1-2-24 After Hours with Amy Lawrence PODCAST: Hour 1

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Yeah, Graybar does that. Hello, listeners, and welcome to the end of the year edition of the Hey, Did You Know podcast. So year end means holidays. Hey, did you know Americans eat 1.4 billion pounds of turkey every Thanksgiving? Well, year end also means the Hyundai getaway sales event. Hey, did you know it's the best deals of the season on Hyundai's most popular vehicles? Well, isn't that interesting?

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Call 562-314-4603 for details. Both of those games were hard on the ticker. The endings of both national semifinals in college football were hard on the ticker.

As in heart palpitations from the Rose Bowl and the Sugar Bowl from Pasadena and New Orleans. I actually feel badly for those people who could not stay awake for, let's say, the second half of the Sugar Bowl. The second half didn't start until 11 o'clock Eastern Time. And this is not to say that only Eastern Time or Central Time viewers or fans are the most important, the most critical. They should be kowtowed to, whatever that means.

They should be elevated over the needs and the viewing habits of those in the Mountain and Pacific time zones. And of course Washington from the Pacific Northwest was playing in the Sugar Bowl. So I understand why there are a lot of fans who are okay with the second half starting at eight o'clock Pacific time. Right.

The challenge is how do you balance? And by the time the Sugar Bowl was done and the dust is settling or the confetti is settling at the Superdome, it's nearly 1 a.m Eastern Time, nearly midnight in New Orleans, and even getting later on the West Coast. I understand it was the Rose Bowl that really made this necessary. So don't think that this was the choice of the networks, but remember the Rose Bowl needed some concessions in order to get on board with the expanded college football playoff that kicks in next year. And for that reason, and because of the traditions, the granddaddy of them all, 110th Rose Bowl with all the parade, the pageantry, the pomp, the circumstance, they've got plans that have been put in place for years and were unwilling and un required, unwilling and unnecessary for them to move, I guess, according to not just the Rose Bowl, but also according to the college football playoff committee. And so it was a much later Sugar Bowl than what, and it took a while too, much later Sugar Bowl second half than what maybe fit into that optimal viewing zone for fans that are on the right half of the country.

But if you're still awake now, well, that's not your problem, is it? It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. This week we're kicking off year 12 on a network that started January 1st, 2013. After Hours, while it did not have a name the first month, by month number two in 2013, so by February 2013, it did in fact have a name. For those of you who don't know, it was named after a contest. We asked listeners to submit their most creative and interesting and perfect names for the show. I think originally the submission was Amy Lawrence on After Hours or Amy Lawrence with After Hours, something like that, and we flipped it so that it became After Hours with Amy Lawrence, and we've never changed the name of the show, nor will we as long as we're doing a show that is late night or early morning.

For those people getting up super early in the morning and as the show morphs on, that will feature more and more of you, well, there's a lot to get to. The college football national championship is set. It's number one versus number two, but each of these teams, number one Michigan, number two Washington, both undefeated by the way, now both 14 and 0, they're each competing for their first title in the college football playoff. First time in the college football national championship game, again in the era of the playoff, for both Washington and Michigan. Michigan had been to three straight playoffs. Washington, I believe, making its second appearance, but neither one had ever made it to the championship game before, but it was the first time in the college football national championship ever made it to the championship game before tonight.

I hope that you enjoyed what you saw. You're able to stay up and catch both these games, the doubleheader, with the breaks and then with the longer half times for the performances of the two different bands, the marching bands. These half times take forever, and the commercials themselves do too. So yeah, you knew you were in for two pretty long games, but it's New Year's Day.

What else do you have to do with your time? Maybe you were traveling, maybe you're still traveling. I know we heard from a ton of people on Sunday night into Monday who said, hey we're catching the show for the first time or the first time in a long time. I enjoyed hearing from the hundreds of you that weighed in to let us know where you were and how you were listening, and you all found us on Twitter, ALawRadio, or our show Twitter after our CBS, and then also on our Facebook page after hours with Amy Lawrence. Our phone number 855-212-4227.

