The Invasion- Greg McElroy

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1:03Our ABC ESPN College Football Analyst brought to you by three wide brewing company. It is Greg McElroy. Greg, what's going on? What's up boys? I don't even know how I was able to do this hit right now. I'm still so offended by the term that Tom Brady used to describe that throw by deck down the right side line. I just don't know. I don't know how I recovered from that. I would have highly inappropriate. I know you've never heard anything like that in your life that had to shock your Virgin ears. No, I'm just so, I'm so, my whole moral compass is in question now. After seeing the the unflaffable Tom Brady display a little bit of grit and toughness and energy in his call. Like who knew he had it in it? The guy only says LFG a thousand times a week when he was playing. Who knew that he was just so crass? Isn't that amazing? Wow. And did you write that down in your pad at words you can say now and just going to hear every analyst use that word to describe a laser beam throw?

2:06Well, as you know, D like there are some things that you can get away with when your Tom Brady make it for another year. And there's, you know, the rules that Tom has to live by in his life are a little different than the rules I have to live by. So no, I won't be using it. But I'd be lying if I didn't watch a seven year old flag football game last night and describe the couple of the throws as exactly the way Tom Brady described it. I love it. I love it. You know, so in my common vernacular, yeah, it slips out, but no on television, probably going to avoid it. Well, let's talk a little about perhaps another guy who dropped a bomb. And that was Trinidad Chambers who actually dropped enough bomb in his post game conversation with Holly Row. But what do you think about what Ole Miss was able to do handling their business? And for a while, it looked like they might blow well as you off the field. And of course, they got back in it. It ended up being a really fun second half, but what you take away with what Ole Miss did Saturday night in Oxford? I mean, so that first half was so impressive. Well, isn't it? I mean, just some

3:09of the throws that Trinidad made was like, Jolly, man. I mean, spitting it between two defenders down the right side line to touchdown right before the end of half. I mean, those were tight window throws. And remember, this was an LSU defense that had allowed like 10 first downs a game. And that's a good group. Like, I'm maintained that that's a good group. And yeah, I mean, Ole Miss scored 32, but it was just, it was a clinic early. And then, you know, things started to slip away. I think more impressively, not so much the start because you're going to feed off the emotion in a game like that. The start was kind of expected. I expected Ole Miss to come out hot. And for LSU to kind of maybe weather the storm. And then I didn't think it'd get that sideways early, but kind of weather the storm and then find some answers. And I, Cretz, LSU for making it interesting, making the tweaks and playing a lot better defensively there in the second half. I mean, they ended up actually outscoring Ole Miss 17-8 down the stretch. But I think all the things considered, man, I mean, that was a heck of a ball game by two really good football

4:13teams in my eyes. And I think Trinidad and Ole Miss are about as fun as the fun of team as there is to watch. It's always interesting. It's always entertaining. I don't think anyone that's more dynamic than Trinidad, Chandler's in college football right now. I'm these must see TV. And we've kind of known that. Like, anyone that's watched college football for the last year kind of realized this guy's a dude now. He's big time and was so impressive in the performance. Now though, and I hate to spin it for because I'm just going to try to take a page of the peak goldings book. It's like, dude, that game is done. Now they're underdogs on the road at Florida. You know what I mean? Like, this game to me, this weekend against the Gators might tell me more about Ole Miss long term than last week. Like, you knew they could ramp up at home against their former coach. Like, there was no surprise they played well in that game. Now, how do you back it up? Because this is a maturity test, not a talent test. We know they have talent. Now, it's about how

5:14much maturity do they have to kind of put that game in the rearview mirror, gather their emotions to go forth and put forth a really good effort this weekend against a really good Florida team. It's Greg McElroyer, college football expert, AESPN ABC College Football Analyst. Here for his weekly visit. Now, I want to ask you about the future of Trinidad Chambas because I'm watching that game and I'm saying, man, everything that you mentioned 100% true. And then I started thinking, does that translate to the next level? Is he planned well enough that an NFL team, then surely they'll take a chance? But do you think he can be as successful in the end at the next level as he is at Ole Miss? I'd take him for sure. And he's a little bigger than you realize. Now, he's not big by any stretch. Let's not get twisted. But he's a little more put together than you realize he looks a little smaller on the field than he actually is. He's probably about six foot. I mean, like right at it. He's probably two or five, two, ten. So not that dissimilar to kind of Russell Wilson. And I think he kind of plays like Russ a little bit too, like Russ

