After Hours with Amy Lawrence PODCAST: Hour 3

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For all terms and limitations, visit FelixCatInsurance.com slash terms. I just tried to stuff the wrong earbud into the wrong ear. Actually, that sounds funny. I just tried to stuff the right earbud into the left ear, and it doesn't fit that way.

But, I tried for a good 20 seconds. There's a lot going on in here, so you'll have to forgive me if I make up words and stuff the wrong earbud into the right ear. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio.

On Twitter, ALawRadio, but on our Facebook page, it's After Hours with Amy Lawrence. There's so much. First of all, there's a glorious picture that demonstrates one of the many reasons that I love fall. Check it out. You can't miss it.

The color will capture your attention immediately. So that's on both of our social media sites. Then, you have the chance to vote for the After Hours game of the week. We have another game in Germany. We have another game in Frankfurt, but I don't know that it's going to be as entertaining as Chiefs and Dolphins. It's Colts and Patriots, and there is this groundswell of speculation that if the Patriots lose to the Colts in Germany, that Bill Belichick will be given das boot by Bob Kraft. I do not believe it.

I will believe it when it happens. I do not think there's any way, even if the Patriots lose out every single game between now and the rest of the season, and I don't think that will happen. But even if they do, I don't think there's any way that Bob Kraft would disrespect Belichick after all these years and the Super Bowl rings by firing him mid-season.

I just, I can't, I can't fathom it. Knowing what I know of Bob Kraft, having dealt with him personally when I worked in the market, I worked in Providence, but I covered a lot of Boston events. And then, for those of you who don't know, Gillette Stadium is actually halfway between Providence and Boston.

It's not in Boston. But having had him on my radio shows many times in the past, he's kind-hearted, he's loyal, and he did just give Bill Belichick a brand new contract extension in the offseason. So if he had any qualms about bringing back Belichick after last season, then why give him a contract? Why give him a multi-year extension?

It was quietly done in the offseason. But either way, knowing Bob Kraft is a human, he's compassionate, he's caring, and I just can't imagine that for the sake of seven games, six, seven games, he would fire the greatest coach of all time. Who has made the Patriots franchise one of the richest franchises in the NFL, one of the most talked-about franchises in the NFL, but also one that will forever have set a standard for a 20-year stretch. But that's your first game.

I can't tell you it's worth waking up early for, those of you who are on the Pacific time zone on the West Coast. But maybe, you never know, sometimes the NFL astounds us. Actually, every week the NFL astounds us.

It's after hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. It's not one of the Game of the Week candidates, it is not. However, it is football. And for those of you who can't get enough, it starts early yet again. Four consecutive football windows on Sunday. And then think about what we have on Saturday. We're going to get to a little college football preview coming up in 15 minutes here on After Hours. So vote for the Game of the Week. That's on both Twitter and Facebook.

And then we've dubbed this a Hall of Flame Friday. And if you're joining the show for the first time or you're relatively new to the show, I just was saying before the top of the hour, we have so many new listeners. Our social media continues to grow.

And that's just one indicator of the show's reach. But a lot of you reach out to me. Every week I'm getting a couple dozen people. I just found the show for the first time. You keep me company when I do this.

You keep me company when I do that. And then I hear from longtime listeners who just don't use social media and are reaching out for the first time. It's like first time, long time. No, long time, first time.

Long time listener, first time caller. And so whatever category you fall into, it's been a while since we've done a Hall of Flame induction. The poll is up again on Twitter after our CBS. The polls are right there at the top of our show Twitter.

Or if you go to our Facebook page, they're available there as well. And you know what? I may actually backpedal. I said that we would do the big reveal before the show is done. But I think what we'll do is we'll let the poll run so that more people, especially if they are catching the podcast after the fact. So those of you who use the podcast, hello!

You know who you are. You'll be listening during the day on Friday. And so we're going to let the poll run.

Now Jay and I will cast our votes. Marco Belletti's already casted his vote. Casted? He's already casted?

Why does that sound weird? He's already cast? Cast? He was casted? Okay.

I think it's he cast his vote already. Now it depends. Are we saying C-A-S-T or C-A-S-T-E? I mean we're saying C-A-S-T, but in the case of cast, do you know the other cast is a noun?

Like the cast system? Look, it's something stuck from high school. A little bit.

It's got something going on up here. I get that a lot. So he casted.

