11-1-23 After Hours with Amy Lawrence PODCAST: Hour 2

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For important information, visit Principle.com slash disclosures. Not only was it Halloween, not only was it the NFL trade deadline, not only did we have some late night tricks in terms of bombshell news like Josh McDaniels getting fired by Mark Davis in Vegas. And so there's another change there with the Raiders. We'll continue to talk about that. We also had first iteration of the college football playoff rankings and when be getting his first taste of life in the NBA against one of the top stars with Kevin Durant. Kind of cool for him since KD has been one of his NBA idols. Oh, OK. We've barely scratched the surface. And I don't know if that relegates the James Harden trade to Los Angeles on the back burner.

I don't think it does. It just is more about the fact that it was 12 hours ago and that feels like forever on a Halloween in which there was nonstop news in the world of sports. It's after hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. Clippers did play on Tuesday evening and they did get a victory over Orlando. And in the wake of that and the news about James Harden, we're excited to welcome an insider from Los Angeles. Tyloo, though, first on a team that has a bunch of veteran pieces and can win a variety of different ways, even when Kawhi Leonard doesn't have a great game.

We have type of team. It could be PG's night, Kawhi's night, could be Russ's night, you know, and just, you know, just playing the game. Kawhi doesn't care about numbers.

You know, he just he wants to win. It happened to be Russell Westbrook that found the gas pedal in the third quarter and is able to power the team to a healthy lead over Orlando. So for Russell Westbrook, it's kind of interesting because you and I had talked about this after he ended up with the Clippers and why this was the right place for him because he felt like it was a fresh start and a chance for redemption. We know that Kawhi Leonard has a ring, but Paul George does not. And so he's still chasing that as a veteran who's been in this league for a long time. Same thing now with James Harden. And so you make a good point about a bunch of guys who are motivated not by individual accolades because these guys have had plenty of individual awards and All-Star teams and and all of the attention as individuals, but not necessarily as a champion or as champions together. But why make the move for James Harden?

Why this guy? Why does he fit with the Clippers? I think it comes down to three things. Number one, James is an offense unto himself, like that led the league in assists last year, but we talked about James as far as what he can do as a scorer. And this team, as talented as Paul George, Kawhi Leonard, Russell Westbrook are, James offers you something different. And so like when it comes to what the team needs to do to complement each other, James as a pick and roll ball handler and decision maker, I believe he comes to this team and is already the best combination of scoring and passing.

So that's number one. Number two, James is a bigger body. There are a lot of point guards that changed hands, right? And James was a point guard for the Sixers last year. He doesn't need to be a point guard for the Clippers this year, but he has that skill set offensively. But defensively is where people are going to dismiss James because he does have a low like he does have low lights when it comes to that in the floor. But he has his highlights, too, that don't always show up. You don't see James Harden getting outmuscled by dudes. You don't you do see James Harden forcing turnovers.

He's always averaged more than a steal a game when when he plays. He gets on the glass. If you're going to be smaller, you want to have a nose for the ball. So there's boxing out and there's getting the rebound and then there's ending possessions before teams even get shots up. James is capable of fitting in in a team defensive setting.

And then number three, these guys are all from L.A. area or Southern California. Like that is a cool thing. It's rare to have that where you come into the league and you play a decade and then you all get to be on the same team.

It's it's fascinating. I kind of feel like it's like the Las Vegas Aces team, except if all of those ladies from the same area. That's what we have here. And so that plays a role. You know, when you think about consulting your stars, consulting players, leaders in your locker room about who to bring in. You can you know, there's respect for a lot of guys, but to say that someone that it's like, oh, yeah, like I was following him when I was in school.

That's what these guys have for this season, starting a week in a week or so. Law, we saw from photos and videos that James Harden was already in the building. What did you see and what did you hear, whether it's guys talking about it or himself?

