/
In this episode, hosted by Nick Rosetti, with panelists Chris Caravello, Justin Riley and Ty Turner preview the College Football Playoff National Championship Game between Alabama and Notre Dame.
Contributors
Nick Rosetti – @The_Rossetti
Chris Caravello – @nolecore
Justin Riley – @JustinRiley7
Tyler Turner – @TurnerCast
Transcript
Unknown Speaker 0:03
This is a sportscaster special college football Big Show.
Unknown Speaker 0:08
And now,
Unknown Speaker 0:09
this is Nick Rosen.
Nick Rossetti 0:15
Welcome in to the college football Big Show. My name is Nick. I’m going to be your host today presented by the sports cast. Today’s date is January 10 2021. calling in from Austin, Texas a warm 34 degrees here today. It’s actually snowing right now. So if you can believe that it’s pretty crazy here. If you have not yet please subscribe on all your channels all our channels YouTube, Periscope and Apple podcasts. If you’re on Apple podcasts, please leave us a rating and a review it helps us out tremendously. And also visit us on the sports cast dotnet. Also follow us on Twitter at the sports cast one and check out our app the sports cast in the iOS App Store. Joined by an awesome awesome cast here today. Starting with our guy Chris. Chris is a writer for the West Coast College football and co host of the Southern Gentleman sports show on the ticket 8:50am in Pensacola, Florida. Ty Turner, host of the Tyler Turner show here on the sports cast every Monday at 10pm Eastern and Justin Riley, co hosts of the Riley and constant show on the sports cast that you can catch here every Tuesday at 7pm. Eastern gentlemen we are here to discuss the college football playoff national championship. We’re going to do some debating we’re going to analyze the two teams obviously the Alabama Crimson Tide will be taking on the Ohio State Buckeyes at the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens. kickoff is set for tomorrow at 8pm. Eastern. And we also have Chris Fowler and Kirk herb street on the game cast with obviously Maria Taylor for ESPN. Working the sidelines. A couple of quick stats before we jump into anything here guys. Bama currently sits as an eight and a half point favorite on the Vegas line. I have seen the line shift just a little bit, you know going as low as maybe seven and a half I think going back up to eight and a half so fluctuated between a point point and a half there. From bamas perspective. This is their eighth appearance in the national title game since Nick Saban’s arrival in 2007. So that would be eight national title appearances in the last 14 years. Obviously Nick Saban is going for his or seeking I should say his seventh national title in his career six with the Alabama Crimson Tide, which would pass legendary coach Paul Bear Bryant, both with the school record of most national championships as a college football head coach at the University of Alabama, and as college football as a whole. which is which is pretty crazy just to think about Bama seeking its third title in the last seven years, and its 18th national title overall in the program’s history, currently sitting at 63 in the playoff, they’re looking at their next playoff appearance here against the Ohio State Buckeyes. OSU is first title appearance since the 2014. National Championship head coached by Urban Meyer. I was just thinking about this the other day or earlier when I was doing some research on this conversation that I can’t believe cardale Jones was the quarterback for that team. It’s crazy to think about that. But obviously stars like Ezekiel Elliott as well. It’s their first appearance under new head coach Ryan day. And OSU currently stands as two and two in the college football playoff appearances, and is seeking its ninth national title in program history. Guys, I want to before we get into any debates, I want to take a step back for a second. And think about how we got here. And that we actually have made it to the end of the college football season. You know, thinking back to let’s say six months ago, July, you know, we were dealing with conferences, canceling canceling their entire schedules, you know, players opting out, obviously, this has been a crazy year with with COVID and all of these different external circumstances. So I just wanted to acknowledge the fact that we got here and all the credit to all the commissioners in the college football. You know, getting through the seasons. Now I know there’s a lot of debate about you know, the big 10 and Ohio State schedule and all that stuff. But I really think that every conference every you know, personnel, staffing, medical departments of any programs, I’ve really, really done a great job to give us you know, this final national championship game so just wanted to give them a quick shout out before we before we jump into any analysis of the game there but now that we kind of got that out of the way I want to talk about first keys to success and I want to start with with Ty here, starting with OSU Give me your perspective on what are the keys to success for Ohio State in this game.
