All Episodes

October 9, 2024 • 38 mins

Colin discusses the Padres taking a 2-1 lead over the Dodgers in the NLDS and why the swagger of San Diego is giving them an edge against their powerhouse rival. He talks about the fallout from the Jets firing head coach Robert Saleh and what this means for Aaron Rodgers' legacy going forward. Plus, Fox Sports college football analyst Joel Klatt joins the show in studio to preview a huge week of games including Ohio State vs Oregon and Oklahoma vs Texas

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Mark as Played
Transcript

Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to the Best of the Herd podcast.
Be sure to catch us live every weekday on Fox
Sports Radio in noon to three Eastern nine am to
noon Pacific. Find your local station for The Herd at
Fox Sportsradio dot com, or stream us live every day
on the iHeartRadio app by searching Fox Sports Radio or FSR.

Speaker 2 (00:19):
This is the Best of the Herd with Colin cowher
on Fox Sports Radio.

Speaker 1 (00:29):
All Right, it is a Wednesday, busier than we could
have expected live in Los Angeles. It's the Herd. Wherever
you may be and however you may be listening. Thanks
for making us part of your day. Joel Clatt. One hour,
we go into the biggest college football weekend of the
year this Saturday, Massive games all over college football, biggest

(00:53):
Saturday by far, and Joel Klatt will have his opinions
in one hour from now. All Right, for the second
time in three years, here are the San Diego Padres.
The cocky San Diego Padres are one game away from

(01:13):
eliminating the big payroll, classy lead the baseball world in attendance,
LA Dodgers. They beat him six to five last night.
Dodgers essentially have had one big inning the whole series. Yeah,
and a Grand Slam last night, but that was it. Yeah,
they had one to one big in So here we go.
Because the Dodgers pushed Shoho Tawny's salary down the road,

(01:39):
they only rank fifth in payroll, but they're fudging the numbers.
The Dodgers spent over a billion dollars just this year
in free agency. Next closest in Major Big Baseball was
a little over three hundred thousand dollars. Okay, so let's
not kid ourselves that this is the best team money
can buy right now. The Dodgers have reward their fans

(02:00):
though they do almost everything right. They've won the Division
eleven of twelve years. It's a gorgeous, beautiful stadium environment.
They're patient, they lean heavy in analytics, patient with their
manager there R and D is incredible. They almost never
make a bad trade. All their young guys come up
and flourish. It is a really, really sharp organization. But

(02:24):
they are two butts. But last two years, starting pitching
can't stay healthy. Only one guy right now pitching in
the playoffs was in their starting rotation to start the year.
They can't keep people healthy, pitchers healthy. The second thing
is the second butt. The Podreys that have become their
primary rival, and they're really good, and they're young, and

(02:48):
the Potteris are cocky and they're hungry, and they got
more swag and they're not the least bit intimidated by
the Dodgers. The Dodgers are, you know, let's be honest.
The o Tani and Betts and freemen veterans there. Classy
Podres are rebels, profars, taunting the fans, tat Tis, doing

(03:10):
hip thrusts and dancing in the outfield. Manny Machado apparently
through a baseball and the Dodgers dugout. They're rebels and
they don't care. And all they care is that San
Diego loves them. It may be a short drive. It's
a world apart the Dodgers and the Padres. Through three games.
One of these teams has an edge, and it's the Padres.

(03:32):
They look at it now. Now, for the record, I'm
all for Major League Baseball having more personality. It's needed
it for years. I grew up in the seventies eighties,
there was a ton of personality. It got muted, and
the Padres are overflowing with personality, but they deliver and
but they produce, so they're good for baseball. The stadium's
rocking in San Diego. The players are cocky and they're hungry,

(03:53):
and it works. I mean this, And also I do
believe this massive LA payroll has put some pressure on
this team. I mean, the Dodgers are only hitting two sixteen,
and it feels like everybody's trying to get the big
home run, all these high priced guys. Everybody's just swinging
for the big home run to be the hero. They're
not stringing hits together. Forget the era that's over seven.