I'm not really sure how much access there was. So what happened? It's funny. I hate having my phone out in the locker room. So I saw I see all those clips and I'm and I'm like, I'm so glad I don't need to go viral tonight.

Like I don't need it. Like, y'all, y'all, you know, I'm glad that they had their moment. The trade's not even official. Some dudes couldn't talk about it. Well, it's funny because, like, you you ask all of them still and, you know, Kawhi deadpans. I'm told not to talk about this.

And that was it. And then there's Russ who comes in. And again, Russ's demeanor is so much different, right? So Russ comes in and is like, I had nothing for y'all, nothing for James, nothing for P.J.

I got nothing for y'all. And then we start talking about the game and then but we still were like, Russ, you seem happy. It's like, yeah, he's happy. I think that's the thing.

It's like you think about it, Amy. James had a rough 2023, you know, from the jump by the end of January. He learned he wasn't going to be an all star. And for some players, it's like whatever for James. I think that really hurt him because he's used to at least being named and going to that game.

I think that hurt him. And then you go through the season, you go into the playoffs and he had big playoff games. But we talked about that.

We talked about how they blew game six and how they went up to game seven in Boston and didn't get it done. And, you know, not only is your season over, but your head coach is fired. There's blame going around. That's difficult when you're at the stage of James' career and then you have the situation and we all seem aware. He thinks he's getting his money and that doesn't happen. He thinks he's getting traded.

It takes until last night for that to happen. I think this might have been the first time James could really look and say he's happy and looking forward to something. So and again, the trade's not even official yet. So we talk about vibes. I felt like the vibes that was around the Clippers was to suggest that they wouldn't need or weren't interested in doing a move like this.

I've never kind of got myself to a point where I was like, oh, they're not going to do this, period. Well, they wound up doing it, Amy. They wound up making this trade.

And now you have different vibes and a different character or not character, but a different chemistry that you need to develop as well. Paul Murray is with us from Los Angeles, where the Clippers did have a game tonight. And according to photos, videos, reports, James Harden there in the building, though his new teammates not really allowed to acknowledge it just yet.

Law covers the Clippers for the athletic, and we're glad to have him with us here on After Hours with Amy Lawrence, CBS Sports Radio. Why did it take so long? Because these negotiations, they stopped and started over the course of four months.

You got to ask there, I'm worried about that one. I think the Clippers were pretty honestly, I feel like the Clippers were constant here. I don't think the Clippers when the season ended in the Phoenix were thinking we're going to get James Harden like that. I don't know if that was a part of their all season planning, but for the Clippers, every day, they really kind of kept the powder dry, like they the only veteran acquisition they had on a standard contract with KJ Martin, who turns out was included in this trade.

And then everything was about what James was doing and what Daryl Morey was going to demand when he was going to get to the point where he could comfortably trade him. And I honestly give the Philadelphia 76ers coach, Nick Nurse, new head coach, and the guys on that team, a lot of the credit for actually making this go through. Joel is the reigning MVP. And it was funny, people were like, is he even going to play in the home opener after they beat the Toronto Raptors, which had been an emotional game for Nick Nurse, you know, being that he won a chip there and was there for five years, was a coach of the year, all that jazz.

Joel plays so well that, you know, he gets fined because he went Generation X on the people. And then you also have to look at the story that is developing with Tyrese Maxey, a guy who when he came into the league, you know, he wasn't in the rotation right away. He was playing under Ben Simmons. And then Ben Simmons was not playing and he emerged then and then they get James. And then Tyrese was coming off the bench last year from most last year. And until he got back into the starting lineup. Now that dude is the clear cut guy next to Joel. He was the player of the week in the Eastern Conference. That's an award James Harden never won as a Philadelphia 76er. I think all of those things make it easier to kind of get to the point where, OK, we can move on from James and we can compete and also still figure out what we need to do to maximize where Joel Embiid is at in his career, which is at the very top, very peak coming off of an MVP season. Any pause from you considering what we've seen from James in the last three places that he has landed, even going back to Houston, where he acted very unprofessionally, to say the least, in forcing his way out of town with Daryl Morey. He ends up in Brooklyn. That blows up after, what, a year? It was as unsuccessful as you could possibly be in one of these big three, quote unquote, combos.

