Stories Inside the Man Cave
Stories Inside the Man Cave
Beyond the Game: Texas vs. Ohio State College Football Playoff Semifinal Preview
Excitement builds as the Texas Longhorns prepare to face off against the Ohio State Buckeyes in the Cotton Bowl, highlighting themes of resilience and community amid real-life events. The episode explores coaching legacies, team strategies, and the impact of rising star players while encouraging fan engagement ahead of the thrilling matchup.
• Overview of the Texas Longhorns' emotional preparation for the game
• Discussion on Steve Sarkisian's coaching impact on the team
• Accounting for social challenges contextualizing college football
• Breakdown of Texas defense against Ohio State's offensive strengths
• Exploration of player narratives, including NIL influences
• Predictions around game outcomes and rallying community support
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Hello Longhorn Nation. Great time to be a Longhorn Nation. Great time to be a Longhorn. Not a better place to watch a game in town than Dirty's, about 100 years old. We just came in 299. So come see us. Come see us win this natty Men's and women's basketball. We got it here. Hook them good protection.
Speaker 4:It's for kayla louis touchdown our defense won that football game for us. We were struggling, struggling. They gave us a chance, they gave us an opportunity at the end and somehow, someway, we pulled it out 55 seconds to play.
Speaker 5:How about?
Speaker 3:that Steve Sarkeesian back in his days as a Brigham Young Cougar, the quarterback, the QB1, man. I remember that, like it was yesterday, he got to play in the Cotton Bowl and led BYU to a 14-1 record and a finish in the top five in the country of that 96th season, the same season in which Stark and BYU beat Texas A&M. I believe it was up in Provo, utah. I am Sean Clinch, the host of Stories Inside the man Cave, and of course let's talk about it, this series and this series is brought to you by, in particular, honest Plumbing and Air. But a big shout out to each of our sponsors Jim Saston State Farm, dirty Martins Place, an iconic Austin original, which celebrated its well it's about to celebrate its 99th year. Hargrove Roofing know who's on your roof? And of course, honest Plumbing and Air, as I mentioned, where a handshake still means something. Man, today is the day Later.
Speaker 3:Tonight, sark will return to the Cotton Bowl Classic game, but not inside the Cotton Bowl Stadium. Since 2010, it's been at Jerry World in Arlington. Will the Longhorns knock off Ohio State to play Notre Dame for the national championship? Let's talk about it. All right, the formalities are done. Texas and Ohio State have been in the DFW Metroplex for the last two or three days. All the preparation is done. Now we're here. We are here, finally, after all the talking, everything, the Buckeyes and Longhorns will play for a spot in the CFP National Championship game to meet Notre Dame, who beat Penn State in a great semifinal game last night. Wow, this is thrilling and all the talking's done. Now you got to prove it on the field.
Speaker 3:Before we get going, be sure to follow us on each of our social media platforms Facebook, igx and subscribe for free to our YouTube page and to our TikTok page as well. I appreciate it and you know. Share it all the content with your friends, family, whatnot? Tell people about it, follow, comment along. Man, we've had a good time with this since the CFP began. All right, here it is CFP Final Four Texas and Ohio State two of college football's blue bloods but unfortunately there has been a couple of tragedies and more important things than any college football game and Steve Sarkeesian, the Texas head football coach, addressed that namely the fires in LA, which has been really tough to watch. I've had two friends, one of the fires on the north side of Pasadena, which floated all the way to his yard six and a half miles south of Pasadena. It is the scenes, the video. It's absolutely just depressing and you feel for each of the families and everyone involved, and Sark made it a point to talk about that before anything about this game.
Speaker 4:What has happened in Los Angeles right now is unfathomable. Being from Los Angeles, a lot of friends and family there that are affected, and so I just hope everybody out there can keep their thoughts and prayers with those and obviously those in New Orleans with some of the tragic events that have occurred.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's been a really tough couple of weeks here in our country. Mother nature, people with bad intentions, and I really hope that everyone involved is blessed with some type of closure and comfort, because this is unnecessary and it's really hard. It's been hard, but I will say college football is a good outlet. As for the game, ryan Day, the Ohio State coach, who's honestly been through the ringer from the Ohio State fans because they got beat by Michigan. Well, they made up for it and he was quick to point out this game and the opportunity to play a great program, a story program, like Texas.
Speaker 1:Very, very talented, well-coached. Played in big games before, and so it's a great opponent and it's going to be a great atmosphere. Our team's very, very excited about playing in it.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and everyone's excited about this, everyone, I mean, between the weather in Dallas-Fort Worth which right now, depending on what time you're seeing this, on this beautiful Friday, it's still going to be cold, not as cold, and I'm sure there's some snow and ice on the ground, the remnants of those storms which rolled through the Metroplex and other parts of Texas. Of course, back in Austin we just got, it was miserable cold and rain, but now we can focus on the game. Everyone there, I hope, made it safely. I know there was a few stretches of the Dallas-Fort Worth area where you had to take it slow because of the sliding on the icy streets.