That's 855-212-4CBS. I want to get to the Sugar Bowl first, and we will welcome Brandon Marcello from New Orleans coming up in, we'll say 12 minutes from now, covering the game for 24-7 sports. This was a tie game at the half, 21-21, though something that was fairly clear right off the top is that Texas had very few answers. I would say that's probably a conservative assessment.

Almost no answers, or maybe no answer, depending upon your perspective. The Longhorns had nothing to slow down Michael Penix. If you've never seen the Washington quarterback pick apart a defense, this was classic. Now, neither team played particularly well offensively, even though they did end up with three touchdowns apiece, but there were some glaring weaknesses, some big holes if you will. So, for instance, they were combined one for eight on third down in the first half. Texas was able to run the ball. In fact, the Longhorns were already over a hundred yards rushing and had three rushing TDs.

That offensive line was having a field day in the first half, but Washington already had over 250 passing yards from Penix. One big mistake for Washington that allowed Texas to kind of find its footing and a little momentum in the second quarter, there was a botched punt by the Huskies early in the quarter and it put Texas right outside the red zone. The Longhorns are able to grab that tying touchdown and from that point on, at least through the rest of the first half, it felt like Texas was back on solid ground, right? So, I didn't love how the Longhorns played, kind of sloppy, lack of discipline, a bunch of penalties, not taking good care of the football. Now, I don't know this for certain, they've obviously been practicing all the way through the break, but this is why some schools lament the long break from the end of their conference championships, and both Texas and Washington were conference champs, from the end of the conference championship through these holiday seasons and then to the point at which you get the semi-finals finally on the ground, it's been quite a layoff.

It's been several weeks, not quite a month, but pretty darn close, and it looked like Texas was wearing that. So yeah, didn't love the way that Texas took care of its business, but give credit to the Huskies. As I say, Michael Penix, if you've never seen him play, what stands out to me is not only can he throw a rope, not only can he fire a bullet into tight coverage, but he can also loft a ball with precision and touch and accuracy and like a soft touch, if that makes sense. He's not always firing it so hard that it's bouncing off his receiver's hands, he can give his receivers what they need and what they're looking for, and he can throw a ball various ways. It does generally tend to get where it's going though, and he and Kaelin DeBoer, the head coach of Washington, they've got quite a relationship.

It's after hours with Amy Lawrence here on CBS Sports Radio. So it's a back and forth between the two of them, and it's a back and forth for quite a while, but really the story, especially in that second half, was that Penix continued to pick apart the Texas secondary. That is the call on Learfield's IMG. So early in the third quarter, Washington takes advantage again of mental mistakes, a fumble by Texas right after that touchdown leads to a field goal and a 10-point lead for the Huskies. After another short drive by Texas, Washington able to add another field goal. Now Texas had a second fumble there in the second half, but was able to force a punt by Washington on that end. Still though, getting into the late stages, well, five minutes in, four minutes in to the fourth quarter, so still it's getting late early. Texas is now trailing by 13.

And here's where you started to see a little more of the the versatility of Quinn Ewers. He didn't have a great success in the passing game. There were, it seemed like entire drives where the wide receivers weren't involved. So again, credit Washington not known for its defense, but it felt as though this Texas offense was far too one-dimensional.

Now if it's not broke, don't fix it. They were able to run the ball, but once they got behind, they needed to start moving the ball more quickly and they did that. As they get the ball back with about 11 minutes to go in the fourth quarter, you start to see them now move it and complete some passes and find a little rhythm in that aspect of their offense. So just when you thought the game was done, just when you thought this one was in the bag for the Huskies, Texas finds a different gear. Ewers the stamp, turns, looks, throws it for the end zone.

It is caught! Touchdown Texas! Adonai Mitchell pulls it down in the corner. A.D. spinning around to pull it down to pull it down for a Longhorn touchdown. That's Craig Way on Learfield IMG with the Longhorns play-by-play. So midway through the fourth quarter, A.D. Mitchell as they call him, Adonai Mitchell, hauls in that pass and actually he did a 360 before he caught that ball from Quinn Ewers.

