Nick Saban's Week 1 philosophy, Penn State projections & love to Morgantown! 👀 | The Pat McAfee Show

Nick Saban's thoughts on West Virginia vs. Penn State 100° with 100% humidity and they're staying on concrete in the hill coach tell them all we're still singing country roads man Country Roads Take [Applause] home take me home country coach it uh hits the same as it did I assume 50 years ago but let's talk about this particular game it's a massive one for both West Virginia and for Penn State as somebody who watches film on every school in the country what do you see being the determining factor in this game tomorrow coach well I I think that West Virginia's proven that they can run the ball effectively against just about anybody they play I think that's going to be the challenge for them against Penn State uh Penn State pretty good defensive team and they like to pressure a lot and create negative plays so I think if the quarterback for West Virginia can create a little balance in the game for him be able to throw the ball effectively that's going to be a that'll have a huge impact on the game okay so obviously Garrett Green's going to run Wildman garisman that's gar Heisman it's been ringing through these haulers in Hills all morning and I assume all offseason because the expectations are through the roof the buzz is palpable we're here on Friday in the middle of the I mean like Life Sciences building is not supposed to host a show or an event but they put it together and these people have showed up whenever you're James Franklin in Penn State and this is your opener and you know how big it is on the other sideline what is your message to the team what do you think Penn State's feeling about this weekend and how would you settle the boys down knowing a buzs saww is waiting for them in Morgantown well I think you said it right there there's a buzz Town Buzz saw in Morgantown and it's a hard place to play Saban's message to Penn State the fans there have great passion uh it's going to make it be very difficult for Penn State especially in the opener you know to manage the noise all right to sort of manage the game to be able to stay focused on execution and and not get sidetracked on any of the other things that are going on because it's going to be difficult for them and you're always worried as a coach in the first game about how your team's going to execute and that's going to be really really the challenge for them playing on the road at West Virginia in the first game yeah it's a noon kickoff too does that change anything coach and you know CU it's a massive game and I know with Fox and big noon kickoff this where Prime Time games have now getting slotted but like night in Morgantown is how I thought this game was going to go noon is that better for the team that is ranked higher lower home team away team what do you think about that the timing of it all well I I really think that and there's some statistic going maybe it's the passion of the crowd I don't know what it is um I personally never like to play at noon because I like players to be in a rhythm of when they practice and all that but um I can't tell you if it's an advantage or a disadvantage but some people like to get up and play and get it going and get it on and I bet you West Virginia feels that way about it absolutely hell yeah and Coach to be clear they open a lot the bars around here at 8:00 a.m. this morning so that game being at noon might actually be like a a safety net for these people to survive you know because the game's over at 3:30 then we got another 12 hours to celebrate this thing Morgantown could be upside down you talk about first game and seeing what your team does let's talk about Colorado last night and I know you and Coach Prime are obviously close because of a a FL in this entire thing what did you see from that team last night and uh are last year's issues the same issues that they're probably gonna have this year that's what everybody on the internet's saying coach well I I think that uh couple things first of all I think they got better skill guys to go with the quarterback which I think is going to be important uh I think they need to try to improve their ability to run the ball because they didn't have much balance last night which showed up at the end of the game when they couldn't take the air out of it and gave the ball back to North Dakota State I do think their defense might be a little bit improved now whether it's good enough I don't know but you have to be a really good defense to play with that kind of offense who has to throw the ball all the time just like they probably gave up 90 yards at the end of the game that the other team shouldn't ever had the ball so um you know I think they're improved are they improved enough to have a winning season I hope so coach are you able to with the modern day and you got to experience it a little bit with the transfer PTO and nil and I think they said 42 incoming players onto that Colorado roster are you able to make flip in one offseason in modern football you think just automatically flip everything you have and because they didn't win a lot of games last year which is being thrown out a lot last night after the way that game went against North Dakota state do you think with the way the transfer portal is with the way they've utilized it can you become a very successful program almost overnight with this transfer portal well I think the transfer portal helps because it gives you another resource to bring in players to the program but the thing about the transfer portal is are you bringing the right guys in are you bringing the right kind of guys in are these guys going to fit into your culture and do things the way you want them done how are they going to buy into your organization how's it going to fit in with the other players you have on your team so I think when you have a lot of guys in the transfer the transition of how those guys fit is really the most important thing yeah in picking the right guys in recruiting and in the transfer portal I think you only have like a week to talk to some guys right because they're making a decision it's like how do you know how do you not know I guess you just got to build an NFL Factory in uh in the state of Alabama which this West Virginia boy was able to accomplish Connor has a question for you coach coach speaking of flipping teams after week one I feel like a lot is revealed I mean Florida State of course you know they lose to Georgia Tech and then you even look at a team like NC State that started real slow and then came on in the fourth quarter last night how much do these college teams after week one kind of change their philosophy is there a lot of that obviously last year with milro you know he went to the bench for a