BIG GAME BREAKDOWN: Biggest Storylines + Keys To Win For Clemson-LSU, Louisville-Ole Miss & MORE!

0:00Welcome back to the Cover 3 podcast with your host, Chip Patterson, Tom Fernelli, Danny Cannell, and Bob Elliott. It's your call for the best college football coverage from National Signing Day to the National Championship and everything in between. CBS Sports presents the Cover 3 podcast. And welcome back to the Cover 3 podcast here on CBS Sports, that's fun Elliott, that's Danny Cannell. I'm Chip Patterson, come to you live at youtube.com slash cover 3 and ever get your podcasts on a man. Thanks for hanging out. Smash that subscribe, smash that like and come and join us in the chat, aka the Cover 3 tailgate where they need to set some reminders. Alright? You need to get on it. Season started. I told you that it was going to be Tuesdays for big game breakdown. It is something we are doing for you. That's right on Tuesdays 11 a.m. Eastern time, youtube.com slash cover 3.

1:01That's where we are going to be gathering together to go inside the matchup. The X is the O's, the story lines, the stakes, all of those to be able to give you the context before we give you our locks coming up on Thursday. New big game breakdown day, Tuesday 11 a.m. Eastern time. Make sure you've got it adjusted through that calendar meeting on. We are going to be taking a look inside Clemson LSU Ole Miss Louisville SMU Florida State Notre Dame Wisconsin. We've got an upset alert brought to you by Draft Kings. Very excited to tell you about. Plus, at least a word on UCLA Cowboysys State Oregon Baylor Auburn Miami Stanford and much, much more tailgate feel free to fill up the chat with the games that you want to hear us discuss. I wanted to start with a question of the day for the gentleman and the question of the day is, would you take out a short position on your own head coach to hedge their performance bonuses? This comes as there are reports that short positions essentially short positions that

2:08individual games and some of the futures markets in the prediction markets. So we're not even talking about our traditional sports books. The prediction market have allowed for a third party reportedly to take out short positions that essentially would provide the payouts that could pay Lane Kiffin. The performance bonuses he is contractually owed should he hit them. Isn't that be a long position though? Aren't you betting on LSU to win the national championship? I think that if he wins, it's $3 million you would win. I thought that was now that could be wrong. I just kind of glanced at it. I was like, not surprised. I mean, essentially what these people are doing is becoming mattress Mac, who is the famous better that always bets on the Astros and all things Texas, the Houston mattress guy, and he hedges his business because he has the giveaway.

3:08He says, if the Astros win the World Series, I'm going to give away every piece of furniture that you brought during this month or whatever. So he always, that's how he's always hedged his bets and kind of had insurance. But I could be totally wrong. It could be the odd, but I thought it was to protect against the $3 million bonus that Lane would get if they won the national championship. So I thought it was multiple positions. I'm sure there are multiple positions. Yeah, that is like we are identifying individual prediction market opportunities to be able to jump in on. And this is the way that we are going to fund if we have to pay out. This is the same LSU program that has already met with its important boosters and stakeholders to discuss the involvement of private equity. This is clearly a creative bunch when it comes to the way that they're handling their finances in the new era where at one hand we are decrying large payouts and then also backing up tens of millions of dollars to be able to set up the kind of contract that would have

4:11large buyouts. Yeah, I think this is a pretty good business for the company offering essentially the middleman between the school and the prediction market, right? What does LSU really get out of this? And LSU is not the only school to do it in this. I'm pretty sure there are a lot of schools that are doing this. And honestly, there's a lot of schools that do this for player contract bonuses. The way that some of these schools do this for player contract bonuses. Schools do this for player contract bonuses. Correct. Yeah, a lot of these contracts are written to where if you play X number of snaps, you get a bonus, right? So there's essentially a bonus pool that the school holds back and spreads around a bunch of players who might be eligible for if they do play starter number of snaps or what have you, they get a significant more amount of rev share in IL type stuff. What does LSU get out of protecting itself from these contractual bonuses? I think the main thing they get is cost certainty, right? From an operational standpoint, okay, like we know this kind of cost is this, but we're

5:15not going to have to come out of pocket if he hits these or not, right? So ultimately, like LSU, over the moon to pay these bonuses to Lane Kippen, right? Like they're- It's what it means because it means the success has gotten there. Right, exactly. So it's not like they can't come up with the money. I think what they're just achieving here is essentially like a form of stability, you know, insurance, getting some cost certainty as to what their books are going to look like in short order. That's my read on it. I don't think this is like some huge money maker for the Tigers. Oh no, I just think it looks gross. I mean, I just thought that we were in a world where you sign up for a contract and like, I didn't think we needed these high level financial schemes to be able to- I don't think you do either. I think they're unnecessary. Yeah, but athletic departments do a lot of stuff that is potentially necessary. True, but like- People do all kinds of things.

6:15Like there's a lot of people who probably shouldn't take insurance, but do, right? Like people value certainty at a certain cost and there's going to be a provider to provide an uncertainty at a cost. The question was, would you, if you are an athletic director, if you are running the operation, would you engage in some of these financial- And I don't mean scheme to necessarily make it seem predatory or nefarious necessarily, but it is a scheme. You know, it is a plan. It is an operation. Would you engage in these kinds of financial tools to create that cost certainty for your athletic department? I'd certainly look into any kind of like edge that potentially comes along, right? I don't know that I for sure would do it. Like this is kind of a lawyer answer, but like it would depend on the actual details of the contract. Like what fees am I being charged here? Right? You know, like there's certainly a middleman fee here to put this stuff out and execute these private contracts. It's not like they're like offering, you know, just a ton of liquidity out there on

7:18on Polly or Colchey, right? Like ultimately, like these, from reading the article, these were private contracts executed that then Colchey, you know, held, right? So it's not like they're just going and offering this to the public. Like if you're going out on Colchey and betting, LSU, no, for the NADI, like you're not like taking a position that is directly opposite of the contract entered into by all issues athletic department, right? Like that doesn't appear so. Okay. So, but there's, is it just the current environment of the prediction markets and their regulation that just allow this to not have any kind of oversight? Yeah. I don't know that you need oversight for this really. Like what's there between this and some like an oil company, you know, engaging in oil features or private? I mean, I have a public university of the state versus a private company. I mean, it's, it's already like a separate entity, right? But that's what I'm saying is I think they're reorganizing all these athletic departments into LLCs for this to be able to engage in these types of corporate high jinks.