Talk about the mental focus, but also the control really to know where he was and also where the ball was coming from off the hands of his quarterback. So makes the game 34-28 and then the two teams exchange field goals again and after that next field goal, the Longhorns force a three and out by Washington. Now this is where the question becomes, why not kneel down?

Why not take a couple knees? Why not let the clock run to the absolute max? And even if you can't run the entire clock out, what are you doing? And so if you were watching the game while following social media, you know that there was an uproar over the way that Washington was handling the clock or not handling the clock with great management. And to continue to try to run the ball, even though that I guess theoretically could take time off the clock, Texas was using its time outs. Now there was that aspect as well, maybe trying to get the Longhorns to burn their time outs. And whenever the ball went back to Texas, Washington would know the Longhorns couldn't stop the clock.

But ultimately, they didn't take as much time off the clock as they could have and their running back got hurt. So, Texas gets the ball back with inside of a minute to go, so about 50 seconds to go. And again, Quinn Ewers is able finally to spark the offense with some impressive pass plays. So he finds Jordan Whittington for 41 yards.

He goes to Jayden Blue for 16 yards. And some really impressive plays by the receivers too, walking the tight rope, making sure their feet were in. But now they're inside the red zone and they're going pass, pass, pass. All right, they're inside the red zone and with an eye on the clock as much as possible, trying to preserve time. And unfortunately for the Longhorns, not able to find the right play, the right connection, even though they were there in the red zone.

Cody, let's get it away. And Washington is headed to Houston to play the Michigan Wolverines for their first national championship since 1991. Once again, the call there on Learfield, IMG. So yeah, Texas had the ball, had four shots to win the game from inside the red zone. But on fourth down, the ball is batted away by the Huskies defense. AD Mitchell unable to come up with it in the end zone and Washington prevails. And as much as Michael Pennix was the star of the show in this game for the Huskies, 430 yards passing and two touchdowns through the air.

He had to watch from the sidelines while the defense was facing an assault by Queen Ewers in Texas. Watching the last drive from the sideline, you know, it was, you know, it was just believing, you know, coach DuBois, he always preached to us, you know, we're built for this moment, you know, and we believed it. And no matter, you know, the circumstances, you know, the adversity that we went through during that drive, you know, you know, I know everybody on the sideline continue to believe, you know, continue to believe in the defense that they were going to get that stop. They've done it all year, you know, you've seen it so many times each and every week, you know, throughout the season, you know, them coming up with big time stops and big time moments.

So it was just waiting for the play and it was bound to happen, but just super blessed. And, you know, we were all believing on the sidelines. Michael Penix certainly put on a show offensively with NFL scouts and general managers watching. He was able to make almost every throw that he tried. I mean, obviously a few did not connect, but Washington's passing game was in full tilt.

Though Texas made it really interesting, as I say, hard on the ticker. What about the play calling in the final stages by Steve Sarkisian? We'll hear from him coming up as well as Quinn Ewers. But congratulations to Washington as the Huskies in this last gasp of the Pac-12, as we know it, could become the first Pac-12 team to win a college football playoff national championship. Though Michigan will have something to say about it.

I think it's humorous that Jim Harbaugh still has the last laugh. Now we did get a call from, not a call, sorry, a message from our guest who has indicated that he would prefer to go in the final segment of the hour. Yeah, but we're running late now. So, oh, now he's changed his mind. So producer J is going to pull his hair out. Producer J is back, by the way, from the holidays.

We're going to have to tell Mr. Marcello that unfortunately we do not have enough time in the next segment and he'll have to wait. I mean, I'm glad your schedule changes on the fly, but we're kind of locked into a clock around here. So on Twitter, A-Law Radio, Sugar Bowl and Rose Bowl in the books.

And we've got ourselves one versus two in the national championship a week. Nobody wants a surprise in their jelly donut. It's toothpaste? That's because the middle is the most important part. At Graybar, we're at the middle of electrical and datacom jobs across the country, connecting installers, facility managers, and business owners with smart solutions for their most challenging projects, which means stocking and delivering crucial products on time and on budget with no surprises, thanks to our nationwide logistics network.