Why do I feel like that's okay, but it's not generally what people say? Like if you're going fishing and you're on a boat, like he casted away. Not he casted away. No, cast away is a different thing. Anyway, we're going to have to look it up so we get proper English.

Not that proper English matters on social media, so don't worry about that. Let's see. Cast. I'm going to say cast. Past tense of cast.

Are you ready? Past tense. Because I feel like I've heard both, although I would say generally it's cast. The correct past tense is actually just cast.

While it might be tempting for you to add the suffix, because that's usually how we change the tense of a verb. Thank you, Google. What is cast in the past? You know how Google gives you the most popular questions around that particular topic, right? So you'll see you put in your phrase or your word and you hit search and it gives you. People also ask.

So people also ask this. What is cast in the past? What is cast in the past? Do people do that on purpose? Is casted a spell correct?

Interesting. I cast a spell on you, not I casted a spell. Is it cast or casted in a movie? You're cast in a movie. You're casted in a movie. Cast. You're not castrated in a movie.

No, hopefully not. What does it mean to be casted? To assign someone to a role or a part. So casted is actually a word. But the person who was casted is the cast. If you're casted.

You just took that a completely different direction. What is getting casted? So yeah, you can use cast or you can use casted. But what about if you break your arm? But casted is specifically for a play. What? If you break your arm, I gotta go get casted. Could that apply?

This is why Jay and I make a good team because he comes up with things that I never would have thought of. Just thinking. I don't know. I need a cast. You want to keep me highly entertained while I'm driving for five hours later on Friday?

Yeah, probably. Call me. We're gonna have an entire comedic act over casted in cast. What is cast in the past?

What is cat in the hat? I do not like green eggs in this. That doesn't rhyme. Okay, back on track. We're tracked.

Are we track or we trackeded? Back on cast. No, not back on cast.

Back in black. We're done with that. Leave it. Vote for the after hours Hall of Flame induction. Cast your vote. I've completely lost all control. Oh my gosh. Okay, phone number 855-212-4227. And again, we'll allow the Hall of Flame induction balloting to remain open even though we won't be here on Friday night or Saturday night. We'll be back Sunday night and we'll at that point then do the big reveal.

But if you haven't heard the candidates, we will let you hear them again coming up next hour. Misha. He seems kind of tame compared to Justin Verlander and Jonathan Allen. F***ing tired of this s***.

F***ing tired of this s***. I love how you put J. Allen as if it might be Josh Allen. I just couldn't fit Jonathan Allen.

I'm going to put J-O-N. John Allen. That's not his name. How do you know no one calls him John? I guess, but I don't think it would have fit.

They only give you like 25 characters, which is so little. Your name is James and I call you Jay. How do you know he doesn't go by John? I guess I don't, but the Jay died.

Just because you guys are not BFFs. No, I'm not tight with John like that. Yes, but there are many other Jay Allens.

In fact, there are two Josh Allens in the NFL. I don't know. I could have just put Allen I guess, but I couldn't fit John. You couldn't put J-O-N? No. Are you sure?

I'm sure. You could have put J-O period. Joe Allen? No, Joe period, which usually indicates that it's a J, but it starts with a different vowel then. Although that could still be Josh. Never mind.

That doesn't work. That could still be Josh Allen. Jay's counting in his head. So we have Gardner Misha, Jay Verlander, Jay Allen, and then... That's my imitation of Patrick Mahomes. He's a cross between Kermit and the Cookie Monster.

That's what Marco Belletti and I have dubbed him. So yes, please vote. Vote for the game of the week. We're all up in our element right now. That was sweet.

I'm anxious to see these various games of the week candidates. Do you think I should stop talking for a living? Because there's something wrong with me right now. When I serve as the keynote speaker for the Peach Belt and their Women in Sports Conference, maybe I should pre-tape. Just stand up there and lip sync. Should I lip sync? Oh my gosh, imagine that. Could you imagine? And then there's a glitch in the tape.

That would be harder to do than... Yeah, I can't lip sync. To just... Because I don't read scripts. I ad-lib, clearly. This is not pre-scripted. This was written.

It was not written down. Could you imagine? People ask me every now and then, is your show taped? Are you kidding me? If my show is taped, it wouldn't have so many mistakes in it. I wouldn't have so many embarrassing moments if my show was taped. No one has time to tape a show.

