Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to the best of out Kick the
Coverage podcast. Be sure to catch us live every weekday
morning from six to nine am Eastern three to six
am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio. Find your local station
for OutKick the Coverage at Fox Sports Radio dot com,
or stream us live every morning on the I Heart
Radio app by searching f s R. This is the
best of OutKick the Coverage with Clay Travis on Fox
(00:22):
Sports Radio. I gotta tell you, it's nice to be
able to come back and start off the show talking
about and officiating controversy, after all of the dilimma, after
all of the the boucles, after all of the arguments,
(00:43):
after everybody being in everybody's throats. I love that sports
fans can all have watched the NFL and have finished
off Sunday Night Football and thinks of themselves even though
you may not love the Cowboys, even though you mighty
ain't the Cowboys, Jerry Jones's team got screwed on Sunday
(01:05):
Night Football. You cannot call pass interference in that situation.
You one billion percent cannot call especially offensive pass interference
in that situation. Jalen Ramsey just got paid seventy one
million dollars plus, and I felt like I was watching
an NBA superstar in the paint flop and draw a call.
(01:29):
That's what sounded like to me. Now, I don't know
what was going on all game. It's possible that there
had been some borderline plays before that, and I believe
it was Michael gallup right was the receiver that made
what would have been an incredible play to put the
Cowboys into a position to take a shot or two
potentially at trying to score the winning touchdown there. But
(01:50):
instead the offensive pass interference is called and as a result,
the game officially ends. Now, there are lots of things
you can point to if you are the Dallas Cowboys
about that performance and say, you know what, we had
a lot of opportunities to win that football game. There
(02:12):
are a lot of things that you can circle back
around on. But to me, what I'm thinking, outside of
that call, which I think was the wrong call, what
I am thinking, if I am a Cowboy fan waking
up this Monday, is you know what, we looked like
the exact same team all that time that people spent
(02:34):
detigrading Jerry Jason Garrett and saying, oh, all the Cowboys
need is a new head coach. They went and got
Mike McCarthy, and can you honestly say anything other than
that looked like the exact same Dallas Cowboy, Dallas Cowboy team.
And what I mean by that is if the Dallas
Cowboys had lost that game. They went one in six
(02:57):
in one possession games last year, and after every one
of those close losses, people circle back around and they said,
this is Jason Garrett's fault. If we just had a
new coach that's been for like the last seven years,
however many years it's been with the Dallas Cowboys. All
you Cowboy fans listening to me right now, know that reflexively,
(03:18):
at the end of that game, you wanted to be like,
this was Jason Garrett's fault. What if you just are
what you are? And that's that's a tough thing to
like sit around and have to stare in the mirror
and think about, if you're the Dallas Cowboys, what if
it's not about your head coach, what if this is
(03:38):
just what the Cowboy organization is. They're good enough most
of the time to beat bad teams, but when push
comes to shove and they have to find a way
to beat good teams. Most of the time they come
up short when push comes to shove, and they have
(03:58):
to find a way to win in close games. Most
of the time they come up short. They are now
one in seven in their last eight close games. They
haven't been able to find a way to get it done.
And you can blame Jason Garrett, but Jason Garrett ain't
there anymore. And I bet somewhere in his hotel as
(04:20):
he got ready to coach with the Giants, Jason Garrett
took a little bit of joy in this outcome. You
never want to get fired and have the people that
you get fired and replaced by have tremendous early success.
You want for those people to struggle. I guarantee you
(04:41):
right now, Monday morning, Jason Garrett woke up with a
little bit of a smile on his face. Not because
he hates the Cowboys, not because he's rooting against Dak Prescott,
not because he dislikes Jerry Jones, but just because when
you've been the guy who was blamed for everything going wrong,
(05:01):
it's nice for somebody else to have something go wrong
and you have nothing to do with it. I guarantee
you that when you're the president of the United States,
when your term is over and you have been getting
blamed for everything for four or eight years, you don't
want your successor to fail. I think most people want
(05:24):
their successor to do well. But I bet when that
first crisis comes up and the new president starts having
to wear it and you don't have to be responsible
for it, there's a little bit of an enjoyment factor
and just saying, man, it's nice to see somebody else
having to wear it. And this morning, Mike McCarthy is
(05:46):
having to wear a loss for the Dallas Cowboys, And
the truth of the matter is he didn't bring magic
star dust with him. The Dallas Cowboy offense didn't look
much different than it looked like with Jason Garrett. That
was an offense that looked explosive at times, mediocre at times,
and you left saying, I don't really know about the
(06:08):
choices they made from a play calling perspective, the exact
same criticisms that there would be out there. Dak Prescott
through the ball thirty nine times, didn't get to three
hundred yards average is six point eight yards one touchdown,
He got sacked he got hit way too often. He
was just okay. Ezekiel Elliott got the ball more, but
(06:31):
he didn't look explosive. He wrote, feed me, he got
a ridiculous tattoo. Can you imagine Ezekiel Elliott as a
grown ass man with that tattoo on his belly? Feed
me with a spoon. It doesn't look good at It
ain't gonna look good at thirty five or forty five
(06:51):
or fifty five. You don't want to be the dad
with the ridiculous tattoo at the pool, especially when you're
Ezekiel Elliott, and you probably are gonna end up fat.
Everybody's gonna be looking at you at the pool saying, yeah,
we know you got fed. You know getting fed many
playoff wins, though Dallas Cowboy fans thinking that we ain't
gotten fed too many playoff wins over the last twenty
(07:11):
five years. You fed Ezekiel Elliott and he ran for
four yards and carry. He didn't exactly take the game
over two carries ninety six yards, all right, not a
real game breaker. I don't know why they didn't throw
to him more out of the backfield. He made the
one big play in the passing game Amari Cooper was okay.
(07:33):
Ceedee Lamb is supposed to be incredible, just okay, made
one play down the field. I just looked at this
and said, this didn't feel like a fundamentally different team
than what I saw before. You got out gained by
the Rams. You had the ball late, with an opportunity
to win after starting off last year one in six
(07:53):
and one possession games. Jerry Jones is sitting there on
the sideline pumping his fist. It's go time, and you
didn't go anywhere. Now, partly that's because a bad call
was made, but if you go look at all those
play at all those plays on that final drive, the
Dallas Cowboy offensive line got whipped up front time after
time after time. Dak wasn't comfortable in the pocket. They
(08:15):
knew he had to throw. Obviously he made one place
scrambling with the football, but never really put them in
a position all night long. You don't ever lose a
game because of one play, and the Dallas Cowboys over
the course of that game lost on the line of
scrimmage more than they want. They weren't able to control
the game. I thought that the Rams looked like the
(08:37):
more physical team even though the Rams weren't incredible running
the football, they were the more physical team. I thought
they took the battle to the Cowboys. And, by the way,
for Cowboy fans out there saying we didn't get the call,
you almost knocked Jared Goff's helmet off and he threw
an interception on the play. You went on and scored
(08:59):
on that drive, and that call wasn't made either. So
arguably that was a big call that went in your
favor that you didn't have any business getting. It. Also,
rarely comes down to any one call. All right, that's
the Dallas Cowboys. Props to the Rams. How amazing did
Sophi Stadium look? By the way, I think there should
be fans in there. I think there should be fans
(09:20):
at every game. But it looked absolutely phenomenal. Other big storylines,
we got a lot to unpack. Thank god the NFL
is back. How about Cam Newton and the Patriots. You
want to talk about a guy who looked different. I
just said that I didn't think the Dallas Cowboy offense
looked any different at all. How about Cam Newton? How
(09:40):
healthy did he look? Fifteen carries, seventy five yards two
rushing touchdowns fifteen and nineteen passing. You thought it. I
thought it. Everybody out there in America thought it. Bill
Belichick got himself a steal a million dollars for an
NFL m v P. That suddenly looks like he has
(10:00):
a lot to prove. Cam was phenomenal in Week one.
He looked totally different than he did last year. Maybe
that's coaching. Not a lot of difference between Jason Garrett
and Mike McCarthy. I think there's probably quite a bit
of difference between what Cam had, even though Ron Rivera
got a nice win for the Washington Redskins and what
(10:21):
goes on in New England with Bill Belichick. They found
a way to win. Even though I don't think the
Patriots are that good this year. Cam is a lot
of fun to watch. And how about Brady versus Brees.
Drew Brees found a way to get the win and
Tom Brady looked pedestrian. I think it's early with the
(10:45):
Tampa Bay offense. I love what he's eventually gonna be
capable of. Brady with Godwin and Evans, and certainly with O. J.
Howard and Cameron Brad and Rob Gronkowski, They're not there yet.
Remember this offense just added Leonard four Net. They're just
starting to come together. That new or in the New
(11:06):
Orleans team on offense has been working together for a
long time. Taysom Hill, Michael Thomas, Alvin Kamara. They're a
well oiled machine. I think me and you and probably
others expected a little bit more from Brady and all
of his offensive teammates. But remember they didn't get the
opportunity to play any preseason games. They didn't get the
(11:28):
opportunity to test out their ability to get going and
kind of get their pacing and their timing and their
rhythm together. So my expectation would be while at times
you saw flashes of what could be an explosive Tampa
Bay buccaneer offense, we aren't there yet, but I saw
some signs that we're gonna be there before the season
(11:51):
is over. And my goodness, there were a ton of
other monster stories that we're going to dive into as well.
How about the Ravens. How about Joe Burrow making his debut.
You talk about a questionable offensive past interference call. I
thought the A J Green call a little bit questionable.
Philip Rivers makes his debut gets whipped by Gardner Minshew.
(12:14):
Nobody saw that coming. A lot of your survivor pools
went up in smoke. In fact, the Cardinals and Kyler Murray,
they go on the road against the NFC champ and
find a way to win as a seven point underdog.
And then you have teams like the Browns who find
a way to stink every year, team like the Lions
who should be able to win but couldn't do it.
And how about the unbelievable collapse of the Philadelphia Eagles
(12:41):
in their seventeen nothing lead that they gave up to
the Redskins. All of that much to be discussed. This
is the time we live for NFL and college football.
I got you some updates coming on the Big Ten
the latest there. Joel Clatt will join us an hour
to This, my friends, is a loaded program. We have
got so many different discussions to get into as we
(13:04):
roll into the break. Are tough in general here for
the Cowboys as well. I didn't even mention this because
I feel like it's kind of piling on but Layton
vander esh with a broken collar bone, as if things
did not go poorly enough, I didn't want to really
kind of pile on with the injuries, but I probably
should mention that as well. He just can't stay healthy.
(13:25):
He'll be out for a substantial time. What is it
in the collar bones with the Dallas Cowboy players? Obviously
Tony Romo had a lot of issues with his collar
bone as well. This is outkicked the coverage with Clay Travis.
Al Right, there are a couple of things. We talked
a lot about what we saw taking place in the
(13:47):
NFL in terms of on the field running through all
of it, but I told you I wanted to discuss
the off the field related incidents. Now. I hope that
this is going to disappear because I told you if
you listen to on Friday after the Thursday Night Show,
I told you that CBS, NBC, Fox, and ESPN, because
(14:08):
they lost hundreds of millions of dollars during the Colin
Kaepernick protests, that they basically had all gotten together and said, hey,
we are not going to allow anything to distract from
our ability to put on football games, even during the
coronavirus mess. Everything else, particular, maybe particularly maybe even during
(14:31):
the coronavirus mess, because all of these companies are even
more desperate to make money on the NFL now than
they have been in past years because everybody, especially in
the advertising business that's relying upon the advertising business, has
just been hemorrhage in cash. But there was one particular
decision to me that blew up a lot of the
(14:52):
rationale for all of the arguments in favor of protesting,
and that was the Baltimore Ray. So they made the
decision in the off season that they were going to
play the so called black national anthem, lift every voice
and seeing before the actual national anthem at NFL games,
(15:13):
and several different teams made the decision, Hey, we're going
to just stay in the locker room. We're not gonna
come out for either anthem, and that was, for instance,
the Miami Dolphins, and I thought the Miami Dolphins, whether
you agree or disagree with that decision, the Miami Dolphins
who got whipped by the way by the New England
Patriots who were all standing for the national anthem, and CBS,
(15:34):
if you're watching that broadcast yesterday, they were cutting back
and forth between the two guys, two teams, one the
Miami Dolphins standing in the locker room, the other the
New England Patriots standing on the sideline, most of them
with their hands on their hearts, getting ready for the
kickoff of the season. But the Miami Dolphins, we played
(15:55):
this for you on Friday, I believe it was we
played you there statement where they said, hey, we don't
want to be a distraction and we don't want people
looking at what we're doing during the back black national
anthem and comparing it to what we're doing during the
national anthem, so called black national anthem compared to the
national anthem. Uh. And so that to me immediately set
(16:19):
off Well, this is gonna be interesting, right. I was
sitting around thinking about it before. What are you gonna
do if you have a team that stands for the
black national anthem and then they all kneel, or a
lot of them kneel for the national anthem, That's not
gonna make very much sense. Well, we did have a
team do it, and it was the Baltimore Ravens, And
(16:40):
in particular, to me, that blows up the argument that
you're not acknowledging that there is a form of respect
involved for the anthem, because if you are standing for
the black national anthem, which many, almost all of the
Ravens did it, I think two players knelt for it,
(17:02):
and then you are kneeling for the national anthem itself,
which the majority of the Baltimore Ravens did, then what
you are saying is we have respect for the Black
national anthem, but we don't have a respect for the
national anthem. And there is no way you can logically
(17:23):
argue for the difference of treatment between the two without
going directly to respect for the song itself. If you're
gonna kneel for the national anthem, then you should be
kneeling for the Black national anthem. There's no logic here
(17:44):
for the Baltimore Ravens other than to argue they're intentionally
choosing to disrespect the United States national anthem, and that is,
I believe, a really bad look for the Baltimore Ravens.
Now Fully, for the Baltimore Ravens case, the media stops
covering it, all of the protests surrounding the national anthem
(18:07):
and everything else, because it's become a carnival sideshow of
ridiculousness and it's actually not having any impact at all.
In fact, if you saw the video of a man
in Compton, California, walking right up and shooting to l
a police officers. You can argue that all these athletes
(18:28):
protesting are actually having the exact opposite impact. They are
making it more dangerous for police, and they are more
making it more dangerous for suspects. Neither side treats each
other with very much trust, because if you're a police officer,
you anticipate that you might be a victim at any
(18:48):
point in time, and if you you're a suspect, you
anticipate that you might be a victim at any point
in time as well. And so that's why I could argue,
I think legitimately that all of these protests have led
to many more police officers being shot and killed, and
many more people in general in the cities being shot
(19:10):
and killed as well, because shootings have skyrocketed since the
George Floyd protests began, and so have murders and all
the major cities in America because police are afraid to
do their job. And when police are afraid to do
your job, people in inner city neighborhoods become even more
likely to be victims of violent crime. And so honestly,
(19:33):
if people were looking at the data and making legitimate
arguments based on the data, they would be saying what
athletes are doing with sports is putting everybody more danger
and I don't know why. More I know, I know
why people in my industry won't say it because they're
afraid of the media mob coming after them. Oh my god,
(19:54):
how dare you criticize athletes who are using their platform
to make statements that are so important? Actually, it's a
strong argument that the statements that athletes are making are
actually creating more divisiveness in this country and leading to
more death and more murder and more violence. And certainly
you can argue it if you saw the reaction to
(20:15):
the police officer shootings in l A. I hope those
officers are gonna be okay. It sounds like they are
the most recent updates that I have seen. But both
of them are still hospitalized and they did absolutely nothing.
They were ambushed while sitting in their police cruiser by
(20:35):
someone that I hope they catch in the Compton section
of l A. But to me, this should be a
big story. An athletes should have to answer the question.
For the Baltimore Ravens, why did you decide to stand
for lift every Voice and seeing the black national anthem
and then kneel for the United States National anthem, because
(20:58):
by acting and behaved, even in a manner that's different
for those two songs, you are choosing, in my opinion,
to respect one and disrespect the other. Otherwise, your behavior
during both of those songs should be the exact same.
And I think that's why the Miami Dolphins, I don't
think it. It's what they said, that's why they chose
(21:19):
not to come out for both songs because they didn't
want to create that difference of behavior. And people say, well,
they're not disrespecting the anthem by choosing to kneel, Well,
then why did they choose to stand for the other anthem?
There's no logic to the argument there. It is, I think,
a really bad look for the NFL, a really bad
(21:39):
look for the Baltimore Ravens, and a really bad look
for anyone who is trying to justify the decision being
different for both of them. If you decide to kneel
for all the songs, all right, I understand that that's
your perspective, that your prerogative, but making a decision to
stand for one and kneel for the other doesn't make
any sense at all. Be sure to catch live editions
(22:02):
About kicked the coverage with Clay Travis week days at
six am Eastern, three am Pacific, Play Travis here about
to talk with Joel Clatt at Joel Clatt on Twitter.
We missed you on Friday, but you had a well
of a football game. Be honest. Did you feel bad
at all when you woke up and realized that you
had slept through the interview with us for Friday morning? Yes,
(22:25):
because and here's the the there was only one reason.
Not for you personally, because of course not, but but
because I have done morning radio, so like I know,
and it's you know, it's it's uh, you know, you're
probably in the one and four. It is probably going
to be still sleeping in, particularly when you're when you're out,
you are no. I mean that's started. Like people don't
(22:46):
understand this, but when you do solo radio and you
have guests scheduled in the morning. I used to have
a midday show and then I had a afternoon show,
and people might miss you as a guest, but usually
you could get them right like, oh, we missed them
for ten minutes. Now we've got them. We'll go to break,
we'll catch up with them. Because everybody's awake. But when
(23:07):
you do morning radio, like, people sleep through it all
the time. And I'll be honest, I came on people
probably don't even remember this. There's probably tape somewhere on
this radio program as a guest a couple of times.
But I also slept through it a couple of times.
And once, like once I agreed to do it, and
I didn't even know I was agreeing to Morning Like.
(23:28):
They were kind of slick about it. They were like, hey,
can you do six twenty And I was like, oh, yeah,
it's Fox Sports Radio National. Just call my cell and
then and then I got a call. I remember waking
up in the morning and being like, who was calling
me from l A at you know six in the morning. Yeah,
six twenty am. Big difference between six twenty am and
six twenty pm in terms of your ability to do
(23:49):
a show. Uh, And so I I totally get that now.
Positive like, you guys, this is maybe it'll have to
happen a few times before all of a sudden done,
even for your crew in particular. But you guys were
all set to call Baylor Louisiana Tech and then they
have to cancel that that game it's literally like the
last minute, So you get bumped up to Kansas State
(24:10):
and uh and you end up calling Kansas State hosting
Arkansas State, which was a whale of a football game.
I mean, incredibly exciting the end of the day as
far as competitiveness goes. But how much of a wacky
thing is that to suddenly be anticipating in for one
game and then you have to do a national television
game for two entirely different teams. Yeah, I mean listen,
(24:33):
and you you know me fairly well, I'm pretty you
know O c D. If you will type a about
my preparation and yes, like Monday's I do the same thing.
Tuesday's they do the same thing. And then to me,
that process is what gives me confidence on Saturdays. And
so when you on Wednesday night have to throw everything
(24:55):
in the trash and start over, it's in readibly difficult,
like incredibly difficult. So um yeah, yeah, I mean there's
a lot of storylines that I wished I would have
gotten into more, one of them being just the depleted
roster at Arkansas State. But to be honest with you,
(25:16):
I was still trying to figure out who was on
the field for them anyway. Um, but man, it was
it was a really good game. They were down eight
starters at one point, you know, and and their wide
receiver Jay Adams. Jonathan Adams is a great player, and
I'm glad that he got that stage because let's be honest, right,
(25:37):
Arkansas State's not gonna get like Gus and I at
noon on Fox. Ever, and they get us, and they
have their first Power five wins since oh six, you know,
on the road, and Jay Adams basically announces to the
NFL like, hey, I'm a great player. So good for them. Man.
I was very happy for Blake Anderson, that entire crew,
(25:58):
and and in particular Ja Adams. It was fantastic. I mean,
it's possible he made himself several million dollars with that performance.
I mean I don't think that's an exactly absolutely, there's
no doubt. There's no doubt about it, which is to
me is why you know, some people have asked me, like,
why do you Gusts get so excited? I'm like, well,
partly because of that. This dude's out there Mosston people,
and I'm just thinking to myself, the Scouts are going
(26:20):
to absolutely love this tape and and it's his probably
best competition that he'll face all year long. So um awesome,
awesome time. From that perspective, what did it feel like
to be calling a game in that setting? And how
much impact do you think on the game itself it
had in Kansas State versus that stadium being completely full
(26:44):
in what was a pretty competitive down to the wire game.
In other words, if that's because do you think Kansas
State wins finds a way to win? Is that at
four point swing in the point swing, I I think
that execution in the red zone tends to be so
much more difficult on the road. And and even though
they fumbled a couple of times, and you know, I
(27:06):
I don't know. I don't think that the crowd was
gonna change the outcome of that game, to be honest
with you, Clay. And the reason is is because they
were dominant on both lines of scrimmage. But like if
if they were clearly the overmatched team and they got
the breaks and capitalized and it was like this was
the only way we were gonna win, I might say, like, boy,
that might have been different with a crowd and momentum
(27:27):
and still on and so forth, But it was it
was not like that they dominated on each line of scrimmage.
They're they're outside players made better plays. You know, I've
told I thought that they were just a better team,
to be honest with you. And it didn't matter if
there was gonna bet thousand people in their twelve thousand people.
What happened to the Big twelve? The I mean, I mean,
(27:48):
I feel like you know about that. Ordinarily, you know me,
I would have been taken shots at the Big Twelve.
I would have been having fun with it on Twitter.
But maybe I'm just getting soft now. But I'm just
so excited to have college football back that usually if
a conference had a day like the Big Twelve did,
you'll lose at home? Iowa State did, right, Yeah, you'd
(28:09):
kill him, you know, Like I mean, Louisiana Lafayette, congratulations
to them surging into the top twenty five. Uh, that
was a fun game to watch, But they were the
better team. You just said on the line of scrimmage.
Arkansas State was the better team than Kansas State on
that day. Uh, you barely got past I mean Texas Tech.
I saw sitting out a tweet one and oh you know,
they barely survived against I think it was Houston Baptist
(28:32):
that they were playing against. I mean, it was a
I don't want to call it a disaster, but it
was as close to a disaster on the field as
you could have And what would ordinarily be a season
it would have been a massive story. Everybody would be
killing the Big Twelve. But I've just kind of like
glad the Big twelve is playing and that any games
are going on. But I mean, that was a that
(28:54):
was a heck of a day for the Sun Belt,
but for the Big Twelve. I mean, I mean, that's
one of the worst days we've seen for an out
a conference performance. Yeah, now, let me try to give
at least some perspective because we've seen the SEC have
days like this, a CEC certainly Big ten has had
days like this. And at the end of the day,
(29:17):
what really carries the mail like the biggest brands, right
or your two or three best. And Texas looked unbelievable
and Oklahoma looked unbelievable and Oklahoma State didn't play. So
I don't want to go overboard, but you're right. Everything
you just said is is absolutely right. There's there's no
doubt about that. I was struck. And maybe it was
(29:37):
because the game I did has Arkansas stayed playing their
second game, But I was struck in my conversations with
their coaching staff and even some of their players that
everything was about the game, right. They didn't really talk
about like, well, we hope we get enough negative tests
in order to play. We hope this, we hope that,
(29:58):
you know, like a everything was about, well, we want
to do this against Kansas State. We want to do
that against Kansas State. This is where we feel good,
this is where we It was a normal conversation about
the game, like I would have with any other team
in any other given year. When I got to Kansas State,
it was almost like, man, you know, we're just excited
(30:19):
to play. Let's hope we get all the negative tests.
On Friday, Chris Klemen said, I've done everything except coach football. Um,
we had to stop down. They dealt with the social
justice issues, uh in particular within their team, stopped down
for that, did the marches. It felt like everything but
football and the Kansas State building. And then that's exactly
(30:41):
how it played out on the field, right. And I
think to some extent, Kansas State thought that they were
going to roll their helmets out there, and probably Iowa
State felt the same way. And these other programs with
huge chips on their shoulders came in there, and guess what,
when you don't have an off season and a spring
bowl and everything like that, there's a good che so
you can get beat. I think I saw somewhere, if
(31:02):
I'm not mistaken, where Louisiana Lafayette had several spring practices. Um.
I can't remember if they were one of the teams
that got all eleven or or someone else, but I
know Arkansas State got about eight practices in no one
else got that type of an off season. Maybe all
that's a contributing factor. But again, I'll go back to
a lot of these teams, in particular in the Power Five,
(31:23):
are focusing on and dealing with everything but football right now,
and I think that that hurt them and at least
these non league games, which is not gonna affect the
SEC because they're going to have these non league games. Yeah,
and it's gonna also be fascinating because usually when we're
deciding who's the better conferences are, we use these out
of conference games. Is an interesting measuring stick, but you
(31:45):
just hit it the SEC is playing ten in conference,
even the A s C they're playing ten conference games,
they're only playing one out of conference, and we haven't
really seen any embarrassing results from them. And then you
did say what I do think is the probably the
biggest selling point for a Big twelve. It was Texas
and Oklahoma looked really good. Oklahoma State hasn't played yet.
Those are going to be the two or three teams
(32:06):
that are contending for the Big Twelve title. Probably we'll
see what happens with Baylor. Obviously they had a really
big turnaround with Matt Rule, and we'll see how sustainable
that is with him gone. But that's probably your spin
if you are a Big twelve fan. The teams that
we thought were gonna be good still looks good. It's
not like we got major upsets involving our title contenders. Yeah,
(32:27):
I mean, that's what I would hang my head on, right. So, um,
I am excited to see Texas, to see Oklahoma. I
thought Spencer, by the way, Spencer Rattler is a I
like Jalen Hurts a lot, but he is a massive upgrade,
a massive upgrade. I watched the film already over the
weekend and wow, he made some throws that we had
(32:49):
we did not see last year period. So how crazy
is that for Oklahoma to go from I mean when
you really break it down, Baker Mayfield to Kyler Murray
to Jalen Hurts now to Spencer Rattler, you think he
is just a natural next step all along, like they're
gonna have another stud at quarterback without missing a bat.
(33:09):
How much of that is? How much that is Lincoln?
How much of that is Lincoln Riley? Remember back in
the day, like Steve Spurrier, it was like it didn't
even matter who he put in at quarterback. You knew
they were gonna throw for three hundred and four touchdowns
because the system was just so good. Is that what
Lincoln Riley has got rolling right now? But the difference
is Spurrier had some guys who were never actually any
good in the NFL. It seems like Oklahoma's doing a
(33:32):
pretty good job. If you saw what Kyler Murray did yesterday.
I know Baker has been up and down. I mean
it was the number one overall pick. I mean he
may not payan out in the NFL. But and then
Jalen Hurts, We'll see with Carson Wentz's injury history. I
feel like he's gonna get in. I mean, it seems
like he's not only doing what Steve Spurrier did, but
he's doing it with guys that are truly elite level quarterbacks.
(33:52):
Do you think Spencer Rattler is that guy? Yeah, I
absolutely do. I'd be really private. He's not kind of
a Heisman finalist caliber player this year. Of course, we'll
see if he plays all the games. You know, hopefully
you can avoid COVID, he can stay healthy, um all
of those things. But his armed talent is is elite.
His his movement, his his ability to make decisions process information.
(34:14):
He's really really good. And to your point about you know,
is that the quarterbacks is that the system. It's obviously
a combination of both. These guys are all really good players,
but I think it should be noted. I think that
the best thing that Lincoln does is not just quote
unquote the system, but the fact that he uses the
system and morphs it to fit the strength of what
his quarterback can do. Bet the Baker Mayfield offense was
(34:36):
just a little bit different than the Kyler Murray offense,
which was very different. I felt like at least from
the Jalen Hurts offense, which is now going to look
very different from the Spencer Rattler offense. So he's gonna
take this system and he's gonna tailor it too, and
and really maximize the element of the offense that I
think are going to focus on the strength of the
(34:56):
quarterback that he has. I think he would have had
the success Tanner Mordecai as well, you know. I mean,
he's just he's the best offensive coach in college football.
I think Ryan Day is probably right behind him, but
it's at this point like it's he's he's way up there, Clay.
I mean, look at what he's been able to do,
regardless of the players that he's got up there. Um,
(35:18):
I want to ask you, let's go into the big
ten here for a minute. Um, obviously you had the
Big twelve playing, you had the A C. C playing.
Let me before I get to the big ten. Trevor Lawrence,
I don't know if you said you watched the Spencer
Rattler film. I watched the entire Clemson game. And I'm
gonna be honest, Jill, If if Trevor Lawrence stays healthy,
and that's always true, but I think it's probably even
(35:39):
more true obviously in in this year. But if he
plays every game, I just I don't see. I mean
I watched Georgia Tech and Florida State play. I mean
that looked like a pillow fight. Um, I watched my
Notre Dame did not look good against Duke. Like, I
just don't see any way that Clemson is not in
the College Football Playoff? Are you with me? I mean,
(36:04):
they are just so much better than everybody else in
the YEA and they could still lose a game, Joel.
They don't even have to be perfect, and they're still
going to make the playoff well, and but they're not
going to lose a game. That's agree with Last year,
the only the only team to play him in the
a c C within a score was North Carolina, right,
(36:24):
and they didn't play well and they ended up beating them. Um,
it was within a score. Every other a CEC team
they played and they beat and it wasn't like, oh,
double digits. So two scores by thirty one or more.
Think about that. That's that's over four touchdowns. That's like
four tugs and a field goal. That's the margin between
(36:46):
them and the rest of the league. It's not even close.
So not only are they just like gonna walk into
the playoff, but whoever's there to meet him, you know,
Bama better, Bama better hope that they don't stumble a
few times times in the ten league ten game conference schedule.
So it'll be interesting, man. But Clemson is is certainly,
(37:07):
I think, in a class by themselves. Right now, all right,
let's go to the Big Ten. I just talked about
to open the second hour of the program. I was
talking about what I was seeing and hearing about the
Big Ten. That I'm optimistic they're going to be back
to play potentially starting October seventeenth, that they're trying to
put together a plan that would allow them to finish
(37:29):
their season by December nineteenth with the Big Ten championship game,
and then potentially get a team, whether it's Ohio State,
Penn State, whoever, the champion of the Big Ten is
into the playoff. What are you hearing and are you
also optimistic that things are moving in that direction? Yes,
I'm I'm I'm very optimistic. Um. Remember now, though I'm
(37:52):
one of those guys, someone you know asked me sarcastically
the percentage chance that we had a college football season,
and this was two months ago, and I replied, a
season of some kind of some sort, and I A, yeah,
it's correct. And I also said, and there will be
fans in some locations to some extent, which is also
(38:15):
proven to be correct. And I am I will tell
you right now, the Big Ten is playing right like
it's it's happening, whether it happens October, October, November, you know,
early November by Thanksgiving, so I don't know exactly when,
but they're they're coming back like they're coming back, and
(38:35):
the push to get them back as soon as possible
this October seventeenth day that you're hearings because they feel
like they could have an eight maybe nine game league schedule,
have a championship game, and still be included into the
college football playoffs. It should be noted I feel like
the loudest and most impactful and influential voices in the
(38:56):
room and leading this discussion are Ryan Day, the head
coach of Ohio State, Jane Smith, the idea at Ohio State,
their team doctor, and their president. Those are the people
that are pushing really hard. Why because you just talked
about Clemson and how good they are, and I certainly agree.
I think personally that Ohio State is the second best
(39:17):
team pretty clearly in the country. They are really, really talented,
and they are dying to get a chance to play
for a national championship. So I think that the conference
knows that that would be better for the conference. I
think that now with some of the PCR testing and
Anergin testing that you can do in particular in five, ten,
fifteen minutes, is going to make this a much better
(39:39):
vote from a medical perspective. And and the Big Ten
is gonna come back, man, It's it's just a matter
of when at this point. And and I think as
far as I'm as far as I've been told Clay,
the presentations over the weekend regarding an October start went
and I quote really really well end quote that's a
(40:03):
good sign. So if they come back, then the big
question will be what do they need to do and
how many games do they have to play in order
to be able to quote unquote qualify for the playoff?
Like that's gonna be It could potentially turn into a
debate because right because if they come back on October seventeenth,
is the reason. You know, kind of looking at it,
you're hoping that you can basically find a way to
(40:24):
play every week, right or eight weeks at least, get
at least eight games in. What are they going to
say about, is there a minimum number of games that
you have to play in order to qualify for the
college football Playoff? I don't know. Obviously, the SEC is
gonna look around and say, wait a minute, we're playing
ten conference games. Uh. The irony here would be if
Ohio State in the Big Ten try to say, oh,
(40:46):
we're playing eight, and the SEC sends, wait a minute,
you know, like we've got unequal unequal bargaining power here. Um,
because that could turn into an issue, right, I mean,
the positive is trying to fight their way back. I
mean you're bringing up all great points, right. Um, there's
there's no doubt. And I'm sure that there's gonna be
some minimum level of games in order to qualify. I'm
(41:07):
sure of it. Now. Having said that, you know, these
these conferences owned the playoff. The n c A doesn't,
which means but the A, C, C, SEC and Big
twelve have a say, and they're not happy with the
Big Ten. The Big Ten put these conferences in really
(41:28):
bad position, that's right, because everybody, you know, they were like,
why aren't you canceling? Look at the Big ten, look
at the Pack twelve, and so you know, these conferences
are not gonna want to do the Big ten any favors, period.
So I think that that's kind of the next political
battle within college football, and I think it could get,
(41:48):
to be honest with you, really nasty um, just because
I don't think that those three conferences are going to
try to do the Big ten any favors. And you know,
if I was in their position, I certainly see their point. Joel,
we'll talk to you maybe Friday. Hopefully you'll answer the
phone if we call. Do you know where you're gonna be?
Second times the charm, I'm back in Baylor. We're gonna
(42:09):
try it again at Baylor. We got the Houston Baylor
game that came together in thirty seconds thanks to Joel Klatt.
We'll talk to him later in the week. This is
outkicked the coverage with Clay Traffic. A lot to dive into, obviously,
on the first Monday after a nearly complete college football schedule,
(42:34):
uh and certainly after a nearly complete NFL schedule. We
got a couple of Monday night football games. I always
think the opening Monday Night football of the year, when
we've got the East Coast Monday Night football and the
West Coast Monday Night football is awesome. And frankly every
year I feel like I make the same argument, which is, man,
I wish we had to Monday night football games all
(42:56):
year round, because I think it's cool to be able
if you're on the West Coast to have of a
West Coast or Mountain Monday night football game. And I
also think it's cool to have an East Coast so
when you come home that game is going on. But
we had an absolute bevy of games going on over
the course of the weekend, so many different storylines to
get into. Appreciate all of you hanging out with us,
(43:17):
and you know who didn't stink And I think a
lot of you watched and you thought to yourselves, Oh,
Cam Newton, and I'm gonna bring in dub here to
talk about him with me because you are an Auburn fan.
Dub Cam Newton is one of the best all time
front running quarterbacks. What I mean by that is there
are some quarterbacks who are so mentally tough that even
(43:39):
when they lose, you know that things are still gonna
be fine with them. Cam. It seems to me like
has always been a player that when things start rolling
for him, he can get that role going. We saw
it with Carolina the year they went seventeen and one,
when he was the n L m v P and
(44:00):
the n L m v P, the m v P
of the NFC. Uh and then he got into the
Super Bowl. Is in an m v P of the
entire NFL, but the best quarterback in the entire NFL,
And then he was a seven point favorite. Everybody expected
that he was gonna be coordinated. Basically, Denver Broncos took
it to him and he never really ever has gotten back.
(44:24):
But I watched him playing yesterday and I thought to myself, oh,
Bill Belichick might have gotten one of the greatest steals
of all time. He replaced one m v P in
Tom Brady with another m v P, and look, Cam
only threw the ball nineteen times. He completed fifteen of them,
(44:46):
but he ran the ball fifteen times. And he is
such an unbelievable talent in the backfield that when he's healthy,
he's hard to stop, he had two rushing touchdowns. Suddenly,
Bill Belichick has got a wrinkly didn't have for twenty
years with Tom Brady and boom, he is bringing in
an unbelievable talent and uh, the stat that I saw.
(45:10):
I mean, there's so much to get to him and
talk about more about the Brady Belichick the dynamic to
start off our three. But dub you were an Auburn fan.
You've seen Cam Newton and how dominant he can be.
Did you not get the feeling watching the Patriots play
against the Dolphins. Oh, this is potentially gonna be a
heck of a season for Cam Newton, and man, it
(45:32):
feels like Belichick got another steel. Absolutely, I personally I
thought this was the story of the day yesterday on
the first NFL Sunday back from uh Corona and all that.
Because you mentioned fifteen Russia attempts, that's the first time
Cam Newton's had fifteen plus rush attempts since October of
two thousand fourteen. That's a long time. Because this is
(45:53):
the healthiest he's ever been. He's Belichick basically has him
on a one year rental. So how do you treat
a rental? I mean, He's gonna Cam Newton the way
that Cam Newton should be played because he's not necessarily
worried about the future of exactly so. And frankly, I
don't think Cam can be worried about five years from
now because he has to go balls to the wall
(46:14):
in this one year and prove that somebody needs to
sign him to a four or three or five year extension,
right like, this is his opportunity to demonstrate I still
got enough juice to be a starter in this league.
And if you can't win with Belichick, you're probably not
gonna be able to win with anybody. But this is
potentially a seventy five or a hundred million dollar season
(46:37):
for Cam, right And that's why I've been saying he's
the number one story of this NFL season because his
ceiling could be so high and his floor could be
so low. And the same thing can be true with
the Patriots, absolutely, And the one thing that Belichick and
the Patriots have always excelled at his situational football, the
third and shorts, the fourth and shorts, they got the
biggest weapon in the NFL as far as I'm concerned
(46:59):
for those exact situation, So I think the Patriots are
going to be very, very dangerous. Tell me if you've
heard that one before. Just when you think that we
don't have to worry about this team anymore, they go
and they get an unbelievable weapon. Fox Sports Radio has
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(47:21):
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