Latest / 3 and Out with John Middlekauff / Colin Cowherd Podcast - Michigan Struggles, LSU Humiliates Clemson, Super Bowl Predictions, Rams vs. 49ers

Transcript

Colin Cowherd Podcast - Michigan Struggles, LSU Humiliates Clemson, Super Bowl Predictions, Rams vs. 49ers · 3 and Out with John Middlekauff

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: The volume.
• 0:03
  Speaker 2: Very excited to say that Bud Light is the title
• 0:05
  Speaker 2: sponsor of the Colin Coward podcast this NFL season. This
• 0:08
  Speaker 2: podcast presented by Bud Light. Easy to drink, easy to enjoy.
• 0:17
  Speaker 2: All right, vacation is officially over. Because we didn't have a,
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: you know, we had the World Cup in June. I
• 0:26
  Speaker 2: took a few extra days in August and about halfway
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: through my vacation, I started watching college football and I
• 0:31
  Speaker 2: was ready to do this thing again. I could go
• 0:34
  Speaker 2: on and on about seven, eight different topics. So we're
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: going to do a lot of college. We're going to
• 0:38
  Speaker 2: do Rams, Niners, obviously, Seahawks, Patriots. I'll pick my Super Bowl,
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: John will too. So, you know, the Michigan thing's interesting.
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: When Kyle Whittingham got the job, you and I know
• 0:51
  Speaker 2: Utah football. Run game, defense, special teams, physicality. That's what
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: they are. They were never very dynamic in the passing game.
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: In fact, I would say they were conservative. They were stagnant.
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: It was sort of outdated. So I thought it was
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: a good hire by Michigan to right the ship. With
• 1:09
  Speaker 2: Sharon Moore, it was a hazmat spill. Like, let's clean
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: this shit up. So I think Kyle's a good coach.
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: But watching that game, Bryce Underwood has regressed badly. I thought, wow,
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: Whittingham worked in Utah, right? They sort of surpassed, in
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: my opinion, BYU. He was always a thorn in sort
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: of the Pac-12 side. But you never really thought offensively
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: he wasn't a real modern coach. And I watched that
• 1:41
  Speaker 2: offense and I'm like, oh, because right now there are
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: some really clever offensive coaches in the Big Ten. And
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: I still think it's a good hire, but not all hires.
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: He's not in his coaching prime, obviously. But I watched
• 1:54
  Speaker 2: Underwood and I thought, oh, this is going to be
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: Utah where they're going to be tough. They're going to
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: be physical. They're going to play defense. They'll have good
• 1:59
  Speaker 2: special teams. They'll win at home. But that was pretty bleak.
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: Like beyond, we can get into the clock, which I
• 2:06
  Speaker 2: always thought clocks on the network were synced with clocks
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: the officials had. I always thought that was sort of
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: a given. Apparently it's not. But your take on just
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: the underwhelming performance of Michigan and Underwood.
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, I think they were one of the
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: biggest question marks in the season, what they were going
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: to look like coming in. Like, could they be a
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: top-10 playoff team, or are they going to win seven,
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: eight games?
• 2:28
  Speaker 2: Right.
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: And I think it's pretty clear they're probably eight games
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: feels high.
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: Yes.
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: You know, the quarterback. And the one thing is, it
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: takes some guys a little bit longer. I know Texas
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: just played, you know, the sisters of the poor. But
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: you could tell Arch looked better to me. He made
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: a couple throws, and they were like, okay, improvement.
• 2:46
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: Sometimes it pops immediately. Watch the Bama kid. You're like, geez,
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: see it. Bryce Underwood's like, okay, get a little bit
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: of a pass. You had Sharone Moore sleeping with everyone
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: on campus, not focused, screwing around, disasters going on. Like
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: you said, he was worse. He was unplayable. Unplayable? You
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: can remove the emotion. His own coach, who is not
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: tied to him, it's a little like the NFL. College
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: football is kind of like the NFL. Getting paid, coaches
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: moving around. Kyle Whittingham inherits this. Said today, we'll see.
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: Right now he's our quarterback. Do you know what that
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: tells me? They're playing Oklahoma. who I think is really good.
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: I think Oklahoma is a national championship sleeper and definitely
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: a team that is going to cause some serious noise
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: this year. That could get ugly and that could get
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: ugly fast. I mean, that's a game that I think
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: if it is not going well at quarterback, you know,
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: you got to now, the boosters have a lot of
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: control over the roster, right? Because they're cutting these checks.
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: This guy's making three, $ 4 million. That's the going rate
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: of a quarterback. If he's not good in the half,
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: like I think he's getting benched by halftime. And that was, Colin,
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: that was hard to watch. You know, it really was.
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: You know, it's interesting that... There are certain things you
• 3:59
  Speaker 2: can judge in college football in the first couple of weeks. Speed, strength, size.
• 4:05
  Speaker 2: But they don't have a preseason like the NFL. They
• 4:07
  Speaker 2: don't have joint practices like the NFL. And you're dealing
• 4:11
  Speaker 2: with 21-year-olds, not 31-year-olds. So I always kind of feel
• 4:14
  Speaker 2: like the one thing I don't want to get real
• 4:16
  Speaker 2: judgy on in college football in the first month are
• 4:19
  Speaker 2: offensive lines. Because that is probably, and you would know
• 4:22
  Speaker 2: this as a former NFL scout, that's the cohesion unit
• 4:26
  Speaker 2: on the team. right? Like offensive lines develop more slowly,
• 4:30
  Speaker 2: even if you have returners. And now you have an
• 4:32
  Speaker 2: NIL world where you're bringing in two new starters. You've
• 4:35
  Speaker 2: got a hot shot five-star recruit. He's going to want
• 4:38
  Speaker 2: to get time or he'll transfer. So like Washington's O-line
• 4:42
  Speaker 2: should be their strength. It was awful against Wazoo. Michigan's
• 4:46
  Speaker 2: O-line was supposed to be a strength. It was awful.
• 4:49
  Speaker 2: Notre Dame's O-line in the first half, you're like, man,
• 4:51
  Speaker 2: there's Now, their backs, they've stepped down from love and price.
• 4:55
  Speaker 2: They don't have the same quality backs yet. But you're like,
• 4:58
  Speaker 2: what's going on with Notre Dame's whole line? So I
• 5:00
  Speaker 2: don't want to get real judgy and say they won't
• 5:03
  Speaker 2: be better next week. But we all know, you and
• 5:07
  Speaker 2: I know Whittingham's history, which is, I mean, the knock
• 5:11
  Speaker 2: on Utah. out West was always, God, can you imagine
• 5:15
  Speaker 2: if they could ever get a top quarterback? Like that
• 5:17
  Speaker 2: was always the knock. It was like when Barry Alvarez
• 5:20
  Speaker 2: was at Wisconsin, you're like, God, if Barry could ever
• 5:22
  Speaker 2: get a great quarterback, you guys could win the natty. So, okay.
• 5:25
  Speaker 2: So let's talk about the clock again. As a sportscaster.
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: You know, sometimes players don't know all the rules. Remember
• 5:35
  Speaker 2: when the Niners went to overtime? Was that a Super
• 5:37
  Speaker 2: Bowl or a conference championship? And you kind of wondered
• 5:40
  Speaker 2: if everybody knew what the rules were. Bosa came up.
• 5:43
  Speaker 2: What game was that?
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: I thought it was Super Bowl.
• 5:45
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so did I. I think it was a Super Bowl.
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: Remember they kicked it off first or something? I mean,
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: it was, yeah. Yeah.
• 5:52
  Speaker 2: And by the way, years ago in an Eagles game,
• 5:54
  Speaker 2: Donovan McNabb, They went to overtime and McNabb later admitted, yeah,
• 5:58
  Speaker 2: I didn't know actually the rules and that's the quarterback.
• 6:01
  Speaker 2: So it happens. Well, as a sportscaster, I thought, because
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: I've seen it a thousand times, that the network clock,
• 6:10
  Speaker 2: what you're watching on TV is synced up to what
• 6:13
  Speaker 2: the officials have. I thought that was a given. That's
• 6:14
  Speaker 2: why when announcers go, okay, you sit and watch the
• 6:17
  Speaker 2: clock and go, okay, there's one second left. I mean,
• 6:20
  Speaker 2: I can literally hear the Kevin Burkhart, Jim Nance, Mike
• 6:24
  Speaker 2: Tirico's voice saying that, okay, all right, there's a. 01 left.
• 6:28
  Speaker 2: So were you shocked when both the Big Ten and
• 6:32
  Speaker 2: the MAAC conference came out and said, no, they got
• 6:34
  Speaker 2: it right?
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, the Big Ten, I expected them to
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: do that. I do think the Western Michigan, the coach,
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: the AD, the Mac, they have handled this unlike– Class.
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: LSU would not have handled it like this. There are
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: a lot of people that would have– and I wouldn't
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: have blamed anyone if they would have gone scorched earth.
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: I think there's a travesty for the players because I
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: think the huge reaction was– You lost the game to
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: this team that, you know, I think they got, AI did,
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: it said they had 11 guys on the roster from
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: the state of Michigan, which I think is an implication
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: of the portal. You know, probably 10 years ago, Western
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: Michigan would have been full of local kids, but now
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: guys bounce around. That's a moment that the rest of
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: those guys' lives, when they interview, most guys at Western
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: Michigan aren't playing in the pros. When they interview at
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: Welsh Fargo, when they interview at some Lockheed Martin, I
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: played at Western Michigan. You were part of the team
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: to beat Michigan? That's a defining moment in your life.
• 7:32
  Speaker 2: And they did outplay them. I mean, they only had
• 7:34
  Speaker 2: three yards per play, but they outplayed Michigan for a
• 7:36
  Speaker 2: big chunk of that game, I thought.
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: They had like a 40-minute drive. That's the one thing Michigan,
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: I thought, had all these defensive players. Maybe Michigan doesn't
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: have the talent. Maybe when Harbaugh left and all those
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: guys got drafted, the talent didn't get replenished with Sharon Moore.
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: Because from a talent standpoint, to me, even goes back
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: to Bryce Underwood, he doesn't look as dynamic and fast
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: as I thought. I'm expecting– you watch Trinidad Chambliss, Russell Wilson,
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: Kyler Murray can't be touched. I'm watching Bryce Underwood. I
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: don't see this great athlete anymore. So I think you
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: just thought it was this defining moment for a program
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: that I'm a small school guy. I root for small
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: schools in moments like that because I know how historic
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: it would be for the program. And then, of course,
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: they get the extra play, and he throws probably the
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: best pass of his life. Incredible catch. Listen, Kyle Whittingham's
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: won a Rose Bowl. Kyle Whittingham's been winning big-time games
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: for a long time. Didn't his face say it all?
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: He felt, and this is a guy that comes from
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: Mormon country, played at BYU. I think he felt pretty
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: icky around the whole situation. Again, Lane Kiffin's of the
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: world wouldn't have cared. You felt the body language on Kyle.
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: I don't know if you saw the clips today of
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: Kyle talking about Bryce. I think he's very uncomfortable. I
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: honestly think Kyle's a little uncomfortable in this environment. Like
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: this is I you got to go Utah a little
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: under the radar. And this feels like this is this
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: is basically like coaching the Packers or something, buddy.
• 9:02
  Speaker 2: Listen, I've talked to Kyle a couple different times off air,
• 9:06
  Speaker 2: and he and his wife had a condo downtown Salt Lake.
