October 15, 2025 • 36 mins
Colin Cowherd breaks down the Los Angeles Dodgers’ red-hot playoff run, analyzing why this team looks poised to make history by becoming the first back-to-back World Series champions since the late-'90s New York Yankees.
Colin also reveals his updated NFL Super Bowl Bubble, ranking the teams he believes are legitimate contenders. Are the Kansas City Chiefs still the team to beat? Can the Detroit Lions and Green Bay Packers sustain their momentum? And what’s going wrong with the Buffalo Bills?
Later, Colin is joined by Fox Sports College Football Analyst Joel Klatt to react to the stunning firing of Penn State head coach James Franklin. The two dive deep into the fallout and explain why Ohio State looks like the most complete team in college football this season.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to The Herd podcast. Be sure to
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Speaker 2 (00:21):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 1 (00:25):
Oh, it is a Wednesday, but not any typical Wednesday.
We are loaded Penn State trying to steal Notre Dames
football coach. The Bears are upset because they're not being
fonned over by a national announcer. And the Dodgers remain
the best run organization in North America. I don't care
(00:47):
what league, I don't care if it's college. There is
no organization from research and development, drafting, scouting. The Dodgers
are unbelievable. It's an impeccable organization that's gotten to the
playoffs for twelve out of thirteen years. J Mack, you
looked at Milwaukee all year and they swept the Dodgers, Right,
they beat him six times, and so I thought, Oh,
(01:10):
the Dodgers' bullpen all liability. Yeah, this is a mismatchy
Let's talk. Let's talk about it. Yoshi last night, Yamamado, unbelievable.
You know, the Brewers are in trouble when they throw
their ace Freddie Peralta, who was virtually unbeatable at home,
untouchable at home. They also get a leadoff home run
(01:32):
in the first inning, bought um in the first and
they get blown out. And this thing should have been worse.
The Dodgers were two for eleven with runners in scoring position.
They stranded ten batters. How many times do they load
the bases? It's all about pitching, Yoshi, Yamamado, Blake Snell
in Game one, and by the way, Otawi and Glass
now are coming up. We worried about the Dodgers' bullpen
(01:54):
against the Phillies. It would be their undoing. Okay, the Brewers,
it'll be their undoing. We knew Cincinnati was overmatched. It's
not Otani's not even playing well. Otani's swinging at terrible pitches.
So Milwaukee feels out classed and the Dodgers have so
many bats. I know you all want to say it's
about money. Steve Cohen, isn't he like the richest the
(02:15):
Mets owner of the richest guy in baseball. The Yankees
have plenty of money, they don't spend it wisely. The
Dodgers do a great job. I mean, their menu is
so deep, doesn't matter if the milk make milkshake machine
in back is broken. They got somebody else stepping up.
So o Tani can't hit in the series. My heres
tey Oscar Hernandez or Max Munsey, and I think the
(02:36):
Dodgers were very wobbly this year. They blew all those games,
bleue twenty six save opportunities. But it's like the Chiefs dynasty,
It's like the Brady Belichick dynasty, It's like the Warriors dynasty.
It is hard to stay self motivated. Baseball is so long.
It is hard from day one to spring training to
now to stay motivated. And you know you're the best
(02:58):
team and the deepest team, and so the Dodgers treat
the regular season like a lot of US treated college.
You know, it's you do the bare minimum for most
of the school year, and then on the finals it's
an all nighter. And the Dodgers now are buttoned up
outside of Otani, who is just in an all times
(03:19):
slump right now. Two for his last twenty five started
the Philly Series, and Otani is swinging at bad pitches
like he is out of sorts. Otani has lost. He'll
pick it up in the mountain when they go back
to Los Angeles. But the bullpen liability, it doesn't matter.
I mean, Blake Snell was so dominant in Game one,
it was Cofax level dominance that Yoshi last night was
(03:42):
really really good, but it didn't really compare. It's just
the starting pitching is just covering up all the warps.
The Otani slump, the runners in scoring position, left on base,
And here is Dave Roberts afterwards.
Speaker 3 (03:59):
If you look at the construction of our roster currently,
you know the strength is starting pitching. And you know,
when you can have your most talented pitchers get the
most outs, then you're in a good spot. And right now,
you know all four of those guys are in a
(04:19):
really good headspace physically, their sound, and you know you
feel good about those guys starting a game and pushing
them in there prepared for this.
Speaker 1 (04:28):
It is interesting, though, is that Dave Roberts regular on
the show, he pulled Blake Snell, who was even more dominant,
and then last night with Yamamato, who was dominant but
not quite as dominant. He just let him go, And
I think it's kind of fascinating. I would have argued,
you let Snell go because he was so dominant, and
(04:51):
it was the first game of a series, and I
wouldn't trust my bullpen if I could steal one in Milwaukee.
But once I had the win in Milwaukee and I
had a bigger, a four run lead, you could have
argued you could go to the bullpen. Last night, you
got a series lead, you had a four run cushion.
So I understood if he pulled Yoshi last night, he
(05:12):
didn't complete game. But the Snell was so dominant in
Game one. Just get that in the books. Don't worry
about tomorrow. Get the win first game of a series.
But you know, Dave Roberts has said, these are fifty
to fifty decisions. You can go either way. But the
Dodgers starting pitching is covering up all these runners left
on runners in scoring position, can't drive him home. O
(05:36):
Tawni is completely lost. The starting pitching is that good.
So you know, when I got into this business as
a kid, and I'm talking about when I was like
seven eight nine ten years old. The sportscasters that I
was always attracted to as a kid were the ones
that were, like, honest, I'm not even an eight, nine
ten years old. If my team played bad, it was
(05:57):
okay for the local sports and nown sir to say
my team played bad. So I almost always defend people
in my business that are critical of teams even if
they win, because a lot of you know, a lot
of local you know they're there. There's some palm palm
waving and everything. Sonny and Rosy So Troy Aigman apparently
(06:18):
did not did not hand out flowers after the Bears
and Caleb Williams just beat Washington. So here's what Ben
Johnson said about a former Fox broadcasters comments.
Speaker 4 (06:34):
It sounded like from that game the other night, a
few people weren't particularly pleased with how we're winning right now.
So that's the I woke up this morning, and you know,
my kids were watching the second half before school, so
I heard some of the commentary.
Speaker 2 (06:47):
But listen, in.
Speaker 4 (06:49):
This league, anyway you can find a way to win
is a big deal.
Speaker 5 (06:53):
Of course it is.
Speaker 1 (06:54):
But the Bears are three and two, and they're a
blocked kick and a fumble from being one and four
and Haleb Williams, who you know I loved out of college,
is a work in progress.
Speaker 5 (07:07):
Right now. He remains dead.
Speaker 1 (07:08):
Last in the NFL an expected completion percentage, what is that?
That's when the game's over people look at tape. Translation,
he should be completing seventy two percent of his throws.
Speaker 5 (07:19):
He's at sixty one and a half.
Speaker 1 (07:21):
Their leady leaving a lot of completions on the floor.
So coming out of college, the concerns on Caleb Williams
were consistent accuracy still a problem in the NFL, and
could he play with instructure. Now he's getting better at that,
but he's still last in the NFL getting the ball
out of his hands. He holds the ball too long,
(07:42):
and he's not consistently accurate. So year two in the
NFL with a great offensive, young coach, still problems. Remember
that video that came out in camp when Caleb Williams
you all told me to downplay it. Media is going
overboard When he had that moment, he's thrown into a
net and he got so upset at himself because he
badly missed a throw from eight feet away.
Speaker 5 (08:05):
It's a real thing.
Speaker 1 (08:06):
This was the concern out of college he's still missing
too many throws. This is not subjective, it's objective. It's
happening in front of you. All the data tells you this.
So if an announcer is willing to say unpopular things,
I'm here for it. So, you know, it's just very
interesting to me that a team that's three and two,
(08:27):
and for the record, you were watching it, Washington is
driving for the win in the cover and they fumbled
it bad handoff. So and even on the Bears winning
drive on Monday, Caleb had one completion. It was DeAndre
Swift's game. We talked about this on Tuesday morning. It
was about DeAndre Swift and the offensive line creating massive holes.
So if you watch Jalen, Jayden Daniels, and Caleb Williams
(08:50):
play on Monday, Jayden was the more accurate quarterback. He's
operationally accuracy at this point. He's a little more refined.
You kind of know what you're getting with Jay Daniels
if he's healthy. You don't quite know what you're getting
with Caleb Williams. Yes, I agree, you're three and two celebrated.
I said it on Tuesday after the win. I'm like
it's the Bears. They won on the road, they won
(09:14):
a close game. You can see the coaching. There's a
touchdown difference Caleb last year Caleb this year. Eighteen to
twenty five points a game. But this idea that everybody's
supposed to fall in line, Caleb is still struggling with accuracy.
He is missing guys within twelve yards. He's holding the
ball too long. And these were the concerns out of college,
(09:37):
consistent accuracy, playing within structure. Now, I do think the
structure element he's getting better at. I do think he
could run more often than he's running. So I think
Caleb deserves credit for that. When you're as gifted as him,
it's very easy to take off. Lamar Jackson had to
get hit a few times. By year four, Lamar didn't
(09:57):
run as much Caleb or and Caleb could for a
lot of yards. Caleb is doing a better job to
plan structure. I will defend him all day on that.
