First, Colin explains why running backs shouldn’t blame media narratives for not getting paid like other positions.
Then Colin is joined by SNAPS Podcast Host - and former LSU OL - T Bob Hebert to discuss Brian Kelly’s impact on the program, what could prevent them from contending for a title this year, if Saban’s decline is exaggerated, why Oklahoma and Texas could be in trouble in the SEC, Lincoln Riley and USC’s scary potential, Ed Orgeron’s ultimate legacy at LSU, and what it was like growing up as the son of SAints QB Bobby Hebert.
Follow Colin and The Volume on Twitter for the latest content and updates! #Herd #Volume #SNAPS
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
The volume. All right, coming up in ten minutes. I
have yet to bring him on, but about nine months
to a year ago we hired Snaps. It was an
(00:21):
SEC college football show. Aaron Murray is the former Georgia
quarterback and then T Bob Abar. His dad played in
multiple leagues USFL, NFL, was a quarterback professionally for fifteen
years Falcon Saints, and T Bob a bear a wildly colorful, outspoken,
(00:44):
hysterically funny, thought provoking host. He's I think he is
really the most compelling voice of college football in the South,
and I feel so goddamn lucky we have him at
the volume. But I'm going to give you thirty minutes
of his world view on Brian Kelly, ed orgeron Nick Saban,
Lincoln Riley, Texas, Oklahoma coming in, and something on his dad.
(01:09):
So his dad was the quarterback for the Falcons the Saints.
That jumps out to me went to a small school.
Great story, and I want to introduce you to him.
I introduced you a couple of years ago to Jason Timph,
three years ago to John Middlecoff. T Bob is truly
one of a kind. He is just a remarkable talent
(01:30):
and he joined us in ten minutes. But first I
want to address something. Unlike college basketball, where a player
doesn't have to go to college, he can go to
the G League, he can go overseas. College football players
have to go to college for a minimum of three years.
Most go four, and some red shirt and go five.
(01:50):
And at some point during that college career, I presume
at least some of them took econ one oh one,
an economy class. I understand being upset, but it's basic.
Supply and demand. Rule changes have made it more of
a passing league, so receivers, quarterbacks, tight ends, and left
tackles have never made more. And because the supply and demand,
(02:16):
especially the demand part for running backs is on the
low side and there's a pretty good supply of them
in college, they're not making the money they did. Folks.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
It's analytics.
Speaker 1 (02:28):
These running backs are all upset, guys. It's business. Offensive
players are getting paid those directly connected to passing. For
the record, the highest paid running back is also the
best receiving running back in the NFL, Christian McCaffrey. So
for years and years in the NBA, players were often
(02:51):
dissuaded from shooting threes. Now they're persuaded to shoot threes.
It's called analytics. In baseball, strikeouts were bad, keep the
ball in play. Math analytics says, no, strikeouts are not
the worst thing. Ground Balls are hit it out of
the park. Walk strikeout. Don't hit ground balls. And in
(03:16):
football we have all sorts of players that have never
been more valuable. Again, left tackle, tight end, wide receiver, quarterback,
great corner, edge rusher, interior lineman, Chris Jones, Aaron Donald,
Fletcher Cox. But there are positions because the middle of
the field now is an offensive player zone, not a
defensive player that the dominating, intimidating safety less valuable. The
(03:41):
linebacker who's off ball and can't cover in space of
very little value, interior old lineman less valuable. Running Backs
unless they're great at catching the ball and running it
and are healthy, not as valuable. It's supply and demand complicated.
Their running backs can be upset, And I feel bad
(04:02):
for a guy like Austin Eckler who got drafted loan,
never made big money, and now is left without the
contract he desires. I feel bad, But Saquon Barkley was
a top ten pick. He's made more money than all
but Christian McCaffrey and Derrick Henry in the entire league.
At his position, he made his money early. Some guys
make it late. That's the way pro sports works. Cultures,
(04:24):
analytics change, business changes. I saw a study the other
day where airline pilots thirty five percent admit napping during flights.
That's because the cockpit is more automated. I mean outside
of the first three minutes. In the last eight they
don't do much. You still need a pilot in case
of an emergency, but they're not as responsible for the
(04:46):
safety as the passengers as they once were. So you know,
people are getting very emotional about this. I've worked in
local and national TV radio podcasting for a long time.
I started my career doing local sports. It basically got eliminated.
Then I did local sports talk radio. ESPN radio went
(05:07):
all in. That mostly got eliminated except major markets. Then
I did syndicated radio ESPN. Not that it got eliminated,
but if you didn't have an accompanying television simulcast, it
wasn't as valuable. That's why I went to Fox. And
now cable TV is eroding, so cable TV my career
in cable TV could be ending here in the next
six or seven years or whenever. There's no guarantees. I've
(05:30):
constantly been trying to pivot to retain employment. I'm not
bitter about it. Running Backs can absolutely enhance themselves by
being better receivers, Christian McCaffrey, being better run blockers. I mean,
cam Aker's got in the doghouse for the Rams why
he refused to pass block and he gotten Sean mcvay's doghouse.
(05:52):
He improved in the second part of last year, got
back on the field. So there's where it's to enhance
your status, enhance longevity. But some of it for running
backs as luck, they're the last player you can tackle
viciously from any angle. Everybody else is protected in football
on offense except the running back. He remains the pinata
of the league. So some of this was inevitable and
(06:16):
I can feel bad, But like any other career, doesn't
matter if you're a banker or a running back or
a media personality. Side hustles constantly trying to add value
to your career. It's part of the game. Twenty years ago.
If you didn't pay I don't know if Gail Sayers
was a pass blocker or Oj Simpson, but it was
(06:37):
a running league. Now it's a passing league, and the
quarterbacks making forty seven million dollars a year protect him.
So I can feel bad for running backs. They still
get paid, not as much as they used to. Sports
tend to be cyclical. Maybe it comes around. Let's be honest.
Now it was a small ball NBA about thirty years ago.
(07:00):
Now yokicha title, Yannis a title. The Lakers were a
big team in the bubble of title biggs are coming
back around as long as they're highly skilled, can pass
you to jumper and defend. So it's cyclical. The league
will never be the CFL. The league may get so
finesse and pass happy with continuing rules to help offense
(07:20):
that a big, strong running back that can control the
clock and keep it away from Mahomes and Lamar and
Josh Allen and Herbert may emerge and we may move
into a different cycle of the power running back who
can keep it away from Mahomes. Maybe that will be
the future. But guys, supplying to man econ one oh one,
you have to go to college for three years to
(07:40):
be in the NFL. Most played four years. Somewhere there
five you had to take an Econ class somewhere. Summer
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Speaker 2 (08:56):
It's so easy.
Speaker 1 (08:57):
Last minute tickets Major League Baseball, lowest prices guaranteed. So
let me ask you. I pick LSU to win the
title this year. I think they have the most depth
of talent. I'm a huge, huge Brian Kelly fan.
Speaker 2 (09:16):
Yeah, me too.