(04:16):
In fact, the only Dodger, you know, the guy that's
really hitting Taioscar Hernandez. He's the only Dodger right one
year contract. He's the hungry one, comes from I think
Sea at least trying to prove it. One year contract.
He's the young, hungry one. He's the guy that like, hey,
I gotta prove. These guys are rich. They're great, they're

(04:38):
Hall of famers, but they don't have the edge of
the Podres. The Podres are cocky and young, and they're
rebels and they're pushing back and they don't care. And
they clearly in this series have an edge. The Dodgers
have had one beginning. They can't they can't string hits together.
You can blame blame the manager. That's what they do

(04:59):
at the end of every Dodger season. But the truth
is this organization, one of their strengths, one of their
many is they have like cohesion and continuity. They're the
opposite like the New York Jets. They're patient with their
minor league prospects. They're patient when players, pitchers get hurt.
They're patient with Dave Roberts. But right now baseball is

(05:20):
in the urgency season and the Podreys are playing with it.
The Dodgers feel like this very expensive rocket and on
launch day every year there's malfunctions and there's clouds, and
the Podrays were going one thousand miles an hour with
a chip on both shoulders. They don't care. They've got
an edge. They're dancing, they're taunting Dodger fans and here's

(05:41):
Manny Machado. After that feels great to win.

Speaker 3 (05:47):
You know, we got one more left, and you know,
looking forward to going out there and battling tomorrow. I mean,
it's it's a grind. It's a grind. Baseball is a grind.
So we've runded twenty seven out tonight, and it was
ahead of a I used to play in front of
this crowd. This crowd was rocking tonight and will deserve
for the city of San Diego.

Speaker 1 (06:06):
So the series is not over by a long shot.
But if you're watching it, there is no question there
is one team here playing very free, very loose, with
an edge with a chip and having a lot of
fun and feels no pressure. And that's down the four

(06:29):
H five and the five. That's not the Dodgers, that's
the Podres. Okay, Aaron Rodgers' fingerprints are all over the
Robert solid firing. I presume many of you who would
turn in to watch or listen to a show like
this read about it yesterday. Let's be very clear. This
is Aaron Rodgers having his second coach fired. Now. I'm

(06:50):
not going to bang on him for that, because Magic
Johnson got a coach fired, and John Elway got Dan
Reeves fired, and Tom Brady got Bruce Aria moved upstairs
and Lebron. I don't have time for all the Lebron
pushes out the door. I counted three this morning. There
may be six, okay, So and I love Lebron so

(07:13):
I'm not gonna bang on Aaron for that. But what
Aaron has become and his whole brand now is lack
of trust. He doesn't trust the government, he doesn't trust SLA,
he doesn't trust the media. He doesn't. He's like alternative.
He's become like very alternative. And I understand players wanting personality,

(07:37):
but Elway was mainstream, and Brady and Manning and Mahomes
they play within his system. They sacrifice, they don't bury
their coach at the podium. I'm all for personality. I
get it. Gronk and Travis Kelcey. But Gronk told you
Bill get mad at me, and he laughed about it.

(07:57):
Aaron doesn't laugh about that stuff. It's nark a mile long.
He is not a conformist. He's anti authority and proud
of it. And I talked to Drew Brees about this yesterday,
like you don't have to love your head coach. But
time and time and time again, it's Aaron at the podium,

(08:18):
firing back, making sure everybody knows he doesn't take the hit.
Drew Brees had an intense coach and Sean Payton. You
watched Peyton screaming at bo Nick's this past weekend. I
know Sean, I go to dinner with Sean. Sean's intense.
But Drew says, there's a way to handle the podium.

Speaker 4 (08:39):
There's probably some things that Salah said publicly that we
were better just to be kept you know, private, and
then there were probably reactions from Aaron that he probably
should have just eaten and said, you know, hey, I'm
going to go, you know, face to face with the
head coach and work out whatever it is. I would
always take the approach as a player that if the

(08:59):
coach said something that even if I didn't agree with,
I'm I'm not gonna I'm not going to disagree with him.

Speaker 1 (09:06):
I'm not going to play that out in the media.

Speaker 4 (09:08):
I'm gonna go talk to him one on one, you know,
man and man player coach and come up with a solution.

Speaker 1 (09:14):
Yeah. Aaron doesn't do that ever, under any circumstances. He'll
go passive, aggressive or direct defend his territory. Nonconformist l Way,
Brady Manning, you know, the all time greats better than
Aaron understood. You can have a personality, but it's a

(09:35):
conformist league for coaches. And quarterbacks. And I know Aaron
doesn't believe anything in the media, but here's some cold,
hard facts. I mean, he can do his own research,
going to Joe Rogan podcast and push back, but Aaron
Rodgers since twenty twenty two, you can google it or