But the accuracy thing, they're leaving some completions out there.
They're there a lot little swing passes. So here's been
on Ben Johnson about what he told Caleb on training
(10:22):
camp and how he was going to coach.
Speaker 5 (10:24):
Him this year.
Speaker 6 (10:25):
Standard has been set, the bar has been set high.
He has said that he wants to be not just
one of the best top five quarterbacks in this league,
but he wants to have a legacy that lasts for
a long time, and so we're coaching him that way.
We're approaching it that way. That's not going to change.
Is he going to be a finished product here year two?
Speaker 1 (10:44):
No?
Speaker 5 (10:46):
Yeah, he's not a finished product.
Speaker 1 (10:48):
And that's why a national broadcaster should say, nice win,
but there's a lot of work here. Like I know,
when I feel an announcer is being overly negative, I've
heard that before. But my taking all these national broadcasters,
they'd rather be optimistic and they'd rather be positive. I
think it's refreshing when any of them can go that's
(11:09):
not good enough. Yet they won, but they're leaving a
lot on the floor, a lot on the table. I
appreciate that. I don't.
Speaker 5 (11:17):
I don't.
Speaker 1 (11:17):
I don't need you to blow smoke. I'm not looking
for rainbows and pots of gold. Just give me honesty, right,
Like I'm a grown up. I remember again, when I
was a kid, when I was eight, nine, ten years old,
I liked Howard Cosell. I like the local sportscasters that
I thought were telling me the truth, not blowing smoke,
which I didn't even know blowing smoke meant. Then maybe
my sister smoking behind the house. So just just be honest.
(11:41):
I'm good with it. I don't need rainbows. J Mac
James Franklin, Penn State coach out. Marcus Freeman, Notre Dame coach.
Speaker 5 (11:52):
Is being is being wooed, ohnelyon.
Speaker 7 (11:57):
No shot whatsoever as a downgrade from Notre.
Speaker 5 (11:59):
Dame de Penn State.
Speaker 7 (12:00):
No disrespect to the folks in Happy Valley, but come on,
that's a Marcus Stream is not doing. His next stop
will be the NFL calling.
Speaker 1 (12:08):
Well, there's nothing like a little distraction during USC one.
Speaker 5 (12:12):
Yes, oh, I like that.
Speaker 2 (12:15):
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 5 (12:23):
Hi, this is Jay.
Speaker 8 (12:24):
I'm the producer of the Paula and Tony Fusco Show.
Usually in these promos they asked you to listen to
the show. I'm here to ask you please don't listen
to the show. The hosts are two absolute morons who
have the dumbest takes on sports, imagicable. Don't listen to
the show so it can get camped.
Speaker 3 (12:39):
What the hell are you doing our studio?
Speaker 5 (12:40):
Get him? Ignore that fool.
Speaker 9 (12:46):
Listen to the Pauline Tony Fusco Show on the iHeartRadio
app or wherever you get your podcast.
Speaker 2 (12:50):
He's still moving.
Speaker 1 (12:53):
Okay, So, uh, the everything I was talking about the
Dodgers and fans, Oh, they got all this money.
Speaker 5 (12:58):
Nobody's disputing that money. Nobody. You know, you'd rather have
a lot of money than no money, right.
Speaker 1 (13:04):
It doesn't mean there's a lot of happiness over a
certain threshold, but you can waste a lot of money too.
Here's another thing about the Dodgers. They stole Mookie Bets
from the Red Sox. Mooky Bets was available, he was expensive,
but before Otani, I mean, there's an argument Mooky is
the most complete player in baseball. When you watch him
play shortstop, you would never know he could also play outfield.
(13:27):
He didn't have a very good year until September and
then he caught fire. But Mookie Bets was available. He
was available to a lot of people, and the Dodgers
essentially gave the Red Sox picks or players, and none
of the players did much. So the minor league guys
didn't do anything. You can keep safe again, Max Munsey,
(13:51):
A's released him. A's were like, yeah, it's it's not
gonna it's no good.
Speaker 5 (13:56):
He can't play.
Speaker 1 (13:57):
He was hitting like less than two hundred. He goes
to the Dodgers and here's Max Munsey, who's just I mean,
he's been hitting bambs for years in Los Angeles and
taoscar Hernandez was available to the market, and then when
he got to La ta Oskar's like, yeah, I'm gonna
play for less. So Tommy Edmund Saint Louis had him,
didn't want to pay him. He was a two sixty
(14:17):
five hitter. He's a good defensive player. Dodgers NLCSMVP. So
when you're watching this thing, man, they are really Andrew
Friedman was the GM in Tampa years and years ago,
when Tampa got to a World Series and Tampa was
really good, and you're like, how they have no money?
How did Andrew Friedman build up those Tampa teams? He
(14:37):
didn't have the Dodgers pay roll. He won in a
division with the Yankees and the Red Sox and Toronto,
big money Boston Toronto, which I think is probably the
richest city in Canada. The Yankee all that money. Andrew
Friedman was making the playoffs. So you took his brain power,
you put him with a big bankroll, and they just
(14:58):
don't miss a lot.
Speaker 5 (15:00):
You could have had Manny Machado. They passed on him.
Speaker 1 (15:01):
They could have paid for him, Zach Grinky years and
years ago. They're like, no, no, no, I think he went
to Arizona. They've had opportunities to buy other plan they
buy the right dudes. Freddie Freeman got the right dude.
Great in the locker room, Mokey Betts show, Hey Otani,
and again Otani is not hit. The last two postseasons,
they're not winning because of Otani. He's been a monster
(15:23):
in the regular season. He can't hit right now.
Speaker 5 (15:27):
He is just lost. Okay.
Speaker 1 (15:29):
So I do this about every three or four weeks,
and it's difficult. I think there's one great team in
the NFL, and then I think there's another team that's
really really good. But it's time for my Super Bowl bubble,
and like a couple of these teams right now have
got to get better at things. But I always put
about six or seven teams in. I do think Philadelphia
(15:51):
will right the ship at least with a running game,
and I do think bo Nicks as the season progresses,
will get more consistent. But right now my Super Bowl bubble.
The teams I think could end up in a Super Bowl,
I don't know if they can win it. I think
they can end up there. Kansas City, Tampa, Philadelphia, Detroit, Seattle,
(16:13):
Green Bay, and Denver. I'm not saying bo Nick is
going to hoist a trophy. I think those teams either
have the coach, the roster, the defensive front, the O line,
and then I would put the Colts, the Rams, San
Francisco and the Bills. Now in three to four weeks,
when Hampton's back and Joe Alter back for the Chargers,
(16:35):
that's not their reality now. Right now, Chargers are missing
both tackles and I have a third string running back.
Speaker 5 (16:43):
The Rams would maybe.
Speaker 1 (16:45):
Be in it, but they lost Poka Nakula and they
are very reliant on Poka Nakoula in big downs. So
San Francisco, I think they're going to get healthier offensively.
They get Piarsol back and I You back and Kittle.
I think San Francisco. I don't know if they can
hoist a trophy, but rock Perty's coming back, so I'm
gonna put them on the edges. I didn't put Pittsburgh yet. Listen,
(17:06):
Pittsburgh's beating bad quarterbacks. The one really good team they played,
they got routed. They got routed by Seattle at home.
So Pittsburgh needs to win a couple more games. But
in terms of Kansas City, I don't know what everybody
else is watching. I mean the eye test. They are
fast defensively, and they have the best head coach, quarterback,
defensive coordinator combo in the sport. Here's Matt Hasselbeck earlier
(17:26):
this week on the Chiefs.
Speaker 9 (17:28):
And if you're starting quarterbacks, one of the greatest quarterbacks
to ever play the game ever, and then you've got
the best offensive play caller designer in our era and
Andy Reid, like, literally.
Speaker 5 (17:38):
How are you gonna like?
Speaker 9 (17:38):
That gives me confidence as a player, That gives me
confidence as a locker room and as a defense like
you got Mahomes over here running like speed option, like
like he's Vince Young or something like you got to
defend it all. You can tell that this is a team.
There's no panic, there's no players only meetings there. You
know they're three and three. This guy's not falling. You
know they're like, hey, we're going to.
Speaker 1 (17:58):
We're gonna go.
Speaker 9 (17:59):
Want to know this week, you know we're probably aky
game out.
Speaker 2 (18:01):
We're good.
Speaker 1 (18:03):
I will say Tampa is an interesting team because they're
five and one but needed the last second field goal
to beat the Jets, and four of their five wins
have come with a you know, within a field goal
or least. Now they're banged up, so they're gonna get
Chris Godwin back, Mike Evans back, Bucky Irving back. So
I think you're not seeing the best of Tampa's personnel,
(18:23):
and I still have them in the bubble. I think
there's tremendous value on winning close games and also something
to remember teams EBB and Flow. The Chargers look great,
then they fell apart physically. Now they're not that good.
