12-4-23 After Hours with Amy Lawrence PODCAST: Hour 2

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Walk the dogs, school drop off, meetings from 10 to 3, take kids to soccer, then no time left for a jog. This hour we will talk over the chaos that so many of you told me you wanted in college football, and now you have a problem. Now you don't like how it pans out and how it sorts out. I will say this, and I repeat this a ton, this time of the year when college football is counting down to its final four, and of course that's going to expand moving forward, but when it comes down to these conference championships and the committee going one way or another, in this case it was either Florida State or Alabama making up the number four team, I am always so grateful that the NFL, the NBA, the NHL, the Major League Baseball, pro sport, you are what your record says you are. There's no committee.

There are no formulas, other than tie breaks, but they're all mathematical. There's no eye test. There's no trying to be objective.

There's no who's the better team because this team lost its starting quarterback and then lost its backup quarterback. There's no weighted losses, strength of schedule. None of that matters.

None of it factors in. The only thing that matters at the end of the season in pro sports, and right now we're talking NFL, NBA, NHL, all the games count the same. It doesn't matter the record of your opponent. They're not ranked. They're not rated.

They don't play in a conference that has more value than another. Nah. You are what your record says you are.

If you have more wins in the next team, if you win your division title, well then you're in. What did Micah Parsons say to us last week on his pod? Point blank period. Point blank period. See? That's it. It's a mic drop point blank period. You are what your record says you are.

It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. Love to hear from you though about what we saw from the selection committee. If you were on that committee, which four teams would you have put into the college football playoff?

So we're looking for your final four. There are a lot of different ways this can go. Sure there are formulas that calculate strength of schedule. There are formulas that look at the conference and its schedule overall.

There are certainly formulas. Now they're not supposed to take into account margin of victory, but that often factors into the eye test. There is weight given to being a conference champion.

Alabama was, though not undefeated, Florida State an undefeated conference champion. And the committee has said very clearly and established a precedent that they do take into account injuries. They do take into account if a team loses a quarterback or one of its top players. They'll take that into account if it looks like it severely impacts a team. And it's the same thing in college basketball actually. When it comes to March Madness and the field of 64, they also take into account injuries and how a team plays in the wake of a big injury. So we'll talk about college football.

Love to hear from you in the meantime, though. On Twitter, After HoursCBS, that's our show account. And then on our Facebook page, named after the show, easy peasy, 855-212-4227.

That's 855-212-4CBS. Speaking of records and significant records, this was your overwhelming choice for After Hours game of the week, so I wanted to devote some extra time to it. San Francisco 49ers at the Philadelphia Eagles, how many times last week did you hear, it's a rematch of the NFC Championship? Except it's not. The stakes are not the same. It's not a rematch of the NFC Championship. Just like Eagles, Chiefs, not a rematch of the Super Bowl.

It's the same two teams, kind of. But it does not mean anything more to the Eagles. In fact, it maybe feels hollow that the Eagles beat the Chiefs in November when there's no Lombardi on the line. But Brock Purdy got hurt really early in the NFC Championship game and he indicated that it was important to him. He indicated that he wasn't going to be able to forget to now go back to Philadelphia, even though the stakes aren't as high. It mattered to him because of the demons, so to speak, and just the disappointment, the dejection over him getting hurt in the NFC Championship and not feeling like he could help lead the team.

So they're re-racked, of course, this season. And coming into this game, the Eagles, 10-1, had not lost at home. The Niners, meanwhile, after that three-game stretch in which they had a few extra turnovers and some mistakes and had dropped three in a row, had found their footing again.

And this one was weird to start. And by weird, I just mean it low, low, lowered the bar for the Niners. Not that the Eagles aren't capable of dominating the ball, meaning the ball control.

We know they can do that. But even as they did dominate the ball, and even as they did rack up 128 yards in the first quarter, they only managed a pair of field goals. And we've heard some lamenting about that from Jalen Hurts and the Eagles. So it was an abysmal first quarter for Brock Purdy and the Niners offense. Just a couple of possessions and minus six yards. Minus six net yards. But credit the defense.