Speaker 3:But one topic is why is UP's defense in particular since the CFP started? You look at the two games against Clemson and Arizona State. Well, they found soft spots in that Texas defense which we didn't see during the 12-game regular season. Well, michael Taft, for the pride of Westlake High School, who is arguably one of the best, or the best, safety in American All-American former walk-on, by the way, if you haven't heard that story, he gave a good reason and it's because you have smart coaches. All of these college football playoff programs have amazing coaches, or they wouldn't be there and Michael Taft really gave a great explanation as to why this Texas defense has given up more yards than normal, because it is a top three defense in the country.
Speaker 6:Yeah, just communicate, just communicate with one another. You know, I think you got 10 days to prepare for each one of these games. Arizona State had 20 days to prepare for their game, to prepare for their game. And so you know you have 15 games on tape of what type of schemes you run. And so I think you know with every defense there's always, you know, a beater to a defense. That's why defense coordinators are always on the sideline throwing their hats, throwing their headsets down, because there's always some type of beater to every single defensive scheme. And so you know, when you have that much tape out there, all the games that we've played, and 10 days to get ready for that and to scheme a defensive back group, then I think that happened.
Speaker 3:Yeah, great explanation from Michael Taft. And if you really look at Ohio State's, their body of work resume, so to speak. I mean after that loss to Michigan, a team in which Texas beat early in the season big rivalry game. It is heated, it's a lot of hatred, whatnot, but they regrouped. But Ohio State regrouped and absolutely dominated Tennessee and the one seed Oregon and really got after them quickly in the first quarter. I mean jumped on top of them so quickly that both Tennessee and Oregon basically said mercy. Oregon did make a comeback.
Speaker 3:But he's right. Michael Taft is right. You have these coaches, you get more and more tape on film and you're being exposed. So every defense, as he says, has a weakness. It's a matter Can you expose it?
Speaker 3:Ohio State's front four defense, number one in the country, total defense and scoring. Ohio State says number one in the country, total defense and scoring. Ohio State says but this is something that Texas can use or is probably in their game plan. It's all about the counter, countering what the opposing team's game plan is. And on offense they have so many weapons. Quarterback Will Howard, the former Kansas State quarterback. He's been really good, over 3,500 yards of total offense this season. Jeremiah Smith, an incredible freakish will-be-a-superstar-on-Sundays receiver. It's going to be interesting to see that matchup tonight, him against the Jim Thorpe Award winner, that being Jadae Barron. And there's so many other players I'm not mentioning. But you would like to think that if Texas maintains the edge and limits the Ohio State big plays to three or less and defense has to force turnovers to make up for what Ohio State is scheming for, that has given the perception through the stats that this Texas defense has become a little leaky. And Texas on the offensive side has to do what they have done these last two CFP games and that is jump on our opponents early. But Joel Klatt, he'll talk about that when we get to the second segment, talking about that and the trends of both Ohio State and Texas, what we've seen from the eye test and, statistically, two teams going different directions. But you could also say a win is a win and that's what's so exciting about this matchup.
Speaker 3:None of us know, none of us have any clue of what's going to happen tonight. Plus, you've got Texas an underdog. I still believe you want, if you're a Texas fan, underdog. I still believe If you're a Texas fan, you want this Longhorn team. You want that point spread in Vegas to keep rising, because I think this team plays really well when they're doubted, and they've proven so many, many times in the not-too-distant past. I mean, just remember Alabama last year. No one gave Texas a chance. That's what the beauty of this is, and a trip to the national championship game on the line.
Speaker 3:Before we hit a break there was a. I think Sark made a really good response when he was talking about this new era of the CFP to the 12-team format. I love it. Tell me what you think. I really want to know what you think. Hit me up on Twitter about this new 12-team format. I think it's great. I think it's going to get better. I think we're going to have the opportunity to see more on-campus games if they can expand to 14, 16 teams. But you know there are no undefeated teams and that's the era of product, of the era of name, image and likeness and the transfer portal. And Sartre gave his response and he's not wrong.
Speaker 4:I mean, Coach Day's done a great job. He's got a tremendous staff, great talent on their team. They've navigated the season tremendously. You know, I think in this day and age of college football, to think that you're just going to go unblemished is probably not realistic.
Speaker 3:Not at all. Not at all. If a team does go undefeated, if your team is that team that goes undefeated unless you're just too deep, of future NFL studs that are all fully developed, nfl studs that are all fully developed that's not a good position to be in to be undefeated, in my opinion, in the CFP, because you are ripe for an upset. That's just my opinion on that. We're going to take a quick break here on episode 445. And on the other side we're going to talk about predictions and reasons why Texas or Ohio State will play Notre Dame in the national championship game. I'll see you on the other side of this break.
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Speaker 3:That's Texas Longhorn Wide receiver signing, getting ready for the All-American Bowl. The top high school football talent in the country, jamie French, you saw it. He's predicting a big Texas win. You could call it an upset, but according to how they're seeded, it's not an upset and also it's not out of the question. Texas will roll in this game. You've had multiple enough time in between the last CFP games and the semifinal. You have time for both teams.
Speaker 3:Injured players who are questionable are playing, like Cam Williams for Texas on the O-line. He will be playing and other players. Everybody's banged up this time of year, but that time was necessary for every player on every team. So you really don't know. I know on paper, and I even said it before the year, that top to bottom, ohio State is perhaps the best team in the country. I'm not going to waver on that. But like Jamie French, the Texas Longhorn signee, I still believe anything can happen in this game In Arlington, a place where Ohio State has experience playing, but Texas too, having won the Big 12 championship at Jerry World last year. But Joe Clyde, a guy who I really respect, the former Colorado quarterback. He's a good analysis analyst. Excuse me, it's just a question he talked about and he was just spitting facts of why he thinks Ohio State has the upper hand in this game.
Speaker 1:Texas has to survive. The first quarter, ohio State jumped out 21-0 on Tennessee, then 34-0 on Oregon. Those are the leads in the first two playoff games. If that's the case, it's a wrap. Both of those games were a wrap. Tennessee was not coming back from a 21-point deficit. Tennessee was not coming back from a 21-point deficit. Oregon was not coming back from a 34-point deficit. That is not happening.
Speaker 3:Okay, he makes a valid point and the beauty of this is all the talk, all the storylines and I know in some matchups you just don't match up well against teams. But I think this Texas team responds to adversity so well. Ohio State is playing with that me against the world type approach. They've been hearing the criticism since they lost to Michigan. Look what they've done and they have some dogs on that team. There is absolutely no doubt about that. But Texas is seasoned. They have a lot of guys who are going to be in the NFL next season.
Speaker 3:By the way, this friend of mine right here, the Stuy, and he looks better today. It's a matter of days before this guy is gone and I look like I'm not. I didn't get into a big fight, get my butt kicked or anything like that, but the sty is almost gone. But man, I'm really leaning toward Texas. I really am. I was really. I thought the season was perhaps going to end tonight up until yesterday, was perhaps going to end tonight up until yesterday. Then I started thinking you know, this underdog role is significant. I'm going to take Texas. I know I said it in the prior episode. I'm going to go ahead and say it's going to be 23-17 Texas. These defenses are going to get after each other.
Speaker 3:Hey Ben tell me something good. Hey, tell me something good. Hey, tell me something good. We love ending on positivity. Quinn Ewers He'll go down as one of the best Quarterbacks, easily top 10, perhaps top 5, in UT football history. We know a lot of these players stay in IL era, are paid very nicely, if you will, but he was talking about what he does with his NIL money and this is something not only good but great.
Speaker 5:Just being able to give back to my parents and I actually have my. I get to, I get to pay my mom a salary, which is nice, just because you know all the effort and work they put into me. Growing up I mean they both we were living in South Texas. They both quit their jobs and moved up to Southlake. We really lived in the Grapevine area first and then just for them and all the work that they put in for me and my two sisters is, I mean, even what I give back can't describe how thankful I am for everything that they do for me.
Speaker 3:Man, that's beautiful. That is beautiful. Shout out to you Quinn, yours and I know there are probably more players like him. His mom is his only employee and she manages his finances, which is a good thing, and you know it's being smart. And you know, when he went to Ohio State by reclassifying not playing his senior year at South Lake Carroll for Riley Dodge reclassified, reported to Ohio State midway through camp, was a backup to, or one of the backups to, cj Stroud Learned a lot and Quinn has plenty of ties to these current Buckeyes.
Speaker 3:Don't forget that. So there's that element and I can't wait. This is going to be a beautiful day leading up, can't wait. And man, the Cotton Bowls college football playoff semifinal man Texas and Ohio State man, hit me up with the comments on Facebook, on the podcast Facebook page, instagram and Twitter. Let's talk about this with this episode, because I would love to hear what you have to say. Man, cheers to you. Cannot wait for tonight. And it is, man, I'm absolutely blown away because Notre Dame barely got by Penn State 27-24. They were awaiting the winner between Texas and Ohio State. So whenever you have an opportunity to talk college football and the CFP and the Longhorns and Buckeyes with a chance to play for the national championship. It's always good to talk about it. Outro Music.