8:22And I, I think, and again, I might sound like a dinosaur here. I think it's a little weird to have the athletic department of the state to engaging in these types of, um, we're talking about a state where the governor got involved in the head coaching search. Okay. Where he said, President Trump should do the coaching search who just set out a statement said, don't hate the player. Hate the game. We're think of, consider the state that we're discussing. I mean, like, okay, let's, let's take another state entity, right? The state of Florida where we're, we're Danny and I live. Like, would you engage in taking essentially like hurricane futures because so much your revenue is tourism based? Right? Is that what insurance is? In some ways. Yeah. But like, what, what asset are you ensuring if you're the state of Florida, you're, you're projected tourism revenue, right? But like if, if you could do that on a prediction market, sir, I, I think I would look into that. Like, it's just, it's part of your business. A lot of you just hedging some of your risk. Yeah.

9:23That's just interesting, interesting stuff. And again, the interesting question becomes when you decide not to take it. You see what I'm saying? When you don't trust the success of your football coach, right? I feel like that happens with the donations when we talk about cutting off the faucet, when donors stop writing checks. Like UCLA athletic director Martin Sharma is out. You know, that happened late on Monday. Brandon Marcello's reporting was like, yeah, they had already started to indicate to the university that they were going to be putting the squeeze on, on the athletic director. Yeah, I'm not cutting checks until you get somebody new around there. Tim Harris, longtime executive of the Los Angeles Lakers, former UCLA athlete, he comes in, says he's working pro bono to be able to fix their financial situation, but their financial situation probably could have been helped by donations and by gifts that according to the reporting was basically iced out based on their current leadership. Yeah, I mean, like South Carolina, I think was also also mentioned in the, in the report

10:28that I read. You know, for them, their odds of like, I think they were looking into make the playoff or win more than eight games, right? You know, and those are the Shane Beamer, like big money. I think so, yeah. Yeah. But also like, if you're South Carolina and you win more than eight games or if you make the playoff, you also have a cost savings of kicking that buy-out can down the road. If you think it's a can, you're going to turn over at some point, right? Oh, like if he messes around and makes the buy-out bigger, triggers some automatic extensions, that kind of thing. No, I'm just saying like, like, I don't think Shane Beamer is on the hot seat at all, really, but at the same time, like mess around this year and have another bad year, go five and seven, right? Last year of sellers, you know, like, like, are you going to have to hit the reset button? What's that going to cost you? So, but there's all kinds of different things that you could look into potentially ensuring against. And a lot of it just depends on what your internal model is saying, right?

11:30I am curious as to whether some of these companies are actually laying this action off or if they're just taking it themselves. Like, just as their own IOU, a creative loan sharks with the universities? I mean, no, like, they're essentially like acting as a market maker as opposed to just a middleman, right? You know, like, I don't think some of these schools are probably not. Like, Doug over at Lambda Chi is essentially what we become. Right. Yeah, like, I don't think some of these schools are particularly good at knowing if they're going to be good or not. Yeah. Right? Like, some certainly do. And some know, I think, when they're going to be bad, but like, you know, internally, they all seem to kind of run fairly optimistic. Okay. So, this is the other. Yeah, I went to the, for those watching along live, youtube.com slash cover three, it's on the, we're starting to get back functions are back in the tailgate always, always stressful. I mean, listen, I know that we've got a great, huge loyal audience that is still riding with us on the audio side. We, and we appreciate you.

12:31But man, it is, it prayers up for the tailgate when they're not able to get that chat rolling. So, it does seem like we are back in action. We do love to see it. That's just like one piece of the, the LSU story right now. We're going to be breaking down LSU Clemson on the field in a little bit. But we, we were getting real contentious with the southeastern conference after the SEC and the big 10 and the power conferences are putting in rules to prevent pro players from coming back. Lane Kiffin is putting up signs about being the villain, you know, I don't know, man, Danny, I don't want to get to distracted. It feels like they're trying to get me to walk away from the, the fun of the games with something that I don't think. I don't think we're kicking out LSU to bring back Sohwani. I don't think that. Oh, I don't think that. But it's just, it's getting a little bit, a little bit weird. Are you taking anything away from the way that LSU continues? I mean, this, this other, you know, hedging your, your performance bonuses, let's set

13:37that to the side. What about the makeup of this roster and whether or not we're going to be following the conference's rules? I think this fits right into Lane's wheelhouse for a bunch of reasons. One, I mean, we talked about, think about how the search went down, the criticism that Lane took leaving old miss. Think about the governor the way he got involved, the criticism that they took. So they kind of like this role, they like being this hated person. But I also think Lane, I thought it was very interesting yesterday that he specifically said, I'm always going to be a player, friendly coach. I'm always going to take the side of the player. I think this probably plays well in his locker room that he's defending the players that got screwed over. And like, I'm sure that's what he's telling them. The fact that he let them vote on it. Like, I think these are all things to try to ingratiate yourself to the roster that there's a lot of new pieces on, a lot of moving pieces. He's always been the player forward, portal friendly coach, that kind of has bucked the trend.

