Tracy Sandler and Steve Hartman discuss Oregon losing to Oklahoma State, their NFL picks for this weekend, and MORE!

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio.

Speaker 2 (00:07):
Hello, hello, hello, and welcome to Fox Football Saturday. And
if you guys could all just give me one second,
I have to say go blue.

Speaker 3 (00:17):
All right, Tracy, I saw that.

Speaker 4 (00:20):
And by the way, I don't know about you, but
my Sunday partner on Enzone Radio, One V.J. Husky, who
is also a diehard Wolverine fan, last week predicted that
Oklahoma was going to win today in the big house,
and yet he's crowing on his text line right now

(00:41):
about Michigan.

Speaker 3 (00:42):
Let me ask you this. Do you get credit as.

Speaker 4 (00:44):
A Michigan fan for a big win against Oklahoma if
you go on national radio and predict Oklahoma wins the game?

Speaker 2 (00:52):
You get to be happy as a Michigan fan. I
don't think you get necessarily credit, but you get to
be happy because I also understand the psychology of that
and like the defense mechanism that it's kind of like, well,
you know, I mean, they're going to lose anyway, so
it's not that big a deal. But there are some
of us who felt like it was going to be

(01:14):
a different week because so many of their mistakes last
week were self-inflicted. Bryce Underwood did not look amazing today,
but he was better. The offense was better. The offense
has some time to to sync up. They still had
some bad penalties that they're going to have to figure
out how to clean up. But I felt like they
were going to respond and they did.

Speaker 3 (01:34):
Well, it was a huge win for Michigan.

Speaker 4 (01:36):
I mean, look, Michigan is not going to dismantle the
Big Ten this year.

Speaker 3 (01:42):
That's for sure. And of course, we are waiting here.

Speaker 4 (01:44):
We're a couple hours away, obviously, from the big matchup
between Ohio State and Texas. We're going to talk plenty
about that today, Tracy. As far as Michigan is concerned
and Kyle Winningham, look, Kyle Winningham, he's going to earn
a spot in the College Football Hall of Fame for
his great run that he had at Utah all those years,
especially after Utah moved into the Pac-12 and was able

(02:05):
to win Pac-12 championships, which was very impressive. The question
I had about Whittingham, because a lot of people thought
he was going to basically retire. I mean, he had
already had a career. And then out of the blue, obviously,
with the mess that was going on at Michigan, they
needed to really bring in an established coach. And then
suddenly Kyle Whittingham was available. And here's a guy again

(02:26):
who's going to earn a spot in the College Football
Hall of Fame. Let's roll the dice. The question is,
is he the right fit? Kyle Whittingham football may not
exactly be Michigan football, certainly in terms of Bryce Underwood,
who again basically completed 50%.

Speaker 3 (02:41):
Of his passes today.

Speaker 4 (02:42):
He's doing nothing from a passing standpoint that will impress
NFL scouts down the road. What he did do was
run the ball effectively, and that's where Michigan just needed
enough from him to do that. So, look, they got
a gift last week. They took advantage of it. Still
have to make a Hail Mary pass. And today was
just a defensive struggle. So to me, Michigan's a very

(03:04):
interesting team this year, simply because they have a coach
that really isn't a Michigan guy. The question is, can
his coaching style mesh with what Michigan fans are expecting?

Speaker 2 (03:16):
Well, I think in terms of Bryce, it was interesting.
I listened to Brian Kelly this week and you may
remember Bryce Underwood was supposed to play for Brian Kelly
at LSU. And I listened this week and he talked
a lot about you. Essentially, I'm paraphrasing. You got to
let Bryce be Bryce. And there was a little bit
more of that today with him running the football, taking
advantage of him as an athlete. I think in terms
of if it's going to work, I think he is

(03:38):
the man Michigan needs right now. There was such turmoil.
It was such a mess. The last few years were
just awful in Ann Arbor. And the fact that they
won any games and did as well as they did
is actually kind of a miracle. He's the man for
the job right now to bring some stability. And in
terms of the rest of it, we'll kind of see.
I think Bryce Underwood's not his choice. That's not his guy.

(04:02):
But he is a guy that they've paid a lot
of money to.

Speaker 5 (04:05):
So.

Speaker 2 (04:06):
He's going to have to see if he can get
the best out of Bryce with his brand of football.
And if he can't, he's got a freshman quarterback waiting
in the wings. But for now, I think what's encouraging
to me about Michigan, and this is kind of how
I felt about the whole season, to be honest, was.
The improvement from last week to this week, there's still
so much to improve, but was huge. And I've looked

(04:27):
at this season as get better and better and better
so that next season they're truly a contender. I know
that that's not how a lot of the fan base
looks at it. I know that's how Michigan looks at it.
But I think right now. He's what we've got in
Kyle Whittingham, and he's the man for the moment. That's,
I guess, the best way I can say it.

Speaker 4 (04:44):
You bring up a great point, Tracy, about the fact
that Bryce Underwood was not his guy.

Speaker 3 (04:48):
He didn't recruit him.

Speaker 4 (04:49):
He didn't give the thumbs up on the richest NIL
deal of any incoming freshman quarterback. And so when he
was critical of Bryce after the game, after the first week,
and again, it wasn't like he said, hey, you know,
the reason this game even was as close as it
was is our quarterback sucked. And he's the only he

(05:09):
didn't say any of that. Basically, he said, look. Bryce
Underwood is our quarterback right now, but it's not indefinite.
In other words, you have to show something. We have
to be able to play better. We need to improve.
It's on the coaching staff.

Speaker 3 (05:24):
It's on everyone.

Speaker 4 (05:25):
It's not just on Bryce Underwood. This is basically what
Whittingham said. But, of course, the headline was Whittingham rips
his quarterback.

Speaker 3 (05:32):
And he didn't. He's got to play better, which is
a fact.

Speaker 4 (05:36):
But here's where I used to draw the line as
far as criticizing collegiate athletes versus professional athletes.

Speaker 5 (05:44):
Okay.

Speaker 4 (05:44):
Just because, again, professional athletes are paid professionals and the
college guys aren't.

Speaker 3 (05:49):
So I always sort of drew a line.

Speaker 2 (05:50):
Except now they aren't.

Speaker 3 (05:51):
But now they are. Now they're professional athletes. It is
open season.

Speaker 4 (05:56):
Once you accept those checks, millions of dollars that Bryce
Underwood is getting. That was a $ 12 million deal that
he signed with Michigan. Yeah, your coach can rip you
because you are a professional athlete. And when you are
getting paid... and your performance is subpar based on the
money that you're being compensated with, that makes you open

(06:20):
for criticism. So this idea of, well, you know, you
shouldn't do that. No, no, no, no, no. Differing game
right now. The collegiate game is a professional game. These
guys are getting paid. And so for me, they have
the same scrutiny that professional athletes have because they are
professional athletes.

Speaker 2 (06:38):
I agree, and I actually think with Whittingham, it's a
little refreshing. Listen, I love Jim Harbaugh the most, and he,
because of his personality, can get away with saying, my
quarterback is great with a capital G, or my quarterback's
going to be— he gets to do that. But I thought
it was refreshing that Whittingham was like, yeah, he's our
quarterback right now, and he has to play better. He
does have to play better. And actually, for Bryce, especially

(06:59):
if he wants to have a long career in football—
You're going to have to start hearing that. That is
good for him. So I found it kind of refreshing
that it wasn't. He mentioned there were other things to
clean up.

Speaker 3 (07:10):
You're right.

Speaker 2 (07:10):
He didn't say if it wasn't for the quarterback, we
wouldn't we would have won the game because I don't
know that they would have. But it was refreshing for
him to say like. You didn't hear that, well, we
all have to do better, and so do the coaches.
He said that, but at the end of the day, yeah,
Bryce has to play better. And if he doesn't, he's
not going to be the quarterback anymore.

Speaker 4 (07:27):
The sponsors that are paying out this NIL money, remember
the Spencer Rattler-Caleb Williams situation in Oklahoma? So going into
the season, Spencer Rattler is the starting quarterback at Oklahoma.

Speaker 3 (07:38):
He's got some new NIL deals.

Speaker 4 (07:40):
He's doing promotions for local car dealers. He's got commercials
and everything else. And halfway through the year, he's playing lousy.
And Lincoln Riley benches him for the freshman, Caleb Williams.
And I said, this is a perfect example of you
invest money in.

Speaker 3 (07:58):
These college players.

Speaker 4 (07:59):
Mm-hmm.

Speaker 3 (08:00):
These are 19, 20 year olds.

Speaker 4 (08:03):
You have no idea as good as Bryce Underwood as
a five star recruit was coming out of high school.

Speaker 3 (08:10):
You go into Ann Arbor.

Speaker 4 (08:12):
It is a different game playing against Big Ten competition.

Speaker 3 (08:16):
There are no guarantees. So you run that risk.

Speaker 4 (08:20):
And this is again, why Kyle Whittingham had no problem
because again, I didn't green light this deal. I had
nothing to do with Bryce Underwood. So I know we're
paying this guy, but understand this.

Speaker 3 (08:33):
I'm the coach. You hired me the coach.

Speaker 4 (08:36):
I will make the decision on who will play quarterback
based on performance. I don't care if you're paying him
big money and he doesn't play. If he doesn't perform
at the level we need to win these games, he's
He's going to take a seat. So Bryce Underwood survived
this week. It wasn't a great game. It will be
very interesting to see how Michigan approaches their passing game,

(08:58):
because right now it is nonexistent. Today, Bryce Underwood got
it done with his legs just enough. Great defensive effort
for Michigan today against Mateer is way overrated at Oklahoma. So,
you know, this will be a very interesting play for
the rest of the season for the Wolverines.

Speaker 2 (09:15):
And this actually segues into something else that we are
going to discuss. Because if you talk about a professional team,
if you bring in a player, a quarterback, you pay
him a lot of money in the NFL, he doesn't perform,
you're going to bench him. And the year that Brock
Purdy ended up coming in because of all the injuries,
at that training camp in which Trey Lance was supposed
to be the starter, and they signed Jimmy Garoppolo at

(09:37):
the 11th hour because they could see Trey wasn't the guy,
Kyle Shanahan said to the owner of the 49ers, our
best quarterback is our third quarterback on this team in
Brock Purdy. And who was the starting quarterback for the 49ers?
Brock Purdy. So I think that's, to your point, if
they're a professional, everyone's getting treated like a professional.

Speaker 4 (09:53):
Did you have to figure out whether you were going
Michigan or 49ers today?

Speaker 3 (09:57):
Was that a decision for you?

Speaker 2 (09:59):
In terms of?

Speaker 3 (10:00):
Your gear today that.

Speaker 2 (10:01):
You were going to sport? Well, I'm not a 49ers fan.
I was a beat reporter. So I don't have 49ers gear.

Speaker 3 (10:05):
So you don't have any rooting interest in the 49ers?

Speaker 2 (10:07):
I really don't have any. I really loved covering them.
I loved covering Kyle and John. I think the world
of both of them. I think Brock Purdy's a tremendous guy.
Fred Warner, Churchill. The guys on that team, it's a
good group. And I had tremendous working relationships with all
of them. And they were so good. I do a
lot of like fun stuff. These nighters on plug show
that they all participate in were fun and my predictable

(10:30):
pick show. So I want them to do well because
I know those guys and I care about them as
players and want them to win. But I don't have
a rooting interest in them anymore.

Speaker 4 (10:41):
Well, one thing about that game, and I know we're
going to get plenty into what happened in Melbourne, Australia,
but Kyle Shanahan has always owned Sean McVay in the
regular season. I mean, that has been absolutely etched in stone.
And that, boy, that game was unbelievable.

Speaker 2 (10:56):
That game was unbelievable. Week one, I want to talk
about it because we overreact to week one always. We're
always overreacting to week one. But I looked at this
49ers team, and granted, this 49ers team was way more
rested than the Rams team. I don't want to say
they took this game more seriously, but maybe they did
take it more seriously than the Rams.

Speaker 6 (11:15):
Oh, they did.

Speaker 2 (11:15):
And they had eight months to prepare for it. But
you look at this 49ers team, and it's like, oh, right.
This is what this team can do when this team
is healthy. The problem is they're never healthy. But when
you have Nick Bosa back, when you have Fred Warner back,
when you have George Kittle back, they brought Dre Greenlaw back.

Speaker 7 (11:34):
Oh, right.

Speaker 2 (11:35):
This is a really good football team. And Kyle Shanahan's
probably the best play caller in the NFL. This is
what they can do. And they did everything right, including
planning their travel better than the Rams did.

Speaker 3 (11:47):
I thought what the Rams did in week one was
a disgrace to the league. I thought it was an
absolute embarrassment to the league.

Speaker 7 (11:54):
It really was, actually.

Speaker 4 (11:54):
It was a team that mailed this game in almost
from the get-go with their refusal to travel to Melbourne.
And by the way, it's not about just practicing. Understand this.
The NFL— and look, I'll be hypercritical towards the NFL with
this idea of these international games— It was interesting that
Roger Goodell, who just signed a four-year extension on his contract,

(12:18):
was asked whether or not by the end of his deal,
will we see an international team in the NFL? And
he quickly said, no, it's not going to happen. I'm
not exactly sure why they would put these teams. And
by the way, Kyle Shanahan wasn't a big fan of
this game in Australia.

Speaker 2 (12:36):
No, he certainly was not.

Speaker 4 (12:37):
But as far as the Rams are concerned, Technically, this,
by the way, was a Rams home game.

Speaker 2 (12:43):
It was, which makes it even weirder that they treated
it like this.

Speaker 4 (12:45):
But they absolutely mailed in this game. They had no
interest in this game. It's a level of arrogance that
you feel like we can essentially forfeit the game to
a division rival, no less.

Speaker 2 (12:58):
Well, that's the thing.

Speaker 3 (12:58):
And still, you know, start.

Speaker 4 (13:00):
In an 0-1 hole and be okay with all the
hype that the Rams have gotten with all the acquisitions.
Miles Garrett, zero tackles. I mean, Trent Williams just owned him.
He didn't do anything. He was completely absent in this game.
You had four completions in the first half from your
league MVP. He looked horrible in this game. I mean,
and then the most embarrassing, we're really, again, with the NFL,

(13:22):
you've got 100,000 people in this cavernous stadium where no one.

Speaker 3 (13:25):
Was close to the field. There was no crowd noise.

Speaker 4 (13:28):
Everything about this game didn't feel like an actual NFL game.
The best was Luke Keekly as the analyst after the
49ers missed the field goal. So it's 27-7 with 3.49
to go. And he's trying to make an argument. If
the Rams get a quick score here and outrun Stetson
Bennett and they.

Speaker 3 (13:48):
Literally run out the clock. Run, run, run, run. Can't
get out of there quick. I'm thinking, when is the.

Speaker 4 (13:54):
Last time I saw any NFL game? No matter what
the score is. Where a team literally runs out the
clock when they are losing the game. I mean, they
could have gone for a touchdown at the end. Bennett
got a couple of plays. Instead, they run out the clock.
I have never seen that in any regular season game

(14:16):
with your perfectly healthy starting quarterback standing on the sideline.

Speaker 3 (14:20):
It was unreal. It was an embarrassment. Embarrassment for the
Rams organization.

Speaker 4 (14:24):
But to me, that was just a big F you
to the NFL for putting this game on our schedule,
forcing us to fly 16, 17 hours each way for
an actual game that's supposed to count in the standings.
The 49ers got a huge win. They played great. If
they can stay healthy, obviously the 49ers can win the
NFC West. But for the Rams, I thought it.

Speaker 3 (14:45):
Was an embarrassment. And I don't think they really care.
They're like.

Speaker 4 (14:50):
Screw you to the NFL for for having us have
to fly to Australia and back. And they treated it
like they felt like it was basically a forfeit game
for them in week one.

Speaker 3 (15:01):
It is disgrace. And you are right.

Speaker 2 (15:02):
It's complete and total arrogance because this game. I don't
care if it's week one. This is a game. You
have a tough division. So you're going to have... It
looks like right now, after week one, there are three
teams that are competing for that division. Every division game counts.
And now the Rams are down a game and down
a division game. And it's very, very arrogant. And it's

(15:23):
also really silly because... The Niners didn't want to go either,
but they went early and they really like ingratiated themselves
in Melbourne. They did so much. And you know how
you get the NFL to not make you do things
you really don't want to do by going a week
early and ingratiating yourself and doing all the things they
want you to do when you're there. Exactly.

Speaker 3 (15:42):
Exactly the point.

Speaker 4 (15:43):
That's the best point right there, Tracy, is the fact
that not only were the Niners there to practice, get
well rested and get ready for this game. They participated
in the local scene as the week wore on. Kyle
Shanahan started saying, yeah, it's sort of cool that we're
hanging out here. I think the players had a good
time there, but the Rams had no part of this.

Speaker 2 (16:03):
And it was a Rams home game.

Speaker 3 (16:05):
If I were the league, I would be livid at.

Speaker 2 (16:07):
The Rams right now. And I'm sure they are. And
that means, and that will at some point come back
to haunt the Rams. They're probably going to have to
go back to Australia next year. But you kind of
got to play the game on the field, and you
got to play the game. And if they're sending you there,
you got to participate a little bit.

Speaker 3 (16:23):
Here's the overreaction.

Speaker 4 (16:25):
We had all three of the top contenders in the
NFC West play already. There's no doubt the 49ers look
the best. Seattle, obviously, Drew Locke was in it. Quarterback,
they did not very little offensively. You know, Drake May.

Speaker 2 (16:39):
Drake May was a mess.

Speaker 3 (16:40):
Absolute mess. He hasn't recovered.

Speaker 4 (16:43):
You know, I was going to say, can he recover
from that debacle that we saw in the Super Bowl
and a weak one?

Speaker 8 (16:50):
No.

Speaker 4 (16:51):
I mean, this is going to be— and you could see
the panic with Mike Vrabel, like, wow, I got to
save my young quarterback because— The decision-making at the end
of that game was just so bad, so atrocious.

Speaker 3 (17:02):
I don't know if Drake Mays is ever going to recover,
to be honest with you.

Speaker 2 (17:06):
He may not. He certainly didn't look like a guy
who had had the last however many months to think
about it and move on and whatever. He looked really bad,
and he is young. It will be interesting to see,
and there's been– You know, there's been a lot going
on around the Patriots, and Mike Frabel is going to
have to really focus this kid and focus his team

(17:26):
because otherwise it's going to be a disaster. I already
don't think I already think it's going to be a
tougher season than it was, and they may or may
not make the playoffs, but it will be a disaster
if that's Drake Bay. Well, we have a lot more
to talk about in terms of the NFL. We have
college football. Steve mentioned the Ohio State-Texas game coming up
later today. We're going to talk about that. This is

(17:47):
Fox Football Saturday.

Speaker 1 (17:50):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio. Fox Sports Radio is
taking over YouTube. And you can be a part of it.
Just go to YouTube and search Fox Sports Radio. Hit
that subscribe button. And smash that notification bell. And catch
all the videos from your favorite shows. Two pros and
a cup of jump.

Speaker 8 (18:07):
Dan Patrick. Colin Cowherd.

Speaker 1 (18:08):
Stu Gotts and company.

Speaker 4 (18:10):
Live.

Speaker 1 (18:10):
Covino and Rich. The Odd Couple with Rob Parker and
Kelvin Washington. The Jason Smith Show with Mike Harmon. And
the Ben Maller Show.

Speaker 8 (18:17):
Fox Sports Radio.

Speaker 3 (18:19):
On YouTube. Subscribe. Hit that thumbs up icon. And comment away.

Speaker 2 (18:26):
We are coming to you live from the Fox Sports
Radio studios. Welcome back to Fox Sports Football Saturday, presented
by Underdog. Unleash your dog. Speaking of Underdog, Steve.

Speaker 4 (18:41):
Yes.

Speaker 2 (18:41):
Oklahoma was a naked minus five and a half point
favorite at the big house, but they did not cover.
Michigan wins. If Oregon loses, which where are we right
now in this Oregon game?

Speaker 4 (18:53):
It's a Just at the start of the fourth quarter
and Oregon has finally taken the lead 31 to 30.
They were 23 and a half point favorites in this game.

Speaker 2 (19:03):
Not one point favorites, Texas one and a half versus
Ohio state. That is a very big game coming up
this afternoon. And as much as I dislike talking about
Ohio state, I think we have to talk about this game.
It's going to be a biggie.

Speaker 3 (19:14):
Well, it is. And by the way, think about a
year ago.

Speaker 9 (19:17):
Right.

Speaker 4 (19:17):
So Arch Manning makes his start for a start on
the road again in Columbus against the number one team.
It's like, OK, well, this is this is not a
great place to start. And he did not play well
at all. But remember, it was also Julian Sayen's first
start at Ohio State. He played better than Arch Manning.
This is completely different. Now, both these guys have had

(19:40):
a full year as a starting quarterback. They both played
a game last week, you know, warmup games. So there
are no excuses in this game. These are two quarterbacks.
Obviously as a Heisman voter, I got my eyes on
a lot of these quarterbacks, but this is the way
I always differentiate. When I'm looking at my Heisman candidates
at the end of the season, I always look back

(20:02):
and I say, what did you do in the biggest
game on your schedule? What did you do in that game?
I don't care about rolling up six touchdown passes on
a bunch of patsies. I don't even look at the numbers.
I'm looking at what did you do? in the biggest
game of your schedule. And for both these quarterbacks, this
is a game that's going to have a huge.

Speaker 3 (20:22):
Bearing, whether they're a Heisman candidate or not, at least
for me.

Speaker 4 (20:25):
This is not a game where both these teams are
loaded with five-star talent. There really isn't a lot to
differentiate these teams, I think, as far as talent is concerned.
So there's no excuses for Arch Manning. There are no
excuses for Julian saying, if your team wants to win today,
you've got to play good as your quarterback.

Speaker 2 (20:44):
I could not agree with you more. We're in week two,
but can we call this, I mean, so far it's
the game of the season.

Speaker 3 (20:51):
Oh, absolutely.

Speaker 2 (20:52):
It's not even really close. No disrespect to my Michigan Wolverines,
but it's not even really close. I'm very curious to
see how these two quarterbacks play today. I think it's
going to be fun to watch, and I think the
implications for the rest of the season, because I think
how they play today will be in the heads of
both of these guys, and And it will have tremendous
implications for their seasons, for the title hopes, for the Heisman,

(21:15):
for the draft, all of the things. Not to put
too much pressure on this afternoon, but.

Speaker 4 (21:18):
It's a biggie.

Speaker 2 (21:19):
It's huge. This is our big game. I mean, it's
not the big game, but it's our big game.

Speaker 4 (21:25):
Well, it's not the big game because, again, you got
12 teams in the playoffs. So the loser of this game,
assuming they play well the rest of the year, will
be in the playoffs.

Speaker 3 (21:32):
It could be a rematch in the playoffs for all
we know.

Speaker 4 (21:35):
As far as the Heisman is concerned, and this is
how this works, if one of these two quarterbacks really
kicks ass today and their team wins decisively, huge jump.
And sometimes we've seen this where there's an early game
in the season where somebody sort of sits there. I
can go all the way back even before I was voting.

(21:57):
The great Ty Detmer, BYU legend.

Speaker 9 (21:59):
Mm-hmm.

Speaker 4 (21:59):
1990, BYU opens the season against defending champion number one Miami,
the U, at the height of their power. And he
just absolutely carved them up, posted a win over Miami
to start the season. And that was enough because BYU
wasn't playing a great schedule in those days. But that
one game. It was able to hold them all the

(22:20):
way to being handed the Heisman Trophy. So, yeah, this
is a huge game for both these quarterbacks tomorrow.

Speaker 2 (22:26):
All right.

Speaker 3 (22:26):
Today.

Speaker 2 (22:27):
Later, I'm going to ask you to pick something. But
right now, we are going to go to the great
Monse Bolaños to catch us up on all the things
going on in sports. My Heisman winner. My Heisman winner
is you. I'm so glad. I usually just say fellas.
So to be able to not have to say fellas,
it's such a nice, it's such a nice treat for me. Ladies, gentlemen, hi.

(22:47):
How are you, Monsi? I'm so happy to be hanging
out with you.

Speaker 3 (22:52):
I feel like I'll be hanging out a lot this
weekend with Monsi. We are going to be hanging out
a lot.

Speaker 5 (22:56):
We get ready for the NFL in all its glory
tomorrow to wrap up almost week one. Yeah, we got Monday,
but tomorrow we've got a lot of games. But right
now we've got a lot of. college action going on.
As you mentioned not long ago, Steve, No. 6 Oregon
finally on top of Oklahoma State. 31-30 is the score
early in the fourth quarter. The Ducks do have the
ball around midfield right now. It is all Notre Dame

(23:18):
so far.

Speaker 9 (23:18):
No.

Speaker 5 (23:18):
3 Notre Dame against Rice. 28-0 early in the second quarter.
Number 12, Alabama, is losing to Kentucky. It was a
little messy to start off. Wildcats had a pick six
in the first quarter, and then Alabama fumbled after that.
Then the Crimson Tide got their own pick six, tied
the game up, but Kentucky has retaken the lead.

Speaker 2 (23:37):
So 14-7 is the score early in the second quarter.

Speaker 5 (23:40):
Arizona leads number 15, BYU 10-7, also early in the second,
just like Utah State in number 19, Washington. But Utah
State is up 7-3 late in the first quarter. Number
17 SMU on the scoreboard over UC Davis, 7-0.

Speaker 2 (23:54):
No big upset. Oh, wait, there is one upset. We
have to talk about it.

Speaker 5 (23:58):
Michigan defeating number 11 Oklahoma, 17-10.

Speaker 2 (24:02):
Wolverines quarterback Bryce Underwood, 9-17, 111 yards.

Speaker 5 (24:06):
Plus 18 carries for 87 yards and a touchdown, which is,
I think, what you wanted to see out of Bryce
Underwood in this game.

Speaker 2 (24:12):
More ground action than in the pocket. And he did that,
and you guys get the win.

Speaker 5 (24:16):
But out of the rest of the top 25 matchups,
all of them have won.

Speaker 2 (24:20):
No upset there.

Speaker 5 (24:22):
When it comes to the NFL, Falcons starting quarterback Cooper Rush,
who is replacing Tua Togobailoa. experienced back spasms today. He
is still going to start tomorrow in Pittsburgh, but that
is the latest. So no bueno there. Eagles have downgraded
rookie tight end Eli Stowers because of that hamstring injury
that he's been dealing with.

Speaker 2 (24:42):
They also placed him on IR, so he's at least
out for weeks.

Speaker 5 (24:45):
Raiders tight end Michael Mayer, three-year extension, $ 45 million. Green
Bay Packers tight end Tucker Kraft, four-year extension. Base value
of 75 could be worth up to 92 million. The
ladies in basketball played at the FIBA Women's World Cup
today and the semifinals U.S. defeated Spain 77 to 66.

Speaker 2 (25:03):
They're going to.

Speaker 5 (25:04):
Face France tomorrow in the final at 2 Eastern.

Speaker 2 (25:07):
In baseball, a couple of scores that matter. Pirates leading the.

Speaker 5 (25:10):
Cubs right now, 3-2, bottom of the eighth inning. Giants
lead the Padres 2-0, top of the second inning.

Speaker 2 (25:15):
The Padres and the.

Speaker 5 (25:16):
Diamondbacks are fighting for that final wildcard spot in the
National League. Diamondbacks do host the Rangers later. Dodgers over
the Marlins 2-0, bottom of the first inning there. And, yeah,
the Mets crush the Yankees 12-2. Francisco Lindor, two home runs,
including a grand slam.

Speaker 2 (25:31):
Oh, that's nice. Good for him. Good for him. Back
to you guys. Thank you so, so much.

Speaker 3 (25:35):
Jess.

Speaker 2 (25:37):
Thank you very much uh we are getting ready to
welcome in our first guest john paul morosi from mlb
network fox sports radio he does so many things but
i think maybe the most important thing of all known
michigan fan welcome to the show my friend.

Speaker 9 (25:55):
Tracy and Steve, it is great to be with you,
and I am pleased to be your correspondent today on
the ground here in Ann Arbor. No late drama. Tracy,
your Wolverines, they didn't trail at all today. They didn't
trail as they did last week against the Broncos. A
much better outing for Underwood.

Speaker 7 (26:13):
I can report to you, Tracy, all is well in
your beautiful home away from home.

Speaker 2 (26:18):
Oh, that makes me so happy. I was nauseous the
entire game, but it was a fabulous, fabulous result. OK,
so we know what happened there. Here's a question I
have for you. And then I actually want to I
think want to ask you a little bit more about
a game going on later today. But does Michigan get
back into the top 25 now?

Speaker 3 (26:35):
Sure, absolutely.

Speaker 7 (26:37):
Sure, why not?

Speaker 9 (26:39):
You beat one of the top 15 teams in the country.

Speaker 7 (26:42):
You're gliding back in. And last I checked, Tracy, they
are still technically undefeated. I know that in the minds
of many, including perhaps my own mother, who is a
proud Western Michigan grad, there's a bit of an asterisk there.

Speaker 9 (26:56):
But we'll handle the family dynamics later on about that.
But I think in general... When you wanted.

Speaker 7 (27:02):
To see this team respond in a.

Speaker 9 (27:04):
Way that gives you some belief that they can carry
themselves through the Big Ten season, they did that today. Yes,
it was at home.

Speaker 7 (27:11):
I realize that Mateer does not quite have a full
offensive of weapons that he might have.

Speaker 9 (27:16):
Had when Michigan OU last played in Norman, the other
side of this home and home.

Speaker 7 (27:21):
But in general, I think Michigan answered a lot.

Speaker 9 (27:23):
Of questions today. And to me, the biggest thing was.

Speaker 7 (27:27):
The defense allowed Underwood to settle in.

Speaker 9 (27:30):
I think that was the biggest thing. He never felt
as though he had to make a game-saving or game-breaking.

Speaker 7 (27:35):
Play because the defense.

Speaker 9 (27:37):
Kept the game close throughout. There were a couple moments,
of course, the late hit that was made by Jair Hill, and.

Speaker 7 (27:45):
Yet he was the one that came up with the.

Speaker 9 (27:46):
Big interception later on.

Speaker 7 (27:48):
It was not a breezy.

Speaker 9 (27:50):
Victory by any margin. But when you beat a quality.

Speaker 7 (27:53):
SEC team that's ranked in.

Speaker 9 (27:55):
The top 15, you are a top 25 team, Tracy.

Speaker 7 (27:57):
So rest assured, your team is.

Speaker 9 (28:00):
Going to be there on Monday morning.

Speaker 3 (28:01):
All right, JP.

Speaker 4 (28:02):
So I talked about this earlier with Tracy about being
critical of collegiate athletes. And I used to draw the
line because, you know, professional athletes are always fair game.

Speaker 3 (28:13):
You're getting paid.

Speaker 4 (28:14):
You're going to be susceptible to any criticism that comes
your way. College players to me were different, but now
they're not. Kyle Whittingham raised a few eyebrows with some
critical comments. By the way, it wasn't like after the
Western Michigan game said, the only reason that we almost
lost this game is because our quarterback sucks. He didn't
say that. He said that Bryce Underwood has got to

(28:35):
play better. And by the way, he did not bring
Bryce Underwood in. He was not the guy that green-lighted
that $ 12 million NIL deal. And basically what he said was,
if he wants to keep his job, he's got to
play well. I will play whoever I think is the
best quarterback to help us win. Has it changed in
your mind as it has in my mind that being

(28:57):
critical of collegiate athletes is fair game because, well, technically
they are professional athletes now?

Speaker 9 (29:05):
I agree, Steve.

Speaker 7 (29:06):
And I think as long as you stay within the
boundaries of the game.

Speaker 9 (29:10):
Right, whether you're a fan, whether you're a broadcaster, writer,
certainly watching the game last.

Speaker 7 (29:17):
Weekend, I came away with a very similar notion that.

Speaker 9 (29:21):
Whittingham did, which is that Bryce had to be better.

Speaker 7 (29:23):
And guess what?

Speaker 9 (29:24):
He was.

Speaker 7 (29:25):
The other thing, especially as it.

Speaker 9 (29:27):
Relates to the intra-team, intra-locker room dynamic that goes on.

Speaker 7 (29:32):
There is so much, even those of us that cover
sports every day, there is so much that we don't know.

Speaker 9 (29:38):
There is so much that we don't know.

Speaker 7 (29:39):
Behind the scenes about what makes a particular player tick.

Speaker 9 (29:43):
And that to me, Stephen, you've been around locker rooms
longer than I have. That seemed to me to be
the thing that.

Speaker 7 (29:50):
Whittingham felt he had to say.

Speaker 9 (29:52):
To get Underwood's attention. Because it used to be that
the authority in the college football dynamic belonged to the
head coach. In this case, no more.

Speaker 7 (30:03):
Think about if I had told anyone 10 years ago
or even five years.

Speaker 9 (30:06):
Ago that the biggest item on the payroll of a
team legally, outwardly, publicly facing is not the coach but
the star quarterback. And that's just completely upside down. And
that financial dynamic, I believe, Steve, exactly.

Speaker 7 (30:23):
What you're saying, it has changed the way.

Speaker 9 (30:25):
That we believe we.

Speaker 7 (30:26):
Can– speak about players, and I've always been careful to
criticize when you talk about performance. But as long as
you're staying within the boundaries of what's happening on the field,
I'm fine with it. And I also defer in some
ways to the coach and manager. That is the most
important part of the job, especially with today's athlete, knowing
how they tick, knowing how either sensitive or how strongly

(30:48):
in a positive way they might react to some gentle coaching, let's.

Speaker 9 (30:52):
Say, or critique.

Speaker 7 (30:54):
I think Underwood, to his credit, answered a lot of questions.

Speaker 9 (30:57):
And I hope anyone, any fan, any writer, any blogger, whatever.

Speaker 7 (31:01):
It might be, that was.

Speaker 9 (31:02):
Hypercritical of him last week would.

Speaker 7 (31:05):
Turn around and give him the credit he deserves this afternoon.

Speaker 2 (31:07):
So there's another quarterback who has a lot of pressure
on him and has had it since he was born
because his last name is Manning. It's Arch Manning, and
he has a huge game, obviously, this afternoon against Ohio State.
Do you think Arch has done enough yet to really
solidify himself as someone who could be successful in the NFL?

(31:30):
Do you think today's game is kind of just pivotal
to his career? Because if it's a disaster, that could
really affect him. And if he's great, then that changes
things as well.

Speaker 9 (31:44):
He will still be given the benefit of the doubt
for two reasons. His last name probably helps, if we're
being honest. But I think he's played well enough.

Speaker 7 (31:52):
I mean, this is not– he has not had.

Speaker 9 (31:55):
A bad career by any stretch.

Speaker 7 (31:57):
Has he hit every single expectation that the most lofty
ideas had?

Speaker 9 (32:02):
Probably not.

Speaker 2 (32:03):
And they weren't even fair, to be honest.

Speaker 7 (32:05):
Right, exactly. And I love, by the way, that in
talking about how you can shape your legacy– The baptism
by fire that he had the first time.

Speaker 9 (32:15):
He played the Buckeyes, I think we all go back to.

Speaker 7 (32:17):
As one of those oh-my-goodness moments.

Speaker 9 (32:19):
About if he might fall short of the expectations.

Speaker 7 (32:21):
So tonight represents that chance to write a different story.
And I do believe he'll get the benefit of the doubt.

Speaker 9 (32:29):
Everything you hear about him, hard worker, good teammate, all
the things that you want to see. Do I think
he's the.

Speaker 7 (32:35):
Heisman frontrunner right now, I would tend to say the
gentleman down in South Bend might have the edge just
based on the way that Al convincingly Carr played in
the second half, especially against Wisconsin last week.

Speaker 9 (32:46):
So this is definitely a prove-it game.

Speaker 7 (32:48):
There's obviously between Sayen and Smith, a couple guys on
the other side tonight that are going to be part
of the Heisman conversation. So there's no stage like this one, Tracy,
for either side.

Speaker 9 (32:58):
I think coming out of this game, not.

Speaker 7 (33:00):
That those of us who love college football tend to
overreact to early season games. We never do that. So
that's never happened before in the history of the game.

Speaker 9 (33:08):
So certainly by the time tonight is over, there will
be a very strong challenger identified in the competition against C.J.

Speaker 2 (33:19):
Carr.

Speaker 7 (33:20):
And I think we have to wait for the final
scoreline to see if it's someone from the Scarlet and Gray.

Speaker 9 (33:23):
Or someone from the Longhorns.

Speaker 2 (33:25):
Fantastic. Thank you so much for joining us today, JP.
Have so much fun today in Ann Arbor. I'm jealous.

Speaker 3 (33:32):
Go blue.

Speaker 2 (33:33):
You guys, we have so much more to discuss. Fox
Football Saturday. We've got the do's and the don'ts, so
don't go anywhere.

Speaker 8 (33:39):
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
the nation. Catch all of our shows at foxsportsradio.com. And
within the iHeartRadio app, search FSR to listen live.

Speaker 2 (33:52):
You are listening to Fox Football Saturday. I am Tracy
Sandler with Steve Hartman. We've got Brandon Deutsch, Monty Bolaños,
Chris Perfette. It has been a very fun show so far.
We are brought to you, presented by Underdog, Unleash Your Dog.
I really like that as a dog person. Unleash Your Dog.

(34:14):
Speaking of underdog, there's a game going on tomorrow, Steve,
before we get to the do's and don'ts that I
want to talk about, because this is probably a bold
statement in week one of the NFL, but it's a
potential AFC championship messed up, in my opinion. And that
is Bills and Texans. Bills minus one and a half.
Am I being ridiculous in week one and saying we
may have an AFC championship matchup on our hands?

Speaker 4 (34:35):
Well, the only way we're going to have an AFC
championship matchup is if C.J. Stroud actually plays well this year.

Speaker 2 (34:40):
Well, and he's an Ohio State quarterback.

Speaker 4 (34:42):
And he was a disaster in the playoffs last year.
He's been really a disaster in the postseason, has regressed,
which is why the Texans have not offered him a
contract extension yet, even though the other quarterbacks have in
that quarterback class. Gotten their deal. So, yeah, the Texans
have a lot of things working for them. They have
an outstanding defense. I like their coach. They have a

(35:02):
lot of things going for them. But none of that's
going to matter unless C.J. Stroud does a complete turnaround
and returns to the form we saw during his rookie season.

Speaker 2 (35:13):
I just would like everyone at home to know that
I really made Monsey laugh with my little under the breath.
I mean, well, he is an Ohio State quarterback comment.
So thank you for understanding me.

Speaker 3 (35:22):
Yes, Monsey.

Speaker 2 (35:25):
It was just really subtle. It was just like a
matter of fact to you. Right. You know what I mean?
Which is what was so funny about it. It was
just like a matter of fact. Like a throwaway line.
They tell actors, just throw away the line. You just
threw away the line. But it made me laugh. First
of all, I.

Speaker 4 (35:38):
Was shocked that she would even say that this is
a potential AFC championship game matchup.

Speaker 3 (35:43):
I am a professional. With a Ohio State quarterback.

Speaker 2 (35:46):
I am a professional. Unbiased. When push comes to shove,
I am a professional. And I can do my job
and still hate Ohio State.

Speaker 3 (35:54):
But.

Speaker 2 (35:55):
Let's do the do's and the don'ts. Don't be unprofessional,
but do stay tuned for the do's and the don'ts here.

Speaker 1 (36:01):
Highlighting the do's i love that and putting a spotlight
on the don'ts.

Speaker 2 (36:07):
This subject brings me no joy.

Speaker 1 (36:08):
Don't do that uh that's insane it's time for the
do's and the don'ts in sports all right see.

Speaker 2 (36:15):
If my don't is going back to something we talked
about earlier in the game do not fly to us
or earlier in the day do not fly to australia
for a football game based on the day before and
think you're going to win it i can The Rams
had all these experts for two years who were flying
back and forth. None of those guys, as my mom said,
none of those guys actually had to play a football

(36:35):
game after that. Don't be ridiculous and that arrogant.

Speaker 3 (36:40):
I also have a don't about that game for a
different reason.

Speaker 2 (36:44):
Do it.

Speaker 4 (36:44):
Don't believe that just because the Rams mailed in week
one that everything is going to be good going forward.

Speaker 3 (36:51):
And the reason I say that is.

Speaker 4 (36:53):
Eyeball test on Matthew Stafford. Now, I will say this.
Tom Brady was one of one, folks. And how Tom
Brady was able to keep himself physically fit and never
seem to age, I don't think we'll ever have the
true answer. But we have seen quarterbacks have big seasons
late in their career and literally go off the deep end.

(37:16):
It happened to Brett Favre. The big year he had
in Minnesota. The next year fell off the cliff. It
happened to Peyton Manning in Denver. Big year fell off
the cliff. It is very conceivable. Matthew Stafford, remember, was
considering retirement after last year. Go out on top as
a league MVP, but he wanted another run for the
Super Bowl.

Speaker 3 (37:37):
But I'm watching him throw.

Speaker 4 (37:39):
Out there, and it is conceivable that Matthew Stafford at
age 38, who's thrown a lot of passes.

Speaker 3 (37:49):
Maybe going off the cliff.

Speaker 4 (37:51):
And if he goes off the cliff, there's no way
the Rams are going to be contenders for a Super
Bowl this year.

Speaker 3 (37:56):
So don't believe that.

Speaker 4 (37:58):
Everything will be okay for the Rams moving forward until
we actually see that Matthew Stafford is still an elite quarterback.
Because week one, forget the stats, eyeball test. He did
not look right.

Speaker 2 (38:14):
No, he definitely did not. But I'm going to go
with another don't also kind of related to this game.
I would still say don't write the Rams off just yet.
I don't think I agree with you. Matthew Stafford did
not look good. I don't. I do think the jet
lag played a part in all of it. And so
I kind of, I'll be curious to see what happens

(38:34):
next week. But you're right. He didn't look good. Miles
Garrett also looked absolutely terrible. I mean, if both of
those guys are falling off a cliff, then it's completely over.
But I don't know. That's what I say. I have
a question for you. What game do you think everyone
has to pay attention to the rest of the weekend?

Speaker 3 (38:51):
As far as the NFL is concerned? Oh, I think
this Bill's Texans game is definitely.

Speaker 4 (38:55):
Yeah, because I think for the Bills, who are still
considered the favorites to come out of the AFC, which
is amazing because obviously with Josh Allen, they never even
made it to a Super Bowl.

Speaker 3 (39:04):
This is a real test. You're on the road against
the Texans.

Speaker 4 (39:07):
You know, C.J. Stroud has a lot to prove this year.
He's fighting for his future in Houston right now. If
the Bills can go in there and win convincingly, then
we can say, all right. The Bills, at least week one,
have shown they are the team to beat.

Speaker 3 (39:21):
On the AFC.

Speaker 2 (39:22):
Is there a player this weekend that has to prove
to you that he still has it?

Speaker 3 (39:28):
Well, there's a lot of... I would say.
I would say Patrick Mahomes.

Speaker 2 (39:33):
That's fair.

Speaker 4 (39:34):
I mean, you know, you come back from the first
serious injury of your career. This is not the same
Chiefs team that he's had in the past. He doesn't
have the weapons that he had in the past. And frankly,
his numbers were down the last couple of years anyway.
Losing record before he.

Speaker 3 (39:49):
Got hurt last year.

Speaker 4 (39:50):
Yeah, all eyes are on Mahomes because a lot of
people are saying, yeah, last year was an aberration.

Speaker 3 (39:54):
The Chiefs will be back. They're only going to be
back if Mahomes is back to form.

Speaker 2 (39:58):
I'm interested to see Bo Nix in that game. And
I think we might see an even more improved Bo
Nix from last year. So I think the Broncos are
also a fun team to watch. Those are the two games.
All right, don't go anywhere. This is Fox Football Saturday.
Tracy Sandler with Steve Hartman. And we have so much
more to discuss. So we will talk to you after
the break.

Speaker 3 (40:21):
And Tracy Sandler.

Speaker 2 (40:22):
Hello, hello, hello. I am Tracy Sandler, joined by Steve Hartman.
You just heard Montse Bolaños. We've got Brandon Deutsch, who's
very happy about the Niners' victory. We've got Chris Perfette.
And we have had a really, really good show. We
are presented by Underdog. Unleash your dog. Speaking of, 49ers,
I mentioned that Brandon's very excited about it. They moved

(40:45):
up to 5th. in Super Bowl odds on underdog at 14-1. Seahawks, Rams, Ravens,
Bills are all ahead of them. But that is kind
of a big thing because I don't think anybody, people
went into that game feeling like, yeah, the Niners are
going to lose this and it's just going to be
kind of a mess.

Speaker 4 (41:01):
Well, you know, nothing felt right about the Rams. By
the way, I just want to keep everybody updated.

Speaker 3 (41:06):
What's going on right now.

Speaker 4 (41:07):
Oklahoma State, which came into this game with a 12-game
losing streak. is leading number six, Oregon, 39 to 31.
We got less than three minutes to go. This game
is in Stillwater on the road. But yeah, the Cowboys
coming in with a 12-game losing streak starting last year.

(41:28):
as obviously they made a coaching change this year, lose
their opening game. Doesn't look like they stand a ghost
of a chance. 23 and a half point underdogs. And
we're going to see if Dante Moore, because obviously Oregon
needs a touchdown and a two-point conversion just to get
this team game into overtime. So we're going to see
if Oregon can pull this out right now as they
approach midfield. So 39-31, Oklahoma State leading Oregon, two minutes

(41:53):
and change to go.

Speaker 2 (41:54):
I'm trying to think of something like the Ducks are,
quacking like something duck related well this.

Speaker 4 (42:00):
Would be a quake if the duck if the ducks
if oregon loses this game to oklahoma state i mean
this is 23 and a half point favorites on the
road against a team with a 12 game losing streak.

Speaker 3 (42:13):
I mean no one on the planet.

Speaker 4 (42:16):
Could have predicted that oklahoma state would be leading this
game with two minutes to go.

Speaker 2 (42:20):
So for so if they lose From quack to quake,
we're going to get loses to Oklahoma State. All right, well,
we have the headline ready to go, so we'll see
what happens here in the next few minutes. Want to
talk a little bit more NFL. I want to go
back to the Patriots. We talked about Drake May a
little bit in the last hour, but something else happened
this weekend that game.

Speaker 8 (42:39):
A.J.

Speaker 2 (42:39):
Brown goes to IR, which is not going to help
anything at all. I mean, are the Patriots going to
be one of these? And again, it's week one, and
we overreact because that's what we do. But are they
going to be one of those Super Bowl teams again?
loss and has that real bad Super Bowl hangover that
leads to just kind of a mess of a season.

Speaker 3 (42:58):
I always look over this.

Speaker 4 (42:59):
Look at the teams that from a win standpoint made
the biggest leap a year ago.

Speaker 3 (43:04):
You had the Patriots, you had the Bears.

Speaker 4 (43:06):
And if you look at teams historically over the years
that have this super jump from one year to the
next in wins, 99% of the time they take a
step backwards the next year. For instance, New England, Tom Brady.
They win the Super Bowl, that first Super Bowl. People
forget the next year they didn't make the playoffs.

Speaker 2 (43:26):
Oh, I totally forgot that.

Speaker 4 (43:28):
So they missed the playoffs the next year and then
came back and won the next two Super Bowls, the 49ers.
The year that they won their first Super Bowl with
Joe Montana, the next year they had a losing season.
And they were able to bounce back. So a lot
of times what happens, it doesn't mean that New England
won't be good down the road or the Bears with

(43:48):
Caleb Williams won't be good down the road. But usually
when a team has a jump like way beyond, I mean,
last year, what was it? The Patriots went from four
wins to 14. I mean, that just doesn't happen. Bears
had everything go their way, turnover ratio, winning every single
close game down the stretch. So especially with young quarterbacks,

(44:11):
don't be surprised. Look what happened to the Commanders last year.
Two years ago, they were in the NFC Championship game.
Last year, the wheels fell off, Daniels got hurt, and
they completely folded. So look out for teams like New England,
like the Bears, that had huge jumps a year ago.
By the way, both with first-year coaches on that job,

(44:33):
Rabel first year with New England, obviously Ben Johnson first
year with the Bears, that they could take a step backwards.

Speaker 2 (44:39):
So let's talk about the Bears because, you know, they're
an interesting team. They signed Kobe Bryant in the offseason.
He's now out for a while. That was supposed to
be a huge pickup for them defensively, and they were
a team last year that was not great defensively, and
the Bears had to score a whole lot of points
every week. And, yes, everything went their way defensively. Do
you think, though, that this is a team with a

(45:01):
quarterback on the rise with a really, really good tight end,
really good wide receiver, still a questionable defense, obviously a
heck of a coach? Does this team continue to rise,
or do things start to go badly in Chicago?

Speaker 7 (45:14):
I'm just curious.

Speaker 4 (45:14):
Look at that division. Two years ago, the Lions are
the talk of the NFL. How did last year go?

Speaker 8 (45:21):
Mm-hmm.

Speaker 3 (45:21):
Look at the Vikings under Kevin O'Connell.

Speaker 4 (45:24):
Up, down, up, down, up, down. It's a rollercoaster ride.
So the NFC North seems to have that going. Actually,
the team that's been the most consistent have been the Packers.
But they really haven't had that breakout in the postseason.
So I think the Bears are very much like the Lions.
Both those teams have these prolific offenses that can just

(45:44):
put up insane plays.

Speaker 3 (45:46):
Point totals, but do they have enough defense?

Speaker 4 (45:49):
I think if you want safe bets this year, we're
going to obviously promote with underdog. Take the overs in
the Bears and Lions games this year. You're going to
see a lot of points scored by these teams. You're
also going to see a lot of points given up
by both these teams. So I will be surprised if
the Bears match what they did a year ago. That
doesn't mean, again, I'm a big believer in Caleb Williams.

(46:11):
I like his game. He's a bit of a risk taker.
He's a little Brett Favish in that way. You know,
great things can happen. Also, disaster and things can happen.
But most likely, the Bears are going to take a
step back this year.

Speaker 2 (46:22):
All right. I have another team to ask you about.
I'm sorry.

Speaker 3 (46:27):
I was just trying to get your ear there. Oregon
just turned it over.

Speaker 2 (46:29):
Oh, Oregon.

Speaker 3 (46:30):
Oregon just turned it over.

Speaker 7 (46:32):
Oh, no.

Speaker 3 (46:32):
And that is going to be the game. A minute
55 left on the clock. I think they still got timeouts,
but the game's basically.

Speaker 2 (46:38):
I don't think that this game is over.

Speaker 4 (46:41):
So this, I mean, I cannot overstate the magnitude of
this loss. I mean, this is a disaster beyond belief.
23 and a half point favorites against the Oklahoma State
team on a 12 game losing streak.

Speaker 2 (46:55):
That is insane. And Oregon did not look good last week.
That is.

Speaker 3 (46:59):
Yeah, and you're right. They didn't look good last year.

Speaker 4 (47:02):
And by the way, about Dante Moore, everyone just is
like assuming that this guy's the number one pick in
the draft.

Speaker 3 (47:07):
Here's the thing about Dante Moore.

Speaker 4 (47:08):
Maybe I'm a little bitter because he did start his
career at UCLA and left out.

Speaker 3 (47:13):
He has never wowed me.

Speaker 4 (47:15):
I mean, they'll show highlights of some great throws, especially
down the field, and that he certainly has arm strength.
But to me, it's more than that. There's not, to me,
a wow factor when it comes to Dante Moore's game.
And this one, let's see, no team has ever snapped
a 10 game losing streak with a win over a
top 10 AP opponent ever.

Speaker 2 (47:37):
For Oklahoma State. You know, this is so unfair of
me because this it wouldn't have been quite as bad,
but it'd been pretty bad last week if Michigan did
end up winning or losing to Western.

Speaker 3 (47:48):
That would have been a disaster.

Speaker 2 (47:49):
It would have been a disaster. And now I'm sitting
here kind of like a little bit making fun of Oregon.
And it's really not right of me. I kind of
feel bad about it.

Speaker 3 (47:55):
Well, this is good for college football. That's true.

Speaker 2 (47:58):
It is good for college football.

Speaker 3 (47:59):
I mean, you know, whether it.

Speaker 4 (48:00):
Would have been a Western Michigan win over Michigan, and
certainly the Oregon fans are exiting, they're in shock.

Speaker 2 (48:06):
They are.

Speaker 4 (48:06):
They can't believe this. They are losing to Oklahoma State.
Minute 50 to go. Second down right now. They're in
Oregon territory. This game, unless we have a turnover by
Oklahoma State, this game is over.

Speaker 2 (48:20):
Yeah, this one, this is, wow. That is, well, that'll
be our big crazy episode of the weekend. I will
say this for college football. We are just a couple
weeks in, and we have had massive storylines.

Speaker 3 (48:31):
Huge!

Speaker 2 (48:33):
And we haven't even gotten to LSU versus SEC yet.

Speaker 3 (48:37):
Tracy, I know you're an all-sports fan. I know that.
As am I, obviously.

Speaker 4 (48:41):
Obviously.

Speaker 3 (48:43):
College football is my number one passion. Okay.

Speaker 4 (48:45):
And it's interesting because, you know, my school, UCLA, is
not a great college football or college basketball more.

Speaker 6 (48:51):
Right.

Speaker 4 (48:52):
But I was raised at Trojan. My dad went to USC.
So I was raised on college football. I was raised
at Trojan and became a Bruin. um the pageantry and
everything else has it changed yeah i can't say it
hasn't changed with the professionalism and the nil money and
certainly the transfer portal where it seems like every single
year you have a new team ucla alone this year

(49:13):
had 42 transfers come in wow you talk about challenges
for these coaches and so you know with due respect
to Oregon, yeah, you have a returning quarterback, but there's
a lot of new personnel at Oregon.

Speaker 3 (49:26):
And you don't know when you're.

Speaker 4 (49:28):
Bringing in players from all these different programs and they're
college kids and you've got to get them on the
same page quickly, right?

Speaker 2 (49:36):
That's a very, very good point.

Speaker 4 (49:37):
This is what we're seeing with Oregon. I mean, giving
up 39 points to Oklahoma State.

Speaker 8 (49:41):
And Oklahoma State, Mestemaker, just picked up the first down.

Speaker 3 (49:44):
A minute 30, one timeout left for Oregon. This is over.
It is over.

Speaker 4 (49:48):
Basically, they can run one play, timeout, and take a knee,
and that game is going to be over. But this
is the thing that Oregon didn't look like right last
week against Boise. Boise's a good team, but Oregon at
home did not look right, and obviously disastrous today. Defensively,
Oregon has just been terrible. in these first two games.
And so this is an eye-opener. But again, with all

(50:12):
these transfer players, it is hard to say. It's not
like a build-up. Like, you know, you're building players over
a couple of years and everything else.

Speaker 3 (50:21):
Totally out the window. This is why the Nick Saban's.

Speaker 4 (50:23):
Of the world said, I don't want any part of this,
you know, where I have to worry about losing players
if I don't play them enough. And then I have
to go into the transfer portal to try to bring
players in and hope that they all mesh. This is
why Cignetti has been so effective in Indiana. Not only
has he mastered this art of not only, you know,
getting players to come to Indiana to play football, but

(50:44):
getting the right players to come in that fit his
system and and he doesn't miss a beat.

Speaker 3 (50:49):
And that's the great challenge.

Speaker 4 (50:51):
For today's college football coach is trying to figure out
a way to get all these different players, new players
every year, and make it work.

Speaker 3 (50:59):
It's crazy.

Speaker 2 (50:59):
It's a very good point because you, you know, we
see this in the NFL when it comes to trade
deadlines and trades and everybody, they got to get this,
will he fit in the locker room? Will he fit
in the system? That stuff actually really matters in football.

Speaker 3 (51:13):
But these are kids.

Speaker 2 (51:14):
And they're kids. So you add in the kids factor and,
And a lot of them are kids, and I'm not
trying to be mean, but a lot of these kids
are kids who transfer because they were mad they didn't
get to play enough. And they had a bad day
in practice, and then they got benched, and now they
don't want to be there anymore. So it's a lot
of personalities. You make a really, really good point on that.

Speaker 3 (51:33):
Yeah, and Oregon, it's official, they have run out the clock.

Speaker 4 (51:36):
So Oregon loses to a team that snaps a 12-game
losing streak. Again, no team has ever snapped a losing
streak of 10 or more games by beating an AP
top 10 team until today. Oklahoma State did it with
this victory over Oregon.

Speaker 3 (51:53):
Wow.

Speaker 2 (51:54):
A tale of two Oklahoma schools today. One city in
Oklahoma is going to be really happy. And one city, Norman, Oklahoma,
not so much. I actually don't know where Oklahoma State is.

Speaker 3 (52:04):
Oklahoma State is Stillwater, Oklahoma.

Speaker 4 (52:06):
And the fans predictably are flooding the field right now.

Speaker 3 (52:10):
What a win for Oklahoma State.

Speaker 2 (52:12):
Is it Stillwater?

Speaker 3 (52:13):
Stillwater, Oklahoma. Stillwater. Look at that.

Speaker 2 (52:16):
I can't believe I didn't know.

Speaker 3 (52:17):
There it is.

Speaker 4 (52:18):
First team ever to have a 10-game losing streak snap
by beating a top 10 team. And the fans are
just flooding the field right now in Stillwater, Oklahoma. Stunning upset,
stunning loss for Oregon.

Speaker 9 (52:31):
Wow.

Speaker 2 (52:31):
I recommend that the kids in Norman, Oklahoma, make their
way over to Stillwater for the rest of their Saturday.
I think it's going to be a lot more fun.

Speaker 3 (52:37):
I don't think anyone could have predicted today at the
end of the day.

Speaker 4 (52:40):
The guys in Norman would go home sad and the
fans in Stillwater would be celebrating.

Speaker 3 (52:45):
Nobody saw that happen.

Speaker 2 (52:46):
You guys, that's the beauty of sports.

Speaker 9 (52:47):
Yes.

Speaker 2 (52:48):
And that is why they play the game. I absolutely
love it. OK, back to the NFL, because I want
to do our way too early Super Bowl picks. And
I'm going to preface this with earlier this week on
my podcast. I did Super Bowl picks that I still
I still stand by, but I can't decide. Do you
think I'm allowed to make different ones?

Speaker 3 (53:10):
No.

Speaker 2 (53:10):
Okay.

Speaker 3 (53:11):
No, no, no, no. You have to be all in.

Speaker 4 (53:15):
This is why when people say, well, I made out
six brackets, there's no six brackets.

Speaker 3 (53:20):
No, you have to have one.

Speaker 2 (53:21):
That's fair. So my pick, I'll just go ahead and say,
so my pick, and I do stand by, I mean,
I still think this is a strong possibility. My pick
was actually the Rams and the Bills with the Bills winning.

Speaker 4 (53:32):
That is very interesting because did you enter your pick on.

Speaker 3 (53:36):
Our list out there?

Speaker 8 (53:37):
No, I did not.

Speaker 3 (53:39):
It's taped now, so. You did not put your picks down?

Speaker 2 (53:42):
No one told me about it.

Speaker 9 (53:44):
What?

Speaker 3 (53:46):
Oh, now. Are you going to give her a chance?
They've only had two games. It's taped. That's not up
to me. That's up to a much higher power.

Speaker 4 (53:53):
I think Dan controls that.

Speaker 2 (53:55):
All right, well, somebody get me in touch with Dan.

Speaker 3 (53:57):
Honestly, my pick is the Rams and Bills.

Speaker 2 (53:59):
Is it really?

Speaker 3 (54:00):
Yes.

Speaker 2 (54:00):
That's amazing.

Speaker 3 (54:01):
That's unbelievable.

Speaker 4 (54:03):
And by the way, these are the two favorites going
into the season before, obviously, the Rams debacle that we saw.
And then, of course, what I said earlier. See, I'm
already having regrets. Of course, I've never been right when
it comes to one of these things. I'll tell you
the team that I think is going to be the
surprise team. The team that I'm really in on this
year are the Bengals. I think that Joe Burrow will

(54:25):
be the league MVP. I still believe Joe Burrow is
the best quarterback in this league. He just has to
stay on the field. And I think the Bengals are
the team that's going to open a lot of eyeballs
because the Bengals were there for a couple of years.
They went to the Super Bowl, lost to the Rams.
I think the Bengals are going to have a big
year this year because I do believe Joe Burrow is
going to stay upright.

Speaker 3 (54:45):
Of course, that's like the kiss of death. They'll go
down in the first game. Oh, no, don't say that.

Speaker 2 (54:49):
God forbid.

Speaker 4 (54:50):
No, I'm the worst prognosticator out there. But if Joe
Burrow is healthy, if he can stand upright throughout the season,
I think the Bengals win that division. And I have
them in the AFC championship game against the Bills.

Speaker 3 (55:04):
Oh, OK.

Speaker 2 (55:05):
That's totally fair. Not the Houston Texans, but the Bales. Well,
I think I mean, the Bengals, to their credit, actually
did the things in this offseason they needed to do
to improve the team. They they stored up the offensive
line somewhat. They made the defense a little bit better.
I agree with you. I think Joe Burrow is the
best quarterback in this league. He's got some tremendous pieces
around him. So you're right. If he can stay upright,

(55:26):
there is no reason the Bengals can't be in the
AFC championship game against the Bills.

Speaker 3 (55:32):
It's amazing. Great minds think alike. You and I have
the same two teams in the Super Bowl. How did
that work?

Speaker 2 (55:37):
Did you do you think the Bills would win that
or the Rams?

Speaker 4 (55:42):
I believe I'm trying to remember what I put down there.
I know I had the Bills and Rams. I have
to look over there. Will the Bills win it? No.

Speaker 3 (55:50):
I think the Rams are going to win the Super Bowl.

Speaker 4 (55:52):
Again, they'd be playing, obviously, on their home field at
SoFi Stadium where they won the Super Bowl five years ago.
But I just cannot imagine Josh Allen never getting to
a Super Bowl.

Speaker 9 (56:03):
I know.

Speaker 2 (56:03):
I feel like that would be terrible.

Speaker 3 (56:04):
He's won a lot of postseason games. He just couldn't
beat the Chiefs.

Speaker 2 (56:07):
He just couldn't beat the Chiefs. And then last year...
He couldn't beat the Broncos in the division series. He
had like five interceptions.

Speaker 1 (56:14):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (56:14):
That was, that was unfortunate. I think that's, that's, it's really,
this is a case. We were talking earlier about Kyle Whittingham, not,
not ripping Bryce Underwood. And I'm not ripping Josh now,
but this is a case where the quarterback play is
a thing that has pretty much kept them from going
to a Superbowl. He's been tremendous, tremendous. And there've been
those AFC championship games where he's amazing for quarters two, three,
and four, but he was so bad in quarter one

(56:36):
that they could never get back.

Speaker 3 (56:38):
And when people talk.

Speaker 4 (56:39):
About, you know, good, good, The league quarterbacks in this league,
Josh Allen has had a lot of success in the postseason.

Speaker 3 (56:45):
He's had some great games in the postseason. He just
couldn't beat the Chiefs.

Speaker 4 (56:50):
And so it's not like Lamar Jackson, who hasn't done
much of anything in the postseason. Or a Dak Prescott
has done much of nothing. Or Justin Herbert, who didn't
even have a single win. How do people rate Justin?
Top five quarterback? How can he be a top five
quarterback when he never won his single playoff game?

Speaker 3 (57:07):
I don't know.

Speaker 2 (57:07):
People get so mad at me about this. And I
want it to be better.

Speaker 3 (57:11):
Well, Monty will get mad at you right now.

Speaker 2 (57:12):
She gets mad at me all the time. But the
thing is, I want him to be great because of
Jim Harbaugh. And I want Jim Harbaugh to win a
Super Bowl because that is what he really, really wants.
And I want whatever Jim Harbaugh wants. But I don't
get it with Justin Herbert. But I'm hoping that this
is the year he proves me wrong.

Speaker 4 (57:31):
Well, the interesting thing about the Chargers is you bring
in Mike McDaniels, your new offensive coordinator.

Speaker 3 (57:36):
He's a running quarterback. Yeah, guy.

Speaker 4 (57:38):
And by the way, that's what Jim Harbaugh wants to do.
He likes to run the football. So the Mike McDaniel
hire makes a lot of sense because that's his area
of expertise.

Speaker 3 (57:47):
Obviously, when he was with the 49ers, he was the
running game coordinator.

Speaker 4 (57:51):
He made Debo Samuel into this hybrid that had that
superstar season he had that year.

Speaker 3 (57:56):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (57:58):
But I don't know where that puts Justin Herbert. I mean,
is he just going to be a facilitator, a handoff guy?
Is he going to make big plays? Because ultimately, if
you're going to go deep in the play, your quarterback's
got to make plays.

Speaker 3 (58:10):
Mahomes makes plays. That's why Mahomes has three Super Bowl wins.

Speaker 4 (58:13):
That's why he's been to five Super Bowls, is that
he makes plays. And that's what your great quarterbacks have
to do. If you want to be an elite quarterback,
you've got to be able to make big plays in
the big games.

Speaker 2 (58:25):
This is true. And speaking of people who make big plays,
when we come back here on Fox Football Saturday, we
are going switching sports for a minute to talk about
Shohei Otani, who is on the I.L. and not making
any plays right now for the Dodgers. We will be
right back.

Speaker 1 (58:42):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio.

Speaker 2 (58:50):
Hello and welcome back to Fox Football Saturday. I am
Tracy Sandler, joined by Steve Hartman. Be sure to subscribe
to the Fox Sports Radio YouTube channel. Just search Fox
Sports Radio on YouTube and you will see our best
videos from all of our shows. Hit the thumbs up
icon and comment away. Let us know whose takes you
agree with. And subscribe. This is Fox Football Saturday, but.

(59:18):
We are going to talk for a minute about one
Shohei Otani. He's now on the I.L. I would say
mistakes made all around by the organization, probably by Shohei.
This was this was the learning year. His first year
as a two way player for a full year with
the Dodgers. But Steve, what what do you think went wrong?

Speaker 8 (59:37):
And.

Speaker 2 (59:38):
I mean, I don't think we should all overreact to this,
but what do you think went wrong and what do
you think happens in these next couple of months?

Speaker 3 (59:44):
All right.

Speaker 4 (59:44):
So we know that Shohei, who's done everything possible, went
into this season knowing that he was going to be
healthy enough to start the season as a starting pitcher. Yes.

Speaker 3 (59:55):
And it was a very simple formula. He wants to
win the Cy Young Award. Okay. In order for him
to be.

Speaker 4 (01:00:00):
In the conversation with the Cy Young Award, he needed
to start at least 30 games, 180 innings.

Speaker 3 (01:00:05):
All right.

Speaker 4 (01:00:06):
Six innings start. And when you look at his every game,
six innings, six, he was on that pace until all
of a sudden the body started.

Speaker 3 (01:00:14):
To break down.

Speaker 4 (01:00:14):
He's 32 years old. He's not 22 anymore. He's 32
years old. And so this idea of doing everything, doing both,
it's just not realistic at this point of his career.
I think what the decision that the Dodgers are going
to have to make moving forward and Everything that Shohei wants,
Shohei gets, and he's earned that right. So they're not

(01:00:36):
going to dictate to Shohei what it is he should
be doing. But I guarantee you they're going to be
leaning into him as far as his pitching is concerned.
He can still be a dominant closer in this league.
We saw with Dennis Eckersley, who started his career as
a starting pitcher for a number of years, could no
longer do it effectively. They moved him to the pen.

(01:00:57):
He got his way into the Hall of Fame. John Smoltz,
another Hall of Fame pitcher, went from a starting pitcher,
had an injury, came back as a reliever for several years.
He would go back to being a starter at the
end of his career, but he did it successfully. Imagine
Shohei as your closer. Imagine that. And because of the
Shohei rule that allows him to come in and out
as a pitcher and not affect his position as the D.H.

Speaker 3 (01:01:20):
On the team.

Speaker 4 (01:01:20):
So remember, he's got seven years left on his contract
with the Dodgers. They got a long way to go
on this deal.

Speaker 8 (01:01:25):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (01:01:26):
And so they're going to have to really sit down
with him and say, the idea of you being a
starting pitcher doesn't work for us because if you get
hurt and now you're not even in our lineup. That
can't happen. So it's going to be very interesting, the
Dodger approach to Shohei to try to reason with him

(01:01:49):
of what is the best thing moving forward if he
wants to continue to be a pitcher.

Speaker 2 (01:01:55):
And it's after his first season, and I knew that
no one would listen to me on this, but after
that first season, the 50-50 season, I said, does he
really need to pitch? I mean, he's so good.

Speaker 3 (01:02:06):
He wants to pitch.

Speaker 2 (01:02:07):
I know, and that's what it is.

Speaker 3 (01:02:08):
He wants to pitch. Because he still, mentally, he is
a pitcher.

Speaker 2 (01:02:10):
Of course.

Speaker 3 (01:02:11):
That's what he thinks at first. And that's why.

Speaker 2 (01:02:13):
And that's why. But that was kind of the thing.
We are going to go to my favorite... Everything. Mossy Villanos.
Just like, you're my Shohei.

Speaker 3 (01:02:23):
You're my Shohei.

Speaker 2 (01:02:24):
I love that. You're just trying to butter me up
because of your Justin Herbert comments. That might be true.
And that's what it is. And you know what? I
get it. It's fine.

Speaker 5 (01:02:31):
You guys, I don't have an answer as to why
we all believe so much in Justin Herbert.

Speaker 2 (01:02:38):
I think he passes the eye test.

Speaker 3 (01:02:40):
Well, again, he looks the part.

Speaker 2 (01:02:42):
He looks and he throws. When he does.

Speaker 5 (01:02:45):
When he does those throws that are just like beautifully
put with with an arm that you're like, if everyone
had an arm like Justin Herbert, man, like what? You know,
what could other quarterbacks do?

Speaker 2 (01:02:56):
But you're right.

Speaker 5 (01:02:56):
Like there's no reason aside from him passing the eye
test because he doesn't have the records.

Speaker 2 (01:03:03):
He doesn't have the wins when they matter. He doesn't
come back when the team is down and puts the
team on his shoulders.

Speaker 3 (01:03:09):
Is this year eight? Seven or eight?

Speaker 2 (01:03:12):
Seven or eight, yeah.

Speaker 4 (01:03:14):
I mean, he is well into his career now and
still has zero postseason wins.

Speaker 7 (01:03:19):
I know.

Speaker 3 (01:03:20):
And the last two postseason games have been atrocious.

Speaker 2 (01:03:23):
But this year with McDaniel, with Harbaugh, it's going to.

Speaker 3 (01:03:27):
Be it, guys.

Speaker 2 (01:03:27):
This was the one. This is the one. This is
the one, all right? Don't worry.

Speaker 3 (01:03:31):
Don't worry.

Speaker 2 (01:03:32):
I'm a little worried. Let's not talk about it anymore. Okay, guys,
let's check in on what's going on.

Speaker 5 (01:03:35):
In college football right now, Oklahoma State pulled off the
upset over No.

Speaker 2 (01:03:39):
6 Oregon.

Speaker 5 (01:03:40):
Cowboys quarterback Drew Mestemaker, 26 of 43, 317 yards, two touchdowns,
two interceptions. He also had six carries for 109 yards
and one touchdown. The Ducks had the ball with about
two minutes to go, and then they fumbled it.

Speaker 2 (01:03:55):
Oklahoma State gets the win. Dante Moore, 14 of 29,
191 yards and two touchdowns. The Oklahoma State.
Coach, I'm blanking on his name, but they interviewed him
right after. And he was so emotional. It was so sweet.
He couldn't even get the words out. And he had
his glasses on. I was like, yeah, keep those glasses on.
I can tell you're getting emotional.

Speaker 5 (01:04:16):
They already stormed the field. You know, field goal post
came down. The whole thing.

Speaker 2 (01:04:20):
Another upset. Michigan defeated number 11, Oklahoma, 17 to 10
in this one.

Speaker 5 (01:04:25):
Sooners did lose their standout linebacker Kip Lewis who sustained
a knee injury in the first quarter did not return
something to keep an eye on right now Kentucky leads
number 12 Alabama 17 to 13 at the half they
hit a field goal right before halftime also at the
half Arizona leads number 15 BYU 17 to 14 number
19 Washington is up on Utah State 10-7 they're early

(01:04:47):
in the third quarter on All number 17 SMU against
UC Davis. 35-0 with about one minute to go in
the first half.

Speaker 2 (01:04:56):
News out of the NFL.

Speaker 5 (01:04:57):
Texans and CJ Stroud are tabling their contract extension talks until.

Speaker 2 (01:05:01):
After the season, according to ESPN. Yeah, they probably want
to see what he does. As you guys talked about,
he needs to step it up.

Speaker 5 (01:05:07):
Falcons starting quarterback Cooper Rush, who's replacing the injured Tuatoga Bailoa,
experienced back spasms at practice.

Speaker 2 (01:05:13):
He's still going to start Sunday afternoon. against Pittsburgh.

Speaker 5 (01:05:16):
When we look at Major League Baseball, the Padres right
now lead the Giants 6-3 in San Francisco, top of
the sixth inning. Royals and Red Sox are tied at
one bottom of the sixth. Marlins lead the Dodgers 3-2
after four.

Speaker 2 (01:05:28):
Innings in Miami. And the Twins are up on the
Guardians 4-1, top of the fifth.

Speaker 5 (01:05:32):
Inning while the Cubs officially defeated the Pirates four to three.

Speaker 2 (01:05:36):
Guys, it's a busy day. It sure is. It's a
lot going on. And right back to you.

Speaker 3 (01:05:39):
Oh, by the way, I do want to give credit.
Eric Morris is the coach at Oklahoma State. Thank you.
He came from North Texas.

Speaker 4 (01:05:46):
Before that, he was an incarnate word. But this is
just an unbelievable upset.

Speaker 2 (01:05:50):
No, unbelievable. Like the emotion was so real, was so
real that he didn't even know what to say. We
love it. We love it. Football is back.

Speaker 3 (01:05:58):
Football's back.

Speaker 2 (01:05:58):
And with football being back, we are going to bring
in our next guest, who is just fantastic. NFL Media's
Greg Rosenthal, friend of mine, Dodger fan. Greg, welcome to
the show.

Speaker 6 (01:06:13):
Yeah, I don't know what it's like talking to you,
not sitting next to you at a Dodgers game.

Speaker 9 (01:06:16):
We'll see how this goes.

Speaker 7 (01:06:17):
I know.

Speaker 2 (01:06:18):
A week ago at this time, we were at a
Dodgers game, watching a Michigan game on my phone. But, Greg,
so a lot has happened, though, in the NFL since then.
And oddly enough, there have been two games. Somehow it
feels like there have been seven. I don't know why.
These two games feel like there has been so much. Greg,
as we look at the rest of the weekend, what

(01:06:38):
are you looking for now?

Speaker 6 (01:06:41):
You know what?

Speaker 2 (01:06:42):
I'm going to rephrase that question. As you look at
the rest of the weekend, I think probably the most
important game or two most important games would be Bills-Houston
and Broncos-Chiefs. I earlier said Bills-Texans could be an AFC
championship preview. It might be too early. What are your thoughts?

Speaker 6 (01:06:59):
I like that. I like going bold right off the top.
I got the Texans going to the Superbowl. I think
CJ Stroud's number is only going to go up this year.
And he's, he's supported by, of course, one of the
best defenses I've literally ever seen everyone back so young.

Speaker 1 (01:07:14):
So tough.

Speaker 6 (01:07:14):
But I agree. Like those are two grown teams with
a lot of players that have been on the rosters
for a long time. And so I'm looking forward to
that one more than any.

Speaker 4 (01:07:25):
Greg, I just can't let go of this 49er Rams game.
Everything leading up to this game, we're here in L.A.,
and I do L.A. TV and everything else, and we
were hearing constantly from Sean McVay about this two-year research
on how to approach this.

Speaker 3 (01:07:37):
Game and everything else, and they literally did.

Speaker 4 (01:07:40):
Not show up for this game. Did not show up
at all for this game. It was a mail-in effort
at best for the Rams, and they couldn't get out
of that. I'm trying to think of the last time
I saw a team run out the clock. at the
end of a game with four minutes to go to
get out of there as fast as they could. I've
never seen that before. So the Rams basically forfeited this
first game. This is not taking away from the 49ers. Obviously,

(01:08:00):
if the 49ers can stay healthy, they're a legitimate contender
to win that NFC West. But the idea of the
Rams just mailing in this game and just can't get
out of there fast enough– Is this just an aberration?
Will the Rams be okay? Because for some reason, when
I was watching Matthew Stafford in this game, he did
not look right. Whether that was jet lag or a

(01:08:22):
38-year-old quarterback that may be going off the cliff. What
is your ultimate takeaway about where the Rams go after
this embarrassing debacle that they put on display in Melbourne?

Speaker 9 (01:08:35):
Yeah.

Speaker 6 (01:08:35):
I think they mismanaged the travel situation, of course, where
it all made sense to them scientifically. But the fact
is you're just on an airplane, not moving that long,
even if you're not jet lagged, like Matthew Stafford's body was,
was there on the plane.

Speaker 7 (01:08:48):
A lot of the players said.

Speaker 3 (01:08:48):
They didn't sleep.

Speaker 6 (01:08:50):
Fred Warner of the 49ers said that the Rams withered
by the end of that game. And I just think they,
didn't have the energy. I think the Stafford question is
a good one. Of course, he's going to be better
in future weeks, but if you look at the rest
of his career, he's never had an MVP vote before.
He's never had an All-Pro vote before, and him being
one of the best quarterbacks in the league is integral

(01:09:11):
to them being that Super Bowl title.

Speaker 9 (01:09:14):
Champion at the end of the year. If they end
up being a team with a.

Speaker 6 (01:09:18):
Very good Matthew Stafford, but maybe closer to where he
has been throughout his career, then they're not going to necessarily.

Speaker 9 (01:09:24):
Win that division.

Speaker 2 (01:09:26):
What do you look at that Chiefs-Broncos game that I
brought up? Obviously, this is a big one for Mahomes.
He's coming back from injury. I actually think it's a
pretty big game for Bo Nix to show that it
wasn't just an aberration in the playoffs, that he is
fully healthy. What do you want to see from him
on Monday night to show that the Broncos are a

(01:09:46):
contender to potentially go deep in the playoffs as well?

Speaker 6 (01:09:49):
Yeah, it's a great call because you got to forget
that he had multiple surgeries this offseason.

Speaker 3 (01:09:55):
He gets Jalen Waddle.

Speaker 6 (01:09:56):
He has all the continuity.

Speaker 3 (01:09:57):
I think they're.

Speaker 6 (01:09:58):
Catching the Chiefs at a perfect time with Mahomes just
coming back from an injury, integrating all these rookies into
the lineup. really sets up in a way for Denver
if they want to go win this division, stealing a
game on the road, which is what the 49ers did
as well. That counted as a.

Speaker 9 (01:10:12):
Home game for the Rams. That is a huge advantage
right off the bat. And there are way.