I didn't put them in my top ten. Joe alt
Returns at left tackle, Hampton Returns, I think they're a
top ten team. San Francisco, I listen, I have Seattle
(18:47):
in the Super Bowl bubble. That has been Now you say,
what about New England? I like what New England's doing,
but they got whacked by Pittsburgh, and I don't have
Pittsburgh here, so I think New England's one of those
teams I need more. I need more from New England,
I need more from Pittsburgh. But if you're wondering where
New England is, I think Patriot fans know this is
(19:08):
a really cool spot to be in. But let's put
about four or five more wins down. You know, Drake
May still young, developing, and with Pittsburgh again, they got
absolutely routed special teams mistakes at home against Seattle. So
I know a lot of people are pointing to Denver
and bow Knicks.
Speaker 5 (19:25):
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (19:26):
I think Bo Nicks may not be a great deep
ball thrower, but the Denver Broncos lead the NFL. They
protect their quarterback better than anybody and get after years
better than anybody.
Speaker 5 (19:37):
That is.
Speaker 1 (19:38):
That's something that wins in January. That wins in cold weather.
Great old line play, great pass rush wins in January.
I never but into the Dolphins when they get off
for these hot starts and throw it over the top.
That's not January football. So there's two leads. There's two
seasons pre Thanksgiving and post Thanksgiving, and the football changes.
Remember we talked about this a couple of weeks ago.
Why were there fifteen quarterbacks with a hunt plus passer rating?
Speaker 5 (20:01):
And I said, look the weather.
Speaker 1 (20:02):
It was eighty degrees in Buffalo, Chicago had good Way, Chicago, Buffalo, Baltimore.
Weather's getting real chilly now, so things are gonna change.
Jmacked anybody in or out of the Super Bowl bubble,
New England, Pittsburgh didn't make it for me.
Speaker 5 (20:17):
I had your niners in, so you know what I
like to do.
Speaker 7 (20:19):
Instantly, look at the gambling odds you can see on
the screen there. Buffalo, who you have on the outside,
has the same odds to win the Super Bowl as
Kansas City. I think you're a little low on Buffalo.
I know they just lost and didn't look great to Atlanta.
But the other team you mentioned Pittsburgh, and I was
kind of scoffing, like, oh, come.
Speaker 5 (20:35):
On, they're junk.
Speaker 7 (20:37):
Pittsburgh and Seattle have these same Super Bowl odds Colin, which.
Speaker 5 (20:41):
I thought was surprising. I don't think Pittsburgh's great.
Speaker 7 (20:44):
The one team you don't have in the top twelve
are the Washington Commanders, who at plus twenty five hundred
have the same odds as San Francisco. Washington gets Terry mclorinback. Literally,
he's practicing right now with it with the team.
Speaker 6 (20:57):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (20:57):
By the way, Cowboys Commanders this weekend's spicy. That's got
Tampa Seattle written all over and that's got thirty three thirty.
I looked at the over under this morning. It's a
little low. Cowboys Commanders could be a wildly, wildly entertaining game.
Speaker 2 (21:13):
Be sure to catch live editions of the Herd weekdays
in noon Easter not a em Pacific.
Speaker 1 (21:18):
And with that we bring in Joel Klatt. He'll be
calling the Washington at Michigan games. That is a really,
really good game, a lot of urgency for both teams.
Speaker 5 (21:25):
So let's start with this.
Speaker 1 (21:28):
There's rumors, and they seem pretty substantial that Penn State's like, Okay,
we know we're spending seven hundred million in an update
to Beaver Stadium. We know we just wrote a forty
five million dollar check to James Franklin, and we know
we'd have to write one hundred million dollar check for
Marcus Freeman and his staff. But I hear those rumors
(21:49):
and that's probably the guy I would go after.
Speaker 5 (21:52):
Do you buy him? What are your thoughts about that?
Speaker 1 (21:54):
Well?
Speaker 10 (21:54):
I think that Pat Kraft, the athletic director at Penn State,
is going to take a big swing. I don't think
that anybody is off of his list, to be quite
honest with you, And if I was Pat Kraft, I
would start with the biggest swing possible. I know this
sounds crazy, but I think the first call I would
make is Nick Saban and just like just make sure.
Speaker 5 (22:13):
That that's not going to happen.
Speaker 10 (22:15):
And then you start going down the list of the
other coaches around the country. I think Dan Lanning would
get a call, and I think Marcus Freeman would get
a call. Now would Freeman leave Notre Dame? I'm not sure.
He just went to the national championship, you know. I'm
sure he feels like he can build something special. Is
Penn State a better job than Notre Dame? I don't
think it is personally, But that's a call that I
(22:37):
would make if I was Pat Kraft, because again, this
is a good job. I don't know if it is
a great job in college football, but in this cycle,
it's probably going to be the best job available calling.
Even if Florida were to come open, if they make
a move off of Billy Napier, even if Florida State,
you know, went south and Mike Norvelle was let go
of Florida State, whatever happens at Wisconsin, you know, even
(23:00):
if Brian Kelly were to somehow take a nosedive with
LSU beginning like let's say that this week. I'm not
sure that any of those jobs maybe LSUS, But but
Penn State is set up perfectly. You brought up the
investment into the stadium, seven hundred million dollars into the stadium.
Speaker 5 (23:19):
They're willing to.
Speaker 10 (23:19):
Pay the money to James Franklin to buy him out.
They've got support, and they've got an athletic director that's
willing to win. I think Kurz Signetti should probably get
a call. I would be swinging for the fences if
I was Patcraft, because here's the thing is that this
reminds me a lot. Maybe not quite to the tier
of Georgia, but Mark Rick at Georgia seemed to have
a ceiling on that program, and they felt like they
(23:40):
could go higher. They bring in Kirby Smart and they
did go higher. Maybe that's the moment that we're in
for Penn State right now, where the next guy is
going to lift the ceiling of this program and they
can actually go out there and win some of these
top twenty five, top ten games that James Franklin has
fallen short in.
Speaker 1 (23:58):
So a USC, speaking of No. Dame goes to South Bend.
I don't think it's a great spot for them. I
think the quarterback play at Notre Dame is so efficient
they'll pick on USC's corners the weakness of their roster.
I thought they bullied Michigan. I do not think they'll
be able to do this to Notre Dame. I thought
it was a very imply I said. I thought it
was bigger than people realized, beating Michigan and beating them
(24:21):
the way they did. That game was not as close
as the score, and I'm not sure Michigan's got the
right coach. We'll talk about that in five minutes. But
I don't think USC necessarily matches up.
Speaker 5 (24:31):
Well here, let's hit you.
Speaker 10 (24:32):
It's not as good of a matchup as they had
against Michigan. But I think, let me go back to
your point about the substance or the substantial moment for
usc last week. In beating Michigan the way that they did,
I started to think to myself, Yeah, they've had some
big wins since Pete Carroll left, but I can't remember
one that was maybe as important because of the way
(24:54):
that it was played. This signals to everybody like, hey,
maybe we can play at the top end of the
Big Ten. They took the team in this conference that
not only won the national championship a year ago in Michigan,
but also lays their entire identity in being a physical
team and winning the line of scrimmage in USC one
Bowl lines of scrimmage. That's why you saw Lincoln Riley
(25:15):
so emotional and joyful after the game is because he
knew what that win meant and the fashion in which
it happened.
Speaker 5 (25:21):
So that's an important win.
Speaker 10 (25:23):
Now, the matchup against Notre Dame probably isn't quite as good,
and the reason is, and you touched on it briefly,
is the balance that Notre Dame has on offense. Yeah,
because Michigan really can't well I shouldn't say can't. They
don't throw the ball well and just a drop back scenario,
so they have to run the football and then get
their quarterback out on the outside in order to start
(25:43):
to throw the ball and be efficient doing so. But
that's not the case with Notre Dame. So Notre Dame
can run it with Jeremiah Love, he's one of the
best backs in the country. And then CJ. Carr has
been outstanding. He's been one of the most efficient quarterbacks
in the country. And so they have that balance that
would scare you a little bit. And yes, there is
an Operation Trinity to throw the ball against USC. Illinois
proved that a couple of weeks ago when Illinois ended
(26:06):
up beating the Trojans, and so this matchup maybe isn't
quite as good, But I sure feel a lot different
about this game as a Trojan fan if I was
a Trojan fan today than I did last week at
this point because of the way that they were able
to beat Michigan. Now you can at least lean on
the fact that, hey, maybe we can run the football
and it's not just going to be a Miava show
(26:27):
on the road and what could be rainy conditions, by
the way, fifty with some rain, it's like it's almost
like it's almost like the Catholic school has a direct
line to God right, it's like, hey, what do you
want to do with USC. It's like, give us some
rain and some cool weather. So it could be an
interesting one. But I certainly feel like Notre Dame is
set up in this game and balanced enough on offense
(26:49):
to take advantage.
Speaker 5 (26:50):
Well.
Speaker 1 (26:50):
Your top ten as Ohio State, Indiana, Miami, Texas and
m Bama Texas, Tech, Oregon, Georgia, Notre Dame, Ole Miss
I don't have any quabbles with it. Let's talk Oregon.