Yep, Graybar does that. Hello, listeners, and welcome to the end of the year edition of the Hey, Did You Know podcast. So year end means holidays. Hey, did you know Americans eat 1.4 billion pounds of turkey every Thanksgiving? Well, year end also means the Hyundai getaway sales event. Hey, did you know it's the best deals of the season on Hyundai's most popular vehicles? Well, isn't that interesting?

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That's 20% off your first order at American dash giant.com promo code grateful ag 23 from tonight. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. You are listening to the After Hours podcast. Viewers from the shotgun, Quinn with the snap, back to throw, looks, fires for the end zone, incomplete. And that's it. The ball game is over. He was going in the corner. Grant and I, Mitchell, Elijah Jackson had the coverage.

He defended it. And Washington holds on to defeat Texas to win the Allstate Sugar Bowl 37 to 31. This is After Hours with Amy Lawrence. We use the Huskies final call, decidedly more excited, really off the hook. That's the call from Craig Way, the Texas Longhorns version on Learfield IMG.

It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. We'll hear more from the Washington perspective, repping the Pac-12 now in the college football playoff national championship a week from tonight. And there couldn't be a more fitting exit for a conference that many believe will be defunct.

But even if it survives, it won't look anything like what we've expected it to or what we've seen of it for so long. It's a new era in reconstructing conferences. It's a new era when it comes to realignment. Is the Pac-12 still considered one of the power five?

That's a question that doesn't have an answer yet. But for now, it's still the Pac-12 and Washington is into its first ever national title a tilt, not tit. That would be odd and also not family friendly against Michigan at number one. So Steve Sarkeesian, the head coach of Texas, has his quarterback when viewers take multiple shots at the end zone through the air on those plays that were from the Washington 13, the 12, and all of them come up empty. Why those plays, Sark? It's a tricky situation in that you're out of timeouts and so we have to be very careful that we don't complete a ball short of the goal line or pretty much the game's going to end at that point. So when you're forced to throw it into the end zone each time, it makes it difficult, especially when they're defending the end zone. So we were just trying to create some matchups with some different route combinations to to create some one-on-ones and to give our playmakers a chance to make a play. And we just weren't quite able to do it, you know, so that's the way it goes sometimes. We're just trying to take a shot at the end zone obviously because if you fall short, like you said, the game's going to be over. So, you know, just was looking to give my guys an opportunity to go make a play at the end of the day.

That's all you can really do. I understand the timing part of it and honestly had Washington done a little better with its own clock management, we're not really talking about what Texas did on those last few shots at the end zone. Now for Texas, this is an opportunity, right, to build, to start this foundation and to use this as a springboard forward, right? So we've seen Texas kind of go around the mountain again and again and again, different coaches, different cultures, one step forward, two steps back, not able to sustain success and not able to find the right mix or the right combo of leadership. Will this be the group? Will this be the coach that sets the tone?

That remains to be seen. I know Longhorns fans are hopeful and Coach Stark seems to believe this is just the beginning. There's a belief in our style and what we do and I think it showed this season, you know, there was a lot of games that came down to the wire for us this year. We found a way to win and we put ourselves in position again tonight to have a chance to win the game. It just didn't happen, but I think that that just speaks to the mental toughness that these guys have, the resiliency, and also the connection that they have for the team. I think that's what we're going to do.

The connection that they have for one another. I couldn't be more proud of the way that we attacked this year because I know most of y'all didn't believe that we would be here right now. And we're going to continue to just focus on the opinions inside our four walls and continue to build. Gwen Ewers with the old circle the wagons, but I do believe that they've got the right pieces in place. Again, there's been a lot of change, a lot of transition.

Texas has been kind of wandering in a vast wasteland for a few years. Actually, it's been longer than people think, but Coach Sarc seems to have them headed in the right direction, along with Gwen Ewers's sophomore. But this night belongs to Washington and Kaitlyn DeBoer and Michael Penix and the Huskies defense that bends but does not break in the final couple minutes. And straight ahead, we'll head to New Orleans and welcome National College Football insider Brandon Marcello of 24-7 Sports who is fresh off covering the Sugar Bowl. Glad to have you with us. Happy new year to you. I still say it through the first two weeks of the year, but many of you probably didn't hear me last night. We are glad to keep you company as you inch your way forward into 2024.

