Former LSU safety Ryan Clark joined ESPN after Miami's Fiesta Bowl win and compared them to the best of teams from his old conference. A transcript of the discussion is below.
Ryan Clark: “The Miami Hurricanes are the most traditionally SEC football team in all the country. It ain’t Florida. It ain’t LSU. It ain’t Auburn. It ain’t Alabama. It ain’t Georgia. This is the first time Ole Miss this season has faced a team that plays like we historically believe SEC teams play.”
Cam Newton: “The physicality was out the door.”
Ryan Clark: “Yeah. Third and fourth down. Third-and-two. Fourth-and-two. What do they do? They turn around and hand the football off to Mark Fletcher. They hand the football off to Charmar Brown. They run downhill and physically dominate Ole Miss.
Defensively, they were the faster team. They were the more athletic team. They were the more active team. This game is actually way closer on the scoreboard than it was in real life. They dropped four picks. Four of them. Carson Beck throws an interception on a tip ball in the red zone. This team absolutely dominated from a physicality standpoint, from an athleticism standpoint.
Malachi Toney, without a question, the most talented person on the field and he just turned 18.”
Cam Newton: “Absolutely.”
Ryan Clark: “Carson Beck executing when you’re supposed to in the biggest moments like the best of players do from that conference. It has changed and now Miami, The U, is part of that.”
Ryan Clark: “The Miami Hurricanes are the most traditionally SEC football team in all the country. It ain’t Florida. It ain’t LSU. It ain’t Auburn. It ain’t Alabama. It ain’t Georgia. This is the first time Ole Miss this season has faced a team that plays like we historically believe SEC teams play.”
Cam Newton: “The physicality was out the door.”
Ryan Clark: “Yeah. Third and fourth down. Third-and-two. Fourth-and-two. What do they do? They turn around and hand the football off to Mark Fletcher. They hand the football off to Charmar Brown. They run downhill and physically dominate Ole Miss.
Defensively, they were the faster team. They were the more athletic team. They were the more active team. This game is actually way closer on the scoreboard than it was in real life. They dropped four picks. Four of them. Carson Beck throws an interception on a tip ball in the red zone. This team absolutely dominated from a physicality standpoint, from an athleticism standpoint.
Malachi Toney, without a question, the most talented person on the field and he just turned 18.”
Cam Newton: “Absolutely.”
Ryan Clark: “Carson Beck executing when you’re supposed to in the biggest moments like the best of players do from that conference. It has changed and now Miami, The U, is part of that.”