(09:59):
maybe you know they're corrupted too. Aaron's not very good.
Two different teams since twenty twenty two. He has an
eighty eight passer rating. That's who Aaron is. A couple
of games with three interceptions, zero games throwing over three
hundred yards last two weeks, by the way, last two weeks,

(10:20):
just the last two weeks, Aaron's had the lowest passer
rating in the NFL. The non conformist. It's not working.
It's in this defensive coordinator, now head coach, former player.
I'm going to go with Salas probably a better coach,

(10:42):
maybe not, but I'm sure you can dispute all this
stuff on a podcast. But this is what Aaron's become.
I'm not going to crush him for getting a coach fired.
Elway did magic did Lebron's done it several times. That's
not what I'm going to do here. But what he's
become is what I've been saying for the last three years.
He's just not very good. He's not Packers Jets, they're

(11:07):
the numbers. He's not very good. He's not as good
as Kirk Cousins. That's indisputable. He's not as good as Dak.
He's not look up the number like DA's got a
lot of weapons, not like Dak's. Outside of ceedee lamb,
what's stack have Kirk Cousins playing on another team with
a bunch of kids. They're both better, all right, Joel Klatt.

(11:30):
Biggest college football weekend of the year one hour. Adam
Wainwright stops by last hour. Ran into Derek Jeter in
the hallway yesterday here at Fox. Chatted him up. That
guy looks great. Play tomorrow. It looks great, And uh,
this is this Baseball lacks one thing and I think
it would acknowledge that one thing, and it's urgency. But

(11:51):
when you get it, it's fascinating to watch the Mets
in this urgent situation. They feel like they're growing. Philly's
I feel like they're shrinking, and the Podres have a
complete like, Hey, let's go to the ballpark and have
some fun with our crowd. Dodgers feel a little tight,

(12:13):
little tight.

Speaker 5 (12:14):
Do you get a sense that MLB's considering going back
to a seven game series in this round because you're
watching this year like geez, two losses and you're already
on the brink of your seat.

Speaker 1 (12:24):
Well, you know, you know what that baseball has always
been that. Right now, this morning, I think the Podreys
are the best team in baseball. I'm not saying they
were over the year. There was a time early in
the season the Phillies looked unbeatable. But right now, this second,
the Podrays have everything.

Speaker 5 (12:39):
It reminds me of when the New York Giants and
Eli Manning. They weren't the greatest team during they lost
to the Patriots the final week of the regular season.

Speaker 2 (12:46):
Then in the playoffs you get hot for three games and.

Speaker 1 (12:48):
You're in the super Bowl, And I new Podreys got
to feel alan by the way, it's when you have
this is very rare, when you have great talent and
no pressure. The Dodgers have taken all the pressure on
the pod They look tight. Yeah, the Dodgers are the
Southern California team that's got all the money and all
the pressure and leads Major League Baseball. In attendance. The
Podrays are these little upstart guys down south, but by

(13:11):
the way, have just as much talent and healthier pitching. Listen,
I know you like this Mets story.

Speaker 5 (13:15):
If the Yankees, uh, Phillies, and Dodgers are all down
to one on the brink of their season, as great
as the playoffs have been, Colin, that's not great.

Speaker 1 (13:23):
Let me tay youth. The Mets, I know, and the Podrays.
That is a juicy world.

Speaker 5 (13:30):
So we've been waiting on Dodgers Yankees for you know,
you know who.

Speaker 1 (13:32):
We're not mentioning the Royals. They'll probably win the whole thing.
You Listen, Baseball lacks urgency, but when it has it,
some things become very clear. Dodgers feel a little tight,
they're not stringing hits together, and the Podrays are playing loose.
And it matters in these big environments. It matters in
all sports. You see it in the NBA. You see

(13:53):
Jason Tatum getting tight. You see these big stars getting
tight and kind of kind of shrinking like.

Speaker 5 (13:58):
The seven game series. In the NBA, you get more
of a chance to rebound. You're down oh two, it's
not a death sentence. I mean I'm nervous about the Dodgers.
It feels like you.

Speaker 1 (14:06):
But by the way, that's great. You have to watch
that game. I know the ratings for the next You'll
be big Podrais Dodgers game. They will break any records
at this company for a divisional series. They'll blow it
out of the water. It's goning out these games are
They're intense.

Speaker 2 (14:22):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
and noon Easter nine am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio
FS one and the iHeartRadio app. Here we go our two.