What happened against Indiana?
Speaker 5 (27:02):
That I mean.
Speaker 1 (27:03):
I'll say this about Indiana is last year they were
a great story. They weren't a great team. I had
my reservations. I did say I thought it would be close,
but they really dominated the game. Do you buy in
Let's talk Oregon what happened? And do you buy Indiana
as a national title contender?
Speaker 2 (27:19):
Yeah.
Speaker 10 (27:20):
So the first part of that is is I think
that Oregon has got to look themselves in the mirror
a little bit because physically they got beat up at
the line of scrimmage and they couldn't protect their quarterback.
That was a huge issue in particular in the second half,
and they didn't really do anything defensively to disrupt the
(27:40):
timing of Fernando Mendoza. You know, so Indiana was able
to stay balanced and run the football if they needed to,
and then Mendoza was really good and not pressured much
in the pocket. So the lineus scrimmage. For Oregon, they've
got to take a big look in the mirror and
actually evaluate what are we right now and what are
we going to be moving forward. I do think that
they're talented enough and that's a good enough coaching staff
(28:03):
where they can learn from this, grow from this, and
become better. Remember, Ohio State lost at Oregon last year.
They lost against Michigan and became something great afterwards. That's
certainly still on the table for Oregon. Now the second
part of your question, I think this when maybe even
more so than USC over Michigan in the way that
that happened in the coliseum. This was a real seismic
(28:23):
type of performance because it transitioned Indiana from a good
team that we didn't know if they could handle the
big boys to okay, wow, this is a national championship
caliber team. I really believe that they were great on
the offensive line, they were terrific on the defensive line,
their quarterback is as good as any out there, and
their wide receivers make a ton of plays. I talked
(28:44):
with Kurt Signetti on my show earlier this week. He
is a process oriented guy. He's one of the best
coaches in America, and they really attack the weaknesses of
their opponent as well as anybody. Their coordinators have been terrific.
This is again a seismic moment in college football and
in the Big Ten Conference because Indiana just proved to
(29:04):
everybody around the country that they're not just a cute
story and they're not just a legit team. That's a
team that could beat anybody in America and potentially win
a national championship.
Speaker 5 (29:14):
You know, it's last year.
Speaker 1 (29:16):
I thought Ohio State, it took Chip Kelly a while,
and in new coordinators too.
Speaker 5 (29:22):
He was a pro coordinator.
Speaker 1 (29:23):
It comes in to his buddy Ryan Day, and it
took him a while, and then Matt Patricia and Chip leaves.
Matt Patricia comes in and you know, the arch manning struggling.
He struggled a lot. Maybe it wasn't Matt Patricia, but
I'm watching that Ohio State defense and I'm just telling you,
turn the volume down.
Speaker 5 (29:39):
On your TV.
Speaker 1 (29:40):
Don't listen to the announcers, don't listen to confirmation bias.
Speaker 5 (29:43):
Well, no, you guys are good and everything. But my
point is.
Speaker 1 (29:46):
They look shots fired in the middle of the question.
My goodness, they look faster than college offenses can handle.
Ohio States defense looks too equipped for the average college offense.
That's what it looks like to me.
Speaker 10 (30:02):
I am going to try to disregard that clear personal
shot that was taken and try to address the question
as it was asked from the substance.
Speaker 5 (30:12):
Colin, I will tell you this that this defense.
Speaker 10 (30:16):
Yes they're fast, yes they're physical, but it's the fact
that they can run so much from a schematic perspective and.
Speaker 5 (30:24):
Do it well.
Speaker 10 (30:25):
Their players are really smart, and I think the thing
that makes them so difficult is a lot of their
players are what I would call hybrid players, so they're versatile.
Caleb Down's probably the most versatile defensive back in all
of college football.
Speaker 5 (30:37):
They can line them up anywhere.
Speaker 10 (30:39):
It makes it incredibly difficult to get an indicator of
what they're in. Rvel Reese has been maybe the story
in college football on the defensive side for how quickly
he's rising up draft boards. He could be one of,
if not the best defender in college football. Their linebacker.
Oh by the way, they also have Sonny Styles, who's
a five star six five, two hundred, two hundred and
(30:59):
forty pounds linebacker that can run. All you have to
do is look at some of these opposing offenses, what
they've done against other opponents, and then what they don't
do against Ohio State. I think this weekend I'm studying
demand Williams getting ready for the Michigan Washington game, which
I think is going to be a fantastic game. By
the way, Demand Williams in the Washington offense is one
(31:21):
of the best offenses in all of college football. Demon
Williams is like Kyler Murray light. He had just short
of I think a million yards against Rutgers last Friday night,
and then you look at what he did against Ohio
State and it was basically nothing.
Speaker 5 (31:35):
And it's because of the.
Speaker 10 (31:36):
Scheme, and it's because of the length, the versatile nature
of their players, and the speed with which they play.
Matt Patricia has done an incredible job. Every play, it's
a different defensive front and a different coverage, and that
combination changes throughout the game, and it makes it hard
on the play caller and the quarterback to decipher what
that defense is in. And by the way, they've got
(31:57):
some of the better players in the country. That defense
has has allowed me to sit there watch Ohio State
and be pretty comfortable in saying that they have separated
themselves at the top tier of college football. That is, yeah,
pretty clearly the best team in college football. And think
about this, colin. They haven't even really gone into third gear.
They've just been allowed to play patient, conservative offense, and
(32:18):
no game is close.
Speaker 1 (32:20):
Yeah, the Washington game was a real eye opener because
Washington's offense. Sometimes it took us a while to get
going against Maryland. But Washington can score at all levels
tight end, running back, quarterback, receiver. They got pro they
got Sunday guys. So I want to talk about Michigan.
I've said this for years. It can become you know,
it sounds a little elitist when I say, don't hire
(32:42):
the coordinator, don't hire the popular guy on staff, do
a global search and get the best coach. So Harbaugh
leaves and they bring in the popular guy in the staff,
capable guy, nice guy. But I'm like, it's Michigan. I'm
not sure I want Michigan to be your first job.
Harbaugh head coached in college, he coached in the NFL,
and it took Harball a long time at Michigan to
(33:02):
get going. And so my take was, I know that's
the popular choice. I love Marsha and I love Underwood,
but I doesn't I mean, I'm watching Michigan to get
pushed around and I don't remember Harball teams getting pushed
around like that. Did Michigan Did they got the right guy?
Speaker 10 (33:19):
Well, here's the pushback I would give you is that
when your team is having top end success, a succession
plan has actually been the blueprint that has worked best.
Speaker 5 (33:31):
Think of Ohio.
Speaker 10 (33:32):
State, from Urban Meyer to Ryan Day, from Oklahoma Bob
Stoops to Lincoln Riley.
Speaker 5 (33:38):
You know it's you can have the global search.
Speaker 2 (33:40):
Yeah.
Speaker 10 (33:40):
I understand that sentiment. But the problem is is that
that locker room felt like they didn't need a change,
and you don't want to disrupt the culture of something
that is working. It's different when you've got to fire
James Franklin and then there is a clear mantra of
like we're going to build something different or go to
a different location when a coach is underperforming, but when
(34:01):
you're performing at the highest level, the succession plan is
actually what has worked in college football. And the fear
even though you don't want to operate out of fear,
but the fear would have been if you were a
ward manual the athletic director that if you would have
brought someone in from the outside, even if it was
a home run, right, you know, and you win the
press conference, do you retain the roster? And that's a question.
(34:23):
Do you retain the culture? That's a question because we've
also seen seen teams that are really close that are
good cultures, that are good football teams, but want to
go to greatness and they make the wrong hire Bill
Callahan at Nebraska, possibly Luke Fickle at Wisconsin. And so
you change that culture of something that you've been for
a long time and your players believe in, and it
(34:45):
can go south. And I think that was the predicament
that Michigan was in when Jim Harbaugh left. Sharon Moore
is at a really important time in his tenure at Michigan.
That loss was ground shaking in a lot of ways
in that building because of the way that it happened.
As big as it was for USC is probably even
worse for Michigan because of the way that it happened.
(35:06):
They have to get back to first principles. What made
you great in twenty twenty one that started the run
toward a national championship, Physicality, stopping the run, running the football. See,
if you do three things at Michigan really well, you
can probably win. Stop the run, run the ball, cover kicks.
That's what Jim Harbaugh did. Now it started to grow
(35:27):
after JJ McCarthy became a veteran quarterback, and they get
some guys like Blake Koram and things like that in
their offense. But those foundational things, that's what Sharon has
to go back to. I would be pretty surprised if
they didn't run the football forty five fifty times this
week to get back to first principal's Michigan identity.
Speaker 1 (35:46):
Joel Klatt, College Football the Voice, aid Fox, good.
Speaker 5 (35:49):
See anybody.
Speaker 10 (35:50):
I mean, I didn't even take a shot at weekly
radio hosts and why you wouldn't want to listen to
those guys? Well, man, I feel like I took one
right between the eyes. You know, you stay in Chicago
or via remote, and it's just like, bamn.