Hell no. It would be really a process to tape and time it. Oh my gosh. Yeah, but that used to happen a lot in network radio overnight in my previous network. Well, it wasn't because the network wanted it to, but I was actually the one who stopped the process of taping shows overnight. Because I used to fill in for a guy named Todd Wright, for those of you who have heard of him. I think he's in local radio now in Florida. I don't think he's in network radio anymore. But he might be.

Anyway, I haven't kept tabs on him. He used to do a show on my previous network and I started out filling in for him. But I refused to tape the show because I wanted to be there. It was me breaking into network radio and I wanted to do the show live. Plus taping is just way too much work. Because you tape it, then you have to edit it. It's just I'm not big into someone else editing my material. I prefer to edit my own, so I didn't want a producer that I didn't know deciding what would hit the cutting room floor. Just no.

Absolutely not. So, instead, I would do mine live. And then because the program directors liked it much better live, for obvious reasons. When there's breaking news, you can't react to it if it's taped.

Ahem. Our CBS Sports updates. I mean, people should know. Come on, if you pay attention to the show, you know that the second half, the updates are taped.

And if there's breaking news, there's a reason why they don't feature them. And it's embarrassing. I hate it for the network. I think it's bad form. But that's how the network has chosen to make cuts. Anyway, I digress.

We're not telling you anything you probably can't figure out. So, I would do the shows live, and then the program directors decided they didn't want that guy. They actually got rid of him and started having hosts that would do the show live because they didn't want him to be taped. It just doesn't make any sense to have a taped show overnight when you're...

Although I know there are other places that do it. But you don't have to, because here we are. Woo! Live and in color. Alright, so I'm anxious to see some of these games of the week play out. Browns and Ravens, to be sure. This is a critical five-day stretch for Baltimore. Hosting First Cleveland and then hosting Cincinnati in Week 11. So that's huge. The Niners and Jaguars.

This is a big deal as well, too. And did you hear that Kyle Shanahan wants his defensive coordinator, Steve Wilks, to be on the sidelines? Now, the Niners' defenses, like every part of the Niners, has scuffled in the last three weeks. And maybe it's because you've got teams that, as they face them, are figuring out ways to neutralize the pass rush, which is so potent on that defense. But also, the ability to stretch the field, to spread them out. I mean, there's a lot of ways that offensive coordinators are watching these tapes, right?

And after seeing a tape over and over, they'll find wrinkles. And it certainly depends upon matchups and how guys play. All of that. I mean, there's every part of that in there. But remember, the Niners lost one game on a missed field goal. They've had some untimely turnovers. But what Steve Wilks is hearing now is criticism because the defense hasn't played as well over this three-game losing streak. And Fred Warner would say that same thing. We've heard it from Nick Bosa.

They have a much higher standard for themselves. And so Kyle explains, even as Wilks is getting blasted, why he wants him down on the field. Just because some of the stuff you do in the box, all the advantages to it, which are great, but I kind of want him to be down and be near our players a little bit. They've had that more just with the linebacker communication in the past.

And I want him to be down there so he can talk to guys a little bit more. I can honestly say I'm sort of built for this. Not in an arrogant way, but I've always believed it's two things. It's what you hear and what you listen to. So I hear a lot of the outside noise. I don't listen to it, good or bad.

As you mentioned, I've been doing this for a while. And I understand the emotions of this game and what we play at this level. I try not to be emotional.

You've got to be. And he already had to have a thick skin for his, we'll call it short stint, as the head coach of the Arizona Cardinals. He was made a sacrificial lamb there.

Now he did do really well as the interim coach in Carolina last year, and the players loved going to work for him. Here are some of the numbers. Numbers don't tell the whole story, but there's a clear delineation between the Niners' first five games, in which they were first in stinginess, first in points allowed. They were giving up not even 14 points per game. Third in yards allowed, and fifth in defensive expected points added.

That's stupid. I'm not even going to explain that. It's just one of those fufu formulas that they come up with where they try to rank defense. It's like QBR.

It's got a bunch of different numbers that are factored in, so I'm not going to use that one again ever. Oh, it's like, what's the one in baseball where they combine two stats? Is it OPR? No, slugging plus, on base plus slugging?

OPS? I hate that one. It's also dumb. Okay, so in the three games since the Niners started out as a 5-0 team, and again, they weren't even giving up 14 points per game. Now they are 24 points per game, and so they're down in the bottom quarter of the NFL. And get this, 30th in yards allowed per game. So teams are racking up nearly 400 yards on them in the last three games. Again, you've got offensive coordinators that are paid a heck of a lot of money to figure out the weaknesses, if you will, of the San Francisco 49ers. And what we've seen, the Bengals obviously have just gotten hot at the right time. The Vikings, before Kirk Cousins got hurt, he was slinging the ball around.