Speaker 1 (14:33):
It is a Wednesday, biggest college football weekend by far
of the year. You're talking Texas Oklahoma stuff live in
Los Angeles. It's The Herd. Wherever you may be, however
you may be listening. Thanks for making us part of
your day. Ohio State Oregon is the game of the year.
Oh wait, Texas Oklahoma, that could be the game of
the year. USC season Penn State, that game is magnificent

(14:58):
and gigantic. Briefly, I just want to read it. These
names up for the Jets job. According to Jeremy Fowler,
Todd Munkin, Ben Johnson, and Bobby Slowick. Okay, this is

(15:20):
the Jets. It's a broken franchise. You need a grown man,
You need an alpha. You need Mike Vrabel. Not three
guys who want a ribbon at the local science fair,
the hipsters, the whiz kids. Go get a man, a
former player who's not going to be pushed around by Aaron.
He'll take Aaron out in the parking lot for attitude adjustment.

(15:41):
He doesn't care about Aaron Rodgers, nor should he. He's
an average quarterback. Vrabel's proven leader of men, a tough guy.
Nobody you conform, or you settle it somewhere else. Vrabel
is nobs. He is the best coach available, Unlike Belichick,
does not have to own personnel. All those coaches, by

(16:02):
the way, hired in the twenty twenty one coaching cycle,
think I'm wrong, including Sala, Two still have a job
and one's keeping it. Dan Campbell a man's man, big, intimidating,
rough around the edges, culture builder. There are times to
finesse a franchise. This ain't it. Aaron gives you all

(16:24):
the conspiratorial nonsense and the passive aggressive stuff you need.
Mike Vrabel. Not about hiring another assistant. An assistant's great
when Stan Kronke owns your team and you have a
solid front office. Hey there's this whiz kid that's great,
or San Francisco, The York Family. Kyle Shanahan great coordinator,

(16:46):
never been a coach. You have stability in the franchise.
Jets don't have any stability. You have to find a
stability creator, strength, culture, intimidation, toughness, resilience. Mike Rabel for
head coach and I approved this message. Mike Vrabel is

(17:11):
the higher. When you have a wobbly wonky franchise, you
need a guy that comes in and establishes toughness and culture.
I like Rabel more than Dan Campbell, and Dan Campbell's
the one guy out of that solid class that has worked.
He is the and it wasn't about his schematic x's
and o's, and he's a whiz kid. He's an offensive

(17:34):
genius man walks in the door, sets the culture play.
Remember those first early Detroit years with Campbell where they
weren't very good and I would come on the air
and go, I remember a game against like Baltimore. I'm like,
I don't think I've ever seen a team with less
talent play harder. The Lions were losing, but they were
losing with passion and close. This team's a mess, it's

(17:57):
a matter. I can't remember the last time that a
coach got fired, and the game before he got fired.
If they win, they're in first place, and Jets could
be in first place by Monday night. They fired Sala
and according to reports, he was blind sided. Not a
lot of those easy get little. So you have an idea.

(18:18):
And what's the other interesting thing is Sala's defense. His
side of the ball was brilliant. Aaron stunk. I mean again,
you'd fire solaf you like, we lost forty eight nothing
and our offensive coach was shut out. The defense was amazing.
Sauce Gardner was hurt, Quinnin Williams was hurt. Minnesota's on
fire totally shut him down. So SLA's defense had a

(18:39):
great performance. It was Aaron who admitted he stunk, and
you fire him now before the Buffalo game. Wouldn't you
just at least do the Buffalo game and if you win,
you're like, okay, and then if you get blown out
you can consider it. But it's so Jets. It is
the biggest by far weekend of the year in college
of football all no cocktails this weekend, Clear Eyes Joe

(19:03):
Klatt on our show to Wednesday, this is going to
be massive. What's even? The second level games are great?
How you doing? I remember a time when you would
just just bang on the franchises that hired defensive coaches.
Remember that? I remember that, Jamack, You remember that? That
was years ago. I'm sure it was. I'm sure it
was their occasion. Apparently Now Aaron Rodgers is terrible and

(19:27):
Robert Sala is the same. I like Tim Ryan's we
love we love that. Hut you think Mike Rabel's going
to fix the Jets? He's a man. Okay. I like
those kind of guys. Okay, So then what does USC need?
They're fine? Oh okay, interesting, the flight got a little
bumpy over Des Moines, did it?

Speaker 2 (19:46):
Did it?

