LIVE from the Rose Bowl: Michigan-Alabama & Texas-Washington previews 🏆

Welcome to Countdown to the College Football Playoff Semifinals presented by At&T, We are live at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, CA and Sugar Bowl in New Orleans, LA! Our hosts are here to get you ready for today’s matchup’s between No. 4 Alabama-No. 1 Michigan, and No. 2 Washington-No.3 Texas. First, our hosts look at the upcoming coaching matchup between Nick Saban and Jim Harbaugh. Then, we look at the Washington Huskies and how they stack against Texas! Vince Young joins the show to give his thoughts on what Texas can do to win. Holly Rowe joins the show to give her breakdown on Michigan! Laura Rutledge joins the show to give her thoughts on Jalen Milore and Alabama! Finally, our host give share their final thoughts and give their picks on which teams are moving on in the College Football Playoffs!

(0:00) Show Open
(2:30) Welcome to CFP Semifinals
(3:45) How did each of the CFP teams prepare?
(11:12) How much pressure is on Michigan?
(17:06) Vince Young breaks down Texas!
(24:26) How does Alabama stack up against Michigan?
(31:06) What’s Washington’s game plan for Texas?
(39:37) Who wins? Alabama or Michigan?
(42:24) Who wins? Texas or Washington?
(45:04) Does Michigan deserve it’s flowers or thorns?
(50:02) CFP Media Day mini games!
(52:32) What needs to happen for each team to win! + Hosts give their picks!
(1:01:57) Show Close

#espn #CFB ##collegefootball #cfp

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I don’t need a whole lot money I don’t need a big car I got everything man I got more I ask my baby’s all right my baby clean the magic on the mountain this is it we’re here yall know [Applause] what Baby [Applause] baby mistakes could be high welcome to countdown to the college football playoff semi-final presented by AT&T the granddaddy of them all we call it the Rose Bowl with some Thorns though this year Alabama got the call instead of an unbeaten Florida State team with this Michigan’s head coach Jim Harbo

He’s been swimming in some hot water for much of this season now his number one Wolverines take the field in hopes of winning a national title for the first time since 1997 they will have to go through a perennial Powerhouse Alabama Crimson tie though as we welcome you on the field

Alongside former NFL QB Matt Sims Scooby MZ is ready he’s got the rose in the mouth I’m Sam ravage so great to have you along with us we got an hourong show leading you up to both semifinal games we’ll head over to New Orleans in just a

Bit guys but I mean this is amazing the pageantry leading up to the main event of Michigan Alabama give me one or two questions that you have for both teams leading into this one I mean the first one we got to start with just the head coaches Sabin Harbaugh I mean this is

The granddaddy of them all these are two of the best coaches in all of college football and who wins that chess match that’s what I’m looking forward to seeing who makes that in-game adjustment to get their team the victory today and it’s not just ing game it’s about the

Prep leading up to the game one thing that Michigan did differently which JJ McCarthy spoke on is their preparation has changed less paded practices it’s a lot less overthinking because over the past two season he said it was paralysis from over analysis so the prep coming into this game has been different for

The Michigan team and they feel like they’re healthier they’re less banged up and Matt with a coach who’s done it already and another coach who might have one foot out the D I can’t wait to see the result uh look these are two of the winningest programs in the entire sport

We see a lot of blue here today I don’t know if we’re going to see as much red as we do blue but this is pretty special he this is a Michigan home game right now we saw two at our hotel the lobby all that it’s Michigan all day I feel

Like it just means more right now to the maze in blue here so looking forward to see how that atmosphere plays into how Alabama manages the game as well yeah we just we just heard the roar that’s the Michigan fans right there they came in

Deep and I love that you made that point because you just been looking around trying to get a feel like what it’s like a lot more Michigan fans a lot of ma in blue here today we heard uh them booing Alabama when they just came out on the

Field I’m sure we will hear a lot more uh from The Maze and blue in a little while we’ve got a lot more coming up from the Rose Bowl as well but guys this is not the only semi-final going on today we do have another one in New Orleans the

Sugar at the Sugar Bowl Washington and Texas in the Sugar Bowl so let’s go from one LA to another LA and say hi to our friends Christine Harry and Harry guys how we doing over there wow I like how you did that Sam

One LA to the other La yes we are in New Orleans Louisiana here at Caesar Superdome getting ready for the Allstate Sugar Bowl it’s going to be a very exciting one obviously we got Alabama or sorry Texas taking on Washington uh guys I mean we’ve been doing this all season

Now it’s the cfp how are we feeling as we go into this one I I feel pretty good um I think all four teams in the college football playoffs are very deserving uh to to to be in this position in the semi-finals the two teams that we have

Here when you look at Washington you look at Texas they’ve been able to handle their business this season we have these two high fly powered offenses so I think we’re going to see a lot of points in this match up tonight yeah 100% And I mean just looking and talking

About this game right the last month I keep going back and forth whether it’s with this game or the game over in Pasadena who could win you I could convince myself of any team not just winning today but also winning in a week so I’m excited to get this thing kicked

Off okay also want to shout out the fact that all of us were ready for the occasion we dressed really well just for the cfp I expect us to be even better when we go to Houston just FYI um okay so we like to start every single show

That we do with something that we call three big things it’s the things that we’re looking forward to today yes what are you looking forward to l oh I mean you know I’m still going to keep mine but I saw that length shirt that jayen

Milro had on I was going switch it but yo for me it it’s it’s surrounded with the Rose Bowl but Alabama specifically because HD you and I were talking about this yesterday and you thought I was crazy cuz you couldn’t remember the last time Alabama played in Rose Bowl it was

Played at Jerry world right and and and the beauty of the Rose Bowl you know and Sam sort of laid this out is it is one of the best tradition right it’s it’s where Legends are made all the scenics everything of it and Devonte Smith had one of the best Rose Bowl performances

We’ve ever seen in three quarters 130 yards three touchdowns cemented his status and he did it to Gerald I’m honestly just grateful for as many of the weird and awful things that the pandemic did including moving the Rose Bowl of all games to another location

I’m glad it’s back I’m glad we got two match a match between two teams the most storyed in college football I will never take any of these games ever for granted ever again just because of what we saw in 2020 yeah especially when you think about this season and this is the last

Season that we’re going to see the cfp in this format so definitely not taking that for granted HD what you got well for me you look at Washington from a offensive standpoint and you think it’s Michael pennick Jr which it is and you think it’s the wide receiver group and

Which it is but in order for all those things to go right for the Washington Huskies the engine to everything that makes it work is that offensive line there’s a reason why they’re the Joe uh Joe Moore Award winners which goes to the best offensive line in the country