6:16in his early days where he's got some willingness to take off. He can always keep the defense honest with his run game. And he's got plenty of arm. He's got a big arm, really big arm. Doesn't always show it because their offense is kind of a quick hitting offense, but he can push it down the field and get it up and over. Like he can layer the ball. Like, yes. I said it last year after the George game. Like, dude, if this guy doesn't get his six-year of eligibility in the court, then I think he's the first round pick. Like I said it last year. And people are like, I don't know, man, I don't know. I'm not sure. I'm like, just go watch the play he makes. Look at the windows he hits. And I think once you start to grind on some of these guys, and you start to evaluate them to the next level, I think there's going to be a team or two that kind of falls in love with him. So don't be surprised that if he ends up getting drafted higher than you realize, because he's got all the skill set. And he's also got the makeup like the guys of first class, dude. Like really, really good guy. And I think when you interview him and you're around him,

7:17you're like, this guy is engaging. It teammates love him. And yeah, I think he's a Sunday player for sure. Greg, when you look at Texas A&M and the way that Kentucky went into Kyle Field and just absolutely whipped them up on Saturday. And now you've got OSU coming fresh off of a loss. They play this weekend. One of those two teams is going to have two losses before the calendar hits October. But how much trouble do you think A&M is going to be in here at this point? You know, I don't want to say they're in trouble. I think they just ran into a buzzsaw. You know, like sometimes you can look at the game and you're like, all right, is the is A&M super, super flawed? Or do they just run into a buzzsaw? And I think it's the latter in this situation. Now, I know it's Kentucky. But if I were to change out Kentucky's helmet for say, Oklahoma, like, I don't think the reaction right now in Aguiland would be as strong. It's just they're not used to Kentucky being as good as Kentucky is. And I think we talked about last week. I'm like, dude, I think Kentucky's pretty good. Like I'm and Bamma made them look bad. I understand

8:21that. But this plan that Stein and company put together offensively was like, it was a thing of beauty, just forcing A&M to communicate right up to the snap defensively the entire game. I mean, A&M was on their heels throughout most of it. Now, that's the NM's defense. So I think it's correctable on defense. I really do. Now, offensively, I have some concerns. I do. I like their weapons. I even like Marcel Reed. I just don't think the recipe I know it got sideways on them. So it became a throw a thought. The recipe for A&M's ground and pound play action pass in my opinion. Like I look at what they've done the first couple of weeks. Like you see some drop back, probably too many drop backs to me. Like too many. I want to run the quarterback. He's super athletic. He's crazy dynamic. He can run the rock. Like I want to run him. I don't want to run him a lot. I want to run between the tackle. He's not big enough to run between the tackles. But like, get him on the edge. Like I think there's things offensively that they can do that they haven't

9:22really gone to yet. And I don't think dropping back 50 times a game is a winning recipe for them. I think they need to be a balanced split of 35 35 drop back versus run game. And on those 35 drop backs, five or six have been turned into quarterback scrambles. So you end up running at 40 plus times and you end up throwing at 28 times. Like that's the split for me for A&M going forward. Now, don't feel like I've seen that from them just yet this year. I want to see more of that. And if they do, I think they have to play a little keep away this week because you know, LSU is going to tempo LSU is going to do some different things. So you got to play a little keep away and you got to kind of win with defense and run game to take the crowd out of it. So I'm not I'm not punting on A&M right now. No way. There's too much talent on that roster. But I think they really need to look at themselves in the mirror offensively and figure out, all right, what does my identity need to be? Scrag McAura here for a few more minutes for his weekly visit. Let's talk big 12 because Texas Tech had their probably matchup of the year early into season against Houston. They survived

10:252026. We're kind of used to what not used to last year that defense was incredible. They just blew everyone out and now feels like they haven't found their footing, but yet they're still 3 and O. Do you still feel like they're the team to beat in the big 12 and maybe not have any issues getting through this conference? No, I don't know if they are anymore for me. I had BYU winning it before the season. That defense is not what it was. And it's not that it's bad. It's just not what it was. I mean, the group last year was ridiculous. Yeah. So what I like though is I do think I love how Will Hammond took charge of the game last week. Like he was clearly fired up with the first play and and let him cast the Lannos go over there and he won and that obviously put points on the board for Houston. So they can kind of look back. All right, we were our own worst enemy there. I love how they weathered the storm and kind of got things going. I love that they've now become a bit more explosive offensively. That was a concern. Their dynamic one, two punch at running back is legit. Like I think they need to be a run first football team.