Speaker 1 (19:47):
I'll get to that in a second. Okay. First of all,
Ohio State Oregon. So let's let's go So, Ohio State's
got as good a talent as anybody in the country. Yeah,
even Texas Oregon at home. If you've never been out there,
you think, oh, it's got fifty thousand seats. No, yeah, loud,
you have no idea. So you're gonna be d like,

(20:07):
you're gonna have multiple penalties with your offense, can't hear?
Just bake those in. You're gonna have four or five
of those. I think Ohio State's better, but I don't
know if they're better Saturday. I think that's fair in
particular when you when you go on the road in
these like super charged environments. Just think about these big
matchups that we saw. Think about the environment in the

(20:30):
first half of the Alabama Georgia game and how that carried,
you know, Alabama to that big lead, which then they
they kind of held on.

Speaker 2 (20:37):
For.

Speaker 1 (20:38):
The one thing that I think if you're an Ohio
State fan you would take a little bit of backing
in is that they're great at the line of scrimmage. Yeah,
they owned Iowa at the line of scrimmage. And by
the way, that's nothing to sneeze at. I was the
top ten run defense. It's very rare that they give
up two hundred yards rushing and over five yards per care.
Always got a good defense. Oh man, listen, listen. This

(20:59):
guy he used to to bang on defensive coaches. He
used to bang punters. Their best offensive playing something else.
Oh my flip flop. More than Kamala. Anyways, I will
just tell you that this this Ohio State offensive line,
they can get after it. Okay, I think that it
was a question mark coming into the year. But they

(21:20):
can run the football over two hundred against Iowa over
five yards per carry. They've got this backfield that Chip
knows how to work with. Okay, Travon Henderson and Quinn
Shawn Jock gets back. The reason I'm nervous for Oregon
is because I've seen even in that building, which I
agree is a really difficult place to play Colin, we
saw Ashton Genty run for one hundred and ninety five

(21:41):
yards on that Oregon defense in that building. So the
run game for Ohio State, how do you take a
crowd out of it? How do you how do you
minimize crowd noise effect? You beat them up physically, And
that's I think what Ohio State is going to be
trying to do, in particular early in that game, with
with a run game in an offensive line that I
think is pretty elite. Okay, So a lot of people

(22:01):
are pushing back and old Lincoln Riley, but Revenables is
facing Texas this weekend, yes, and could be humiliated. Well,
their offense is terrible. So here's my take. Is Lincoln,
because USC is so high profile and because he's a
polarizing personality. After the exit, yeah, us, he's gonna be fine.

(22:23):
It's the offense loses a running back in the center.
They returned the entire team as freshman and sophomores on offense,
unproven kids. They'll be fine. Oklahoma's in big trouble, and
I think Texas has a chance to just this could
get ugly on paper, it could. I mean the I
think the numbers fourteen and a half, which in this
game is a big number because you would always assume

(22:46):
that the game is going to be closer than what
the teams actually are. I mean, even look at last year.
I thought Texas was a much better team. Oklahoma wins
the game. Oklahoma's actually won five of the last six.
I believe. The concern for me is OHU offensively is
a hundred and twenty first in the country in total offense.
One hundred and twenty first. That's not even near requisite

(23:07):
enough against a Texas team that's really good on the
defensive side. Right, they're much better than they were even now,
maybe not than defensive tackle, but the secondary is better.
Their linebacker corps is very good. This Colin Simmons guy.
Have you seen this guy. He's a true freshman and
he just plays on passing downs. He's like five sacks
so he can get after it. And that's a precarious
place to be for ou offensively, and they have been

(23:29):
a nightmare offensively, by the way, all year. You think
back in they couldn't do anything against Houston, they didn't
do anything against Tennessee. They had to have a defensive
performance in order to beat Auburn. So yeah, like Texas
is a much better team than Oklahoma. Yeah, and they're
gonna get youers back. They can run the football. They've
got the best offensive line in college football. They're veteran,
they're old. I think it's interesting, like the last couple

(23:53):
of years, you know, almost rewarded in college football more
than anything. Veteran talent, not just talent. Used to be
you just had to have five star kids littering on
your roster. That's fine, that's great veteran talent. That's what wins.
Think about Michigan last year, think about Washington last year,
Think about what Texas is on the offensive line this year.
Look at what Ohio State is across their entire roster
this year. Veteran talent. That's what Texas has. You know why,

(24:17):
I think that doesn't really have that, And I think
one of the reasons that is the transfer portal is
forcing teams to have to constantly rebuild cohesion in chemistry.
That's right. So if you get a junior senior team
with a lot of like Texas O linemen that have
been together for three years, exactly right, you not only
have the talent advantage, you have the chemistry cohesion team advantage.

