Fischer: Oregon & Ohio State Are National Championship Favorites

Brian, how are you? I'm doing well. Good to be on with you.

Thank you for taking the time to join us. Speaking of prolific, we saw a lot of interesting wins to say the least this past Saturday. We saw Alabama beat up on LSU. We saw Ole Miss beat the Bulldogs.

We saw Colorado and get people hyped about a potential college football playoff appearance. What victory over this past weekend really caught your eye? Probably the biggest win of Lane Kiffin's career when you pull back out of things. This is a significant one in terms of Ole Miss reaching that promised land that they really ponied up the roster for in terms of making the college football playoff.

You have to have those marquee victories. This was a dominant effort by the Rebels. They definitely surprised a lot of folks with their defense against the Bulldogs there. This was a gritty victory.

And you kind of saw just how aggressive they were on both sides of the ball. And that paid out with a marquee win down there in Oxford. And I think when we go back into those college football playoff rankings on Tuesday, I think Ole Miss is probably going to be one of the biggest risers in the eyes of the committee because all the metrics say this is a very good team. And now they kind of have that resume win to go with that ranking that they should have on tomorrow. So Brian, what does this mean for the Bulldogs when it comes down to the playoff? They can't afford, obviously, to lose another game. But do they have to stuff Carson Beck in a closet?

What do they do to fix things the rest of the way? Well, it starts this weekend in a big game in Athens against Tennessee. I mean, that is basically a playoff elimination game, probably for both sides and certainly for Georgia. You know, they have played a tough schedule. And I think the committee has recognized that, you know, the fact that they've gone on the road and they do have a big win over a team in Texas that was number one in the nation at the time. You know, had the thrilling second half at Alabama.

So, like, they've played a very good schedule. But, you know, those two losses, that's definitely weighing them down. And I think for Kirby Smart, this is not the Bulldogs type of program that we're used to seeing. Certainly the turnovers out of Carson Beck have been a big issue.

But it starts up front. The offensive line is not played as well. The defense outside of that game in Austin against Texas, you know, really they have not performed up to the standards that Kirby Smart has.

That Kirby Smart has really set for that program. You know, they've gotten pressure on quarterbacks here or there, but it's not been consistent. And certainly the back end in the secondary is not played with, you know, to the level that you would expect, given the amount of talent that is on that roster. So big thing for Georgia, I think, going into this game against Tennessee is can they play like they're used to playing? And we really have seen just an up and down type of program for them going into a lot of these games. You know, they've been favored. They haven't really played well.

And so it's going to be curious as they get back home there in Athens between the hedges. Can they have a complete four quarter victory? Because they really haven't this year. Brian Fisher joining us covers all things college football, staying in the SEC. We saw what Alabama just did to LSU. Stomped them out 42 to 13.

Milro ran wild almost 200 yards to go along with four touchdowns. Does this move Alabama further back up into the mix? Well, I think they were always kind of in the mix coming into this game. But this was a complete four quarter victory that you can see that this is what that roster is capable of. And I think that's the biggest thing for Alabama for so long, I think, for those last couple of weeks. We really judged them through the victor, through the eyes of that loss to Vanderbilt versus the fact that they could go and beat Georgia, the fact that they could beat a team like LSU. And I think a lot of it does come down to Jalen Milro and his ability to run the football. I think we saw him look fully healthy in that game against the Tigers. And you saw when he gets into the open space, I mean, he's a big guy. He's tough to bring down. And that's a difference maker when you've got to account for that quarterback run.

And that opens up so many things. I think in the passing game, we saw that against LSU. And there's a team that, let's face it, they've gotten the benefit of the doubt under Nick Saban. And I think they're going to get the benefit of the doubt based on what we've seen these last couple of weeks as well.

When they're healthy and when they're firing on all cylinders on offense with Jalen Milro contributing with that quarterback run game. Brian, moving over to the Big 12, we saw quite a lot of action. We have BYU winning and beating Utah.

