Hour 3: Cole Cubelic, SEC Network

Walden University is where working professionals like you get the W. With Walden's Tempo Learning, which is available in select programs, you earn your degree at your own pace. No set weekly deadlines, no rigid schedules. Gain practical skills through real-world scenarios. Learn from faculty with real-world experience, and count on support from your very first class all the way to your career. Walden University, set a course for change. Ready to start? Visit waldenu.edu today. Certified to operate by SHEV. The pride, passion, and pageantry of college football lives here. This is The Paul Finebaum Show, our three podcasts. We are halfway home on a very busy Monday afternoon. One more guest, plenty of time for your phone calls. I have a feeling the final hour today will be epic. That's just a prediction, not a guarantee, but I can guarantee it. Brian is up next in Tulsa. Hey, Brian. Hey, Paul. Hope you had a great weekend. I am, first of all, I'm going to say it took a lot the Big 12 to admit that they did cost Notre Dame the ball game. So I'll give I'll give the Big 12 kudos for that because, yeah, I mean, that was a great game. Great ending to Notre Dame, BYU, but it's just terrible how the game ended on that so-called non-call pass interference building. Second of all, I congratulated Oliver and I call AJ and I call Iman, text them and congratulate them because that's a great win by the Tigers. And Paul, on Saturday night, I didn't even watch the Oklahoma game. I was at the hockey game and I saw Tulsa's hockey team have more better offense than Oklahoma's offense all game Saturday. I mean, this is pathetic. Okay, Venables, why don't you do what Michigan did? Pull your damn quarterback out, put in the backup, and see what he can do. See if there's some something sandwiched for this program. I'm getting sick. Paul, I'm just sick and tired of this win one, lose one, win one, lose one crap. Now, it's time to either, Venables gotta go, or Venables needs to clean up the office and bring someone in that knows how to coach offense and can coach a winning football team. Otherwise, Brent, I love you, man. You're a great man, great coach, but you gotta go. Paul, you have a great day. Boomer Sooner, I'm out. Doc is up next in North Carolina. Hello, Doc. Oh, how's it going? Um, so a couple of things. First, with the Georgia loss, I remember, I think it was 2019. I went to Georgia, South Carolina game. Georgia was number one. South Carolina was unranked in Georgia, just inexplicably lost. But, you know, then they went through the rest of the season, didn't lose a game, and they got roasted by LSU. So, I mean, in this day and age, it's just, how much can you really get that upset about a loss? College football, to me, is turning into a little bit of what the NFL is, where you just, you cannot show up to play 100% every week when you are playing this kind of competition. How do the Rams go out and lose to the Arizona Cardinals? So, you know, that's where we're headed, and, you know, you get to lay one egg this day and age. But this, really, the rest of the season, they have to play Mississippi, they have to play Florida. At South Carolina, sometimes can be a little bit tricky. So, you know, it's amazing in one week, you know, I'm sitting here looking for SEC Championship tickets, and now I think I might hold off a couple weeks. And I just can't wait to see what legend says about his favorite coach Ryan Grubb today. And maybe Alabama, because the coaches, for some reason, wear black vests. So maybe Alabama can do like a blackout like Georgia did a couple times and just kind of break out of the funk. I want to see what he thinks about that. But what a season, who knows where we're headed. Maybe we really do need 2014 to figure this out. The timing couldn't have been perfect for that, because just who knows, man. Put them all in a cauldron and see who comes out. Have a fantastic day, Paul. Thank you very much. That would be happening next year. I can promise you that. Let me check in with Larry in South Carolina. Larry, good afternoon. Hi, Paul. Thank you very much for taking my call. Sure. A few weeks ago, and first of all, somebody called in and you were talking and mentioning, you thought Georgia could be number one at this time in the country. I agree with you. I think they could be two. But one of the things that I spoke to you about three weeks ago, and I'm still concerned about it, nobody seems to be mentioning it, but it's Georgia's past defense, Paul. What do you think of Georgia's past defense in the last two or three games? Although they've won them except for this past one. The past defense has been horrible, and it was horrible again against Auburn. What do you think? Yeah, well, I mean, listen, you can't argue with what we see on the field. I think there are a lot of reasons for that. I think the answer is the same for almost every question. It's just the lack of depth. And I think in Georgia's case, it was a little bit of a hangover. I realize that doesn't answer with great specificity your question, but