11:28Hammond's a good solid player. I don't think he's a take over the game guy just yet. Maybe it's maybe it's in there. I don't know if you've ever seen it yet, but maybe it's in there. I mean, Castellanos can remain a package player. I don't necessarily want to see him in regular down in distance, but it's the running backs to me that are going to kind of take this group to the next level. I think that's their best position group. So I like what I saw from Texas Tech and the resilience, but there's some holes defensively that I'm a bit concerned about. And I don't think they're the same group they were last year, but it doesn't mean they can't still win the big 12 because their schedule is pretty gettable. But so far the best team I've seen the big 12's Utah. They are legit. And I think their use of their offensive personnel and Devin Devin here, their quarter back is he's really tough to contain. So right now that's the best group I've seen in that league, but you know, I think Texas Tech looked they had to survive that one. Now they got to make some adjustments and make some changes, but there's some holes on defense. They got to get ironed out. Greg, how much trouble you think Oklahoma is in after what

12:33you saw against New Mexico a week after they couldn't move the ball against a much better defense in Michigan. They just seem to have nothing offensively, which is so surprising for a school like Oklahoma. Well, it's not even so much like, all right. So I know they've had some issues with some injuries and I understand the left tackles been out. I get all that, right? I know that Trill Harris is out. They now have injury at deep at the tackle and David Stone. You got an injury at the second level of Kip Lewis. Like they have some injury problems, which is tough. And it's hard to overcome, especially on the road in Georgia. It's not like that's a great get right recipe. But when I'm trying to figure out with Oklahoma, like, why do they continue to turn John Matier into a drop back password? Like that's not who he is right now. Like it's I wanted them to develop into that. Like we all want that. Like what quarterback doesn't want to live in the pocket in a safe place and just deliver strikes. And that's what we all want. But there's been some misses. They've been high. There have been some late throws that have resulted in interceptions. There have been support decisions from time to time. They got to get satania going. That's big. I like where they're

13:36going with the tight end personnel. Like I think they can be a run first football team. Like they need to be a little more committed to the run game. And I thought when Kevin Wilson got down there and was kind of serving as like an offensive analyst, he's been the head coach at Indiana. He's been the head coach at Tulsa. I mean, he is a guy that's like as tough as nails. Like he choose glass for breakfast. I mean, he's a tough guy for sure. And I thought he would kind of bring that run game with him that he's had everywhere else. He's been and they would lean a little more into that. And it's like you watch him. It's like, all right, they handed off the game six. And then they dropped back on second down. They dropped back on third. And I was like, what just happened? They're going to do it. Like run the ball. You just gain seven yards on first and 10. That happened to get to Michigan. I think got away from it too quickly. It happened a little bit last week as well. So I know they're trying to jumpstart the offense and trying to get their quarterback going. But it's not there for him right now. So run the ball. I take some of the pressure off of them and then run him also, especially against George, like you've got to run the quarterback in this game. Like he should have 15 carries in this game. If he doesn't, then I think that's a miss.

14:40So it's going to be a tough matchup. It's a really hard get right recipe. But with what Oklahoma has coming up on the schedule, like this week's it got to have it. I mean, they got to go and they got to play well. They might not necessarily need to win the game, but it better be super competitive. Because they got to show progress. It doesn't get any easier. They have the hardest schedule in America, my opinion. So where will we find you this week? Oh, we're going to do Ole Miss Florida. Nice. Very nice. There we go. Come do like a live pregame show. Sure. Let's do it. Great. Yeah. Down in the swamp. Let's go. Yeah, you're all about that. There's a lot of kids in the Dallas, Florida. They're going to Ole Miss. Like come down and like help promote the school. You know what I mean? Yeah. Of course. They do so much for us. We'll do. We'll promote them. I Greg, thank you, man. We truly appreciate it. We'll talk to you again. They make some noise in the playoffs. I'm sorry. Say that again. Are the Rangers going to make some noise in the playoffs, you think? Well, the last time they made the playoffs, they won the World Series. So yes. Yes. So yes. They make a lot of noise. Take that. There you go. They're just opposed to an outfit, aren't they? That's what it is.

15:42That's what we love it. I Greg. That's Greg McAuro. It can be awesome. Thank you. I see you. I close weekly visit. Our college football expert ESPN ABC, college football analyst will be on the call for Ole Miss and Florida 230 on ABC should be a fantastic game.