Tyler Turner 5:01
First off what I think is number one, I hope that Justin fields is healthy. I’m obviously a healthy Justin fields is kind of, I think, really the key to this shift for Ohio State. Obviously he seemed to get banged up a little bit in the last game when he took that hard hit from the Clemson linebacker. He seemed to play fine. I forgot his shots in last week in the last game, so hopefully he’s gonna be healthy. That’s number one. Number two, I think when it comes to offensively, to be able to get explosive plays down the field like they did against Clemson. Get the balls to guys like Chris Alavi hit the ball to Jamison Williams, Garrett Wilson, Jackson Smith, a duck bow. They have big time one of the best wide receiver groups in the country. So being able to get the ball down the field and make explosive plays. And then defensively I really do think the biggest key to stopping or they’re not gonna stop Alabama, Alabama is one of the best offenses that has ever been in college football. But what they can do is slow them down. And I think the key to that is getting after the quarterback. You saw last game against Clemson they really did a great job getting after Trevor Lawrence and that really was their ability to get off the edge. Get the pressure through the middle. And I think guys like Tommy tall guy already might be up to two COVID but he’s had a big game Haskell Garrett tyreke Smith forgot the guy’s first name but Cooper Zack Harrison they have guys are elite prospects coming out of high school have elite level talent probably will be in the NFL so they have the ability, probably more so than anyone else that Alabama has played recently. The mid matchup may be enough on the offense on the defensive side of the wall when it comes to the front seven and their ability to pressure back Jones get him off his platform. Make him uncomfortable, make him have some errant throws, and I think that’ll be the key to what Ohio State can do defensively to slow down Alabama just a little bit and then like I said offensively a healthy Justin fields make it explosive plays down the field to the elite wide receiver group videos available to him
Nick Rossetti 7:13
Yeah, all great points and something that you brought up in the in the beginning of your analysis is that I think everybody here agrees that this is going to be a shootout This is going to be a back and forth kind of game like that in terms of trading offensive points but to create Chris to go into you now you know what are some things that you think Ohio State can do to limit bamas offense not as Ty said, You know, I don’t think there’s going to be an opportunity there to stop them completely. But But what are some things that are highest they do come from the defensive side of the ball to limit Alabama success.
Christopher Caravello 7:48
Wow. You know, I know that we’re slaves to the moment sometimes and looking at about last year everyone said LSU offense might have been the best ever here we are a year later and you’re saying the same thing about Alabama and I have to agree this is the greatest collection of sure athletes on offense that I think we’ve seen in a really long time and I say that as someone who’s watched early 2000 Miami Hurricanes several times and other teams like that so just just stop them I mean looking at how teams approached Alabama throughout their all sec season look at what Arkansas did just drop a try to rush three Yeah, you limit Mac to you know season low passing total. But I mean, they got the guys in the way that Sarkeesian moved Harris around like in the sec title game. I just think that that leaves you open to so much more ways that Alabama can attack you. So it’s going to be hard. I think I agree with you. It’s going to be a shootout and one thing that that we haven’t brought up yet is the fact that Sarkeesian has taken that Texas job and anytime an offensive coordinator takes a job like that before a game like this. I think back to mark Rick leaving Florida State or accepting the Oklahoma or Georgia job before that national championship against Oklahoma. You don’t know how many distractions had been in sark’s week you know disrupting his daily routine you know that could come into play you just don’t know I was at the 2016 Peach Bowl when when kiff was out the way out the out the door and you saw how dysfunctional Alabama Alabama looked on offense in that game. So I think there’s a couple other factors to go along with all the other COVID procedures that make this a little different national championship down into the season but Ohio State’s definitely got their hands full trying to slow these guys down.