Speaker 1 (09:18):
And when he got called out by the media, he's
never been he's a little grumpy, a little rigid, and
he doesn't have you know, he's kind of got that
uh Tom Coughlin face turning plumb screaming. I always thought
he was tough on quarterbacks, but I think once you
do it four times, four quick turnarounds, you know what
the hell you're doing. So he goes out and does
(09:39):
a couple of cringy things on social media and everybody
crushed him. How did that play though in LSU? How
did it plan Baton Rouge? How did it play in
among your fans?
Speaker 2 (09:52):
Well, it's interesting, right because right now he has a
near one hundred percent approval rate. But that's what beating
Alabama and winning the SEC Western year one will do,
Like especially in a year where you were picked to
finish last like a lot of days, I think else
you win total last year was like six and a
half and they end up going ten and four, And
(10:15):
you think about a colin. You know this better than
anyone in sports. What actually decides a fan base's happiness
level is not the results themselves, it's where do they
land in relation to expectations? Right, So, Brian Kelly vastly
exceeded expectations, but even at the time, even pre wins,
there was a belief at LSU that they had a
(10:37):
special guy and that wasn't hard to get there. I mean,
if you looked at Kelly's resume, it's on parallel, well
without unparalleled, without a nattic, right. I mean, he's the
winning his coach in all of college football. He's just
missing that crown jewel. He left a Notre Dame team
that was on the edge of the playoff to join
a six and seven LSU team with thirty nine scholarship players.
(10:58):
So that tells you what he thought about the but
of LSU, and I think that played with a lot
of the local people and more than that, man is
he wasn't Notre Dame Brian Kelly. Everything you just said, grumpy,
impersonal authoritarian, that's all melted away. He's one of the
most personable people I've ever seen. I was blown away.
(11:18):
One of the first sights when he got the job.
I was invited up to the stadium for a little
meet and greet bunch of alumni boosters, you know, one
of those type deals, and watching him work to the room,
I was like, Okay, this dude's different, Like this is
I love Coacho. That's my boy. Like I just said, right,
I played for less miles for many for five years.
(11:39):
LSU hadn't had anybody like this since Nick Saban. His
political acumen. As he worked that room, It's like he
had a whirlpool of influence around him. He had people
kind of subtly feed him information, cracking jokes. Getting it
just felt like watching like a fortune five hundred CEO
work room. He just carries himself with a granitas.
Speaker 1 (11:59):
That is yeah. And I think sometimes the media does
a poor job of hiding their agendas, is that Brian
can be gruff. The Notre Dame job is one of
the unique jobs in college football where the media still
believes it's elite. But the truth is they can't recruit
with LSU, Bama, Georgia or even I would say Lincoln
(12:22):
Riley or Ohio State or Harball when they're really rolling.
There's an academic umbrella. It's a small, rural, cold weather
town Notre Dame now is a hard job. Now, by
the way, his three predecessors, Ty Willingham, you know, Bob Davey,
Charlie Weiss illustrated how damn Howard is right. So it's
(12:43):
like people don't understand everybody wins at LSU. In the
last twenty years. One guy has won it, Notre Dame,
and so when he took the job, I said, I
get it. LSU in my opinion, and I really I've
said this before, maybe the best job because Louisiana, the
state gives you thirty Division one players. You can get
(13:05):
twelve to fifteen year class, especially interior linemen. The size
is in so important California. You can't find an elite
defensive tackle. You guys have like six to eight a year.
Speaker 2 (13:17):
Y'all, y'all get but y'all got the quarterbacks, dude. Everybody
still goes out west to farm them quarterbacks. But we
got yeah, we got your skills. We got some size
down here for sure.
Speaker 1 (13:28):
So I guess I think this is the best team
in the country. I like Jayden Daniels. He elevated pretty
marginal talent in Tempe. Give me your takeaway on my
proclamation they can win a title. What worries you about
LSU and where do you think they can? They can
be even better than Georgia.
Speaker 2 (13:47):
So I think what worries me is still what Brian
Kelly Deck's has been talking about is listed recentable media
tour where he's kind of saying, look, we're in year two,
We're not at We're not as fleshed out as a
Kirby Smart in Alabama or excuse me, a Kirby Smart Georgia,
Nick Saban Alabama, unless you still have some filling into
(14:08):
the corners to do if you like now now, frontline
starters they're twenty two is as good as anybody, right,
Jane Daniels second highest heismanodge you're turning the entire offensive line.
You had true freshman started tackles in the SEC last
year and they did well. So frontline starters, yes, but
there may be a little brittle, right, a couple of
key injuries, and I don't know that they have the
(14:29):
ability to absorb it in a way that Georgia would,
in a way that Alabama would. Now quarterback, ironically, they
might be all right. Garrett Nolsmier's probably about as frisk
give a backup as you're gonna find. But to me,
like the thing, it's interesting as Kell's been going around
and saying, you know, I think in year three will
be in an even better spot. And as a head coach,
(14:49):
it's probably true when it comes to the overall health
of the program. They're still taking transfers where they'd like
to get more high school development. But to your point, Colin,
there is a sneaky good window right now in year
and um two, nobody has a quarterback. Alabama, Georgia, Ohio State,
they're all working in you guys. But LSU, between the
coaching staff and the players, has more returning than nearly
(15:13):
anybody else. And they do have the talent win a championship.
It's just that they're not as complete as Georgia and
Alabama right now. Like the secondary answer questions, don't know
who the starting corner is gonna be. You have talent there,
you know who'snna win that job. Edge defender is probably
the biggest weakness on the team. Or now you don't
have a true dominant pass Rusheran you're probably talking about
(15:35):
relying on a true freshman and Sean Womack to play
that role. So so very very good championship potential. I
still just see little imperfections that when you're talking about
what decides these things, that may be the thing that
holds them back.
Speaker 1 (15:51):
So Saban the South is can be insular and protective
of its history. So Sabin is a combination of feared,
beloved and hated in the South right, it's a very
the trifecta that they're very proud of what he has created.
(16:12):
The greatest football dynasty ever collegiately. And I look at
it now and he goes up against He's going to
go up against Sark and Lane Kiffen and Kirby Smart
and Brian Kelly. And I've said this for years. Part
of the success of Lebron James and that Eastern Conference
was so a lot of bad owners, a lot of
bad coaches in the Eastern Conference. I mean some of
(16:34):
it was the West had the dynasty, the KD Steph Dinasty.
Lebron wouldn't get to the finals through the West in
those years. And so when Sabin first came into the conference,
the first eight nine years has a lot of bad
coaches and a lot of the big dogs, the Georgia's,
the Tennessees, sometimes the LSUS, they just Florida. They just
(16:55):
couldn't get their act together. Now, ad Sark's gonna be
a handful. Is there a sense Nick's aged doesn't work
the recruiting trail quite as much people have stolen some
of the secret sauce. Is there a sense now that
Alabama on any given Saturday, you guys last year is
(17:17):
much more beatable?
Speaker 2 (17:19):
Well, I think there's data to back up the more
beatable things, So there is some measure of decline there,
and that isn't credit to the HighRes I mean, what
about shoe freeze at open Like that's a perfect fit.