Speaker 5 (36:04):
Listen, this show is hard.
Speaker 1 (36:06):
Kidding yourselves like it's like it's like going to Columbus
in October.
Speaker 5 (36:09):
It's all you gotta be ready. You show up here,
you better be ready. Good seeing you,
Thanks for listening to 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 Sports Radio
dot com, or stream us live every day on the
iHeartRadio app by searching Fox Sports Radio or FSR.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 1 (00:25):
Oh, it is a Wednesday, but not any typical Wednesday.
We are loaded Penn State trying to steal Notre Dames
football coach. The Bears are upset because they're not being
fonned over by a national announcer. And the Dodgers remain
the best run organization in North America. I don't care
(00:47):
what league, I don't care if it's college. There is
no organization from research and development, drafting, scouting. The Dodgers
are unbelievable. It's an impeccable organization that's gotten to the
playoffs for twelve out of thirteen years. J Mack, you
looked at Milwaukee all year and they swept the Dodgers, Right,
they beat him six times, and so I thought, Oh,
(01:10):
the Dodgers' bullpen all liability. Yeah, this is a mismatchy
Let's talk. Let's talk about it. Yoshi last night, Yamamado, unbelievable.
You know, the Brewers are in trouble when they throw
their ace Freddie Peralta, who was virtually unbeatable at home,
untouchable at home. They also get a leadoff home run
(01:32):
in the first inning, bought um in the first and
they get blown out. And this thing should have been worse.
The Dodgers were two for eleven with runners in scoring position.
They stranded ten batters. How many times do they load
the bases? It's all about pitching, Yoshi, Yamamado, Blake Snell
in Game one, and by the way, Otawi and Glass
now are coming up. We worried about the Dodgers' bullpen
(01:54):
against the Phillies. It would be their undoing. Okay, the Brewers,
it'll be their undoing. We knew Cincinnati was overmatched. It's
not Otani's not even playing well. Otani's swinging at terrible pitches.
So Milwaukee feels out classed and the Dodgers have so
many bats. I know you all want to say it's
about money. Steve Cohen, isn't he like the richest the
(02:15):
Mets owner of the richest guy in baseball. The Yankees
have plenty of money, they don't spend it wisely. The
Dodgers do a great job. I mean, their menu is
so deep, doesn't matter if the milk make milkshake machine
in back is broken. They got somebody else stepping up.
So o Tani can't hit in the series. My heres
tey Oscar Hernandez or Max Munsey, and I think the
(02:36):
Dodgers were very wobbly this year. They blew all those games,
bleue twenty six save opportunities. But it's like the Chiefs dynasty,
It's like the Brady Belichick dynasty, It's like the Warriors dynasty.
It is hard to stay self motivated. Baseball is so long.
It is hard from day one to spring training to
now to stay motivated. And you know you're the best
(02:58):
team and the deepest team, and so the Dodgers treat
the regular season like a lot of US treated college.
You know, it's you do the bare minimum for most
of the school year, and then on the finals it's
an all nighter. And the Dodgers now are buttoned up
outside of Otani, who is just in an all times
(03:19):
slump right now. Two for his last twenty five started
the Philly Series, and Otani is swinging at bad pitches
like he is out of sorts. Otani has lost. He'll
pick it up in the mountain when they go back
to Los Angeles. But the bullpen liability, it doesn't matter.
I mean, Blake Snell was so dominant in Game one,
it was Cofax level dominance that Yoshi last night was
(03:42):
really really good, but it didn't really compare. It's just
the starting pitching is just covering up all the warps.
The Otani slump, the runners in scoring position, left on base,
And here is Dave Roberts afterwards.
Speaker 3 (03:59):
If you look at the construction of our roster currently,
you know the strength is starting pitching. And you know,
when you can have your most talented pitchers get the
most outs, then you're in a good spot. And right now,
you know all four of those guys are in a
(04:19):
really good headspace physically, their sound, and you know you
feel good about those guys starting a game and pushing
them in there prepared for this.
Speaker 1 (04:28):
It is interesting, though, is that Dave Roberts regular on
the show, he pulled Blake Snell, who was even more dominant,
and then last night with Yamamato, who was dominant but
not quite as dominant. He just let him go, And
I think it's kind of fascinating. I would have argued,
you let Snell go because he was so dominant, and
(04:51):
it was the first game of a series, and I
wouldn't trust my bullpen if I could steal one in Milwaukee.
But once I had the win in Milwaukee and I
had a bigger, a four run lead, you could have
argued you could go to the bullpen. Last night, you
got a series lead, you had a four run cushion.
So I understood if he pulled Yoshi last night, he
(05:12):
didn't complete game. But the Snell was so dominant in
Game one. Just get that in the books. Don't worry
about tomorrow. Get the win first game of a series.
But you know, Dave Roberts has said, these are fifty
to fifty decisions. You can go either way. But the
Dodgers starting pitching is covering up all these runners left
on runners in scoring position, can't drive him home. O
(05:36):
Tawni is completely lost. The starting pitching is that good.
So you know, when I got into this business as
a kid, and I'm talking about when I was like
seven eight nine ten years old. The sportscasters that I
was always attracted to as a kid were the ones
that were, like, honest, I'm not even an eight, nine
ten years old. If my team played bad, it was
(05:57):
okay for the local sports and nown sir to say
my team played bad. So I almost always defend people
in my business that are critical of teams even if
they win, because a lot of you know, a lot
of local you know they're there. There's some palm palm
waving and everything. Sonny and Rosy So Troy Aigman apparently
(06:18):
did not did not hand out flowers after the Bears
and Caleb Williams just beat Washington. So here's what Ben
Johnson said about a former Fox broadcasters comments.
Speaker 4 (06:34):
It sounded like from that game the other night, a
few people weren't particularly pleased with how we're winning right now.
So that's the I woke up this morning, and you know,
my kids were watching the second half before school, so
I heard some of the commentary.
Speaker 2 (06:47):
But listen, in.
Speaker 4 (06:49):
This league, anyway you can find a way to win
is a big deal.
Speaker 5 (06:53):
Of course it is.
Speaker 1 (06:54):
But the Bears are three and two, and they're a
blocked kick and a fumble from being one and four
and Haleb Williams, who you know I loved out of college,
is a work in progress.
Speaker 5 (07:07):
Right now. He remains dead.
Speaker 1 (07:08):
Last in the NFL an expected completion percentage, what is that?
That's when the game's over people look at tape. Translation,
he should be completing seventy two percent of his throws.
Speaker 5 (07:19):
He's at sixty one and a half.
Speaker 1 (07:21):
Their leady leaving a lot of completions on the floor.
So coming out of college, the concerns on Caleb Williams
were consistent accuracy still a problem in the NFL, and
could he play with instructure. Now he's getting better at that,
but he's still last in the NFL getting the ball
out of his hands. He holds the ball too long,
(07:42):
and he's not consistently accurate. So year two in the
NFL with a great offensive, young coach, still problems. Remember
that video that came out in camp when Caleb Williams
you all told me to downplay it. Media is going
overboard When he had that moment, he's thrown into a
net and he got so upset at himself because he
badly missed a throw from eight feet away.
Speaker 5 (08:05):
It's a real thing.
Speaker 1 (08:06):
This was the concern out of college he's still missing
too many throws. This is not subjective, it's objective. It's
happening in front of you. All the data tells you this.
So if an announcer is willing to say unpopular things,
I'm here for it. So, you know, it's just very
interesting to me that a team that's three and two,
(08:27):
and for the record, you were watching it, Washington is
driving for the win in the cover and they fumbled
it bad handoff. So and even on the Bears winning
drive on Monday, Caleb had one completion. It was DeAndre
Swift's game. We talked about this on Tuesday morning. It
was about DeAndre Swift and the offensive line creating massive holes.
So if you watch Jalen, Jayden Daniels, and Caleb Williams
(08:50):
play on Monday, Jayden was the more accurate quarterback. He's
operationally accuracy at this point. He's a little more refined.
You kind of know what you're getting with Jay Daniels
if he's healthy. You don't quite know what you're getting
with Caleb Williams. Yes, I agree, you're three and two celebrated.
I said it on Tuesday after the win. I'm like
it's the Bears. They won on the road, they won
(09:14):
a close game. You can see the coaching. There's a
touchdown difference Caleb last year Caleb this year. Eighteen to
twenty five points a game. But this idea that everybody's
supposed to fall in line, Caleb is still struggling with accuracy.
He is missing guys within twelve yards. He's holding the
ball too long. And these were the concerns out of college,
(09:37):
consistent accuracy, playing within structure. Now, I do think the
structure element he's getting better at. I do think he
could run more often than he's running. So I think
Caleb deserves credit for that. When you're as gifted as him,
it's very easy to take off. Lamar Jackson had to
get hit a few times. By year four, Lamar didn't
(09:57):
run as much Caleb or and Caleb could for a
lot of yards. Caleb is doing a better job to
plan structure. I will defend him all day on that.
But the accuracy thing, they're leaving some completions out there.
