- 15 hours ago
From Gunner Stockton taking the reins in Athens to Arch Manning's unbelievable pressure at Texas, Bill Bender joins Chris Thomas to break down who is a real national title contender and who is walking into a trap season. They analyze the Georgia Bulldogs' No. 3 ranking, Gunner Stockton's ceiling at quarterback, and whether Kirby Smart's squad has the defensive line power to capture another national title.
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00:00and now let's talk some college ball it will be here before we know it we can smell it sniff
00:06it
00:06taste it and we'll get into all of the headlines right now on the hotline with our buddy bill
00:11bender senior writer for the sporting news bill we got the uh first inaugural coaches poll coming
00:18out just a few days ago uh back here in our backyard georgia comes in at number three too
00:25high too low just right do a little uh goldilocks zone for us yeah i mean that's fine that top
00:31seven
00:32fine in any order honestly i'm a little surprised that indiana got that many first place votes and
00:39was still around six you know um ohio state oregon indiana all top five teams you know texas notre
00:47dame georgia they're in that class and and miami and and you know what i know we have teams fall
00:52out
00:52of the top 10 every year i get it it did we overrate somebody i i think all seven of
01:00those
01:00teams are good i think they're the nat that's my national championship contender list right there
01:07so if somebody else wins the national championship i'd be more surprised than if two of those teams
01:12fell out of the top 10 indiana six in your opinion more of a still not trusting fully the name
01:19brand
01:20because it's indiana or is it a quarterback thing or neither man it's kind of like a tbd to me
01:26like
01:27yeah i don't i i trust them i'm all in you know we have sporting news with indiana number one
01:33i'm not
01:33doubting him again not after last year not after they won at oregon and penn state and iowa and and
01:40burned through the playoff and they have enough pieces back from that team that they uh combined with
01:45who they're bringing in via the portal combined with kurt signetti the coach and how he you can't
01:51tell me he isn't you know feeling it a little bit you know what i mean like the way he
01:55was firing at
01:56big 10 media day so i've learned not to doubt him and i think they're going to be right back
02:00in the
02:01playoff and perhaps national title mix does the winner of miami notre dame go unbeaten
02:11um maybe i i mean miami i don't know if miami goes unbeaten even if they win that game just
02:16because i watched them lose two games last year to louisville smu and those are teams that i think
02:23can be in the acc mix for a college football playoff birth and then notre dame if they win that
02:29one
02:30they're still going to go to byu that's a tricky game they're still going to play smu i i'm very
02:36intrigued by week one against wisconsin and at lambeau field and this is supposed to be an
02:42improved wisconsin team i'm still picking notre dame to win but uh you know what does that look
02:47like before we start crowning notre dame as a potential national championship contender which
02:53i've already kind of done by the way because i do think they're going to be very good so i
02:56sound
02:56like a total hypocrite well with that being said where does uh cj carr fall in your heisman early
03:03hopefuls well i mean that's the thing any one of those seven teams at the top i like all of
03:08their
03:09quarterbacks potentially you know cj carr's right there near the front because if notre dame does
03:14go 11 and 1 or 12 and 0 and he does what he did the back half of last season
03:18and is super um
03:21accurate high passer rating doesn't make a ton of mistakes and the irish are awesome he can be the
03:27first notre dame player to win a heisman since tim brown in 1987 he can be the first notre dame
03:32quarterback to lead a national championship run since 1988 and he can be the first notre dame
03:37quarterback to be a first round pick since brady quinn i mean if he hits those three marks
03:44they'll treat him like joe montana before he gets to the league yeah i mean yeah it's crazy to think
03:51it's been they've had a bunch of guys come through but none none of them have been anywhere short
03:56anything close to that impressive what was i guess jimmy clausen i mean you have to go back to
04:03some of these guys that have come through there that that's a really interesting stat to bring up
04:08uh another interesting stat is in your backyard bill ohio state just they they're just there now
04:14like they're just as part of the wallpaper a top two three team in the country every single year
04:20they're obviously bringing back saying is there a chance we're actually sleeping on how good they
04:25are because of how good we've become them accustomed to being yeah and i think for sure i was at
04:32practice
04:32saturday and you saw the talent that they have on the offensive side of the ball their camp has run
04:38very much like an nfl preseason camp that's what it reminded me of i've done the browns and uh stealers
04:45and
04:46bangles and it was very similar you know it was especially with the fan a couple fans being around
04:52um they're loaded on offense they're going to need some guys to step up on defense you know when you
04:58lose that much nfl talent over a two-year period you're going to need some guys to step up jeremiah
05:02smith doesn't i i don't even know how to describe him chris it's like action hero on but i he
05:10reminds
05:10me of like terrell owens terrell owens was the last receiver even over julio to me where when you saw
05:16him on the field you're like how do you guard him from a physical standpoint and then he runs routes
05:22and is dominant that's what i think jeremiah smith is now which is crazy okay so then i think a
05:29natural
05:29follow-up question is is dan lanning in a playoff game going to be able to do that potentially or
05:36in a
05:36title game well i mean the pressure's on them i think because i mean if indiana weren't to we're
05:42going to nine and three and maybe monomics playoff i don't think they're going to be mad at curb