Maybe not here in year one, but like there's only
so much oxygen to go around the room. I don't know,
it's all gonna break. The only thing that worries me
not Alabama, and I'm being worried in terms of those
(17:42):
who have suffered at the hand of the crimson Emperor
in the past, who have felt that boot heel of
oppression on our neck. The only thing that worries me
is everybody's kind of talking down to him. Nick Saban
very famously used to have to fight against rat poison, right,
you have to fight against what Kirby Smart's trying to
fight again to now, complacency. Now he has more legitimate
(18:03):
bulletin war material than he has ever had previously. And
in shocking Colin, but blue chip ratio have you heard
about that Bud Elliott puts it together and basically it
looks at okay, what percentage of your roster are blue
chip prospects? No team since they started doing this about
seventeen years ago has ever won a Natty with less
than fifty percent bluechip ratio. Alabama leads the country once again.
(18:28):
I think they're at like high eighties right now. So
they still are even though they have questions, who's gonna
be the starting quarterback? If you didn't win with Bryce Young,
how are you gonna within this guy? Like, they have questions,
but they still have the most talented roster top to bottom.
And where it becomes concerned is that if they figure
out quarterback, if one of these new guys hit, if
Ty Simpson, maybe Jaylen Miller, maybe one of these freshmen,
(18:50):
if they hit, they're immediately as much of a championship
contender once again as anyone. I mean, go look at
all the computer models, whether it's Austin Bots model at
the f I think Bill Connolly's at ESPN. All the
computers love Alabama, love Alabama's humans are like these question
So I think I feel like Nick's thanks to Kirby's rise,
(19:13):
Nick is in the spot that he's never been before,
where he's kind of laying a relative underdog relative to
what Alabama has been. This is as doubted as they
have ever been.
Speaker 1 (19:25):
So Oklahoma and Texas after the season will enter the SEC.
It's a good news bad news. The good news is
the SEC will extend its dominance in college football and
its status. The bad news is, you know, if you're
off week is playing Oklahoma at home, it's just going
to be impossible to go undefeated, like you just two
(19:46):
more teams to face, and Sark, for all the misgivings
about him, is an elite recruiter and they got big,
big bodies on the Owen d lines. Yeah, how are listen?
SEC fans the ones that call a Paul Feinbaum show
think you know, Alabama's never going to lose, But when
you talk to your realistic fan in the South, is
(20:08):
there some concern that shit? Man? How many top fifteen
teams can you play? I mean Texas, I watched them
play Alabama last year. Yeah, athlete the athlete, they looked
like the same. I can argue Texas had the better roster,
Bama had the better coach. I mean, I'll watched that game,
and I thought, you know, you needed Bryce Young That's
(20:30):
why it was the number one pick. Texas looked bigger
and stronger. So not just your fanboy, but is there
some concern that guys like it's a gauntlet forget the playoff?
How do you get there?
Speaker 2 (20:44):
Well, that goes back to like the only so much
oxygen in the room, right, Like, how in the world
are all these teams going to breathe? All these teams
fans again, to go back to expectation levels, it's to
be in the playoffs now. Now for Texas, that may
be a bit underd B. Oklahoma, that's the winningest program
in the last twenty five years. All they did was
win ten games every year, like last season was an
(21:06):
aberration for them. So, but in terms of what the
realistic SEC fan is expecting, Honestly, Colin, I don't I
don't think at this moment, I don't think they're very
intimidated by Texas Oklahoma and the reason being are a couple.
First Off, Texas been down since that Mac Brown National championship, right,
They've been pretty consistently down. And it's interesting to hear
(21:28):
you talk about Sark because I'm a bit of a
Stark down or here where Sarks never won ten games.
I need Stark to prove to me that he can
win ten games. I need to start to prove these
things before I give them a bit of the I
likes an elite recruiter, But how does that team go
eight and five last year when they're more talented than
every other Big twelve team that they're facing. How does
Oklahoma under Bret Mintabals go six and seven when they're
(21:51):
more talented than every Big twelve team that they're facing.
And so I think for now this is this is
likely Hubris right, but that's what we do as people.
But I think for now, as the Sea fans, it's not,
oh man, we don't know what we're getting into them doing.
I think I se Seed fans will get Texas at home,
but say, you don't know what you're getting into you
(22:12):
and Oklahoma's being able to just run through the Big
twelve for a decade now and just kind of have
their way as Texas kind of flounders and tries to
find themselves once again. So honestly, I even think kind
of irrational fans here aren't overly concerned. That's why this
year is so important for Texas right start needs to
prove it that he's the guy going in there. So
(22:32):
important for Oklahoma fans that they can believe in print
Vinnables because we've never seen Brent Fvinnables be a head
coach and even as a coordinator. He's in that Dado
Sweeney environment, which isn't really representative of their environments around
the country. Oh have recruited at or elite levels. Right,
I didn't think Vinables can recruit. He already proved me
wrong there. Now they got to prove it, prove wrong
and feel like answer me this con Texas and Oklahoma,
(22:55):
what's they have to finish one two in the Big Twelve?
Like they are arkedly more talented than any other team
the Big Club, Why should it they?
Speaker 1 (23:04):
Kansas State returns like eighteen starters. The feeling is this
is the best Kansas State team in forever. So they
got picked second. They return a ton. But I agree
with you, Oklahoma doesn't look at seventy percent of Kansas
State players. They don't recruit them, They're not even interested.
So to your point of here's my concern about Brett Venables.
(23:27):
I think Oklahoma missed on their head coaching higher. And
by the way, even schools like Alabama have missed several times.
USC has missed several times, Michigan has missed several times.
Notre Dame has it happens. The first thing I always
look at, does the coach you hire is his side
of the ball locked up? Cinched up dramatically better immediately.
(23:52):
Lincoln Riley took a four win team to an elite
offense Sean McVay NFL Kirby smart defense, Saban got the
defense right before the offense. Forget the Sooners offense. The
defense was an s show like that tells me. That
tells me T Bob, he's over his skiz. They got
they got a coordinator. The defense was awful.
Speaker 2 (24:14):
Yeah, no, I mean, look I I it's it's again
why I think Oklahoma this offseason they have a very
good gymnastics program. And you could tell because the fans
have been doing a lot of mental gymnastics to try
to explain why Bread Vittabules is a guy now. Granted again,
to their credit, this is like they're they're kind of
drowning right now, and they're desperate. They're looking to fight everybody.
(24:35):
They're looking for something to latch onto. They've latched onto recruiting.
You know, he's done well there and so that's kind
of their only comeback right now. But I'm with Yukon.
He's supposed to be an defensive coach. Again. They had
talent on the defense, Lincoln took offensive guys. He didn't
take the defense, and they were dead last and vigor.
They were awful, completely awful. They give up more first
(24:55):
downs than anyone in in in the Power five. So
I'm I'm look, I'm I'm not a Bret Vinables believer.
I've been very clear about that. I'm also not a
Stark believer. I think both these schools that have all
the potential in the world, I just think they got
a hit on the right guy. Here's Michael with Vinables again.
I think he has to win ten games. He has
to be able to try that he can compete for champion.
(25:17):
For Big Talf Champ's Oklahoma start. I'm giving sarka lowbar
this year. Texas win ten games with a Bowl game.