Nick Rossetti 9:37
Yeah, great, great point. They’re crazy. You know, my only and you’re exactly right with with Kiffin and great point they’re bringing up mark, Rick. You know, the only other flip side to that is the 2015 National Championship game against Clemson. I know that Kirby smart had accepted the UGA job in between the playoff game and that first kind of real big stage game against Clemson. And, and I know Baylor gave up 40 points in that game. But but still got the win there. So hopefully, from at least bamas perspective not too much clout there from from Sarkeesian in terms of being able to focus on his needs to get done right now. And, and I think it really said a lot about, you know, not just leaving and when he accepted the Texas job roughly a week ago, you know, saying that he was gonna stay on that he was gonna, you know, finish the job here at UVA. So I thought that was something that hopefully will play too too much into into this game. Justin, I wanted to ask you specifically about Bama, Alabama’s offense here. You know, in my opinion, Ohio State’s defense, yes, recency bias, the game against Clemson was was tremendous, right? That they they played unbelievable that front seven was was giving Trevor Lawrence fits all night long. You know, they’re there, Shawn Wade, really, I thought had his best game of the season. But before that, and in the small sample size of the six regular season games, Ohio State’s defense was not what it typically was. Specifically, from the secondary standpoint, I’m thinking about the Indiana game, I’m thinking about the game against Northwestern where they were really challenged with the deep ball. And that was something that they really struggled with, in my opinion. So tell me a little bit about how Bama is going to try to attack that. And and if you think you know, this is something that Mac and company is is going to struggle with.
Justin Riley 11:31
I don’t feel like they’re going to they’re going to struggle with it. Because you know, no one really with exception of Arkansas has really stopped Well, I don’t use the word stop because no one’s stopped them but limit them Arkansas was able to take away the deep throw. But then that left the the the small check downs and small routes open. And a Mac was able to be effective that way. I feel like Ohio State witness on that defense is the secondary Well, I really am looking at is the battle up front. This is probably one of the better defensive lines that our offensive line will go against. And I’m curious to see how we’re going to respond without Landon Dickerson in this game, a little different situation going up against Ohio State’s defensive line than Notre Dame’s we were able to do pretty well establishing run past block in this past game. But I’m really interested to see if there’s gonna be any kind of drop off going against a better defensive front. Alabama’s just gotta continue to play its game and don’t try to go outside of that. Don’t try to reinvent the wheel. Don’t get caught up in trying to get Jalen Watteau out there and try to force him into something or trying to build your offense around that. Do what got you here, thus far, don’t deviate. And just let the game come to you know, the thing with a situation like this as good as their defense. State state is, is I think Matt Jones just needs to let the game come to him. I know there’s been several situations where he can get frustrated, he’ll just start slinging balls, places where he probably shouldn’t sling him just because he wants that big play. He wants that big moment. He just needs to let things calm down and let it come to him. Honestly, I see Ohio State having a tough time trying to account for our 300 monster Mac devonte and Dynegy. And then now we got Billingsley, he could be a possible fourth option. So I’m just kind of curious to see the battles up front in this game. Ohio State’s offensive line. They actually have given up 20 sacks in the past seven games so there’s there’s that this is a great opportunity for Christian Bazemore to live up to his billing and to eat as well as we’ll Anderson we need to get pressure up front. We don’t need to allow Justin fields to get easy plays and we need to have some is going to spawn and hold him accountable the entire game but I really want to see pressure up front more defensive line this game. Yeah,
Nick Rossetti 13:58
Justin all great points there. You know a couple of things that I wanted to highlight as well as is like you mentioned Alabama’s offensive line Chris Owens coming in to fill that spot for Landon Dickerson. Like you said, I think he did struggle a bit against Notre Dame’s front seven, and it’s only going to get tougher here with Ohio State. And in my opinion, this game is really going to come down to as you just said, winning the battle in the trenches. offensive line versus defensive line and, and obviously, you know, bamas offensive line winning the Joe Joe Moore award, I believe, for the best offensive lineman in the country, but they’re really going to be tested on Monday night. And so that’s going to be an interesting dynamic there. From that perspective, you talked about some of the weapons from bamas Bama side of things as well, you know, one being Billingsley that I think is a really interesting matchup from but I did want to mention, actually Ohio State’s tight end, Jeremy record a fun stat about him is he actually only has 12 catches on the season and five of them are four touchdowns. He had to against the game in Clemson against Clemson last week. So I’m going to really interesting to see how Ohio State uses a threat like that. Because obviously we know about the wide receiver talent with Chris Alavi and, and Garrett Wilson on the other side as well. So well Chris, I wanted you to talk to me a little bit about that that secondary play from Bama particularly with guys like Josh job guys, like obviously Patrick, sir tan. Justin, I don’t know if you saw the report today earlier, but Malik it is definitely questionable for this game. So Chris, I’m interested to see you know, bamas secondary as also been questionable throughout this year, what are some things that they can do to limit the success of Ohio State’s talented wide receiver?