05:47signetti the rest of his career there um if ohio state went nine and three given their schedule
05:53there would be heat but i think there would be some understanding i mean they got to go to texas
05:57usc
05:58uh iowa they play at home against michigan oregon play at indiana it is the toughest ohio state
06:05schedule i've ever seen oregon we've seen them have success they've done everything but what
06:10chris win the whole thing so i think it's time for them to bust through win the whole thing they
06:16do
06:16have a ton of talent coming back especially on the defensive side they've got dante more coming back
06:21um so there i don't want to say there are no excuses left but it's kind of go time for
06:28that
06:28program in some ways is everything you just said about them also true about texas correct yeah that's
06:35especially with texas's roster i mean around arch you have the transfers that are coming in i think
06:42what we need to see out of texas is the pressure the pressure is on arch of course but i
06:48think he'll
06:48face more pressure when he gets to that next level where i heard you talking about it at the top
06:54where
06:54every quarterback is scrutinized you know and especially one with the last name manning um
07:01they have the transfers on that side of the ball uh relief brown hollywood smothers cam coleman and
07:08then on defense with rasheem biles joining colin simmons this is a unbelievable roster but the last
07:14two seasons sark is 0 and 5 against tex or ohio state and georgia so they've got to go win
07:21one of
07:21those before i can say hey they're ready to go win a national title and they play ohio state at
07:26home
07:26in week two i would they're one and a half point favorite last time i saw it so the pressure's
07:32on
07:32texas to go out and get that one talking all things college ball with one of our favorites bill bender
07:36senior writer for the sporting news make sure you check out all his great work there i know a lot
07:42of
07:42people are having fun with it because of the recent videos and photos of john mature looking like a
07:47marvel avenger out there shirtless at practice but in all seriousness oklahoma's my sleeper team to
07:53come out of this whole thing if i had to pick one one team to do it i think you
07:58know venables has
07:59learned a lot over the last couple of years and i think i think they're ready to ascend i know
08:03there's
08:03a lot of really good teams this season but would you agree with that sentiment that they're a dark
08:08horse i do i think they're not i don't know if dark horse but like the horse that's there that
08:15we're
08:15not even talking about that is in the playoff field right they're within the top 15 and most people
08:21will project them as a playoff team and they were a completely different team when john
08:25was healthy last year i also think sec teams are figuring out it's pretty hard to go to norman and
08:32win i mean they're tough out when even if you win that game it's not gonna be easy so that
08:38early
08:38season game at michigan's huge you're right venables has figured some things out um and as far as the
08:44tough goes maybe a little bit of a dark horse so because i don't think it's about making the playoff
08:49i like them to make the playoff maybe this team is ready to win a couple games in the playoff
08:55and
08:55be somebody that can make a deep run because and maybe be like those top seven teams i was talking
09:00about at the top how much pressure of the amount of pressure so like a pie chart i guess would
09:08be
09:08the best way to describe it for lane kiffin is fair given i think the tigers came in at at
09:14number nine or
09:15might have even been a little bit lower than that and i think there's this expectation that he's
09:21going to go in there and have them in a final four in year one and i don't know if
09:25that's realistic do
09:26you i don't think they're going to the final four in year one i would say that pressure in pie
09:33chart
09:33form it can go up with each year though that like by year three if you haven't got them to
09:39the final four
09:40i mean that's what old miss just did and i think he's going to constantly be compared to that final
09:47four run i also believe that uh you know they brought it on he brought it on himself with the
09:53way that he left and it seems like at sec media days at least him and golding everybody's kind of
10:00trying to move on from that and say hey everybody won but old miss fans are going to feel that
10:05way
10:05when they walk into that stadium so i think the pressure this year is probably pie chart form i'll
10:13put it a little over half but by next year it's going to be three quarters and then the following
10:18year there'll only be a little sliver left for him to to get it done you have any concern about
10:24sam
10:24levitt as he he's apparently a full go now but he did have the injury yeah i mean i'm interested
10:31i
10:31like sam levitt's game i do he's mobile team leader you know this is a guy that had arizona
10:37state a couple plays away from beating texas a couple years ago along with obviously cam scadaboo
10:42had a big piece of that in their defense and jordan tyson but he can play and i'm wondering how
10:47he makes
10:48the transition to the sec especially coming off that foot injury but it's a big unknown for me in
10:54some ways because whenever you have 40 transfers which they have for the portal king um i don't
11:01know how that translates and we're going to find out early in the season obviously they play they
11:06have a heavy hitter schedule don't they i mean clemson alabama texas um alabama and texas at home
11:14and they go to tennessee and uh old miss that's five games right there they could lose i mean they
11:21could literally lose any one of those five games uh or all of them uh so yeah i mean if
11:27lane kiffin
11:28goes seven and five and you're one what are we going to do i think we'll overreact so when i
11:35look
11:35at the rest of the landscape of the sec a couple of teams to me are wild cards we just
11:40talked about one
11:41in lsu um i always joke around about this i may have even said the line to you once or
11:47twice before