If you do that, I'll e cro I'm wrong. Vinables
kind of the same deal. You get the ten wins.
I'll allow for being here. Two. The only thing that
makes me a little angry. Also in the Oklahoma Venables
front is he talks about I need to change the culture.
(25:41):
When he got there, the culture was twenty five straight
winning seasons, stacking six in a row, Big twelve championships.
The culture is one of the most successful football programs
of all time that you took over. And like you said,
and this is where I really terrified. If I'm an
Oklahoma fan, everything college football is about the head coach.
(26:02):
He is your Roman politician general. He is the one
that's going to decide the fate of the country that
you love so much. Look at what happened to Oklahoma
when Lincoln Riley left, and look at what happened to
USC when Lincoln Riley got there. That is an elite guy.
That's the top five guy. And when you have one
of those, you kind of hold on to it for
(26:23):
everything it's worth. And Oklahoma never in their wildest dreams
would have thought that they could get one of those
guys poached. I mean, it's crazy, like that's one of
the most successful programs in collge football history. That should
never happen. But it shows you the power of USC
and that Trojan brand.
Speaker 1 (26:41):
Here's my theory on why Lincoln Riley left Oklahoma. Unlike Louisiana,
unlike Georgia, unlike Alabama, Unlike Florida or Texas. Oklahoma's recruiting
profile the state now provides about six elite players a year,
so he looked at going to play those recruiting hotbitch,
He's not going to be able to pull players out
(27:03):
of lsh out of Louisiana, Georgia, Alabama, and Texas. Going
to the SEC was going to make him it harder
to pull players out of Texas. It's virtually unheard of.
Oregon's an outlier though they have no national title, to
be from a state that delivers less than fifteen elite
players annually and win a title. So Phil Knight has
(27:26):
made Oregon geographically isolated in a state that gives you
three viable They recruit California, but Lincoln Riley looked at
the weakness of the PAC twelve, the supply of California athletes,
and said, I can put a stop sign on Big
ten teams and SEC teams get twelve to eighteen of
(27:47):
my players from here. My competition's weak. UCLA is a
basketball school, and I think Lincoln Riley smartly. Everybody said
he's not a man. I think his business. I think
he looked at it and went Oklahoma its best days
are over and USC is a sleeping giant. That was
my take when it happened. The day it happened. What
was your initial thought?
Speaker 2 (28:08):
So the day it happened, I was one of the
I was one of the kind of poopooers running away
from competition sort of guys.
Speaker 1 (28:21):
You know.
Speaker 2 (28:21):
It felt like a sexy tape at the time. But
combined with that was the potential of USC. And this
is something that I actually have a lot of trouble
get through to my audience in Louisiana because I'll mention
USC and they want to act like USC is just
far away, high fluting, unthreatened, and no they don't care.
(28:43):
They're like, oh but they don't care that we care,
And I'm like, okay, that's fine. But economically ninety percent
of the population of Louisiana buying in, Like, what does
it take five percent of LA and you match the economics,
so like, yeah, the potential of USC is it seeds
out of Oklahoma. Now, I do think you give recruit
(29:04):
to Okahma. I think that's been proven, Like the Texas
football economy is unbelievable. I was looking at some of
the other day. Colin actually was based off of your take,
So I was like, Okay, is it realistic to think
that A and M and Texas and Oklahoma can all
take players in same state and they actually had so,
like Texas just produces an unreal amount of players, but
it's way harder, but it's way harder and it takes
(29:27):
way more work. And in Texas gets strong, it's only
going to get harder. And you're in the SEC, it's
only gonna get harder. And the Big Ten is a
better conference in the Pac twelve, but it's top heavy.
It's very very top heavy, right, Like you got your
Big three, and a USC's gonna fit in fine amongst
the Big three and immediately be able to compete. So no,
I agree that the inherent potential of USC is greater
than that of Oklahoma, even if Oklahoma is still really good.
(29:50):
I just don't get if I'm Oklahoma, I do not
get it settling for availables, like like what did Scott
Woodward do when the l shoot job came open? He
went and were great? He pried Brian Kelly out of
Notre Dame. Why did you go with Crimson's defensive coordinator
when you give some of the Moose Heisman's college football
history and the most national championship college football history. It
(30:11):
just it's tough.
Speaker 1 (30:12):
Man.
Speaker 2 (30:13):
It all felt very kind of reactive to me in
a way.
Speaker 1 (30:18):
One final question, I want you to because you're such
a funny guy that we all dated girls, fun girls,
but there was something why we married who we married, yep,
and whatever it is we had, there were just women
that you make that decision and they think the same
(30:40):
way with us, By the way, they look at some
of us as datable, some as marriage material. I consider ed, oh,
the best girlfriend in the history of college football. He's
not long term. He's exciting, but he's a lot of
every weekend as a blast. How is he viewed now?
I mean literally, you don't know what he's gonna say.
(31:02):
He's got his own brand. You'd think kill you know,
I mean, he got a divorce, there's recruiting stuff. Yeah,
but yeah, he's just a good time. How is he
viewed by ut Bob and LSU nation?
Speaker 2 (31:16):
So it probably is like the greatest one night stand
in history, Like you said, like when you're laying next
to your wife and you love your wife, or you
love Brian Kelly. He's dependable, he's incredibly intelligent, he's caring,
he does all the little things. But you think about
fifteen to zero and Joe Burrow and the Heisman and
(31:39):
Jamar Chase and Justin Jefferson and all these sorts of things.
So that is actually what he's been a real fascinating
kind of revelation that have had recently, which is ironically,
Brian Kelly is the best thing that ever happened to
ed Osron. And it's because nobody cares about the bad
(31:59):
two years now, nobody cares. It doesn't matter, it's it's gone.
And now all the pressures on Kelly because instead of
Edo like the fear is something like what we mentioned
is happened at Texas or a usc where you hire
the wrong guy or at least it starts to go wrong,
because that was the right guy for a while. Now
he wasn't ready to have success, right, but he went
six and two interim, he went nine and four, ten
(32:23):
and three fifteen to zero, so there was a consistent
climb there. But then success came and we all kind
of saw what happened, and so the fear is if
you miss on a couple of those guys, you set
yourself back years, and that's when people get angry, and
that's when the legacies are tarnished. But all of a sudden,
instead of o setting you back years, you're good. You
(32:46):
feel like you have your best coach that you've had
since ing Sam, and you feel like the future is
brighter than ever. And now all the pressure's on Brian Kelly.
So all of a sudden ed, Oh, there's no bad
ill will towards going six and seven and the last year,
all the drama, all the bad dress. It's like it's
the ex girlfriend. Things actually perfect because you only remember
the good times now, but it's all because of the
(33:08):
success of Kelly and now happy you are now and
where you think your relationships going currently.
Speaker 1 (33:14):
What was it like to be the son of the
New Orleans Saints quarterback Bobby A.
Speaker 2 (33:20):
Bear?
Speaker 1 (33:20):
What is that life like?