little with you and then came back and kind of exploded the rest the season for you Philosophy after Week 1 guys but how much does that happen to these teams and how often does it happen for a lot of these programs to kind of change their philosophy after you know maybe a down week to start the season right I think you have to figure out who you are I think sometimes you know you think coming out of practice that you're something that maybe you're not uh and when you get in the game you see that you know this is not who we are we got to figure out who we are and each player on your team needs to figure out who they are and what they have to do to play winning football so you have to figure it out as a coach how do we play winning football with this group what kind of system do we have to have to feature the players that we have and the players got to figure out what do I have to do to play winning football and go out and work on it so that you can make the Improvement I think our team last year did a great job of that after losing to Texas and playing horrible at South Florida and then being able to get in the playoffs uh I think they did a really good job of self- assessing and making improvements that were necessary for them to be a good team mil the milro bouncing back after that old thing too was awesome to watch you know that was awesome to watch the way it was handled you know and I feel like that's another like way you coached you know you send a message to the entire team and I think you even told us whenever you were doing a weekly spot last week or last year you said like let's see how he handles it let's see how he matures let's see how he bounces back and I think that really brought the entire team together which is once again why you're the goat and speaking of goats the greatest Mountaineer of all time pat white has a question for you coach Co I'm going to take you back a little bit you may or may notall this but uh coming out of high school I was committed to you all um I recall it don't worry about that I I I Dam recall it and and flipped and went to West Virginia uh my first question is let's go Mountaineers of course my first question would be um how long would I have last of that quarterback before you put me in the secondary backpedaling and then my second question is what are your thoughts on the evolution of the quarterback well I you know I think it's first of all the evolution of the quarterback is fantastic I think you know the spread offense uh it's beneficial to have a more athletic guy playing quarterback which you obviously did a tremendous job of and Rich did a great job Rodriguez did a great job of utilizing that but I would have never moved you from quarterback unless you saw that you could have a better future at another position I I never made anybody in our program ever play something they didn't want to play so you could have stayed a quarterback and may have been a great quarterback at out at LSU or wherever we were at the time but I would have never made you play a position that you didn't want to play now you never believe me then and but I got no reason now I mean I'm this old guy that's just you know going fishing every now and then so I'm telling you the truth so I would have never moved you unless you wanted to move and saw you had a better future at another position hey Pat I assume that is a question you've wanted to ask coach D for a long time long time and I would like to tell you coach I don't care if you would have moved him or wouldn't have moved him the fact that he thought you might have moved him and he ended up in West Virginia we are all very thankful for hell yeah we are all very very thankful for you're talking about a whole new if he had to go anywhere besides LSU I'm glad he went to West Virginia and I was really really proud of the kind of program that he had or uh you know performance that he had there and the Overcoming QB's kind of career that he had there really proud of him you should have seen the leadership too coach I mean this dude had the entire State obviously in his palm he could have been an he could have been arrogant instead all he was was giving to the entire locker room you know all these niil deals we're seeing where these quarterbacks are gifting people everything Pat White would have gave back all of his money to the locker room and we know that and that is why I think we all love you so much and we'll run through a wall for you for the rest of your life hell yeah tone Diggs has a question for you coach yeah coach we had Garrick green on earlier and he said his favorite quarterback growing up was Johnny Manzel and and if I remember correctly you guys had to go into Texas A&M when Manzel basically started his Heisman run uh and had didn't have an easy time with Manzel what is it about quarterbacks like Garrick green and Manzel that can make something out of nothing that give these great defenses like Penn State has so much trouble well what always gave us the most trouble which I can speak for is you know Johnny Manzel beat us at Alabama playing in our Stadium now his first year starting as a quarterback and you know we play a lot of match covering a lot of manto man so people have their back to the quarterback more people have their back to the quarterback so if you don't have a really athletic front that can manage the quarterback scrambling he killed us running so um then the next year we had this like 4948 game that we won uh which he was phenomenal in again and uh Evans was his best receiver and he had over 200 yards so Johnny could throw it but his ability to scramble and run and make plays and how you had to try to you know contain him from being able to run and Pat was the same way and but they can still throw so you're compromising the coverage part of what you do for trying to make sure the quarterback doesn't kill you running and scrambling why do you think it took because you coach throughout all the erors obviously at the highest of level and Jaylen mil your last quarterback that you coached was very much a guy the why do you think people are so hesitant to maybe move to this style of football doesn't it seemingly makes sense to have the guy that touches the ball the most be the most electrifying player on the field why has there always been a hesitance you think coach uh I'd never been hesitant to have an athletic guy play quarterback I think a people don't want the quarterback to get hurt so they think they're protecting him by not running them which if the guy is an effective Runner then you're making a mistake and really holding the guy back from being all that he can be as a player and I think in the old days of football it was more run the ball and the quarterback was a passer and that was like how people evaluated