11:48bill i always say a and m is always the bridesmaid never the bride i'm not sure if they're anything
11:54different this year do you think they have a real shot i i don't i like the offense around marcel
12:00reid
12:01i will say you know how how you felt about oklahoma i kind of feel about them that i haven't
12:08talked much
12:09about texas a and m this summer i haven't talked about marcel reid or the offense or the returning power
12:13that they have a receiver you know or the defense bringing in some more transfers the offensive line
12:19is a little bit rebuilt but they'll be pretty good there and and i just like mike elko's way
12:23that he's kind of eliminated some of the nonsense there that has plugged the program over the years
12:28and that they can go make a run so they're kind of like quite sleeper to me especially if they
12:35get
12:36the max value out of marcel reid remember this is the guy that led the notre dame victory and uh
12:41wow i still go back to that south carolina comeback when he i was sold on him a little bit
12:47equal parts sold on him and how did south carolina lose that game last year speaking of which uh beamer
12:53the hottest seed in the conference he's one of them for sure but you know they're they've got some
12:58sleeper appeal with if they can protect lenora sellers that guy can play um 40 plus sacks last
13:05year they're gonna do a little bit better job there and yeah they're gonna have to win some games
13:09they're gonna turn it up a little bit they're in that unenviable spot where you talk about all
13:14the ranked teams and it's like out of that next clump is it vanderbilt will they be good will south
13:18carolina be good uh kentucky with will stein those kind of programs auburn with byron brown really
13:24interested to see how that works um and then what we get out of florida so that that's it's going
13:31to
13:31be tough for shane beamer in south carolina the other team that's getting a little bit of buzz is
13:35tennessee here they they've got a young quarterback obviously whichever one they choose um but they're
13:41still at home they're still a tough out at home i i like where they're at they've picked up some
13:46uh
13:46momentum and recruiting obviously but getting gabriel george but uh they're they're another team that has
13:51my attention speaking of a quarterback competition you think alabama's fine either way or you think one
13:57of the guys yeah i do i think you run the ball they still i mean there's certain teams that
14:03like
14:03you're like there it's like alabama michigan can think of another one as a good example those two in
14:09particular it's like they'll be fine if they can run the football they show a little bit of physicality
14:14because it's just ingrained in the identity of their program they do have a lot of talent coming back
14:18especially on the defensive side and secondary with zabian brown bray hubbard so um i like i like the
14:26roster and i think there's less pressure on killing the board within their walls than there is outside
14:32the walls just because he's the guy that followed saban so they could get set up for an early start
14:37they play florida state there early in the season that'll be a good game uh good barometer given what
14:43happened last year and i think alabama they're they're another team that we might be sleeping on just a
14:47little bit um i'll give you another one georgia if nate frazier can be more of a todd girley than
14:58what
14:58they've had over the last couple of years they'll be all right i think the more you ask gunner stockton
15:06to do on his own on a week-by-week basis the better chance the offense has to get exposed
15:12i don't i'm not
15:13saying he can't do it bill we saw him do it last year tennessee game was great there were a
15:18couple
15:18other ones down the stretch but i think if they're going to get back to really being in the national
15:24title conversation there's going to be a lot put on that running back room now they have a lot of
15:29guys
15:30that are good but i don't know if they have what was once rbu and i think that's if you
15:38combine that
15:39with gunner stockton you got to make sure you can run the ball that that's just my yeah nick yeah
15:44in
15:44their last national championship team which by the way sporting news later this week where we had a
15:49awesome panel uh some great sports writers on it that uh helped us rank the top 20 college football
15:56teams of all time and uh yeah i'm kind of a little tease that 2022 georgia team married all those
16:03things
16:04together you know elite defense quarterback play and that running game which again another georgia
16:09would fall under that what i was saying earlier defined by your running game and uh if nate
16:15frazier is that guy it will certainly help gunner stocking great in the intermediate range continues
16:20to do that doesn't make mistakes and is mobile but i think to me it's the defense the defense going
16:26to reassert itself as this juggernaut i love the talent they have in the secondary they had a couple
16:31guys on a preseason all-american team um and i think that's the dominant up front the schedule's
16:38a little friendlier than it's been the last couple years for curvy too and again of all those 17s we've
16:44talked about them probably the least as a potential national championship contender which i know better
16:49if we weren't in the 12 team playoff era we'd be talking about georgia a lot more because they're
16:54back-to-back sec champions well right and the other thing is too is that the reasons
17:00that they haven't been as dominant in the playoffs the last couple of years have been very atypical
17:06for georgia and you mentioned the defensive line it makes you realize bill just how special jalen
17:13carter and uh jordan davis were because you haven't had those guys the last couple of years the defensive
17:20line has been okay but you have not had that true ultimate alpha disruptor that helped you win
17:26back-to-back titles bill great stuff as always really appreciate it we'll check you out in the
17:30sporting news we'll chat soon hey anytime thanks for having me on take care that is bill bender there
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