They can certainly score points. And then before that, it was the Browns. But that was gritty, and it was messy, and it was in the rain, if you remember correctly.

In Cleveland, it was just a disgusting, disgusting element. And so for that reason, the Browns were able to make the game as ugly as possible, which is what they wanted. Here's something that's interesting about the Niners. 17 points is all they've scored in these three losses in each game. So they've had 17 points each. And before that, they scored 42 against the Cowboys, 35 against the Cardinals, 30 against the Giants, 30 against the Rams, 30 against the Steelers. But now in these three games that have followed, we've seen turnovers, right? We've seen teams working to stuff the run in Christian McCaffrey.

Now he'll still have the touchdown, but maybe he won't go for 100-plus yards. And they've only scored 17 points per game in each of these losses. That's a lot to ask of a defense. It is a lot to ask of a defense. But the veterans on that side of the ball will tell you, we're not locking down the way that we were. So it'll be an interesting, against Jacksonville and Trevor Lawrence and Doug Peterson and all of the weapons they have.

Travis Etienne and Christian Kirk and yada yada yada. Calvin Ridley. There's so many ways that the Jaguars can hurt you.

And so it's kind of a battle of wills, a battle of completely different styles. And now the Jacksonville Jaguars have to contend with Chase Young, who has joined the Niners too. That's formidable. I like having Chase Young on my football team.

It's very fun. He's massive. Look at him over there. He just eats like a different human being too.

It's crazy. Excited about that. He's going to do great for us. Just looking forward to seeing him go out there. He's going to look great in that 92. It's crazy seeing Young on the back of a Niners jersey again. It's kind of cool. That's George Kittle.

If you can't recognize the voice, he's a hoot. I love having Chase Young on my football team. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. We'll do an AFC version of QB News coming up in which you will hear Trevor Lawrence. Because they've been on their bye, but they've won five games in a row. So yeah, these two teams are not only different styles, but they're going in opposite directions. And so the Niners go out and they add Chase Young.

Which is interesting, right? Because you would have thought, well maybe it would be better for them to add something on the offensive side of the ball considering they've had injuries. But instead, they bolster their defense. And right now at five and three, they're tied with the Seahawks atop the NFC West.

We saw Montez Sweat make his debut as a Bear on Thursday Night Football and he's already got the Wii working. The Bears only allowed 213 yards. Total offense to the Panthers. But certainly for the Niners, this is a different test because the Jaguars have a veteran offense and one that's been in sync. So Chase Young, talking about the difference between the Niners and the Commanders. The spirit in the locker room.

The spirit of the coaches. You know, it's just different. You know what I'm saying?

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Find it wherever you buy laundry products. That same thing at Ohio State where it's like you're expected to win and it's just like that vibe of we're going to win, you know what I'm saying? So it definitely reminds me not of Ohio State, but obviously it's NFL, these grown men.

So I'm just excited to, you know, be blessed with the opportunity to be this franchise. It's just shocking, honestly. We didn't ever expect to play together and it's a little weird seeing them walking around this building. But we were really close at Ohio State and it's good to have them back.

How about that? Ohio State's got CJ Stroud, who's tearing it up, now. And there's certainly Buckeyes all over the NFL. But some of the higher profile Buckeyes right now, Nick Bosa and Chase Young teaming up again. And Nick said he never thought this would happen. And Chase Young is very diplomatic. He doesn't trash the commanders like Jonathan Allen did, but he does say the spirit is different.

And honestly, he didn't say anything that isn't 100 percent true. The expectation in the locker room with the Niners is to win. To win. It's a culture of winning and high expectations. It's a culture of veterans. With the commanders, there's a culture of uncertainty and there's a culture of, as Jonathan Allen says, seven years of this bleep. I'm f***ing tired of this b******t. It's been seven f***ing years of the same s***. Yeah, right.

Well, so he puts it better than I do. But there are going to be changes with the commanders. We know that. You can feel it with the new ownership. They took over in, what is it, pre-season. They weren't going to make changes right before the season kicked off. But we've already seen them trade away a couple of critical pieces. They don't want to spend a ton of money.