Those guys have been Stout blocking for Dylan Johnson those guys have been Stout protecting Michael penck Jr he was a Heisman candidate this season as well those offensive lineman up front they play a big part in that and I’m a big fan of big guys need Ling too if it’s

Not the wide receiver group on the football field the offensive linan are my favorite group and I love giving those guys love because they do a lot of the Dirty Work they do a lot of the nasty work that doesn’t get you know you know as much light shine on it as it

Should so I’m going going with that offensive line of Washington and and how they’ve been able to perform this season allowing that offense to be balanced right it’s not just the pass game but it’s also the Run game that make them so good big boys need 11 two I like that um

Okay for mine it’s very simple but I don’t know if you guys have really thought about this all right so when you think about the four teams that are in the semifinals Washington should be the team that like everybody that doesn’t want to root for any of the other three

Teams can root for everybody hates Michigan we know what’s happened all throughout the season we honestly didn’t even know if they’d make it this far in the season because of all the things that happened quote off the field uh obviously we know Alabama people don’t like Alabama already and then they get

Into the cfp after beating Georgia because you know FSU and the same thing with Texas so if you’re looking for a team to cheer for in the cfp because you absolutely hate the other three it is this Washington team so I think it’s very interesting cuz I feel like all of

America that’s not a fan of Texas Alabama or Michigan is rooting for Washington to make it into the CP it’s a good point yeah and and Michael pennix has one of the great stories in college football I think it’s so easy to forget where he came from to where he is now

Because he is so great now yeah for sure okay we’re going to talk about this matchup a little bit more later but when you think about Michigan they haven’t won since 2016 that gu is eight years I know it doesn’t seem like it was that

Long ago but if they’re going to want to win this one they have to focus on their running game take a look at this every body in America knows it the key to beating Michigan is stopping the Run hands it to Corman bounces outside to the blue touchdown BL Corum they got

A monster bounces off the tackles breaks arm tackles having a dominant Run game is just your quarterback’s best friend he’s a hard move running downhill going the best back to the country we smash M man we smash M like to run the ball and

We like to stop the run so that would be a challeng for we’re ready to embrace him get hit and down he goes That’s Alabama a defense right there our defense is 11 try kill FL the ball to make some play we have this little slogan it’s called

Bo8 Dead on the Rival I see a team that flies around a defense that has a motive we know it’s going to be a dog fight we know it’s going to be 60 Minutes the best games of the century it’s the granddaddy of them all all right back here at the

Granddaddy of them all the rose bow it is a Beautiful Day by the way here in Pasadena California we are just about an hour away from kickoff at the Rose Ball between Alabama and Michigan and Luke who’s joining us Holly Rose getting ready to uh wor to be on the broadcast

Today on the Michigan Sidelines and Holly this Michigan program has kind of been cloaked in controversy this year at least on the outside it appears as it it might be a Last Dance between Michigan and Jim Harbaugh have you gotten the vibe that that is the case or not

Necessarily from the inside it doesn’t feel that way from the players perspective it doesn’t feel that way you know we’ve actually talked to a lot of the coaches about their coaching future and they say we’re focused on this one game I know what the outside looks like Jim Harbaugh’s hired a very powerful

Agent the Chargers are looking for a new coach they practiced out at their Stadium this week I I I read the tea leaves a little bit and we might need to just be honest that maybe the NCAA rules and structure maybe that’s not something Jim Harbaugh enjoys but I do know this

He enjoys this team and he enjoys coaching this football team he’s a Michigan guy through and through he came to his first Rose Bowl when his dad was coaching for Michigan at 11 years old and now here he is um warming up with the quarterbacks behind us he’s got his

Cleats on his wide receiver gloves on I know that Jim Harbaugh really loves college football yeah yeah he’s literally right behind us we we’ll open up so you guys can get a good look at it Harbaugh on the field but you know when I think about this semi-final game Holly

Harbaugh has lost six straight bow games Nick sa is uh six and one in semi-final games but there’s a lot of pressure on both sides so my question to you is since this is or isn’t the Last Dance which coach has the most pressure I actually think it’s Nick sa you know Jim

Jim Harbaugh hasn’t won in a college football playoff setting so he hasn’t been expected to all Nick Sav done has done is win in these moments win national championships and I personally was getting really irritated the last couple of years with all of the the Dynasty’s over Nick Sav era is over all

This stuff I I view him as the greatest coach we’ve ever had and it ain’t over until it’s over with Nick Sabin and you know I I think he’s got the most pressure because he’s been there he’s done that he’s expected to do it in a way that Michigan is not speaking of

Which that Alabama just came in that’s the roar that you just heard and I feel the energy rumbling back ask question the evil empire is in the stadium now uh we all know JJ McCarthy Blake km they’re the heart and soul of this football team who else has Nick Sabin been impressed

With with this Michigan team and what they bring to the table today yeah I actually thought it was really interesting this week Nick Sabin brought up courland lovelin he’s the tight end number 18 and he is a big kid JJ McCarthy said he is a wide receiver in a

Tight end body he moves he can cut he can his hips his ankles Bend and then he catches everything I just watched his entire pregame warm-up he had a one-handed grab running out of bounds in the end zone like Odell really and I think that that is the mismatch who

Covers him you know he’s 65 240 he’s a big body but he moves so well I think that’s probably the matchup of the game outside of the line of scrimmage that’s the first always line of scrimmage but that’s the next one and and I love that

You brought that up because you know in prep a part of my notes I was looking at what Alabama uh struggles with at the wide receiver position they’re only giving up about four yards uh per for per attempt but then at the tight end position it’s over seven and then at the

Running back position it’s seven Donovan Edwards how much of a key part is he going to be in this game especially when it comes to the passing attack yeah I think Donovan Edwards is the kind of the Forgotten man on this team he’s got 30 receptions this season he’s good at

Running the ball but because Blake corm decided to stay they’ve had to find other ways to use him and he’s one of the best athletes on this team 30 receptions they trust him out of the back field and I do think that he’s a forgotten man somebody to keep an eye on

As well we got Holly roow joining us pregame again as you can see the clock is ticking down 46 minutes to go until kickoff Holly uh talk a little bit more more about the defensive side for Michigan because they got their work cut out for them going against Jaylen milro

Today what’s been the focus for Jesse Minter in this defensive group coming into this one yeah it’s really interesting and you guys as football people will really appreciate this is the pass rush is usually one way guys want to get up field and get to the quarterback they’ve been trained their

Whole lives get up field get to the quarterback this game Michigan has said over and over they have to have what they’re calling an unselfish pass rush that means all they’re worried about is the pass is the lane they cannot let jayen milose step up into those lanes