14:39And I think this fits right into his wheelhouse. I don't think we say, I think a lot of it's saber rattling. I think the rest of the SEC is pissed off because I bet there were some back room meetings and channels that like took place that said, hey, if none of us sign it will be okay. We don't have to deal with this. And Lane was like, why do I have to not sign one? You guys might not have the options that I do. And so I think it's just a mess that you're seeing some dirty laundry air out. But I don't think anything comes of it. Hey, he stepped real quick, but he stepped to that microphone and he said, I asked every guy on our leadership council, do you want him to be here? He said, if they can help us, we want him. And they're like, do what every guy on that leadership council is a transfer. Yeah, you have about that too. You know, like somebody who just showed up a mercenary, we got a team full of mercenaries. And they're like, sure, more mercenaries, bring them on in. I mean, this is a Lane Kiffin, might be a player, friendly coach. And you're right. The original Portal King. Remember like Tiger Kings coming out and he was getting himself photoshopped as the

15:41Portal King. I just thought that was funny to invoke the leadership council as though the leadership council was a bunch of four year starters that have been there and been like leading the charge for their brothers when those relationships are far more new than that. Yeah, I think LSU is far less likely to win in an appeals court setting or in a federal court setting. And even if they do, like they have to kind of figure out the risk or reward. Like, I talked to another SC head coach about this the other day, right? And he was like, these guys are good players, but like our best players in the SEC are not struggling to make an NFL roster when they turn pro. Yeah. Right? So are we going to go through all this trouble to get guys who are like our 11th or 12th best player? Maybe, but like, it's not an automatic risk or reward calculation. You know? So yeah, the other thing is they're not going to kick out the shoe out because that would

16:41require I think quite a few votes. And then you got teams like Mississippi State and Arkansas and pick a couple more who might be signing their death warrant. Like you sure you want to you want to sign something that says, yeah, we're going to go ahead and rearrange this conference. There are certain teams in that league that are givers or certain leagues that are like that are takers, right? And you got quite a few teams that are kind of takers, not real additive. You know, I, I, the way it was reported and like credit the Dallinger for getting the story but like, have discussed. Yeah. Sure, they discussed it. We've discussed a lot of crazy stuff at the show. We're never ever going to be on the show, right? Like yeah, yeah, they discussed it. Cool. Yeah. It's the old socializing. They socialized the idea. Socialized it. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. What would it be like reporting that the SEC will comply with court orders? Yeah. Of course. You'll watch any city council meetings recently.

17:41I feel like city councilors are great at listening to the constituents complaint and then they look down at the city attorney and they're like, thank you. We hear you. Can we do that? No. No, we cannot do that. You know, and it's like they're going to internalize. They will listen, but no, I don't, I don't see, I don't see us getting to that nuclear option. But man, it is certainly fitting in to the distracting case. I mean, he, Lane held the whole damn sport all through Thanksgiving in the palm of his hand. He had the SEC in the palm of his hand. We weren't even talking about rivalry, weekend games. We were talking about where Lane Kiffin's going to go and whether or not the private jet had to go pick up the dog before they had to go check out high schools in Gainesville. Um, let's get the football. All right. Coming up on the other side Tuesdays 11 a.m. Eastern time. One more time. I'm going to remind you Tuesdays 11 a.m. Eastern time. That's when we break these games down. So coming up on the other side, let's get it started in the battle of death Valley,

18:43LSU Clemson, names to know and more. Next. The weight is over. Football is here. And so is draft Kings. Draft Kings is now live in all 50 states. One app, every sport nationwide. New draft Kings customers can sign up with the code cover three and spend five bucks to get $200 in rewards within 21 days. That includes all markets and comes when you use code cover three. That's T H R E E spell it out code cover three when you sign up in partnership with draft Kings. The crown is yours gambling problem called 1 800 gambler 1 800 my reset Connecticut call 888 789 777 777 visit ccpg.org on behalf of boot hill casino in Kansas.

19:43Bet tax pass through may apply in Illinois 21 plus void in Canada. Bet with draft Kings sports book to get bonus bets that expire in seven days or trade with draft Kings predictions to get prediction dollars that expire in one year. Event contract trading involves risk of loss predictions offer void in New York. Time with drawable rewards issued as $50 click to claims every seven days for 21 days terms at DKNG dot co slash offer limited time offer nationwide based on sports book predictions and free to play sports contests availability varies by state. All right. Every single Tuesday 11 a.m. Eastern time this season we are going to be giving you our spotlight on some of the biggest and most interesting games of the weekend we call it big game breakdown. Climson makes the trip Chris Vazina will be our starting quarterback I believe that news

20:51was official right right as we went live. But feel free to take this nitty gritty you know we've talked about these two teams and this game even from a lot of big picture storyline perspective when we get into mid October sometimes we got to remind you the story lines and the stakes. If you've been listening to cover three podcasts you don't need that at this point. What are you watching wayer on the field are you paying the most attention once we get into the full swing at things first couple of sessions for the Tigers and the Tigers. Yeah. So I'm confident that Clemson has a good defense right like like maybe a very good defense and I know it has good receivers. How does this rebuild offensive line right like how does that match up against sort of a rebuild LSU defensive line with a lot of young guys who I think are really talented they do is chareld make a lot of noise in fall camp for LSU I think Alexander is another guy like really sorry Anderson Richard Anderson for for LSU I think is a guy who's going

21:52to be like a major impact as a run stuff or they got a few secondary kind of sneaky loaded so like that's a really fun match up there. Like if Clemson has any shot to win this game they have got to just get the same level like crazy against the LSU offensive line right like that that's a bit of a question marked to me like seating on the left side is rock solid right side of that offensive line maybe kind of suspect I could see Clemson's defense putting up a real fight here but I feel like I still have trust in Lane to get to a certain number right 27 yeah I think so but I I do not have trust in Vazina and this Clemson offense at all like I I don't have him as like a top half quarterback in the ACC and I have some real questions about the offensive line I don't know if the OC was an upgrade to be honest and I'm yeah I'm very suspect of the Clemson offense here and like I just suspect that LSU defense is going

22:57to give clean like going to give its offense enough chances to get to a number that just don't think that that Clemson can hit. A couple things reacting kind of agree with a lot the only thing I'll say with Vazina like I don't know how we grade him like we have a very small body working maybe based on people you're talking to based on what's coming out of practice maybe it's based on a quarterback competition with tape Reynolds you're like what what does that mean I think it's pretty small body of work though I think he's probably one of the most unknown commodities of the top 40 programs where you're just not really sure what you're going to get so I don't know how to slot him I'm not certain the other thing I totally agree with so going back to when Clemson's like when their downfall started like to start coming their way the line I saw this note from our our research team so the last eight game versus ranked SEC opponents they have they're oh and eight against the spread oh and seven straight up and the