They're gearing up for a rebuild. So vote for Jonathan Allen if that's what your heart desires. Although Jay calls him Jay Allen. So it could be Jay Allen, actually. I mean, let's hope people are listening and they heard the after-hours Hall of Flame candidates, possible inductees. So that poll is up on Twitter and Facebook, as is our Game of the Week poll. Get it, get it.

It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence, CBS Sports Radio. With that, would that not be the ultimate Giannis way of doing something like this? Splits a pair of defenders, takes a Euro step down the lane, lays it in with the foul. Oh, Giannis onto the kupo. Back right into the heart of the defense.

He is an unstoppable force. Here comes Halliburton right to left in black. Edge of the arc Beasley. Halliburton crossing now between the legs, a three is on the way and right through the middle. What a shot. Twenty-nine for Halliburton. Indiana by one with 80 seconds to play.

This is After Hours with Amy Lawrence. Oh, there was a lot going on between the Pacers and the Bucs. Now, keep in mind, no Damian Lillard in this game. He's nursing a sore calf and it took everything Giannis had and then some and they still could not come up with a win against the Pacers.

Giannis and Tenekunpo one point shy of his career high, but really the final stage belonged to Tyrese Halliburton who hit the go-ahead triple. You hear it there with Mark Boyle on Pacers radio. Before that, it was Bucs radio and Halliburton actually is from Milwaukee so to be able to beat his childhood team and to do it with 29 points in ten assists, it's a big deal for him. It's home, you know. It's my first time ever beating a Bucs, so it feels good. I can text my friends after the game and have some words with them, but anytime you play against home, it's got a special feeling because you grew up watching them, so it's always fun. Sorry, the game was in Indiana. He was playing his childhood team. That is what I should have said there from the corrections department.

I have been sufficiently corrected just by my own brain as I realized it. Valley Sports Indiana with that Tyrese Halliburton comment, so yeah, kind of cool for him. So it's a season high 54 points for Giannis, but he also had a couple of turnovers after Halliburton hit that three and that's what he was dwelling on post game. The second half, you know, we had the chance to win, but they came back and made tough shots at the end. We didn't take care of the ball. I didn't take care of the ball.

It's a possession that I had to shoot the ball. I didn't shoot the ball, but I was cast and I was able to get a win, but a lot of good things that we can learn from today, but we've got to get better. We've got to get better. Guys are a team that scored a lot of points over us.

Right now, we've got to be better. He did a great job of attacking, seeing double teams kicking out and knowing when to attack, knowing when to wait, just being patient. I thought he played a great game.

We just got to be better at the end for him there, help him out a little bit more. Longtime Bucs teammate Chris Middleton saying we've got to be better for Giannis. And you hear Giannis say he was gassed.

One of the things I love about Giannis is that he's just honest about where he is. And yeah, I suppose he would be gassed and winded and all of those things as he's carrying the Bucs on his back. And remember how he got tossed? Just weird, taunting. It wasn't taunting. He was thrown out for what the officials called taunting in the last game. It was so soft. I hated it so much. But in this game, Adrian Griffin gets tossed and has to watch most of the second half from the locker room there in Indianapolis.

So that was kind of interesting. But Giannis with 54, not enough. Still no dame. And it's been a mixed bag at the start for these two. They need more time on the court. They need more time working together.

It's not falling into a seamless rhythm. But that makes a lot of sense because there's a lot of moving parts here. And because the Bucs themselves gave up some pieces. They gave up their point guard Drew Holliday to bring in dame.

And so it's completely different. It's like changing quarterbacks in the NFL, to be honest. Meanwhile, for the rest of the Eastern Conference, we've had a couple of teams start out hot.

But at this point, it's about finding a rhythm. It's like the first month of the NFL season where you don't put a whole lot of stock into what you see out of the gate, especially with so many rosters that have changed. The Sixers have won six in a row, so they're right now sitting on best record. Celtics, Pacers, Hawks. So those are your top four in the East. And kind of fun to watch the Hawks against the Magic in Mexico City on Thursday night.

Quinn Snyder gets a terrific performance from Trae Young, who has 41. He certainly put on a show for some new basketball fans in Mexico. And good experience for the team, too, to be on the road, quote, unquote. But to be in a completely different environment and kind of hear and feel and still perform in that space. Sometimes these experiences, even coming here is part of the experience.