Christopher Caravello 15:46
Wow, that’s gonna be hard, especially if they’ve got guys that are, you know, not up to full speed but a certeyn has been awesome. That’s been been the known commodity in that secondary. So you know, you mentioned what Ohio State you know, kind of kept Rucker hidden throughout their their season and then all of a sudden, he’s catching touchdowns against Clemson that’s kind of what I’d be worried about these wrinkles that Ohio State’s gonna throw at the secondary. And with the amount of weapons, they have a wide receiver and now they’re utilizing the tide and that’s really what I would, I’d be concerned about if I’m up on my Alabama, you know, defensive coordinator looking at Ohio State coming out with those kind of wrinkles that they haven’t shown up until recently. Obviously sirmans just caught fire the last two games so you know, if he gets it, he’s broken a lot of tackles too. So if he gets into that secondary, you know, while these other other wide receivers are taking the DBS further down the field, got to come back up and make those tackles or else sermon could be scorch and down the field.
Nick Rossetti 16:50
Yeah, absolutely. And Ty, I would love to hear your your talking points about sermon about his success. You know, I saw an interesting article the other day that was comparing sermons kind of run here in the last three games to what Zeke Elliott did actually back in the 2014 playoff, where he had an outstanding big 10 national or big 10 championship game had an outstanding playoff game, obviously against Alabama, and then in the title game against Oregon. Talk to me a little bit about Trey sermon, you know, he transferred from Oklahoma, what took him so long to kind of get running or not a coincidence there but and get him up to speed and why is he such a weapon now for for this Ohio State offense?
Tyler Turner 17:32
Oh, well, I’m definitely when it came to Ohio State and this can maybe even answer a little bit the question about their defense. And in regards to how tre sermons and how the offensive line played for the first couple of games, it was just a tough year in the big 10 and Pac 12. Because of how they postponed the season. They then basically had a month of protests to try to get back on the field. And then they finally were able to and then not only win win after they got on the field that they start having COVID cancellations that just has a lot with timing, timing from all aspects of your defense, your offense, receivers running backs offensive line. So I think part of the problem specifically to answer your question, I just think that there was just some timing going on as far as the unit blocking up front for Ohio State, which was not enabling quite as much allowance is big enough holes for sermon to run through a sermon is pretty much a guy that’s kind of a slasher runner, he hits the hole hits and a full speed and gets there if the holes not there, he’s not got a guy that’s gonna bounce and not knock a bunch of like, he’s a guy that if there if there’s a hole there, he’s gonna hit it at full speed, he’s gonna get downhill that is his running style. So it makes sense to the offensive line is not in complete synchronization that he probably would struggle a little more now that the offensive line which has a lot of big time talent, guys like Wyatt Davis and Dave Meyers are going to be first round picks. And then they have a bunch of other younger guys that were four or five stars top 100 guys coming out of high school on they’re starting to play really well. They’re starting to open there’s playing to that talent level, and they’re knocking people off the ball, they’re opening holes and sermon hits it sermon he gets he gets to the hole quickly doesn’t dance around. He doesn’t go east and west. He hits north and south and that’s why he’s been successful. He’s hitting the holes. The holes have been pretty big and that’s making them successful. He also is a solid pass catcher out of the backfield. He’s pretty good hands and once again he gets he gets north and south and and when I mentioned north and south what makes it some runners like to kind of see what’s there and if necessarily, there’ll be better if there’s not a hole because they will bounce the bounce outside the bounce the next hole. Oh guy that’s a real north and south kind of guy is he’s just gonna hit it. If it’s not there, more than likely he won’t get as quite as much because he’s just gonna hit it. Um, I played back In high school and I was north south guy, I just hit it, break the hole, you’re gonna hit hit full speed, you’re gonna get 10 1520 yards pretty quickly, if there’s not a hole there probably won’t get a lot. So it is really, with trade sermons running style, it really was necessary for the offensive line to be playing at a little more elite level than they were