I think a lot of these things start to happen. And then you play a team like Auburn, who had a buy week, again, the last couple of years, we've had double buys. This week, we have, this year, we only have one buy. And I think that's starting to show up. It's showing up earlier, Larry, than I thought. I thought November was going to be a train wreck because of the nine game schedule. But the nine game schedule has nothing to do with what we've seen so far. Paul, let me ask you this. I'm past defense and I'm a layman in this past defense. But it looks to me like Georgia, when their defensive backs never turn around to watch, to look at the ball from the past of being thrown. And when I see good defenses on other teams, I see their backs turn to look at the ball. And I never see Georgia's backs do that. It looks to me like Georgia allows them to catch it and then they try to dislodge it from them with a vicious tackle. Do you see the same? No, I mean, listen, I think we're seeing it a little bit differently. I didn't see a whole lot of success by Alabama in the second half. And Larry, thanks for the call. I'm going to remind Georgia fans for all the little things that you're finding wrong. Had Gunnerstock did not cough the ball up at the end, Georgia was in a pretty good position. I'll leave it there. Larry is up next in Houston. Larry, go right ahead. Hey, Paul. I just wanted to change the subject just a little bit, get back on the old officiating thing. I'm glad to see that the Pac-12 has joined the SEC and the Big Ten, and having some real problems with that. I was wondering, with all the money that's floating around in college football these days, has any thought ever been giving to trying to professionalize and make full-time employees of these officials such as NFL? These guys get paid about $2,000 or $3,000 a Saturday, and then they go out and sell cars and insurance and whatever else the rest of the week. And if each school, and just to take the Southeast Conference, for example, 16 schools, each pick in a couple of million bucks, you'd have $30,000, $40,000,000 of higher full-time officiating. Do you think that would have any impact on improving the ability of the officials? Listen, it's a great question. I think it's worth considering. I don't think we're any closer to it. I'll make sure I ask the commissioner about that, because I think we're deserving of an explanation. Now, having said that, I watched the NFL pretty closely. The officiating in the NFL is terrible, too. It is, you're right. One other point. The booth can call down onto the field for things such as targeting or ball placement or potential out of bounds questions and all that. Why can they not let those same officials up in the booth call down if they see that there is an obvious missed or improper call made by the officials? I realize these guys are having to dodge all these players. Is that they try not to get in the middle of judgment calls, although I think they should. I mean, we've two weeks in a row. What was it? The BYU game Saturday night? They should have. Yes, sir. I mean, I mean, they just you're just completely butchered the end of that game. They missed the clock where there's no excuse for and they missed a PI just like the Alabama call. And I don't I mean, I don't have an easy answer for you. It's easy to complain. And sometimes these are self-explanatory, and I just don't know how you can screw up that. Well, the thing that was so interesting about that missed call in the Notre Dame game is when you looked at it on television in the replays, the clock was right there on the screen. Yeah. In big numbers. There was also a missed call in the Florida State game at the end with Miami. Yes, there was. That's right. So it happens everywhere. And I realized, you know, I think there's something about seven or eight officials on the field and each one is given a certain area of responsibility. But, and I understand they're trying to keep themselves out of the play. I love that one play. I forget what the game was. It was when the official ducked and allowed a successful touchdown completion. Larry, I will try to get you an answer. By the way, I'm glad what we do here. We never screw up, we never make mistakes. We will take a short break, and we're coming right back. Walleden University is where working professionals like you get the W. With Walleden's Tempo Learning, which is available in select programs, you will Thank be able you to learn more. You can get a degree about at your own pace Walleden. No set weekly deadlines University's, no rigid schedules. Gain practical skills through real world scenarios. Learn from faculty with real world experience, and count on support from your very first Tempo class all the way to your career. Walden University, set Learning a course for change. Ready to start? Visit waldenu.edu today. Certified to operate by Chev. And opening week is on a new level. Welcome to another season of the NBA on ESPN. New chapters begin in South Beach. Two of the elite players are on display. The king protects his new court. Welcome back, great to have all of you with us. Carter is up next. Good afternoon, Carter. Yeah, I have a question about the Auburn and Georgia game. So do you think Auburn won the game, or do you think Georgia lost the game? Well, I think Auburn played extremely well, but I felt as Georgia was marching down the field at the end before Gunnar fumbled, that the game was... Would that have sent the game into overtime if they kicked her? Okay, so Georgia would have won. Yeah, I thought Georgia... Okay, yeah, it was already 24-all. I thought Georgia was going to win the game. Okay, because on Kirby's post game, you know, he was saying that Georgia usually beat themselves when they lose. But Auburn dominated, you know, the line of scrimmage. Byron Brown had more rushing yards than Georgia's entire offense. So, the game was going in the trigger. So, how would you... Well, listen, I thought Auburn... I mean, first of all, we're splitting hairs. Auburn played well enough to win because they obviously did. They're the ones that made the plays at the end of the game to kick the winning field goal. I just... I was surprised. All I can say is I was surprised. Even when Auburn was down by two scores, I still thought they were going to come back. And it was hard to have a lot of faith in Auburn because I had not really seen Auburn do anything this year to justify it. So that's my rationale there. Carter, let me know the next time they start awarding wins and losses based on statistics, okay? Appreciate the call. Paul is up next in Tennessee. Thanks for taking my call there, Paul. I got two comments, and I hope I get to both of them. First one was on Friday. I tried to get ahold of you. I was going to guarantee a win for Tennessee because Friday, Saturday was my birthday, and I turned 84. So that was a great birthday gift for me from Tennessee football team and the coaches and everybody. My second comment is back in 1961, I was a senior at West High School there in Knoxville. And I went to the Auburn, Tennessee game and Auburn beat Tennessee. And on the way home, I walk in up Cumberland Avenue, and there was two guys from Auburn, they were drunk as skunks. And I said, well, I'm going to pull something on them. And they were standing there and I said War Eagle. And he turned around and gave me $220 bills. But back in 1961, $220 bills, $40 was a lot of money. You better believe it. I'll take it right now. That was funny. I only had to walk four more blocks home from there, because I only lived eight blocks from the stadium. So that made a good day for even getting beat by Auburn. So that's just the story I wanted to tell you. That was 65 years ago. Well, first of all, Paul, happy birthday. That sounds like a lot of fun. You be well. You take care of yourself. Let me check in next with Curtis and Shadon Nuga. Hello, Curtis. Hey, Paul. How you doing today? We're doing great. First of all, Paul, I want to say, my prayers go out to Jalen Hurts and his family, and I hope Jalen gets well soon. I think everybody joins you, and I cannot wait for the explanation of why they put him through what they did in London. That's a travesty. Yeah. And Paul, I normally get up on the hill when y'all first get up there on Saturday morning. Because of the weather, I was late getting up on the hill. So I got there by the time Alabama, they rolled the buses in and, you know, for the players to get out and walk through the stadium. And they play as Alabama does not look like they came to play. They did not. Well, here's what I don't understand, Curtis. I understand having a tough game last week. A lot of schools had tough games, but you and I both know this rivalry. And there are a few things more important if you're in Alabama or Tennessee player than that game and how that coaching staff did not prepare them to play in that game. And I think you're right. It is one of the great mysteries of this mysterious college football season. But maybe when you grow up in wherever Cale and DeBoer grow up in the middle of the far west, maybe you just don't appreciate a game like Alabama and Tennessee, like the two of us. Yeah, Paul, it was good to see you. I appreciate all the help you gave me. And Paul, wasn't it wonderful on Friday to meet Nelson Bum, I guess I'm saying that right, Douda? Yeah, it was. And Curtis, I really appreciated you coming by anyway. And I think she was a fine young lady, and I know her father's proud of her. And Paul, one more thing I got to say. Tennessee, I want to apologize to Alabama fans for the way they were treated by some Tennessee fans, because I know we hate each other, but the point of it is, be respectful. Win or lose, be respectful to your opponent. And I want to apologize for the way, when really it was the young fans. These youngs would get drinking and they'd get crazy. But I apologize, I appreciate it at the time. Thank you for everything. Curtis, always great. You be well, and I look forward to chatting with you very, very soon. Ron is up next in Florida. Hello, Ron. Hi Paul, thanks for taking my call, and happy Monday. I'd like to talk about why the conversation today is what it's about. Four unintentional results of the NIL and the unlimited portal era. Number one, no more dynasties thanks to the unlimited portal and the NIL money. Secondly, the games are much more boring, there's more defensive battles, and who can keep the ball? The longest on the field, ball control is very big now because of the parity of the teams. And number three, you can very quickly, you don't have to wait three years for a freshman to make it to junior or play a couple years with the NIL, they can fill these holes over the summer, and their teams are back at full strength, ready to go. Sum that all up, Paul. The 24-game playoff is exactly what happens, and what we'll see with three and four lost teams moving forward. Thank you very, very much, Ron. You be well. You take care of yourself. Let's check in with William in Alaska. Hello, William. Hey, Paul, up here in Talkeet in Alaska, it's the first day of snow, and that's got me thinking about the postseason. With George's loss against Auburn, that's the first time Auburn's beat them as the number one since 1942. Do you still see the Dogs as a national championship favorite, even after that slip up? Yeah, I don't think you could say they're the favorite, but I still think they're- From the SEC? Yeah, yeah, I do. And I'm as aware of their schedule as you are and everybody else, but I still feel, I mean, I was explaining, I think, to Mike Greenberg today. I think he looked at me like I was crazy, which maybe I am. I said, I still feel pretty good about it. And I said, by the way, I'm aware they lost. I mean, everybody saw the same game I did. But these things happen. The caller a few minutes ago mentioned the loss to Will Muschamp as number one in 2019 or whatever year it was. These things, I can't explain college football. I watched the NFL yesterday, and I saw some of the strangest results I've ever seen in my football existence. This year, we're seeing some of them in college football. But I think I bet if you ask Kirby, I bet if you ask Kirby Smart, I bet if you ask Kirby Smart, deep down, were you surprised by the way your team played, he would say no, because he understands that rivalry. He understands the way Auburn has played the last couple of years. And we had Taylor McGregor said the same thing to us on Friday. I mean, it's easy not to listen, but we were told and we tried to tell you, why don't we take a short break here? Walden University is where working professionals like you get the W. With Walden's Tempo Learning, which is available in select programs, you earn your degree at your own pace. No set weekly deadlines, no rigid schedules. Gain practical skills through real world scenarios. Learn from faculty with real world experience and count on support from your very first class all the way to your career. Walden University, set a course for change. Ready to start? Visit waldenu.edu today. Certified to operate by SHEV. You're listening to The Paul Finebaum Show Podcast. Alex Groshe, earlier, we'll talk to Cole Cubelic here in just a few moments. Let's check in with Frank in Delaware. Hey, Frank. Good afternoon, Paul. I'm just calling in reference to Alabama. I've been an Alabama fan ever since I was 10 years old, and I'm 76 years old now. And I got to tell you, I think I know a good Alabama coach team after all these years. And I tell you, that's what we're not getting here. We're not getting a bang for a buck from these coaches. They coach a terrible game. A terrible game, I'm telling you. And when you go in at half time, half time is supposed to you make adjustments on what the hell you've been doing. And when Alabama goes in at half time and they come back out, they're worse off than they are second half, they only have the first half. I've never seen a team like this. We've had so many opportunities when we played Georgia. And, you know, there was so many opportunities there for us. If a quarterback could read a defense, he could have saw that all night long. Guy linebacker comes in from the left side, you throw there. Guy comes from the right side, you throw there. He wasn't doing that all night long. He can't read a defense. And I don't know why he can't read a defense after all the practice they've had during the spring and everything. It's just a poor coach team, and I guess we're just going to have to accept this. They should fire that Greg Burn for selling us a bag of goods like this, these coaches. They're just not very good at it. Thank you. Thank you, Frank. Some of the frustration starting to show here with Alabama fans. Chris is up next in Mountain Brook. All great to talk to you as always. Paul, I've called you many times after one of these crazy losses we've had over the last many years. And I usually ask you about three questions. I don't understand, what am I missing? And what did I just see? And after a big win, like we had on Saturday, I'd like to ask you, what am I missing? I don't understand, and what did I just see? I mean, Paul, help me make that make sense. I mean, the biggest and most shocking thing