And they can’t get behind the quarterback and get too deep so I really love that an unselfish pass rush it’s a different mindset for guys you know this guys aren’t trained that way I know too well on quarterback absolutely it’s okay you wi there a few my Tennessee games

Playing against Alabama I got hit unnecessarily too many times I actually did that game and so I’m glad you’re still standing thank you so much I appreciate it you know and I thank my parents too for those good strong jeans that I got that way but you know the

Other aspect that I look too Alabama left tackle a freshman an 18-year-old young man here on this stage is that going to be something that Michigan really attacks in this game I will say this Texas did in the second game of the year Texas went after him and they had

Great success I do think Texas’s defensive front is bigger stronger and better than Michigan’s I I know people are going to hate me for saying that but I believe it yeah I think that young man has also improved a lot so think about this Kaden Proctor is 67 over two uh 360

Lbs that’s a big boy and his feet are size 18 so when he’s doing that back kick and you know trying to get out of the way the defensive end he’s a big man I think he’s improved maybe could be still an area they attack we’ll have to see yeah Michigan Wolverine offense

Looks like they are making their way onto the field Holly will let you go even know you got some work to do enjoy the game thanks for having me guys I love hold on before we leave here a rose look at this that’s what we do the first

Impression the RO B we will see Holly and Houston next week in the meantime let’s get you back to New Orleans with Christine Harry and Harry guys floor is yours all right fellas now Christina Harry I think tonight in this matchup Texas vers Washington it’s imperative that the defensive line of Texas is

Dominant like they were versus the Alabama Chon tide if they want a trip to Houston Texas for the national championship and it all starts with tandre sweat their defense a tackle Texas is going to bring pressure off the left side of the formation creating one-on ones if you think you’re going to

Block sweat one-onone it’s going to be a long day for you as you see on the screen dance big fella dance I love everything about this now next you’re going to see Anthony Hill Jr he’s going to be on the right side of the defensive formation you’re going to

See speed and watch that little dip move at the end that allows him to get past that offensive tackle and we all know in college football how hard it is to sack Jaylen milro and last but not least you got the strong man I call him Ethan

Burke you see him in a four-point stance that means he means business and you’re going to see him do all this right here second the quarterback with leverage and power it’s everything if the Texas Longhorns are able to do that defensively tonight against Michael penck Jr they’re going to punch their

Ticket to the National Championship all right guys uh welcome back we now welcome in a man who needs no introduction especially when you think about this matchup today it is Vince Young the uh champion of course quarterback of the Longhorns uh not too long ago you know it hasn’t been that

Long welcome thank you for joining us I hear you you see the say it I didn’t say that that’s all you that’s all you okay so I want to talk about the fact that obviously you guys haven’t won a championship in a very long time um but

I think it was about five years ago right when Sam Ellinger said we’re back that you guys are in the cfp it’s it’s it’s been a a a little a long time coming I’ll say um but now that they’re back and they have a chance to win another National Championship what does

This mean for this program well it means a lot for us cuz you know a lot of people don’t understand like we’ve been rebuilding when I mean rebuilding not only just the football team we’ve been rebuilding our Stadium these guys been been having meetings and pretty much on

The floor and different places coaches didn’t really have their own uh meeting room stuff like that so uh and the chemistry was off so that’s you know everybody know like if you don’t have the right chemistry you’re not going to win so I really feel like Co Stark is

Doing a really good job with that the chemistry is back the guys are hanging out together doing a lot of things together and now you see them taking back off and then he has the players that he wants so a lot of that stuff was really bad for a couple years being

Alone but I really feel like we right where we need to be at and obviously you can see it for right now so I’m very happy for those those young guys no 100% you know for somebody who I think you have the legend of all legends I I’ll go

I’ll say it right I mean you have the signature moment when people paint a picture of what college football is and and the tradition and everything that comes with it your Rose Bowl is one of the first thing that come to mind I’m curious from your perspective what is

The advice that you would give to we have four great quarterbacks playing today just what would your advice to be to them and and you know you even obviously have a connection with Jaylen milro knowing him as as a youngster I’m just curious what your thoughts would be

Well yeah just enjoy the moment you know it’s it’s tough It’s people think this is easy to be at these type of games so all the hard work that you put in in the offseason when you first put that ball in your hand when you was in Little

League all these things is to came to this point so the main thing enjoy the moment and have fun don’t try to do nothing what you’ve been doing you know the whole world is watching but in the same time it’s all about your preparation the same stuff that you did

Every game to get here do the same thing here let everybody else let the coaches and everybody take care of the media and all that type of stuff you just focus on your teammates and working your butt off and preparation to get ready to play the

Game I think that’s one of the biggest things Vince like that that we know you know personally is a lot of people may make this game bigger than what it is but internally as players as coaches if we sense that around one another then we know some things are off it’s just

Another game now it might be magnified times three but it can’t be that in our in our eyes in our opinions on the inside but me being a smaller type guy and I love to eat and and you know you probably think I’m going to talk to you

About football not at all I’m going to talk to you about vinan Steakhouse because every time I go to Austin Texas ask Harry that’s where I eat every single day I get that shrimp groten that’s how you know I’m not lying on on the menu what was the

Thought behind that man and why would why was it so pivotal for you to have a steakhouse in Austin Texas where you played college football well first of all thank you for that V young say out but you know you know the world always tell you you can’t you can’t you can’t

But somebody told me I I couldn’t do a restaurant and when when somebody told me I can’t somebody told me I wasn’t going to be a successful black a athlete quarterback okay when people tell me I can’t that motivates me so I got with my friends Phil and Laura and we they was

Already going to when my partner was going to culinary school to to be a chef and then my other partner she was in marketing and it was made it this a great piece but when somebody tell me you can’t the main thing I tell people

You got to be hands on you can’t let people do it for you that’s when you lose money that’s when you make mistakes which I have been through in my life but with that I had a really blessed opportunity and and we roll with it and it’s doing really good in Austin so

Thank you for shouting that out so anytime y’all come to Austin yall will have orange cart treatment free Stak on V could you could you imagine telling this person you can’t do something W of all people that’s W that’s W it’s very motivating yeah for sure okay so I want

To talk about one more thing because I see that all of you guys have on a jacket that says yeah unlike regular people explain what that means and and what this repres it’s a feeling it’s a different feeling you know again it’s kind of go by what I just said when

People tell you you can’t you know you you know just do the UN unespected you know what I mean so think you know you’re not regular like everybody else do something different change the game you know I’m the first to graduate in my family uh my son is up next you know

It’s a lot of things that’s going on in my life and when people tell me I can’t you know I think outside the box we are not like regular people think outside the box do something different so that’s why we you see me my son and my my wife

Over there we rocking the jacket so we going to pass that message today happy New Year and thinks outside the box unlike regular people I got to get a prediction from me I got to get a prediction oh man prediction score final score this game wait wait let’s do the