early in the season. They now are playing very well, they were knocking Clemson off the ball the entire game to put some talented guys in that Clemson D line but they’re young. And you could see that more experienced more veteran offensive line at Ohio State just knocking them back back in the back. I don’t think Alabama’s defensive lines gonna be a little better. And as long as the linebackers for Alabama play at more of an elite level, I think it’ll be a little more difficult for them to just keep on knocking the D line back opening those holes. And I don’t think that tre sermons is the type of running back that’s going to create something out of nothing. So if Alabama is really able to stop, step on it up front and plug the gaps with the front I do they run a three four, yes, Alabama. Okay. So there will plug the backs in three, four, and the linebackers are able to fill I do think that there will be some issues with Trey sermon having those kinds of yards. If Ohio State does run effectively, if they are able to knock the defensive line off the ball, they’re able if the linebackers are not playing well, yeah, is going to be a very long day for Alabama. Because at that point, the field is going to be able to take shots down the field because you’re going to have to bring some of the guys in the back end up to be able to stop the run. And then that will be a very good day for the Ohio State offense. It is a necessity it is necessary for over Alabama’s defense to be successful to be able to be stopped starch upfront and dilys be able to neutralize the effectiveness of the offensive line because his offensive lines effective Trey sermon will be effective. And if tre sermons effective the passing game more than likely to be attractive. And then the Ohio State offense will have a very good day.
Nick Rossetti 22:03
Yeah, I could not agree more with that that last statement that you just made there. I think Ohio State’s number one key to winning this game is establishing the run because that opens up the entirety of the rest of their offense, just as you said Bama would have to load the box and then you leave one on one on the outside with those talented receivers and that gives Justin fields a chance as well to break contain and really hurt you with his legs now who knows how healthy he’s going to be one thing that I thought was interesting in the Clemson game particularly right after the injury was anytime he broke contain he may be scramble for like two or three yards and then just give himself up and trying to avoid any type of necessary pits. So you know not sure how much those ribs have healed in a week’s time. So I really think that those are kind of the two keys to this game from Ohio State’s perspective is number one establishing the run with Trey sermon and number two letting Justin fields extend plays with his legs and gain chunk yardage and first downs on the flip side of that BAM his defense has got to be keep them in in third and Long’s you know, keep that defense or that offensive line guessing in terms of where your the pressure is coming from and keeping Justin fields in the pocket. That’s That’s what I think. Pete Golding in the defense’s goal is going to be Chris one thing I wanted to talk to you about is on the flip side, a guy like nausia Harris, what is Ohio State’s game plan and trying to stop an elite runner like like nah Jay, you know, we saw what happened in the in the Notre Dame game. I still feel bad for the guy that he hurdled. That was one of the craziest things I’ve ever seen. But I want to know like you know, is their game plan going to be let’s shut down nazy first and then worry about the receiver talent or let’s you know just play drop eight like you mentioned earlier and and let maybe not a run wild
Christopher Caravello 23:57
I just think if they go the Arkansas route you know, and try to drop eight that BAM is just gonna drive down the field and it will be death by 1000 paper cuts I don’t think that you know load enough to stop nasze is a good idea when you got a Heisman winner on the outside and you know some pretty other damn good weapons including Alabama’s utilization of the tide and they do a great job with that as well. But um, as far as not j i just think he’s like you mentioned the hurdle. He’s an elite athlete and Ohio State’s going to key on him big time and that’s just gonna open it up for other playmakers on the outside the amount of yards after contacted devonta Smith piled up this years. You know, I think that that’s going to be the key to Alabama success. You know, if they go the the Arkansas route, like I said, Alabama will simply just suck the life out of them picking up five yards a pop five yards a pop, punching it in when they get down there, and it’s going to be tough task of trying to get off the field against them if they go that route.