• 9:10
  Speaker 2: And he told me, he goes, oh, we go skiing
• 9:12
  Speaker 2: in the afternoon. We love it. We've downsized. We got
• 9:15
  Speaker 2: a condo downtown. I was shocked when he took the
• 9:20
  Speaker 2: job because I always thought he was one of those classic.
• 9:23
  Speaker 2: And this has happened with BYU and Utah coaches before.
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: It's a great.
• 9:27
  Speaker 2: Yeah. I mean, first of all, the state's got a
• 9:28
  Speaker 2: lot more players than you think. They're both excellent programs.
• 9:32
  Speaker 2: BYU and Utah, excellent. Having spent a lot of time
• 9:34
  Speaker 2: of my life in Utah, I've gone to several Utah games.
• 9:38
  Speaker 2: I don't think I've ever gone to a BYU game,
• 9:41
  Speaker 2: but I've gone to several Utah games. Great stadium, great fans.
• 9:45
  Speaker 2: These are good programs.
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: It's a place you don't want to leave.
• 9:48
  Speaker 2: Oh, it's beautiful. I was surprised. And it was almost
• 9:52
  Speaker 2: like when Jim McElwain took the Florida job. I know Jim.
• 9:56
  Speaker 2: I went to college with Jim at Eastern. I'm like,
• 9:58
  Speaker 2: Jim McElwain- is not an SEC personality. And Jim was
• 10:03
  Speaker 2: always uncomfortable, always uncomfortable down there with the scrutiny, the
• 10:08
  Speaker 2: lack of privacy. You know, they're in your backyard. The
• 10:11
  Speaker 2: fans are obnoxious. I don't think Kyle, I think Kyle's
• 10:15
  Speaker 2: more comfortable than that because he's been on national TV games.
• 10:18
  Speaker 2: But I agree with you. It's like, this is not a,
• 10:21
  Speaker 2: it's a little bit of an odd fit. And then
• 10:23
  Speaker 2: you get in and you've got to start Underwood. You've
• 10:26
  Speaker 2: got to start Bryce Underwood in game one because he's
• 10:29
  Speaker 2: the valley who'd recruit, right? Like you're kind of forced to, okay.
• 10:32
  Speaker 2: It'd be hard to take that job and go, yeah,
• 10:34
  Speaker 2: I'm benching the five-star quarterback. Like you kind of have
• 10:37
  Speaker 2: to play him. And he was awful. I want to,
• 10:41
  Speaker 2: I want to throw this out there. Speaking of Kiffin.
• 10:44
  Speaker 2: So listen, Kiffin's the only troll that coaches in football
• 10:50
  Speaker 2: in North America. He's a troll. And he sort of
• 10:53
  Speaker 2: decided the NFL kicked him out. He's not really a
• 10:57
  Speaker 2: Big Ten personality. He's never going to get the Notre
• 11:00
  Speaker 2: Dame job. Lane has decided he likes warm weather. He
• 11:04
  Speaker 2: loved coaching in Florida, that small school. He grew up
• 11:06
  Speaker 2: and went to Fresno, USC. He loves the South. He
• 11:10
  Speaker 2: doesn't want cold weather. The South likes to party, have
• 11:14
  Speaker 2: a good time. I think Lane kind of acknowledges, like,
• 11:19
  Speaker 2: I found my place in life. I'm a big deal
• 11:21
  Speaker 2: down here. And he's become like super troll. And it
• 11:25
  Speaker 2: works for him. I don't think at LSU you need
• 11:28
  Speaker 2: to troll. I think it's sort of top five job
• 11:29
  Speaker 2: in the country, but whatever. But Dabo Sweeney and all
• 11:33
  Speaker 2: these coaches, John, they're the CEO of their football programs,
• 11:38
  Speaker 2: not the athletic director, not the school president, the head coach.
• 11:43
  Speaker 2: Dabo Sweeney made a decision as the CEO of a
• 11:47
  Speaker 2: $ 150 million annual business. Despite a massive cultural change, hey,
• 11:53
  Speaker 2: we don't believe in the internet. That's essentially what he's
• 11:56
  Speaker 2: saying 40 years ago if you're a CEO. It would
• 12:01
  Speaker 2: be a CEO today saying, we don't believe in AI.
• 12:05
  Speaker 2: Or 40 years ago, we're not going to use the internet.
• 12:08
  Speaker 2: To not embrace the portal and NIL, and I like Dabo,
• 12:12
  Speaker 2: is a fireable offense. And I think it took that moment.
• 12:18
  Speaker 2: I think it's kind of a tipping point moment. As
• 12:21
  Speaker 2: the CEO of a top 10 college football program, it
• 12:25
  Speaker 2: may be time for Dabo to go. He has dug
• 12:28
  Speaker 2: his feet in, rigid, stubborn. Like that was humiliating, was
• 12:33
  Speaker 2: it not?
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: Well, I mean, the game was over. When he picked
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: it off and made it 17-3, you could just feel
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: like they don't have a chance. And then within the
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: blink of an eye, it's whatever, 31-3 at halftime. It
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: didn't even feel that close. I think there's two sides
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: to this. One, the Dabo side, I mean, you kind
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: of look back, he had two elite coordinators that never left.
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: and Tony Elliott, who's now got Virginia good, and Brett Venables,
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: who is right in the discussion as the best defensive
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: coach in the country. Those guys were there with him forever,
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: especially Venables. And you watch him without him, they are
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: a train wreck. Their talent. The other thing is, this
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: is a transactional world. If Bryce Underwood stinks this week,
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: he'll get benched, and he'll essentially get cut, and he'll
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: be on a different team next year.
• 13:18
  Speaker 2: Right.
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: That's that happens with all these guys that transfer. A
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: lot of them aren't some of them transfer on their own.
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: Some of them are told you're not welcome here anymore.
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: That's the world we're in now in college. No NIL
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: for you here. You got to go. You will be cut.
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: Dabo is the quarterback he started for as much crap
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: as Bryce is getting. The quarterback at Clemson was worse.
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: That's the worst quarterback I saw for any top 40,
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: 50 team. He was unplayable. He's been in the program forever.
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: And I heard someone on one of the recruiting sites
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: on one of their podcasts say this kid peaked as
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: like a young player in high school. But then it's
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: not like he improved, but Clemson had offered him. I
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: think it was like a sophomore really early, and they
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: just stuck it out. Well, he's been— he hasn't played forever,
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: but his peak was like when he was 16 years old.
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: When you watch him now, guys like Lane and Sark
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: and Lanning, they just would have moved on. They just
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: would have been like, you're not good enough, see ya,
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: we got to bring in another guy, which I respect. Like,
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: he's very loyal to human beings. That's a good quality
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: to have.
• 14:17
  Speaker 2: But he's also loyal to— to cultures, and they change
• 14:20
  Speaker 2: in sports. Analytics, the Lakers forever were like, we're not really,
• 14:24
  Speaker 2: we're not going to go with this three ball thing
• 14:26
  Speaker 2: like 10 years ago. It's like, guys, the world has changed.
• 14:29
  Speaker 2: The best teams go with three point shots.
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: Well, I feel like Lane is like one of these
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: tech guys. Like he's basically like Elon. He honestly loves
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: the chaos. He loves you talking about it. He lives
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: for it. Which I respect. I hate drama and chaos.
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: I run from it. I said on my podcast, I
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: think that's why you and I get along. I'm pretty low-main.
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: Just leave me alone. Lane's the opposite. And I know
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: a lot of people. I've had family in Fresno since
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: the early 80s. They know Lane very well. Lane's always been,
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: I mean, a little out there. And I think as
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: you start getting the stardom, he's kind of like actually
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: a tech star or a tech CEO meets like a
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: reality television star. Yeah. I mean, but, but. where you
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: can't really– he's pretty elite at his job right now.
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: He's been the transfer portal king. I mean, I'm watching Simmons,
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: the quarterback that was supposed to start at Ole Miss,
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: who then got benched for Trinidad, who's at Missouri now
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: is dominating. You've got Trinidad, who looks like Russell Wilson.
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: They're throwing bombs to Deuce Alexander. I Googled, where is
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: he from? Well, Lane landed him from Wake Forest. He's incredible.
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: He's the transfer portal king. That's his nickname. You watch
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: his team. That LSU team, I thought they would be good.
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: I mean, holy, Colin, they look like an NFL team.
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: They looked, and I get Clemson's down, but I'm like,
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: that translates. That works. Their quarterback can't really even throw yet. Well,
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: what do you know about Lane? He's a great quarterback.
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: This guy's going to improve.
• 15:54
  Speaker 2: And Lane's really a disruptor. And Lane told me this
• 15:58
  Speaker 2: years ago. I mean, we were having a cocktail in
• 16:02
  Speaker 2: Manhattan Beach at the Shade. I walked in and there
• 16:05
  Speaker 2: was Lane. We had a cocktail. And he said, listen,
• 16:07
  Speaker 2: he had just left. Tennessee job for USC. And he said,
• 16:12
  Speaker 2: if I had a bad season, I'd have been on
• 16:13
  Speaker 2: the hot seat. He goes, who are these athletic directors
• 16:17
  Speaker 2: that get all preachy? These guys. And he went on
• 16:20
  Speaker 2: a sermon for about 10 minutes and he wasn't wrong.
• 16:23
  Speaker 2: I mean, I came out of that half hour with
• 16:25
  Speaker 2: Lane at the Shade Hotel thinking, you know, he's really right.
• 16:29
  Speaker 2: And that's why I've always said I'm loyal to my
• 16:31
  Speaker 2: wife and my kids and But in the end, if
• 16:34
  Speaker 2: tomorrow you just stop watching football, I'd be after about
• 16:37
  Speaker 2: a month. John, it's not working. It's like, guys, Lane
• 16:43
  Speaker 2: was just like, listen, who's loyal? AD's top booster. And
• 16:47
  Speaker 2: by the way, it's less loyal today because of NIA
• 16:49
  Speaker 2: on the transfer portal. So Lane's whole take was... Tennessee
• 16:54
  Speaker 2: was awful. I gave you a great year. We turned
• 16:56
  Speaker 2: it around.
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: I'm out of here.
• 16:58
  Speaker 2: It's my dream job. So part of me looks at
• 17:00
  Speaker 2: Lane and thinks, he's just kind of the king of
• 17:03
  Speaker 2: the South now. And I think with Saban out, Kirby
• 17:07
  Speaker 2: Smart's got the titles. But I think he looks at
• 17:09
  Speaker 2: it and thinks, this is kind of who I am.
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: Don't you also think, you know, Lane really cut his
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: teeth as a young coach and became a star for Pete?
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: And Pete's program was really different than most programs 20
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: years ago. The celebrities, I mean, Colin, they had a
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: drug kingpin who was working with the cartel. Have you
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: followed that story? Yes. The guy that, you know, I mean,
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: they had celebrities, the booster. It was unlike, you go
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: into one of their practices, it was just open and
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: a free-for-all. I remember Kirk Herbstreit telling me- We can
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: close practices now. They don't even let anyone in.
• 17:44
  Speaker 2: I remember Kirk Herbstreit saying- I love going to USC practice.
• 17:48
  Speaker 2: He said, it's like 70% college. This was like 20
• 17:51
  Speaker 2: years ago, 25. He goes, it's like 70% college, 30% NFL.
• 17:55
  Speaker 2: He goes, this is like nothing. Herb Street said, this
• 18:00
  Speaker 2: was years ago when I worked at the other place.
• 18:02
  Speaker 2: It didn't even feel like college. It was a little
• 18:04
  Speaker 2: bit like Jimmy Johnson and the Miami Hurricanes. It was college,
• 18:08
  Speaker 2: but you're in Miami and you're in Los Angeles. It's
• 18:10
  Speaker 2: not rural. And most college programs are. So listen, it
• 18:14
  Speaker 2: works for Lane. I don't think you have to troll
• 18:16
  Speaker 2: at LSU, but it's a good content creator. It's like
• 18:20
  Speaker 2: Aaron Rodgers being passive aggressive. It creates content. I'm in
• 18:24
  Speaker 2: that business. You are too.
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: It works.
• 18:28
  Speaker 2: If you're listening to this, you're probably not a casual
• 18:30
  Speaker 2: NFL fan, as you know. Neither am I. Bud Light
• 18:34
  Speaker 2: understands that our passion runs deep. They've given us a
• 18:36
  Speaker 2: chance to do more than just live and breathe. Our
• 18:39
  Speaker 2: NFL teams, we can drink them. Check out the Bud
• 18:42
  Speaker 2: Light NFL team cans. And more than that, you can
• 18:45
  Speaker 2: take your game day to the next level. Scan the
• 18:47
  Speaker 2: QR code on your Bud Light team can and follow
• 18:51
  Speaker 2: the instructions to enter for a chance to upgrade your
• 18:53
  Speaker 2: game day with prizes like NFL Plus Premium, NFL Tailgating Essentials,
• 18:58
  Speaker 2: and more. So if you do anything to upgrade your
• 19:00
  Speaker 2: game day, pick up your Bud Light team can. Easy, huh?
• 19:04
  Speaker 2: Bud Light, easy to drink, easy to enjoy. No purchase necessary.
• 19:08
  Speaker 2: Open to U.S. residents, 21 plus. See official rules at BudLight.com.
• 19:12
  Speaker 2: Upgrade your game day for free entries, prizes, and details.
• 19:15
  Speaker 2: Message and data rates may apply. Void or prohibited. Enjoy responsibly.
• 19:19
  Speaker 2: Copyright 2026 Anheuser-Busch. Bud Light Beer. Light Beer, St.
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: Louis, Missouri.
• 19:23
  Speaker 2: 2026 NFL Properties LLC, all NFL-related trademarks are trademarks of
• 19:28
  Speaker 2: the National Football League. Football's back, folks. You need to
• 19:32
  Speaker 2: change the way you invest in the NFL this season.
• 19:34
  Speaker 2: It's finally time to ditch your old sportsbook apps because
• 19:37
  Speaker 2: PolyMarket's here. PolyMarket is a legal prediction market now available
• 19:42
  Speaker 2: in all 50 states. The old sportsbooks, they're a relic
• 19:45
  Speaker 2: of the past. On PolyMarket, you can trade on all
• 19:48
  Speaker 2: things NFL, from a Sunday's to who wins rookie of
• 19:51
  Speaker 2: the year to who performs the halftime show. We hear
• 19:53
  Speaker 2: from listeners all the time about sportsbooks driving them crazy,
• 19:56
  Speaker 2: trying to cash out live. They can block you as
• 19:59
  Speaker 2: often as they want, holding your money hostage. Polymarket gives
• 20:02
  Speaker 2: you the freedom to cash out instantly. If the momentum swings,
• 20:06
  Speaker 2: you sell off in real time. You're in control and
• 20:10
  Speaker 2: nobody can lock you out. You can also buy in
• 20:12
  Speaker 2: any time. So when the market dips, like if a
• 20:14
  Speaker 2: team starts slow, it drops to say 40%. That's not
• 20:18
  Speaker 2: a loss. That's when you buy in. At Polymarket, you
• 20:20
  Speaker 2: can buy cheap and ride the momentum back up. Polymarket
• 20:23
  Speaker 2: is so confident they'll never go back to the old way.
• 20:26
  Speaker 2: They're issuing a challenge. They're giving you a $ 50 bonus
• 20:29
  Speaker 2: when you deposit just 10 bucks. Sign up right now.
• 20:32
  Speaker 2: Promo code's Colin, C-O-L-I-N. That's polymarket.us and use the promo
• 20:38
  Speaker 2: code Colin. Get a $ 50 bonus when you deposit just
• 20:41
  Speaker 2: 10 bucks. I will say Darian Mensah, the quarterback for Miami.
• 20:49
  Speaker 2: Miami was the best team I saw. Now, they beat Stanford.
• 20:52
  Speaker 2: It was a fait accompli. Stanford doesn't really pay players.
• 20:55
  Speaker 2: Miami pays them a fortune. That game was over before
• 20:57
  Speaker 2: it started. We all knew it. Tony's probably the best
• 21:00
  Speaker 2: wide receiver outside of Jeremiah Smith at Ohio State. Unstoppable,
• 21:04
  Speaker 2: three TDs, 250 yards. But Darian Mensah, I like C.J. Carr.
• 21:10
  Speaker 2: But I don't look at C.J. Carr's traits. I look
• 21:13
  Speaker 2: at him as a little bit like J.J. McCarthy, to me,
• 21:16
  Speaker 2: a better version, where not a huge guy, not a
• 21:18
  Speaker 2: huge arm. He's a winner. He's smart. He's a team guy.
• 21:22
  Speaker 2: But Notre Dame could win every one of their regular
• 21:25
  Speaker 2: season games with C.J. Carr going 15 for 21. I mean,
• 21:30
  Speaker 2: and handing the ball. I mean, they just, their defense,
• 21:32
  Speaker 2: their coaching, their schedule's weak. And I like C.J. Carr
• 21:36
  Speaker 2: a lot, but he's not going to be asked to
• 21:39
  Speaker 2: create He's not going to get in shootouts with that defense.
• 21:44
  Speaker 2: I look at Daria Mensah. He goes San Luis Obispo.
• 21:49
  Speaker 2: You know the area well. Then he goes to Tulane.
• 21:52
  Speaker 2: Doesn't have the best teammates. Goes to Duke. Rarely has
• 21:55
  Speaker 2: the best team. Now he's in hyper-competitive, pressurized Miami. I'm like,
• 22:02
  Speaker 2: that's the journey. You and I know this. Getting beat up.
• 22:06
  Speaker 2: I mean, there was a point where Cal had two
• 22:08
  Speaker 2: or three quarterbacks in the NFL. NC State did, and
• 22:11
  Speaker 2: USC didn't have any. And it's like, how? Well, that's
• 22:15
  Speaker 2: the reality is in college, you need to get beat
• 22:19
  Speaker 2: up a little. You can't always have like the best
• 22:22
  Speaker 2: coach and the best life. And I look at Mensah
• 22:24
  Speaker 2: between Tulane, Duke, and now pressurized Miami. I know a
• 22:29
  Speaker 2: lot of quarterbacks had great weekends. John, right now, if
• 22:34
  Speaker 2: I had a leaderboard for quarterbacks, like that's the best
• 22:37
  Speaker 2: college quarterback I saw.
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, I'd be hard to disagree with you.
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: I'd never really seen him play. I mean, I'm not
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: wasting a minute watching Duke football. But he was, do
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: you know what it reminded me a lot of? You know,
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: Andy gets to Kansas City, they trade for Alex Smith,
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: and they draft a couple guys named Travis Kelsey and
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: Tyreek Hill. And Tyreek Hill turned into unlike any player
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: we'd ever seen. And he was good, and him and
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: Travis were good. And then they shipped him out of
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: town for young Patrick Mahomes. And year one, you're like,
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: holy shit. And Mahomes and Tyreek Hill were made for
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: each other with their two skill sets. And you watch this, Tony, clearly.
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: I mean, he was awesome last year. This guy is bigger, stronger, faster.
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: The instincts, like Tyree Kill, his body type is different
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: than the CD Lambs and Justin Jeffersons. But I know
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: that is an unstoppable force. He can play anywhere, slot, outside,
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: go deep, short, make guys miss. And he has a quarterback.
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: I mean, the ball, I would say Trinidad is a
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: pretty special player, too.
• 23:38
  Speaker 2: I don't know if he translates to Sunday, though.
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: That's going to be that's going to be the major
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: question mark. And we've pivoted on the shorter guys.
• 23:46
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: But there is before Russell Wilson got bad, he used
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: to be really good. And there are a lot of
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: parallels there. And I actually see a little Kyler Murray
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: in Oklahoma. And the guy is extreme. Again, to play quarterback,
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: the accuracy always matters. I think sometimes in college, like, well,
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: this guy's six, five, he can run. Look how it's
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: taken Nico. You were probably asleep because the game was.
• 24:09
  Speaker 2: On at the middle of the night.
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: But he looks dramatically better. It's taken him a while.
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: But with his skill set, you can't teach. Ultimately, Nico
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: brings something to the table that Trinidad cannot. 6'5, 230.
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: But Trinidad's accuracy, just like Mensah's accuracy, and Mensah has,
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: I mean, I don't know, Tyree Kill in his prime
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: Kansas City. That's what this guy looks like in college football. Now,
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: like you said, Stanford, didn't they have a million injuries?
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: But look at the ACC. Did the ACC win? How
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: many games did the ACC win this weekend? I mean,
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: Cal lost, Louisville lost. All their second-tier teams did not
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: come through. Not a great weekend for the ACC. Miami,
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: it won't matter.
• 24:50
  Speaker 2: You know, I was thinking about you because I think
• 24:53
  Speaker 2: you mentioned it on your Twitter account, John, and I
• 24:56
  Speaker 2: thought you were right, is that Boise State gave Oregon trouble.
• 25:02
  Speaker 2: And a lot of it was Boise State. They kept
• 25:07
  Speaker 2: the ball a lot. Oregon was a much more explosive team.
• 25:10
  Speaker 2: Oregon was the better team. I mean, you just watch
• 25:12
  Speaker 2: the game. And Boise State's a great program. But the
• 25:15
  Speaker 2: world's changed. Boise State's spending less than, I looked it up,
• 25:18
  Speaker 2: $ 2 million on NIL. Oregon's spending $ 40 million. And I
• 25:24
  Speaker 2: watched and I thought about this this weekend. Look at
• 25:26
  Speaker 2: how many quarterbacks that played against smaller teams, it was
• 25:31
  Speaker 2: literally pitch and catch. I mean, how many quarterbacks this
• 25:33
  Speaker 2: weekend went 23 of Jaden Mayava against Fresno State?
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: It was a joke.
• 25:37
  Speaker 2: It was pitch and catch.
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: It was a summer.
• 25:39
  Speaker 2: I mean, it was just a joke how easy it was.
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: Texas and Ohio State, Colin, won 115 to 10 combined.
• 25:46
  Speaker 2: So in the NIL era, my theory is these games
• 25:51
  Speaker 2: that used to be kind of fun you know, Fresno State, USC.
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: You're like, eh, maybe.
• 25:57
  Speaker 2: Now, a lot of people will go, well, what about Michigan,
• 26:00
  Speaker 2: Western Michigan? That may just be a Bryce Underwood issue, right? Right,
• 26:05
  Speaker 2: if they had a normal, decent quarterback, they may have
• 26:08
  Speaker 2: won the game outright. But I do think there's a
• 26:12
  Speaker 2: time that we could just, Bob Thompson's a former TV executive,
• 26:17
  Speaker 2: and he brought this up. I mentioned this on my
• 26:20
  Speaker 2: pod last week, is that Bob's like, College football limps
• 26:24
  Speaker 2: into the season with just these awful mismatches. Now the
• 26:29
  Speaker 2: mismatches are worse because it's all about what are you
• 26:32
  Speaker 2: spending for NIL? I mean, Washington spends 20 million. They
• 26:35
  Speaker 2: don't look close to Ohio State that spends 40 million.
• 26:38
  Speaker 2: They don't look close. So all these Boise States and
• 26:42
  Speaker 2: Washington States, listen, they're proud programs. But if I ran
• 26:47
  Speaker 2: college football today, and this is why I've supported ESPN
• 26:50
  Speaker 2: and Fox basically taking over college football and saying, we
• 26:53
  Speaker 2: gave you guys 50 years. You couldn't get it right.
• 26:56
  Speaker 2: You don't have a centralized voice. This is why I'm
• 26:58
  Speaker 2: for a 2014 playoff. Let's get right into conference play immediately.
• 27:03
  Speaker 2: 12 games, six home, six away, go into the playoffs
• 27:09
  Speaker 2: for the top 24 teams. And you could say, oh,
• 27:13
  Speaker 2: it's really hurting the quality of rivalries. College football's graduated
• 27:19
  Speaker 2: out of Bama-Auburn is like the biggest game for both schools.
• 27:24
  Speaker 2: The world's changed here. So when I watched Fresno State-USC,
• 27:31
  Speaker 2: I watched this and I thought, they probably shouldn't play anymore.
• 27:35
  Speaker 1: It's sad because Fresno State changed my life. And a
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: big reason it did is it used to be an
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: NFL factory. And when I worked there, I got to
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: meet every scout in the country, GMs, assistant GMs, because
• 27:46
  Speaker 1: they were all coming in looking for players. When I
• 27:48
  Speaker 1: got there, we had Ryan Matthews. He went in the
• 27:50
  Speaker 1: top 15 as a running back out of Fresno State.
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: You know where Ryan Matthews would have been after his
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: true freshman year? At USC or Oregon. There was a
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: video on all the Fresno State accounts of like Devontae Adams,
• 28:02
  Speaker 1: Ryan Wendell, who was the Rams O-line coach. All these
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: former NFL players who came to watch the game that
• 28:08
  Speaker 1: live in L.A. and a bunch of Rams guys. Ronnie Rivers.
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: None of those guys would have– Devontae Adams, as a
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: redshirt freshman, had 100 catches and 14 touchdowns. Do you
• 28:18
  Speaker 1: know what would have happened? Texas would have called, and
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: he would have gone. So these programs– Boise State is
• 28:23
  Speaker 1: an outlier. That program– I grew up in Davis. Well,
• 28:27
  Speaker 1: Dan Hawkins went to UC Davis. Chris Peterson went to
• 28:30
  Speaker 1: UC Davis. So that program is an intellectual factory. It
• 28:34
  Speaker 1: always has been with this toughness factory. They've played Oregon
• 28:38
  Speaker 1: five times in the last 20 years. They beat them
• 28:40
  Speaker 1: three of them. And the two losses, two years ago
• 28:42
  Speaker 1: with Gentee, they lost by three points. And a couple
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: days ago, they lost by seven. Boise's just kind of
• 28:47
  Speaker 1: built for whatever reason to play in Eugene and play Oregon.
• 28:50
  Speaker 2: And there's a lot of money in Boise because of
• 28:52
  Speaker 2: Micron is based there, the university. There's a lot of money.
• 28:56
  Speaker 2: People don't understand this. It's kind of a white-collar city.
• 28:59
  Speaker 2: It's kind of a wealthy area that tucked up. People
• 29:03
  Speaker 2: outside Midwest have no idea. Boise's got a lot of money,
• 29:08
  Speaker 2: a lot. By the way, McDonald's potatoes. Where do they
• 29:12
  Speaker 2: get French fries? That's an Idaho guy. There's a lot
• 29:16
  Speaker 2: of money in Idaho.
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: Wouldn't you say Boise, Idaho is closer to Salt Lake
• 29:20
  Speaker 1: City than it is Pullman, Washington? Absolutely. It's a real city.
• 29:25
  Speaker 1: Boise to me is an outlier small school who's somewhere
• 29:29
  Speaker 1: in the middle. You just don't have a shot. You know,
• 29:32
  Speaker 1: Kirby Moore's brother, or Kirby Moore's the coach at Wazoo,
• 29:34
  Speaker 1: Kellen Moore's brother. That guy, you put him at Missouri
• 29:38
  Speaker 1: or one of these real... He'll be fine. You have
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: no chance at these little schools in these games anymore.
• 29:42
  Speaker 1: Because Washington State, once upon a time, they'd have four
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: or five pros. Now, they did beat the Huskies. Maybe USC, UCLA,
• 29:47
  Speaker 1: some of these schools, the Huskies didn't recruit. Well, now,
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: if they didn't recruit him, it doesn't matter because the
• 29:52
  Speaker 1: following year, Jed Fish can just call the guy up
• 29:54
  Speaker 1: and take him. They can literally... I'm watching a game, Indiana.
• 29:58
  Speaker 1: It's like, oh, their second best wide receivers from Michigan State,
• 30:01
  Speaker 1: their best new linemen from Wisconsin. If they miss on guys,
• 30:04
  Speaker 1: they just in December, who do we want to buy?
• 30:06
  Speaker 1: I mean, that didn't happen. So the small schools, we
• 30:11
  Speaker 1: need to get to a point where I heard you
• 30:13
  Speaker 1: talking that you should be able to allow one game.
• 30:15
  Speaker 1: I would personally allow no games. The power four plays
• 30:18
  Speaker 1: each other. Maybe you can do a strength of schedule,
• 30:21
  Speaker 1: however you want to do it around Robin. So these
• 30:23
  Speaker 1: coaches don't bitch and moan. So LSU doesn't have to
• 30:25
  Speaker 1: play Ohio state. Maybe LSU can play record. You can rotate.
• 30:28
  Speaker 1: I'm fine with that, but no more playing the little
• 30:31
  Speaker 1: guy and the, and the power four. They just play
• 30:33
  Speaker 1: each other. Western Michigan would play Fresno State. And then, obviously, D1AA,
• 30:39
  Speaker 1: you never play the D1AA again. That, to me, we've
• 30:43
  Speaker 1: lost that. To me, the Mountain West, which used to
• 30:46
  Speaker 1: be Utah was in the Mountain, BYU, some of these programs,
• 30:49
  Speaker 1: it is not the same anymore if you didn't get
• 30:51
  Speaker 1: called to the big leagues. You have no shot. I
• 30:54
  Speaker 1: lived it. I saw it. They used to have a shot.
• 30:57
  Speaker 2: Why?
• 30:57
  Speaker 1: Because Pete Carroll would miss on some recruits. Pete Carroll,
• 31:00
  Speaker 1: when Ryan Matthews got academically ineligible to school, called Ryan Matthews, said,
• 31:04
  Speaker 1: we want you to come. He was loyal and said,
• 31:06
  Speaker 1: these guys helped me graduate high school. I'm going there. Nowadays,
• 31:10
  Speaker 1: they would just call him every year and it'd be
• 31:12
  Speaker 1: hard to turn down a million dollars. So it's like
• 31:15
  Speaker 1: the world's changed in college football. But Colin, who is
• 31:19
  Speaker 1: going to be the person that mandates this?
• 31:21
  Speaker 2: Well, how's that ever going to happen? This has been a...
• 31:25
  Speaker 2: 10-year complaint from me. People are like, how can you
• 31:27
  Speaker 2: like a 2014 playoff? Because we tried the other way.
• 31:31
  Speaker 2: Teams were playing nine conference games, eight games. How could
• 31:36
  Speaker 2: you be for the Pac-12 dissolving? It was dying as
• 31:40
  Speaker 2: a conference anyway, and USC was complaining about it for
• 31:43
  Speaker 2: years that they were treated worse in conference than Washington State.
• 31:47
  Speaker 2: They really felt that. Like, we gave the Pac-12 a run.
• 31:50
  Speaker 1: Do you think that's true?
• 31:52
  Speaker 2: Well, USC felt like, if you took the LA market
• 31:55
  Speaker 2: out of this conference, what's the conference now? Tucson? Pullman? Corvallis? Berkeley?
• 32:01
  Speaker 2: They're like, because the Bay Area doesn't care about college sports, mostly. So,
• 32:06
  Speaker 2: I mean, I just heard it from the USC side. Like,
• 32:08
  Speaker 2: they were just done with it. They were frustrated with
• 32:11
  Speaker 2: the commissioner at the time, who was all, you know,
• 32:14
  Speaker 2: from the tennis network. Remember the former commissioner of the Pac-12?
• 32:17
  Speaker 1: Larry Scott.
• 32:18
  Speaker 2: Yeah, he was a very much, ah, rowing matters. And
• 32:21
  Speaker 2: it's like, football pays every bill. And USC felt, you know,
• 32:26
  Speaker 2: they got really bitter about it. And so that's why
• 32:28
  Speaker 2: I said, like, I get it. I heard it for
• 32:30
  Speaker 2: years from athletic directors and people inside FC. Okay. Let's
• 32:34
  Speaker 2: talk North Carolina. So this is a mess.
• 32:38
  Speaker 1: Wow. Jeez. Yeah.
• 32:40
  Speaker 2: So I don't think I could ever hire. I shouldn't
• 32:46
  Speaker 2: say that I could hire one of my kids, but
• 32:50
  Speaker 2: football coaches tend to do this. They want to hire
• 32:52
  Speaker 2: their kids. And, you know, Pete Carroll, Seattle, John Snyder. It's, Well-documented,
• 32:58
  Speaker 2: Snyder was not a fan of Pete's son. And first
• 33:01
  Speaker 2: it was scouting, then it was coaching. And that created
• 33:04
  Speaker 2: a real fissure between those two. I've got that double sourced.
• 33:07
  Speaker 2: Pete went to Las Vegas. Son was the O-line coach.
• 33:11
  Speaker 2: That did not work. I've got that double sourced. It
• 33:14
  Speaker 2: was a problem on the staff. Nobody's going to tell
• 33:17
  Speaker 2: Pete that because everybody likes Pete. But, you know, and
• 33:20
  Speaker 2: now Belichick. The first thing I said when he went
• 33:23
  Speaker 2: to Carolina, it's a friends and family staff. Those never work.
• 33:27
  Speaker 2: It doesn't matter if it's a car wash or it's
• 33:29
  Speaker 2: a college football program. Friends and family are not the
• 33:33
  Speaker 2: most eligible people. Hell, I've said this for years, John,
• 33:36
  Speaker 2: you know this. When Ben Johnson leaves the Lions, the
• 33:40
  Speaker 2: best candidate is not down the hall. You've got to
• 33:42
  Speaker 2: go on a global search to replace, you know, Google's
• 33:46
  Speaker 2: number three leaves. There's a real great chance that the
• 33:49
  Speaker 2: best guy isn't the number four at Google. It's like
• 33:52
  Speaker 2: somebody else at another tech company. So I didn't like
• 33:55
  Speaker 2: the staff. And then Mike Lombardi's interesting. I used to
• 33:59
  Speaker 2: put him on FS1 when I started there. I thought
• 34:02
  Speaker 2: he was interesting as a guest. He kind of had
• 34:06
  Speaker 2: these leadership mantras and he was kind of an interesting guy.
• 34:09
  Speaker 2: And then one day I showed up to work and
• 34:12
  Speaker 2: I said, who's on the show today? And they said, well,
• 34:15
  Speaker 2: Mike Lombardi's not here anymore. And I'm like, what happened?
• 34:19
  Speaker 2: And they're like, Nobody's saying anything. So I was like,
• 34:21
  Speaker 2: it's always been a guy Al Davis once said about him,
• 34:24
  Speaker 2: that guy can't keep a job. So I don't know
• 34:26
  Speaker 2: if he got a better offer. He bailed. I don't
• 34:28
  Speaker 2: know what the hell happened. All I know is I
• 34:30
  Speaker 2: liked him as a guest. I don't know him personally,
• 34:33
  Speaker 2: but he's a guy that has struggled staying engaged, you know,
• 34:38
  Speaker 2: in the employment line for schools. He is a quick
• 34:41
  Speaker 2: hit out, but Belichick has always been incredibly loyal to Mike.
• 34:46
  Speaker 2: So he's gone. His son's in trouble. I think Belichick,
• 34:53
  Speaker 2: to his defense, the defense looked real against TCU. It
• 34:58
  Speaker 2: looked real. Now, the D-line was dominant. It looked real.
• 35:02
  Speaker 2: But is this what unravels the Bill Belichick college career?
• 35:06
  Speaker 1: Yeah. I think there are two things can be true. One,
• 35:10
  Speaker 1: I'm almost envious of Belichick. Like I bet Belichick walked
• 35:14
  Speaker 1: into work today with his son and rehab and Lombardi
• 35:16
  Speaker 1: quitting and just investigational and unfazed and no one can
• 35:19
  Speaker 1: even tell the difference he is. It's like, it's truly
• 35:22
  Speaker 1: a great quality he possesses. I mean, he thrived in
• 35:25
  Speaker 1: new England when the craziest shit would happen. And I,
• 35:29
  Speaker 1: they're definitely going to be more competitive because he's pretty,
• 35:31
  Speaker 1: he's got a chip on his shoulder. He's driven out
• 35:33
  Speaker 1: their ceiling seven wins or something. I, you, You can
• 35:37
  Speaker 1: have empathy for someone who has an addiction.
• 35:40
  Speaker 2: Right.
• 35:40
  Speaker 1: But in the real world, when you're hiring people and
• 35:42
  Speaker 1: that guy has one and you bring them into the facility,
• 35:45
  Speaker 1: it's like that's kind of on you. You know, it's right.
• 35:49
  Speaker 1: Mike McDaniel, they found out back with Dan Quinn in
• 35:52
  Speaker 1: Atlanta and they all helped him out and it changed
• 35:54
  Speaker 1: his life. But I think at the time, a lot
• 35:57
  Speaker 1: of it was unknown. This has been well known. As
• 36:00
  Speaker 1: someone told me that knows the Patriots well, let's just
• 36:02
  Speaker 1: say he was on the staff with these guys for
• 36:04
  Speaker 1: a long time. He said, Steve's been a disaster for
• 36:05
  Speaker 1: a decade plus. This is not new to anything. And
• 36:09
  Speaker 1: when you have rumors of drugs in the facility, uh,
• 36:14
  Speaker 1: We ain't talking weed gummies here. So this is like
• 36:18
  Speaker 1: Bill created all this. He brought a GM who, again,
• 36:21
  Speaker 1: I don't know Mike that well. I've always enjoyed him.
• 36:25
  Speaker 1: Big personality. We'll talk a little. He'll let it fly.
• 36:28
  Speaker 2: I loved him on my show.
• 36:29
  Speaker 1: But he creates enemies everywhere he goes. Pablo Torre treated
• 36:34
  Speaker 1: him like Uncle Dennis and Kawhi. They're coming after him.
• 36:37
  Speaker 1: So they were out to get him.
• 36:39
  Speaker 2: Right.
• 36:39
  Speaker 1: And then, but Belichick brought him immediately, makes him the
• 36:42
  Speaker 1: highest paid GM in college. The guy didn't work in
• 36:44
  Speaker 1: college in 45 years, brings his kid who again is
• 36:48
  Speaker 1: clearly they are Belichick, unless he like wins the national championship.
• 36:53
  Speaker 1: I don't see how he's not fired. North Carolina, uh, Listen,
• 36:57
  Speaker 1: I'm a West Coast guy. Sure feels much closer to
• 37:00
  Speaker 1: like a Stanford Northwestern than it does an LSU. They
• 37:04
  Speaker 1: are drugs in the facility. Mike Malone, who just showed up,
• 37:10
  Speaker 1: who I've always liked, has to be like, what is
• 37:12
  Speaker 1: happening here?
• 37:14
  Speaker 2: This is crazy.
• 37:16
  Speaker 1: I don't see how Belichick survives after this year. Seven wins,
• 37:19
  Speaker 1: especially if his son never comes back. His staffs have
• 37:24
  Speaker 1: always been small.
• 37:26
  Speaker 2: Right.
• 37:26
  Speaker 1: He has never hired that many people. Well, now he's
• 37:28
  Speaker 1: missing multiple people. I mean, they're pretty underwhelmed. So I
• 37:32
  Speaker 1: it's pretty I didn't think it would go down like this.
• 37:35
  Speaker 1: But is it really that like in the pros? I
• 37:38
  Speaker 1: remember the three people went to the meeting. Andy Reid,
• 37:41
  Speaker 1: Howie Roseman, and Jeffrey Lurie. You answer to one guy.
• 37:44
  Speaker 1: In college, you got the board of regents, you got
• 37:46
  Speaker 1: the presidents, like Lane was saying, these athletic directors. Most
• 37:48
  Speaker 1: of these coaches think the athletic director's an idiot. You
• 37:51
  Speaker 1: got a lot of people. Now the boosters are paying.
• 37:53
  Speaker 1: You got a lot of people that have questions for
• 37:56
  Speaker 1: you that you kind of have to answer. This is not,
• 37:58
  Speaker 1: Belichick went down the hall, he had to answer to
• 38:00
  Speaker 1: one person. That was Bob Kraft. Hell, he wouldn't even
• 38:03
  Speaker 1: give Jonathan the time of day. So I think it's difficult.
• 38:06
  Speaker 1: These guys aren't used to, they're used to answering to
• 38:08
  Speaker 1: Al Davis or Bob Kraft. Not 75 academics. You've always
• 38:12
  Speaker 1: said Belichick's an academic.
• 38:14
  Speaker 2: It's true.
• 38:16
  Speaker 1: But he's much more of like a private sector, cutthroat, ruthless,
• 38:20
  Speaker 1: not treating people well. It's that story that came out.
• 38:24
  Speaker 1: It was long. Every paragraph I went by, Jesus, I
• 38:28
  Speaker 1: can't even believe this.
• 38:29
  Speaker 2: Well, I mean, listen, Gronk, Rady, and Edelman. were on
• 38:33
  Speaker 2: the air and they were asked about Bill in college
• 38:36
  Speaker 2: and all of them laughed. They were like, they're like, ah,
• 38:41
  Speaker 2: that's not, you know, the guy we were around is,
• 38:44
  Speaker 2: you know, going to, you know, college volleyball games to
• 38:47
  Speaker 2: support the program. It was like, ah, it's not going
• 38:49
  Speaker 2: to work. So this is not just our opinion. This
• 38:51
  Speaker 2: was shared by people that knew Bill. And I think
• 38:54
  Speaker 2: my take on Bill is almost like Deion Sanders to Colorado.
• 38:57
  Speaker 2: It's interesting. I'm in the interesting business and I think,
• 39:01
  Speaker 2: you know, Dion, congrats on that win over Georgia Tech.
• 39:04
  Speaker 2: I think Colorado's a lot of sizzle, not a lot
• 39:07
  Speaker 2: of steak, whatever. It's interesting, and I thought Belichick would
• 39:10
  Speaker 2: be interesting, and he's a real coach, but it feels
• 39:14
  Speaker 2: pretty bad.
• 39:15
  Speaker 1: Another quick, one major difference to if you just went
• 39:18
  Speaker 1: to every NFL facility today, the Bears to the Bucs
• 39:22
  Speaker 1: to Seattle, wherever, there aren't a bunch of women around,
• 39:25
  Speaker 1: especially young, good looking women. What's in college. Two things. One,
• 39:29
  Speaker 1: you have a huge recruiting staff that is now full
• 39:31
  Speaker 1: of co-eds and two, you typically share weight rooms with
• 39:35
  Speaker 1: the volleyball team, the soccer team. You're just around a situation.
• 39:38
  Speaker 1: You read that article. It's like these guys clearly couldn't
• 39:40
  Speaker 1: handle themselves. They weren't used to being around the situation,
• 39:43
  Speaker 1: which they're around. And this is going to be their undoing.
• 39:47
  Speaker 2: Time for today's Pro Move presented by Factor. The Rams
• 39:51
  Speaker 2: are going out and getting Miles Garrett Pro Move. You
• 39:54
  Speaker 2: got Stafford, McVay, good O-line, D-line play. You don't sit
• 39:58
  Speaker 2: around and hope your pass rush gets better. Go get
• 40:01
  Speaker 2: one of the most dominant defensive players in football. That's
• 40:03
  Speaker 2: what good organizations do. They identify what they need, they prepare,
• 40:06
  Speaker 2: and they take care of the details. And that's what
• 40:08
  Speaker 2: Factor is all about. Chef prepared meals, ready in minutes.
• 40:13
  Speaker 2: with options designed to support your goals. Like the shredded
• 40:17
  Speaker 2: chicken taco bowl. Had that two days ago. Delicious, easy.
• 40:20
  Speaker 2: No shopping, no meal prep. One less thing I have
• 40:24
  Speaker 2: to worry about during my busy week. And starting Labor Day,
• 40:27
  Speaker 2: I got five and a half months of busy weeks.
• 40:29
  Speaker 2: Because whether you're building a football team or managing your
• 40:31
  Speaker 2: own routine, consistency matters. That's today's Pro Move, presented by Factor.
• 40:40
  Speaker 2: All right, NFL on Netflix is back. Week one of
• 40:43
  Speaker 2: the upcoming season features the division rivals Rams against the
• 40:47
  Speaker 2: San Francisco 49ers. That's a great rivalry, head-to-head. First ever
• 40:52
  Speaker 2: regular season game in Australia, airing on Netflix live from
• 40:57
  Speaker 2: the Melbourne Cricket Ground, Thursday, September 10th, 8.30 p.m. Eastern time.
• 41:03
  Speaker 2: Heading into the holiday season, Netflix will add the NFL's
• 41:07
  Speaker 2: first ever Thanksgiving Eve game, That's November 25th to its play,
• 41:11
  Speaker 2: featuring the Packers visiting the Rams at SoFi Stadium. That
• 41:15
  Speaker 2: may be a 60, 70, 30 Packer crowd. Continuing the
• 41:20
  Speaker 2: Christmas Day tradition, Netflix again has two games, one on
• 41:23
  Speaker 2: Christmas Day, Green Bay Packers visit the improved Chicago Bears
• 41:27
  Speaker 2: at Soldier Field 1 Eastern, followed by the Buffalo Bills
• 41:31
  Speaker 2: against the Denver Broncos from Empower Field at Mile High,
• 41:33
  Speaker 2: 4.30 p.m. Eastern. Then in Week 18, with playoff stakes
• 41:37
  Speaker 2: on the line, catch the final game of the regular
• 41:39
  Speaker 2: season live on Netflix. Watch Week 1 of the NFL
• 41:42
  Speaker 2: on Netflix, starting with the Rams against the Niners, live
• 41:45
  Speaker 2: only on Netflix Thursday, September 10th, 8.35 p.m.
• 41:47
  Speaker 1: Eastern.
• 41:55
  Speaker 2: All right, this next segment, John and I are going
• 41:57
  Speaker 2: to pick the Super Bowl. It is sponsored by Polymarket.
• 42:01
  Speaker 2: So with Polymarket, you're not a better, you are a traitor.
• 42:05
  Speaker 2: It is legal in all 50 states. And I'll give
• 42:08
  Speaker 2: you an example. If you bet Michigan against Western Michigan,
• 42:13
  Speaker 2: you could have left that bet at halftime. You're not
• 42:18
  Speaker 2: locked into bets. Again, you are a traitor when you
• 42:22
  Speaker 2: use Polymarket. You're not a better. You're predicting and trading
• 42:29
  Speaker 2: against other people. In my opinion, it is much more
• 42:33
  Speaker 2: you slash consumer friendly, much easier. You're not trying to
• 42:39
  Speaker 2: beat the book. So go to Polymarket, sign up right now.
• 42:43
  Speaker 2: The code is Colin, C-O-L-I-N, to get $ 50 to make
• 42:47
  Speaker 2: your first trade on the Polymarket app. Okay, John and I,
• 42:54
  Speaker 2: we're going to pick the Super Bowl. So Seattle is 13%
• 42:58
  Speaker 2: to make the Super Bowl. The Buffalo Bills, 15% to
• 43:06
  Speaker 2: make the Super Bowl. Those obviously go down to win
• 43:12
  Speaker 2: the Super Bowl. But with 32 NFL teams, Seattle and Buffalo,
• 43:18
  Speaker 2: there's a substantial number of people who agree with me.
• 43:22
  Speaker 2: So I'm going to have the Seahawks beating the Lions,
• 43:27
  Speaker 2: getting to the Super Bowl, and then beating Buffalo, the
• 43:31
  Speaker 2: Bills beating the Bengals in the AFC Championship. Who do
• 43:35
  Speaker 2: you got?
• 43:36
  Speaker 1: Well, I got Seattle too, Colin. And at 13%, if
• 43:39
  Speaker 1: you put $ 100 on them, it pays over $ 700. So
• 43:44
  Speaker 1: I think Seattle goes back to back. They've done it before,
• 43:47
  Speaker 1: you know, a decade ago. One, I like Denver to go.
• 43:52
  Speaker 1: I mean, last year they should have taken it. The
• 43:55
  Speaker 1: quarterback got injured. You can get Denver right now to
• 43:59
  Speaker 1: become the one seed, which they were last year at 13%.
• 44:01
  Speaker 1: I also like the Bengals at 16%. I kind of
• 44:06
  Speaker 1: like the Bengals-Denver in the AFC Championship game. Wow. Houston,
• 44:11
  Speaker 1: I just don't trust the quarterback. If you told me
• 44:14
  Speaker 1: if Dak Prescott was the quarterback at Houston, I'd be like,
• 44:16
  Speaker 1: they're going to win 15 games.
• 44:19
  Speaker 2: On the Polymarket app, where are they on the Chargers?
• 44:23
  Speaker 1: To make it to the AFC Championship game, the Los
• 44:28
  Speaker 1: Angeles Chargers are 23%. So to put in perspective, Houston's 30,
• 44:34
  Speaker 1: Denver's 29, Cincinnati's 26. I think the Chargers get a
• 44:39
  Speaker 1: lot of love, Colin. But I don't hate the Chargers.
• 44:44
  Speaker 1: I just... There is an elephant in the room with
• 44:47
  Speaker 1: them about Herbert and the pressure in the playoffs. There is.
• 44:50
  Speaker 1: And Jim, you know, back-to-back playoff games, they just haven't
• 44:54
  Speaker 1: looked very good. I do think they're a pretty good sleeper. Like,
• 44:57
  Speaker 1: I'm taking Denver to win the division. I'm taking them
• 44:59
  Speaker 1: to win the AFC. If you just replace it with
• 45:04
  Speaker 1: the Chargers and told me that happens, I don't think
• 45:06
  Speaker 1: it's inconceivable. Their offensive line's excellent. They lad McConkie. They
• 45:11
  Speaker 1: add Trey Harris, the first-round running back. They got good defense.
• 45:16
  Speaker 2: Let me ask you this. Is that, and I'm guilty
• 45:19
  Speaker 2: of this too. I wonder if we're overselling. Denver last
• 45:26
  Speaker 2: year was trailed in 15 games and won 14 of
• 45:30
  Speaker 2: those 15. That doesn't make sense. It'll never happen again.
• 45:34
  Speaker 2: And because of that number, people are saying sell Denver
• 45:38
  Speaker 2: this year. Well, my take is with Jalen Waddle, Bo
• 45:41
  Speaker 2: Nix has another year. The truth is, they won't trail
• 45:45
  Speaker 2: in 15 games. If they trail in seven and win four,
• 45:50
  Speaker 2: it'll be a different team. I wonder if the coach
• 45:52
  Speaker 2: is an A, the pass rush is an A, the
• 45:55
  Speaker 2: O-line's an A, the weapons are a B, the quarterback's
• 45:58
  Speaker 2: a B, very good home field advantage, especially early in
• 46:02
  Speaker 2: the year in the high altitude. Are we underselling more
• 46:07
  Speaker 2: than any team in the league? I mean, last year
• 46:09
  Speaker 2: they led the NFL in sacks and their quarterback was
• 46:11
  Speaker 2: sacked the fewest. That's a pretty good standard to start
• 46:15
  Speaker 2: a Super Bowl team. If Bo Nix is healthy, they
• 46:17
  Speaker 2: probably end up in the Super Bowl. Are we underselling Denver?
• 46:21
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I think if you want to buy in on them,
• 46:24
  Speaker 1: which I am, you're betting on Bo Nix taking a step.
• 46:27
  Speaker 1: Because I think two guys who just became heroes in
• 46:30
  Speaker 1: every fourth quarter was Bo Nix and Caleb Williams. Or, Colin,
• 46:33
  Speaker 1: what if they just played well in the second quarter?
• 46:37
  Speaker 1: What if they just had some more completions in the
• 46:39
  Speaker 1: third quarter? They wouldn't have been in that position. Now,
• 46:41
  Speaker 1: Denver is a much more complete team than Chicago. You
• 46:45
  Speaker 1: could make the argument, if you remove the quarterback every
• 46:47
  Speaker 1: team in the league, Denver's the best roster in the league.
• 46:50
  Speaker 1: Just non-quarterback, best roster in the league, I think Denver
• 46:54
  Speaker 1: would be right in the mix for one. So I'm
• 46:56
  Speaker 1: buying Denver this year. I bought them last year, and
• 46:59
  Speaker 1: if it wasn't for a broken ankle– I don't know
• 47:02
  Speaker 1: if they beat Seattle in the Super Bowl, but I
• 47:04
  Speaker 1: think that's much more of a coin flip game than
• 47:07
  Speaker 1: what we witnessed, right? If Denver and Bo Nix are
• 47:09
  Speaker 1: in the Super Bowl.
• 47:12
  Speaker 2: Also on Polymarket, go to the Polymarket app. Seattle, 63%
• 47:17
  Speaker 2: chance to beat New England. I think they will. I
• 47:20
  Speaker 2: think it will be very low scoring. You got a
• 47:22
  Speaker 2: new OC in Seattle. I think defensively, I think New
• 47:28
  Speaker 2: England and Seattle are both top seven, eight defenses in
• 47:32
  Speaker 2: the league, 37% chance under 40 and a half. I
• 47:38
  Speaker 2: would take that. I think Seattle wins. I think it
• 47:40
  Speaker 2: feels like 24 to 13. I think that's what the
• 47:45
  Speaker 2: game looks like. I don't think it's a masterclass in
• 47:49
  Speaker 2: offensive football. I think it's kind of conservative, breaking in
• 47:53
  Speaker 2: a new OC in Seattle. I think it's a low scoring,
• 47:57
  Speaker 2: little bit of an ugly between the 30s football game.
• 48:01
  Speaker 2: Polymarket app, I like Seattle and the under 40.5. John?
• 48:05
  Speaker 1: Well, I like your score prediction, and if you like
• 48:08
  Speaker 1: that score prediction, given that we just saw this game
• 48:10
  Speaker 1: happen eight months ago, Seattle to win by 3.5 points, 49%.
• 48:13
  Speaker 1: So if you click the 49% and you bet $ 100,
• 48:15
  Speaker 1: it returns $ 198. So you can make $ 98. Uh, I, I,
• 48:25
  Speaker 1: I think Seattle handles them pretty well. Bad matchup for
• 48:27
  Speaker 1: new England and like them to win by three and
• 48:30
  Speaker 1: a half, like them to win outright and like them
• 48:32
  Speaker 1: to probably make Superbowl again.
• 48:33
  Speaker 2: Yeah. I think new England will be better, uh, between Williams, uh,
• 48:38
  Speaker 2: Romeo Dobbs, AJ Brown. It's a fortified receiving group. Still
• 48:42
  Speaker 2: don't love the offensive line. Seattle's a brutal place to play.
• 48:48
  Speaker 1: It is. That place is going to be rocking, huh?
• 48:50
  Speaker 2: Oh, it is rough. I like Seattle in the under.
• 48:54
  Speaker 2: All right, let's talk Rams and 49ers. That'll be on Netflix.
• 49:01
  Speaker 2: So after they won the Super Bowl, the Buccaneers brought
• 49:05
  Speaker 2: everybody back. And there was a real feeling that, oh,
• 49:09
  Speaker 2: they're going to repeat. And of course they didn't. And
• 49:12
  Speaker 2: it's pretty legendary that if you go back to Brady
• 49:14
  Speaker 2: and Belichick, like repeating was hard. It was really hard
• 49:19
  Speaker 2: to do. And in Edelman has said many times to me,
• 49:22
  Speaker 2: every team has a different personality, even if it's the
• 49:25
  Speaker 2: same guys. Like every camp is different. Every season's different.
• 49:29
  Speaker 2: There's injuries. There's a new coach. There's a couple of
• 49:32
  Speaker 2: hot shot rookies. Schedule's different. Injuries are different. So... I
• 49:39
  Speaker 2: think the Seahawks, by the end of the year, because
• 49:43
  Speaker 2: they're younger, younger players generally, if they do get hurt,
• 49:48
  Speaker 2: heal more quickly. I worry about the new OC. So
• 49:52
  Speaker 2: that's a wild card. Clint Kubiak now coaching the Raiders.
• 49:56
  Speaker 2: That is a wild card. But I think this sort
• 49:59
  Speaker 2: of definitive position that the Rams are going to be dominant.
• 50:04
  Speaker 2: And I'm like, well, what if the left tackle has trouble?
• 50:09
  Speaker 2: What if the right tackle does? What if Stafford gets
• 50:12
  Speaker 2: dinged up? Listen, the defensive front is going to be
• 50:16
  Speaker 2: absolutely monstrous. So, but when I hear Rams are going
• 50:22
  Speaker 2: to win the Super Bowl, my take is, oh, they're
• 50:24
  Speaker 2: going to be like Ali and his prime. They're going
• 50:27
  Speaker 2: to be an unbelievable target every week. It's going to be,
• 50:30
  Speaker 2: remember that Brady team that went undefeated to the Super
• 50:34
  Speaker 2: Bowl in And they played Baltimore. They played Philadelphia. And
• 50:37
  Speaker 2: it was like they got everybody's best shot. Seattle, for
• 50:42
  Speaker 2: a Super Bowl champ, is wildly under the radar. People
• 50:45
  Speaker 2: are in love with the Rams and the Bears and
• 50:48
  Speaker 2: the Bills and the Holmeses back and the Lions. Seattle's
• 50:53
  Speaker 2: strangely under the radar for a brilliantly coached, stacked roster
• 51:00
  Speaker 2: that replaced its three big losses all in the draft
• 51:03
  Speaker 2: in order. are we sure the Rams are going to
• 51:08
  Speaker 2: hoist a trophy? I think they're deeper and better than
• 51:10
  Speaker 2: the Niners. They're flying in, playing, getting on a plane, leaving.
• 51:15
  Speaker 2: San Francisco has been there several days. It's almost like
• 51:17
  Speaker 2: it's an assignment. We don't care about sleep. We're going in, playing, leaving.
• 51:23
  Speaker 2: I don't know. I just, I look at the schedule.
• 51:25
  Speaker 2: I look at Stafford's age. I look at them being
• 51:28
  Speaker 2: a target and I'm like, are we sure they're going
• 51:31
  Speaker 2: to even win their division?
• 51:33
  Speaker 1: I'm picking Seattle. so bad football just rarely this is
• 51:39
  Speaker 1: not Kevin Durant shows up and the team could cruise
• 51:42
  Speaker 1: to 65 wins that's not football and McVay it's not
• 51:45
  Speaker 1: like they think it is But the guy's taken multiple
• 51:48
  Speaker 1: years off. He's just going to come back and be
• 51:50
  Speaker 1: the same. That's what everyone assumes, which, again, I always
• 51:55
  Speaker 1: have a lot of respect for how serious he is
• 51:58
  Speaker 1: about staying in shape and all that stuff. But I
• 52:00
  Speaker 1: don't know. I mean, Miles Garrett, it just feels like, oh,
• 52:04
  Speaker 1: they're just going to walk to 14 wins. Well, let's
• 52:06
  Speaker 1: go to the Australia game. They're flying in. 24 hours before.
• 52:11
  Speaker 1: This is not London. Australia's winter is happening right now.
• 52:17
  Speaker 1: It's a 16-hour flight, Colin. I get they've done this
• 52:20
  Speaker 1: and had success with the European Games. This feels like
• 52:23
  Speaker 1: a different animal. There is just a hydration standpoint. I
• 52:27
  Speaker 1: was talking to a couple people that made the flight,
• 52:28
  Speaker 1: and they said the one thing you don't underestimate is
• 52:31
  Speaker 1: you walk off the plane, you're really thirsty because you're
• 52:33
  Speaker 1: popping sleeping pills. You're kind of sleeping. You're not drinking.
• 52:37
  Speaker 1: You get dehydrated in altitude to begin with. And then
• 52:41
  Speaker 1: you get up and you've still got six hours on
• 52:43
  Speaker 1: the flight. I mean, it is– I think the way
• 52:45
  Speaker 1: they've handled it seems a little– I don't want to
• 52:49
  Speaker 1: say arrogant because they're not doing it. They're doing it
• 52:51
  Speaker 1: because they think it's the right way and it's worked
• 52:53
  Speaker 1: for them before. I just think this is a different
• 52:54
  Speaker 1: animal than playing at Wembley Stadium. And if it backfires–
• 52:59
  Speaker 1: and the other thing, they've got older players. So, you know,
• 53:02
  Speaker 1: this is a long travel for older players. Part of
• 53:05
  Speaker 1: the reason– I mean, you could argue the Niners went
• 53:07
  Speaker 1: a little too early– But I think they wanted no
• 53:10
  Speaker 1: part of any hangover with the older guys. They wanted
• 53:12
  Speaker 1: him to get acclimated, just be comfortable in the moment.
• 53:15
  Speaker 1: I mean, Kyle, they got there like eight days before
• 53:19
  Speaker 1: the game. But as Kyle was saying, you see the
• 53:21
  Speaker 1: story today, Raheem Morris, his birthday was on whatever day
• 53:25
  Speaker 1: they left. He never even got to experience his birthday
• 53:28
  Speaker 1: because by the time he gets to Australia, it's a
• 53:30
  Speaker 1: different day. And Kyle's like, it's weird. I'm talking to
• 53:33
  Speaker 1: my son. It's Saturday, but it's Sunday here. It really
• 53:36
  Speaker 1: throws you off. Now, I think McVeigh would be like,
• 53:38
  Speaker 1: we're going to be there for such a short time.
• 53:40
  Speaker 1: It can't throw us off. I'm like, I hear you.
• 53:42
  Speaker 2: I thought about, you know what I thought about? The Rams,
• 53:45
  Speaker 2: because of Kroenke and his wealth, having, I mean, this
• 53:51
  Speaker 2: is probably obvious to anybody who listens to this. I've
• 53:53
  Speaker 2: used for years. B12 bags, um, like, like vitamin B bags.
• 53:59
  Speaker 2: Like if I went to skiing in Utah and, and
• 54:01
  Speaker 2: I both would get there. And the first thing we do,
• 54:04
  Speaker 2: we don't drink the first night. And then we, you know,
• 54:07
  Speaker 2: we do the B12 bag. Uh, we invite a door
• 54:10
  Speaker 2: house and we, anytime we were going to go skiing
• 54:13
  Speaker 2: for a weekend, it's, it's like when you travel a
• 54:15
  Speaker 2: long way, I bet you on that team plane, there
• 54:18
  Speaker 2: are six, eight you know, medical professionals. They're just doing
• 54:23
  Speaker 2: bags the whole trip to hydrate because they say, I
• 54:27
  Speaker 2: don't know what the number is, but it's like you
• 54:30
  Speaker 2: lose three glasses of water every two or three hours
• 54:33
  Speaker 2: on a plane. It's some staggering figure. When I read it,
• 54:36
  Speaker 2: I was like, I mean, I read this probably two
• 54:40
  Speaker 2: or three years ago. I used to have a cocktail
• 54:41
  Speaker 2: on planes all the time. I'd be like, hey, I'm
• 54:44
  Speaker 2: flying three hours. I'm gonna have a cocktail. I stopped
• 54:47
  Speaker 2: drinking on planes. I just don't drink.
• 54:50
  Speaker 1: Ginger ale.
• 54:51
  Speaker 2: And it was literally an article I read several years ago.
• 54:53
  Speaker 2: Like you have no idea how bad and unhealthy it
• 54:57
  Speaker 2: is to drink alcohol on a plane. And so my
• 55:01
  Speaker 2: take is, and NFL teams can't drink on planes, supposedly, reportedly.
• 55:06
  Speaker 2: Way home. Yeah. But my take is you just have
• 55:10
  Speaker 2: to have those NDA bags, those B12 bags, those hydration bags.
• 55:16
  Speaker 2: That's probably how the Rams look at it is we're
• 55:18
  Speaker 2: just going to be super, hyper focused on that. Rams
• 55:23
  Speaker 2: have the better team, but I do think it's an interesting,
• 55:27
  Speaker 2: you know, Rams have done a lot of things. They
• 55:28
  Speaker 2: didn't play any starters when McVay got there in the
• 55:31
  Speaker 2: preseason and it worked. I mean, so they've done things differently.
• 55:34
  Speaker 2: That's what I'm saying.
• 55:36
  Speaker 1: It's backed by success. They're not just doing it because
• 55:39
  Speaker 1: I think this is the right way. It's worked for
• 55:40
  Speaker 1: them in the past, everything they've done. I just think
• 55:43
  Speaker 1: that flying nine hours and 16 to 17 hours is
• 55:46
  Speaker 1: a different animal. I mean, that's an extra cross-country flight
• 55:51
  Speaker 1: for an older team. You know, they actually just have
• 55:54
  Speaker 1: a sneaky lot going on. You know, Puka is a
• 55:57
  Speaker 1: pretty big story of, like, The stories just never kind
• 56:00
  Speaker 1: of end. The money aspect is he's just going to
• 56:03
  Speaker 1: be unfazed. I mean, a lot of guys, Christian Gonzalez
• 56:06
  Speaker 1: is going through this right now. Like Robert Kraft, sneaky cheap.
• 56:10
  Speaker 1: Belichick took a lot of the heat. Kraft isn't exactly,
• 56:14
  Speaker 1: he's fighting for every penny. He's like, Robert, $ 100 million,
• 56:16
  Speaker 1: just give him the contract. What are you waiting on here?
• 56:19
  Speaker 1: You know, Jerry takes a lot of shit. At least
• 56:20
  Speaker 1: Jerry ends up cutting the check. Robert's fighting you tooth
• 56:23
  Speaker 1: and nail. The game's like two days. But I think,
• 56:26
  Speaker 1: you know, you got the Puka situation. Stafford's just been
• 56:29
  Speaker 1: bruised and battered over the years. Their offensive line, like
• 56:32
  Speaker 1: you said, the left tackle thing, we'll see. I mean,
• 56:35
  Speaker 1: Devontae's battled hamstring injuries later on in his career. You're
• 56:39
  Speaker 1: bringing back this Donald thing. Seattle's the only team of
• 56:43
  Speaker 1: the three in the West. If the Niners or Rams
• 56:46
  Speaker 1: had just won the Super Bowl with the nucleus of
• 56:49
  Speaker 1: their roster all coming back and the coach, every single
• 56:52
  Speaker 1: buddy would pick them to go back. But Seattle, probably
• 56:55
  Speaker 1: the market size, maybe the brand, I don't know. Maybe
• 56:58
  Speaker 1: their star power.
• 56:59
  Speaker 2: Well, the other thing, John, is when the Seahawks, when
• 57:02
  Speaker 2: they had Pete Carroll was a rock star. Marshawn Lynch
• 57:05
  Speaker 2: was a rock star. The 12s were a rock star.
• 57:09
  Speaker 2: Richard Sherman was a rock star. Russell Wilson was becoming one.
• 57:14
  Speaker 2: They were, it was just a, okay, this team, JSN
• 57:20
  Speaker 2: under the radar, Witherspoon, under the radar. I mean, Charles Cross,
• 57:25
  Speaker 2: left tackle. 90% of sports fans wouldn't know him if they,
• 57:29
  Speaker 2: you know, who's Charles Cross? Sam Darnold, he was labeled
• 57:33
  Speaker 2: a bust. So many of their star players, Nick Emanwuri,
• 57:37
  Speaker 2: the safety from NC State, so many of their young players.
• 57:42
  Speaker 1: Leonard Williams doesn't say anything.
• 57:44
  Speaker 2: Oh, and he's like the nicest guy. Anybody that's ever
• 57:47
  Speaker 2: gone to USC that played with Leonard Williams, he's like
• 57:49
  Speaker 2: the most beloved USC player ever. The classiest, nicest guy.
• 57:54
  Speaker 2: So Seattle doesn't have any egos and they don't have
• 57:56
  Speaker 2: any brands. I mean, like Richard Sherman was That kid
• 58:00
  Speaker 2: went to Stanford, and his life story was fascinating. And
• 58:03
  Speaker 2: Richard was a big personality. And Richard was screaming at
• 58:07
  Speaker 2: Aaron Andrews on a postgame show. Like, Richard became like
• 58:11
  Speaker 2: a phenomena in football. He's got his podcast at the volume.
• 58:14
  Speaker 2: Richard was a thing in the NFL. Like, everybody wanted
• 58:17
  Speaker 2: to draft tall corners because of Richard Sherman. Literally, it
• 58:21
  Speaker 2: was like, oh, you want to go draft the next
• 58:24
  Speaker 2: Richard Sherman, right? The guy from Stanford? Is Stanford a
• 58:29
  Speaker 2: great defensive factory? So his story became amazing. Seattle's just
• 58:35
  Speaker 2: got a bunch of great young players who kind of
• 58:37
  Speaker 2: like don't have brands. There's not a single brand on
• 58:42
  Speaker 2: the team. So to me, they're huge.
• 58:45
  Speaker 1: Even their head coach, who's a star, is not a
• 58:47
  Speaker 1: brand guy.