23:59last seven and that goes back to 2019 one of those games in 2019 they were a favorite so they didn't cover as a favorite but then mostly their underdogs and I think the offensive line is a place that even towards the end of their run they were kind of getting dominated by some of this not been a position that Clemson has been really strong as producing NFL talent to the next level especially top tier first round second round offensive line talent now you've got to replace a lot of those pieces that to me is probably the biggest question mark where it doesn't matter if it's vizina it doesn't matter if it's Reynolds the offensive line cannot get overwhelmed by this you know incredibly expensive defensive line that by the way does have some really good players and a defensive coordinator who's been there last season that already had a pretty good you know feel for how to get teams slowed down so I think it's the offensive line is the biggest question me for Clemson by far I think Cade Club Nick was a talented college quarterback I think his performance left

24:59something to be desired I think there was a consistency issue I think that sometimes it just wasn't all coming together sometimes it did not look to my eye like he was either seeing it or the communication might not have been there and that might have been as we've learned kind of a breakdown all the way up to the top of the food chain from head coached offensive coordinator to quarterback so maybe those things can get corrected but if Chris vizina was not pushing Cade Club Nick for the job what are your expectations how do we grade him like I don't know maybe I think he might be another Cade Club Nick like a jack plus you know like that I'm gonna get it done in Baton Rouge I think it gets you back to a national title when Cade looked good Cade did look good he did not look good in this game certainly when when LSU came to Clemson to start last season and he did not look a good against Georgia in that season opener when he just looked totally overwhelmed by their inability to do it Georgia at the line to scrimmage I think there are some similarities in Kirby smart and dabble like I don't think Kirby like he doesn't major in the portal

26:01he dabbles in it but he's not he just didn't wasn't vocally against it but he's in house he doesn't he wants to build culture he wants to develop with them in the other thing is I think too I mean could could vizina be a gunner Stockton now I think maybe he could at Georgia with those weapons and that defense on the other side that offensive line and that offensive line yes so like I don't think I'm not predicting vizina to be a heisman trophy winner but I would hope they have an adequate quarterback or else they're going to get waxed I mean he was a guy who was ranked high early as a recruit got worse as a senior look terrible in the spring game three out of four games that he's played at Clemson now granted like the three of the four like we're really small sample throws but terrible and then he had a big game against SMU last year which it has to stand for something it does yeah you know the rust into that starters role against an ACC championship contender and he you know he handled himself obviously not necessarily with the result that they want it if LSUs for real I think they should smoke them to be honest like like that Clemson has not

27:05recruited that elite level in like four years those old like Clemson top five top 10 classes are gone do you know what's really sad about this from the Clemson's perspective is there are still a few and they almost seem like spirits of Clemson of old like Sammy Brown five star player coming out of high school who's been an impact linebacker from the moment he joined the team is like a player used to see at Clemson all the time there used to be more Sammy Browns Bryant West go we had about a decade of Bryant West goes and you know and TJ Moore's and and they're still there but we're wondering if they're going to be able to get the quarterback play and we're looking at a young running back room that everyone's been asking and everyone's got their favorite on who's going to be able to emerge and who's going to be able to be the game changer but we're still looking for whoever's going to be that next uh Travis ETN or Andre Ellington you know the next player in that line I think will help will help against Jordan Seaton could be awesome and I don't know if defensively they try to move health around to take advantage but of what you looked at but there

28:10are players on this Clemson team that if they joined the 2020 Clemson Tigers would still be starters but the problem is there's not maybe more than five yeah I mean what West going more are like legitimately really good at receiver right here's the problem you don't snap the ball or throw the ball from wide receiver yeah so we got to figure out how we're going to be able to get uh the rest of that uh you mentioned LSU secondary bud cannot ask you to sort of elaborate on the way you see that group coming together because I know they kept PJ and they kept a few players from last year's defense which is uh kind of adds up you know it had a lot to deal with because the offense was so damn inept last season they got put in a lot of tricky situations but they did still go to the portal during the um off season to try to pick some pieces as well how do you see that group coming together what excites you about that group because on my notepad I was like okay I think they're going to be able to get after the passer they've got some really really nasty edge rushers and that could be a lot of problem for Clemson but now I was also trying to think about defending

29:13against more in westgo and I'm just sort of wondering about where LSU is at there something I'm looking forward to learning for sure I feel like they're actually sneakily underrated there uh that's what I was sent to the the the benefit of the guy they got from Boise State can really play it's like they they loved him when they got him and like people who had been through their also think he's a stud like that that's that's a name you'll start to see on some of these NFL draft boards I suspect yeah I can see that um anything else match up wise that uh you want to make sure we highlight here um shoot Jackson Harris the receiver for LSU from Hawaii yeah like that's kind of a room like we we know about the tide end like LSU's got a freak there but it jays brown from Kansas State no um the existing guy the like six foot seven dude um oh no I'm talking about other I was just mentioning another wider seep for some yeah yeah yeah I think like that's an open question with LSU like do they have a one like like who is going to step up there to be like

30:16their guy or is it just Lane kiffin scheme and stuff up you know you're talking about trade-as green yes I tied in yeah yeah I think that it is um I've got a trust lane kiffin because I think lane kiffin even if he's got four twos it's still more overall talent than he might have had most years at Ole Miss yeah I think so you know and what what will this run game look like yeah that's another question they have not run the ball with the damn in a while here's Kaden Durham again to see if he can get it was three straight years of Kaden Durham running back one right I mean good name does like to run the ball like his offense as much we think about him as a quarterback guru quarterback whisperer offensive play car he likes to run the football yep that game is going to be Saturday night 7 30 p.m kickoff time down in baton rouges the debut of the lane kiffin era and maybe dabbo's dynasty trying to get a little death rattle in death valley on sunday one of just a couple games on sunday but certainly one of the ones is going to have the