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You are listening to the After Hours Podcast. Phoenix takes a shotgun snap, Texas rushes forward, steps up in the pocket, eludes, fires a fastball and it's knocked away, bobbled and caught! Touchdown Jalen Paulk!

Are you kidding me? Big play JP! Huskies take a 20 to 14 lead. Snap to Pennix, play fake, Pennix holds, fires, fastball, caught! J-Mac touchdown Washington! A fastball 19 yards right down the middle of the field. Jalen McMillan holds it in. What a beautiful catch by J-Mac. His fourth touchdown catch of the year and the Huskies reclaim the lead at the Sugar Bowl.

This is After Hours with Amy Lawrence. On Learfield IMG, a brilliant performance from Michael Pennix, the quarterback for the Huskies, 29 of 38, 430 yards and a couple of touchdowns and he was a headache for Texas and Steve Sarkisian. They really played on schedule all night and that makes it difficult. The times we did get them into some third longs, we had the ability to get off the field, but we just couldn't get them on the ground.

You know, I thought there were some decent pressures in there, we just didn't get them on the ground. Yeah, elusive with an incredible touch and feel and accuracy and some zip on the ball when he needed to. Great rapport with his receivers and a great command of the Kaelyn DeBoer offense. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. Washington headed to its first ever college football national championship.

Pac-12 has a chance to win the title for the first time even before it breaks up and into pieces headed in all different directions. We are pleased to welcome Brandon Marcello from New Orleans covering the Sugar Bowl. Brandon, what makes Michael Penick so good? Because he's like that every single day.

I was talking to Kaelyn DeBoer just a few minutes ago. He's still in the stadium and we were discussing that and I said this is dialed in as he's been and he goes now he's like that every single day in practice. He says I do think it helped that we were playing indoors today because that's where we practice indoors at Washington, but he said this is nothing new.

He's the best quarterback in the country for a reason. What did you see from Texas in those final few seconds maybe the final couple minutes as Quinn Ewers maybe finds a little bit of a rhythm and they're able to put pressure on that Washington defense, but the play calling under fire so what stands out to you? Well to me was Washington's defense and I mean listen Texas had eight plays inside the 15-yard line in the final 90 seconds of the game and got three points out of it and Washington's defense has something to do with that. They just step up in the big moments. They've been doing that all season.

Nine of their 11 starters or juniors or seniors or upperclassmen and then you know they just stepped up once again. I know we can discuss the play calling or whatever, but I'll say this Washington was able to make Quinn Ewers hesitate a little bit and it worked out in the end for the Huskies. Speaking of play calling as much as Sark is answering those questions there's a lot of uproar on social media and a reaction when Washington did not take a knee or try to run maximum time off the clock the possession before. What did coach DeBoer have to say about that? Well I talked to Ryan Grubb the offensive coordinator after the game and he was saying hey we're just going to play our ball. He was actually talking to me a little bit about how there needs to be a rule put in place that if you're an offensive team trying to run out the clock and you have a player go down injured they should still run a little bit of time off the clock.

So I mean that's that's his take on it but the fact of the matter is you're exactly right. They should have been trying to kneel the ball. I don't know why we're getting into this era here of college football coaches Mario Crystal Ball at Miami just not wanting and refusing to just kneel on the ball but hey at least we got a heck of a finish out of it. Dylan Johnson did end up getting hurt. What do we know about his status? Yeah apparently he went in for an x-ray after the game not exactly clear exactly what it's going to be. Kaitlyn DeBoer says it was a re-aggravation of his right ankle injury and then I saw him about 30 minutes ago walking to the team bus with a boot on his right leg.

That might actually be good news because at the end of the game he was on crutches and at least he had the boot on and was actually putting pressure on that right ankle. So maybe some good news for the Huskies going into that national championship game. Brandon Marcello is with us in the wake of the Sugar Bowl which Washington prevails over Texas and he's in New Orleans.