• 58:48
  Speaker 2: In his division, he's the third most talked about coach.
• 58:53
  Speaker 2: So I love them. Hey guys, JLab, using it for years,
• 59:00
  Speaker 2: makes innovative personal technology. Earbuds, headphones, speakers, great for travel,
• 59:06
  Speaker 2: great for the gym, great for the morning commute, pregame warmup.
• 59:10
  Speaker 2: Life is yours for the listening. So I'm traveling all
• 59:12
  Speaker 2: the time. I love the JLab headphones. airports, long flights,
• 59:17
  Speaker 2: train rides, to and from work. To me, having great
• 59:20
  Speaker 2: sounds lets me tune everything else out, right? Head to
• 59:24
  Speaker 2: Amazon and use my name, Colin Cowherd. Head to Amazon,
• 59:27
  Speaker 2: code Colin Cowherd, gonna get 20% off any JLab products.
• 59:31
  Speaker 2: I use them every day. That's Colin Cowherd on Amazon
• 59:35
  Speaker 2: for 20% off. Feel alive with JLab. A lot of products.
• 59:39
  Speaker 2: Find the blue box. Yep, they're in a blue box
• 59:42
  Speaker 2: at retailers and Amazon, or just go to JLab.com, J-L-A-B, JLab.com. Okay,
• 59:52
  Speaker 2: I wanted your take on this. So there was no quarterback.
• 59:58
  Speaker 2: that got degraded more in the preseason than Tua. Between
• 1:00:03
  Speaker 2: practice stuff, joint practice stuff, you couldn't find anything other
• 1:00:07
  Speaker 2: than Tua's an abject disaster with the Falcons. And yet
• 1:00:12
  Speaker 2: he was just named the starter, which tells me the
• 1:00:16
  Speaker 2: Michael Pennix experiment It may not work. It may be
• 1:00:21
  Speaker 2: a less publicized version of J.J. McCarthy where, yeah, it's
• 1:00:25
  Speaker 2: just not going to work. What did you make of
• 1:00:28
  Speaker 2: Tua being named the starter with the Falcons?
• 1:00:30
  Speaker 1: Well, I know you like him and a lot of
• 1:00:32
  Speaker 1: people like him and I've met him one time and
• 1:00:34
  Speaker 1: he was a nice guy. This is nothing personal. I'm
• 1:00:37
  Speaker 1: not sure Stefanski... knows what he's doing when it comes
• 1:00:40
  Speaker 1: to quarterback evaluations. I, you know, Dylan Gabriel in the third, uh,
• 1:00:45
  Speaker 1: I mean, to even be in the two of business,
• 1:00:48
  Speaker 1: if two would have came, if he would have paid
• 1:00:50
  Speaker 1: the Falcons to show up, right. If instead of them
• 1:00:52
  Speaker 1: paying him 1.5, he pays them one point. I would
• 1:00:55
  Speaker 1: have said, no, we're good. I, I'd rather just take
• 1:00:58
  Speaker 1: some random guy. I can't, Certain coaches, for whatever reason,
• 1:01:03
  Speaker 1: have blind spots. No one's ever disputed. I think he'll
• 1:01:07
  Speaker 1: pick up an offense fast. I mean, look at Mike McDaniel.
• 1:01:10
  Speaker 1: Super smart. He liked him early. Saban loved him. I
• 1:01:14
  Speaker 1: think he's an easy guy to like. But this Dabo
• 1:01:18
  Speaker 1: loves everybody. Can you play or not? Andy loves Mahomes.
• 1:01:23
  Speaker 1: Big reason he's good. I think to go with Tua, one,
• 1:01:27
  Speaker 1: didn't Michael Penix just tell us that Neil Albatross, whatever
• 1:01:31
  Speaker 1: the knee guy, my knee's stronger than ever. I'm cleared
• 1:01:33
  Speaker 1: to play. If he's cleared to play, he just drafted me.
• 1:01:36
  Speaker 1: No expectation. I think the Falcons are going to be terrible.
• 1:01:39
  Speaker 1: I mean, terrible. I just think he has a soft spot, Stefanski,
• 1:01:43
  Speaker 1: for short quarterbacks with weak arms.
• 1:01:46
  Speaker 2: Well, and let's be honest, Sean Payton, Jimmy Johnson, there
• 1:01:51
  Speaker 2: are coaches, McVay, that have a good eye for talent,
• 1:01:55
  Speaker 2: personnel guys. Belichick did not. Bill did not have a
• 1:01:59
  Speaker 2: good eye for talent. There's a lot. Andy Reid doesn't
• 1:02:03
  Speaker 2: want any part of it. So, you know, my take
• 1:02:06
  Speaker 2: is I like Stefanski. I think he's bright. He may
• 1:02:09
  Speaker 2: not be a great personnel guy. I mean, I watched
• 1:02:10
  Speaker 2: Dylan Gabriel in college. He is tiny. Like he is.
• 1:02:16
  Speaker 2: And he's, by the way, he's not super elusive. So
• 1:02:19
  Speaker 2: it's like, you know, I get the Russell Wilson. I
• 1:02:21
  Speaker 2: get Johnny Manziel. I get the Kyler Murray. Like I'm
• 1:02:24
  Speaker 2: a fan of Kyler Murray. Like the runaround guy, you know,
• 1:02:27
  Speaker 2: he may not see over the line, but he's got,
• 1:02:29
  Speaker 2: you know, he's elusive. He's kind of a playmaker. I mean,
• 1:02:33
  Speaker 2: Russell Wilson and Kyler Murray played baseball. They don't get hit.
• 1:02:36
  Speaker 2: They're great sliders. Like I can defend the small guy.
• 1:02:39
  Speaker 2: I like bigger quarterbacks. But with Dylan, you don't get
• 1:02:41
  Speaker 2: a lot of athletic ability. And he's small. Like, that's
• 1:02:44
  Speaker 2: not an NFL quarterback. That's a third guy. So, and
• 1:02:48
  Speaker 2: the last time I saw Tua play, and again, wonderful kid.
• 1:02:52
  Speaker 2: But that, when they extend, when Chris Greer extended Tua,
• 1:02:56
  Speaker 2: I said it on the air, that is a disaster.
• 1:03:00
  Speaker 2: That is an absolute massive mistake. Injury prone. I don't
• 1:03:05
  Speaker 2: think the locker room believed in him. You know, you've
• 1:03:08
  Speaker 2: got deep threats and he doesn't throw a great deep ball,
• 1:03:11
  Speaker 2: especially in cooler weather, colder, windy weather. I think is
• 1:03:14
  Speaker 2: Stefanski just a guy that he's not a personnel guy.
• 1:03:18
  Speaker 2: He's kind of an academic. He's an intellect. And I
• 1:03:23
  Speaker 2: think you may be onto something because to me, you
• 1:03:25
  Speaker 2: would just play Penn. It's not Kirk Cousins Mendoza. I
• 1:03:28
  Speaker 2: get starting Kirk Cousins.
• 1:03:30
  Speaker 1: This is a, the.
• 1:03:31
  Speaker 2: Fan base is uninterested. They got SEC football. Like you
• 1:03:36
  Speaker 2: may want to, that's why I've said about Shador in Cleveland.
• 1:03:39
  Speaker 2: You may just want to play Shador to keep the
• 1:03:41
  Speaker 2: stadium full.
• 1:03:44
  Speaker 1: But what I don't understand is how would Stefanski have–
• 1:03:48
  Speaker 1: Matt Ryan now plays a key role there. This is
• 1:03:52
  Speaker 1: a big quarterback. He stands next to Tua. He towers
• 1:03:56
  Speaker 1: over him. Ian Cunningham, who was with the Ravens forever
• 1:04:00
  Speaker 1: with Flacco, then with the Eagles with, I think, Wentz
• 1:04:03
  Speaker 1: and Hurts. And then the last couple years with Ryan
• 1:04:05
  Speaker 1: Poles with Caleb Williams. So to me, he would see
• 1:04:09
  Speaker 1: a guy like Tua. There are multiple guys in the room.
• 1:04:12
  Speaker 1: Stefanski's not Sean Payton here. He doesn't have unlimited authority.
• 1:04:16
  Speaker 1: I'm shocked they even started him. If I would have
• 1:04:19
  Speaker 1: told you the moment he got cut, right, and they
• 1:04:21
  Speaker 1: paid him whatever, $ 55 million, they ate the dead calf
• 1:04:25
  Speaker 1: to get rid of him. If I would have said, Colin,
• 1:04:27
  Speaker 1: what are the chances he's starting week one for a team?
• 1:04:30
  Speaker 1: You would have been like, Pauly market, 0%. And if
• 1:04:36
  Speaker 1: I did tell you he is going to start for
• 1:04:38
  Speaker 1: a team, he'd be like, well, they are right in
• 1:04:41
  Speaker 1: the staring down the barrel of the number one overall pick.
• 1:04:44
  Speaker 1: Because one, he's a concussion away from obviously never playing again.
• 1:04:48
  Speaker 1: And two, he's just not very good. Now, maybe they go, well,
• 1:04:52
  Speaker 1: we got B. John Robinson, Kyle Pitts, and Drake London.
• 1:04:56
  Speaker 1: But I... That one, I mean, maybe Penix's knee is
• 1:05:02
  Speaker 1: just shot. We'll find out in a couple days, but
• 1:05:06
  Speaker 1: Bosa's been in and out of practice. Maybe Bosa's knee,
• 1:05:09
  Speaker 1: you can only have so many ACL surgeries before the
• 1:05:12
  Speaker 1: knee stops really working.
• 1:05:14
  Speaker 2: I understood the Tua acquisition by Atlanta because I always
• 1:05:17
  Speaker 2: felt Penix's comp was a bigger, stronger, longer, better-armed Tua.
• 1:05:22
  Speaker 2: Like Penix is a classic pocket quarterback. He is a lefty.
• 1:05:26
  Speaker 2: He throws a really pretty ball. I met him once
• 1:05:29
  Speaker 2: after a Husky Oregon game. I really like him.
• 1:05:32
  Speaker 1: I loved him in college. He was awesome at Washington.
• 1:05:34
  Speaker 2: Super beautiful, beautiful fade, beautiful, beautiful seam. You know, like
• 1:05:41
  Speaker 2: a left-handed baseball hitter. It just looks better, right? Yeah,
• 1:05:45
  Speaker 2: I was shocked by that decision. All right, John Middlecoff,
• 1:05:53
  Speaker 2: podcast is three and out. It is great to be back.
• 1:05:57
  Speaker 2: Do we have a game on tonight? It's Sunday. It's Monday.
• 1:06:01
  Speaker 1: My wife actually looked at me. I'm like, well, you know,
• 1:06:03
  Speaker 1: Florida State SMU. We can skip that one. She's like,
• 1:06:10
  Speaker 1: I'm in my bed on Saturday night at like 1130
• 1:06:13
  Speaker 1: watching Nico and Bob Chesney just run it down Cal's throat.
• 1:06:17
  Speaker 1: I'm like, listen, there are a lot of games that
• 1:06:19
  Speaker 1: were terrible. I mean, there were a lot of games
• 1:06:21
  Speaker 1: that were like, 70-7 of teams in the top 30-40.
• 1:06:25
  Speaker 1: But there were a couple that are just, that Cal-UCLA game,
• 1:06:29
  Speaker 1: the Ole Miss-Louisville game, that are just like, I'm glad
• 1:06:31
  Speaker 1: football's back in my life.
• 1:06:37
  Speaker 2: This podcast presented by Bud Light. Easy to drink, easy
• 1:06:40
  Speaker 2: to enjoy.