We know they make a lot of money, too. They've got superstars themselves. A pair of red zone stops by the Niners. And so it's only six-nothing after that first quarter. Eagles in front, but really not taking advantage of those opportunities when they were in deep. So then you see it start to open up for the Niners. You really can tell they settle in.

Who knows why sometimes it takes a little longer. Who knows why they got off to such a brutal start. Had they given up two touchdowns to the Eagles, the job would have been a whole lot more challenging. But that's not what happened, because defense plays, too. So into the second quarter, the Niners then start a march. Their first possession is 11 plays in seven minutes and 85 yards.

And it was just the beginning. Bunch right. Ayuk Jennings, Debo. Debo goes in motion left. Return motion behind.

And no play action. A roll by Purdy. Purdy going to pump throw for the end zone. Caught by Brandon Ayuk. Touchdown San Francisco. Second and goal, two-yard line.

Ayuk goes in long motion right. McCaffrey, the long back, Purdy under center. Handoff coming left. Touchdown!

CMC! Ayuk goes in long motion left. It's Eli Mitchell now in, but it's an ender round to Debo Samuel coming right. Turns the corner and goes into the end zone. Touchdown San Francisco! What a play to catch a defense that's trying like heck to make a play. Misdirection reversed.

Redick takes the bait the whole way. Debo Samuel untouched. House call. Some really impressive individual catches and runs and tackle breaking, ankle breaking moves, athletic, strong. Man, the Niners. After that, that first quarter in which they had minus six yards, they were about as unstoppable as you can be.

This is in Philadelphia against the Eagles defense, but the Brandon Ayuk catches a diving one in the back of the end zone. On the next drive, they go 90 yards over four minutes using the entire field. That's what I loved about seeing the Niners open up the offense is they use the whole field and Christian McCaffrey gets in with a two-yard rush. So it's only 14 to 6 at halftime except the Niners never look back. They have a touchdown on six consecutive possessions. And you may remember it was Debo Samuel who used a choice word to describe James Bradbury in the Eagles defense last year. Well, I don't know if he uttered that same choice word or any other choice words in the field, though, man, there was a lot of extracurricular activity, but Debo had the last laugh on Sunday. First and 10 Niners in the Philly 48. Purdy looks left now, middle throws caught. Broken tackle by Debo Samuel runs for a first down 30, 20, 15, 10, 5, touchdown San Francisco! On the Niners radio network, Greg Papa and is it Tim Ryan who's the analyst? Yeah, there were a lot of fun and there was a lot of mirth to be had for the Niners radio team and their fan base, not to mention on the sidelines for San Francisco.

Lots of smiles around their scoring. So three touchdowns for Debo. I am thinking potential MVP, though he's going to have some competition with a guy named Mike Evans.

But yeah, awesome stuff from Brock Purdy. Complete and total 180 after the NFC championship in which he got hurt and tore that elbow ligament. He has 314 yards and four touchdowns. His QB rating is nearly perfect.

And get this, this is the part that blows me away. After they had minus six yards in the first quarter, they end up with 456 yards in the game, which means they had 462 yards in three quarters. Wowzers go four for four in the red zone. And the Niners moved to nine and three while the Eagles fall to 10 and two.

And we'll talk about those implications coming up. It's after hours with Amy Lawrence here on CBS Sports Radio. So yeah, what the heck happened in that first quarter and beyond Kyle Shanahan? We only had six plays and didn't do well with any of them.

And when it was all said and done, it was only six zero. So we were able to weather the storm and get our rhythm back. So they were able to find that rhythm, but really it was about the defense that kept them close and only gave up field goals in their first two possessions.

And that is notable. It's worth noting because they could have been in a greater hole. That was huge. I mean, just for us to not really feel like we were getting going with some mistakes that we made and to watch them get going with some of the explosives they made and just moving the ball pretty well. But it was huge to hold up to two field goals. And despite all that, the third possession, we got the ball. They scored twice, but we were only down six and we just got one drive together and got the lead back. So it was a huge deal and a very good feeling.