They're there a lot little swing passes. So here's been
on Ben Johnson about what he told Caleb on training
(10:22):
camp and how he was going to coach.
Speaker 5 (10:24):
Him this year.
Speaker 6 (10:25):
Standard has been set, the bar has been set high.
He has said that he wants to be not just
one of the best top five quarterbacks in this league,
but he wants to have a legacy that lasts for
a long time, and so we're coaching him that way.
We're approaching it that way. That's not going to change.
Is he going to be a finished product here year two?
Speaker 1 (10:44):
No?
Speaker 5 (10:46):
Yeah, he's not a finished product.
Speaker 1 (10:48):
And that's why a national broadcaster should say, nice win,
but there's a lot of work here. Like I know,
when I feel an announcer is being overly negative, I've
heard that before. But my taking all these national broadcasters,
they'd rather be optimistic and they'd rather be positive. I
think it's refreshing when any of them can go that's
(11:09):
not good enough. Yet they won, but they're leaving a
lot on the floor, a lot on the table. I
appreciate that. I don't.
Speaker 5 (11:17):
I don't.
Speaker 1 (11:17):
I don't need you to blow smoke. I'm not looking
for rainbows and pots of gold. Just give me honesty, right,
Like I'm a grown up. I remember again, when I
was a kid, when I was eight, nine, ten years old,
I liked Howard Cosell. I like the local sportscasters that
I thought were telling me the truth, not blowing smoke,
which I didn't even know blowing smoke meant. Then maybe
my sister smoking behind the house. So just just be honest.
(11:41):
I'm good with it. I don't need rainbows. J Mac
James Franklin, Penn State coach out. Marcus Freeman, Notre Dame coach.
Speaker 5 (11:52):
Is being is being wooed, ohnelyon.
Speaker 7 (11:57):
No shot whatsoever as a downgrade from Notre.
Speaker 5 (11:59):
Dame de Penn State.
Speaker 7 (12:00):
No disrespect to the folks in Happy Valley, but come on,
that's a Marcus Stream is not doing. His next stop
will be the NFL calling.
Speaker 1 (12:08):
Well, there's nothing like a little distraction during USC one.
Speaker 5 (12:12):
Yes, oh, I like that.
Speaker 2 (12:15):
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 5 (12:23):
Hi, this is Jay.
Speaker 8 (12:24):
I'm the producer of the Paula and Tony Fusco Show.
Usually in these promos they asked you to listen to
the show. I'm here to ask you please don't listen
to the show. The hosts are two absolute morons who
have the dumbest takes on sports, imagicable. Don't listen to
the show so it can get camped.
Speaker 3 (12:39):
What the hell are you doing our studio?
Speaker 5 (12:40):
Get him? Ignore that fool.
Speaker 9 (12:46):
Listen to the Pauline Tony Fusco Show on the iHeartRadio
app or wherever you get your podcast.
Speaker 2 (12:50):
He's still moving.
Speaker 1 (12:53):
Okay, So, uh, the everything I was talking about the
Dodgers and fans, Oh, they got all this money.
Speaker 5 (12:58):
Nobody's disputing that money. Nobody. You know, you'd rather have
a lot of money than no money, right.
Speaker 1 (13:04):
It doesn't mean there's a lot of happiness over a
certain threshold, but you can waste a lot of money too.
Here's another thing about the Dodgers. They stole Mookie Bets
from the Red Sox. Mooky Bets was available, he was expensive,
but before Otani, I mean, there's an argument Mooky is
the most complete player in baseball. When you watch him
play shortstop, you would never know he could also play outfield.
(13:27):
He didn't have a very good year until September and
then he caught fire. But Mookie Bets was available. He
was available to a lot of people, and the Dodgers
essentially gave the Red Sox picks or players, and none
of the players did much. So the minor league guys
didn't do anything. You can keep safe again, Max Munsey,
(13:51):
A's released him. A's were like, yeah, it's it's not
gonna it's no good.
Speaker 5 (13:56):
He can't play.
Speaker 1 (13:57):
He was hitting like less than two hundred. He goes
to the Dodgers and here's Max Munsey, who's just I mean,
he's been hitting bambs for years in Los Angeles and
taoscar Hernandez was available to the market, and then when
he got to La ta Oskar's like, yeah, I'm gonna
play for less. So Tommy Edmund Saint Louis had him,
didn't want to pay him. He was a two sixty
(14:17):
five hitter. He's a good defensive player. Dodgers NLCSMVP. So
when you're watching this thing, man, they are really Andrew
Friedman was the GM in Tampa years and years ago,
when Tampa got to a World Series and Tampa was
really good, and you're like, how they have no money?
How did Andrew Friedman build up those Tampa teams? He
(14:37):
didn't have the Dodgers pay roll. He won in a
division with the Yankees and the Red Sox and Toronto,
big money Boston Toronto, which I think is probably the
richest city in Canada. The Yankee all that money. Andrew
Friedman was making the playoffs. So you took his brain power,
you put him with a big bankroll, and they just
(14:58):
don't miss a lot.
Speaker 5 (15:00):
You could have had Manny Machado. They passed on him.
Speaker 1 (15:01):
They could have paid for him, Zach Grinky years and
years ago. They're like, no, no, no, I think he went
to Arizona. They've had opportunities to buy other plan they
buy the right dudes. Freddie Freeman got the right dude.
Great in the locker room, Mokey Betts show, Hey Otani,
and again Otani is not hit. The last two postseasons,
they're not winning because of Otani. He's been a monster
(15:23):
in the regular season. He can't hit right now.
Speaker 5 (15:27):
He is just lost. Okay.
Speaker 1 (15:29):
So I do this about every three or four weeks,
and it's difficult. I think there's one great team in
the NFL, and then I think there's another team that's
really really good. But it's time for my Super Bowl bubble,
and like a couple of these teams right now have
got to get better at things. But I always put
about six or seven teams in. I do think Philadelphia
(15:51):
will right the ship at least with a running game,
and I do think bo Nicks as the season progresses,
will get more consistent. But right now my Super Bowl bubble.
The teams I think could end up in a Super Bowl,
I don't know if they can win it. I think
they can end up there. Kansas City, Tampa, Philadelphia, Detroit, Seattle,
(16:13):
Green Bay, and Denver. I'm not saying bo Nick is
going to hoist a trophy. I think those teams either
have the coach, the roster, the defensive front, the O line,
and then I would put the Colts, the Rams, San
Francisco and the Bills. Now in three to four weeks,
when Hampton's back and Joe Alter back for the Chargers,
(16:35):
that's not their reality now. Right now, Chargers are missing
both tackles and I have a third string running back.
Speaker 5 (16:43):
The Rams would maybe.
Speaker 1 (16:45):
Be in it, but they lost Poka Nakula and they
are very reliant on Poka Nakoula in big downs. So
San Francisco, I think they're going to get healthier offensively.
They get Piarsol back and I You back and Kittle.
I think San Francisco. I don't know if they can
hoist a trophy, but rock Perty's coming back, so I'm
gonna put them on the edges. I didn't put Pittsburgh yet. Listen,
(17:06):
Pittsburgh's beating bad quarterbacks. The one really good team they played,
they got routed. They got routed by Seattle at home.
So Pittsburgh needs to win a couple more games. But
in terms of Kansas City, I don't know what everybody
else is watching. I mean the eye test. They are
fast defensively, and they have the best head coach, quarterback,
defensive coordinator combo in the sport. Here's Matt Hasselbeck earlier
(17:26):
this week on the Chiefs.
Speaker 9 (17:28):
And if you're starting quarterbacks, one of the greatest quarterbacks
to ever play the game ever, and then you've got
the best offensive play caller designer in our era and
Andy Reid, like, literally.
Speaker 5 (17:38):
How are you gonna like?
Speaker 9 (17:38):
That gives me confidence as a player, That gives me
confidence as a locker room and as a defense like
you got Mahomes over here running like speed option, like
like he's Vince Young or something like you got to
defend it all. You can tell that this is a team.
There's no panic, there's no players only meetings there. You
know they're three and three. This guy's not falling. You
know they're like, hey, we're going to.
Speaker 1 (17:58):
We're gonna go.
Speaker 9 (17:59):
Want to know this week, you know we're probably aky
game out.
Speaker 2 (18:01):
We're good.
Speaker 1 (18:03):
I will say Tampa is an interesting team because they're
five and one but needed the last second field goal
to beat the Jets, and four of their five wins
have come with a you know, within a field goal
or least. Now they're banged up, so they're gonna get
Chris Godwin back, Mike Evans back, Bucky Irving back. So
I think you're not seeing the best of Tampa's personnel,
(18:23):
and I still have them in the bubble. I think
there's tremendous value on winning close games and also something
to remember teams EBB and Flow. The Chargers look great,
then they fell apart physically. Now they're not that good.
I didn't put them in my top ten. Joe alt
Returns at left tackle, Hampton Returns, I think they're a
top ten team. San Francisco, I listen, I have Seattle
(18:47):
in the Super Bowl bubble. That has been Now you say,
what about New England? I like what New England's doing,
but they got whacked by Pittsburgh, and I don't have
Pittsburgh here, so I think New England's one of those
teams I need more. I need more from New England,
I need more from Pittsburgh. But if you're wondering where
New England is, I think Patriot fans know this is
(19:08):
a really cool spot to be in. But let's put
about four or five more wins down. You know, Drake
May still young, developing, and with Pittsburgh again, they got
absolutely routed special teams mistakes at home against Seattle. So
I know a lot of people are pointing to Denver
and bow Knicks.
Speaker 5 (19:25):
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (19:26):
I think Bo Nicks may not be a great deep
ball thrower, but the Denver Broncos lead the NFL. They
protect their quarterback better than anybody and get after years
better than anybody.
Speaker 5 (19:37):
That is.
Speaker 1 (19:38):
That's something that wins in January. That wins in cold weather.
Great old line play, great pass rush wins in January.
I never but into the Dolphins when they get off
for these hot starts and throw it over the top.
That's not January football. So there's two leads. There's two
seasons pre Thanksgiving and post Thanksgiving, and the football changes.
Remember we talked about this a couple of weeks ago.
Why were there fifteen quarterbacks with a hunt plus passer rating?
Speaker 5 (20:01):
And I said, look the weather.
Speaker 1 (20:02):
It was eighty degrees in Buffalo, Chicago had good Way, Chicago, Buffalo, Baltimore.
Weather's getting real chilly now, so things are gonna change.
Jmacked anybody in or out of the Super Bowl bubble,
New England, Pittsburgh didn't make it for me.
Speaker 5 (20:17):
I had your niners in, so you know what I
like to do.
Speaker 7 (20:19):
Instantly, look at the gambling odds you can see on
the screen there. Buffalo, who you have on the outside,
has the same odds to win the Super Bowl as
Kansas City. I think you're a little low on Buffalo.
I know they just lost and didn't look great to Atlanta.
But the other team you mentioned Pittsburgh, and I was
kind of scoffing, like, oh, come.
Speaker 5 (20:35):
On, they're junk.
Speaker 7 (20:37):
Pittsburgh and Seattle have these same Super Bowl odds Colin, which.
Speaker 5 (20:41):
I thought was surprising. I don't think Pittsburgh's great.
Speaker 7 (20:44):
The one team you don't have in the top twelve
are the Washington Commanders, who at plus twenty five hundred
have the same odds as San Francisco. Washington gets Terry mclorinback. Literally,
he's practicing right now with it with the team.
Speaker 6 (20:57):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (20:57):
By the way, Cowboys Commanders this weekend's spicy. That's got
Tampa Seattle written all over and that's got thirty three thirty.
I looked at the over under this morning. It's a
little low. Cowboys Commanders could be a wildly, wildly entertaining game.
Speaker 2 (21:13):
Be sure to catch live editions of the Herd weekdays
in noon Easter not a em Pacific.
Speaker 1 (21:18):
And with that we bring in Joel Klatt. He'll be
calling the Washington at Michigan games. That is a really,
really good game, a lot of urgency for both teams.
Speaker 5 (21:25):
So let's start with this.
Speaker 1 (21:28):
There's rumors, and they seem pretty substantial that Penn State's like, Okay,
we know we're spending seven hundred million in an update
to Beaver Stadium. We know we just wrote a forty
five million dollar check to James Franklin, and we know
we'd have to write one hundred million dollar check for
Marcus Freeman and his staff. But I hear those rumors
(21:49):
and that's probably the guy I would go after.
Speaker 5 (21:52):
Do you buy him? What are your thoughts about that?
Speaker 1 (21:54):
Well?
Speaker 10 (21:54):
I think that Pat Kraft, the athletic director at Penn State,
is going to take a big swing. I don't think
that anybody is off of his list, to be quite
honest with you, And if I was Pat Kraft, I
would start with the biggest swing possible. I know this
sounds crazy, but I think the first call I would
make is Nick Saban and just like just make sure.
Speaker 5 (22:13):
That that's not going to happen.
Speaker 10 (22:15):
And then you start going down the list of the
other coaches around the country. I think Dan Lanning would
get a call, and I think Marcus Freeman would get
a call. Now would Freeman leave Notre Dame? I'm not sure.
He just went to the national championship, you know. I'm
sure he feels like he can build something special. Is
Penn State a better job than Notre Dame? I don't
think it is personally, But that's a call that I
(22:37):
would make if I was Pat Kraft, because again, this
is a good job. I don't know if it is
a great job in college football, but in this cycle,
it's probably going to be the best job available calling.
Even if Florida were to come open, if they make
a move off of Billy Napier, even if Florida State,
you know, went south and Mike Norvelle was let go
of Florida State, whatever happens at Wisconsin, you know, even
(23:00):
if Brian Kelly were to somehow take a nosedive with
LSU beginning like let's say that this week. I'm not
sure that any of those jobs maybe LSUS, But but
Penn State is set up perfectly. You brought up the
investment into the stadium, seven hundred million dollars into the stadium.
Speaker 5 (23:19):
They're willing to.
Speaker 10 (23:19):
Pay the money to James Franklin to buy him out.
They've got support, and they've got an athletic director that's
willing to win. I think Kurz Signetti should probably get
a call. I would be swinging for the fences if
I was Patcraft, because here's the thing is that this
reminds me a lot. Maybe not quite to the tier
of Georgia, but Mark Rick at Georgia seemed to have
a ceiling on that program, and they felt like they
(23:40):
could go higher. They bring in Kirby Smart and they
did go higher. Maybe that's the moment that we're in
for Penn State right now, where the next guy is
going to lift the ceiling of this program and they
can actually go out there and win some of these
top twenty five, top ten games that James Franklin has
fallen short in.
Speaker 1 (23:58):
So a USC, speaking of No. Dame goes to South Bend.
I don't think it's a great spot for them. I
think the quarterback play at Notre Dame is so efficient
they'll pick on USC's corners the weakness of their roster.
I thought they bullied Michigan. I do not think they'll
be able to do this to Notre Dame. I thought
it was a very imply I said. I thought it
was bigger than people realized, beating Michigan and beating them
(24:21):
the way they did. That game was not as close
as the score, and I'm not sure Michigan's got the
right coach. We'll talk about that in five minutes. But
I don't think USC necessarily matches up.
Speaker 5 (24:31):
Well here, let's hit you.
Speaker 10 (24:32):
It's not as good of a matchup as they had
against Michigan. But I think, let me go back to
your point about the substance or the substantial moment for
usc last week. In beating Michigan the way that they did,
I started to think to myself, Yeah, they've had some
big wins since Pete Carroll left, but I can't remember
one that was maybe as important because of the way
(24:54):
that it was played. This signals to everybody like, hey,
maybe we can play at the top end of the
Big Ten. They took the team in this conference that
not only won the national championship a year ago in Michigan,
but also lays their entire identity in being a physical
team and winning the line of scrimmage in USC one
Bowl lines of scrimmage. That's why you saw Lincoln Riley
(25:15):
so emotional and joyful after the game is because he
knew what that win meant and the fashion in which
it happened.
Speaker 5 (25:21):
So that's an important win.
Speaker 10 (25:23):
Now, the matchup against Notre Dame probably isn't quite as good,
and the reason is, and you touched on it briefly,
is the balance that Notre Dame has on offense. Yeah,
because Michigan really can't well I shouldn't say can't. They
don't throw the ball well and just a drop back scenario,
so they have to run the football and then get
their quarterback out on the outside in order to start
(25:43):
to throw the ball and be efficient doing so. But
that's not the case with Notre Dame. So Notre Dame
can run it with Jeremiah Love, he's one of the
best backs in the country. And then CJ. Carr has
been outstanding. He's been one of the most efficient quarterbacks
in the country. And so they have that balance that
would scare you a little bit. And yes, there is
an Operation Trinity to throw the ball against USC. Illinois
proved that a couple of weeks ago when Illinois ended
(26:06):
up beating the Trojans, and so this matchup maybe isn't
quite as good, But I sure feel a lot different
about this game as a Trojan fan if I was
a Trojan fan today than I did last week at
this point because of the way that they were able
to beat Michigan. Now you can at least lean on
the fact that, hey, maybe we can run the football
and it's not just going to be a Miava show
(26:27):
on the road and what could be rainy conditions, by
the way, fifty with some rain, it's like it's almost
like it's almost like the Catholic school has a direct
line to God right, it's like, hey, what do you
want to do with USC. It's like, give us some
rain and some cool weather. So it could be an
interesting one. But I certainly feel like Notre Dame is
set up in this game and balanced enough on offense
(26:49):
to take advantage.
Speaker 5 (26:50):
Well.
Speaker 1 (26:50):
Your top ten as Ohio State, Indiana, Miami, Texas and
m Bama Texas, Tech, Oregon, Georgia, Notre Dame, Ole Miss
I don't have any quabbles with it. Let's talk Oregon.
What happened against Indiana?
Speaker 5 (27:02):
That I mean.
Speaker 1 (27:03):
I'll say this about Indiana is last year they were
a great story. They weren't a great team. I had
my reservations. I did say I thought it would be close,
but they really dominated the game. Do you buy in
Let's talk Oregon what happened? And do you buy Indiana
as a national title contender?