Speaker 2 (33:22):
It's cool, man, it's funny. So I was. I was
born in eighty nine and on Men went to the
Falcons about ninety two, so my memories were of him
playing in Atlanta. But he used to have every Saints game,
all of his games, we had him on VHS, and
so I'm being a little kid, and I would pop
(33:43):
in the old Saints recordings and watch like Saints Raiders,
like nineteen ninety or whatever, like Monday Night Football, and
I'd sit there and I'd like take notes and stabs
during the game. So I got a bit of the
don't patrol zeitgeist, right, the birth of the Saints actually
being a team that could consistently make the playoffs. And
(34:03):
so I gained through these VHS tapes, I gained kind
of almost like a time travel understanding of what he
meant to that city and to that franchise where they
had been so bad for so long. They were the Aints,
the paper bags. They were losers, I mean perennial losers.
And I know it pays. I mean, you never want
a playoff game. They end up going zhing for in
(34:23):
the playoffs, right, But it was still the most consistent
winning that they had. And it's funny, man, because, like
I think, it can always whenever you have a father
who has done these great things, sometimes that can be
a negative, right, Maybe you get in your head, maybe
it applies too much pressure or it's just too much.
(34:45):
And maybe because I didn't play quarterback, but I never
felt that it was always dude, it was always such
a it was always just such like a positive like
I remember, like the insight. I mean, he played professional
football for fifteen years, started to Abell Michigan Panthers, Oakland Invaders,
Saints NFL for twelve years. The insight that he gave
me growing up on how to mentally handle things, technique things.
(35:08):
And then when I get older and I need more
offensive line work, I got to work with like some
of his old teammates and everything. So like I'm someone
who it's always been in that positive. Man, It's just
I feel. Look, I am very blessed. I am a
beneficiary of nepotism. I would have never gotten my start
(35:29):
in this industry without him later becoming a radio legend
in New Orleans, right, And so I'm very cognizant of this.
I do not take this for granted. And all I
want to do is try to do the best with
the with the kind of unarmed opportunity that I was
given at a at a very young age. And I
thank my father for that man he was. It's it's yeah,
(35:52):
like I said, I just think back and think about
how he put his body on the line, caging kid
from Louisiana, didn't grow up with much and then and
then he rose to these heights to provide for his
family and to set up the next generation. It's something
that I don't think about a lot.
Speaker 1 (36:09):
Well, I think you're the most creative, articulate, thoughtful Southern
voice in college football. I thought that when I listened
to your first podcast. We were looking for you for
a year and Logan Swain, who runs the volume, gave
me a tape. I got a tape of you. You
and Aaron are great. He's the straight man and you
(36:32):
are crazy town. We could not love you more. I
think you're just such a unique voice in the sport
and we are so f and happy to have you.
Speaker 2 (36:41):
Manel, I'm not gonna lie. God, I feel like I've
been like a little of Tidier.
Speaker 1 (36:46):
You know.
Speaker 2 (36:46):
Well there is the boss man, dude. I grew up
watching you and everything, and so I mean, I think
I'm blessing pretty hard right now. I can't that that means,
but making no mistake, bro, we got big things coming
to Snaps. So you're me and Aaron are fired up,
drums fired up. We've been recording a bunch of stuff
here in Nashville. We've been taking going around making the rounds.
(37:09):
The Volume's been like one of the best things ever
happened to me because I love LSU, I love doing
the morning show and everything, but I've been doing Louisiana
for like ten years now. Now all of a sudden,
I get to expand and talk about the PAC twelve
and the Big ten and just all of college hoble
and I love it all and I know it all,
(37:30):
and it's yeah, thank you, man, It's been awesome things
for having me on the podet. This was super fun.
Speaker 1 (37:36):
Well, I'm gonna try to do this on a regular basis,
my man. Congrats, say hi to Aaron, and I'll put
this out in the morning and on the volume page tonight, Bud,
all right, con
Speaker 2 (37:44):
Take it easy man, YouTube dot Com slash at Volume snaps,
hit it up, the Volume
The volume. All right, coming up in ten minutes. I
have yet to bring him on, but about nine months
to a year ago we hired Snaps. It was an
(00:21):
SEC college football show. Aaron Murray is the former Georgia
quarterback and then T Bob Abar. His dad played in
multiple leagues USFL, NFL, was a quarterback professionally for fifteen
years Falcon Saints, and T Bob a bear a wildly colorful, outspoken,
(00:44):
hysterically funny, thought provoking host. He's I think he is
really the most compelling voice of college football in the South,
and I feel so goddamn lucky we have him at
the volume. But I'm going to give you thirty minutes
of his world view on Brian Kelly, ed orgeron Nick Saban,
Lincoln Riley, Texas, Oklahoma coming in, and something on his dad.
(01:09):
So his dad was the quarterback for the Falcons the Saints.
That jumps out to me went to a small school.
Great story, and I want to introduce you to him.
I introduced you a couple of years ago to Jason Timph,
three years ago to John Middlecoff. T Bob is truly
one of a kind. He is just a remarkable talent
(01:30):
and he joined us in ten minutes. But first I
want to address something. Unlike college basketball, where a player
doesn't have to go to college, he can go to
the G League, he can go overseas. College football players
have to go to college for a minimum of three years.
Most go four, and some red shirt and go five.
(01:50):
And at some point during that college career, I presume
at least some of them took econ one oh one,
an economy class. I understand being upset, but it's basic.
Supply and demand. Rule changes have made it more of
a passing league, so receivers, quarterbacks, tight ends, and left
tackles have never made more. And because the supply and demand,
(02:16):
especially the demand part for running backs is on the
low side and there's a pretty good supply of them
in college, they're not making the money they did. Folks.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
It's analytics.
Speaker 1 (02:28):
These running backs are all upset, guys. It's business. Offensive
players are getting paid those directly connected to passing. For
the record, the highest paid running back is also the
best receiving running back in the NFL, Christian McCaffrey. So
for years and years in the NBA, players were often
(02:51):
dissuaded from shooting threes. Now they're persuaded to shoot threes.
It's called analytics. In baseball, strikeouts were bad, keep the
ball in play. Math analytics says, no, strikeouts are not
the worst thing. Ground Balls are hit it out of
the park. Walk strikeout. Don't hit ground balls. And in
(03:16):
football we have all sorts of players that have never
been more valuable. Again, left tackle, tight end, wide receiver, quarterback,
great corner, edge rusher, interior lineman, Chris Jones, Aaron Donald,
Fletcher Cox. But there are positions because the middle of
the field now is an offensive player zone, not a
defensive player that the dominating, intimidating safety less valuable. The
(03:41):
linebacker who's off ball and can't cover in space of
very little value, interior old lineman less valuable. Running Backs
unless they're great at catching the ball and running it
and are healthy, not as valuable. It's supply and demand complicated.
Their running backs can be upset, And I feel bad
(04:02):
for a guy like Austin Eckler who got drafted loan,
never made big money, and now is left without the
contract he desires. I feel bad, But Saquon Barkley was
a top ten pick. He's made more money than all
but Christian McCaffrey and Derrick Henry in the entire league.
At his position, he made his money early. Some guys
make it late. That's the way pro sports works. Cultures,
(04:24):
analytics change, business changes. I saw a study the other
day where airline pilots thirty five percent admit napping during flights.