It means a lot. Obviously, we wanted some payback. We tried not to think too much about last year, but we knew we could match up with them and more than that. So I think we proved a good point.

Obviously, we might have to do it again against them. They're a really good team. But I just have so much confidence in everybody. And I think the unselfishness throughout the entire team on offense and defense, nobody needs to be the guy. There's 20 guys who could be the guy.

And it just depends when your moment comes that you're ready for it. Nick Bosa, I like what he has to say about the Niners. And right now they may not have the best record, but I believe, now this is just me, they are the team that is most feared in the NFL. They're the team that you least want to see right now.

Again, that's my opinion. The Eagles have not played their best football. And so it always feels like there's something still in reserve, but they're the only team in football with 10 wins. I'm not telling you they aren't a good team. I like the fact that they're tough and they're physical and they can beat you a variety of ways, but they got run in this game. After holding the Niners to just two possessions and a handful of snaps in that first quarter.

I mean, this was an astounding turnaround. Outside those first two drives, it's like, that's, you know, the Niner football that we know, that's the offense that we know when everyone's doing their part, everything's clicking, obviously. Some great play calls. And then, you know, everyone just makes plays and does it the right way. We protect the ball. Defense does their job.

That felt good. Brock Purdy with a huge game. He's had a couple now in this four game win streak in which he's been near perfect. As for the Eagles, they fall to 10-2. Jalen Hurts briefly leaves the game, actually briefly leaves the stadium to go underneath and get checked out in concussion protocol. So he was in the blue tent and then he went into the locker room. He did return for a minute there. I thought we were going to see a Marcus Mariota sighting. Thankfully, he was cleared.

Nothing happened. Now, this wasn't Eagles football as much, right? They got away from the run game. Credit the Niners defense for wanting to stuff the run. And they only go two for four in the red zone. And those, those two that they missed out on were early on and limited their chance to build an even greater lead at home. When you think about, you know, how important it is to start fast, and I feel like we started with good rhythm, good tempo, good execution for the most part. And we just kind of weren't able to connect and execute like we wanted to in the red zone. And, you know, when you're playing a good team like that, that gets you. We didn't coach good enough. We didn't play good enough. It's as simple as that.

And then, and, and, you know, why do you not do that? Well, you got to give credit to them too. That's a, that's a really good football team. And you don't come out and play your best game against the guys that they have and the coaches that they have.

It's going to look like that. So Nick Sirianni gives you a bunch of coach, coach speak, and he's more diplomatic about it. Yeah, we didn't coach well enough. We didn't play well enough, blah, blah, blah.

I like the way Fletcher Cox says it myself. We didn't tackle. We didn't cover. Obviously, you know, we missed a bunch of plays. They made a bunch of big plays. We had a chance to keep the game close. And, you know, we did, you know, the good thing is, is I've been around this league for a long time.

And the good thing about the regular season is you take a loss, but we get a chance to line up and play another good team next week. Now, if you're watching this game in the third quarter, you saw the sideline skirmish that, well, it took quite a while to sort out. It definitely escalated. It was something I've never seen before in that a security guard, actually the head of security for the Eagles. So he's more than a security guard. He's a longtime employee of the franchise. He was tossed out of the game.

He had to leave. So they're relatively early in the third quarter. And we saw a lot of extracurricular activity for sure. A lot of tempers running hot, a lot of showing back and forth. Devante Smith catches a ball over on the Eagles' sideline and Dre Greenlaw kind of lifts him up off his feet and slams him to the ground. So as you can imagine, the Eagles' sideline is going to take exception to that. He did get flagged for unnecessary roughness, but everybody's ticked off. Guys are flocking from the sidelines and the field to this spot where the tackle was made.

And so as Dre and Devante kind of stand up and dust themselves off, you've got the Eagles' sideline and a bunch of people just converging on the spot and there's yelling back and forth and then there's Niners that come in and they're talking too. And so this head of security, his name's Dom. He's now gone viral. Big Dom is his nickname. He's a big dude. He's standing right there and he kind of steps into the mix. And Dre Greenlaw has extended his hand, right?