And then in Philadelphia, it didn't last longer than a year and a half. Any pause at all about adding him to the mix where you're talking about some veterans who themselves are established? There's always going to be pause because like you talk about sacrifice and the sacrifice that James is going to have to make. James can't be extended. James isn't going to lead the league in scoring. He probably isn't going to lead the league in assists. He's going to have to defend hard. He's going to have to be a great teammate. He's going to have to be off the ball. He's going to have to move every now and again.

He can't have possessions where he dribbles 30 times in a 24 second shot clock. Things are going to be different. And of course, when a guy, especially that's deep into his career, is being asked to do different things, you can't assume that it's going to go great at the beginning. You can't assume that it's going to go great after you lose some games. You can't assume that it's going to be great when the playoffs start and you're playing the best teams and at the highest urgency.

So those are all going to be concerned. Why I think some of those concerns will be out late is because he is playing with his guys. He's playing in his city and he's playing with some serious talent. Like Russell Westbrook is on damn near minimum contract. Paul Jordan and Kawhi Leonard are two stars that are very different than some of the stars that James has played with in his career.

Those dudes actually are comfortable being off the ball. Kawhi Leonard had a really rough night tonight. He missed, I don't think, he didn't make a single shot. I can tell you, he did not make a single shot before the, before halftime. And Kawhi's at the game, he's cool with a game like that as long as his team is winning and he's cool doing the little things, keeping the ball moving, rebounding, boxing out, defending, taking his assignment away. That's Kawhi.

Like that's why Kawhi leads by example. Paul George, he could be this team's point guard if he really wanted to, but he advocated for someone else to play that role so that the things that you do have from Paul George as far as his other responsibilities, again, defending, rebounding, hitting shots, being one of your top scorers, he can do that more efficiently and more effectively at the end of the game. And so with James, I think James has, I think James has already tried to sacrifice before. He signed a contract in Philadelphia that paid him less money than he probably could have been paid because he wanted to get a guy like PJ Tucker on the team. PJ Tucker is about to be a L.A. quipper along with James here.

So the pause is going to be, you got to see it through, but I have probably more optimism that it will work than me being, me sitting here thinking this is a terrible idea and they're going to regret it. I'm glad you brought up Tucker. I was going to ask you how he fits into the equation as a former champion, as a guy who, you know, it brings a ton of wisdom and experience himself. Yeah I got a chance to, you know, just after the game, you know, make sure to introduce myself to him and I think the best thing for PJ is he's not coming to the Clippers to start. It's crazy that he's been starting as many games as he has. It's a testament to him, you know, a guy who for most of his 20s was either playing in college or playing overseas and so when you have a player like PJ Tucker on your team, Intangibles is a big part of it. Like that dude probably ain't going to take a shot in the game. Like he's had a lot of games like that, but instead of him playing 30 plus minutes and doing that, instead of him being in the starting line and doing that, he's in a pretty much knee based role and I think his willingness to talk to anybody, you know, doesn't matter how many MVPs they want, doesn't matter how many dribble doubles they had, doesn't matter how many scoring titles, trophies, even championships, PJ Tucker is willing to talk to anybody in a tone and a language that guys won't take personal but will take serious and you need guys like that. There might have been a dearth of that because the Clippers had a great glue guy in Nicholas Batum. I know Marcus Morris here might not have been popular with the fans, but those guys in the locker room respected Marcus and Marcus had a respected voice. And Robert Covington, a solid dude, a dude who has gotten out of the mud, an undrafted guy who became an all defensive team member, there's a leadership void when you trade away all of those guys and it's going to be up to PJ for as long as he's with the team to help fill that. Love that answer.

