[00:00:00] Foreign.
[00:00:06] Hi, I'm Kayla Ali and welcome back to the Ali Perspective. And we have a great week in college football. And you know, I have to discuss that. First up for our in the SEC, for our 3:30 primetime game we have Oklahoma versus Alabama. Now that is a top 15 matchup and that is I think think Oklahoma has two losses in SEC and Alabama has none.
[00:00:31] So this game will be interesting. Oklahoma won't have a claim necessarily.
[00:00:36] This would help Oklahoma's chances of making into the College Football Playoff and then a loss for Alabama would hurt them for in their chances for a college Football playoff and it would possibly take them out of the running for going to the SEC championship game.
[00:00:52] But in that matter, as someone who is both a fan of Alabama, NFL of Oklahoma, I don't know how to feel about this. It kind of sucks when both the teams you like have to come and play against each other. But last year I think Alabama overlooked Oklahoma. I mean Brent Venerables has an amazing defense. He always has an, he's going to coach an amazing defense. In the past two years he has had a top defense and I'm talking about he has probably one of the most, I not, I wouldn't want to say versatile defensive line front, but I will probably say one of the deepest defensive line fronts in America. I mean all, all six guys in rotation can get a second any given moment.
[00:01:42] Their ability to be fast off the ball to their first moves are always weak. And I'm talking about outside linebackers, I'm talking about like defensive tackles. They are all quick, they're all fast. Their first movement, their arms are fast, their hands are fast and they just cause havoc for quarterbacks consistently.
[00:02:06] The downside to Oklahoma is their offense. Can their offense score enough to keep up? Can their offense do what needs to be done? I mean John Mateer, he went from being possibly a Heisman contender in the first four to five weeks and then he had surgery on his hand. He hasn't quite been the same since. They've also had a revolving door for their offensive line because of some injuries. So they never really found that continuity defense. I mean offensively for their quarterback, they have a pretty pretty much non existent run game.
[00:02:40] So it'll be interesting to see how the offense will form against Alabama's defense. Now I do think Oklahoma has the better defensive line.
[00:02:52] They cause more pressures, they wreak more havoc. But I think Alabama has the better end in the secondary and then the middle linebacker play. I think that's where Alabama has the edge and I think Alabama offense Can score when they are on fire, but lately they've kind of. They've been able to win now. But Alabama's offense does not look like what we've seen previously. They get steps like I think last game they only scored three points in the second half. Still able to win. Their defense came up big.
[00:03:29] Kane Womack is doing an amazing job on the defensive side for Alabama and coaching that group up. And anytime they needed to make a big play, they did. Their offense wasn't able to capitalize on it a lot but anytime Alabama needed their defense to make a stop, they were able to do or they were able to get a takeaway. They're plus 11 in takeaways so far. They do a really good job. Alabama's defense does a really, really, really good job of taking the ball away and coming up with timely plays. Now they do give up a lot of yards. They do. They're. They, they are a bend but don't break type of defense.
[00:04:06] This game is going to come down to the offenses def. I think the defense are going to play very well, but it's going to be what offense makes the right play during the right time. And if I had to guess, I'm going to say because they've done it so consistently, Alabama will come out. But I think this game is going to be like 1512. Like I don't think there's going to is going to be a high scoring game. I think it's going to be a very low scoring game.
[00:04:35] Um, and then what's going to give Alabama the edge is this year's. The atmosphere in Tuscaloosa, in Teatown have been completely different and I think the crowd is going to play a major part into Alabama winning that game. Okay. But it is a great matchup and Oklahoma is not a team to look over. Okay. Not at all.
[00:04:56] Then we're going to have Texas and Georgia. That's the 7:30 game.
[00:05:06] Now I.
[00:05:09] Georgia has just been a team that first of all, only person that had that has had their number wholeheartedly has been Alabama. But every week in and out, Georgia's offense starts slow and then they find a way to win the game at the end. And I think it's going to be the same thing. I think Georgia is going to beat Texas. It's hard to beat Georgia in Athens. Okay. It is not easy place for anybody to win. Okay.
[00:05:38] I think Steve Sarkeesian is going to call a great game offensively, but I don't know if his quarterback, if Arch Manning is going to Be able to do what he needs to do in order to come through with the one. I mean, if you look at Arch Manning's numbers compared to Gunner Stockton numbers, they're only big difference to me that I've seen is the fact that ArchBannon has thrown four more interceptions than Stockton has with Georgia. Defense is going to do great as well. Georgia has a solid running game. It's not over the top, but it's a very solid running game.
[00:06:13] Whereas Texas has kind of struggled to run the ball a little bit.
[00:06:18] But I'm excited to watch that game as well. It's going to be a big week in the sec.
[00:06:22] If Texas can pull off the win, I think that'll be one of the biggest shocks. I think Georgia will definitely beat Texas in that bout. All right. Those are the two games that I'm really looking for.
[00:06:35] I'm really looking at to see what kind of happens. I also think. I know this might sound crazy, I know this might sound crazy, but South Carolina at Texas A M? I know people are writing off South Carolina, but I don't think you need to write them off this game. Yes, I've seen what Texas A and M has done, and I think Texas A and M is a good team.
[00:07:00] This game could either go two ways. It's either going to be a blowout or South Carolina is going to dig deep and pull off one of the biggest upsets of the season being three and six going into College Station and beating Texas A and M.
[00:07:18] South Carolina hasn't had a big win in a very. In a, you know, in a while. I would say every time that people. Every time we thought that this is going to be their win, this is going to be the thing that kind of turns around their program. It just kind of hasn't been that. But I. I'm telling you guys, keep an eye on this game, this South Carolina, Texas A and M game.