31:21spotlight is some ranked on ranked action Ole Miss taking on Louisville this game will be in Nashville Nissan Stadium the home of the Tennessee Titans Danny first word to you here we've got a lot that we feel like we know about with Ole Miss in terms of peak golding did lead this team to the final four and Trinidad Jamblis is back and Qon Lacey is on the damn sphere in Las Vegas I mean we're buying high-smans stuff all over the country time square Las Vegas I feel like I know the rebels Louisville maybe a little less so what's the what's got your attention trying to break this match up down so I think Jeff Brahms one of the more innovative offensive minds in the game I think Lincoln Kean holds is one of those quarterbacks that maybe just was really good but wasn't good enough to beat out Julian Sandro Hyo State I do know he's going to be more mobile than what Jeff Brahms had probably in his last decade so I'm kind of curious to see how he uses Lincoln

32:21I also think maybe it opens things up for Isaac Brown do we have a status update on Isaac Brown I think he's good to go okay that's what I'm like I think he is the most important player in this game because he is a dynamic running back first out his freshman year last year banged up it's a draft year coming up this should be a showcase game for him right I don't want to see him limiting reps or I mean if they want to win this game they need to get Isaac Brown going and I do think Lincoln Kean holds being mobile will help him with that they run some sort of that quarterback run game that could keep the defense on us somewhat but I think he's probably the most important player if Louisville is to win this game yeah like I think we know we haven't tried it ad we know we haven't lacy I think LSU or sorry I think Ole Miss has done a pretty good job at receiver we'll see on the offensive tackles right I think the offensive continuity should stay pretty similar coaching staff wise like it's not laying calling it but it's very similar concepts to what

33:26they were running and I'm sure he's pretty familiar with what Trenton Danchamblis you know felt comfortable doing I think honestly both these defenses are are pretty underrated guys like I I think Louisville has some real players on defense I know Ole Miss like like I think they have one of the most underrated linebacking course in the SEC I think they're really good up front and they brought in like a lot of veteran experience to help bolster a secondary it was kind of like kind of questionable times last year right and so I I think they're defense a little bit under rated I think I really trust Louisville's defense for the most part you know secondary wise we'll we'll see like if Ole Miss is way better at receiver than I project that that may be a real problem for the cardinal but also I think Danny hit on something really important here the mobility of licking kindles right like is the keynals are kindles what what I'm asking you know sorry I'll get you go ahead I'll double check I mean like I'll probably I think they're gonna I think

34:28they're gonna have to run him a pretty good bit honestly and like that that's something you know you wouldn't have seen in the spring game stuff but like I bet you if they got a chance to held to win this game he's gonna have to really do some stuff with his legs and you know um because I don't know if I really trust him as a passer I like try Richardson I think LaWay McCoy was kind of an underrated signing in the portal like obviously they paid up a lot for him but at the same time like he did show some nice flashes when healthy last year at FSU you know I I wouldn't be surprised this game's a little bit sluggish yeah you know think about to Louisville I think is underrated from a physical standpoint I there are always fizz I mean they pushed around Clemson the last couple years it's not just I mean maybe three years they have gone toe-to-toe with Clemson who has been at the top of the class of the ACC now can Louisville and they dominated Kentucky about to get Kentucky was down but how did they physically stand up to Ole Miss think they'll

35:29I think it could be a little bit more of a rock fight with you on that one I don't trust man Trinidad's a playmaker too I don't trust Louisville's defense at all really okay at all Ron English steps away the other co-coordinator was not retained we're promoting Mark Ivy this is his first game as a play caller at the college level and you're going up against this offense and that quarterback I'm I thought just think it's a little weird you know I just I think it's a little bit because on paper the group you know like you've still got Lubin right like you still got a couple the the great edge rushers in terms of defensive talent in the ACC I don't know man you got you had a good defense last year and one coordinator just going to step away from football for a year the other coordinator was not retained but we're just going to promote internally I don't know man not a this this one might take this one might be a group that takes a couple games to really

36:30find their footing and everybody gets settled into all of their new roles and new responsibilities and I think this is a bad opponent to be able to be facing in that kind of scenario so the other side of it you know you were talking about Ole Miss's defense I that's a great like on paper or reality if they show up and they're awesome then I'm like okay that makes sense because on paper it looks great but it is all like pieces that have been put damn fantasy football roster right and if the fantasy football roster hits and all your draft picks are good congratulations you're competing for a league championship but still got to go out there and prove it before I'm ready to go I'm not all I'm not like I'm not tackling the betting side of this necessarily but in the sort of matchups and looking at the way these groups stack up against each other the change in coordinators the change in play callers has me hesitating to copy and paste defensive expectations from one season to the next when it comes to the Louisville Cardinals turning our attention elsewhere

37:33how about Notre Dame Wisconsin what do you want to see from CJ Carr bud well I want to see how he plays without a run game the lean on you know I think that's going to be really really important for them I want to see like do they have a legitimate number one emerge right like like I think you know I look at that that group and I think there are a lot of good players in that group but do they have a guy who come play off time other defenses are really scared of individually collectively I think it's a really nice group and you know generally I'm not a fan of receiver by committee in college but it can work if you have like sometimes you have this like legitimate NFL quarterback who can really see it fast distribute the ball most college teams like the vast majority college teams that doesn't work right at least not at like a high level but maybe Carr is that good and like so maybe they don't have that guy as a number one who really really scares you but maybe he just distributes the ball extremely well and I think immediately you want to see these running backs right like how how will they run the ball now you know I think

38:37probably still pretty good but they just lost two first round running backs like that hasn't happened in quite a long time I think they'll be fine running it they'll be interested to see who steps up I'm I mean I think Luke fickle I think Wisconsin is better this year we saw some of those pieces on the defensive side of the ball show up late Colton Joseph his run his legs we were talked about it with key holds and so I think Colton Joseph they're gonna like they have struggled to keep quarterbacks healthy they've struggled to generate offense they've struggled with offensive identity I'm very curious to see if Colton Joseph can orchestrate some points against this Notre Dame defense which I think is really good I think it's going to be a struggle like I think if Wisconsin I think the recipe for a cover not I don't know if there's one for a win is another ugly game where Wisconsin can kind of extend some drives play slow you know Notre