And then obviously being in such a close game and having the lead and losing the lead and continuing to play, as you said, that's a lot of lessons to learn and take forward. What a blessing this was to come play an NBA game in a different country just with different fans and a different environment. And they embraced us with open arms. The whole time we've been here, we've received nothing but love. And tonight, they're a team for us.

They're a team for the Hawks. But it was just great energy. Yeah, and it was actually a really tight game, also a one-point game. Well, I guess the earlier one was a two-point game.

But a one-possession game, I should say, in Mexico City. But for those of you who don't know this or you never really thought about it, the challenge of going to a place like Mexico City, it's not the only place they do this. But it's a challenge because of, A, you have to be careful what you eat and drink there. The players are warned by their teams, by the league, by their union.

Do not take any chances with what you eat or drink, especially when it comes to the water, anything that's washed with water or made with water. And so you've got to be really careful. A lot of times they don't eat anything that wasn't prepared for them at the hotel by their own people, by their own chefs. And then there's security issues, too. Because it's an American sporting event and there's a lot of high-profile athletes, they have to beef up security. I mean, these arenas in other countries are not necessarily equipped the way that some of the arenas are here in the United States, with metal detectors and all that jazz, to try to make sure that the players are not at risk. And so the leagues have to bring in their own security, they have to bring in their own water, they have to bring in their own food a lot of times, and so it's a real challenge. And yet there's a different energy overseas because fans are seeing a product and getting a chance to experience the game in a way that they never had before. Or across the pond, when it comes to London and Germany, I mean, their football is completely different than our football, right? Their football, there's no quarterbacks because you can't be touching the ball with your hands. And so it's just a different experience, but it's kind of fun.

All the athletes will tell you the energy is amazing, and it's new, and it's electric. And so that's awesome, but it is a challenge for all of these leagues when they take their shows on the road outside of the U.S. borders. All right, coming up a little bit in college football, some high-profile ranked matchups or matchups against ranked teams as we get closer and closer to seeing conference championship battles. That's early December, you guys. Wow, it is coming up. I cannot believe that Friday is November 10th.

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Actual range will vary with options, driving conditions and habits, vehicle and batteries condition, and other factors. Available in limited quantities and select states only. You are listening to the After Hours Podcast. Music Garendo remains in as the running back two receivers to the wide left side for Plummer who sticks it in the belly of the Garendos. Streaks in, Garendo free, Garendo to the 40, 30, they won't catch him. Garendo touchdown Cardinals at 73 yards. Explosive run and the offense kept him clean.

He shot through the line of scrimmage, didn't really have to fear right or left, and there's his speed two weeks in a row. This is After Hours with Amy Lawrence. Music One of the great things about college football and college sports in general is that the fans create not just an electricity but a decided home field or home court advantage. Louisville, number 11 in the country holding off UVA in a battle to kick off the college football weekend. That was Thursday night Learfield IMG with the audio.

It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. Let's take a look at who's got home field advantage this weekend in our NCAA football preview sponsored by Fairfield by Marriott. Fairfield by Marriott is the official hotel partner of the NCAA. With over 1,000 locations around the country, you'll always have the home field advantage.

Visit fairfield.marriot.com to book your stay. So there are a couple of very enticing ranked matchups this weekend. Week 11 in college football, which is awesome because Saturday is 11-11.

Saturday is in fact Veterans Day. It's November 11th, and it is week 11. The Michigan Wolverines on the road in Happy Valley. Penn State, it's called Beaver Stadium, and these are two of the top defensive teams in the country.

So one of the reasons that home field matters, again, because of the atmosphere, but think about it. If your best players, your best unit is on defense, what happens when your team is out there on the field on defense? You make a ruckus like nobody's business so that you can try to disrupt the other team's offense. That's why they use silent counts.

That's why they use hand signals. When your defense is dynamic the way that the Nittany Lions defense is, and again, these are two of the top defenses in the country, the home crowd will almost operate like a 12th man. I know that's what Seattle calls theirs, but that's the reason why, because your defense is so damn good, and the noise from the crowd becomes an extra asset. Of course, even as we're looking at battle of number 3 versus number 10 or 2 versus number 9, depending upon which polls or which different rankings you look at, it's also two very colorful college football coaches and personalities. So, Jim Harbaugh, he talks about the challenge facing the Penn State quarterback.