Rose Bowl because we already know he’s choosing Texas right he can’t choose anybody other Texas so let’s go to the Rose Bowl choose Alabama Michigan who you got that let tell y’all something don’t nobody want to play Alabama right now they on fire and when we beat uh

Alabama early in the year when I mean I never seen coach sain that pissed off cuz I went try to shake his hand he like gave me a little dab I’m like oh he’s pissed so I don’t think nobody want to play Alabama I got a lot of respect for

A Michigan we’re going to see them guys next year actually uh and down what this year we’re going to see them guys but don’t nobody want to play Alabama right now so I think Alabama going to take it all right an Alabama Texas uh Championship will be a fun one a rematch

From ear come on home yeah exactly we’ll be there we’ll be there come on home you got orange carpet out there treatment too beautiful thank you so much V for joining problem guys right so we were just talking about Alabama Jaylen milro went through a lot this season and there

Was one thing that we found out this week that we didn’t know before take a listen is there a moment where someone wanted you to play a different position or something you kind of said no I’m a quarterback shot my own offensive coordinator Bill O’Brien told me I shouldn’t play quarterback remember how

You felt when he said that how would you feel if I told you you suck kicked in the turbo milro goodbye milro going deep again man wide open got him take Jayo told me a bunch of B I could have switched to but look where I’m at right

Now so you know what I’m saying so who gets the last laugh who knows it might be Alabama getting the last laugh after today if they can beat Michigan here at the Rose in advance to the National Championship in Houston we are just minutes away from kickoff in Pasadena and look who joins

Us now Nation Laura rutage is joining us on the field Laura we just heard jayen milro reference what Bill O’Brien suggested that maybe he do he improved and it seemed like Michigan impr Alabama improved with him over the course of the Season what was the turning point in

Your mind for Alabama this year yeah I think if you ask Alabama they would tell you it was after that USF win that was barely a win when milro was benched and even going into the Old Miss game which was the following week you started to see the Turning Point happen but really

It was the following week against Mississippi State where they said all right now this is an offense that’s catered to milrose skill set and Tommy ree started to open the Playbook a little bit more although he would tell you he’s running an offense that he’s never run before because he you don’t

You don’t just find Jaylen milrose growing on trees so this is a very different offense for him and they started to become what they are now but they they still have so much more that they’re capable of in fact today I think we’ll see a lot more out of this Alabama

Offense than we’ve seen prior just because of the time to prepare so it was really there in that kind of earlier part of the season and then it continued to grow with momentum but as you guys know it wasn’t like Alabama was beating the doors off teams they were down

Against Tennessee they were down against I mean there were so many examples of this a dog fight against A&M where they had to fight they actually think that helps them today because they’ve been challenged and had to rise to the occasion yeah and I love that you

Brought up Tommy ree him having to learn this offense and I Rec comments how he said that he felt like some of the turning points was that Texas A&M game where they had to find other ways to win the OM Miss game where you you have to

Shut down that offense then of course LSU Daniels versus milro now you brought up preparation in terms of having a few weeks we said Michigan changed up the way they prepare for this game because you know it hasn’t worked out well for them but has Alabama change their way

They prepare for this game because their secret formula laara has worked well Nick Sabin is a creature of habit as you guys know that’s if there’s one thing you know about Nick sa he’s going to be consistent and do the same things all the time so he hasn’t changed much but

One of the things that he started doing in recent years is the first few bull practices which are right before Christmas time they don’t even focus on the opponent so they didn’t do a lot about Michigan in fact it was just good on good which if you think about a team

Like Alabama and how they’ve peaked at this point in the season good on good is pretty dang good when you’re talking about the ones versus the ones for Bama so they did that the players actually felt like it was a really nice reset for them to be challenged against their own

Teammates and then they switched to preparing for Michigan which Sabin said this he said Michigan does a ton of stuff offensively and he didn’t say stuffff you guys can between the lines of what he said it’s a lot to prepare for he said that they really had to

Focus on what they may see you see those pre- snap shifts and motions but they’re slower than what you see from other teams slow developing to buy the quarterback time so they’ve really focused in on that and then Kevin seal the defensive coordinator for Alabama

Said they had to go all the way back to 2007 to find defenses to run against what this offense will do so I I think there’s a lot there uh where this has taken a ton of prep for this Alabama team very cool and it’s old school style

Of play too so they got to go back to the drawing board go back to what they used to do you’re absolutely right now for Jim Harbaugh who really impresses him outside of obviously stopping Jaylen milro who are some of the other game breakers for this Alabama team yeah so

Jaylen milro certainly highlights that list but he really was impressed by Isaiah Bond and the way that he’s come on in the latter part of the Season he said it really seems like milrose has gotten a comfortability throwing to bond so they’re really going to try to look

Out for him and you know one of the things that Harbaugh and his staff talked about is is what do you do about milro and the offense as a whole because you got to spy him but then you’re losing a Defender to spy milro so I think they may switch some guys around

He won’t have one player spying him look for maybe a couple of guys maybe some linebackers to be on him that was something that they mentioned too another another player that Harbaugh has been really impressed with is Kool-Aid mckenstry I’d be real surprised if they intentionally throw to Kool-Aid side of

The field and Kool-Aid will switch around a little bit and they get creative with that but they they said he’s really become locked down as a cornerback there’s a couple really good DBS in this game really good secondaries Mike Sanders still on the other side of course Koolaid on this side Laura last

One for you we talked about Nick Sabin and and this this whole thing that he’s built here at Alabama I mean you’ve been around him for a long time but like what is the secret how how does this keep happening year in and year out I think

This might be his best coaching year which is crazy I mean if you think about all of the coaching jobs that he’s done obviously they’ve had great players but this was a year where everyone doubted them and everybody said this team’s done after the second week of the Season

Included yeah oh my goodness everybody was guilty of it right and and they know that um I’m sure you guys uh have seen them wearing the shirts that that say lank L what that mean what that mean again it was leave wait what is it Le let all naysayers let all naysayers know

That’s what it is I think I think it means something else for those that know if you know you know yeah exactly but anyway not about the time so I I think that what he’s done is learned to adjust and he would say that it applies to

Coaching as a whole but also in game he said we don’t even put anything that complicated in anymore we try to stay real simple so we can adjust as things are thrown at us and that’s why he’s been able to build a master class in coaching that we may never see again or

Rets joining us on the field about 30 minutes to go before number one Michigan number four Alabama should be a great one thanks so much I can’t wait you guys are awesome enjoy the rest of this pregame it’s going to be a whole lot of