Nick Rossetti 25:04
Yeah, great point. And you mentioned we you know, we’ve talked about a lot of players here so far. Sticking with you, Chris. We’ve talked about guys like nausea. We’ve talked about devonta Smith and Trey sermon crystal Ave Justin fields, give me your you know, player to keep an eye on that maybe not everyone is thinking is gonna is you know, a big name on on either side of the ball or either team, you know, who’s the guy that is really going to come into the fold in this game and make an impact that maybe people don’t suspect.
Christopher Caravello 25:34
And for all of them, it would just be wattles health. I mean, if he comes back and has any sort of impact on this game, it could be the tipping of the scales and Alabama’s favorite of went out right. So, you know, if I had to pick a player that certainly has been off the radar for a couple months now, that’d be he’s the X Factor. I haven’t heard if he’s definitely playing or not. I know we practice this week. But if he does, watch out because I can be a game changer for the Crimson Tide.
Nick Rossetti 26:01
Absolutely. And Justin, I want to I want to go to you from that point. And we’ve talked about Jalen wattles health. Now I want to put yourself in Nick Saban shoes. Let’s say Jalen Waddell comes to you after pregame and says, coach, I’m at 85%. And I want to give it a go. Would you allow Would you let that happen? Is this purely in Jalen wattles? You know, hands in terms of if he plays and if he does play? Will, you know, what is his impact going to be? You know, do you think he’s going to be used more as a decoy? Or is he actually going to, you know, have significant amount of just total plays in the offense?
Justin Riley 26:40
Well, I think if Nick Saban is approached by Jaylen waddle at 85%, I think you got to give him a shot. I mean, the guy is a game changer. He’s probably one of the most electric players in college football today. And it’s a shame he got hurt, because there’s no telling what he could have done. But yeah, if 80 85% Jalen Wilde comes to you, that’s still a lot better than majority of the wide receivers in college football today. And he still has a great opportunity to affect the game. If anything he can, he’s gonna draw more attention and more coverage, it’s gonna leave guys open, like devonta it’s gonna leave guys open, like john matchy, and then Billingsley so and then of course, nausia out of the backfield on a wheel route. So, if anything is gonna, he’s gonna be able to be accounted for. But yeah, someone that special has got to get on the field. But if Satan has any kind of doubts in his mind, that he’s not quite ready to go, and has an opportunity to re injure himself, say, sit down, you know, his future is far more valuable than this one game, you know, we didn’t get here off of one player we got here also ever serve several players, mainly devonte. But still, but yeah, I think you gotta let him play, if he can go. And let it be a situation where you kind of work him in there gradually. Don’t just try to, you know, put him into the game constantly and try to draw plays to go to him immediately. Just see what he can do fill them out. And if he can turn out to be a major factor, man, let it loose.
Nick Rossetti 28:15
Yeah, great, great point there. And and, you know, something that you mentioned in terms of once Jalen really went down, you know, devontae really started to hit his stride, it’d be interesting, you know, hindsight, 2020 to see if, if Jalen was healthy the entire season, you know, would devonta have won the Heisman, I always wonder how that would have played out just because of the amount of targets that he got not to, you know, say anything about their talent levels, but they’re just, you know, so incredibly good that it would have been amazing to kind of see how that all played out. Moving into kind of the final segment here, starting with you, Ty, I would love to hear your predictions for this game. You know, based on all the aspects that we’ve talked about so far. What do you think are the likelihoods of how this game goes? And if you have it, would love to hear your final score prediction?