Again, both teams are going to be defense first. For Michigan, you've got J.J. McCarthy, so that's one of the challenges for Penn State, but then for Michigan, they've got to stop Drew Aller or slow him down, and Jim Harbaugh is highly complimentary. Prototypical guy, tall, smart, got great stature in the pocket, very athletic, strong, he's hard to get down on the ground, courage stands in there and throws it, he's an excellent quarterback. And James Franklin, head coach of Penn State, he goes that same direction about how hard it is to face Michigan, and you're talking about two teams that right now are combined 17 and 1. You look at scoring offense, they're number one in the Big Ten and fifth in the country. Passing attempts, yards per attempt, they're first in the Big Ten and sixth in the country. Turnover margin, they're second in the Big Ten and sixth in the country, and then third down, they're first in the Big Ten and second in the country. So really good numbers, the quarterback has been a differentiator for them. So James Franklin, Jim Harbaugh, they couldn't be, I would say anymore, they're different. They couldn't be any more opposite in terms of their approaches and certainly their careers, but they're so colorful.

In their own ways, they're so colorful. Right now, Michigan allows just 6.7 points per game, not even seven points per game, and barely 230 yards. This is the stat, though, that blows me away.

As I was doing my research, I had to write it down. Against Michigan, not one team has taken a snap inside their ten-yard line. They don't even let them get to the ten-yard line or get up close to the goal line. Penn State's got something to prove, and so we'll see whether or not in Happy Valley they can use that crowd to give them a home-field advantage. Then you've got a battle inside the SEC with the two-time defending champion in Georgia. Now, this is Georgia versus Ole Miss, and Georgia, of course, has gotten everyone's best shot this year and has managed to remain undefeated. Now, they're still number two in the college football playoff rankings, but they have to go through yet another challenge in facing a foe who comes into their building.

Kirby Smart and Lane Kiffin reunited, so former disciples of one Nick Saban. And while we're talking about defense here for Georgia, you've got the challenge of slowing down Ole Miss QB Jackson Dart. Lane's quarterbacks take on a personality from him, and they have a lot of moxie. They have a lot of talent. They play really hard. They play with reckless abandon for their body, and he runs like a running back.

He's taken some hits this year and shown his toughness, so he's not going to shy away from contact and toughness. And he's the extra element of run that gives them a competitive advantage over a lot of teams you play, because they have great backs, but he runs the ball like a back, and he throws the ball really well, too, which that's what makes them really hard to defend when you've got a guy that can make all the throws, but can also take off and run. Georgia's won 26 straight games. That's a school record. It goes back to the 2021 SEC title game.

And they've also got, here's the big one, a 24-game winning streak at home, which ties the school mark that goes back to the early 80s. Ole Miss and Georgia, another ranked opponent in Athens. It was kind of fun to see Archie Manning and Eli Manning on CBS Sports HQ talking about this matchup because they're both Ole Miss products. So Archie Manning talked about how it would be difficult, but he does think that Ole Miss can upset the dogs.

What about you, Eli? It's not going to be an easy task, but I think kind of like what my dad said, Georgia's played a lot of teams close. They still haven't been defeated. It's one thing to play a team close.

It's one thing to beat a team. But Ole Miss, their offense is really clicking late, leaving Jackson. Darts playing well. They're running the football well. Defense is getting some timely turnovers.

So they've got to be able to do that. But it should be a great atmosphere, a great game. This is the great thing about all sports is, you know, big games late in the season that can have a big influence on the success of the whole season. So it should be a great atmosphere. Look forward to watching it and rooting for the Rebs. Kind of fun to hear Eli on CBS Sports HQ.

A little bit of skin in the game. Georgia has been ranked number one by the AP going back to, gosh, last season. And that's the second longest streak in the history of the AP poll. But, of course, they're number two in the college football playoff rankings behind Ohio State.

So, yeah, kind of fun to think about the implications. The deeper we get into the season, the more that these are can't miss on TV, can't miss broadcasts. And these aren't the only ones. There are other ranked teams in action.

They've got to be careful. Tennessee is at Missouri. And then Utah is at Washington, which is another one.

So Washington right now, number five in the rankings. And that's a game that kicks off inside the Pac-12, which may not be the Pac-12 for much longer. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence, CBS Sports Radio. This episode is brought to you by FX's A Murder at the End of the World, starring Emma Corrin, Clive Owen, and Britt Marling. Emma plays Darby Hart, a sleuth and tech-savvy hacker. She joins an exclusive group invited to a retreat. When one of the guests is found dead, Darby must prove it was murder before the killer takes another life.

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