Fun here we will we’ll see you next week week right yes I we’ll see I hope okay all right good deal good deal all right and let’s send you back over to the Sugar Bowl and Harry Douglas now Christine and Harry both of you know that my favorite group on this

Football field is the wide receiver group so we might as well watch a little film on this wide receiver group that’s been dominant all season long we’re going to go with Romo dun from Washington right now you’re going to see him one-on-one watch how he absorbs the contact because of the upper body

Strength and still has the ability to catch the football for touchdown next we’re going to look at a stack formation by the Washington Huskies now that stack formation is going to force this DV to be in lock coverage he has this wide receiver Jaylen poke manto man watch

Jaylen poke and watch how he gets off the line of scrimmage on a slot fade is what we call it Dumbo and then he’s going to catch this a contested catch dv’s going to grab his arm it’s not going to matter because of the upper body strength of him and last but not

Least one of my favorite guys that plays in the slot Jaylen McMillan you’re going to see him one-on-one matched up with the safety a coach told me if the safety guards you Sun at the wide receiver position take my uniform off and don’t come back you’re going to see his speed

And the angle that he’s taken has moved the safety off the hash now he has a two-way go the safety is dead in the water big play explosive play for the Washington Huskies I think we’re going to see a lot of this today because of the secondary of the Texas Lone

Horns all right HD you just broke down obviously o dun and pulk uh where can they find weaknesses in this Texas secondary yeah I’m going to go with freshman corner Malik Muhammad right and I was always taught when you have a freshman whether it’s a first year guy

At college or in the National Football League a rookie corner you got to attack him any chance that you have that opportunity I think the veteran leadership in this wide receiver group for the Washington Huskies is one up over the secondary for the Texas Longhorns also at any given time in this

Ball game if Michael penck Jr sees a safety trying to guard any one of these three wide receivers you have to baptize them and force them to catch the Holy Ghost that’s right that’s exactly how I’mma put it you got to force them to do that and also the contested catches

Michael penix Jr just throw the ball up to these guys let them go up and get it that’s one of the things that they’ve been proven not just in 2023 but those guys have proven that in 2022 as well contested catches is something they do very very well give them that

Opportunity and might see some confetti come down for Washington tonight okay uh let’s talk about another um aspect of their offense and Dylan Johnson the running back uh how has he really change this Washington offense so he I don’t want to say he was a bandage for this

Offense but when Jaylen McMillan went down it changed things right because when you go from having three number one wide receivers to two I mean it’s still pretty dang good right but it changed things for them right and and so he took up a bigger role in this offense in fact

In the six games since Jaylen McMillan got hurt including the two that he came back for he accounted for 33% of their scrimmage RS whereas before the injury it was just 13% right so he had a huge uptick in production and the fact that we saw that last time we saw this

Washington team out and they played Oregon not only did Dylan John Johnson get his with 152 yards Jaylen McMillan also got his as well and if that is the type of offense that we see today especially against this Texas defense where the secondary is going to be tested continuously like you mentioned

HD it’s going to be a tough day for them okay so another thing that HD talked about when it comes to this Texas defense earlier and we didn’t really get to talk that much about it is their defensive line how much of a tough task

Is that going to be for Dylan in this Washington team well it’s going to be a tough task because when you look at the two defensive tackles for the Texas Longhorns tandre swiat and by Byron Murphy the second those two guys a dominant and Byron Murphy he’s a guy

That’s going to get pressure on the quarterback early and often that’s what he’s proven all season long so I think you can’t run the football up the middle you’re going to have to try to get on the perimeter a little bit but I also think Tempo we seen that from the

Oklahoma Sooners they were able to get Tempo and not allowed those big guys to get off the football field and uh made them tired over and over again and I I would also say this the big playability of these wide receivers I think the the perimeter for the Washington Huskies can

Be their biggest Ally in rushing of football tonight but I like Dylan Johnson man you mentioned that Harry he was forgot about early on in the season and I think that injury to jayen McMillan who only played five games this season really allowed them to be more balanced offensively and I think it’s

Going to pay dividends moving forward if they’re able to win tonight and then go on to the championship game okay so weird that we’ve been talking about Washington’s offense this much and we haven’t talked about the Heisman runner up that is one Michael penck Jr viously

All eyes are on him we know that the quarterback is a bucket so how hard is it going to be for him to what is he going to face tonight when it comes to the pressure of everybody King in on their quarterback so the interesting piece in HD you just mentioned it is

With those defensive tackles they’re going to have to get pressure on him up the middle because this is not something that they do well on the outside which honestly kind of plays into what they do he had 2,000 yards outside the numbers this season was tops in FBS it just so

Happens for this Texas defense they gave up the third most outside the numbers defensively in FBS so this is a matchup on paper Michael penck brother you should absolutely cook tonight so look he’s got his full arsenal with him we saw how it looked a month ago against

Oregon that now that’s not to say that Texas can’t still make plays but that’s the dangerous thing about this Washington team and which is why I feel like they don’t even have to have their best defensive game is because Michael pennx is going to make that defensive

Secondary make plays and it comes in waves at times right for sure like if if they get off to a bad start they can in the second quarter alone those those guys can make big plays explosive plays and score points over and over again next thing you know you’re down 14

Points at halftime so I think for Texas you have to contain them and make sure they don’t hit you in those waves that we’ve seen so many times this season a lot on the line tonight uh specifically because this is the last time that the college football playoff is going to

Look like this college football playoff Ry McGee has more good buys are never easy especially when everyone seems to agree that saying goodbye is the right thing to do but as we play and watch and consume the final three games of the final edition of the college football playoffs final 14

Bracket but the Georgia Bulldogs bling their way to back to back let’s try to not do what we’ve done for the last 10 years looking so far ahead to the idea and now the reality of an expanded playoff that we don’t take a moment to appreciate what we’ve had

Now for only one more go round in the four team cfp briet four teams has been tight it’s been tidy yes it’s been imperfect it’s been a bit tense but for so much of the time it has also been perfectly intense looking back did the 14 model

Ever really get it wrong yeah yeah we hear y’all in tallah has we also so still hear from you big 12 folks in Fort Worth and wakeo still smarting over your slights a decade ago point to four res better than ours you’re not finding one and we will never forget ucf’s defiant

Natty parade in 2017 but that’s really it in 10 years even the victims of so many blowout semi-final scores or TCU in the title game one year ago losing badly on the biggest stage doesn’t mean they shouldn’t have been there and are there any national champions since 2014 that

We don’t think deserve their trophy the four team cfp did exactly what it was created to do it simplified the system it cleaned up the college football postes it gave us some great games no good he HED it cinematic moments and most importantly Undisputed champs as for inclusion 15 teams earned

Invitations representing six conferences and one independent see Perfectly Imperfect and it was really really difficult to earn one of those four invites that’s how a postseason should be right so yeah sometime during this Last Stand of college football’s Four Horsemen make sure you pause reflect throw up four fingers pour one out or

Four for the four team cfp the new world will be bigger and it might be better but it will most definitely be different oh it is the end of an era we’re very sad to see it go but it’s time now for the AT&T countdown to the cfp National Championship we’re going to

Look ahead guys obviously this is the semi-finals two teams will win today and then they will go to the cfp but let’s do a little prediction so Alabama Michigan that’s coming up in a few minutes who do you have in that matchup HD I’m going Alabama I think the simple

Fact when you have a guy like Nick Sabin who is the greatest college coach of all time you had gave him ample time to prepare for this matchup against the Michigan Wolverines I think that’s going to pay huge dividends for this Alabama football team today also when I look at

A quarterback like jayen milro his big playability you can have the perfect defense called but the Dynamics of his athleticism allows him to break that Perfect Defense that you have called and not only hit home runs in the pass game but be able to do it with his legs as

Well miles who you got I’m I’m going with Alabama as well look I I think that this matchup is going to be a lot more competitive and I think this is going to be an incredibly fun game we’re talking about two teams that do not make a lot

Of mistakes that are going to you know really try to grind you out the one thing about this game you see that sort of stands out to me is I still think that Zack zenter loss looms large specifically because of who Alabama’s got on that defensive line not just

Because of whether it’s Dallas Turner Chris brazwell but also because they have just guys on guys on guys that you’re going to be able to rotate in there keep them fresh and then we don’t we’re not even getting that NFL defensive back field right I I mean this

Is an Alabama defense that I think no matter how jayen milro plays as long as he’s just not atrocious I think that Alabama’s going to be able to come out on top of this one yeah Alabama has definitely been hitting their stride in the latter half of the season so it

Would make sense for everybody to choose Alabama however I’m going Michigan because if you know me you know I’m not choosing Alabama also as I look to the left and I see producing colne colog because uh he wants at least one person to choose Michigan out here I also want

To say I feel like it’s about time that Michigan wins a bowl game I mentioned at the beginning of the show that they haven’t won a bowl game since 2016 it’s been eight years so I feel like it’s about that time also we all know that

Michigan feels like they um that like an injustice was done to them they feel like they’re America’s team so they have this like chip on their shoulder that they put there themselves so I feel like they’re coming out today with a little bit of a different energy they might not

Have all the stuff they had at the beginning of the year but they do have a different energy I think going into this match up whatever going to work you I’m going to I’m going to go with Michigan for this one and again I don’t choose

Alabama I see a shirt worn by Chris cologne our producer it says Michigan vers everybody who’s everybody talk to us cologne I wish you could come up here and grab this m and tell us who the hell is everybody okay okay uh let’s go to this match up that we’re seeing here the

Sugar Bowl that’s going to be in a few hours we got Texas taking on Washington who do you have in that match up W I got Washington they and look man it’s tough picking this game it really is because especially this game I could talk myself into either team

Winning I just think offensively Washington is going to be able to do too much for Texas to keep up with the four quarters I I really do I I think this will be a fun matchup I think it’s going to be a game going into the second half

How deep it goes into the second half I’m not certain of that but I think Michael penx has his moment this afternoon this evening rather okay this is hard for me this is hard for me Harry you know this because Michael penck is my boy you know that’s my guy and I love

Those quarterbacks that can throw it all around the football field can make every single throw and all the throws are accurate but I’m going with the Texas Longhorns in this one I’m going to go ahead and hook them because I love that defensive line that they have I love

Those linebackers that they have uh Anthony Hill Jr also jayen Ford I think he’s going to be a guy that plays a pivotal role for the Texas Longhorns defensively but you look on the offensive side of the ball I like the wide receiver group and the tight ends

For the Texas Longhorns those guys came up huge in the Alabama win at Brian Denny Stadium so I think tonight is going to be a matchup that they’re going to be able to have a lot of success we don’t talk about that Washington defense so much because they aren’t as dominant

Right they have a few guys here and there they’ve been able to make plays and key moments to get stops but when that pressure’s on them constantly think I understand they play Oregon but Texas I think Texas is going to be able to do something tonight okay so I so badly

Want Washington to win this game I actually do because I do think they are America’s team because they’re the one team that nobody hates I’m going to go with Texas in this one um just quite simply because I want a Texas Alabama rematch and I would like Texas to win

That one even though I don’t think they necessarily will so I’m going Texas hook him uh for that matchup okay so as I mentioned Michigan went through a lot this season we saw it even before the season started that they were dealing with a lot of aders adversity so of

Course they go into this game with a chip on their shoulder take a look at this what unfinished business represents to me is that all the work that we did in the past few years we didn’t get to where we wanted to go the last two playoff appearances just we didn’t get

It done we all knew what our goals were know what our standard is around here at Michigan we haven’t played our best game of football we’re just trying to play our best best game of football every single time we test the field every opportunity we given we want more we

Don’t know what a playoff win feels like a bowl game win feels like and we don’t know what a national championship looks like it was never about you know winning another big 10 Championship it was all about winning the national championship now guys it’s hard to believe that the

Michigan Wolverines have lost more games in the college football playoff than they have in the last three regular seasons combined I mean that is wild they certainly have unfinished business why is he bringing up STS like that man here here is why we have a game to play

Before the big game and it is called roses or Thorns fitting because we are at the Rose B you can see we worked really hard on the name of the game but here’s how it works I’m going to give you a couple prop couple scenarios and you guys are going

To tell me roses if you agree and Thorns if you disagree roses agree Thorns disagree and we’re going to start here Maddie with you Michigan’s postseason struggles are a coaching issue roses or Thorns to that statement roses man I mean in college football in pro football coaching to me is absolutely everything

The one thing that you notice about the Michigan team especially in past seasons is the fact that they play an old school physical brand of football which really works well in the Big 10 we haven’t seen that transition into playoff football they say this is the team that finally

Gets them over the hump to do that we’ll see if they try to do exactly what they’ve been doing all year with that physical nature winning at the line of scrimmage or they try to mix it up a little bit here in this one-off game against Alabama let me ask why doesn’t

It translate like what what what do you think has been missing that it hasn’t translated outside a big 10 play well hey this is a team that you said earlier on in this in in this segment right that they are a team that’s only been down 23

Minutes out of this entire season so when you’re playing from a lead you’re usually pretty comfortable you usually have the tempo and the pace of the game in your control early mistake here against an Alabama team you put JJ McCarthy in obvious passing situations early which they’re not really built to do

Consistently that’s where this game can get away from them yeah Michigan down 14-0 against Georgia in that uh b game they down 14-0 against TCU so a fast start is really key here Matt I love the point that you brought up right there all right we’re coming to you sco on