And people are looking at them like they won a robbery. You got tortillas being thrown in Lubbock, Texas. We got BYU undefeated.

Colorado is right behind them. We got a bunch of other 7-2 teams. How do you think this Big 12 is going to shake out?

Yeah, I don't know. I think that's the thing about this league. I've said all year long that this is kind of the coin flip league of all coin flip leagues.

Because that basically seems like that's what every game is. Who had Kansas finally putting together a performance capable of beating an Iowa State this past weekend like they did. I think outside of the Jayhawks, probably not a whole lot of folks. Just the fact that every single game seems to come down to one or two possessions in that fourth quarter. I mean that just kind of underscores the parity in the Big 12.

Even a team like Kansas State, I know they're sitting out there in the top 20 of the rankings but they still got a shot to win the league. They need some breaks to kind of go their way. It really is kind of a pick your poison type of thing every Saturday in terms of who's going to get that upset.

Who's going to end up emerging or getting that lucky bounce of the football. Certainly BYU did on Saturday there in the Holy War against Utah. We've seen Colorado start to play a lot cleaner and put together some more consistent performances.

This has always been such an up and down league. Maybe no elite team necessarily in the Big 12 this year but they've got a lot of teams that are closely grouped. It's certainly amped up the drama as you kind of get into the mix for the college football playoff with a lot of these contenders closing out the schedule with some very difficult games here in November and into December.

Well Brian, we know we're going to get that next edition pretty much dropping exactly 24 hours from now when it comes to the next college football playoff rankings. A lot of people looked at Indiana. They're now 10-0. A lot of people looked at BYU and what they did.

They are still a perfect 9-0. Do you think the way the system is currently set up is fair? Because as you just mentioned, we have a weaker conference here in the Big 12 that automatically gets a little bit of a pass to start things off. Does that need to get adjusted into the future? Well I think everybody is still kind of filling out the system and frankly, the playoff format after these next two years is not necessarily locked in to how it could be. We could get an expansion up to 14 teams possibly and that's something the commissioners have also discussed. Look, it's for moments like this and this is what the committee is there to do.

It's to determine who's the best team. You look at Indiana and you bring them up, I think they're the perfect test case in terms of the schedule and the resume are not quite there. But the fact that the Hoosiers are pretty much blowing everybody's doors off, this is a very good football team.

You've got to thread that needle a little bit. That's why in these unbalanced leagues, in these unbalanced conference schedules, it is important for the committee to look at who you've played, how you've played them. And I think they're doing their best job. They don't have all the data points certainly as they get into the stretch run here in the season. But you would hope if you're the ACC, if you're in the Big 12 right now, they are valuing a lot of those wins. But at the end of the day, it's hard to deny that a team like Alabama, a team like Ole Miss, a team like Georgia are not playing more difficult schedules. And that's just a simple fact in terms of what you see on the field.

And so I think it's up to the committee to weigh a lot of those factors. I think ultimately things tend to take care of themselves down these stretch runs. We've had it happen in the past and I would expect that to happen going down to the wire in these last couple of weeks of the season as well. And so it's going to make for a thrilling college football season either way. Brian Fisher is here with us, the JR sport re-show Coast to Coast. We got to talk about some teams that aren't doing so good.

Okay. We know that Billy Napier, he got a vote of confidence last week. Speaking of another Florida school, Florida State got smashed by Notre Dame 52 to 3. He got Norvell firing both of his coordinators.

I told you about LSU getting smashed. Which coach do you think is ultimately going to be relieved of his duties in a few weeks? Well I think Mike Norvell is in no danger of going anywhere. That buyout is kind of too big for Florida State to stomach.

And look, the guy went undefeated last year in the regular season with the Knolls and it was kind of a combination of factors in terms of that evaluation. Certainly from him and the coaching staff in terms of that roster. The coaching has not been there, the players, the talent there has not been there.