So it looks like he's pointing. It was not a punch. And I'm not even sure he intended to make contact with Big Dom's face, but because Dom was coming forward, and again, he's a big dude, and Greenlaw's got his arm extended, there's contact made to his face.

There was never a chance that Dom was going to get hurt. There was never a chance that Greenlaw was going to hit him. There was no punching, but he did make contact with a member of the Eagles' sideline. And so Dre Greenlaw gets ejected, which I couldn't believe. To me, it seemed more like incidental contact though. Yes, his arm was extended, but I couldn't believe they ejected him for that. We're not talking about slamming someone to the ground after the play is over, although he did get the flag for the hit on Devontae. We're not talking about him shoving someone with both hands.

He extends his hand, and like I said, his finger and part of his fist makes contact with Dom's face. But Nick Sirianni's there, and he's asking for an ejection, and they're standing on the Eagles' sideline, and the officials have a pretty long discussion, and then Greenlaw gets sent out. Now here's the crazy part. Well, I mean, that was crazy enough, but also, as Greenlaw is walking back to his sideline, the Eagles are waving goodbye and being kind of sassy, only to then see the officials go up to Dom, the head of security, and tell him that he has to leave the field. Now he got a standing ovation on the way out, and yeah, this seemed like it took 15 minutes. So according to the NFL's senior vice president of officiating, New York was also involved in this, meaning the replay center, the hub, and Walt Anderson calls it a, quote, continuing action that Dom, the head of security for the Eagles, escalated it. He contributed to the argument and the skirmish going on longer than it needed to. Now, the Eagles can't get a flag for what he did, but according to NFL rules, you can actually remove a team official from the sidelines if you feel like he escalated this or he was in the wrong. And then Greenlaw's ejection, regardless of how tepid it happened to be, was because he made contact with someone who wasn't a player. And so the Niners were incensed because they felt like Dom is the one who got into the middle of this and made it worse, and yet it was their player who ends up getting ejected. I tried my hardest not to lose my mind.

Hopefully I didn't embarrass myself too bad. But yeah, I didn't get to see it all from where I'm at, but when I start hearing people explain it to me and stuff, I just can't believe someone not involved in a football game can taunt our players like that and put their hands on our guy's face. And from what I was told, Dre did it back to him, and I was told that he kind of mashed him in the face a little bit, so he got ejected, but it was a very frustrating play. I got to watch it or have a true opinion on it, but I loved how we rallied after it. Did Siriani say something to you on the way out there? Was that what he was talking to you about there?

Yeah, he was awesome. He wasn't a fan of what happened on the play either, and he handled it with total class, and it was real cool. So Kyle Shanahan has asked about Nick Sirianni. Neither coach was happy with what happened, but yeah, Shanahan, if you saw the game and you were watching the camera that was trained on him, he did nearly lose his mind. He was incensed over the fact that Greenlaw was tossed.

Again, I didn't like it. I understand the rule and the letter of the law, but Greenlaw wasn't hurting anyone. He didn't punch anyone. He didn't slap the guy. The guy kind of stepped forward, and he was jawing, and why are you jawing? You might be the head of security, but nobody needed to be guarded in that situation.

It just was, eh, I didn't love it. And it didn't seem equitable because Greenlaw's a player, and Dom is not. Now, I did see the report.

I don't know if this is accurate or not. I'm sure that Dom is going to hear from the head of security, or as the head of security, he's going to hear from the NFL. And there is a chance he could get banned from games the rest of the year, which seems also completely ludicrous.

But we'll find out whether or not there are other ripple effects and repercussions. On Twitter, ALawRadio, we now have your chance to vote for the Monday MVP from this game, Deebo Samuel with his three touchdowns and his last laugh. Also, Jordan Love of the Packers, three touchdowns for him on Sunday Night Football. Nico Collins of the Houston Texans, man, he and CJ Stroud have already developed this great report. And coming up next, why is Mike Evans in the poll? Oh!