That's because the cockpit is more automated. I mean outside
of the first three minutes. In the last eight they
don't do much. You still need a pilot in case
of an emergency, but they're not as responsible for the
(04:46):
safety as the passengers as they once were. So you know,
people are getting very emotional about this. I've worked in
local and national TV radio podcasting for a long time.
I started my career doing local sports. It basically got eliminated.
Then I did local sports talk radio. ESPN radio went
(05:07):
all in. That mostly got eliminated except major markets. Then
I did syndicated radio ESPN. Not that it got eliminated,
but if you didn't have an accompanying television simulcast, it
wasn't as valuable. That's why I went to Fox. And
now cable TV is eroding, so cable TV my career
in cable TV could be ending here in the next
six or seven years or whenever. There's no guarantees. I've
(05:30):
constantly been trying to pivot to retain employment. I'm not
bitter about it. Running Backs can absolutely enhance themselves by
being better receivers, Christian McCaffrey, being better run blockers. I mean,
cam Aker's got in the doghouse for the Rams why
he refused to pass block and he gotten Sean mcvay's doghouse.
(05:52):
He improved in the second part of last year, got
back on the field. So there's where it's to enhance
your status, enhance longevity. But some of it for running
backs as luck, they're the last player you can tackle
viciously from any angle. Everybody else is protected in football
on offense except the running back. He remains the pinata
of the league. So some of this was inevitable and
(06:16):
I can feel bad, But like any other career, doesn't
matter if you're a banker or a running back or
a media personality. Side hustles constantly trying to add value
to your career. It's part of the game. Twenty years ago.
If you didn't pay I don't know if Gail Sayers
was a pass blocker or Oj Simpson, but it was
(06:37):
a running league. Now it's a passing league, and the
quarterbacks making forty seven million dollars a year protect him.
So I can feel bad for running backs. They still
get paid, not as much as they used to. Sports
tend to be cyclical. Maybe it comes around. Let's be honest.
Now it was a small ball NBA about thirty years ago.
(07:00):
Now yokicha title, Yannis a title. The Lakers were a
big team in the bubble of title biggs are coming
back around as long as they're highly skilled, can pass
you to jumper and defend. So it's cyclical. The league
will never be the CFL. The league may get so
finesse and pass happy with continuing rules to help offense
(07:20):
that a big, strong running back that can control the
clock and keep it away from Mahomes and Lamar and
Josh Allen and Herbert may emerge and we may move
into a different cycle of the power running back who
can keep it away from Mahomes. Maybe that will be
the future. But guys, supplying to man econ one oh one,
you have to go to college for three years to
(07:40):
be in the NFL. Most played four years. Somewhere there
five you had to take an Econ class somewhere. Summer
is heating up in so is pro baseball. You can
certainly watch your favorite baseball team on television, but there
is nothing like being at the ballpark to watch your
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(08:04):
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Speaker 2 (08:56):
It's so easy.
Speaker 1 (08:57):
Last minute tickets Major League Baseball, lowest prices guaranteed. So
let me ask you. I pick LSU to win the
title this year. I think they have the most depth
of talent. I'm a huge, huge Brian Kelly fan.
Speaker 2 (09:16):
Yeah, me too.
Speaker 1 (09:18):
And when he got called out by the media, he's
never been he's a little grumpy, a little rigid, and
he doesn't have you know, he's kind of got that
uh Tom Coughlin face turning plumb screaming. I always thought
he was tough on quarterbacks, but I think once you
do it four times, four quick turnarounds, you know what
the hell you're doing. So he goes out and does
(09:39):
a couple of cringy things on social media and everybody
crushed him. How did that play though in LSU? How
did it plan Baton Rouge? How did it play in
among your fans?
Speaker 2 (09:52):
Well, it's interesting, right because right now he has a
near one hundred percent approval rate. But that's what beating
Alabama and winning the SEC Western year one will do,
Like especially in a year where you were picked to
finish last like a lot of days, I think else
you win total last year was like six and a
half and they end up going ten and four, And
(10:15):
you think about a colin. You know this better than
anyone in sports. What actually decides a fan base's happiness
level is not the results themselves, it's where do they
land in relation to expectations? Right, So, Brian Kelly vastly
exceeded expectations, but even at the time, even pre wins,
there was a belief at LSU that they had a
(10:37):
special guy and that wasn't hard to get there. I mean,
if you looked at Kelly's resume, it's on parallel, well
without unparalleled, without a nattic, right. I mean, he's the
winning his coach in all of college football. He's just
missing that crown jewel. He left a Notre Dame team
that was on the edge of the playoff to join
a six and seven LSU team with thirty nine scholarship players.
(10:58):
So that tells you what he thought about the but
of LSU, and I think that played with a lot
of the local people and more than that, man is
he wasn't Notre Dame Brian Kelly. Everything you just said, grumpy,
impersonal authoritarian, that's all melted away. He's one of the
most personable people I've ever seen. I was blown away.
(11:18):
One of the first sights when he got the job.
I was invited up to the stadium for a little
meet and greet bunch of alumni boosters, you know, one
of those type deals, and watching him work to the room,
I was like, Okay, this dude's different, Like this is
I love Coacho. That's my boy. Like I just said, right,
I played for less miles for many for five years.
(11:39):
LSU hadn't had anybody like this since Nick Saban. His
political acumen. As he worked that room, It's like he
had a whirlpool of influence around him. He had people
kind of subtly feed him information, cracking jokes. Getting it
just felt like watching like a fortune five hundred CEO
work room. He just carries himself with a granitas.
Speaker 1 (11:59):
That is yeah. And I think sometimes the media does
a poor job of hiding their agendas, is that Brian
can be gruff. The Notre Dame job is one of
the unique jobs in college football where the media still
believes it's elite. But the truth is they can't recruit
with LSU, Bama, Georgia or even I would say Lincoln
(12:22):
Riley or Ohio State or Harball when they're really rolling.
There's an academic umbrella. It's a small, rural, cold weather
town Notre Dame now is a hard job. Now, by
the way, his three predecessors, Ty Willingham, you know, Bob Davey,
Charlie Weiss illustrated how damn Howard is right. So it's
(12:43):
like people don't understand everybody wins at LSU. In the
last twenty years. One guy has won it, Notre Dame,
and so when he took the job, I said, I
get it. LSU in my opinion, and I really I've
said this before, maybe the best job because Louisiana, the
state gives you thirty Division one players. You can get
(13:05):
twelve to fifteen year class, especially interior linemen. The size
is in so important California. You can't find an elite
defensive tackle. You guys have like six to eight a year.
Speaker 2 (13:17):
Y'all, y'all get but y'all got the quarterbacks, dude. Everybody
still goes out west to farm them quarterbacks. But we
got yeah, we got your skills. We got some size
down here for sure.
Speaker 1 (13:28):
So I guess I think this is the best team
in the country. I like Jayden Daniels. He elevated pretty
marginal talent in Tempe. Give me your takeaway on my
proclamation they can win a title. What worries you about
LSU and where do you think they can? They can
be even better than Georgia.
Speaker 2 (13:47):
So I think what worries me is still what Brian
Kelly Deck's has been talking about is listed recentable media
tour where he's kind of saying, look, we're in year two,
We're not at We're not as fleshed out as a
Kirby Smart in Alabama or excuse me, a Kirby Smart Georgia,
Nick Saban Alabama, unless you still have some filling into
(14:08):
the corners to do if you like now now, frontline
starters they're twenty two is as good as anybody, right,
Jane Daniels second highest heismanodge you're turning the entire offensive line.
You had true freshman started tackles in the SEC last
year and they did well. So frontline starters, yes, but
there may be a little brittle, right, a couple of
key injuries, and I don't know that they have the
(14:29):
ability to absorb it in a way that Georgia would,
in a way that Alabama would. Now quarterback, ironically, they
might be all right. Garrett Nolsmier's probably about as frisk
give a backup as you're gonna find. But to me,
like the thing, it's interesting as Kell's been going around
and saying, you know, I think in year three will
be in an even better spot. And as a head coach,
(14:49):
it's probably true when it comes to the overall health
of the program. They're still taking transfers where they'd like
to get more high school development. But to your point, Colin,
there is a sneaky good window right now in year
and um two, nobody has a quarterback. Alabama, Georgia, Ohio State,
they're all working in you guys. But LSU, between the
coaching staff and the players, has more returning than nearly
(15:13):
anybody else. And they do have the talent win a championship.
It's just that they're not as complete as Georgia and
Alabama right now. Like the secondary answer questions, don't know
who the starting corner is gonna be. You have talent there,
you know who'snna win that job. Edge defender is probably
the biggest weakness on the team. Or now you don't
have a true dominant pass Rusheran you're probably talking about
(15:35):
relying on a true freshman and Sean Womack to play
that role. So so very very good championship potential. I
still just see little imperfections that when you're talking about
what decides these things, that may be the thing that
holds them back.
Speaker 1 (15:51):
So Saban the South is can be insular and protective
of its history. So Sabin is a combination of feared,
beloved and hated in the South right, it's a very
the trifecta that they're very proud of what he has created.
(16:12):
The greatest football dynasty ever collegiately. And I look at
it now and he goes up against He's going to
go up against Sark and Lane Kiffen and Kirby Smart
and Brian Kelly. And I've said this for years. Part
of the success of Lebron James and that Eastern Conference
was so a lot of bad owners, a lot of
bad coaches in the Eastern Conference. I mean some of
(16:34):
it was the West had the dynasty, the KD Steph Dinasty.
Lebron wouldn't get to the finals through the West in
those years. And so when Sabin first came into the conference,
the first eight nine years has a lot of bad
coaches and a lot of the big dogs, the Georgia's,
the Tennessees, sometimes the LSUS, they just Florida. They just
(16:55):
couldn't get their act together. Now, ad Sark's gonna be
a handful. Is there a sense Nick's aged doesn't work
the recruiting trail quite as much people have stolen some
of the secret sauce. Is there a sense now that
Alabama on any given Saturday, you guys last year is
(17:17):
much more beatable?
Speaker 2 (17:19):
Well, I think there's data to back up the more
beatable things, So there is some measure of decline there,
and that isn't credit to the HighRes I mean, what
about shoe freeze at open Like that's a perfect fit.
Maybe not here in year one, but like there's only
so much oxygen to go around the room. I don't know,
it's all gonna break. The only thing that worries me
not Alabama, and I'm being worried in terms of those
(17:42):
who have suffered at the hand of the crimson Emperor
in the past, who have felt that boot heel of
oppression on our neck. The only thing that worries me
is everybody's kind of talking down to him. Nick Saban
very famously used to have to fight against rat poison, right,
you have to fight against what Kirby Smart's trying to
fight again to now, complacency. Now he has more legitimate
(18:03):
bulletin war material than he has ever had previously. And
in shocking Colin, but blue chip ratio have you heard
about that Bud Elliott puts it together and basically it
looks at okay, what percentage of your roster are blue
chip prospects? No team since they started doing this about
seventeen years ago has ever won a Natty with less
than fifty percent bluechip ratio. Alabama leads the country once again.
(18:28):
I think they're at like high eighties right now. So
they still are even though they have questions, who's gonna
be the starting quarterback? If you didn't win with Bryce Young,
how are you gonna within this guy? Like, they have questions,
but they still have the most talented roster top to bottom.
And where it becomes concerned is that if they figure
out quarterback, if one of these new guys hit, if
Ty Simpson, maybe Jaylen Miller, maybe one of these freshmen,
(18:50):
if they hit, they're immediately as much of a championship
contender once again as anyone. I mean, go look at
all the computer models, whether it's Austin Bots model at
the f I think Bill Connolly's at ESPN. All the
computers love Alabama, love Alabama's humans are like these question
So I think I feel like Nick's thanks to Kirby's rise,
(19:13):
Nick is in the spot that he's never been before,
where he's kind of laying a relative underdog relative to
what Alabama has been. This is as doubted as they
have ever been.
Speaker 1 (19:25):
So Oklahoma and Texas after the season will enter the SEC.
It's a good news bad news. The good news is
the SEC will extend its dominance in college football and
its status. The bad news is, you know, if you're
off week is playing Oklahoma at home, it's just going
to be impossible to go undefeated, like you just two
(19:46):
more teams to face, and Sark, for all the misgivings
about him, is an elite recruiter and they got big,
big bodies on the Owen d lines. Yeah, how are listen?
SEC fans the ones that call a Paul Feinbaum show
think you know, Alabama's never going to lose, But when
you talk to your realistic fan in the South, is
(20:08):
there some concern that shit? Man? How many top fifteen
teams can you play? I mean Texas, I watched them
play Alabama last year. Yeah, athlete the athlete, they looked
like the same. I can argue Texas had the better roster,
Bama had the better coach. I mean, I'll watched that game,
and I thought, you know, you needed Bryce Young That's
(20:30):
why it was the number one pick. Texas looked bigger
and stronger. So not just your fanboy, but is there
some concern that guys like it's a gauntlet forget the playoff?
How do you get there?
Speaker 2 (20:44):
Well, that goes back to like the only so much
oxygen in the room, right, Like, how in the world
are all these teams going to breathe? All these teams
fans again, to go back to expectation levels, it's to
be in the playoffs now. Now for Texas, that may
be a bit underd B. Oklahoma, that's the winningest program
in the last twenty five years. All they did was
win ten games every year, like last season was an
(21:06):
aberration for them. So, but in terms of what the
realistic SEC fan is expecting, Honestly, Colin, I don't I
don't think at this moment, I don't think they're very
intimidated by Texas Oklahoma and the reason being are a couple.
First Off, Texas been down since that Mac Brown National championship, right,
They've been pretty consistently down. And it's interesting to hear
(21:28):
you talk about Sark because I'm a bit of a
Stark down or here where Sarks never won ten games.
I need Stark to prove to me that he can
win ten games. I need to start to prove these
things before I give them a bit of the I
likes an elite recruiter, But how does that team go
eight and five last year when they're more talented than
every other Big twelve team that they're facing. How does
Oklahoma under Bret Mintabals go six and seven when they're
(21:51):
more talented than every Big twelve team that they're facing.