[00:07:39] I feel that I believe that South Carolina could pull off an upset. It's either going to be they pull off of really close upset or they're just going to get washed. But I think this is going to be. Because this is a game that no one is really talking about. Everyone is kind of overlooking South Carolina. I think they can go in and shake some things up for the Aggies. All right. And then now I want to turn it over to NCAA women's basketball. I'm super excited that college basketball has started, especially on the women's side of the ball. Um, I want to say that I watched the Tennessee and Belmont game. And I think Tennessee only beating Belmont by 10 says a lot. And that's a team that is ranked really, really high that I think can get upset later down the line. Okay, shout out to Notre Dame with Hannah Doggo she last game she had 44.6 steals, broke an NCAA record. Now I do not think how Notre Dame plays is going to be sustainable for them to make it to the national championship game. They rely heavily on Hannah and I don't think that, like I said, that's not sustainable. And if you look at her numbers regular season and even in the conference tournament before they go to March Madness, it her numbers drop significantly during the playoffs. But she is on one heck of a run right now. And also Audi Crooks she for Iowa State scored 42 points in 19 minutes. And when you look at those tape for that 19 minutes her team did what they should have. They fed her in the post. Her footwork was perfect and she had just the right touch. So shout out to Audi and shout out to Hannah Odago for putting on brilliant performances as we lead up into this college. Well as we are in this women's college basketball season so far also UConn has a two headed monster with AZ and Sarah. Sarah, Sarah Strong. Let me tell you as someone who has been a fan of UConn's women's basketball since I was 8 years old, which was in 2008. The way Sarah Strong plays so similar to Maya Moore, it baffles me like she has all three facets of the game. She can post you up, she can hit you with the mid range, she can step out and shoot threes, she's great on defense, she can pass the ball, has great vision. Okay, set. The games I have watched of Sarah Strong this year she is putting on a clinic. The growth that she has from her freshman to her sophomore year has been crazy to me.
[00:10:28] This is also one of the first teams I've seen of Gino Oriema where he actually is playing 10 players and they're all putting in good minutes. No, like he, he has a team of depth which is something that I haven't seen from this Yukon team in a while.
[00:10:42] So I'm excited. And that and also Gino doesn't play like Gino will have a seven man rotation to be perfectly fine with that.
[00:10:49] But he's opening up, he's opening up a little bit. I don't know if that means he's getting soft in age or what.
[00:10:56] South Carolina girls.
[00:10:58] I really hate that Chloe kids to her ACL and she will be missing the season, but they are going to be a joy to watch again this year.
[00:11:07] Their ball movement has been really good. There's, there's still a team that shares the ball. They still play with a lot of discipline. They still play great defense.
[00:11:16] Joyce Edwards is, is becoming the star of the show. Okay. She is a great post player. She's a great passer, she's a great defender. She has also shown growth from her freshman year to sophomore year. So the battle that I'm going to see, but I, I'm not, it's not a battle. It's the way that I'm gonna be watching the trajectory of Sarah Strong and Joyce Edwards because I think they are the best two players in their league.
[00:11:45] Well, in their class to me in terms of being a complete player and I'm excited to see what they end up being. And also it's going to be a tough not, it's going to be a tough matchup. We're going to have the battle of who's the real USC coming up between South Carolina and the University of Southern California. And I think I'm definitely going to, I'm, I'm biased because I'm a South Carolina girl. I'm going to give that to South Carolina. But I mean USC has signed the last number one overall play says signed three of the last overall players in that class. So I think they're going to be fun to watch. I wish juju Watkins could play in this game, but she'll miss this season as well. There are a lot of stars out this year in women's college basketball, but there are still a lot of stars inside now. So shout out to LSU for in their first four open games they've, they've opened up with over 100 point scoring. So they've been doing their thing. And lastly, I'm gonna go back to football. I want to talk about the NFL.
[00:12:48] The two teams who I have not expect to be as good as they are are the Indianapolis Colts and the Patriots.
[00:12:55] I knew the Patriots was cooking something on the defensive side of the ball, but I did not have a lot of fai. Drake may could be a consistently good pro level starting NFL quarterback and I was wrong. He has been making great decisions. He has been making accurate throws, whoever the plague, not whoever, but their play caller has definitely slowed the game down for him and has been able to make the right calls for him. He doesn't really have to think a lot and I see that as I watched him this past Thursday night. When they played the jets.
[00:13:30] He's.
[00:13:32] He, he can be that next franchise quarterback for sure. So they didn't waste the picking him, I'll say that. So shout out to the Patriots, Indianapolis Colts, Jonathan Taylor, Man, I'm sorry. I hate that I didn't pick you up in fantasy. I was letting your injuries get the best of me. But man, when you are healthy, you are. I will not make the mistake again. I tell you that he has been great. I mean just great.
[00:13:56] Shout out to them for going in and getting Sauce Gardener.
[00:14:00] Even though I'm not gonna lie, Sauce Gardener has not impressed me at all. I don't. I'm not saying he has regressed, but I'm saying I've seen him get beat a lot more this year than I've seen him get beat previously.
[00:14:11] So. But they went out to try to make their defense better and I commend it. They are trying to win and win now and I think that there is nothing wrong with that. I think they have every right to go out and do that. So shout out to the Patriots and shout out to the Colts for being the surprise and the shock of the season. You know, every year in the NFL we have those.
[00:14:31] And yeah, so that's all I have for today's show, but I'll be back next week. Please make sure you like comment, subscribe and make sure you share and repost. If you have any questions, comments or concerns, please feel free to email
[email protected] Once again, this is Kayla Ali and this is the Ali Perspective.