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You are listening to the After Hours podcast. The shotgun look by Mayfield. From his own 25, takes the snap, looks downfield, throws a dart, caught ball.

To the 50, to the 45, to the 40. It's Mike Evans to the 30, to the 20, to the 15, to the 10, 5, 3, 2, 1. Did he get in? No, he is short by two yards. Mike Evans makes a remarkable run after the catch. And Baker Mayfield threw a strike to number 13, a gain of 74 yards. Baker Mayfield, shotgun look.

Godwin in motion to the right. Blitz threatened. Mayfield gets rid of the ball in a hurry. Caught ball at the 31. Breaking a tackle. Mike Evans still breaking a tackle. Digs his way to the 36-yard line. That's an 11-yard pickup. He is over 1,000 yards for the 10th consecutive season. Only Jerry Rice has done it more.

How about that? This is just like a little stop route. And he's able to win back inside. Great move, staying in bounds. He's just trying to get the first down to keep that clock moving.

This is After Hours with Amy Lawrence. Jean Deckerhoff on Tampa Bay Buccaneers radio. And this was a game that you probably could have been okay missing out of the NFC South. It was the first game for the Panthers without Frank Reich and the recently promoted special teams head coach. It did not change a whole lot for the Panthers.

They do fall to 1 and 11. No doubt. The coaching search is more important to David Tepper right now than anything else. And the rumors, reports persist that he is seeking Mike McDaniel.

He's seeking an offensive-minded coach who can be innovative and creative and get the best out of Bryce Young. Who didn't play terribly on Sunday just doesn't have a whole lot around him. Chuba Hubbard with a couple of touchdowns and the Panthers did have a brief third quarter lead. I'm sure that was a nice bump for their sidelines. But ultimately, this was the Mike Evans game.

It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. Seven catches, 162 yards and a score. And he goes over 10,000. Oops.

Well, he's over 11,000. I said that wrong. Scratch that. Oh, it's like when I burned up the pie.

We're going to try again. He goes over 1,000 yards receiving for the 10th straight season. That's where the 10 comes in. And do you know over the course of his decade in the NFL, first of all, he's never failed to have a 1,000-yard receiving season. But he's also had six different quarterbacks throwing him the ball. So in 10 years, six different guys.

Multiple head coaches, offensive coordinators and systems. And he's still as automatic as you can be. Mike Evans gets a standing ovation. They stop and they make the announcement.

And then it was really neat. He's in the huddle. You actually see the dude smile. He hardly ever smiles when he's working. I smile a lot when I'm working.

Mostly over the dumb stuff I say. He hardly ever smiles when he's working. But he cracked a smile under his helmet as he gets the fist bump and the attaboy from every one of his teammates who's out there with him on the field because they're in the middle of a drive. But yeah, six different quarterbacks in a decade. Probably the majority of passes I would say.

Now I'd have to go back and look at the numbers. But the most passes would have come from Jameis Winston. Tom Brady was there for a couple years. We know now there's a Baker Mayfield, but that's new.

Although they've established a rapport as well. Josh McCown, remember looking at the list. It's not quite been a revolving door, but Ryan Fitzpatrick was there too. Mike Evans is the common denominator.

He's adjusted to everyone that he had to. And so congratulations to him. Again, extending the record. It's his record. A thousand yards for 10 consecutive seasons. Happy we got the win. Most importantly, I'm happy with the record, obviously. I had a lot of great quarterbacks and offensive coordinators who believed in me. So I really appreciate them and hopefully I can keep that streak going however long my career goes.

I don't know what more you can say. He's been like this for 10 years now. You know, over 60 catches, 10 years in a row.

Over a thousand yards, 10 years in a row. And you know he's getting the ball and everybody's trying to stop him. And he makes plays over and over. It's a credit to him, his work ethic, the way he approaches the game.

Unbelievable. That might be the longest answer I've ever heard from Todd Bowles. That's him raving about Mike Evans.

Yeah, I've said this for years. Mike is one of the best receivers in the NFL and I'm so happy he finally got a Super Bowl ring and also finally had a Hall of Fame quarterback to throw him the ball. He's very generous in saying I have a lot of great quarterbacks and coaches and offensive coordinators, but that's not actually the truth.

It's not the truth in Tampa. That's why they wanted Tom Brady so desperately. That's why to see him paired up with Tom Brady was so cool because he finally had a Hall of Fame world class best ever QB to set him up.

And he raved about Tom. He and Baker have worked hard. We know Baker is not Brady. But Mike Evans is still Mike Evans. And he makes every quarterback better. Now, you know, often the line about quarterbacks is if they're really good, they raise the level of play of everyone else around him. Mike Evans actually raises the level of play.

He makes quarterbacks better. On Twitter, After Hours, CBS, a couple of different ways you can weigh in. First of all, Mike Evans is one of our candidates for Monday MVP as we morph into a Monday. You guys, it's the first Monday in December. What?

What? I'm still stuck on Sunday. In fact, I might still be stuck on Saturday. We're going to get to Saturday in Conference Championship Weekend in college football.

But that's the other post we put up on both Twitter and Facebook. If you're on the playoff committee, which four teams do you select for the January 1st National Semifinals? Our phone number 855-212-4227. You'll hear from Jim Harbaugh back with his team again. You'll hear from Nick Saban and you will hear from a distressed and infuriated. You can be both at the same time. Florida State head coach.

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Yeah, Graybar does that. Per hour's podcast. They have to go feel it. Good push up front. Tofili to the outside, LT 40, 50, foot race 40, Mike Norville chasing him down the sideline, 20, 10, cutting it back, out of bounds into three, oh baby, when he needed a big play, Lawrence Tofili nearly took it to the house. Takes a snap, delayed run, running right, lowers his shoulder, lowers his shoulder, he fights, he scratches, he claws, into the end zone. Lawrence Tofili, a two play answer, touchdown Florida State, touchdown FSU. This is After Hours with Amy Lawrence. Florida State undefeated 13 and 0, dropping Louisville with a late surge in the ACC championship game. That's the Knowles radio call on 24-7 sports.

It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. This is a tough one and it's something we run up against with just four teams in the playoff. Now, I don't think it's necessarily going to be better with a dozen teams in the playoff, which is what we transition to after this season. Only because I think it does take away from the weight of, say, an Ohio State Michigan. As we talked about with our friend Josh Pate, who joined us late last week here on the show, if you know both teams are getting into the playoff, is it still a great rivalry game? Sure. Does it have the same thing riding on it?

No. Oregon and Washington, same thing. The Pac-12 isn't going to look the same moving forward. But that game doesn't really mean a whole lot if both those teams, being what they were, already know they're heading into a playoff, which they would have because they were a pair of top five teams.

Same thing with Alabama and Georgia. So just consider that. As much as you may say, hey, this is not fair, or if only the playoff was expanded, we wouldn't have these conversations. Yeah, but it wouldn't be nearly as fascinating. It wouldn't be nearly as tense.

It would be nearly as intense. If you know going into the SEC Championship that both Georgia and Alabama are in, is the selection show nearly as much fun? Now, I understand it's not fun for Florida State. It's not been fun for teams left out every single year.

This is largely what happens. There are one or two teams that are disappointed. But that's why every game matters. And that's why it's such a challenge for the committee.

I do not envy them. But I do appreciate the explanation of Boo Corrigan. Now for those of you who don't know, Boo is the chair of the conference, this college football playoff committee. But he's also from the ACC. So they take turns as various athletic directors, and they change conferences every few years.

I don't know the exact tenure. But he comes from the ACC. Now the selection committee has administrators, but it also has coaches. And according to Boo, once the rankings were revealed and Alabama was four and Florida State was five, Corrigan told ESPN and Reese Davis that he and the rest of the committee really relied on the input of the coaches. And these were two questions that they kept asking over and over. Now he said they went through this process a half dozen times, specifically referring to that number four spot. So they did not take this lightly. This wasn't like, I like Alabama.

Okay. No, they wrestled with it. They wrangled over it.

They wanted to see if anything changed. He said they did it on Saturday night in the wake of the conference championship. In fact, many of you may have watched Florida State, Louisville. It was a slugfest. It was not great offense. Florida State lost its second quarterback. So Jordan Travis is injured. He's out. Then their backup QB gets knocked out of the game with a concussion.

And they end up with a third QB. For a long time, the game was three to three. Anyway, the questions that the committee was asking of their coaches specifically, who do you want to play?

Who do you not want to play? It's after hours here on CBS Sports Radio. So goo, goo. Boo, goo, shoe, you. Boo Corrigan ultimately says that Florida State was left out because of this last month. I think in looking at it, and again, that was the decision, was Alabama at four. Florida State is a different team than they were through the first 11 weeks. Coach Norvell, their players, their fans, you know, an incredible season.

But as you look at who they are as a team right now, without Jordan Travis, without the offensive dynamic that he brings to it, they are a different team. And the committee voted Alabama four and Florida State five. I was just hurt for our players. I mean, to be honest with you, that was one of the tougher moments I've had to experience. And, you know, just for all that they've done, you know, you talk to a team about, you know, responding to adversity, getting up and going to give all that you can to be able to find a way to win a college football game. And, you know, like Coach March said, it is hard. I mean, it's hard to do.

It's hard to, you know, especially when you face some of the adversities that we've had, you hear this year, whether it's injury or just different things to overcome. But, you know, it's all part of it. And, you know, as we tell our team all the time, you know, your truest identity shows up in times of great adversity.

And we faced it and, you know, they put it on display. So that was really that feeling in the moment. That is Mike Norvell. And you can hear his emotion. And he was infuriated. And he was devastated. And it was a tough experience for him and his team. You may have seen that Florida State was on screen. If you're watching the selection show, it was taking place actually at noon Florida time, 9 a.m. Pacific Coast time.

But they, I mean, their reactions were authentic and real and they were dejected. And I understand it. They're the first Power Five Conference champion to be undefeated and not make the playoffs. But here's why I believe that Alabama should be in. It's always in college football been about, what have you done for me lately? It's always been about the last impression that you make on the committee.

It's always been about how you finish, not necessarily how you start. Because how you finish is the team that will most closely or that you hope will most closely resemble what you'll get come the playoff. So Alabama and his Crimson Tide, Nick Saban's Crimson Tide, will end up in the playoff again after missing a year. They have a similar strength of schedule, fourth in the nation, while Florida State was third.

But they also finished strong after starting weaker when they were still trying to figure out their QB issues. I felt like our team deserved to be in the playoffs. They earned the right to be there. I was just very anxious and hopeful that they would get the opportunity to do that.

So it made a bit of a sleepless night in a lot of ways. So we were trying to prepare for the opportunity if we got it. But also concerned about what opportunities we'd have if it didn't work out. But we're excited about the fact that it did and I know our players are excited about it. And we're going into finals week here in the next couple weeks. So they've got to focus on academics and get ready to play in this game. Of course, it's not just Alabama and Florida State that were part of the conversation. Georgia dropped to number six after losing that tight SEC championship to the Tide. And here's what I would say also about Alabama versus Florida State. Even though the Seminoles did have a huge win over LSU to start the season, that was so much earlier. The victory over Louisville, not nearly as impressive at the end because Louisville had lost the week before. Meanwhile, Bama only ends up losing to Texas but topples the number one team in the nation as its final statement. It's after hours on CBS Sports Radio.

Call 562-314-4603 for complete details. I'm Kate Abdo, the host of Kicking It, a new weekly show from the CBS Sports Galasso Network, where Clint Dempsey, Charlie Davies, Mo Adoo and I connect with the biggest personalities from global soccer and beyond to learn about their journeys and what makes them tick. This is the place for football fans to hear unfiltered conversations with the game's most familiar faces. So what are you waiting for? Follow and listen to Kicking It on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts.