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Mack Brown, Todd Blackledge’s thoughts on first College Football Playoff Poll

Alex Zorn

By Alex Zorn

Published:

Former 16-year Texas coach Mack Brown and former Penn State QB Todd Blackledge spoke at length Wednesday on the first College Football Playoff rankings of the 2015 season. Here is some of what they said:

It became clear from the very get-go that Brown is a big fan of Mike Dantonio and the MSU football team, “His only two losses were to OSU and Oregon last year.” Both of whom played in the National Championship game. “Why does Dantonio win in November?,” the coach continued, “He’s smart. His teams get better as the season goes on… They remember November.”

Right now Michigan State sits 7th in the College Football Playoff Poll, but with games against Ohio State and Penn State coming up, that is certainly subject to change.

Paxton Lynch is another guy high on the coach’s radar as he sees him as a “high draft choice.” The coach added, “Lynch could be in New York for the Heisman ceremony with games against Navy, Houston, and Temple [in the next few weeks].” The three teams are a combined 21-2 at this point in the season.

Both of the college football analysts see the Big 12 as an eventual competitor in the Playoff. “Big 12 is a very strong conference,” Blackledge said. The schedule for each of the top four teams is, “backloaded” and “everyone will be watching [at the end of the season.”

“There’s very little margin of victory in College Football,” Brown added

The good news for OU fans is that both Blackledge and Brown see the Sooners as this year’s Ohio State team. A one-loss Buckeyes team was ranked outside the top ten in the Playoff Poll at this time last year as well after losing a bad game to Virginia Tech.

At this point in the call it was my turn to ask a question of the two legends on the other end of the line, and while I wish I could have asked a question with a little more substance at least I got the conversation shifted towards where it matters, the SEC.

Do you think LSU must go undefeated to make the College Football Playoff?

“If they don’t win out it will make things very difficult,” Blackledge replied. “The chances of them going undefeated [are not high at this point with games at Alabama, Arkansas, and at Ole Miss in the next three weeks]. If they lose a game they will need some help.”

Brown agreed. “All three of those games are very tough, having coached at LSU for a number of seasons.” Brown was the quarterbacks coach for the Tigers in the 1982 season as they improved from 3-7-1 to 8-3-1, beating both Mississippi and Alabama in the process.

Finally the Hall-of-Fame coach gave his support to a SEC coach he’s admired for a long time. “Mark Richt has done as good of a job at Georgia as anybody. What I’ve seen is similar to what happened to me in my final days. I stayed 16 years at Texas. They got tired of my stories.. At that time it was time to move on. I don’t know who you will hire that’s going to do a better job.”

If it was up to Mack Brown, Mark Richt would be coaching the Georgia Bulldogs next season.

Alex Zorn

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