Thank you, Law, for all that intel. How quickly will we see James Harden and PJ Tucker on the court? Well, like I said, the trade isn't even official yet. I would be shocked if even if they announce the first thing in the morning and you're talking bi-coastal here like LA is LA, Philadelphia is three times over the way, Philadelphia is in the middle of a three day stretch where they don't play and they are not traveling. The Clippers actually have a road game Wednesday night on national TV. I don't think it's the best spot to throw a player like James who didn't play a single preseason game on the floor.

PJ, maybe I give him a slight chance to maybe debut, but same thing, I really don't see a scenario. I think those guys, I think they just want to have those guys sit, watch the game and you know, get those guys into practice. The Clippers have four days off in between the Lakers game Wednesday night and when they play again Monday in New York of all places. So I think the plan has always been, and I wrote this two weeks ago, I was eyeing this week as a potential trigger for a transaction given the days off that the Clippers had. I think those guys are going to practice in LA.

They're going to travel to New York, practice in New York and get ready to play a very interesting four game week three against New York, Brooklyn, Dallas, and the Matinee game home against the Grizzlies. Brooklyn. Yes.

He needs to be on the court in the game against Brooklyn law. Look at you. You nailed it. The timing and everything. So as this group comes together, so much of it will have to do with health, right? Because they are veterans. We're talking about guys who have a lot of wear and tear on their bodies. PG and Kawhi have dealt with injuries recently, even just since they've gotten to LA. So how healthy is the group, the core? Right now, they look great.

And I think tomorrow will answer a lot of questions. People keep trying to get the availability report out of the head coach and the players. And I just read between the lines like low management is not something that the Clippers were really doing. As far as resting guys when they're healthy, quality towards ACL, for crying out loud, you know, like you missed an entire season rehabbing that knee. And we saw Kawhi Leonard in the first two, three months of last season wasn't the quiet learners that we saw pretty much from MLK day on to the playoffs. Like he needed to build that knee back up his game back up after not playing NBA basketball for so long. And it's unfortunate that Kawhi season ended with a meniscus tear in the playoffs that robbed him of being able to complete another postseason. Paul sprained his knee like that knee spring was contact.

We saw what happened in the Oklahoma City game. And so it's unfair that those guys have been labeled as guys who don't want to play. They they are very competitive. They want to play.

They take care of their bodies to a point where, you know, you feel bad when they break down. There's a lot of guys in the league who they haven't always taken care of themselves for one reason or another. And so these guys are dedicated and Paul looks great. Kawhi, I don't want to say Kawhi looks great, but he certainly looks good. And I expect those guys to play tomorrow unless something comes up where they didn't feel great coming out of this game tonight against the Magic and that tells it all that is going to be why the Clippers are a better basketball team. But you add a guy like James as insurance because injuries happen and this team is really at the end of the line here as far as trying to win a championship. They're taking their best and biggest swing at it and you get a guy like James. It's so funny, but I'm going to use terminal and keep using a James Harden is insurance. He's a hell of a luxury, but he's a he is a shiny insurance policy for Russell Westbrook at the ball handling position and for Kawhi Leonard and Paul George as far as being able to have enough offense when those guys are not available to play.

They definitely are employing the strategy of go big or go home as you point out. These guys are coming to the end of a window where they could win a championship. And so I like the move for the Clippers don't don't necessarily love the way that James forced his way out of another franchise in another city. However, he is reportedly ecstatic about being in LA now, so you want to make sure you follow law on Twitter at law Murray the NU.

He covers the Clippers and the NBA for the athletic great Intel good reaction law. It's great to catch up with you. I know it's been a really long day, but thank you so much for a few minutes. Thank you so much. Amy appreciate you and enjoy enjoy the rest of your week.

Thank you. Yeah, good stuff from law about seeing James about the reaction inside the locker room with PJ Tucker to me. I think that's an underrated piece of this.

I again, I don't love the way that James Harden has navigated his career over the last five years and I still have pause over what might happen, but he's happy. They're all motivated together. There are a bunch of veterans who have been in a lot of different places, right? I've seen a lot of different basketball and have faced adversity. Maybe that brings them together.

They bond together in their pursuit of a title. All right on Twitter after hours CBS, you can send your questions for ask Amy anything same thing on our Facebook page coming up. We'll stick with the NBA for another few minutes KD and when be on the same court and it was a fantastic finish after hours with Amy Lawrence CBS sports radio. You are listening to the after hours podcast screen by Collins for the cell step back left wing three shot is good for Kevin Bussell. It's 110 to 107 that cut that six point lead in half down to 13 seconds eight of the shot clock the cell right wing three to tie it off the back of the net that follow slam is good for Victor Rambunyama that makes it a one-point game.

This is after hours with Amy Lawrence from the super secret home base. I am not in the same place as producer J so it always is a little more difficult to navigate. We apologize for any glitches or weird pauses in our coverage tonight.

Since we can't see each other we can't use hand signals and that is our form of nonverbal communication all kinds of hand signals that you might not even recognize if you saw us flashing them, but we've gotten pretty good at it. It's after hours for me for J for you because it was a day in which sports was non-freaking-stop. It was it was 100 it was all gas no brakes and we're just scratching the surface but so far we've talked about Josh McDaniel's getting fired by the Raiders along with their general manager. We've talked just barely briefly about the NFL trade deadline.

We certainly have covered game for the World Series and the James Harden trade to the Clippers. Now we want to work in the Spurs and the Suns because it was Victor Rambunyama and Kevin Durant on the same court and for when he's still in a place where he's getting his feet wet in the NBA right he's still he's figuring it out he's 19 you guys he's 19 years old he may look like he's older he may even sound like he's older but he's only just 19 years old and so to be on the court with one of his idols he obviously was really excited about that he talked about it after the game but a lot of fun too because it went down to the wire as you hear on Spurs radio. Inbounds pass comes to Durant and Durant will have it knocked away it's stolen by Johnson who takes it inside lays it up and in the Spurs take the lead with 1.2 seconds remaining it's 115 114 the steal by Kelvin Johnson and the basket unbelievably the Spurs take their first lead of the game with 1.2 seconds remaining in the game. Inbounds pass comes to the left wing Allen looking for an open teammate to Durant for the win for the baseline no it's off the front of the rim and this ball game is over the San Antonio Spurs end the game on a 6-0 run they stormed back from a 20-point deficit and knock off the Phoenix Suns they end their personal nine-game losing streak for the Suns in dramatic fashion. The worst that happened when they called a foul they shoot free throws but we had we had to make something happen time was running down so you know my mindset was just make a play on the ball and uh you know after that was just you know try to finish the layup. This is astounding the way this game went from a 20-point deficit for San Antonio to you hear the call there with Bill Shonig on Spurs radio the fact that they did not lead until the very end it goes from a surefire defeat and a double figure loss to a stunning win in Phoenix when Kelden Johnson is able to get the ball away from KD and then take it down the other way for a contested layup. So this wasn't easy with a second to go the Spurs get their only lead and they hang on to win over the Suns after trailing by 20 points.

It's after hours with Amy Lawrence our hump show here on CBS Sports Radio and it feels like everything was kind of upside down inside out on Tuesday. So as for Victor Wemenyama he's playing just his fourth NBA game as I say still trying to find his footing he's 19 years old he may be tall and long and lanky and certainly can and you may have seen some of the video he can defend shots just the long arm of the law being up in the air right to make it so hard for even guys as big as Kevin Durant to see clearly to shoot over the top however he's still relatively thin they're bulkier guys guys who know how to box him out push him around make him pay as you know as a welcome to the NBA type of greeting here's a new bruise for you on your body right so he's gonna have to learn how to play a physical NBA game over the course of a long season a season that he's never endured before so there's going to be some moments where he's off where his shot is off and where he's you know trying to figure it out against veterans in the league so he did miss his first five shots but late in the first half you may have seen the video of an incredible dunk so he rocks the rim he finished with 18 points had eight rebounds still under 30 minutes so they're working him in but got a chance to be part of a stunning finish in which the Spurs come out on top there was like a double triple team I don't know Kevin just came from behind and I mean simple as that he grabbed the ball and he scored that's it and he yeah tough finish you know from my point of view a lot of time went by and I was like when he when he got the ball I was like I wasn't sure that there was enough time on the clock you know for him to finish but yeah there was they responded great after a 30-point loss I couldn't be prouder of them they just as we always talk about pounded the rock they just kept playing through it no matter what we made a gazillion mistakes but it's a game of mistakes and so does every team but we just kept playing that's the best thing about the group I was really proud of them we just kept playing I love that I love the fact that it's certainly a learning process and Greg Popovich has patience right he he has to have patience so this was a game for Kevin Durant his first chance to see wimby and to match up with wimby we know that women yama raves about Durant and it was kind of a moment where you could pinch he could pinch himself you could pinch yourself and say whoa I can't believe I'm here but as for Durant I think ultimately what he takes away is he lost the ball in that late stage there where he and the Suns had a chance to close out the Spurs I'm expecting them to try but like that's all that's out of my control and I'm trying to you know make the play it is it just happened so fast but should have held on to it sucks but that's just the NBA teams make runs three-pointers involved in the game now zone defense is involved in the game now in a slow slow team down it's early in the season it definitely does feel like a gut punch to lose a 20-point lead especially when you're playing at home to a team that you had beaten almost one minute shy actually a couple seconds shy of 10 consecutive games but it's so early in the season this victory this outcome shall we say means far more to the Spurs than it does to the Suns and we're gonna see a lot of these wild swings these momentum shifts that you know pendulum from one end to the other early in the season similar to what we see in the NFL or what we saw in the NFL going back to the first month because teams are still trying to get back into the flow and obviously there's changes there's chemistry there's injuries to factor in it's just early season and a lot of times this is what happens it's volatile early in any season so they will settle in to be sure but I love this I love tall when be Gumby he does look like a Gumby to me at times 19 years old getting to play against his idols and yet not backing down and having the moxie at 19 years old to continue working early in his NBA career and not be starstruck on Twitter after hours CBS also on our Facebook page we are asking you to send your questions for ask Amy anything so we're asking you politely so that we can then answer your questions mostly politely I do have one funny story to share with you at some point about how I came out from anesthesia on Tuesday I wonder if they laughed at me I have no idea if they did I just now know thinking about it that it was it was goofy but totally me as someone who asked a lot of questions anyway thank you for all your kind messages and kind words I was not on the show last night and I was in preparation for a medical procedure on Tuesday but everything went well thankful for that and that you have some care and concern for me as a radio host and one that you don't just care about when it comes to my sports opinions in fact I feel like you care more about me personally sometimes than you care about me professionally which is a good problem a good challenge to have so send your questions for ask Amy our phone number 855-212-4227 the first college football playoff rankings were unveiled on Tuesday evening so that March has begun to the college football playoff sports never stop you are listening to the after hours podcast the front man in the formation gets the snap hands it off Henderson running left side of the 30 of the Badgers to the 25 to the 20 to the 15 to the 10 and into the end zone Trevion Henderson a 33 yard touchdown run for Trevion Henderson is the fourth straight game he scored an Ohio State touchdown this is after hours with Amy Lawrence Paul Keels on Learfield as Ohio State's cruise to another win and the Buckeyes are 8-0 as are Georgia Michigan Florida State and Washington