Speaker 2 (27:19):
Yeah.
Speaker 10 (27:20):
So the first part of that is is I think
that Oregon has got to look themselves in the mirror
a little bit because physically they got beat up at
the line of scrimmage and they couldn't protect their quarterback.
That was a huge issue in particular in the second half,
and they didn't really do anything defensively to disrupt the
(27:40):
timing of Fernando Mendoza. You know, so Indiana was able
to stay balanced and run the football if they needed to,
and then Mendoza was really good and not pressured much
in the pocket. So the lineus scrimmage. For Oregon, they've
got to take a big look in the mirror and
actually evaluate what are we right now and what are
we going to be moving forward. I do think that
they're talented enough and that's a good enough coaching staff
(28:03):
where they can learn from this, grow from this, and
become better. Remember, Ohio State lost at Oregon last year.
They lost against Michigan and became something great afterwards. That's
certainly still on the table for Oregon. Now the second
part of your question, I think this when maybe even
more so than USC over Michigan in the way that
that happened in the coliseum. This was a real seismic
(28:23):
type of performance because it transitioned Indiana from a good
team that we didn't know if they could handle the
big boys to okay, wow, this is a national championship
caliber team. I really believe that they were great on
the offensive line, they were terrific on the defensive line,
their quarterback is as good as any out there, and
their wide receivers make a ton of plays. I talked
(28:44):
with Kurt Signetti on my show earlier this week. He
is a process oriented guy. He's one of the best
coaches in America, and they really attack the weaknesses of
their opponent as well as anybody. Their coordinators have been terrific.
This is again a seismic moment in college football and
in the Big Ten Conference because Indiana just proved to
(29:04):
everybody around the country that they're not just a cute
story and they're not just a legit team. That's a
team that could beat anybody in America and potentially win
a national championship.
Speaker 5 (29:14):
You know, it's last year.
Speaker 1 (29:16):
I thought Ohio State, it took Chip Kelly a while,
and in new coordinators too.
Speaker 5 (29:22):
He was a pro coordinator.
Speaker 1 (29:23):
It comes in to his buddy Ryan Day, and it
took him a while, and then Matt Patricia and Chip leaves.
Matt Patricia comes in and you know, the arch manning struggling.
He struggled a lot. Maybe it wasn't Matt Patricia, but
I'm watching that Ohio State defense and I'm just telling you,
turn the volume down.
Speaker 5 (29:39):
On your TV.
Speaker 1 (29:40):
Don't listen to the announcers, don't listen to confirmation bias.
Speaker 5 (29:43):
Well, no, you guys are good and everything. But my
point is.
Speaker 1 (29:46):
They look shots fired in the middle of the question.
My goodness, they look faster than college offenses can handle.
Ohio States defense looks too equipped for the average college offense.
That's what it looks like to me.
Speaker 10 (30:02):
I am going to try to disregard that clear personal
shot that was taken and try to address the question
as it was asked from the substance.
Speaker 5 (30:12):
Colin, I will tell you this that this defense.
Speaker 10 (30:16):
Yes they're fast, yes they're physical, but it's the fact
that they can run so much from a schematic perspective and.
Speaker 5 (30:24):
Do it well.
Speaker 10 (30:25):
Their players are really smart, and I think the thing
that makes them so difficult is a lot of their
players are what I would call hybrid players, so they're versatile.
Caleb Down's probably the most versatile defensive back in all
of college football.
Speaker 5 (30:37):
They can line them up anywhere.
Speaker 10 (30:39):
It makes it incredibly difficult to get an indicator of
what they're in. Rvel Reese has been maybe the story
in college football on the defensive side for how quickly
he's rising up draft boards. He could be one of,
if not the best defender in college football. Their linebacker.
Oh by the way, they also have Sonny Styles, who's
a five star six five, two hundred, two hundred and
(30:59):
forty pounds linebacker that can run. All you have to
do is look at some of these opposing offenses, what
they've done against other opponents, and then what they don't
do against Ohio State. I think this weekend I'm studying
demand Williams getting ready for the Michigan Washington game, which
I think is going to be a fantastic game. By
the way, Demand Williams in the Washington offense is one
(31:21):
of the best offenses in all of college football. Demon
Williams is like Kyler Murray light. He had just short
of I think a million yards against Rutgers last Friday night,
and then you look at what he did against Ohio
State and it was basically nothing.
Speaker 5 (31:35):
And it's because of the.
Speaker 10 (31:36):
Scheme, and it's because of the length, the versatile nature
of their players, and the speed with which they play.
Matt Patricia has done an incredible job. Every play, it's
a different defensive front and a different coverage, and that
combination changes throughout the game, and it makes it hard
on the play caller and the quarterback to decipher what
that defense is in. And by the way, they've got
(31:57):
some of the better players in the country. That defense
has has allowed me to sit there watch Ohio State
and be pretty comfortable in saying that they have separated
themselves at the top tier of college football. That is, yeah,
pretty clearly the best team in college football. And think
about this, colin. They haven't even really gone into third gear.
They've just been allowed to play patient, conservative offense, and
(32:18):
no game is close.
Speaker 1 (32:20):
Yeah, the Washington game was a real eye opener because
Washington's offense. Sometimes it took us a while to get
going against Maryland. But Washington can score at all levels
tight end, running back, quarterback, receiver. They got pro they
got Sunday guys. So I want to talk about Michigan.
I've said this for years. It can become you know,
it sounds a little elitist when I say, don't hire
(32:42):
the coordinator, don't hire the popular guy on staff, do
a global search and get the best coach. So Harbaugh
leaves and they bring in the popular guy in the staff,
capable guy, nice guy. But I'm like, it's Michigan. I'm
not sure I want Michigan to be your first job.
Harbaugh head coached in college, he coached in the NFL,
and it took Harball a long time at Michigan to
(33:02):
get going. And so my take was, I know that's
the popular choice. I love Marsha and I love Underwood,
but I doesn't I mean, I'm watching Michigan to get
pushed around and I don't remember Harball teams getting pushed
around like that. Did Michigan Did they got the right guy?
Speaker 10 (33:19):
Well, here's the pushback I would give you is that
when your team is having top end success, a succession
plan has actually been the blueprint that has worked best.
Speaker 5 (33:31):
Think of Ohio.
Speaker 10 (33:32):
State, from Urban Meyer to Ryan Day, from Oklahoma Bob
Stoops to Lincoln Riley.
Speaker 5 (33:38):
You know it's you can have the global search.
Speaker 2 (33:40):
Yeah.
Speaker 10 (33:40):
I understand that sentiment. But the problem is is that
that locker room felt like they didn't need a change,
and you don't want to disrupt the culture of something
that is working. It's different when you've got to fire
James Franklin and then there is a clear mantra of
like we're going to build something different or go to
a different location when a coach is underperforming, but when
(34:01):
you're performing at the highest level, the succession plan is
actually what has worked in college football. And the fear
even though you don't want to operate out of fear,
but the fear would have been if you were a
ward manual the athletic director that if you would have
brought someone in from the outside, even if it was
a home run, right, you know, and you win the
press conference, do you retain the roster? And that's a question.
(34:23):
Do you retain the culture? That's a question because we've
also seen seen teams that are really close that are
good cultures, that are good football teams, but want to
go to greatness and they make the wrong hire Bill
Callahan at Nebraska, possibly Luke Fickle at Wisconsin. And so
you change that culture of something that you've been for
a long time and your players believe in, and it
(34:45):
can go south. And I think that was the predicament
that Michigan was in when Jim Harbaugh left. Sharon Moore
is at a really important time in his tenure at Michigan.
That loss was ground shaking in a lot of ways
in that building because of the way that it happened.
As big as it was for USC is probably even
worse for Michigan because of the way that it happened.
(35:06):
They have to get back to first principles. What made
you great in twenty twenty one that started the run
toward a national championship, Physicality, stopping the run, running the football. See,
if you do three things at Michigan really well, you
can probably win. Stop the run, run the ball, cover kicks.
That's what Jim Harbaugh did. Now it started to grow
(35:27):
after JJ McCarthy became a veteran quarterback, and they get
some guys like Blake Koram and things like that in
their offense. But those foundational things, that's what Sharon has
to go back to. I would be pretty surprised if
they didn't run the football forty five fifty times this
week to get back to first principal's Michigan identity.
Speaker 1 (35:46):
Joel Klatt, College Football the Voice, aid Fox, good.
Speaker 5 (35:49):
See anybody.
Speaker 10 (35:50):
I mean, I didn't even take a shot at weekly
radio hosts and why you wouldn't want to listen to
those guys? Well, man, I feel like I took one
right between the eyes. You know, you stay in Chicago
or via remote, and it's just like, bamn.
Speaker 5 (36:04):
Listen, this show is hard.
Speaker 1 (36:06):
Kidding yourselves like it's like it's like going to Columbus
in October.
Speaker 5 (36:09):
It's all you gotta be ready. You show up here,
you better be ready. Good seeing you,
Hosts And Creators
Colin Cowherd
Jason McIntyre
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