of that game to me was, I had seen no indication that our line could play like that. I agree, Georgia made mistakes and everything, but the line did something I just did not expect to see in that game against probably the best defensive line we'll play all year. Yeah, I mean, by the way, Chris, it's a really well executed question, and my answer is going to be terrible because I don't know either. And I think that's just, some of it is just the spectacle of sports. And I don't need to tell you, but you look up and down the NFL yesterday. Can you explain about half of those outcomes? And I think we're seeing it a little bit more in college football than we've ever seen it. It's for all the reasons that you already know. And I think there is the old axiom that you can only get up for four or five times a year. And people want to say, well, how, why can't you get up? You only get 12 of these a year. Well, it's true. And Auburn just figured out a way to do what it has been doing the last couple of years to be fired up, motivated and execute well against Georgia. Can you tell me another, I mean, they've done this now. They used to do this against Alabama and they still do to a degree, but they seem to be doing it more for Georgia. I know, no matter there or at home, we have played them great for the last several years. And Paul, to your point on the end of the pale, the only one I can explain there is the Cowboys losing because there was no way my Cowboys were going to let me have the perfect football weekend. But, yeah, Paul, I mean, I just... By the way, I think the Cowboys are going to lose every game this year, so it really doesn't matter. They might as well after those last two performances. But Paul, I mean, I would like to believe, yes, okay, they got it. They bought it. Everything's going as said. You love what he said all off season. I have to love what he said in the losses. And he's working towards a goal and he wants everybody going in that same direction. And I think you'll see how they respond after winning a big game like that. No, I agree with you. And I don't know that there's a lot of confidence that Auburn will win this weekend. They're playing LSU, which everybody knows about. But I'm also going to tell you, I don't think that matters as much. I think Auburn, I think Alex Gouwich had to prove what we were all saying in the off season about this program feels different and it looks different. He got it done. And even if he loses these next two games, which he is an underdog to do, I don't think that is going to take away from the singular accomplishment. No, Paul, it is the biggest win. You were trying to search for the year a little while ago. It was 2019, the last time we had a win like this. And I don't think even the wins of then, the Bama win with Stidham, maybe is on the equivalent, but beating Georgia in Athens, number one, is unbelievable. And it sure was a great deal. But let me also ask you a question. How do you explain Brian Harson just about having beaten Alabama his first year? He could have done it. If the running back hadn't run out of bounds. Thanks, Bigsby. Thanks, Bigsby. How do you explain in Hugh Freeze's first year what should have happened but didn't happen? So my point is, Auburn is one of those programs that I think more than maybe any other school, especially at home, can get up for a game and nearly win it, except everything that could go wrong has gone against them. They just happened to find a program in Georgia that, for all the reasons that have been explained, was not firing correctly, and they were vulnerable. Yes, and like I said, we took advantage of it, which we have typically not done. But Paul, I want to take you to one of the reasons we won, is Saturday afternoon, about the time the third quarter was going, I was officiating a wedding for my stepson. So I think that was what put us over the top. Well, listen, Chris, I don't want to chastise you, but, you know, just like Alex Gouwish, his family was at the homecoming of his daughter, I think. This is not, I mean, they didn't decide yesterday, three days ago, to play the Georgia game on that date. So what it reminds me of a story, I may have told you this before. Somebody I worked with at a newspaper, this wasn't like a guy who was in a chemist, OK? One of my fellow sports writers decided to get married to a young lady that I introduced him to on the third Saturday in October, whatever year it was. And I said, you expect me to come to the wedding? And I mean, that's even dumber than what you did, but not by much. Well, I was asked to do it and I was happy to do it. And then, so now, every time Albert has a big game, unless any game, I'm going to be searching for a wedding to go officiate. Well, you should. You should. Listen, Chris, I don't plan on it, but if I ever decided I had an opportunity to get married again, I can't think of anybody I'd rather have officiated than Chris from Mountain Brook. We'll take a short break. Cole Cubelic will join us next. Walden University is where working professionals like you get the W. With Walden's Tempo Learning, which is available in select programs, you earn your degree at your own pace. No set weekly deadlines, no rigid schedules. Gain practical skills through real-world scenarios. Learn from faculty with real-world experience, and count on support from your very first class all the way to your career. Walden University, set a course for change. Ready to start? Visit waldenu.edu today. Certified to operate by SHEV. You're listening to The Paul Finebaum Show Podcast. Friday we will be at Auburn. And I think we're doing the show right by the Cole Cubelic statue. Cole Cubelic joining us right now. Cole will see him later on. Cole, let's talk about Auburn for a second, because everybody's had various opinions, but you look at the film, you see what happened, explain that game to us. Well, I'll just say this first, Paul. One that I think the Auburn fan base, athletic department, everybody just needed, really and truly needed, just some good spirit. Something to get energized around, some maybe extra belief, and Alex Golds was able to bring that. They did a nice job varying the plan. You saw him go back to some of his older formations when he was at Tennessee, utilize some of what he got the Georgia defense to do when he had faced them in his career when he was the Vols offensive coordinator. Spread that field out, make those receivers wide again, and then hit them with some quarterback runs, some good misdirection with those quarterback runs as well. And it wasn't just Byron Brown. He was great. They had to utilize his legs. I thought it was the best game the offensive line played this season, and the receivers really stepped up and helped Byron Brown. They made plays, a couple of run after the catch, a couple of contested catches that those wide receivers made. And the defense, when they had to get the ball back, they did. And that's an area, Paul, I think, those clutch situations, those big moments late in games when a lot of Auburn fans sat back and said, yeah, this isn't going to happen. But Auburn was able to find those plays late, get the football back, kick a big field goal to win a game. And hopefully, that energizes this football team, gives them a little bit more belief down the stretch. Well, it certainly looked that way. And another opportunity this Saturday in Auburn, let me get to Texas for a second, Cole, because that's where there is so much teeth gnashing. When you watch Texas, what do you see? Well, I see a football team that across the board, this is not every single individual, across the board, Paul, they're not extremely rugged. They haven't been the tougher football team in a lot of games this season. Now, they've had the athleticism, the speed, the playmaking capability to win some of those games. And I thought this was one of them. I thought John Somerall's team took the fight to them. And once they were able to grab just a little bit of momentum, that team was able to ride that to a victory. Keep in mind, this was Tramble Jones, a backup quarterback that Buster Faulkner had to design some different things for that was able to go out and make some plays. This wasn't just Jaden Ball 35 times, dominate up front. They mixed and matched their plan just a little bit, both on offense and defense. Frustrated Arch Manning, mixed some coverages up. I thought Brad White did a nice job of showing some things, pre-snap on the back end, and then getting to something else to make Arch Manning believe he was throwing the football into coverages that actually weren't going to be there. This is a tough one to swallow. And like Coach Sarc said, Coach Sarc said it this week, we got to do simple better, and then he can add all the other things to that, but it's a lot of the foundation of this offense that he's built, that they are not executing at the level that it needs to be executed at. Let me go to Norman for the Kentucky game, because at this point, we're not surprised by anything Will Stein pulls off, but a lot of people are surprised by what Oklahoma put on the field. And there are parts of it that you should be surprised, Paul. It's a little similar to what we talked about with Texas. There are playmakers there. Isaiah Satinga is as good as any receiver in this league. I mean, he can score from anywhere on the field and not just receiving the football. He can do it, be a punt return, hand the football. And John Mattier has the skill set to go out and do some of these things. But it's almost as though they're allergic to handing the football off at times. And then they got cued a couple of times. Paul, how else do you want to say it? You run a flea flicker inside your own territory. When you're on the move, you're actually having success on offense. The fake field goal, I didn't really hate. It was there. You had an opportunity, and you could be mad at Mattier for some of the late interceptions, but he had to force the football. I think those are actually a little bit more understanding than some of the play calls were in the middle eight of this game, just before halftime. I remember I walked out of