39:37Dame's offense is figuring out some things figuring out who the back is you know they're not running it as well as you know against Wisconsin defense which I think is better but I just I'm very curious to see what they can do offensively with a with a mobile quarterback I think Colton Joseph was he a thousand yard rusher close to it last year last year at Old Dominion yeah yeah and they they got to figure out how to use him right like what they ran at old Dom is what you essentially saw Memphis run on Saturday night late like and that's gonna lead to a lot of third and eleven that's not close to what to what Wisconsin has been running it's in some ways more similar to what Wisconsin was running before they made the coordinator change before last season right so my main concern here actually is fickle's comments yesterday right oh fickle says they don't know yet on Emerson Mandel or Kevin Haywood I believe those are two starting offensive lineman excuse me hold on a second I got to do yeah further he says worthwhile to mention and

40:45this is this was from Zach Hill apprentice all this who who covers them for the who we got here the sports director and zone Madison works well to mention it fickle said they need to do what's best for the entirety of the season hmm who does Wisconsin have on deck winnable games correct where's where's my white flag I mean I don't I don't carry myself that way I have got we have western Illinois and then eastern Michigan coming up I have no idea how banged up those guys are maybe this is all smoke but you know I mean if you're Wisconsin you don't need to win 10 games but you do probably need to win six games to avoid getting fired or at least seven right I don't know but man as a comment kind of like like just like chips said that that I thought it's a little bit like oh the messaging to your fan that's like hey we're gonna pack it in against

41:48Notre Dame to make sure we're healthy for western Michigan that's not great I think to make sure like we don't suffer setbacks and we are healthy for at Penn State Michigan State at UCLA USC which is our October slate oh so it's like we think that these guys we could have them back now but we'd rather wait two weeks to bring them back and that way we don't lose them for the whole season that's how I read the comments yikes I already thought that Wisconsin was gonna struggle to score 17 points in this game I think okay well so like everybody everybody agrees these apparently obviously I think that this is gonna be a great spot for Notre Dame deflects us muscles as one of the best defenses in the whole damn country and I think that CJ Carr is gonna give us as much as he needs to give us and I I think that it does get a little bit into you know Graham and Porter come over from Ohio State you know there are a few new additions to be able to see how where do you fit into this

42:53mix are you perhaps a candidate to emerge as that alpha I'm not ready to declare that yet I haven't heard anything along those lines but there's some other pieces around here in addition to the way that you know is a neus Williams just gonna step right into a heavy load or is that end up being more of a snap share I think I'm scouting Notre Dame's offense and I'm expecting Notre Dame's defense to dominate in this game against Wisconsin well said yeah I'm curious to see what receiver like you said the two Ohio State transfers which is there a true number one that steps up you know for CJ Carr I also go back to this is the first time we've seen them since they got left out of the playoffs what what's Freeman's motto to his players let's know how is that Porter Porter is definitely out okay oh he is yeah so what's what's Freeman's motto it's like leave no doubt like they want this could be like oh we got screwed last year the whole year there's a campaign to you know they're oh they has no decision oh and like big spotlight games stay like I mean

43:54this and there's some big statement statement win opportunity there for yeah like because look Wisconsin could lose this game and still go on to be a seven and five football team right and like Notre Dame schedule is weak enough to where they don't have any opportunity to second point to and say hey we had we we smoked a big two conference team that has a winning record this might be the fourth toughest team on their schedule and it could it could very well if they smoke them it could very well be like their third best resume bullet yeah we'll see probably fourth but yeah and now it's time for upset alert brought to you by draft kings the draft king sports app is live in all 50 states and this September draft kings is giving customers the opportunity to get boosted every football game day new draft kings customers can sign up with the code cover three spell out three thre spend five bucks and get 200 in total rewards within 21 days including all markets

44:59that's code cover three in partnership with draft kings the crown is yours scan in the week one slate for an upset alert opportunity we don't have to go that deep into the weekend no there might be one on Thursday night Danny canal we got coach prime and the buffs and they are headed to Atlanta to take on Georgia Tech and as juju Lewis and Brennan Marion and the go go offense take a Colorado flavor I guess the big question is to ask do you believe I think this one has a lot of similarities to TCU versus North Carolina and you gave a couple of them now this one isn't neutral this isn't Georgia Tech's backyard so they'll have that going for them but you mentioned new offensive coordinator Brennan Marion who I think is really good julian Lewis is super talented as a five star I also think on the flip side Alberto Mendoza taken over like we don't like I think there's a lot of cash a that comes with the last name but if he was that good don't you think Indiana would have

46:01kept him you know like and he would have been the guy there to replace Fernando Mendoza talk to a couple people around Indiana's program they said there is a pretty significant drop off that he wasn't the same level of talent I know justice Haynes comes in there and they want to run the ball but think about what Haynes came into that program as a dual threat me and watch me he is I thought he was one of the more underrated talented quarterbacks in the entire country you have to replace him I'm a little bit nervous for Brent key and the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets for this game you got same upset alert sirens bud yeah I mean Colorado is a way more experienced football team than Georgia Tech is if you look at like all the players they brought in the portal who can legitimately like say like I've played a lot of snaps I think there are uh keep them saying this some similarities to Virginia as far as like how experienced they are not quite the same level and I don't think Colorado is quite as buttoned up of an outfit as UVA is but Prime did say