with another 10 teams or so being one loss teams but right now those are your top five in the brand new college football playoff rankings released on Tuesday night Halloween seriously what more could we jam into trick or treat and actually be kind of fun to ask people that question even though Halloween is in the rearview mirror if I had worked on Monday night which I was using a sick day but I've worked on Monday night we could have asked that question but it would have been more fitting on Halloween night because of the number of bombshells and breaking news items and stories that we had right up until a few minutes before the show started it's after hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS sports radio if you are one of those who doles out the treats on Halloween I hope you had fun being generous with candy or other goodies and if you are a trickster well I hope you found someone to trick although I hope that person doesn't come for paybacks because you know what they say about paybacks would you believe we're into November not the entire country yet still waiting on a couple of our time zones stragglers but the majority of us are already technically into the month of November I can't get over it Thanksgiving is three weeks from Thursday J J Thanksgiving is three weeks away it's I feel like J speechless so that's where I am it's crazy because for for most of the 2023 I felt like it was dragging I know it really wasn't but I felt like it was because it's hard to navigate a long-distance relationship and we're constantly counting days and now Bob and I have had this revelation that holy cow we are inside of seven weeks until we get married and we are not ready we're ready for ready for the wedding just not ready to merge two households and everything that comes after that we feel like we have so much to do so yes the idea of it being the last day of October and now into November kind of smacked us in the face on Monday it's after hours with Amy Lawrence it is our hump show we invite your questions for ask Amy anything about an hour from now actually inside of an hour from now if you want to send them to our show Twitter after hours CBS or on our Facebook page boo Corrigan is the committee chair for the college football playoff group that will determine who faces off when we get to the actual playoff itself keep in mind these rankings are just conversation points right now they mean a whole lot of nothing they can and will change but the Buckeyes are number one you're looking at five teams all of which are undefeated there's seven overall but five in this group that we were talking about and you know you kind of start to look at body of work in Georgia the wins over Kentucky the wins over Florida the dominance that Michigan has played with this year both offensively and defensively four wins over teams there five hundred or better and then Florida State as you're looking at them the big win over LSU you know tight game against Boston College obviously the red bandana game very emotional game but as a group the 13 of us came to the conclusion that this was the this was the right order for the four top four slots as we looked at it you know that obviously the big win at nerd aim the win over Penn State you know top five defense they've got difference makers on offense across the board Marvin Harrison Jr. is an elite player and as we looked at it you know we came to the conclusion as a group that Ohio State deserved to be the number one team. So there's the explanation from Boo Corrigan who is the college football playoff committee chair and Ohio State is number one based on two top 15 victories and he mentions them Notre Dame Penn State and also a strength of schedule whether or not it's supposed to be an official factor it's clear that the strength of schedule is a major reason that the Buckeyes have the top slot because Georgia even though Georgia is a no doesn't have any wins over a top 25 team and it has a strength of schedule that actually ranks number 100 if you follow the metrics and those who do the breakdowns like our friend Jerry Palm of CBS Sports he is all about these college football playoff rankings and the formulas that make them all fit together and he's usually pretty good at predicting or even knowing what the committee will do before the committee does it. Now one major question about Michigan is the sign stealing accusations and speculation and and criticism how will that factor in if at all to the rankings? Our job is as we look at it is to rank the teams you know to follow our protocols and as we went through it that really wasn't part of any of the discussions that occurred during the during our time together. We really view it it's an NCAA issue it's not a CFPSU. Once again Boo Corrigan as the chair and these are just the initial rankings that are more intended to stir up conversation they're a starting point look at them as a baseline but they can and will change considering what's still to come on the horizon for not just the conference clashes that we've got in the Big Ten the SEC all of the different games that are still on the schedule generally the deeper you go into your schedule the tougher it gets but also conference championships and how does that factor in and so these are just the very first set of rankings they're just a starting point the starting line if you will but I really like the idea of a baseline because this is where they begin but everything will be measured individually and corporately week by week it doesn't build on each other and so Ohio State is number one Georgia's number two but anybody can land in that playoff it's after hours with Amy Lawrence CBS sports radio. 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