quarterbacks but that's not the way it is anymore I mean there's too many effective ways um you know a lot of this Zone read is nothing more than option football it just doesn't look like it but there is a pitch man there's somebody in the flat there is a quarterback pulling the ball somebody's got to be able to take them and be athletic enough to take them and you have the option to throw it out the pitch man so um having an athletic quarterback is a huge advantage and I think Jaylen milro is going to have a fantastic year this year because he's become a better passer he's a better processor now and he still has the athleticism to make great plays with his feet hey coach whenever you think about that read option how sweet is it to have a fullback that can run like a four six weighs 265 will chug a 30 pack and also bust his head open as one of the options and did you know of the great beer truck Owen Schmidt whenever he was in school I did not oh coach oh if you had if you had an athle if you have an athletic HB guy to do this stuff it it's it's a pain for the defense now cuz the linebackers got to fall back and cover that guy it it changes gaps for everybody so it is a Emotion on and off the field pain and um you got to have experienced players to be able to do it coach he would drink 50 beers a night too I I mean it's just like a whole different animal you know it feels like the fullback position is kind of obsolete but then you see like us Che and you see Patrick rard and you see some offense they utilize it the fullbacks never going to disappear no Owen Schmidt highlights are always going to bang always going to hit and you're always going to remember you should see what happened after all these highlights that was almost even more impression I impressive hang cleaning 500 plus pounds absolute icon Ty Schmidt has a question for you coach coach going back to this game in Morgantown tomorrow if you're Neil Brown with all the extra hoopla that's going on around this game you know with our show being here obviously Pat mentioned big noon kickoff being there tomorrow kind of similar to last year when you guys were playing Texas game day is there everyone is talking about how massive of a game this is you know tomorrow is the biggest game in Morgantown since 1998 um How do you manage you know your players playing with the right level of emotion and not getting kind of too hyped up or burning themselves out early obviously when you know it's going to be a dog fight for four quarters well that's what you always worry about I think as a coach is hey how much are they distracted by what's happening around them because some guys that aren't very mature get very distracted by game day being there the crowd all all all the hoopla that goes around the game so they're not focusing because for the wrong reasons and then you got some guys that are great competitors that get very anxious because they want to play so well they can taste it and that really doesn't help them play well so getting everybody kind of having the right psychological disposition about focusing on what's in front of them not worrying about all the other stuff and being in not too high not too low but uh not playing with emotion but being an intense uh and play with emotion but don't be emotional I guess is a better way to say it because when you're emotional you make bad decisions I'll tell you what coach what about when you're drunk like last Friday what about when you're uh a little boozed up because you're I was trying to manage you the best I could you really were coach and I appreciate that but there was no chance there was absolutely no chance in Dublin and it feels like it's starting to become a similar type of atmosphere here in Morgantown West Virginia oh boy uh I can't wait to get down to you in Texas Co I can't wait to get down there Owen Schmidt has a question for you coach coach would have been an absolute honor to play for you um question today's nil Walk-on players and NIL transfer pter is there room for walk-on players anymore in the game well I it it really is a concern to me because some of the the things moving forward that have been presented is that all players would be on scholarship and there'd be no opportunities for Walk-Ons and you know I think that's not good um and it's all participation number thing uh that people are trying to control but there's been so many guys uh that have been Walk-Ons who got scholarships who I mean Rashad Johnson played I don't know 10 years in the league was a walk-on in Alabama you know for us and you know to not be able to offer those opportunities to guys I think is um it's it's just very unfortunate and I hate it because um you know those are the kind of guys you want on your team man they they they're they're motivated the right way they're working hard every day they're trying to prove something and not to be able to give them the opportunity to do that I don't think is something that's good for college sports Owen Schmidt was a walk- on here he left a legend will always be you know heralded a hero around Morgantown I mean that's just those are the stories you know college football has obviously the pageantry and the big games and the big Stories the walk-on who paid their own way work as a bouncer at a club then got on the team then started then did so much so you get a scholarship and then you go on and make it to the NFL like that's a story that programs talk about forever so I hope we're able to figure out a way to keep that in there and Coach I'm about to hop on a bird here in about yeah two three maybe four hours depending upon how this whole thing goes after the show to get down to you I can't wait for tomorrow largest game day in the history of week zero and do you know why do you know why coach here I mean I guess cuz it was in Dublin Ireland no it's because of you brother you are incredible on television hell yeah you are incredible on television which leads me to Connor's question for you pal yeah coach uh you got to be honest with us here did you call like Glenn po or Brad Pit before your verbo commercial because the acting in that thing by you was just Second To None I don't know how you did it no you know Pat's my you know my idol you know he helps me on TV sitting next to me yeah and um you know I was trying to be like him on that commercial but you know one thing Miss Terry said is I didn't have to do any acting in that commercial uh that's just the kind of jerk I always ask all right hey whatever whatever works brother it's all working and we can't thank you enough I'll see you down in Texas tomorrow morning you're the man from any me any message to West Virginia here before we let you go go Mountaineers man let's go [Music] he

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