47:02that Scuderio the receiver from San Jose is healthy so that's that's pretty big obviously for Colorado and you know like I've down I've downgraded Georgia Tech a pretty good bit on the loss of King and Faulkner I think those two guys together at coordinator OC combo with QB there really won a lot of games for them over the past couple of years and to me they're in proven mode you know I what's their win total like five and a half I think like yeah I think it's for a reason there's a there's an aspect of this too as I'm looking at the potential of this being an upset by the way here is where on big game breakdown on Tuesday Colorado currently a six and a half point underdog at draft King sportsbook the crown is yours and that is Georgia Tech put out its depth chart yesterday they had three starting running backs on the depth chart three different starting running backs we got like six running backs on the depth chart if you are going to get out there and run the ball you're going to suppress scoring you're going to keep the clock running and you know what that means that means it's going to come down to two quarterbacks in a one possession

48:05game and who can go and make some plays and if you've got more confidence in Julian Lewis the former blue chip quarterback to be able to go out there and be a difference maker will then certainly I understand that angle there as he takes over again with that new offense new coordinators new quarterbacks lots of changes that is always right for the unpredictable and yes even an upset that's why we have identified Colorado six and a half point underdogs at Georgia Tech is your upset alert of the week and you two playing at home too coming back home to Georgia yeah there you go and that was upset alert brought to you by draft kings once again new customers can get the code cover three on sign up spend five bucks and get 200 in total rewards within 21 days remember the draft king sports app is now live in all 50 states and that means from Texas to California to every fan is in on the excitement in partnership with draft kings the crown is yours coming up on

49:11the other side rapid fire across the country more of the matchups to watch and more next back here on the cover three podcast tailgate once we're refreshing break and don't worry the snaple's coming ladies and gentlemen but right now we've got to go around the country mixture we hit on some of the other games that have our attention UCLA cows what the tailgate was buzzing about it's 10 30 p.m. it is the end of week one it might be the best game of the whole damn day we might have two first round NFL draft pick quarterbacks in this game and maybe you can say we do I don't know Jaren Kiavei Saga Poletelli Niko Yamaliava massive game former pack 12 in state rivals in a game that is the true swing game for both of their win totals you know like this is a spot where we could see dreams sort of start to take all dream season starts to take off here or maybe you start a little bit behind the eight ball is it is it just quarterbacks decay or we got even more that we will new head coaches to yeah oh yeah there's a lot of different storylines in

50:15this one first I mean this and both it sets the tone in a game that both your fan bases probably feel like you should win no matter what the point spread is a lot of similarities both have really good quarterbacks I'm curious to see kind of Tosh Loupoy as a defensive mind are they you know but they have this incredibly talented quarterback I'm more curious to see what their defense looks like looks like against Niko and company I think it has a lot of intriguing matchups yeah I mean like is there a game it's going to be a better watch than this one I think it about it I was like NFL arms throwing ropes against questionable defensive backs at 1 a.m. I mean this is kind of college football and like this is this is college wow this is the good time for sure yeah I I did think both offenses have a pretty good advantage here if UCLA's offensive lines up for the task you know I I think Cal may have hit on some of the starting transfers they brought in I do not

51:19think they're very deep defensively at all just looking at my notes back from summer school is like yeah some of the backups are kind of sketch you know some of the starters might might work out I'm very confident that Bob Chesney and that that staff's going to unlock Niko and they're going to be able to score and I also like just getting getting JKS reliable targets in the portal like guys who are proven good college wall players who can be on the same page with him and catch the ball like he didn't have as many drops last year as say I'm like Washington at Maryland did but he had quite a few drops that he suffered and I think that's kind of one of the reasons I was so impressed with him in Washington is like they just they just kind of persevered through it right and they just kept kept chucking and I think sometimes I can kind of you know throw a freshman off his game a little bit I yeah I'm expecting points here yeah also curious to see with Niko getting Wayne Knight from James Madison Russ for over 13 hundred yards is he have that same type of success in the backfield every quarterback would love to have a run game to benefit him I'll be curious to see if they can run the ball as effectively as they did not get James Madison but it Bob Chesney with

52:22I mean the game's gonna have like a million points right he's not ready to commit to 4542 even if the rest of the world is very prepared for 45 to 42 all right we've talked a lot about sort of the the fallout from Florida State but what about the X's and O's what about the matchups but what do you think SMU is gonna present in terms of the what where the places where the seminars are gonna be tested based on what you saw and what we think we know about the 2026 Mustangs yeah well I think the force that we tested like do they have a past rush at all like I said just across the board terrible effort from those guys in the opening game against a bad Namesco State team like everybody's past rush grade 55 56 or worse on pff you know communication between the backers and the secondary 20 white defense coordinator cited that in his Monday press conference I mean got to agree like just pretty unacceptable bus and and like not not playing good

53:25team defense and then offensive line wise like how much longer are you gonna run out chim-deh at right tackle like are you you have to move an interior guy out there and if so what's your solution on the interior I thought Daniels was actually pretty bad going back and watching that thing and like just looked like honestly look like that Daniels he's been for the entirety of his career and and maybe maybe he was a camcoman merchant for seven quarters last year like like and so you know tied in like again I think you probably can't keep running to share a riles out there because he can't block anybody and he's really more of like like a flex offset guy and you already have better slot options than him so yeah I don't have super high hopes but again you do have playmakers on offense I mean Kroema looked really good despite poor blocking and you do that's yeah he's coming along like it's not impossible that they spam those guys like you have

54:26to run action with with intention like he's not a good passer man like he's just not good at playing quarterback so can you use his legs find a way maybe I do any any any was a camcoman merchant I wonder I wonder if he becomes more of a douche robinson merchant because he did not during that game you know I think I would if I was him I'd be fine and douche robinson no matter what I mean there was a drop pass in there from douche it was a little tightly defended but I wonder if they'll if they game plan that's the one thing too did they hold back much did they do did they hold back some things I think so I think so too I hope so but like there's no holding back on the defense side of the ball for some of those busts and just flat out beats on the defense side of the ball yeah that's probably what I'm more worried about is the defense what slowing down Kevin Jennings last 10 years if you blindly bet all the teams that didn't that have not played yet I guess the teams that have played yet you're profitable yeah all the teams that have not yeah because they got a game

55:26on they got a game of film on you and you don't have a game of film on them and everyone thinks the the thought is it better week one to week two but the stats say that's not true yeah so that's how you're jumping on the other side what about the SMU side of this I mean there's a lot of commentary in the tailgate oh my god I can't believe it's only three and then that's having everyone ask about Kevin Jennings Fingy and I look I heard Kevin Jennings Fingy is going to be a hundred percent okay wet lashley came and told me about his Fingy said he's going to be all right he jamped it in a locker room door they just kind of shut him down for about a week and a half but you know he's back he's good to go and to be fair to Kevin Jennings he is an absolute warrior I saw that man on one leg win games against some of the best teams in the country so I don't want to I don't I don't want to be caught as somebody who questions his toughness what are we going to get from the SMU side of this is very easy just for our own cover three world and also since we have seen them to be very Florida state coded here what do we think we get out of the mustangs in this game

56:29I mean I think Jennings is a really good passer I think this is a nice receiver room they have some good corners left side of the offensive line is really damn good you know right side what we'll see I mean like that that's probably an area like like both right sides the offensive lines are probably spots that the opposing coaching staff wants to try to attack you know I think Duce is better than SMU's best corner but also like I think SMU's better coach they they've done a nice job of retaining the talent that they do have I think they're probably much more cohesive and played together more as a team just based on what I've seen out of them so I think they'll just come out and play their game honestly they should be able to get after get after after every she's quarterback pretty easy I think like I think they'll get a lot of pressure on him you know like if you're them it's like hey how do we lose this game it's you know deep like the episodes receivers okay and and QB running on us basically I get the shoot it if Daniels if Daniels runs a bunch and a bunch and

57:36there's a bunch of busts and miscommunications in the back half of SMU's defense where I think that I think SMU has made some decisions and how we talk about SMU like they got all the money in the world but they also choose where they invest and they try to find good fits guys that are not necessarily walking off the bus and into Sunday football but can be very good capable players within the SMU structure and those players might not be able to match up with Duce Robinson right those players might not be able to catch Danzy if Danzy gets loose and you know shake somebody I think that the reason that the line is smaller is that on paper Florida state is closer but vibes and coaching have SMU going this way and Florida state going this way SMU does after a place their defense coordinator he left with Dallas Cowboys they got Maurice Crumb calling the place for them I think that's something like again that's where the first game kind of helps you that Florida state had that kind of warm up preseason game but I mean there's no doubt about it Florida state has to play

58:39cleaner if this game is going to be competitive you ask what it means for SMU I think if SMU wins this game comfortably you know seven to ten points or more then I think it's oh there's the second best team potentially in the ACC if they win it's a little bit of a struggle or they lose then I think that kind of opens up that door so here comes Virginia we'll see what Louisville does against Ole Miss kind of just opens things up because I think justifiably so SMU has been picked by a lot of people as the second best team in that ACC you you realize the combination of an Ole Miss blowout win then a Florida state victory is just devastating for the ACC yeah that's your one playoff team scenario yeah you you you spend all offseason talking about Louisville and SMU as the Virginia still alive Virginia still there you and me will be out I mean you're you're already you know I'm on viral sensation on the on boat pre-buella who I would take I would take over Ashton Daniels

59:39I would take you think growing from our O'Vaughs in Daniels you know like that you just threw him in the ACC I started to run that clock in my head and yeah he was one of the worst quarterbacks in the portal like there's a reason he was the fifth guy they brought in like they didn't they wasn't like they didn't target him he was an emergency panic take for for a staff that miscaged how much quarterbacks were gonna cost I had a lot of fun for that one HQ hit when I just got to propose what if Ashton Daniels is good I don't think I can propose that anymore I think that you know questions been answered we got to put that one to bed but yeah we'll see we'll see about that oh we got top of one more real quick Baylor and Auburn speaking of Ashton Daniels what's what do we what do we know I mean look like they swung big in the portal at quarterback because they they need a guy to be a star for them they being Baylor yes yeah right like DJ lagway coming in they didn't go for a game manager they went for a guy that if we get this guy right if we get him back to what he was

1:00:40in the second half of 2024 then he can carry us and we can save our jobs you know I think up front Baylor's probably a little bit underrated actually I think it's a line or defensive line yeah I think they can probably cause a little bit of problems for Auburn up front you know I I like the golech higher I just don't see Auburn as a team that is like pushed all the chips in on this year you know I think they're trying yeah I think they're trying to build towards something I you know like Brown's fine but it was also we have seen that offense put up obscene numbers with pretty much anybody playing quarterback in these g six leagues so I I think there's real reason to wonder if some of that translates we think Danny I think Auburn's defense it's probably gonna be my mid kept DJ darkened to have some pieces couple pieces coming back I think that side of the ball was pretty physical I am all eyes are on DJ lagway for me like what version are you gonna get as but alluded to

1:01:44you know is he gonna be consistent is he gonna be careful with the football or is he gonna try to do too much trying to win the game for them and come up with them some of the mistakes that he made at Florida so I'm very curious to see that I think by our brown I think you'll see him run the football I think you'll try to do the same things he was against Baylor I think he should be able to do that I think the question for me comes what what is that happen to get the better teams in the SEC yep we are going to be continuing our conversation looking ahead two week one on our time on CBS Sports Network Wednesday yeah Wednesday new Eastern time cover three back on your televisions if you hit that series record on cover three like we told you before our show up in midtown Manhattan well then it's automatically gonna record but hang out take your lunch break watch we'll be breaking down inside big game breakdown inside the matchup of Oregon Boise State the big time game on CBS for week one three thirty PM Eastern time and so much more from around college

1:02:45football the trends we are tracking a but Elliott playoff hypothetical should be a lot of fun again that is Wednesday noon Eastern time on CBS Sports Network then Thursday we are back here for week one locks set that meeting 11 a.m. Eastern time and come hang out in the tailgate and you can follow him on Twitter about Elliott three you can follow him at Danny can out follow me at your underscore Patterson gentlemen thank you very much see y'all see ya