JR Interview with Brandon Marcello

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For important information, visit Principle.com slash disclosures. But I just mentioned his name, and here he is with us on the line right now to talk about the release of the college football playoff rankings. It is my main man holding it down, Brandon Marcello from 24-7 Sports. Hey, Brandon, how you doing, man? Doing well. Got some trick-or-treating in with the kid, and now relaxing, trying to make sure I don't eat all the candy. Well, is it better for you to eat the candy or the kids eat the candy?

Well, you know what's funny? My kid doesn't like candy. He just won't eat it. The only thing he'll eat is M&M's, so I got this whole big bag full of anything I want, and I'm happy and resistant. Listen, man, you hit the jackpot. I mean, if your kid and family, they don't want candy, then that's good for them.

Might be bad for you, but it's good for them, man. Well, let's talk about some of these college football teams. Some fan bases obviously upset. Some, I mean, to be expected, I don't think anybody is shocked or surprised with these rankings. Ohio State, Georgia, Michigan, Florida State rounding out your top four, and we got some Pac-12 teams there. Washington at five, Oregon at six, Texas at seven, Alabama eight, and then Oklahoma nine, Ole Miss at ten. What were some of your first thoughts upon seeing these rankings?

I wasn't surprised. You know, the playoff committee, you know, early on, people tend to get upset because it's always a little bit different than the AP or coaches poll. That's always because they deal kind of in these hard numbers, strength of schedule, all this stuff, head to head. You know, they don't really put their guts into the thinking process here.

And it comes through in their voting. You know, if you go back through history here, I kind of wonder why we even have a playoff committee, why they pay all this money to fly all these guys in to North Texas every week and have them sit around and discuss this for hours and hours. Because the BCS computers, the top four would have been the top four, the same top four in every single year in the playoff committee has been put together. So why do we put people in a room where we still get the same four teams? That's my question.

So it's the buildup drama, I think. And then especially here early on when entering the final month of the season, people see Ohio State at number one. And, you know, obviously they're not number one in the human polls, but they're number one in the committee. And that's because they weigh these metrics heavily. And right now they've got two top 15 wins against Penn State and Notre Dame. And that's better than what Georgia and Michigan have right now, and also Florida State. So as much as we say this is a human factor being in the playoff committee's rankings, it's not. They might as well just be, you know, 12 computers sitting around a desk coming up with these rankings.

Brandon Marcello is joining us here at the JR Sport Reshow CBS Sports Radio. When I want to get back to you on the on the current system, because I find it to be the same when you look at some of the imagery. Got twenty five folks sitting in a giant conference room, long tables to go ahead and make these decisions. When we get to the final iteration and in about more than a month from now, do you see any of these teams? What team has the best chance of falling out and what team has the best chance of moving up into that top four? Yeah, to me, the best team to potentially move up in that top four is Oregon, which is at number six right now. I think they're the better team in Washington right now, which is a number five. Washington owns the head to head right now. When that game was played at Washington a couple of weeks ago in an absolute thriller and a classic, Oregon was on the cusp of potentially winning that. If they played that game again, I think Oregon wins. If they played it again in a neutral site, I think Oregon wins.

And that's what we might very well get that in the actual championship game in early December. And if we're going to do that and obviously went out, I think the ducks will make it into the playoffs because as of right now, the Big 12 kind of played itself out of it. And then, of course, Ohio State and Michigan, who are in the top four right now, they play each other later, of course, and one of them will not be in the playoffs. So to me, Oregon has the best shot to jump in. The team that has maybe the best shot of actually dropping out, I actually think it's the number one team right now. And that's Ohio State. I'm still not sold on them as being a complete team.

The schedule, of course, has been pretty good. That's why they're number one right now. But man, Michigan is just deeper top to bottom. And of course, as we know, they've had their number the last two years, not just had their number, but just absolutely obliterating Ohio State on the line of scrimmage. Brandon Marcello is joining us here from 24-7 Sports to talk about the college football playoff rankings. You know, we don't see the traditional Alabama sitting here at the top. We heard Steve Sarkisian go ahead and try to make his case just less than 24 hours ago, a couple of days ago, about how, hey, we went in there and we beat Alabama, and we see Texas currently ahead of Alabama and Oklahoma. Oklahoma after Kansas, after that defeat, not looking the best and the brightest.

