Greg McElroy, SEC Network Analyst

Alrighty, rock and roll in our number two of our radio program. You can listen to Greg McElroy and Cole Kublick each and every morning on Jocks FM. They do a phenomenal radio program and they're two of the best voices covering college football that we have. Greg McElroy, of course, is the former Alabama quarterback, now an SEC Network Analyst. He was on the call last night in the Sugar Bowl between Texas and Washington and he's kind enough to join us right now. What is a very busy day for him? Greg, first and foremost, great call last night.

Appreciate you doing this. How you been? Good, Zach. Cole Kublick's actually behind the wheel right now as we're making our way back from New Orleans, discussing all things college football.

So I apologize that we're a little a little tied up, my friend, but all's good. It was a great game last night and a great day of college football. Well, how is Cole as a driver and is he a good kind of host when he's driving with you? Like, I have to imagine Cole Kublick probably is riding with some beef jerky in that car. There's probably some good snacks, right?

Well, he has threatened to pull off at many a fast food restaurant, but since we are turning over the new leaves in 24, we've been remarkably diligent outside of the combos that he ate a little earlier from the gas station. So we're in a good spot, buddy. We're in a good spot. Yeah, like three, four days from now once everyone gets past the New Year's resolution, that will change rather quickly.

As a big guy, you're not holding off the sweets and the snacks for that much longer. Greg McElroy with us already. Let's start with Alabama, Michigan. Your reaction to the final play call by Tommy Reese in Alabama? Well, I mean, first and foremost, I think it was really well defended.

So we'll start there. A lot of people are criticizing Tommy. And I don't think Michigan is getting enough credit for really holding up there in the middle of their defense. And they really did a pretty good job of it all game long.

I mean, Alabama's arguably their best offensive player is the right tackle, J.C. Latham. And he got walked back to get the defender and really got pushed right into Milro. And that's kind of what blew up the play. So I think we need to give a little more credit to Michigan for how they defended it. Also, closer attention to the fact that there was multiple timeouts called before that last play was called. So I don't know if that was their best option or if that was their best play. It might have been their second or third after they analyzed it and took a picture of what Michigan was doing. And Michigan took a picture of what they were doing. But it was just poorly executed. I didn't have a problem with the call. I think running your quarterback on fourth and goal from the three is something you see.

And it has been successful in the past. And they had some success with the quarterback run at times in the game. But it really was just really poorly executed up front. Snap was low, kind of threw off the timing.

And personally, I probably would have liked to have seen knowing that there was probably going to be man, they're probably going to be bringing a little heat. I would have liked to have seen a quick pass as opposed to trying to run up the middle against the stop front. Yeah, I didn't have a problem with the final play call. My biggest problem, and I think you're right, once the snap is low, all chaos ensued. And I did believe that Milro panicked and he made a different decision.

Sure, but I'm not going to crush him for that. I didn't like, though, how once they got the ball down to the nine and Milro picks up 15 on the ground, that they didn't run the ball with Milro on first or second down there. That was my biggest takeaway from Tommy Reese down the stretch in that game.

Yeah, I think that's a, that's a fair, that's a fair critique. And I mean, look, Michigan's best attribute is arguably stopping the run. And they hadn't had a ton of success throwing it in the game and Michigan's got a great defense. So it really, it was going to be a good cat and mouse game all game long.

And, you know, I think you're right, though. I mean, if there's going to be a moment for criticism, it was really the negative plays that got them way behind the sticks, which forced them to throw the burden on the on the 15 yard game there to give you fourth and goal from the three. So it was really the plays leading up to that moment that that made it a little bit more problematic and a lot less likely to be able to convert.

Greg McElroy here with us. We knew that we knew that Michigan could not feel the punt for Alabama. It was their center having problems all throughout the day. I'm sure you've had issues with your center before. Sometimes it could be a little bit on the quarterback. I thought this was more so on the center kind of just give me your analysis on what you saw going wrong with the center yesterday for Alabama. Well, it's been a problem all year long, Zach. I mean, the inaccurate snaps were disrupted and and it really kind of unfortunately had a negative impact on on the team really all season long. I mean, Seth McLaughlin is a good center.

He's a good kid. But the inaccuracies of the snap, it became a trend and it became something that clearly had a huge impact on on just the offensive rhythm, the timing of the mesh point and all those other things. So it was it was tricky. But it's something that, look, we know if things are going to get you, they get you once and you get it addressed.

But they continue to happen. That's when it becomes real troubling as a coach. But he was their best option. So it's like you just put an egg, put in a cold center.

Let's see how he does. That was that wasn't really an option. So it's something they got to get addressed.

Maybe they look to the portal or they figure out something with a young guy. But that can't happen next year. And it was something that we just saw way too often all throughout the season.

Talking to Greg McElroy right now. Alrighty, let's go over to Washington and Texas. I know this is probably how we shouldn't start this game because Washington was the better team. But some of the decision making at the end, it almost cost them from getting to the national championship game.

I know you were on the call for it having it marinate though a little bit shortly after the next day. What did you make of the third and goal pass call? And then also the whole injury sequence timeout where a lot of people thought they should have just knelt down the football. And then you would have prevented the injury timeout as well losing your running back? Well, we'll start with the third down.

That was where I ultimately had the biggest disagreement. And I said it on the broadcast too. I said, look, I thought Ryan Grubb had a really nice game.

The offensive coordinator for Washington. I thought he had a great plan. There was a moment there really early in the fourth quarter. I thought they got just the tiniest bit cute trying, you know, a flea flicker and just getting overly aggressive after a sudden change. Then they got a pass interference and they had first 10, they had three straight plays that I just didn't think were high percentage plays going for the jugular. But at the same time at sudden change, you got a nice lead, you're playing well, your quarterbacks hot.

I wasn't overly critical of that sequence. But the third down call prior to the field goal that gave them the nine point lead was troubling. Because at that point, Texas had two timeouts remaining. There was around two, two and a half minutes left or so in that vicinity.

They decided to throw it. Pennix is incomplete that allows Texas to save that timeout. So they now have two at their disposal with about two minutes left. That could have extinguished at least one timeout or 40 seconds.

I mean, one timeouts worth 40 seconds or so. So that was big. And the one that I disagreed with and said so on the broadcast. And then you think about the sequence at the very end, the final possession for Washington. It was really more circumstantial. I mean, I mean, and Cole and I talked about this as we were driving back, kneeling on the ball.

I don't agree with that. I would say to my running back, don't fight for extra yards, because I think back to what happened earlier this year, Georgia Tech and Miami. Yeah, running back is fighting for extra yards. And as they're fighting for extra yards, sometimes that ball can get dislodged. So I said on the broadcast said, Well, if you go down, don't fight for extra yards. No matter what you punt this thing, the likelihood of you winning the win probability, if you will, is 99.9%. If you can punt it to Texas, inside their own 15 with 10 seconds left in the game or so. So I was okay with him running the football and three consecutive plays. But it was really unlucky that Dylan Johnson got hurt that forced Washington to call a timeout, which preserved 35 seconds of play clock, it would have been at 15 when they snapped it on the fourth down punt.

Instead, it was at 52. So it was it was really unlucky for Washington led to some late game heroics and some drama that that really felt unnecessary. But But either way, the team that was better last night one had it been the Longhorns that prevailed, the conversation today would be pretty gut wrenching and, you know, in favor of Washington.

Yeah, no doubt about it. I didn't think anything was going to be able to top Michigan and Alabama in terms of the coverage the next day. But if you had Washington choking that game, I think that would have been the lead story across almost every show around the country wrapping up with Greg McElroy. It's weird in college football because we watch Michael Pennix Jr. all of this season, and then all of last season. And I feel like today is the day nationally where people start to say, Wow, this kid's great. Wow, this kid is going to be a first round pick in the NFL. How far are you willing to go though with the Michael Pennix Jr. praise? Like, could he jump a Caleb Williams?

Could he jump a Drake May in this upcoming draft? Well, it's so funny. It's like, welcome to the party. I'm glad everybody's here. You know, this is terrific. Like, hey, better late than never. You came around.

It's all good. I mean, look, let's not, let's not get into crazy comparisons here, but he's the only quarterback that's thrown for 4,500 yards in consecutive seasons since Patrick Mahomes. I mean, and look, is he Patrick Mahomes?

You know, let's not get carried away. But you want pure pocket passer that is executing NFL level throws into windows that are NFL like with timing that is comparable to that of an NFL player. I think his injury history will probably not allow him to get into the vicinity of a Drake May or a Caleb Williams. But if you want to go just sheerly on arm talent, on arm talent alone, he has, he's the most talented passer in the country. And he's the most talented passer in the quarterback class coming up.

It's just it's just enough for him to really get into a point where he could potentially, you know, enter that conversation. Probably not. But I still believe that if I had to have a rookie playing in the NFL right now and I need to win and I'm a coach that needs to win to preserve my job, the quarterback I want under center in year number one is Michael Penix. Now, will he ultimately be the best guy 10 years from now? I don't know about that, but he's going to think he's I think he's going to have the easiest transition from college to pro. He's already playing in an NFL style system and he's already executing at a high level NFL caliber throws.