And those are things that he has to fix. They're still pulling up close to 8 or 9 million dollars just in terms of getting rid of some of those assistants to make these changes. Staff change is probably not going to be the extent of things, limited extent there in Tallahassee. I think Mike Norvell, he understands that this has definitely gone off the rails and he's going to have to plow everything he's got and everything Florida State has into turning this ship around.

And thankfully in the transfer portal era, you can do that. You can have a roster that goes from 1 win to 10 wins to back to 1 win. And that's just kind of the thing that I think a lot of fans have to get used to on top of a lot of coaches is that you can flip that roster in a hurry. And I would imagine given how good they have been in the past coming into this year at evaluating transfers, at getting the right fits, finding some of those diamonds in the rust from the lower levels, I would imagine Florida State can do that again and get back into contention again next year.

But there's no doubt that the pressure is on for him to do that quickly. And the same in Baton Rouge with Brian Kelly. I wrote on Saturday night from that loss, he's consistently won the games that LSU is supposed to win. He has not won those big time games outside of maybe that Alabama game last year or in 2022. He's not won consistently in terms of those games that he's supposed to do in the SEC when you're possibly equal talent or maybe even at a little bit of a disadvantage. And those are the games that LSU is paying him to win.

And that is something that he's got to get fixed. The talent level there is not as good as it should be. I think they're certainly ahead of where a team like Florida State is, but at the end of the day, it's still the same issue. Can you get the talent in the door and coach them up well enough in order to win those big time games? And it certainly will be a pressure packed 2025 for a lot of those coaches that you mentioned.

Oh, Brian, you talk about the transfer portal pretty much changing how a lot of teams can can go about their business and move around in Indiana, a prime example. But when you look at the parity that we have in college football right now, not expecting Alabama just to go ahead and steamroll through everybody. What are the teams that you legitimately feel have the best odds of winning the national championship? Well, funny enough, I think they kind of played earlier a couple of weeks ago in terms of Oregon and Ohio State. I think those are still the two most complete teams. If you ask me, I would definitely give Oregon the edge in that department, not just because they won. But I think the offensive line injuries that Ohio State has faced has definitely hampered them. If it were not for that and if they were able to be a little bit more consistent up front, I would put Ohio State right there with the Ducks, especially given how close that game was up in Eugene.

But I still think it's kind of those two. I would put Texas in that group just in terms of the consistency. Steve Sarkeesian has been able to bring to that program in Austin. I think you're seeing a program that's capable in the trenches at winning a couple of games and winning a couple of rounds in the playoffs. They've got skill, position, talent all over the field. I think the defense is really fast and physical. They're going to need to maybe match up with a couple of these different teams in the playoffs.

So I would kind of put those three up there. You throw in Notre Dame if they can get the consistency on offense. I'm not sure Riley Leonard yet has kind of shown that ceiling that he's capable of in that offense, but they're playing awfully well these last couple of weeks. Defensively, we know they're pretty stout there under Marcus Freeman. And even a team like Alabama and Ole Miss that are kind of getting hot at the right moment. You kind of look at what they're able to do and the talent that's already there, the coaches that they have. They are certainly capable of going on a run. And that's what really makes this year, not only just because of the expanded playoffs, but because there are so many contenders. It really is going to make for a very special December in college football. Hey, I will take this than looking at two teams that I know are just going to beat the living hell out of everybody. So I prefer this, Brian.

I don't know about a further expansion, but this keeps things interesting. Absolutely. And it's going to come down to matchups. And that's what you talk with a lot of these coaches that are involved in this. They understand because parity has been taken away, it's all going to come down to can you get those matchups, especially in the fourth quarter of some of these big time games, to end up winning these football games. So it's going to make for a lot of fun and a lot of hope across a lot of these teams in college football as well. Hey, Brian, thank you again for the time. Where can people follow you and all of your work?

On social at Brian D. Fisher and of course in the pages of Sports Illustrated as well. Hey, Brian, thank you for the time. Enjoy the rest of the ride.

It's going to be a fun one. We'll catch you on down the line. All right. Sounds good.