordinator had mobile quarterbacks meet cam Fancher former Marshall quarterback transferred down there they are going to run him a lot in East Lancing tonight and then tailback CJ Campbell as a Florida State transfer they feel like they have high-end Talent at those positions and those two are going to have the ball in their hands a lot tonight Steve who we got yeah I mentioned it before I expect points I think Jonathan Quinn is a great uh head coach and I I look at the turnover they have Aiden Childs is as talented as there is in that conference so I expect a lot of points but I'll take fa plus the points I think they got enough Pete talked about the returning guys along with the transfers Tom Herman was always good as an underdog he wasn't good as a favorite when he got to Texas that was the problem you're right about that I think it's going to be a competitive game a very close game I'm going with Michigan State I'm going with spy TCU at Stanford the last game our guys will pick Pete what should we be watching for in this one they've been a little koi about the starting quarterback at Stanford I've been told Ashton Ashton Daniels is going to start if you don't know look for uh look for our old friend ell a Amor to have another big game he had over a thousand receiving Ys last year and tiger BM running shotgun with him out whyde the talk about teams that took their lumps last year Stanford did that TCU was just a for for for [Music] fore spee spee spe for e for e e in 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