(24:38):
There is no question what you just said is the
most accurate thing that you've said in our segments and years.
Well done. Get a shot of that right there. That
was that was really I'm impressed because it's true as
other teams lose that chemistry, the margin between the teams
that are rebuilding every single year out of the portal,

(24:58):
like a Florida State. Yeah, the teams that can stick together,
like look at Clemson is a great example of this.
We bang on dabble all the time. Yeah, they got there.
They've righted the ship a little bit, you bet you
they haven't. In fact, if you look at what they've
done since Georgian. Was that good? No, No, it wasn't.
They're lost to Georgia, it wasn't. But if you look
at what they've done, they've grown, they've gotten better, they've developed,

(25:19):
and now all of a sudden, they've got Garrett Riley
as their offensive coordinator in Kide Club Nick, they can
run the football, and all of a sudden, they're the
number three scoring offense in all of college football since
that loss to Georgia, scoring forty eight points per game.
But like, who wants to play them? Guess I can
guarantee you you know who doesn't want to play Clemson Miami.

Speaker 2 (25:36):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
in noon eastern nin am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio
FS one and the iHeartRadio app.

Speaker 1 (25:45):
Let's go back to my brilliant point. Okay, so I
will say this. I was saying it this weekend. I'm
watching Mahomes Monday night. Yeah, and man, Michael Jordan had this.
He just kind of made it looks And I like
cam Ward a lot, but I always think he's a

(26:05):
tad small, same height as Shadeur Sanders, and I never
think about his height. I watch cam Ward and First
of all, Miami's good. I don't think they're great. I
don't think they stack up with a couple of the
top teams. But they're really good. And he's excellent as
somebody who played quarterback in college, and you do stuff
in our draft coverage. I know this is more NFL
than college question. I think Cam's an NFL player, But

(26:28):
I felt this about Bryce Young and I kind of
feel it with Cam. I'm like, I love this, but
I'm not sure it translates. What do you see? The
kids obviously talented. He was slinging it at Cam. He's
slinging it now. I never think of Shaduur Sanders' size.
He reminds me a little bit of my homes moving
left right, front back. It just doesn't matter. Everything's easy.

(26:50):
His accuracy is effortless. I want. My favorite thing about
watching cam Ward play is that he plays the position
unconsciously is for the results.

Speaker 5 (27:01):
Go.

Speaker 1 (27:01):
Have you ever like heard a great golfer talk about
like Jack Nicholas's has said, like I never I never
missed a putt. I never in my mind. You know,
I would commit to it and I would hit the
putt if it went in and or not like that
was beyond what was in my control. My control was
like put it on the line that I'm intending and
hit a good putt. And he's I never hit a
bad putt. I always hit a good putt, That's what

(27:23):
he would say. And it's this idea of like removing
yourself from the result, so so immersing yourself in the process.
And I that's kind of how I see cam Ward
as he plays, because there's a fearlessness which he drives
the football down the field, no question, you know what
I'm saying. So that's what I'm speaking. And so for

(27:45):
those reasons, I've never really thought about his height. I
like to me, is the ball on time and on target? Yes?
Is the arm talent there? Yes? Is he accurate down
the field? Yes? Does he have a competitive spirit that
allows him to make everybody else around him better? Absolutely?
Look at the games that they've just won against Virginia

(28:05):
Tech and against Cal They're down what twenty five against Cal?
So this idea that his approach and his fearless nature
with which he plays the game almost removed from results.
He makes throws and I'm holding my breath. I'm like,
how do you make that? Throw and he does it
with such conviction, and that's what I love about watching

(28:25):
cam Moore. Now does that translate? I know you kind
of asked more of translation. I think he has no
self doubt and that is very important in the NFL's
huge But it is funny as I look and try
to guess who's going to be the best quarterback out
of college. Sometimes I hit, sometimes I don't, Shador Sanders
more and more, I'm like man in my lifetime when
it's just looked easy. You'll remember this because you have

(28:49):
you have appreciation for history. Remember Rod Carew, Yes, vaguely,
I'm a little younger than you, But anyway, that was
a shot at the point being Rod Carew made hitting
look really easy. You know. The guy that I think
of is like Edgar Martinez and Paul Mallitor like that
and Griffy. Those are the guys that are like when

(29:11):
I'm watching as a kid, it was just like, well,
how could how could you miss?

Speaker 3 (29:16):
Like?