What are your thoughts on kind of that next group there? You know, there's not big, bad Alabama, and I found it interesting that Sark was trying to make his point in case to move up higher in the playoff based on that win. I think it's smart on his part. It's not because of his wish, but it's smart on his part because he knows Alabama is probably going to make their SEC championship game once again. And potentially here, if Alabama were to sprout that upset against Georgia in the SEC championship game, then Alabama would be in the playoffs, and Texas might be out, even though Texas would own that head-to-head. Even if Texas were to win out. Now, of course, a lot of stuff is going to happen in front of them and behind them and all that, but if you look at it, Texas, technically right now, has the second best win in all of college football so far this season by beating Alabama on the road. Washington has the best by beating Oregon, even though that game was at Washington. So there are arguments to be had for Texas, but the problem is that they got that loss on their schedule, which he could argue that it's the best loss of anybody in the top ten right now, having lost to number nine, Oklahoma.

So, you know, it is what it is. Listen, any of these teams in the top, I would say eight, maybe top nine, have a shot at reaching the playoffs still. I have a harder time believing with Oklahoma right now because of the schedule, but we'll see. But, you know, bam, if they went out and beat Georgia, they're in. Texas, I think the Big 12 overall is going to have a very difficult time ahead of them. They might very well be that Power Five conference like the Pac-12 has been the last six, seven years they've just left out. Well, Brandon, we know, and before we know it, we're going to see both Texas and Oklahoma competing in the SEC. And people have talked about how large of an adjustment it's going to be. Based on what we've seen with that surprise victory, Texas knocking off Alabama, do you think that's been exaggerated? Maybe a little bit.

You know, it's interesting. Two years ago, I thought Oklahoma was better built for the SEC schedule because of the trenches. And that's actually kind of flipped a little bit here just in the last calendar year. Texas has really done a very good job recruiting and preparing for the SEC type of play in the trenches, especially on the defensive line, which doesn't get enough love right now, I think, for Texas. And I think the Longhorns are prepared for it right now. I know you set that head-to-head right now this season, but I think it's going to prove forward going into next year, that very first year, that Texas is the more well-prepared team to go week by week by week in the SEC.

Brandon Marcelo's here with us 24-7 sports. When it's all said and done, when we have the Final Four teams, it sounded like you think Ohio State is going to fall out. What is your Final Four? Who do you think is ultimately going to make it in when the humans finish playing with the computers?

Well, yeah, exactly. To me, I think Michigan is the best team in the country right now. They're the deepest and best. It's just that their schedule hasn't been worth anything, worth a darn, but it will be near the end because the schedule is completely with Ohio State coming up. I think it'll be Michigan. I think it'll be the SEC champion, which I believe will be Georgia. And I think it'll be Florida State.

But you always keep waiting for them to stumble. But I think Florida State is going to navigate the schedule. And I think it'll be Oregon. I think Oregon is going to emerge out of the Pac-12 in that rematch against Washington and what may very well be the second best game of the year after their first matchup. Those are two really well-matched teams. And, man, I think Bo Nix is on the cusp of doing something very, very special there to work in this season.

It's going to be fun to see them continue to play out. As we start to wrap up, I do have to ask you about a dude and a team and a program that is not participating in the college football playoff at all this year, not even sniffing it. And that's Mr. Dabo Sweeney. We heard his rant last night kind of went off the deep end of being accused of not performing based on what his salary is. And he seemed to lose it against the fan, which is like, you know, getting paid all that money and being criticized is part of it. What do you think the issue has been overall with the program? And do you see Clemson turning things around into the future without bringing in just an amazing recruiting class?