It's after hours with Amy Lawrence here on CBS Sports Radio. Texas has been around the mountain a few times in these last seven, eight, nine years. What tells you that Steve Sarkeesian and this particular leadership for the Longhorns football team is the one that can take them back to the promised land or at least back to relevancy? Well I will say this I mean obviously they got there this year they didn't get the end goal they wanted but you know they got a lot of pieces are actually coming back next season when you still have to make a decision but it certainly looks like he's probably going to come back from talking to people around him and then also it's just the recruiting. I know everybody the joke has been Texas recruiting they're always number five in the top five but they never show it on the field but the recruiting is a little bit different on Sarkeesian and you saw it tonight in the trenches and at the receiver positions but especially in the trenches.

Washington the Joe Moore award-winning offensive line had trouble blocking the middle of the field there and trying to get Dylan Johnson some yardage and then actually hurt Washington a little bit and gave Texas that opportunity in that window to come back in this game. So Texas the recruiting along the offensive defensive lines that's what's really made them turn the corner under Steve Sarkeesian and they continue to do that here in the latest recruiting classes as well. When Washington makes the jump to the Big Ten and not the only Pac-12 team a handful of them but when Washington makes that move just as a side note can you imagine if they were the national champions and then they bowl to the Big Ten that's just weird but what changes for the Huskies when they make that move? Well they're gonna have to change things a little bit probably up front for themselves but you know it's interesting a week from now we get a Big Ten season opener in a lot of ways. Coaches were kind of joking about that a little bit then there'll be a rematch in Seattle in October so it's weird how college football works out in this realignment era but you know the Huskies are going to continue to recruit the West Coast against Oregon that's going to be their primary battle out there really but we'll see how they adjust. You know the coaches talked a little bit about that this week but they didn't sound like all that much like they're going to change their recruiting approach and for that matter really how they approach the transfer portal which is the kind of pick and choose guys. They've brought in only 10 or less players from the transfer portal each of these last two years Brandon there's a lot of different opinions about the Pac-12 and what happens next we know for now anyway they do plan on remaining a conference in 24 but what's your opinion about the best path forward?

Well maybe they can keep the branding name with Washington State and Oregon State and end up merging with the Mountain West that certainly seems like what's going to end up happening within the next year or two. You know I talked to Pac-12 Commissioner George Kolaivkov after the game on the field and he told me it's surreal to see this and then he kind of took a shot at the school leaving the Pac-12 saying if they were just patient and waited they would have seen that we were building something special. I guess it's easy to say that in hindsight but fact of the matter is the Pac-12 is dissolving and and George Kolaivkov is about to be out of a job.

Hmm Brandon Marcello is with us from New Orleans here on CBS Sports Radio. I'll ask you the same question about Texas what changes for the Longhorns when they move to the SEC? Well I'll say this unlike Washington and Oregon and USC and UCLA they've had a little bit of a jump start to prepare for it because their announcement happened two years ago and they've been preparing in the recruiting battles to go about changing their rosters and prepare for the SEC and in particular it goes back to what I said earlier about Texas in the trenches they've been bulking up there in the trenches is where you win championships in the SEC look at Bama look at Georgia obviously and Texas has been able to do that. I remember seeing Texas in person two years ago when they played Arkansas a kind of a little bit of above average Arkansas team and they were absolutely dominated in the trenches on both sides of the ball and I couldn't believe what I was seeing that team does not exist anymore Texas has built things up the right way in the trenches and I think they're very well prepared and well built to contend in the SEC starting next year.