Tyler Turner 29:05
Well, being a Bama fan, this is hard to pick against me. Oh,
I’m really excited. First and foremost, I’m just really excited for this game. This is actually a lot of people are talking about talking about Clemson versus Alabama. It’s kind of what you heard, especially the mainstream media, it seemed to be a foregone conclusion, it’s going to be Clemson versus Alabama. I always wanted Ohio State versus Alabama, because I just I just wanted to see traversable something different. And I also thought that Ohio State has a better people currently than then Clemson Well, they prove that in the game by pretty easily beating Ohio State. Sorry, Clemson. So, um, my prediction and you know, it’s it’s so difficult. You have the best plan prediction. You’re like, this is how it’s gonna go and then there’s so many different things that can happen in a football game that affect the eventual outcome, I could just be the best skater that I can be. Um, I, what I’m interested in most and seen is how much Ohio State’s defense can slow down Alabama’s offense how much the like I said before the past rush can get to Mack Jones, can they force Mack Jones into some mistakes? That’s number one. Number two, um, can Ohio State run like they were able to run the last game on Clemson? Are they able to run even remotely as effectively against the Alabama front seven. My prediction is, I predicted Ohio State to win the national title, I predicted it before the season, and I predicted it once the playoffs got going. So I guess I’m probably not going to change right now. Um, sorry, somewhere here. But I am going to stick to it. I believe that Ohio State will win the game, I think how they’re able to win the game, is by being able to run better than most teams can run in Alabama, being able to hit the big shots down the field and some explosive plays. I’m going to go on a limb and say that Justin fields healthy Justin fields is not healthy. I don’t think that Ohio State wins because his element he brings to the game of being able to run and be able to be a threat in that in that aspect of the game. I just it without that threat is going to be a lot like what happened to Ohio State vs. clemson last season, they’re unable to pull off the victory there. Because feel just hurt. And if they can’t run on Alabama, just think it’s going to negatively affect the Ohio State offense, and they won’t be able to score enough to keep up with Alabama. But as long as he’s healthy, I’m gonna say his mistakes gonna take the necessary amount of shots to get himself going for that game. And I think he’s able to run I think they’re able to make take some shots on the field, make some plays, I think they’re able to run more effectively than most teams. And I also think that defensive line is able to get enough pressure that J. Mack Jones is a couple Aaron throws maybe makes a couple mistakes that he normally wouldn’t make. And I would go in the 40 to 35 range for a victory. Oh, God. Yeah, that’s my guess. So I’m gonna go to Ohio State for 235 victory.
Nick Rossetti 32:26
Love it. Chris. Do you What? What are some of your predictions here? And if you have a final score, let’s hear.
Christopher Caravello 32:34
All right. Yeah, I think that it’s going to take a Herculean effort from Justin fields. And, you know, you look back at elite athletes that have played out of their mind in the national championship game, the Shaun Watson driving Clemson down the field for the win Vince Young to the corner of the Rose Bowl, endzone against SC that’s going to take out a field. And we got that last time against Clemson. You know, that was as soon as he got up after getting his rib cage blasted in and throw a touchdown passes, like there’s no way that Ohio State’s losing this game. Unfortunately, he’s gonna have to repeat that same exact effort if they want to beat Alabama. You know, this is just that kind of a stage and against that kind of a team. I’m interested to see how Ohio State’s offense decides to operate, they run off the play with a couple seconds left on the clock and keep bamas on offense or defense guessing like they did against Clemson or do they try to mimic what Ole Miss did against Bama and just go with tempo and just try to keep them off balance. I think that you know fields is healthy and they’re operating on on all clicking on all cylinders that they can do something like that and that’s what’s gonna take I’m still going to go to Alabama to get this victory. I just think it’s foolish to pick against them at this point. But you know, no matter what, I think we’re getting an awesome national championship game, one of the more anticipated ones in recent memory and probably the last team possessing the ball is gonna gonna come out with a victory that’s what I’m looking for. So I’m gonna go 4842 Alabama.
Nick Rossetti 33:59
Wow, okay, great. So we’ve got two guys now that at least have an Ohio State covering the spread which I think is is definitely interesting there. Also something that you both mentioned is Justin fields health I think that’s going to be tremendous. Justin, you’re up man. Let’s Let’s hear your kind of predictions and how you think the game is gonna go
Justin Riley 34:21
first of all, I think it’s gonna be a shootout. There is no way conceivable that it’s not I don’t see Pete golden all of a sudden having an epiphany and correct and all the troubles he’s had the past two years. I know Tyrone prostar was on my show last week, and he predicted us to win 35 to nothing. As much as I’d love to see that that’s not going to happen here. The biggest thing is for each team is don’t give the other team anything, limit your mistakes. And play within your game. I one thing I would love to see, as you mentioned earlier about difference makers. This is a game where I really want to see Dylan Moses. Step up, he hasn’t been playing, you know, up to Dylan Moses standard the entire year. This is a game where as a senior, as a leader as a big name, where he’s really got to step up, he’s the guy who’s the quarterback of that defense, and really can determine how that flow goes. But I just I just see it going back and forth. Lots of points. And I think the team with the ball at the end is going to be the winner. Man, it’s just really tough for me, but I feel like Alabama is going to win 51 to 48. I don’t think they cover. But so. But yeah, that’s how I see it playing out. I think we’re gonna have a battle of the ages. And if it’s any different, I will be shocked.
Nick Rossetti 35:44
Yeah, so any of our listeners out there, as you can tell by our extra panelists, go put money on Ohio State to cover this game if you have anything left, but that’s over. Yeah, but the over but, you know, to give my my kind of prediction here, I really think it’s gonna come down to the secondary for both these teams. You know, as I was evaluating both these teams, they kind of remind me a lot of each other in a weird way in terms of what they’re really good at and what they lack or what they’ve been not so successful with this season. I think it’s going to come down to the secondary for both teams. Who can get that one key stop when it’s needed. You know, that was really what what, what Bama got against Ole Miss to win that game. What Bama got against Florida to win that game. But overall, both secondaries you know have struggled this year. I’m I’m interested to see how you know, the cornerback play his guys would like Josh Joe Patrick Sartain against events, both receivers and how demonte does and Jalen and all that stuff. But in my mind, how I kind of think things are going to go is I I just don’t believe that Justin fields is going to be 100% I don’t think he’s going to be a factor in the run game. I think that’s going to lead towards bamas front seven, you know, dominating more towards the middle of the second half and beyond. I think Bama pulls away late, maybe gets a score to go up 1013 or something like that. And Ohio State just just can’t take anything else on the board. So I’m going to go Bama to win and I’m going to go 4224 the final So, guys, it’s been great. You know starting with you Chris where can where can people keep up with you on on social media and and kind of continue the conversation as we head into tomorrow night?
Christopher Caravello 37:40
Sure. Like you mentioned I’m a writer for West Coast College Football. So I got a bunch of articles up on their Twitter at no core. No l EC o r e and Southern Gentleman. sports.com.
Nick Rossetti 37:52
Awesome. Justin, where can people find you?
Justin Riley 37:55
Well, you can find me on Tuesday nights at the rollin concert shows 6pm Central 7pm Eastern. If you’re an Alabama fan, this is for you. If you’re a fan of nonsense with a little bit of sports mixed in, we’re definitely worth checking out. I’m on Twitter at Justin Riley seven on Instagram at Justin Riley underscore seven. So at those avenues definitely reach out to me. Be sure to tune in for this Tuesday as we have our recap of the national title show. We’ll have some some guests who will be named later. And from what I understand is going to be some pretty big guests if you’re an Alabama fan, definitely want to tune into this. But yeah, looking forward to the game and looking forward to what happens after.
Nick Rossetti 38:38
And lastly, but not least Ty, where can where can people find you on on social media and kind of continue to conversation with you beyond your outlandish pick to take Ohio State and tomorrow.
Tyler Turner 38:51
You’ll see my my outlandish trick will be right now. You can check me out at at the Turner cast. Like he said I have a show. The Turner show it’s on Monday nights 10 o’clock eastern on nine o’clock central obviously. I go over the PAC 12 and the big 10. And you can check me out there and I’m willing to bicker all day on Twitter if you want to.
Nick Rossetti 39:15
So just awesome. Well, thank you guys so much for joining us, and really excited for tomorrow night’s game. Obviously if you want to continue the conversation with the sports cast crew, you can follow us on Twitter at the sports cast one and visit us on our website, the sports cast dotnet but make sure to check out our show schedules that tie in and Justin talked about over the next week or so. A lot of great content coming after this national title game and obviously head over to everything that Chris mentioned as well too, to check out his contributions. So again, this is Nick signing out and hope everyone has a great one and enjoys national championship tomorrow. See you guys
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