This one roses are thorns to this Jaylen milro will have under 200 passing yards and less than two passing touchdowns roses or Thorns we going with thorns for that fellas come on now now ESPN bet has it at about 1955. five so it’s really not that much of a difference they think

He’ll get close so for those with investments in this in any type of those interest I think you go with the over right there but think about Michigan and the quarterback that they have seen this season real quick yes or no is this the best quarterback that they’re going to

See all year yes sir captain most definitely and the best quarterback that they’ve gone against is Chu of Viola from Maryland and in that and K mcord come on now and K M let meish Kor too he B out a little bit both those guys had

Over 220 and I think that Jaylen uh uh Jaylen mil is going to be able to get there especially with his big play ability they just have not seen an offense to this level all season along because we know that it has struggled in

The Big 10 one or two things if you were talking to Jaylen milro before this game what are you telling him hey be calm early on in this football game don’t let the emotions of everything get in the way right now the biggest thing for both of these quarterbacks is don’t lose the

Game in the first quarter motions going to be high it’s the first time that you’ve played in over a month just can take what the defense give you keep it extremely simple if it’s wide open take it but don’t force anything unnecessarily early in this game because

Of how good both of these defenses are all right we got a little rushing prop here Donovan Edwards from Michigan will have more rushing yards than Jaylen milro roses or Thorns oo I’m going to go with thorns and maybe that kind of alludes you to where I’m going with my

Pick because I feel like for Alabama to win this game jayen Miller has to throw for over 200 he has to rush for probably over 50 to 60 yards to get that W and a lot of that is scramble yards not designed runs it’s him just buying time

And space in the passing game he’s a excellent thrower on the run and his downfield passing as we’ve all seen is is really one of the biggest things and the best things that he does I’ll be interested to see if Alabama can get behind Michigan’s defensive secondary

All right sco coming to you on this one Michigan has kind of been a team that can uh go slow at times in the game will they need explosive plays to win this game or can they play the way that they have played in one roses you’re absolutely going to need some explosive

Play think back to the Big 10 Championship y’all Michigan had two touchdowns they totaled 11 yards against an Iowa defense qu better defenses in the country exactly and I was going to say I think Alabama is just as good if not better than the Iowa defense so if

You’re going to struggle against that defense in terms of being able to drive down the field and get points you’re going to need to be able to create it in some type of way trick plays explosive plays motion one thing that Alabama has struggled with is motion based offenses

And we saw arburn do that against a chisman tide so I think big plays are definitely going to play a role in here for them to find some type of success and then when you talk about big plays big moments in this game uh how about the competitive nature of these players

Coming into it at media day now I spent some time with the guys and tried to see if they could get the upper hand on each other with some uh fun little mini activities we had check this piece out the great thing about media day is

That it gives us access to players on both team for Alabama and Michigan and while everyone’s asking the same old questions of how are you strategizing for the game what’s your game strategy forget about all that we’re going to play some mini games and have these players complete some tasks in a certain

Amount of time to see who has the Competitive Edge heading into the roseb you got to get that blue cup on the bottom while he’s moving one cup at a time three two one go that’s a good start oh I P it already oh I it already

We got a rhythm going we got a rhythm going ah 3 two 1 oh that’s a good start that’s a real good I’m feeling good about this yeah W I think we might have one here I think we might have one here that was two that

Was two cups time de 64 is the new record the cookie game Cookie on forehead get it to mouth no hand hands you will be timed go one go oh hey hands there no hands No Hands time 6.91 seconds now that’s an interesting technique that you got there

Kendrick as they say in Mortal Kombat that was a Flawless Victory from the Michigan and M Marines but you know what that was just a mini game at the end of the day we care about this game and we’ll see who comes out on top of that

One all right let’s talk a little bit more about that matchup because it’s happening very shortly obviously we have a long time like a little bit over four hours until we get the Sugar Bowl going so let’s talk about the Rose Bowl we got Michigan taking on Alabama and a lot of

People like to say that this Michigan offense doesn’t have that many explosive plays but they are really efficient one of the most efficient um teams in college football so HG when you approach this as Alabama’s defense how do you handle a team that’s not good or Elite

At everything but is good at everything number one you can’t make mistakes if you’re Alabama right over the past few years we seen Alabama not be the most disciplined team they have penalties and help out their opponents number two I will go with this force them to be one-dimensional so if you’re stopping

The run and you force AJ McCarthy to be a passer and the reason why I say that is because I believe more in Alabama second AR when you look at Caleb DS who’s a freshman but playing at a high level you look at Kool-Aid mckinstry you

Look at Arnold you also look at Malachi Moore in the slot those guys I believe in more so than the skill position players for Michigan and then thirdly you’re Alabama you recruit five and four-star guys at a rapid Pace right there’s a reason why Nick Sabin is the

Greatest coach of all time so you believe in those type of things right there and I think you have a a solid day all right let’s talk about Jaylen milro because that’s been the conversation all season for this Alabama team he was the reason that they lost to Texas and he is

The reason that they’re doing what they are one of the reasons that they’re doing what they are now so there’s good jayen and there’s bad jayen what do they need to do ly in order to make it a good jayen day is it am I making this too

Plain I I feel like they just need to stay engaged stay engaged and don’t fall behind and when I say stay engaged you need Isaiah Bond right you need Jay mlen you need his guys to be active you can’t really have any dormant performers today

And I think as long as you have that I think I truly believe jayen Milo is going to be fine because he’s not turning the football over the way that he was a lot of the plays that he was making earlier in the season and the

Reason he got benched was because it was like dude like what what are you doing and and we really haven’t seen that out of him he hasn’t been turning the football over so I think and we talked about this earlier before we got here to the stadium if you’re able to not fall

Behind by more than two scores I think that you’re going to be okay and so as long as they do that I think that they’re going to be in good shape and you’re going to see good jaying yeah for sure okay let’s talk about this Michigan offense they struggled but won against

Four top 20 defenses in their final four games how do you attack an Alabama team that is also in the top 10 in defense I think something Michigan does well shifts and motions before the ball’s even stabed shift and then motion guys to force Alabama defense as a unit to

Communicate and be on the same page that has given Alabama problems the last few years as well uh number two I’m going to go with the Run game and that’s including JJ McCarthy the type of quarterbacks that have given Alabama problems over the last few years as well

Has been dual threat guys so JJ JJ McCarthy is going to have to be a part of the Run game at a rapid Pace in my opinion today to be able to win this ball game and last but not least when you have shots you have to hit them you

Have to make them remember last year in the semi-finals game versus TCU they had a couple plays early in that game it didn’t go their way it uh came back to bite them in the end and they didn’t get a chance to win it so when you have the