Speaker 1 (29:16):
It just made made it look easy. Mahomes did that? Okay,
so let's get to USC. It could have gone either way,
and there was a stiff seven mile an hour breeze.
Oh gosh, but I here's what Here's just stopped with
the first steam. Okay, so let me a defend them
and then b be critical A we had said this.

(29:36):
The offensive line is starting red shirt freshman and sophomores
outside of center. They're gonna get bullied by some of
the upper class o lines. Yeah, Like Michigan was predictable
and I was I was like, hey, they had a
bad half against Michigan. What bothered me here? So I'll
pivot to the negativity. Minnesota had more passion, they were
more intentional. Uh, USC's bad tackling, They're lined by Vickers,

(30:00):
felt overwhelmed by the running back. Yeah. When I watch
this game, all of the critics of Lincoln Riley one
colin they're too soft. He's all about offense, and ioways
pushed back. When Minnesota can punch you in the mouth,
I lose the argument and you win the argument. They
looked like a West Coast team trying to go to
the Midwest and play their style of ball. Let's remember, though,

(30:23):
what Minnesota under pj FLA what they are. They are
trying to be bullies. They're gonna get in there and
they want it in a phone booth. They want it
in a fistfight. They're the guy that's never gonna win
a sprint, and they want to grab you by the
belt and pull you down to the ground, and they
want a grappling match. They want to run the football

(30:43):
over sixty percent of the time under pj FLA, no
one in the Big Ten runs the football more. Maybe
Iowa does over the last couple of years, but no
one runs it more than Minnesota. They try to protect
their defense. They are a veteran laden team. It's a
very disciplined team like this is a team that candidly
is a bad matchup for USC. Now here's where I'm
critical of USC is that they've had opportunities to win

(31:06):
every single one of their games and they have not.
The turnovers are an issue. Two against Michigan, three against Wisconsin,
three against Minnesota. Yes, that's a major issue. And they're
not good enough because of their youth, like you've been
talking about, to overcome turnovers. This is not the twenty
seventeen Oklahoma Sooners that are gonna, you know, rack up
eight and a half yards per play. They're not quite

(31:28):
there yet on their offensive side. So when they make
those mistakes, it's magnified, and what I see is that
you've got a mistackle against Michigan and you lose the game. Okay,
Kalo Mullings breaks the tackle and he runs and sets
them up for the score. And then in this game
it's a fourth quarter interception and you lose the game.
And then there's been these two series, and this is

(31:50):
what I can't get out of my head. And I've
always been a Lincoln Riley defender. I think he's one
of the best coaches in America, But there have been
two offensive series in those two games against Michigan and
against Minnesota where they rolled out there and you think, okay,
here it is go time, go time. Three and out,

(32:10):
and it's like, with USC's talent and that coach, you
can't be three and out. You can't be three and
out at that at that moment. And even with that
great half of football that they had put put together
against Michigan in the second half, offensively they go three
and out and they threw the ball a few times
and you're like, what what what is going on? And
you know what, It reminded me of Lincoln's first year

(32:31):
as a head coach. Rose Bull overtime against Georgia. I
remember that, Baker Mayfield. I remember that they stopped Georgia.
Defense was on the field for first and stopped Georgia,
held them to a field goal. Baker Mayfield runs onto
the field and you think to yourself, well, this is
that they're going to win the game. Remember it was

(32:51):
their offense is going to win the game. Yea, And
it's like, wait what. For whatever reason, there's these moments
where Lincoln offense kind of wilts in the face of
what they need most. Maybe because it leans heavy on
clever and not on power. Yeah, they've got to be
able to run the football better, and they're not able

(33:12):
to do that this offense. One of the reasons I
like Texas to win the National Championship. Every college team
has lulls. Texas is like, all right, let's just run
it behind our three first round NFL guys up front,
and it really gets you through. Listen, you take eighteen
year olds on the road, they have bad Saturday. Of course,
that terrible happened last week. Five of the top eleven
teams in the country. Yess what usually gets you past

(33:33):
that is Saban would do this, guys, let's run the football.
Let's take the crowd out of it.

Speaker 2 (33:38):
Let's do it.