halftime, and Teddy Lehman, the great Oklahoma linebacker who does radio for the Sooners, he walked out and asked me, he said, what do you think? And I said, I think good things happen when you hand the football off, and you have some success. They actually had that going, and they just get away from it. And that happened in the Michigan game, happened a little bit in the Texas game. They got back to it more so in the Texas game than I thought they would. But take a little bit off the quarterback. I think if you can do that, you can ride your defense to win a lot more games this year. It's just when John Mattier feels like it's on him, you feel the intensity, and you feel him ramp up and over exert himself. And I think you've got to find a way to pull some of that off him if you're going to win a lot more games this season. Let's head to Knoxville. What was your takeaway from that incredible game? Jim Knowles is amazing. It was a great plan that he had. He did a wonderful job, and we're going to talk about it on Read and React, Paul, of occupying offensive linemen. So making an offensive lineman think they had to block someone when actually there wasn't going to be an individual for them to block. And when you waste blockers against a pressure-laden defense, and you drop back often, which Alabama did, you're probably going to be in trouble. They have individuals who could take over the game. Xavier Gilliam could dominate the game himself if he wanted to. But I think Jim Knowles won this game and said, you put the emphasis on him. We're going to allow other people to go make plays in different ways. They had three corner crashes that hit in this game that were at least effective. One was a batted ball, one right into a run play that was a tackle for loss, and another that forced the ball out quickly. Those are the kind of things where you have to tip your captain Knowles and say he had a beat on this offense, had an idea where to bring pressure from, because it worked on a consistent basis. And at the end of the day, I thought Tennessee was a more physical football team. I thought they won the line of scrimmage on both sides. And George McIntyre probably not getting enough credit. He made some really nice throws, but better yet, Paul made great decisions inside the Tennessee offense. Joey Allsley didn't ask him to do a ton, but when he needed to make a few throws and take some things that the Alabama defense was giving him, he was able to make those throws, move the chains, maintain possession, and help Tennessee ultimately go get that win. Cole, in the final few seconds, let's do a look ahead. We'll be in Auburn on Saturday. What does Auburn have to do against LSU, which is very talented, as we all know. I think first and foremost, just manage the movement on that defense that Blake Baker is going to throw at you, because it's going to come from all over the place. You've got to just deal with that first, and then manage what comes after that. You go try to find and make your plays other places, but you've got to deal with all the movement and the different pressures from different places. Defensively, it's going to sound crazy, because he hasn't been the focal point of this LSU offense. Slow down Dylan Jones. I still believe Paul Thirteen can take over a game for the LSU offense if you let him, and that offensive line has just kind of gotten better and better throughout the course of the season. Sam Levitt is playing better in the pocket. I actually want to do the opposite of what the Kentucky staff told me they wanted to do, John Mattier. I don't want Sam Levitt to play this game from the pocket. I want him to play this game outside of the pocket, make him think he needs to play hero ball, run around, try to do crazy things outside the pocket with the football, and if you make him do that, that's where some of his mistakes come from. He was in the pocket more so against Mississippi State, and it was his first game as an LSU Tiger not to turn the football over. So get him out of the pocket, try to force him to make plays on his own, and slow down Dylan Jones. We will see Cole and Roman coming up here in an hour on Read and React. I would not want to miss that show. Thank you, Cole. We'll see you in a couple of days. Cole Cubelic joining us from the studio. We have one more hour to go. We have taken a lot of calls, but we haven't taken that many. That will change in the final hour. And if you're expecting a call from legend, let me guarantee you of one thing. You will hear him next. You're listening to The Paul Finebaum Show Podcast. Walden University is where working professionals like you get the W. With Walden's Tempo Learning, which is available in select programs, you earn your degree at your own pace. No set weekly deadlines, no rigid schedules. Gain practical skills through real world scenarios. Learn from faculty with real world experience, and count on support from your very first class all the way to your career. Walden University. Set a course for change. Ready to start? Visit waldenu.edu today. Certified to operate by Chev.