It's going to be really strange the landscape will look so different do you think we ultimately move to a power four type of a brain trust that's making decisions? Oh yeah definitely we're moving that direction I wonder though who will be the loudest voices in that room certainly it would probably be the big two in my eyes the big 10 and the SEC and you know I've been talking to people this week I think people tend to forget this but remember when this was all being talked about with Texas and OU joining the SEC that there was some discussions about the SEC maybe doing their own playoff their own postseason type of format I mean it's obvious that the SEC has been thinking about what the future of college football is going to look like and how they want to be the top dog and want to be well ahead of the curve there and listen there's going to be a lot of things that obviously I'm not saying the playoff is going to change here the next five years or anything like that but it's very clear that the SEC and the big 10 are trying to make moves to be the two biggest voices in that room whatever it looks like when it comes to the power four. This year I guess 2022 season I'm sorry 23 season but 24 playoff would you have been on board with the 12 in the playoff or do you like what we saw? Yeah I would like to see the 12 I've always been a proponent for it but I will say this the format that's been presented we would have seen Liberty in the playoff over Oklahoma because of them being that highest ranked group of five team and boy we saw what happened Liberty Day against Oregon they would have faced who would Liberty have faced today they would have faced Florida State in Tallahassee that would have been interesting but yeah been great to see a 12 team playoff this year especially with just so many great teams out there and again look at the national championship game it's the two undefeated teams and yes Florida State gonna get that opportunity. Before I let you go Brandon about 45 seconds what's your initial thought about Michigan versus Washington? Well again I to me it's going to be who can make those big plays down the field Washington is much more explosive JJ McCarthy's a little bit of an efficient quarterback they've got Blake Corum the thing for me though to watch is is Dylan Johnson healthy he's the x factor for Washington he takes a lot of pressure off of them and if he's not healthy that could change the complexion of this I can see why Michigan is favored in this one but don't count out Washington I know that sounds silly to say everybody's saying that but goodness gracious they have won 10 straight games by 10 points or less including eight straight games by one possession eight straight that is unheard of in college football that's not luck that's not getting by by your teeth that's just senior leadership a lot of upperclassmen and amazing coaching Kaelin DeBoer has won more than 90 percent of his games as a head coach on all levels all the way back to his NAIA days in Sioux Falls. Well and certainly it prepares you for this stage when you're used to playing in a pressure cooker which we've seen from Kaelin DeBoer's team. All right you can find Brandon Marcello on twitter at B Marcello M-A-R-C-E-L-L-O national college football reporter and insider for 27 excuse me 24-7 sports from New Orleans after the sugar bowl great to connect with you Brandon thank you so much for a couple of minutes. All right thank you appreciate it. Good to hear his perspective as he spoke with not just Kaelin DeBoer but the Pac-12 commissioner and was right there in the thick of it if you haven't checked him out on twitter he's got some photos from the sugar bowl for 24-7 sports and the national championship to come a week from tonight that's the first hour we'll talk Michigan Alabama next it's after hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS sports radio nobody wants a surprise in their jelly donut it's toothpaste that's because the middle is the most important part at Graybar we're at the middle of electrical and datacom jobs across the country connecting installers facility managers and business owners with smart solutions for their most challenging projects which means stocking and delivering crucial products on time and on budget with no surprises thanks to our nationwide logistics network yep Graybar does that hello listeners and welcome to the end of the year edition of the hey did you know podcast so year-end means holidays hey did you know americans eat 1.4 billion pounds of turkey every thanksgiving well year-end also means the Hyundai getaway sales event hey did you know it's the best deals of the season on Hyundai's most popular vehicles well isn't that interesting and since we're talking turkey hey did you know only male turkeys gobble hey did you know every new Hyundai comes with America's best warranty and three years or 36,000 miles of complimentary maintenance hey did you know the Statue of Liberty is the largest holiday gift ever given hey did you know when the year ends so do the deals December 30th is national bacon day you know it's your journey own every mile at the Hyundai getaway sales event sign and drive a 2024 Hyundai Palisade with zero down zero first month's payment and zero security deposit now during the Hyundai getaway sales event offer ends January 2nd call 562-314-4603 for details hi i'm pj vote here to tell you about my new podcast search engine on search engine we tackle the kinds of questions that keep you up at night like why are drug dealers putting fentanyl in everything should we be worried that elon musk believes that we're living in a simulation and for the love of god is it actually unsafe to drink the coffee on airplanes on search engine no question is too big and no question is too small listen and follow search engine with pj vote and odyssey podcast available now on the odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts