November 9, 2022 • 39 mins
After a disastrous start to the season, Colin explains why it's time for the Packers to think outside the box when it comes to Aaron Rodgers at this point in his career. He advocates for expanding the College Football Playoff after the latest ranking has a suspect TCU team ranked 4th in the country. He also has bad news for the Eagles as the last remaining undefeated team in the NFL. Plus, Fox Sports lead college football analyst Joel Klatt joins the show in studio to debate who the top ranked team in the country is right now.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to the Best of Herd podcast. Are
you sure to catch us live every weekday from twelve
to three eastern nine to noon Pacific on Fox Sports
Radio and FS one. Find your local station for The
Herd at Fox Sports Radio dot com, or stream us
live every day on the iHeartRadio app by searching Herd.
This is the Best of the Herd with Colin cowher
on Fox Sports Radio. Oh, here we go and a
(00:26):
suddenly busy Wednesday. We are live in Los SENELUS. It's
the Herd wherever you may be, however you may be
listening iHeartRadio, Fox Sports Radio FS one Joel Klatt one
hour from now. I'll teach him a thing or two
about college football. The playoff rankings are out. Thoughts on that.
(00:47):
Today we got a Niner story that's fascinating, a Philadelphia
Eagle story, Oh, Miami story, double oh. I think I
spent four hours on the couch watching the game last night,
the Red team versus the Blue team. I watched a
little Fox News, a little MSNBC and wildly entertaining. And
you know, I don't know if I trust polling or media,
(01:08):
but I trust the American people. So whatever direction they go,
I'm with them, and it was a wild night four
hours cowherds. Seriously, Well, I said, I got home, I
got done working out, and it was like raining, like crazy,
and I wanted to watch where we're going. Yeah, and
it's fun. I told my kids, no politics in the house.
We did not watch television or all. We played dominoes.
I recorded a podcast with Alexei Lallis. We watched The
(01:31):
Office Colin. No politics. I don't know. I don't don't
want any of it. I don't have a problem with
any of it. You know, you'd take whatever side you want,
all right, Um, let me start with this very interesting So.
Rob Demovsky is a very good reporter. He's been covering
the Packers for a long time. Knows his stuff. So
he wrote a story the Packers rode a Crossroads. Their
schedule now gets brutal Dallas, Tennessee, and Philly, three physical
(01:55):
teams in a row, especially Tennessee and Philly. Green Bay
is not gonna win those games, and they'd be three
and nine at the end of that three game streak.
But here's another question. What if they lose to Dallas.
I mean, they're already four and a half games what
out of first place? Like there, they lose another game
and the team's ahead of them win another game. Should
you bench Aaron Rodgers? Now it sounds crazy, right, but
(02:18):
Dmowski writes this column. He talks to Mike Tannenbaum, a
former general manager in the league, and he brings up
some good points, which is, you have to play Jordan
Love once they're eliminated. At the end of the day,
the guys running the organization have a responsibility for the
next decade. They're not going to win the title this year. Hey, Aaron,
we're benching you. The alternative. He comes back and they
(02:38):
trade Jordan Love to a team like the Falcon's third
round pick. And Jordan Love isn't a you know, a
consequential starter in the league for ten years. So, first
of all, here's why it makes sense. Aaron Rodgers is
gonna be thirty nine really quick. Okay, he looks like
he's declining a little. Not as fast as everybody is claiming,
but he's declining a little. Do you want him to
get more hits in meaningless games? Do you really think
(03:00):
that's the thing to do. Secondly, Green Bay, you got
to show people what Jordan Love is you have to
show yourself. If not, by May, you have to make
a decision are you going to pay him? And whether
you want to pay him or not, you got to
know does he have the goods. Instance, Green Bay does
not get free agents. Historically, the way to improve this
team is trade pieces. So if he's good, move him,
(03:23):
keep Aaron and get some pieces. This team needs an
infusion of young, cheap players, because if you think they're
cash strap now, next year Aaron Jones running back, twenty
million dollars cap hit, David bak Baktari left tackle, huge
cap hit, Jaire Alexander Corner great one, twenty million dollars
cap hit, Kenny Clark great defensive lineman way up there.
(03:46):
I don't know exactly what the cap hit is. It's monstrous.
So if you think they're cash strapped now, they're in
massive trouble next year. The other thing to think about
is Jordan Love isn't very good East. You get a
top ten draft pick, you may go fishing for another quarterback.
But in the end, what's the value of playing a
(04:08):
very soon to be thirty nine year old Aaron Rodgers
in meaningless games? There is no value in it, and
I also think that Aaron would buy into this. You'd
have to handle it somewhat delicately. But Aaron is a
grown up, and you say, Aaron, you're still getting paid.
We don't want to get hit. There's no value to
(04:30):
you after retirement or in your career getting beat up
more Also, it makes Aaron look like he's a team guy,
that he understands part of the process here is getting
picks and discovering what Jordan Love is. I think this
means makes a ton of sense. Listen, Green Bay is
not an out of the box team, and they frankly
should be because they're sort of an out of the
(04:52):
box franchise. They don't have an owner. It's the smallest
market in professional sports, so they're an odd franchise. You're
an odd franchise with clear limitations and disadvantages in ownership,
in free agent capability. You got to take some big swings.
You can't be conservative and have disadvantages against the market.
(05:15):
At some point, if you have disadvantages, you have to
take swings. Ben Sharon, if they lose this weekend and
next I suspect they will let Jordan Love face Philadelphia.
Let Jordan Love is he any good if he is,
trade him, get picks. It's not about moving off eron.
It's about sitting eron for a brief time, seeing what
(05:36):
you got with a kid. And you and I know
there's a lot of desperate teams every year, seven or eight,
even some good teams that may consider moving off a quarterback.
They want to see what they have with Jordan Love.
Very good column, very interesting idea, and I am here
for it. Okay, So if you've listened to the show
(05:57):
for any length of time, I like college football. There
are things about college football that drive me crazy. I
think the sport is too lucrative not to have a
scheduling Zar Jason McIntyre and now we're talking about this
the other day off the air. Four or five weekends
a year in college football, you're like, there's not enough
good games. You need to have a scheduling hun show.
(06:18):
Somebody that makes up schedules, evens things out, makes the
big dogs play the big dogs, so you every weekend
you have at least four or five marquee games. Instead,
everybody's hiding, everybody's picking up buys, they're playing teams that
aren't competitive. So it drives me crazy and That's why
I talk more NFL than college football. There's simply more
good competitive matchups every weekend. So I am for a
(06:41):
twelve game playoff for a lot of reasons, but here's
one of them. So the college football rankings Joel Clatton
one hour stops by. We got those again last night,
and the top four teams are Georgia, Ohio State, Michigan,
and TCU. They'd make the playoffs the two just on
the outsider Tennessee in Oregon there's LSU and USC two.
So college football has this built in guilt. They feel
(07:04):
they need to put a good story in the playoff
every once in a while instead of the four best teams.
So if you go back to the beginning eight years
of the playoff, they've done it three times where they
put a team in there that doesn't really recruit at
an elite level. They put Michigan State in in twenty fifteen,
they got housed. They put Washington in twenty sixteen, they
(07:26):
got suffocated. They put Cincinnati in last year, a way
better story than a team they got smoked. And if
you look at the top four this year, who doesn't
fit TCU? Because if you're really an elite recruiting NFL
factory that can win a national championship. You bulldoze about
eight teams on your schedule. Ohio State blows out people,
(07:48):
Michigan blows out people. Georgia blows out people. Oregon can
blow out people. TCUs blown out nobody. TCU is slithering
by big twelve teams. Last year TCU was four for
fifth in the country and recruiting or this year they
don't have There's only like forty NFL guys from TCU.
It's a good program, but it's the classic college football mistake.
(08:11):
There is a guilt associated with college football that you
got a wedge in every couple of years, that undefeated.
Good story. Here's all you need to know this weekend.
TCU is a touchdown underdog to three loss Texas. Vegas
knows the truth. Stop with a good story. Get to
the good teams. We know who they are. Oregon can
(08:33):
play with anybody in the country. I know. Opening game
against Georgia was a mess. New coach, new staff in
the South, LSU can play against anybody. Tennessee can play
against anybody. Come on, this is not a shot at TCU.
But once you shrink a club, my standards for membership
are going to be very rigid, and my standards are
(08:55):
going to be very high. So college football, my entire life,
has in halves and have nots. TCU is not a
top ten half. They don't recruit like it, they don't
look like it. There's nothing wrong with them going to
a great bowl. And this is why I am rooting
for a twelve team playoff, because then TCU can get
(09:15):
in and somebody that's got big boy players everywhere doesn't
have to be forced out. Years and years ago, I
said I don't understand a twelve team playoff because I've
never thought the seventh or eighth best team in the
country could be a national championship contender. And I'm still
not sure I do. But if college football is going
(09:37):
to have a limited playoff structure, hockey, baseball, football, MLS,
you've got, you've got playoffs here. It's not about vote,
it's not about optics, it's not about aesthetics, it's about
like playing people. In college football, we're never going to
be able to have that kind of playoff system, So
let's get it to twelve. It allows for a TCU
(09:58):
which will lose a game by the end of the
season to get in. They're not gonna win a national championship.
Nobody thought Cincinnati was, or Washington was, or Michigan State was,
and TCU won't. But this is a classic example of
we're now doing the story over the team. What would
Vegas say if Oregon and TCU played a neutral field tomorrow.
(10:21):
Oregon's gonna be favored. LSU is gonna be favored. Let's
be honest, they're sneaking by average Big twelve teams. That
Georgia would pummel, that Ohio State would pummel, that Michigan
would pummel. Be sure to catch live editions of The
Herd weekdayson noon Eastern a Empacific on Fox Sports Radio
FS one and the iHeartRadio app. Philadelphia is the last
(10:43):
unbeaten team in the NFL, and we do this over
and over and over again. We fall in love with
regular seasons. But we know that in all sports, Hockey's
crazy number one seeds get beat all the time in
hockey by eight seeds. We know this to be true,
that regular season NFL is different than playoff NFL. The
(11:05):
pressures different, the experience is different, the intensity is different,
the weather is different, but we fall for it. So
now everybody's into Philadelphia. But I was reading a story
this morning where an NFL executive said in the NFC,
he said, I could see the Eagles being a one
and done. They haven't gone fifteen rounds with anybody. Are
they battle tested? So let's look at recent history, and
(11:27):
it's fascinating. So let's look at all pro sports, just
pro sports. Dodgers this year were not only the best
regular season team, they had a run differential of plus
three hundred and thirty four. It's one of the most
dominant regular season teams in baseball history, one hundred and
eleven wins. Could not get out of the first round,
(11:49):
dominated by the Padres, a team they dominated. The pressure
was all on the Dodgers, and they didn't deal with it.
Let's go to the NBA. Last year, twenty one Phoenix Suns,
eight games better than the second best team, dominated the
league in point differential, whacked by Dallas in the second round.
(12:14):
Underdog Dallas with no pressure twenty eighteen. Twenty nineteen. One
of the great regular season hockey teams ever, Tampa Bay
Lightning sixty two wins tied for the most in the
sports history, had the league MVP swept in round one,
swept the Baltimore Ravens twenty nineteen, fourteen and two. Lamar's MVP,
(12:40):
best record in the NFL, best point differential in the NFL,
could not win a playoff game. Offense dried up. I
gave you every sport, Baseball, hockey, basketball, football, Why because
playoff games are always close. Secondly, the pressure's overwhelmingly on
(13:01):
favored teams, especially if they're undefeated. Record setting dominate the
sport Dodgers, Tampa Bay Lightning, Baltimore Ravens. I went and
looked at a list of the final undefeated teams in
the NFL from two thousand and six to today. The
Eagles are the final undefeated team. Many lost in the
(13:24):
wild card round, some didn't make the playoffs. I had
to go to two thousand and six to find the
Peyton Manning Colts for the last undefeated team. They went
nine to zero to win a Super Bowl. Many were
knocked out early. Everybody knows there's the regular season and
(13:44):
then there's the postseason. Everything changes. Kyle Shanahan against Nick Sarianni,
who's your pick? Jalen Hurts against Brady who's your pick.
It's not that I don't like Philadelphia, but dominating regular
seasons can create over confidence and apathy, and a lot
of times they're based on like in football, who have
(14:06):
you played Monday Night football? Minnesota, Philadelphia? It was in Philadelphia.
They played the Cowboys. Yeah, against Cooper Rush in Philadelphia.
Look at their wins. They've dominated bad teams. Now, I
think Philadelphia has earned the right to be called the
number one team in the league. But we have history
(14:27):
in recent history, and nobody would dispute that. Dominating regular
season teams it doesn't mean anything. Even in the NFL
last year, home field advantage didn't mean anything. The Titans
had a buy and home field lost. Packers had a
buy and home field lost. It is a different game
(14:48):
with different weather and different pressure. Just something to consider.
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
and noon Easter n a Empacific. Tim Kawakami, he's been
righting forever in the Bay Area, A very capable guy.
He says he thinks Jimmy Garoppolo coming back next year
(15:08):
has to be an option, especially of San Francisco makes
a deep playoff run, which I believe they will Garoppolo
is going to be a free agent. They think they're
gonna be He thinks there's a strong possibility they'd bring
him back again. This just cracks me up. We treat
Jimmy Garoppolo like he's a hazmat spill or a virus.
Oh my god, we're gonna bring back Jimmy Garoppolo. Scary.
(15:31):
Just think about this for a second. Let's add context.
Garoppolo was not not allowed to practice with a team
this offseason. They would not give him a playbook, did
not take every rep as a first team starter until
Week three, had a shoulder surgery to his throwing side
(15:52):
throwing arm. Yet his passer rating this year is higher
than Justin Herbert, Josh Allen, Tyler, Murray, Tom Brady, Matt Stafford,
Aaron Rodgers, and Russell Wilson. It's like the Lamar Jackson thing.
With Jimmy and Lamar. You don't like the way they
look or play, they win seventy percent of their games.
(16:13):
This week, I said how much I loved that Lamar
could do it without a great tight end, a great
wide receiver. Teams beat up Jimmy Garoppolo didn't have Deebo
Samuel for a game. He hasn't had his starting running back,
Elijah Mitchell. His Hall of Fame left tackle was out.
He didn't get a playbook. He didn't start getting all
(16:35):
the reps until week three. Kyle Shanahan runs a complicated offense.
Greg ko Sell has told us numerous times is that
San Francisco asks Garoppolo to make very difficult throws over
the middle of the field in the most congested area.
That said, he's completing sixty seven percent of his throws
(16:57):
in front of an offensive line that miss the Hall
of Fame left tackle and isn't very good center right.
It's still remarkable that I got pushback when I suggested,
and many other media people suggested. Mike Silver's a writer.
He's suggested they'll probably be better with Garoppolo starting than
the kid Trey Lance. Of course they would be. I
(17:20):
don't know if Trey Lance can play at So you know,
we're celebrating Gino Smith, and we should. He's winning, and
we're celebrating Tua. Well, we should. We talk about the
Dolphins more than we ever have. He's winning. Garoppolo has
been winning for years. He's been to Super Bowls, he's
never been considered a bust Gino has. I mean, we
(17:43):
don't think he's too small. Tua is. So it's like
football's not baseball. We don't look in the rear view mirror.
It's not basketball, where if you don't win a lot,
but you got style, you're a Hall of Famer. You
gotta win games. Lamar Jackson wins games. Jimmy Garoppolo wins games.
Kyle Shanahan's record as a head coach without him, he's
one of like twenty eight percent of his games. So
(18:05):
the idea they would bring back next year Jimmy Garoppolo. Oh,
I don't know if I'm comfortable with that, folks. He's
not a virus. He is a franchise quarterback. Probably not
top twelve, maybe not top sixteen, but he is. Hey,
what's up, everybody? It's me three time Pro bowler Levarrington,
(18:25):
and I couldn't be more excited to announce a new
podcast called Up on Game? What is up on Game?
You asked, along with my fellow pro bowler t J.
Hudshmanzata and Super Bowl champion. Yep, that's right, Plexico Burrus.
You can only name a show with that type of
talent on it Up on Game. We're going to be
sharing our real life experiences loaded with teachable moments. Listen
(18:50):
to Up on Game with me LeVar Arrington, t J
hudschman Zatta, and Plexico Burrs on the iHeartRadio app, Apple
Podcast or wherever you get your podcast from. Right now
to a quarterback of the Dolphins leads the NFL in
on target throws number one, so you feel pretty good
(19:11):
about that. He is the most accurate guy when the
ball perfectly thrown. He also leads the NFL and uncatchably
inaccurate balls. All right, So this is what I predicted.
Miami would make the playoffs, and they get trapped with
Tua because the offensive coach is so brilliant. They got
(19:32):
running back upgrades, left tackle upgrades, Tyreek Hill. They're six
and o when he starts games this year, highest passer
rating and Miami is starving for stability. And that last
point cannot be dismissed. Denver was so desperate to find
the next elway that rational people talk themselves into Tim
(19:56):
Tebow was great. Death Respiration creates a loosening of the standards,
a lowering of the standards, and Miami has been so
dysfunctional for years and so chaotic and had so much instability.
They are starving for stability and they're not the Cleveland
Browns of the Lions. The other thing to add to
(20:20):
this is when you've had success, Bob Greasy, Don Shula,
Dan Marino, Jimmy Johnson, when you've actually had success, you
have historically kind of high standards, and you add in,
now you're starving, you start convincing yourself of half truths.
(20:41):
Two is great. No, two is winning. He's not great.
That's a half truth. He's winning, and he's completing a
lot of balls fifteen yards and under. He is not great.
Mahomes is great, Joe Burrow is great. Brady's been great,
maybe he still is. So. I think Miami is now
(21:02):
in a very predictable corner. We predicted what Minnesota would
do this year when they're close games. We predicted green
Bay would pull back. We predicted Miami would be so
profound offensively because Tua is a good distributor of the
ball when the plays in front of him that they're
a little bit trapped. You start looking at their schedule.
They get a lot of wins on it. Cleveland at
(21:22):
home Houston at home, Green Bay at home, Jets at home,
certainly at New England. They've owned Belichick and the Patriots
with Tua, so I think it is. It's one of
these kind of unique situations where I like Miami, but
we said, you're gonna the left tackle, the coach, the weapons,
They're gonna win a bunch of games, and all of
(21:42):
a sudden, you're gonna wake up. It's a little bit
like Dak and the Cowboys, and you're gonna have to
pay a quarterback above what he is because pride and
desperation always create half truths and a lowering of standards.
And I'm hearing a lot of this too. Is great
now he's winning, It's not great. That's a half truth.
One more Herd. The Herd streams twenty four hours a day,
(22:05):
seven days a week within the iHeartRadio app. Search Herd
to listen live or on demand whenever you like our
next guest. If he ever tried a half truth, I
would hold him accountable and squeeze the truth out of him.
He is the voice of college football. Is Joel Klapp
is joining us in the Herd? What's up? What is
(22:25):
going on? I'll tell you what I like. I'm here
to hold you accountable. Yes, just like pulling. I like
accuracy in America. Let's start with this. I tend to.
I find that my psychology is I don't like people
getting bullied a lot, so I defend people, even sometimes
when it's hard to defend. I defend Hardbot to the
(22:46):
core because he is different, is unique, and he can
be unlikable, and so people in the media sometimes aren't
fair and harshly in the Avalanche. Brian Kelly can be.
Cringey had a horrible incident early in Notre Dame, but
I think the fact that media people beat up on him.
I was so happy for LSU and Brian Kelly. The
(23:07):
question becomes now because you and I both agree he's
gonna win an LSU I think so. I think he's
a really good coach. Here's the question that's being asked.
Was it maybe a tell on Alabama that Nick entered
this conference with a lot of pretenders at coach and
now you got Kirby, and now you got Lane, and
now you got hypels a star, and now you got
(23:30):
Brian Kelly. Is at the beginning of Alabama's end. I
I'm not prepared to say that, um and and I
don't think that the truth of it. I think that's
a half truth. Colin speaking of half truth and then yeah,
let me explain why it is because Alabama, none of
(23:50):
us would say that this is one of their better teams. Okay,
they're not there. They're certainly not what they have been
at wide receiver, and that's affected them. It's affected their
ability to run the ball. Although oh yards per carry
they're doing fine, they don't tend to run the ball enough.
I find. I think Bryce Young is still fantastic. I
think the biggest issue on their defense is that they
don't have that interior defensive lineman. They've got great edge players,
(24:13):
but the interior of their defensive line is not what
it was. So all of that can be true, but
that doesn't mean that there is a demise of the
program that's some sort of of imminent, you know, foreshadowing.
Think about what it's taken to beat Alabama. No one's
played a tougher road schedule than Alabama. They've gone to
Texas that's one hundred and five thousand to Tennessee one
(24:35):
hundred and one thousand, two LSU one hundred and three thousand,
So it's basically an average of one hundred and three thousand.
That's double almost double an NFL. They're they're one and
two in those games, and you're like, man, they've lost
two games. Yeah, think of what it took really good
teams to do to beat them. Tennessee is a really
good team with a guy who might win the Heisman Trophy,
(24:57):
really good team, talented. They're at home in front of
a hund a thousand, and it takes Obama miss field
goal and a make by Tennessee a yard over the
crossbar and they carry the goalpost out of the New
York state. You made this point last week. I don't
know what the average NFL stadium is. I guess like
sixty five seventy thousand, but college stadiums in the South
or over one hundred. But the difference is it's nineteen
year olds. So going on the road in college it's tough.
(25:20):
It is. You just don't win on the road. You
don't win on the road at good place to prove
it with a number, Okay, top ten matchups this year
there have been seven of them road team oh and
seven top fifteen matchups this year in college football, They've
been eleven of those games road team one and ten
only win Ohio State overpinned State. It just doesn't happen.
Look at all the best teams in the country. Where
(25:41):
where is there one loss? Tennessee was at Georgia. Oregon
was basically on the road against Georgia in Atlanta. You
look at Alabama on the road, Tennessee and LSU Tennessee,
you know, I mean all of them. USC on the
road at Utah, Utah on the road, at Ucla, Ucla
on the road at Oregon. You look at some of
these teams like the best teams in the country. Clemson's
(26:04):
won thirty eight in a row at home. Oregon's won
twenty three in a row at home. So let me
get back to the point about Alabama is like they
didn't have the schedule that they were going to be
able to go and dominate unless they had one of
their great teams, which they don't. Okay, so now all
of a sudden, their last three losses were a really
good Tennessee team, a really good LSU team, and Georgia
in the National Championship. That's far different, let's say, than Clemson. Okay,
(26:27):
if you want to compare like Clemson. We want to
talk about these teams. These are the two teams that
have dominated the playoff era. Five of the eight national
championships have been either Clemson or Alabama. During the playoff right,
forty one percent of the playoff spots have been Clemson
or Alabama. Clemson's last three losses are Notre Dame. A
Notre Dame team that lost to Marshall and Stanford and
(26:48):
dominated and dominated them. A one dimensional Notre Dame team
that's that throws one hundred and fifteenth in the country
in passing offense. Pitt An NC State. Isn't that a
lot different? Yeah than LSU, Tennessee and Georgia in the
national championship. I just am not like Alabama's gonna be fine. Okay.
I don't disagree with you. Okay, you have a trait
that's a little annoying. Oh, you often support the little guy? Oh?
(27:12):
Is that the case? I am not a fan of that,
but I thought you just talked about trying to support
the underdog. I don't like when people get bullied. Okay,
I feel a contradiction. There is a bit of a contradiction. Okay,
you always get really soft and a lot of empathy
and being a nice guy, a little bit of a
dude gooder for me. And so every couple of years
there's this college team clat you put your arms around,
(27:36):
Cincinnatti or Michigan State. Okay, TCU is not an elite
team with elite players. They're gonna go They're gonna lose
to Texas this weekend, probably, But the point being is
you got them four. The playoff system has them four
because we feel that they've gosh darn it, they've won
games close over average teams. I'm looking at these teams
below them. Tennessee is whacking people and Bamack and Clapper
(27:58):
people and UCLA. You're just doing this because you're a
nice guy and you feel it's a good story. You
don't think that's the fourth best team in the country.
You play to win the games, right, that's the NFL.
It should be the college game as well. Now you
don't you don't think this this this notion that we
(28:20):
should just throw results out the window. I'm not saying that. Well,
yes you are. I say ls TCU could be ninth
for ninth the I mean they're they're undefeated, they've got quality,
wins much more so than than USC. Well, give me
all the TCU quality wins. They beat Kansas State, they
beat Oklahoma State, well, Oklahoma States a fraud Kansas States
(28:43):
Kansas State, well, those are big wins for my money.
You look at TCU and they've they've earned that spot.
I'm I'm much more in the camp that you should
be ranked where you deserve to be ranked, rather than like, hey,
you know, what's your roster composition, and how have you
recruited and are you a blue blood like I just
I don't like. I don't like that you should have
to roll if you're a national championship contender, I want
(29:06):
to look at your schedule. You you better have blown
out five to six teams, I mean roll them. That's
if you go look at our last twenty national champions
they roll people, not all of them, and they can
lose again. LSU went to a championship with two losses
in overtime. Remember that, Colin, You're you're you're trying to like,
are you trying to tell me that I'm suggesting TCU
is gonna win the national Championship? So now you're I
think you're comflating, Like what we're doing. If you're gonna
(29:27):
put them in the playoffs, they deserve to be in
the playoff, then they should be in the play at
this Their non conference schedule included Tarleton State. I mean,
I don't even know what that is. I don't really either,
I cover the sport for a living. When I saw that,
I was like, Tarleton State, could someone point that out
to me? On AP and SMU, which has a good
business school, But that's about it. So that and Colorado
(29:49):
no shot because you played there. But I think they're
an intramural franchise now I think they Honestly, this TCU
team has done everything that they've needed to do. They're
also one of the best offenses in college football. They've
got an NFL wide receiver. I'm gonna suggesting that they're
gonna win the national championship, by the way, I would
pick and will and have picked Texas to not only
(30:12):
win this week but cover the seven points. Yea, So
it can play out. But that doesn't mean that TCU
doesn't deserve to be ranked in that spot. I'm not
just here to judge a beauty contest. Results on the
field half to matter, Okay, okay, and so like I'm not.
I do not want to get into a situation where
in college football we throw results out the window and
just have this four team subjective invitational tournament. That's not
(30:33):
what I think it should have been. Okay, and that's
not where I'm gonna leave you guys have your Harbo
video left. I said something this weekend, and I mean,
I mean, I do a lot of tongue in cheek
on Twitter. Okay, that platforms a lot of tongue in cheek,
but I I and this was a little tongue in cheek.
But I do believe it. I think Michigan is the
best team in the country, and I think they can
go toe to toe with Georgia and the pressure would
(30:54):
be on Georgia. I think Michigan's better than Ohio State.
I think people are reluctant to say it, but if
you go back over the last twenty games, they got
about seventeen blowout wins in there, so they are crushing
including Ohio State. This is not Michigan from three and
four years. Absolutely, it's a different team. The coach there,
(31:16):
They've got a better offensive line than than Ohio State. Um,
the top of that, you said they're the best team. No,
George is the best team in the country. They've got
the two best wins in the country. They'd beat Tennessee
and ORGHO would win. If they played tomorrow, Michigan Georgie
probably Georgia George's it might be closed. But we just
saw that game last year and it wasn't Ultimately that.
(31:37):
I think Michigan's a little bit better and I don't
think George is quite as good. Okay, so maybe they're
close league, maybe they're closer to one another I think
than what they were a year ago. But I do
think that George is the best team in the country.
That being said, though, when it comes to this Michigan
and Ohio State team, it does feel like they are
like locomotives just aimed at one another on for November
twenty six, right, I mean, and it's and I think
it's going to be an epic game because Michigan is
(31:59):
sud to play with. Thank you Ohio State, and in
particular with Ohio States struggle on the offensive line. They
don't control the terms of the game like they need
to with their offensive line. That was laid bare the
evidence last week in that that windy game against Northwestern
one win team. Here's what I would say, though, is
that the reason I think Michigan has like I moved
(32:20):
him to the the number two over Ohio State, the reason
being they have a higher floor than Ohio State. Ohio
State can go to seventh gear, maybe eighth gear, and
it's it's brilliant and beautiful, but the fact remains, Cullen.
I bet you every weather site in the country, whether
on the Internet, is being crashed by Buckeye fans refreshing
(32:41):
for November twenty sixth, Like what's the weather? And that
shouldn't be the case. You're in the Big Ten. You
should not be reliant on the weather to win a
Big Ten championship at a Michigan game. It last year
and all of a sudden, you're you're You're in it.
So let's put it in this perspective in a dome.
I think Ohio State it's probably the second best team
(33:01):
in the country. That's the best matchup against Georgia. But
all things being considered, like I can play it in
the shoe in November and the twenty six boy, Michigan
is gonna have a great shot. I want to throw
this out to you, Um, you know a lot of people, Uh,
they want me to just talk about USC a lot.
And I don't think USC's a playoff team. I think
they should go to the Rose Bowl play you know,
(33:23):
loser in Michigan Ohio State that that's where they're at. Now,
that'd be a fun game. They're not really that good
right now. No, they're not. And they're they're overrated in
the in the playoff rankings. Yeah that sounded personal. Well, no,
it's it's non personal. The committee over they overrated USC.
They're one hundred and ninth in yards per played defense
right now. In the last three games, their defense has
been awful, given up thirty eight a game. Like it's
they've got Caleb Williams, Lincoln Riley, and it's like, yeah,
(33:45):
it's Jordan Addison healthy. I don't really know. And meanwhile,
UCLA has has two ranked wins. USC has no ranked wins.
And UCLA's loss is better than USC's loss at Oregon
is a lot better loss than at Utah. So why
is you CLA four spots behind USC. It's only the
logo on the side of the house. It's grand bias.
It's Caleb Williams because he is so great. Do you
(34:09):
know I had a GM tell me that I don't
think that. I just don't think that they beat UCLA.
I don't. I'm not saying you're wrong again, America's honesty broker.
We are CNID. I I am not. This is not
a knock USC story is two people, Lincoln Riley and
Caleb Williams. I don't disagree with that. And by the way,
that's why I have Caleb bones. And it's still to
(34:29):
this moment, top four in the Heisman Trophy race. He's
that good. Oh, he's he's I had a GM in
the NFL. Tell me before the season. He said, you're
gonna agree with me very quickly. Caleb would go number
one in the draft this year if he was available.
But they're flawed. Oh god, they have one NFL player
in their front seven. And by the way, they're thin.
So as the season's gotten older and you've had injuries,
(34:50):
they've gotten worse. Oh progret. They didn't have enough. They
don't have enough Sunday bodies. They have a sophomore safety
and a junior defensive end. That is it. It is, just, guys,
is a It is a worse version of what Oklahoma
was on the linking. No, that sounds personal. It's not
personal at all. It's the truth. Oh, you had better
run game than you USC has right now. They had
(35:12):
a better uh core wide receiver in particular with the
way they're banged up, and their defenses were just a
little little bit better. Yeah, you're right, Well, I mean
he took over a four and eight team. This is
a remarkable coaching. I'm not by the way you always
conflate things. You're like taking an opinion and then you're like, oh,
you know you think TCU is gonna win the national championship. No, no,
I don't think the political stuff. Last night it was wild.
(35:34):
That was wild good TV. Though this network at Fox,
we do sports, we do live politics and news that
I'm here for all of that's it. That's it. That
was crazy. It was a wild night. But basically, you know,
all all last night told me what our country is
either really red or really blue depends on this that's
it just depends on the state. It's like red got
red or blue got bluer. Okay, finally, um, that was
(35:56):
hard hitting right there. It was you don't need Steve
Cornecky come here. That guy, by the way, is the
single best guy in TV. Did you see him last night?
At one point? At one point plays that he's that
guy on MSNBC, he's the political guy. I wasn't watching MSNBC.
I watched both. I watched everything. So last night, at
one point on live television, Nicky looked like all of us.
(36:16):
He is scrambling to find the paper. He's throwing crap everywhere.
He's like Jimbo Fisher calling plays just like throwing paper everywhere,
glasses all over. I appreciate anybody that covers those election
night teams. It's great. They were laughing there there was.
I thought they were both great. I thought every even
I have preferences. I thought they were both fair. I
thought all the people on those shows. You know, I'm
(36:37):
often reminded that you like to wrap your arms around everybody.
You know, you're just wrapping your arms around him, and
you know, I don't think you should. I think you
should watch with a more keen eye. Okay, so here's
a keen eye had fire. Oregon's athletic director who scheduled
that stupid game against Georgia. Well, dude, I'm I'm with you.
Oregon that they should have never played that game against
(36:57):
had a new coach and new staff, a new quarterback.
Are a top six or seven team, maybe top five,
but because they open up at Georgia, and it's not
just that you have a new staff, college limited hours.
But remember you have to understand when the game was made. Okay,
so like it wasn't made this last offseason, so you
don't know it's going to be a new staff and
a new quarterback. So you can't blame for that. But
it was made the year that Georgia went to the
(37:20):
National Championship game, and you decide, like, let's go play
Georgia in Atlanta. Why, Like, I'm sorry, that just doesn't
it doesn't make any sense if you want to do
a home and home I can kind of understand it,
although it's just like that that game is almost single
handedly going to keep Oregon out of the playoffs. It's
on the administration. I don't disagree with that, Yeah, I don't.
(37:41):
I don't think they should have played that game. I
would have if I was the AD, I would have
called Georgia about six days before the game. We're having
a flight issues. We can't make it out there. Well,
we're gonna have to forfeit. A forfeit would be better
because you could tell the Polsters, hey, we could have won. Now,
everybody that's so embedded in their brain, everybody thinks Regan
is awful. They're really good, but they weren't ready for
(38:03):
that game. So I cancel stuff all the time. I
guess dinner plans with Colin. You should see what I'm
having dinner with tonight, you know, big, that's disappointing. I
raised my children to have integrity, and that's just not
the case. I raised my kids to have a cigar
and a good time. We're different parents. Okay, Clatt, you're awesome.
(38:24):
Uh you're doing? What game are you doing? Ohio State?
Indiana forty point spread? You know, I might just say
it the whole game. It's just like twenty eight thirty four,
you know, just like just start listen off like it.
That's the depths that just like play the spread the
whole time. Sorry, Indiana, that was rude. First grade advice
I gave my son he was eleven. You know what
(38:45):
I told him first is how you light a cigar
and the first day you can bet legally make a bet.
The rest of your life. What does that even mean?
That means roll the dice and be interesting. It's a
better life. We're out there preaching morals and values. I'm like,
take the Rangers and the point. That's good. Pair. Did
(39:07):
you see LSU's only favored by three at Arkansas. Well
that's because they faced Bama and it's hard that teams
that beat, is it? Because that feels like a trick, right,
I mean, isn't that? Isn't that like your wife walks
down and it's like, does it? How do these jeans
look on me? And you're like, oh, yes, this feels
(39:27):
like like LSU minus three or Arkansas just lost by
four to Liberty. That's a good point. What are we doing? Hey,
one more thing about politics. Give me freedom and give
me liberty. That's a good out right there. Don't just
don't give me liberty football, but give me freedom and liberty.
Just not getting a massive contract from liberty. Oh man,
we're about to go into the triangle of freedom. Yeah,
(39:50):
all right, I gotta out of here. All right, I understand,
under together, I understand. I understand. Poor macindire as watch
this
Thanks for listening to the Best of Herd podcast. Are
you sure to catch us live every weekday from twelve
to three eastern nine to noon Pacific on Fox Sports
Radio and FS one. Find your local station for The
Herd at Fox Sports Radio dot com, or stream us
live every day on the iHeartRadio app by searching Herd.
This is the Best of the Herd with Colin cowher
on Fox Sports Radio. Oh, here we go and a
(00:26):
suddenly busy Wednesday. We are live in Los SENELUS. It's
the Herd wherever you may be, however you may be
listening iHeartRadio, Fox Sports Radio FS one Joel Klatt one
hour from now. I'll teach him a thing or two
about college football. The playoff rankings are out. Thoughts on that.
(00:47):
Today we got a Niner story that's fascinating, a Philadelphia
Eagle story, Oh, Miami story, double oh. I think I
spent four hours on the couch watching the game last night,
the Red team versus the Blue team. I watched a
little Fox News, a little MSNBC and wildly entertaining. And
you know, I don't know if I trust polling or media,
(01:08):
but I trust the American people. So whatever direction they go,
I'm with them, and it was a wild night four
hours cowherds. Seriously, Well, I said, I got home, I
got done working out, and it was like raining, like crazy,
and I wanted to watch where we're going. Yeah, and
it's fun. I told my kids, no politics in the house.
We did not watch television or all. We played dominoes.
I recorded a podcast with Alexei Lallis. We watched The
(01:31):
Office Colin. No politics. I don't know. I don't don't
want any of it. I don't have a problem with
any of it. You know, you'd take whatever side you want,
all right, Um, let me start with this very interesting So.
Rob Demovsky is a very good reporter. He's been covering
the Packers for a long time. Knows his stuff. So
he wrote a story the Packers rode a Crossroads. Their
schedule now gets brutal Dallas, Tennessee, and Philly, three physical
(01:55):
teams in a row, especially Tennessee and Philly. Green Bay
is not gonna win those games, and they'd be three
and nine at the end of that three game streak.
But here's another question. What if they lose to Dallas.
I mean, they're already four and a half games what
out of first place? Like there, they lose another game
and the team's ahead of them win another game. Should
you bench Aaron Rodgers? Now it sounds crazy, right, but
(02:18):
Dmowski writes this column. He talks to Mike Tannenbaum, a
former general manager in the league, and he brings up
some good points, which is, you have to play Jordan
Love once they're eliminated. At the end of the day,
the guys running the organization have a responsibility for the
next decade. They're not going to win the title this year. Hey, Aaron,
we're benching you. The alternative. He comes back and they
(02:38):
trade Jordan Love to a team like the Falcon's third
round pick. And Jordan Love isn't a you know, a
consequential starter in the league for ten years. So, first
of all, here's why it makes sense. Aaron Rodgers is
gonna be thirty nine really quick. Okay, he looks like
he's declining a little. Not as fast as everybody is claiming,
but he's declining a little. Do you want him to
get more hits in meaningless games? Do you really think
(03:00):
that's the thing to do. Secondly, Green Bay, you got
to show people what Jordan Love is you have to
show yourself. If not, by May, you have to make
a decision are you going to pay him? And whether
you want to pay him or not, you got to
know does he have the goods. Instance, Green Bay does
not get free agents. Historically, the way to improve this
team is trade pieces. So if he's good, move him,
(03:23):
keep Aaron and get some pieces. This team needs an
infusion of young, cheap players, because if you think they're
cash strap now, next year Aaron Jones running back, twenty
million dollars cap hit, David bak Baktari left tackle, huge
cap hit, Jaire Alexander Corner great one, twenty million dollars
cap hit, Kenny Clark great defensive lineman way up there.
(03:46):
I don't know exactly what the cap hit is. It's monstrous.
So if you think they're cash strapped now, they're in
massive trouble next year. The other thing to think about
is Jordan Love isn't very good East. You get a
top ten draft pick, you may go fishing for another quarterback.
But in the end, what's the value of playing a
(04:08):
very soon to be thirty nine year old Aaron Rodgers
in meaningless games? There is no value in it, and
I also think that Aaron would buy into this. You'd
have to handle it somewhat delicately. But Aaron is a
grown up, and you say, Aaron, you're still getting paid.
We don't want to get hit. There's no value to
(04:30):
you after retirement or in your career getting beat up
more Also, it makes Aaron look like he's a team guy,
that he understands part of the process here is getting
picks and discovering what Jordan Love is. I think this
means makes a ton of sense. Listen, Green Bay is
not an out of the box team, and they frankly
should be because they're sort of an out of the
(04:52):
box franchise. They don't have an owner. It's the smallest
market in professional sports, so they're an odd franchise. You're
an odd franchise with clear limitations and disadvantages in ownership,
in free agent capability. You got to take some big swings.
You can't be conservative and have disadvantages against the market.
(05:15):
At some point, if you have disadvantages, you have to
take swings. Ben Sharon, if they lose this weekend and
next I suspect they will let Jordan Love face Philadelphia.
Let Jordan Love is he any good if he is,
trade him, get picks. It's not about moving off eron.
It's about sitting eron for a brief time, seeing what
(05:36):
you got with a kid. And you and I know
there's a lot of desperate teams every year, seven or eight,
even some good teams that may consider moving off a quarterback.
They want to see what they have with Jordan Love.
Very good column, very interesting idea, and I am here
for it. Okay, So if you've listened to the show
(05:57):
for any length of time, I like college football. There
are things about college football that drive me crazy. I
think the sport is too lucrative not to have a
scheduling Zar Jason McIntyre and now we're talking about this
the other day off the air. Four or five weekends
a year in college football, you're like, there's not enough
good games. You need to have a scheduling hun show.
(06:18):
Somebody that makes up schedules, evens things out, makes the
big dogs play the big dogs, so you every weekend
you have at least four or five marquee games. Instead,
everybody's hiding, everybody's picking up buys, they're playing teams that
aren't competitive. So it drives me crazy and That's why
I talk more NFL than college football. There's simply more
good competitive matchups every weekend. So I am for a
(06:41):
twelve game playoff for a lot of reasons, but here's
one of them. So the college football rankings Joel Clatton
one hour stops by. We got those again last night,
and the top four teams are Georgia, Ohio State, Michigan,
and TCU. They'd make the playoffs the two just on
the outsider Tennessee in Oregon there's LSU and USC two.
So college football has this built in guilt. They feel
(07:04):
they need to put a good story in the playoff
every once in a while instead of the four best teams.
So if you go back to the beginning eight years
of the playoff, they've done it three times where they
put a team in there that doesn't really recruit at
an elite level. They put Michigan State in in twenty fifteen,
they got housed. They put Washington in twenty sixteen, they
(07:26):
got suffocated. They put Cincinnati in last year, a way
better story than a team they got smoked. And if
you look at the top four this year, who doesn't
fit TCU? Because if you're really an elite recruiting NFL
factory that can win a national championship. You bulldoze about
eight teams on your schedule. Ohio State blows out people,
(07:48):
Michigan blows out people. Georgia blows out people. Oregon can
blow out people. TCUs blown out nobody. TCU is slithering
by big twelve teams. Last year TCU was four for
fifth in the country and recruiting or this year they
don't have There's only like forty NFL guys from TCU.
It's a good program, but it's the classic college football mistake.
(08:11):
There is a guilt associated with college football that you
got a wedge in every couple of years, that undefeated.
Good story. Here's all you need to know this weekend.
TCU is a touchdown underdog to three loss Texas. Vegas
knows the truth. Stop with a good story. Get to
the good teams. We know who they are. Oregon can
(08:33):
play with anybody in the country. I know. Opening game
against Georgia was a mess. New coach, new staff in
the South, LSU can play against anybody. Tennessee can play
against anybody. Come on, this is not a shot at TCU.
But once you shrink a club, my standards for membership
are going to be very rigid, and my standards are
(08:55):
going to be very high. So college football, my entire life,
has in halves and have nots. TCU is not a
top ten half. They don't recruit like it, they don't
look like it. There's nothing wrong with them going to
a great bowl. And this is why I am rooting
for a twelve team playoff, because then TCU can get
(09:15):
in and somebody that's got big boy players everywhere doesn't
have to be forced out. Years and years ago, I
said I don't understand a twelve team playoff because I've
never thought the seventh or eighth best team in the
country could be a national championship contender. And I'm still
not sure I do. But if college football is going
(09:37):
to have a limited playoff structure, hockey, baseball, football, MLS,
you've got, you've got playoffs here. It's not about vote,
it's not about optics, it's not about aesthetics, it's about
like playing people. In college football, we're never going to
be able to have that kind of playoff system, So
let's get it to twelve. It allows for a TCU
(09:58):
which will lose a game by the end of the
season to get in. They're not gonna win a national championship.
Nobody thought Cincinnati was, or Washington was, or Michigan State was,
and TCU won't. But this is a classic example of
we're now doing the story over the team. What would
Vegas say if Oregon and TCU played a neutral field tomorrow.
(10:21):
Oregon's gonna be favored. LSU is gonna be favored. Let's
be honest, they're sneaking by average Big twelve teams. That
Georgia would pummel, that Ohio State would pummel, that Michigan
would pummel. Be sure to catch live editions of The
Herd weekdayson noon Eastern a Empacific on Fox Sports Radio
FS one and the iHeartRadio app. Philadelphia is the last
(10:43):
unbeaten team in the NFL, and we do this over
and over and over again. We fall in love with
regular seasons. But we know that in all sports, Hockey's
crazy number one seeds get beat all the time in
hockey by eight seeds. We know this to be true,
that regular season NFL is different than playoff NFL. The
(11:05):
pressures different, the experience is different, the intensity is different,
the weather is different, but we fall for it. So
now everybody's into Philadelphia. But I was reading a story
this morning where an NFL executive said in the NFC,
he said, I could see the Eagles being a one
and done. They haven't gone fifteen rounds with anybody. Are
they battle tested? So let's look at recent history, and
(11:27):
it's fascinating. So let's look at all pro sports, just
pro sports. Dodgers this year were not only the best
regular season team, they had a run differential of plus
three hundred and thirty four. It's one of the most
dominant regular season teams in baseball history, one hundred and
eleven wins. Could not get out of the first round,
(11:49):
dominated by the Padres, a team they dominated. The pressure
was all on the Dodgers, and they didn't deal with it.
Let's go to the NBA. Last year, twenty one Phoenix Suns,
eight games better than the second best team, dominated the
league in point differential, whacked by Dallas in the second round.
(12:14):
Underdog Dallas with no pressure twenty eighteen. Twenty nineteen. One
of the great regular season hockey teams ever, Tampa Bay
Lightning sixty two wins tied for the most in the
sports history, had the league MVP swept in round one,
swept the Baltimore Ravens twenty nineteen, fourteen and two. Lamar's MVP,
(12:40):
best record in the NFL, best point differential in the NFL,
could not win a playoff game. Offense dried up. I
gave you every sport, Baseball, hockey, basketball, football, Why because
playoff games are always close. Secondly, the pressure's overwhelmingly on
(13:01):
favored teams, especially if they're undefeated. Record setting dominate the
sport Dodgers, Tampa Bay Lightning, Baltimore Ravens. I went and
looked at a list of the final undefeated teams in
the NFL from two thousand and six to today. The
Eagles are the final undefeated team. Many lost in the
(13:24):
wild card round, some didn't make the playoffs. I had
to go to two thousand and six to find the
Peyton Manning Colts for the last undefeated team. They went
nine to zero to win a Super Bowl. Many were
knocked out early. Everybody knows there's the regular season and
(13:44):
then there's the postseason. Everything changes. Kyle Shanahan against Nick Sarianni,
who's your pick? Jalen Hurts against Brady who's your pick.
It's not that I don't like Philadelphia, but dominating regular
seasons can create over confidence and apathy, and a lot
of times they're based on like in football, who have
(14:06):
you played Monday Night football? Minnesota, Philadelphia? It was in Philadelphia.
They played the Cowboys. Yeah, against Cooper Rush in Philadelphia.
Look at their wins. They've dominated bad teams. Now, I
think Philadelphia has earned the right to be called the
number one team in the league. But we have history
(14:27):
in recent history, and nobody would dispute that. Dominating regular
season teams it doesn't mean anything. Even in the NFL
last year, home field advantage didn't mean anything. The Titans
had a buy and home field lost. Packers had a
buy and home field lost. It is a different game
(14:48):
with different weather and different pressure. Just something to consider.
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
and noon Easter n a Empacific. Tim Kawakami, he's been
righting forever in the Bay Area, A very capable guy.
He says he thinks Jimmy Garoppolo coming back next year
(15:08):
has to be an option, especially of San Francisco makes
a deep playoff run, which I believe they will Garoppolo
is going to be a free agent. They think they're
gonna be He thinks there's a strong possibility they'd bring
him back again. This just cracks me up. We treat
Jimmy Garoppolo like he's a hazmat spill or a virus.
Oh my god, we're gonna bring back Jimmy Garoppolo. Scary.
(15:31):
Just think about this for a second. Let's add context.
Garoppolo was not not allowed to practice with a team
this offseason. They would not give him a playbook, did
not take every rep as a first team starter until
Week three, had a shoulder surgery to his throwing side
(15:52):
throwing arm. Yet his passer rating this year is higher
than Justin Herbert, Josh Allen, Tyler, Murray, Tom Brady, Matt Stafford,
Aaron Rodgers, and Russell Wilson. It's like the Lamar Jackson thing.
With Jimmy and Lamar. You don't like the way they
look or play, they win seventy percent of their games.
(16:13):
This week, I said how much I loved that Lamar
could do it without a great tight end, a great
wide receiver. Teams beat up Jimmy Garoppolo didn't have Deebo
Samuel for a game. He hasn't had his starting running back,
Elijah Mitchell. His Hall of Fame left tackle was out.
He didn't get a playbook. He didn't start getting all
(16:35):
the reps until week three. Kyle Shanahan runs a complicated offense.
Greg ko Sell has told us numerous times is that
San Francisco asks Garoppolo to make very difficult throws over
the middle of the field in the most congested area.
That said, he's completing sixty seven percent of his throws
(16:57):
in front of an offensive line that miss the Hall
of Fame left tackle and isn't very good center right.
It's still remarkable that I got pushback when I suggested,
and many other media people suggested. Mike Silver's a writer.
He's suggested they'll probably be better with Garoppolo starting than
the kid Trey Lance. Of course they would be. I
(17:20):
don't know if Trey Lance can play at So you know,
we're celebrating Gino Smith, and we should. He's winning, and
we're celebrating Tua. Well, we should. We talk about the
Dolphins more than we ever have. He's winning. Garoppolo has
been winning for years. He's been to Super Bowls, he's
never been considered a bust Gino has. I mean, we
(17:43):
don't think he's too small. Tua is. So it's like
football's not baseball. We don't look in the rear view mirror.
It's not basketball, where if you don't win a lot,
but you got style, you're a Hall of Famer. You
gotta win games. Lamar Jackson wins games. Jimmy Garoppolo wins games.
Kyle Shanahan's record as a head coach without him, he's
one of like twenty eight percent of his games. So
(18:05):
the idea they would bring back next year Jimmy Garoppolo. Oh,
I don't know if I'm comfortable with that, folks. He's
not a virus. He is a franchise quarterback. Probably not
top twelve, maybe not top sixteen, but he is. Hey,
what's up, everybody? It's me three time Pro bowler Levarrington,
(18:25):
and I couldn't be more excited to announce a new
podcast called Up on Game? What is up on Game?
You asked, along with my fellow pro bowler t J.
Hudshmanzata and Super Bowl champion. Yep, that's right, Plexico Burrus.
You can only name a show with that type of
talent on it Up on Game. We're going to be
sharing our real life experiences loaded with teachable moments. Listen
(18:50):
to Up on Game with me LeVar Arrington, t J
hudschman Zatta, and Plexico Burrs on the iHeartRadio app, Apple
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to a quarterback of the Dolphins leads the NFL in
on target throws number one, so you feel pretty good
(19:11):
about that. He is the most accurate guy when the
ball perfectly thrown. He also leads the NFL and uncatchably
inaccurate balls. All right, So this is what I predicted.
Miami would make the playoffs, and they get trapped with
Tua because the offensive coach is so brilliant. They got
(19:32):
running back upgrades, left tackle upgrades, Tyreek Hill. They're six
and o when he starts games this year, highest passer
rating and Miami is starving for stability. And that last
point cannot be dismissed. Denver was so desperate to find
the next elway that rational people talk themselves into Tim
(19:56):
Tebow was great. Death Respiration creates a loosening of the standards,
a lowering of the standards, and Miami has been so
dysfunctional for years and so chaotic and had so much instability.
They are starving for stability and they're not the Cleveland
Browns of the Lions. The other thing to add to
(20:20):
this is when you've had success, Bob Greasy, Don Shula,
Dan Marino, Jimmy Johnson, when you've actually had success, you
have historically kind of high standards, and you add in,
now you're starving, you start convincing yourself of half truths.
(20:41):
Two is great. No, two is winning. He's not great.
That's a half truth. He's winning, and he's completing a
lot of balls fifteen yards and under. He is not great.
Mahomes is great, Joe Burrow is great. Brady's been great,
maybe he still is. So. I think Miami is now
(21:02):
in a very predictable corner. We predicted what Minnesota would
do this year when they're close games. We predicted green
Bay would pull back. We predicted Miami would be so
profound offensively because Tua is a good distributor of the
ball when the plays in front of him that they're
a little bit trapped. You start looking at their schedule.