Speaker 6 (01:10:17):
More questions, way more new starters, way more uncertainty with
the Chiefs, whereas the Broncos are basically bringing back all
their starters and Jalen Waddell.

Speaker 9 (01:10:26):
Added to the mix.

Speaker 4 (01:10:27):
All right, Greg, I want to ask about a team
that some people, to my surprise, are really buying into
right now.

Speaker 3 (01:10:34):
The Cowboys.

Speaker 4 (01:10:35):
Two years ago, I picked the Cowboys to win the
Super Bowl. We'll see how that worked out. Cowboys have
not even been to the conference championship game since the
95 season. They opened on the road against the Giants.
And I'm a big believer that John Harbaugh, a great person,
by the way, is one of the most overrated coaches
in the NFL. And he proved that with Lamar Jackson
in Baltimore. The idea he's going to turn around the

(01:10:57):
fortunes of the Giants to me is is delusional.

Speaker 3 (01:10:59):
But do you buy into the Cowboys?

Speaker 4 (01:11:01):
Do you think this could be a year where everything
actually rolls the right way for the Cowboys?

Speaker 1 (01:11:08):
I do.

Speaker 6 (01:11:09):
And yet I still trust the Eagles more in that division.
I think Harbaugh is going to be a floor raiser,
just get them confident. And they do have good talent
on the defensive side, especially up front. So that's the
matchup I'm looking for in this game. The Cowboys lost
their best offensive lineman, Tyler Smith. for about a month,
and this is an offensive line, to me, that's going
to make or break whatever your predictions are for the

(01:11:30):
Cowboys this year because they have a lot of young talent,
a lot of high draft picks, so they could be
as good as a top five, eight offensive line, but
they really haven't showed it. They haven't been healthy enough.
If they're good, then Dak Prescott and Pickens and CeeDee
Lamb are just going to eat.

Speaker 2 (01:11:46):
So you mentioned the Eagles and, you know, Eagles fans.
I read something funny the other day that for Eagles fans,
winning the Super Bowl is not their greatest joy. Their
greatest joy is telling you why they're not going to
win the Super Bowl. But I have seen, which I
thought was pretty, pretty, Jason Gay, Wall Street Journal wrote that.
It was pretty fantastic. You look at this Eagles team.
They now bring in a new offensive coordinator. They don't

(01:12:07):
have A.J. Brown, which they think is a good, good thing.
They're getting picked a lot to go to the Super Bowl.
Are they? Are they a Super Bowl contender again?

Speaker 9 (01:12:16):
Absolutely.

Speaker 6 (01:12:16):
Because if you look at the rosters in the NFL,
you just drafted on, okay, who are the 15 best
players on each team? The Rams and the Eagles would
probably be the two teams that would go first. Seahawks
would be in that mix.

Speaker 9 (01:12:29):
They are talented.

Speaker 6 (01:12:30):
I always look at line play first on both sides
of the ball.

Speaker 9 (01:12:33):
They got a ton of talent.

Speaker 7 (01:12:35):
And I look at this game, for instance, this weekend.

Speaker 6 (01:12:37):
Against Washington, and that was the one that really surprised
me when I just looked at the numbers. I'm like,
I think Philadelphia is going to smoke them. It might
take Jalen Hurts a little while to get going in
this new offense, but.

Speaker 7 (01:12:47):
They've shown they can win a Super Bowl.

Speaker 6 (01:12:49):
With Jalen Hurts playing pretty mediocre for most of the
regular season as long as he can turn it on
at the end. So I am a big believer that
they'll bounce back. And for them, bouncing back is what?
Like 13 wins?

Speaker 9 (01:13:00):
They won 11 games last year.

Speaker 6 (01:13:01):
They never don't win 11 games under Nick Sirianni.

Speaker 4 (01:13:05):
All right, so Dante Moore looked awful today. So much
for him being the runaway favorite to be the number
one overall pick. Maybe he still will be, but certainly
didn't look like it today for Oregon and that disastrous
loss to Oklahoma State. So instead of asking you about
who do you think is going to be in the
Super Bowl, I'm more concerned with who's going to be
the worst team in the league, who's going to.

Speaker 3 (01:13:23):
Have that number one pick, a choice of all these quarterbacks.
I mean, is it Miami? Is it Atlanta?

Speaker 4 (01:13:29):
Jets are always in the conversation. Greg, who do you
believe will end up with the number one pick in
the 2027 NFL draft?

Speaker 6 (01:13:39):
I do believe Tua Tungabailoa is going to be connected
to one of the two teams that's picking first. So
it's either Atlanta, who is now down to their third quarterback,
and you heard that in the update, that Cooper Rush
isn't even healthy, already going into week one. I question
if they're trying to win. But the team that's literally
trying to lose is Miami.

Speaker 9 (01:13:56):
They are paying more money.

Speaker 6 (01:13:57):
To Tua Tungabailoa this year than the rest of their
offense combined. They are paying more money on the cap
to players not on the roster than the guys on
the roster.

Speaker 9 (01:14:06):
It is as.

Speaker 6 (01:14:07):
you know, much of a reset tanking type of year.
I know the players and the coaches are trying to
win games, but in terms of the approach, the organization
took like, they're the only ones that to me look
like they're trying to lose. And so I would go
with the dolphins.

Speaker 2 (01:14:21):
Greg, you have been awesome as always. I hope you've
heard us talk about our show. Hey, Otani, you guys
make sure you listen to Greg on the NFL daily podcast.
Thank you so much for joining us. Enjoy the rest
of week one, Greg.

Speaker 6 (01:14:35):
All right.

Speaker 1 (01:14:35):
See you guys.

Speaker 8 (01:14:36):
Bye.

Speaker 2 (01:14:36):
And everybody, we will be back with our feel good
story of.

Speaker 8 (01:14:40):
The Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup
in the nation. Catch all of our shows at FoxSportsRadio.com.
And within the iHeartRadio app, search FSR to listen live.

Speaker 2 (01:14:53):
You are listening to Fox Football Saturday. We've had so
much to talk about that I haven't been able to
properly compliment Chris Perfette on the fantastic music as always.
But there's just been so much to discuss with football
being back. I am Tracy Saylor with Steve Hartman, with
Monse Bolaños, Brandon Deutsch. I mentioned Chris Perfette. These shows

(01:15:15):
go by so fast. But if you missed any of it,
you'll want to catch the podcast. So just search Fox
Sports Radio wherever you get your podcasts. Right after the show,
it'll be posted. Be sure to follow, rate it five stars,
and provide a review. Again, just search Fox Sports Radio
wherever you get your podcasts. Follow the feed, and you
will find today's full show posted right after we get

(01:15:36):
off the air. And with that, it's about time for
our feel-good story of the week. Steve, would you like
to go first this week?

Speaker 3 (01:15:45):
I would like to.

Speaker 4 (01:15:46):
Turn on my mic. And yes, I would like to
go first. And by the way, we just saw it here.
So a week ago, we could have had the really
good field goal story for Western Michigan. To go into
the big house and somehow beat Michigan would have been
one of the great upsets, obviously, in the history of
college football. And you're thinking, well, that was the one
chance of really getting a huge, like a legitimate, like

(01:16:09):
that's a once in a lifetime opportunity.

Speaker 3 (01:16:11):
And then we have what happened today with Oklahoma State
and Oregon. This is a feel-good story.

Speaker 4 (01:16:15):
Greg Morris takes over a program that used to be
a really successful program at Oklahoma State for years and
years and years. And then they completely fell off the rails.
And then he was brought in as a new coach.
inherits a team that finished last year with 11 straight losses,
loses his first game this year. Looks like it's going
to be a long season. Here come the mighty Oregon Ducks,

(01:16:37):
six in the country, and everyone's expecting this game to
be an absolute blowout. And as we were saying, as
we watch the end of this game, with the fans
flooding onto the field, an emotional coach, first win at
Oklahoma State, and it's against a team.

Speaker 3 (01:16:52):
That's in the.

Speaker 4 (01:16:52):
Top 10 first team ever to snap a double digit
losing streak by beating a top 10 ranked team. It's
just a feel good story because it's what makes sports special.

Speaker 3 (01:17:04):
It's the upset.

Speaker 4 (01:17:05):
It's the underdog that every once in a while, a
miracle happens. And that's exactly what happened in Stillwater, Oklahoma today.

Speaker 2 (01:17:14):
I love it. It was feel good. And watching everybody
rush the field, it was really it was it was
pretty it was pretty cool to watch. Not so much
for the Oregon Ducks, but it was pretty good for
Oklahoma State.

Speaker 3 (01:17:25):
Really good.

Speaker 2 (01:17:25):
My feel good story of the week is. The 49ers
in Melbourne, and I don't mean the game. That was
great for them at all. But, you know, they went
there early. And as we talked about earlier, it wasn't
just acclimating and getting rested. They did so much in
the community throughout Melbourne. They did so much with the fans.
They immersed themselves in the culture. And that was pretty

(01:17:50):
cool stuff. to see and I give them a lot
of credit for doing that because you could just go
go early acclimate but they really took their time to
get to know the city to ingratiate themselves with the
fans and it was a cool thing to watch it
really was it was a cool thing to watch even
the little things that you would see on social media
with players going to see kangaroos and koalas and everybody

(01:18:15):
talking about coffee because coffee is a big thing in
Melbourne and all the coffee that they've had and I
think Kyle Shanahan was as relaxed on this trip as
I've seen him in a very long time, making the
jokes about the time change. And as reported by Nick Wagner,
who covers the Niners for ESPN, he got back on
Friday in time to go to his son's football game

(01:18:37):
on Friday night, which was really cool. So that's kind
of my feel-good story of the week. I think it
was fun to see that, a great way really to
start the season. The rest of my feel-good is that
football is back, and there's just something about football in
the air that just makes everybody happy, at least everybody
in this particular studio.

Speaker 4 (01:18:57):
Everybody in this country, that is for sure. Football rules,
no question about that. By the way, the 49ers, and
I agree with you, they did everything they needed to
do because, let's face it, it was not a good offseason.

Speaker 3 (01:19:10):
No, it was not.

Speaker 4 (01:19:11):
The Jed York situation was a debacle.

Speaker 2 (01:19:14):
Yes, exactly.

Speaker 4 (01:19:14):
The Kyle Shanahan cover up on his accident was a debacle.
So and then, of course, obviously, all the injuries, the
49ers suffered a year ago. And Kyle Shanahan was his
best coaching job ever last year. I mean, to overcome
all the injuries they had. To be a 12-1 team
was remarkable. So they did what they had to do.
And the NFL is very happy about that. The NFL

(01:19:37):
is not happy with the Rams in any way. They
didn't show up in Australia. They didn't participate in everything
they were hoping the Rams would participate in. And then
they didn't even show up for the game. And they
couldn't get out of there fast enough. The Rams really
embarrassed themselves. So I don't know if this is going
to create good karma for the 49ers, bad karma for
the Rams.

Speaker 3 (01:19:56):
We've got a long way to go to find out.

Speaker 2 (01:19:59):
Coming up next, you have Buck Rising and Jason Fitz.
I'm Tracy Sandler, Steve Hartman, Fox Football Saturday. We will
talk to you next week.

All Episodes

Episode Transcript

Fox Sports Radio News

Host

Jonas Knox

Popular Podcasts

Stuff You Should Know

Dateline NBC

The Breakfast Club

.css-15opob5{left:0;position:absolute;top:0.8rem;} All Episodes

.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Tracy Sandler and Steve Hartman discuss Oregon losing to Oklahoma State, their NFL picks for this weekend, and MORE!