Speaker 1 (33:38):
Michigan. Last year, that's right, Michigan ran a thirty two
straight times against Penn State. Great old lines in college.
Now Ohio State's got a little bit of that. This
year they're gonna go to Oregon. It gets loud, You're like, guys,
let's do an eleven play drive and just quiet everybody
out this This USC team. I keep saying like these
are bad matchups. These are bad. This is a really
bad matchup for USC. Just Penn State wants to run

(34:00):
the football. They can run the football. They're one of
the best rushing teams in the country with this duo
of ca Tron Allen and Nick Singleton. Their offensive line
is playing really cohesive together up front Andy kotal Nicky,
their offensive coordinator, is a really good, creative, solid offensive coordinator.
And then guess what their defense does. They get after
the passer. In fact, no team in college football has
more sacks over the last three years than Penn State.

(34:22):
And they've got another excellent pass rushing duo and denied
Dinnis Sutton on one side, he was a former five
star and Abduall Carter, who could be an NFL star,
probably a top five pick in the draft. Yes, style player.
This is not a great matchup for USC. All right,
let's give Kladeruski's a top ten. I don't have any
pushback on it. I don't. Okay, no, you didn't. One
of the things I like that you don't do. You

(34:44):
don't sell the farm when somebody loses. Even though Bama lost,
they're going to be fine. They're a good team. By
the way, I have Georgia still ahead of Bama. By
the way I have Georgia three. It's too early for
me to get worked up. Okay, I'll say this. I'd
put Tenant. I think Tennessee's fine. I think Arkansas can
be a snake pit. It happened, so Tennessee. Here's the

(35:07):
reason I've got Tennessee nine, and the reason I moved
him down to nine is that now this is twice
that their quarterback Nico Iomi Lava has played poorly on
the road. He did not play great against Ou, but
their defense was spectacular. They win the game in Norman,
and then this week they've got a fourteen to three lead,
a quality, competent offense and quarterback that can really get

(35:28):
it done. They take over that game and they stretch
the lead. He was unable to do so they lose
at nineteen fourteen. He's got to get better of anticipating throws.
Most young quarterbacks have to this, right, but he holds onto
the football too long. When you watch the film, he
does some things that are exquisite. Colin, I'm telling you
he's play Tennessee. Tennessee on their best days when they
host Alabama, watch out, yeah, because Alabama's defense is a

(35:52):
wreck right now. Sixty two points and seven hundred yards
in the last six quarters, and four of those quarters
were Vandy.

Speaker 2 (35:58):
Holy cow.

Speaker 1 (36:00):
They may have to get rid of kaaln to moore
those offensive coaches. Am I right, Where's where's Mike Rabel
when you need him? Uh? Rabel's your kind of guy.
You know what he brings to breakfast, A bow and arrow.
My kind of guy. That guy is all we man.
I'm just I'm America here. I've listened to you for
too many years. I know you don't like defensive coaches.

(36:23):
As soon as it goes poorly or in the postings,
you're gonna be like these defensive coaches. They don't adjust.
I'm not wrong on that all the time. Most of
the time there rich But I like Rabel why because
he texts me? No, I'm joking. No, I respect him.
I like him. I've liked him forever. That was so good.

(36:45):
What do you think he's gonna go in and set
Aaron straight? Like I don't understand? Oh yeah, yeah, really yeah.
Here's the here's the thing that you got to understand
about the NFL. You know what he does. It doesn't
matter who your coach is. Oh give me you know what.
I'll tell you what matters who your quarterback is. Has
Bill Belichick done anything without Tom Brady? No? Has any

(37:08):
Reid done anything without Patrick Mahomes. Really well, he got
to a super Bowl and did he win? Well, you're
not gonna do that, are you. Barkley doesn't have any
trophies either. He was pretty good. I'm not saying that
they're not good, but you don't. What are we trying
to do here? Are we trying to be good or
are we trying to win Super Bowl? I'll tell you what,
I guess the New York Jets are all in on

(37:28):
trying to win a super Bowl. That's why you bring
Aaron Rodgers in. And now you're trying to give him
a coach that's gonna get him to what the divisional round?
Good for you, you guys were kind of good. Okay,
roll the tape on this. I'll tell you what Rabel does.
He stands on business.

Speaker 3 (37:42):
Oh my gosh, Okay.

Speaker 1 (37:47):
I'm gonna get out of here. That's gonna be bouncing
around my head for days. He stands. Okay, he's Arizona
and BYU with class. It'll be awesome. We gotta go.
That's so good.
Advertise With Us

Hosts And Creators

Colin Cowherd

Colin Cowherd

Jason McIntyre

Jason McIntyre

Music, radio and podcasts, all free. Listen online or download the iHeart App.

Connect

© 2024 iHeartMedia, Inc.