They get a lot of wins on it. Cleveland at
(21:22):
home Houston at home, Green Bay at home, Jets at home,
certainly at New England. They've owned Belichick and the Patriots
with Tua, so I think it is. It's one of
these kind of unique situations where I like Miami, but
we said, you're gonna the left tackle, the coach, the weapons,
They're gonna win a bunch of games, and all of
(21:42):
a sudden, you're gonna wake up. It's a little bit
like Dak and the Cowboys, and you're gonna have to
pay a quarterback above what he is because pride and
desperation always create half truths and a lowering of standards.
And I'm hearing a lot of this too. Is great
now he's winning, It's not great. That's a half truth.
One more Herd. The Herd streams twenty four hours a day,
(22:05):
seven days a week within the iHeartRadio app. Search Herd
to listen live or on demand whenever you like our
next guest. If he ever tried a half truth, I
would hold him accountable and squeeze the truth out of him.
He is the voice of college football. Is Joel Klapp
is joining us in the Herd? What's up? What is
(22:25):
going on? I'll tell you what I like. I'm here
to hold you accountable. Yes, just like pulling. I like
accuracy in America. Let's start with this. I tend to.
I find that my psychology is I don't like people
getting bullied a lot, so I defend people, even sometimes
when it's hard to defend. I defend Hardbot to the
(22:46):
core because he is different, is unique, and he can
be unlikable, and so people in the media sometimes aren't
fair and harshly in the Avalanche. Brian Kelly can be.
Cringey had a horrible incident early in Notre Dame, but
I think the fact that media people beat up on him.
I was so happy for LSU and Brian Kelly. The
(23:07):
question becomes now because you and I both agree he's
gonna win an LSU I think so. I think he's
a really good coach. Here's the question that's being asked.
Was it maybe a tell on Alabama that Nick entered
this conference with a lot of pretenders at coach and
now you got Kirby, and now you got Lane, and
now you got hypels a star, and now you got
(23:30):
Brian Kelly. Is at the beginning of Alabama's end. I
I'm not prepared to say that, um and and I
don't think that the truth of it. I think that's
a half truth. Colin speaking of half truth and then yeah,
let me explain why it is because Alabama, none of
(23:50):
us would say that this is one of their better teams. Okay,
they're not there. They're certainly not what they have been
at wide receiver, and that's affected them. It's affected their
ability to run the ball. Although oh yards per carry
they're doing fine, they don't tend to run the ball enough.
I find. I think Bryce Young is still fantastic. I
think the biggest issue on their defense is that they
don't have that interior defensive lineman. They've got great edge players,
(24:13):
but the interior of their defensive line is not what
it was. So all of that can be true, but
that doesn't mean that there is a demise of the
program that's some sort of of imminent, you know, foreshadowing.
Think about what it's taken to beat Alabama. No one's
played a tougher road schedule than Alabama. They've gone to
Texas that's one hundred and five thousand to Tennessee one
(24:35):
hundred and one thousand, two LSU one hundred and three thousand,
So it's basically an average of one hundred and three thousand.
That's double almost double an NFL. They're they're one and
two in those games, and you're like, man, they've lost
two games. Yeah, think of what it took really good
teams to do to beat them. Tennessee is a really
good team with a guy who might win the Heisman Trophy,
(24:57):
really good team, talented. They're at home in front of
a hund a thousand, and it takes Obama miss field
goal and a make by Tennessee a yard over the
crossbar and they carry the goalpost out of the New
York state. You made this point last week. I don't
know what the average NFL stadium is. I guess like
sixty five seventy thousand, but college stadiums in the South
or over one hundred. But the difference is it's nineteen
year olds. So going on the road in college it's tough.
(25:20):
It is. You just don't win on the road. You
don't win on the road at good place to prove
it with a number, Okay, top ten matchups this year
there have been seven of them road team oh and
seven top fifteen matchups this year in college football, They've
been eleven of those games road team one and ten
only win Ohio State overpinned State. It just doesn't happen.
Look at all the best teams in the country. Where
(25:41):
where is there one loss? Tennessee was at Georgia. Oregon
was basically on the road against Georgia in Atlanta. You
look at Alabama on the road, Tennessee and LSU Tennessee,
you know, I mean all of them. USC on the
road at Utah, Utah on the road, at Ucla, Ucla
on the road at Oregon. You look at some of
these teams like the best teams in the country. Clemson's
(26:04):
won thirty eight in a row at home. Oregon's won
twenty three in a row at home. So let me
get back to the point about Alabama is like they
didn't have the schedule that they were going to be
able to go and dominate unless they had one of
their great teams, which they don't. Okay, so now all
of a sudden, their last three losses were a really
good Tennessee team, a really good LSU team, and Georgia
in the National Championship. That's far different, let's say, than Clemson. Okay,
(26:27):
if you want to compare like Clemson. We want to
talk about these teams. These are the two teams that
have dominated the playoff era. Five of the eight national
championships have been either Clemson or Alabama. During the playoff right,
forty one percent of the playoff spots have been Clemson
or Alabama. Clemson's last three losses are Notre Dame. A
Notre Dame team that lost to Marshall and Stanford and
(26:48):
dominated and dominated them. A one dimensional Notre Dame team
that's that throws one hundred and fifteenth in the country
in passing offense. Pitt An NC State. Isn't that a
lot different? Yeah than LSU, Tennessee and Georgia in the
national championship. I just am not like Alabama's gonna be fine. Okay.
I don't disagree with you. Okay, you have a trait
that's a little annoying. Oh, you often support the little guy? Oh?
(27:12):
Is that the case? I am not a fan of that,
but I thought you just talked about trying to support
the underdog. I don't like when people get bullied. Okay,
I feel a contradiction. There is a bit of a contradiction. Okay,
you always get really soft and a lot of empathy
and being a nice guy, a little bit of a
dude gooder for me. And so every couple of years
there's this college team clat you put your arms around,
(27:36):
Cincinnatti or Michigan State. Okay, TCU is not an elite
team with elite players. They're gonna go They're gonna lose
to Texas this weekend, probably, But the point being is
you got them four. The playoff system has them four
because we feel that they've gosh darn it, they've won
games close over average teams. I'm looking at these teams
below them. Tennessee is whacking people and Bamack and Clapper
(27:58):
people and UCLA. You're just doing this because you're a
nice guy and you feel it's a good story. You
don't think that's the fourth best team in the country.
You play to win the games, right, that's the NFL.
It should be the college game as well. Now you
don't you don't think this this this notion that we
(28:20):
should just throw results out the window. I'm not saying that. Well,
yes you are. I say ls TCU could be ninth
for ninth the I mean they're they're undefeated, they've got quality,
wins much more so than than USC. Well, give me
all the TCU quality wins. They beat Kansas State, they
beat Oklahoma State, well, Oklahoma States a fraud Kansas States
(28:43):
Kansas State, well, those are big wins for my money.
You look at TCU and they've they've earned that spot.
I'm I'm much more in the camp that you should
be ranked where you deserve to be ranked, rather than like, hey,
you know, what's your roster composition, and how have you
recruited and are you a blue blood like I just
I don't like. I don't like that you should have
to roll if you're a national championship contender, I want
(29:06):
to look at your schedule. You you better have blown
out five to six teams, I mean roll them. That's
if you go look at our last twenty national champions
they roll people, not all of them, and they can
lose again. LSU went to a championship with two losses
in overtime. Remember that, Colin, You're you're you're trying to like,
are you trying to tell me that I'm suggesting TCU
is gonna win the national Championship? So now you're I
think you're comflating, Like what we're doing. If you're gonna
(29:27):
put them in the playoffs, they deserve to be in
the playoff, then they should be in the play at
this Their non conference schedule included Tarleton State. I mean,
I don't even know what that is. I don't really either,
I cover the sport for a living. When I saw that,
I was like, Tarleton State, could someone point that out
to me? On AP and SMU, which has a good
business school, But that's about it. So that and Colorado
(29:49):
no shot because you played there. But I think they're
an intramural franchise now I think they Honestly, this TCU
team has done everything that they've needed to do. They're
also one of the best offenses in college football. They've
got an NFL wide receiver. I'm gonna suggesting that they're
gonna win the national championship, by the way, I would
pick and will and have picked Texas to not only
(30:12):
win this week but cover the seven points. Yea, So
it can play out. But that doesn't mean that TCU
doesn't deserve to be ranked in that spot. I'm not
just here to judge a beauty contest. Results on the
field half to matter, Okay, okay, and so like I'm not.
I do not want to get into a situation where
in college football we throw results out the window and
just have this four team subjective invitational tournament. That's not
(30:33):
what I think it should have been. Okay, and that's
not where I'm gonna leave you guys have your Harbo
video left. I said something this weekend, and I mean,
I mean, I do a lot of tongue in cheek
on Twitter. Okay, that platforms a lot of tongue in cheek,
but I I and this was a little tongue in cheek.