Shot plays and the opportunity to have explosive plays you got to hit them and you can’t you can’t uh let those things Fall by the way side okay let’s talk a little bit more about Jaylen milro because uh the focus has been stopping him obviously he’s a dual threat

Quarterback he’s really good but he also throws a really good deep ball right we know that Michigan we saw how they did against Ohio state with the Deep ball what can they learn from that game and apply it to this Alabama team if I’m Michigan’s defense and I’m I’m going to

Oversimplify this again but I I think if this should give you confidence if you’re Michigan you went up and played against the number two overall pick in the NFL draft coming up in Marvin Harrison Jr right yeah the rest of the wide receivers in that room are also

Going to be NFL players some might even be day one picks as well I think will Johnson is going to show a lot of people that he is a very good Corner one of the best in all of FBS and so if if you’re this Michigan defense and you’re going

Up against Isaiah Bond and and Germaine Burton that’s not to say that you can’t take them seriously but you escaped Ohio State you saw the toughest wide receiver room you’re probably going to see outside of Washington outside of Washington just want to make that clear but that should give you confidence

Going into this one knowing that you’re well equipped to handle what you’re going to see in front of you today and so if you’re Michigan I think you got to go in here and and stick your chest out a little bit it’s going to be a really

Good one we’re very excited about it we have a few hours before we actually get to see live football so we’re very excited about that happy New Year we didn’t say that either um any final thoughts that you guys want to say before we toss it to our guys over there

Uh Michigan when jayen milro is uh scrambling around right be alert for the big play like the secondary because that’s one of the things that they love to do Jermaine Burton has been a big play guy he’s averaging over 20 yards per catch and being able to be dynamic

For him and being that speed guy make sure you’re defending the back end at all times you can never take a play off because jayen mirro is so good and dynamic in doing so turnovers turnover is going to be the big one in this game Michigan eighth and FBS and takeaways

Whatever team wins that battle I think probably ends up winning this game I’m trying to see Michigan crying at the end Blake corm with his face all bloody Michigan get a d anyways that’s all we got here from New Orleans we’ll see you guys later back to you out there in Pasadena

Thank you so much Christine I got to be honest I couldn’t hear a word you just said because it is loud here in the Rose Bowl we at the real party right now there is a lot of blue and maze in the stadium here and you can see the

Marching band marching right towards us at the end zone yeah look at this how great is this yeah hey hey hey hit it girl and by the way we do have Marty McGee Marty not joining us McGee is joining us everybody thinks my first name and you just came from the Rose

Ball parade I did yeah I was in the Rose it was amazing I I liter my elbow hurt so bad right but you know what I learned is is that you know the parade started in 1890 this game started like 1902 and a little bit later they started it again

Those people at the Tournament of Roses they don’t even know this game is going on like that that that that parade is why they’re here so yeah three and a half hours of this and uh it was awesome it’s hard to believe as a kid you grow

Up watching the parade and now you’re in it for three and a half hours and then you come over like to the Rose Bowl you know I’m a North Carolina kid you don’t think you’re ever going to be here so it’s it’s a fantastic but you get a game

Like this too with Michigan and Alabama I mean this completes the whole thing this is awesome well and you talk about 1902 was the first Rose Bowl Michigan played in that game 1926 the first time a southern team was invited to the Rose Bowl was Alabama I mean barar Bryant was

Here right I mean the you walk around and the history is ridiculous and these two teams that you guys know have only played like five times so to have them in this game they’ve never played with this type of stakes and to have them in

What I feel like might be the last kind of old school Rose Ball yeah right no what this the span of playoffs going to be so it just it’s fitting to me that it’s it’s to me it’s the winningest team in history of football Michigan and the second winningest team in Alabama and

They’re in the game and I think it’s great yeah and I think that’s why this game is so special and this atmosphere has been absolutely electric we were just talking about it’s definitely at least 7030 for Michigan at this point and the the way that these Michigan fans

Are cheering on the team is something that we expected right and uh mly told Holly told us that she thinks Nick Sabin has more pressure in this game who do you think has more pressure I don’t know that Nick Sabin feels a lot of pressure

You know I was down there two weeks ago and I talked to Coach and I talked to jayen milro and and they’re very confident right you know they’ve been there done that which I think is so important and why I think Michigan has a better chance now because they’ve been

In the playoff the last couple years the been there done that factor is is invaluable and Alabama has that I mean every kid on the team has already played the national championship game so so so so it it will be interest go forward but yeah I think there’s pressure especially

If he retires next week right so you want to you want to win right I’m not I’m just saying Twitter said right that is true right no don’t doubt about it we got about a minute left let’s make some Quick Picks McGee I’m not going to have

You pick but you guys give me a quick pick for this game man the crowd makes me think otherwise but I’m still going to go with what I thought originally I’m taking Alabama 31 Michigan 17 Alabama pulls away in this game late we’re going with Alabama 2724 row tied in this game

I just think their offense has more Firepower than Michigan to get this game I’ll save the graphic I’ll take Michigan boring wins sometimes guys boring can win and I think that boring might win uh here tonight but any final thoughts for you Mr M yeah well you talking about

Boring the the one person that saing kept talking about was Blake corland right and the one person that Kool-Aid kept talking about was Blake corm and so if there’s one someone who literally going to tilt the field in this game it’s the most boring position on the

Field right it’s just running it down field that’s what Blake does and that he’s the one they’re nervous about and you’ve heard Paul earlier in the week Paul fine bomb say Alabama speed Michigan big and strong which one wins as far as that battle is it the speed or

Is it the heavyweight aspect of Michigan this I flew out here with Paul on Friday and I can tell you the Michigan fans are they’re they’re big Paul fball La was just all the way to the tax I I heard there was a smattering of booze at the

Parade today too yeah it was like yeah no no there were so many M Michigan I all I know about the parade route is the Michigan fans it was nine to one right and so but they know how to be here right they’ve been in this game more

Than any other program they know how to be here they know where to stay you know they they kind of have it down and this is and I think they feel too this is kind of the last old school Rose Bowl they were to make sure they were here

But yeah a lot of Amazing Blue in here today boys yes sir it certainly is amazing this is going to be a terrific atmosphere a great game uh kicking off in a matter of Moments by the way Michigan and and Alabama and then the Sugar Bowl later on this evening as

Everyone watching we will have a little bit of the game on this stream after we’re done yes we will we certainly will for Matt Sims scoy mza Ryan McGee joining us late as well I’m Sam ravage thanks so much for watching countdown to the college football playoff semi-final

Presented by AT&T the semi-final at the Rose bow game presented by credential is next number one Michigan number four Alabama coming up on ESPN A