You know, it's crazy. I think the last two years we've all seen this potentially coming because Dabo Sweeney has been so slow. In fact, it's just completely been against overcoming some of these challenges. When I talk about challenges, the advent of NIL and, of course, the creation of a transfer portal. He's really only gone out and gotten two transfers out of the portal in this entire time. And they amount to two walk on quarterback, the quarterback who was at Clemson transferred to Northwestern and then transferred back to Clemson. He has not been able to, I guess, for whatever reason, adjust like everybody else has around him. And if he did that, he could have fixed issues at receiver.

That's a big issue right now. Could have fixed some of the issues on the offensive line. But his big issue is that receiver and has been the last two or three years.

It hasn't been quarterback, hasn't been DJ Leon Lilly, hasn't been Kate Clubnick. It's the lack of a game breaking receiver, which they've been so accustomed to seeing over the last decade, Barry Clemson. And he could have fixed that easily by going to the transfer portal. Look at Florida State right now, which is on the cusp of winning the ACC. They went out and hit the transfer portal to supplement their roster. And they got arguably the best receiver in college football this season. And Keyon Coleman, who came from Michigan State, entered the portable offseason. You mean to tell me if Clemson went after him that he would not have been interested in Clemson?

I think he would have. And Clemson, for their part, shot themselves in the foot. They had an opportunity to improve their roster these last two to three years.

And they had literally sat there and done nothing. And now it's starting to bubble up to the surface. And, you know, I think Dabo's a little thin-skinned. I'm sure if you put some truth to him, he'd say, man, I messed up these last two years and I'm really taking a look now. And he's biting back at people.

He's like a hurt dog. But I'll tell you what, this offseason, he better hit that transfer portal. He better decide to get with the times. Do you think, especially being at the beginning really now of his 10-year contract, the way he spoke at least publicly against that fan, is he going to see this through or is he going to kind of ruffle some feathers and maybe get booted in a season or two? And I know it's a lot of money, but do you think he's going to see out this whole contract as coach or is this just a small bump in the road?

I don't know if he sees the entire contract through, but I do think he sees the next few years through. I don't think that barring something crazy happening that they would try to fire him. Because one, listen, I know they're all seeing harmony in the ACC right now as they expand. But listen, Clemson and Florida State for that matter, they still want out of the ACC. And if they find a way out that is financially possible for them, I think they would still jump at that. And they can't really afford to go, let's go fire Tamboli Sweeney, he's one of the couple of national championships, just because maybe we've had two or three bad years under him. They're kind of in it for the semi-long haul with them. Maybe not be able to extend that contract, but score a little bit. They're in an inflection point as a program, as an athletics department in the ACC, and then also, goodness gracious, I would think that the administration there would start putting his feet to the fire a little bit, going, hey, we've done all these new facilities for you, we've done everything for you, we've supported you, but you've got to get with the times.

You've got to hit the transfer portal, you've got to start listening to us a little bit. Otherwise it would become an absolute drama show, a stage play there. And we'll see. This is the most important off-season of Dabo Sweeney's life coming up. Yep, I'm certainly here for the drama show, and I want to thank Dabo Sweeney for losing his mind, although I still think he needs to just give a full apology. Hey, Brandon, I want to appreciate you for coming through. Where can people follow you in all of your work with 24-7 Sports? Yeah, I'm at D Marcello on Twitter and X, and then find me at Brandon Marcello on all of his socials, 24-7 Sports dot com for full college football coverage.

All right, thank you so much to Brandon Marcello for joining us here. The J.R. Sportbrief Show on CBS Sports Radio. Hey, everyone, you've probably heard us talking about Magnificent Jerk. It's a story about discovering family secrets buried in a low-budget 90s thriller starring Rob Lowe and Ice-T. Magnificent Jerk takes you on a journey through Chinatown gangs, drug robberies, Hollywood reinvention, and a family confronting its unspoken past. It's the true story about a fake story about a real life. Magnificent Jerk is an Apple original podcast produced by Pineapple Street Studios. All episodes are available now.

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