But I do believe it. I think Michigan is the
best team in the country, and I think they can
go toe to toe with Georgia and the pressure would
(30:54):
be on Georgia. I think Michigan's better than Ohio State.
I think people are reluctant to say it, but if
you go back over the last twenty games, they got
about seventeen blowout wins in there, so they are crushing
including Ohio State. This is not Michigan from three and
four years. Absolutely, it's a different team. The coach there,
(31:16):
They've got a better offensive line than than Ohio State. Um,
the top of that, you said they're the best team. No,
George is the best team in the country. They've got
the two best wins in the country. They'd beat Tennessee
and ORGHO would win. If they played tomorrow, Michigan Georgie
probably Georgia George's it might be closed. But we just
saw that game last year and it wasn't Ultimately that.
(31:37):
I think Michigan's a little bit better and I don't
think George is quite as good. Okay, so maybe they're
close league, maybe they're closer to one another I think
than what they were a year ago. But I do
think that George is the best team in the country.
That being said, though, when it comes to this Michigan
and Ohio State team, it does feel like they are
like locomotives just aimed at one another on for November
twenty six, right, I mean, and it's and I think
it's going to be an epic game because Michigan is
(31:59):
sud to play with. Thank you Ohio State, and in
particular with Ohio States struggle on the offensive line. They
don't control the terms of the game like they need
to with their offensive line. That was laid bare the
evidence last week in that that windy game against Northwestern
one win team. Here's what I would say, though, is
that the reason I think Michigan has like I moved
(32:20):
him to the the number two over Ohio State, the reason
being they have a higher floor than Ohio State. Ohio
State can go to seventh gear, maybe eighth gear, and
it's it's brilliant and beautiful, but the fact remains, Cullen.
I bet you every weather site in the country, whether
on the Internet, is being crashed by Buckeye fans refreshing
(32:41):
for November twenty sixth, Like what's the weather? And that
shouldn't be the case. You're in the Big Ten. You
should not be reliant on the weather to win a
Big Ten championship at a Michigan game. It last year
and all of a sudden, you're you're You're in it.
So let's put it in this perspective in a dome.
I think Ohio State it's probably the second best team
(33:01):
in the country. That's the best matchup against Georgia. But
all things being considered, like I can play it in
the shoe in November and the twenty six boy, Michigan
is gonna have a great shot. I want to throw
this out to you, Um, you know a lot of people, Uh,
they want me to just talk about USC a lot.
And I don't think USC's a playoff team. I think
they should go to the Rose Bowl play you know,
(33:23):
loser in Michigan Ohio State that that's where they're at. Now,
that'd be a fun game. They're not really that good
right now. No, they're not. And they're they're overrated in
the in the playoff rankings. Yeah that sounded personal. Well, no,
it's it's non personal. The committee over they overrated USC.
They're one hundred and ninth in yards per played defense
right now. In the last three games, their defense has
been awful, given up thirty eight a game. Like it's
they've got Caleb Williams, Lincoln Riley, and it's like, yeah,
(33:45):
it's Jordan Addison healthy. I don't really know. And meanwhile,
UCLA has has two ranked wins. USC has no ranked wins.
And UCLA's loss is better than USC's loss at Oregon
is a lot better loss than at Utah. So why
is you CLA four spots behind USC. It's only the
logo on the side of the house. It's grand bias.
It's Caleb Williams because he is so great. Do you
(34:09):
know I had a GM tell me that I don't
think that. I just don't think that they beat UCLA.
I don't. I'm not saying you're wrong again, America's honesty broker.
We are CNID. I I am not. This is not
a knock USC story is two people, Lincoln Riley and
Caleb Williams. I don't disagree with that. And by the way,
that's why I have Caleb bones. And it's still to
(34:29):
this moment, top four in the Heisman Trophy race. He's
that good. Oh, he's he's I had a GM in
the NFL. Tell me before the season. He said, you're
gonna agree with me very quickly. Caleb would go number
one in the draft this year if he was available.
But they're flawed. Oh god, they have one NFL player
in their front seven. And by the way, they're thin.
So as the season's gotten older and you've had injuries,
(34:50):
they've gotten worse. Oh progret. They didn't have enough. They
don't have enough Sunday bodies. They have a sophomore safety
and a junior defensive end. That is it. It is, just, guys,
is a It is a worse version of what Oklahoma
was on the linking. No, that sounds personal. It's not
personal at all. It's the truth. Oh, you had better
run game than you USC has right now. They had
(35:12):
a better uh core wide receiver in particular with the
way they're banged up, and their defenses were just a
little little bit better. Yeah, you're right, Well, I mean
he took over a four and eight team. This is
a remarkable coaching. I'm not by the way you always
conflate things. You're like taking an opinion and then you're like, oh,
you know you think TCU is gonna win the national championship. No, no,
I don't think the political stuff. Last night it was wild.
(35:34):
That was wild good TV. Though this network at Fox,
we do sports, we do live politics and news that
I'm here for all of that's it. That's it. That
was crazy. It was a wild night. But basically, you know,
all all last night told me what our country is
either really red or really blue depends on this that's
it just depends on the state. It's like red got
red or blue got bluer. Okay, finally, um, that was
(35:56):
hard hitting right there. It was you don't need Steve
Cornecky come here. That guy, by the way, is the
single best guy in TV. Did you see him last night?
At one point? At one point plays that he's that
guy on MSNBC, he's the political guy. I wasn't watching MSNBC.
I watched both. I watched everything. So last night, at
one point on live television, Nicky looked like all of us.
(36:16):
He is scrambling to find the paper. He's throwing crap everywhere.
He's like Jimbo Fisher calling plays just like throwing paper everywhere,
glasses all over. I appreciate anybody that covers those election
night teams. It's great. They were laughing there there was.
I thought they were both great. I thought every even
I have preferences. I thought they were both fair. I
thought all the people on those shows. You know, I'm
(36:37):
often reminded that you like to wrap your arms around everybody.
You know, you're just wrapping your arms around him, and
you know, I don't think you should. I think you
should watch with a more keen eye. Okay, so here's
a keen eye had fire. Oregon's athletic director who scheduled
that stupid game against Georgia. Well, dude, I'm I'm with you.
Oregon that they should have never played that game against
(36:57):
had a new coach and new staff, a new quarterback.
Are a top six or seven team, maybe top five,
but because they open up at Georgia, and it's not
just that you have a new staff, college limited hours.
But remember you have to understand when the game was made. Okay,
so like it wasn't made this last offseason, so you
don't know it's going to be a new staff and
a new quarterback. So you can't blame for that. But
it was made the year that Georgia went to the
(37:20):
National Championship game, and you decide, like, let's go play
Georgia in Atlanta. Why, Like, I'm sorry, that just doesn't
it doesn't make any sense if you want to do
a home and home I can kind of understand it,
although it's just like that that game is almost single
handedly going to keep Oregon out of the playoffs. It's
on the administration. I don't disagree with that, Yeah, I don't.
(37:41):
I don't think they should have played that game. I
would have if I was the AD, I would have
called Georgia about six days before the game. We're having
a flight issues. We can't make it out there. Well,
we're gonna have to forfeit. A forfeit would be better
because you could tell the Polsters, hey, we could have won. Now,
everybody that's so embedded in their brain, everybody thinks Regan
is awful. They're really good, but they weren't ready for
(38:03):
that game. So I cancel stuff all the time. I
guess dinner plans with Colin. You should see what I'm
having dinner with tonight, you know, big, that's disappointing. I
raised my children to have integrity, and that's just not
the case. I raised my kids to have a cigar
and a good time. We're different parents. Okay, Clatt, you're awesome.
(38:24):
Uh you're doing? What game are you doing? Ohio State?
Indiana forty point spread? You know, I might just say
it the whole game. It's just like twenty eight thirty four,
you know, just like just start listen off like it.
That's the depths that just like play the spread the
whole time. Sorry, Indiana, that was rude. First grade advice
I gave my son he was eleven. You know what
(38:45):
I told him first is how you light a cigar
and the first day you can bet legally make a bet.
The rest of your life. What does that even mean?
That means roll the dice and be interesting. It's a
better life. We're out there preaching morals and values. I'm like,
take the Rangers and the point. That's good. Pair. Did
(39:07):
you see LSU's only favored by three at Arkansas. Well
that's because they faced Bama and it's hard that teams
that beat, is it? Because that feels like a trick, right,
I mean, isn't that? Isn't that like your wife walks
down and it's like, does it? How do these jeans
look on me? And you're like, oh, yes, this feels
(39:27):
like like LSU minus three or Arkansas just lost by
four to Liberty. That's a good point. What are we doing? Hey,
one more thing about politics. Give me freedom and give
me liberty. That's a good out right there. Don't just
don't give me liberty football, but give me freedom and liberty.
Just not getting a massive contract from liberty. Oh man,
we're about to go into the triangle of freedom. Yeah,
(39:50):
all right, I gotta out of here. All right, I understand,
under together, I understand. I understand. Poor macindire as watch
this
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Colin Cowherd
Jason McIntyre
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