And so I think for now this is this is
likely Hubris right, but that's what we do as people.
But I think for now, as the Sea fans, it's not,
oh man, we don't know what we're getting into them doing.
I think I se Seed fans will get Texas at home,
but say, you don't know what you're getting into you
(22:12):
and Oklahoma's being able to just run through the Big
twelve for a decade now and just kind of have
their way as Texas kind of flounders and tries to
find themselves once again. So honestly, I even think kind
of irrational fans here aren't overly concerned. That's why this
year is so important for Texas right start needs to
prove it that he's the guy going in there. So
(22:32):
important for Oklahoma fans that they can believe in print
Vinnables because we've never seen Brent Fvinnables be a head
coach and even as a coordinator. He's in that Dado
Sweeney environment, which isn't really representative of their environments around
the country. Oh have recruited at or elite levels. Right,
I didn't think Vinables can recruit. He already proved me
wrong there. Now they got to prove it, prove wrong
and feel like answer me this con Texas and Oklahoma,
(22:55):
what's they have to finish one two in the Big Twelve?
Like they are arkedly more talented than any other team
the Big Club, Why should it they?
Speaker 1 (23:04):
Kansas State returns like eighteen starters. The feeling is this
is the best Kansas State team in forever. So they
got picked second. They return a ton. But I agree
with you, Oklahoma doesn't look at seventy percent of Kansas
State players. They don't recruit them, They're not even interested.
So to your point of here's my concern about Brett Venables.
(23:27):
I think Oklahoma missed on their head coaching higher. And
by the way, even schools like Alabama have missed several times.
USC has missed several times, Michigan has missed several times.
Notre Dame has it happens. The first thing I always
look at, does the coach you hire is his side
of the ball locked up? Cinched up dramatically better immediately.
(23:52):
Lincoln Riley took a four win team to an elite
offense Sean McVay NFL Kirby smart defense, Saban got the
defense right before the offense. Forget the Sooners offense. The
defense was an s show like that tells me. That
tells me T Bob, he's over his skiz. They got
they got a coordinator. The defense was awful.
Speaker 2 (24:14):
Yeah, no, I mean, look I I it's it's again
why I think Oklahoma this offseason they have a very
good gymnastics program. And you could tell because the fans
have been doing a lot of mental gymnastics to try
to explain why Bread Vittabules is a guy now. Granted again,
to their credit, this is like they're they're kind of
drowning right now, and they're desperate. They're looking to fight everybody.
(24:35):
They're looking for something to latch onto. They've latched onto recruiting.
You know, he's done well there and so that's kind
of their only comeback right now. But I'm with Yukon.
He's supposed to be an defensive coach. Again. They had
talent on the defense, Lincoln took offensive guys. He didn't
take the defense, and they were dead last and vigor.
They were awful, completely awful. They give up more first
(24:55):
downs than anyone in in in the Power five. So
I'm I'm look, I'm I'm not a Bret Vinables believer.
I've been very clear about that. I'm also not a
Stark believer. I think both these schools that have all
the potential in the world, I just think they got
a hit on the right guy. Here's Michael with Vinables again.
I think he has to win ten games. He has
to be able to try that he can compete for champion.
(25:17):
For Big Talf Champ's Oklahoma start. I'm giving sarka lowbar
this year. Texas win ten games with a Bowl game.
If you do that, I'll e cro I'm wrong. Vinables
kind of the same deal. You get the ten wins.
I'll allow for being here. Two. The only thing that
makes me a little angry. Also in the Oklahoma Venables
front is he talks about I need to change the culture.
(25:41):
When he got there, the culture was twenty five straight
winning seasons, stacking six in a row, Big twelve championships.
The culture is one of the most successful football programs
of all time that you took over. And like you said,
and this is where I really terrified. If I'm an
Oklahoma fan, everything college football is about the head coach.
(26:02):
He is your Roman politician general. He is the one
that's going to decide the fate of the country that
you love so much. Look at what happened to Oklahoma
when Lincoln Riley left, and look at what happened to
USC when Lincoln Riley got there. That is an elite guy.
That's the top five guy. And when you have one
of those, you kind of hold on to it for
(26:23):
everything it's worth. And Oklahoma never in their wildest dreams
would have thought that they could get one of those
guys poached. I mean, it's crazy, like that's one of
the most successful programs in collge football history. That should
never happen. But it shows you the power of USC
and that Trojan brand.
Speaker 1 (26:41):
Here's my theory on why Lincoln Riley left Oklahoma. Unlike Louisiana,
unlike Georgia, unlike Alabama, Unlike Florida or Texas. Oklahoma's recruiting
profile the state now provides about six elite players a year,
so he looked at going to play those recruiting hotbitch,
He's not going to be able to pull players out
(27:03):
of lsh out of Louisiana, Georgia, Alabama, and Texas. Going
to the SEC was going to make him it harder
to pull players out of Texas. It's virtually unheard of.
Oregon's an outlier though they have no national title, to
be from a state that delivers less than fifteen elite
players annually and win a title. So Phil Knight has
(27:26):
made Oregon geographically isolated in a state that gives you
three viable They recruit California, but Lincoln Riley looked at
the weakness of the PAC twelve, the supply of California athletes,
and said, I can put a stop sign on Big
ten teams and SEC teams get twelve to eighteen of
(27:47):
my players from here. My competition's weak. UCLA is a
basketball school, and I think Lincoln Riley smartly. Everybody said
he's not a man. I think his business. I think
he looked at it and went Oklahoma its best days
are over and USC is a sleeping giant. That was
my take when it happened. The day it happened. What
was your initial thought?
Speaker 2 (28:08):
So the day it happened, I was one of the
I was one of the kind of poopooers running away
from competition sort of guys.
Speaker 1 (28:21):
You know.
Speaker 2 (28:21):
It felt like a sexy tape at the time. But
combined with that was the potential of USC. And this
is something that I actually have a lot of trouble
get through to my audience in Louisiana because I'll mention
USC and they want to act like USC is just
far away, high fluting, unthreatened, and no they don't care.
(28:43):
They're like, oh but they don't care that we care,
And I'm like, okay, that's fine. But economically ninety percent
of the population of Louisiana buying in, Like, what does
it take five percent of LA and you match the economics,
so like, yeah, the potential of USC is it seeds
out of Oklahoma. Now, I do think you give recruit
(29:04):
to Okahma. I think that's been proven, Like the Texas
football economy is unbelievable. I was looking at some of
the other day. Colin actually was based off of your take,
So I was like, Okay, is it realistic to think
that A and M and Texas and Oklahoma can all
take players in same state and they actually had so,
like Texas just produces an unreal amount of players, but
it's way harder, but it's way harder and it takes
(29:27):
way more work. And in Texas gets strong, it's only
going to get harder. And you're in the SEC, it's
only gonna get harder. And the Big Ten is a
better conference in the Pac twelve, but it's top heavy.
It's very very top heavy, right, Like you got your
Big three, and a USC's gonna fit in fine amongst
the Big three and immediately be able to compete. So no,
I agree that the inherent potential of USC is greater
than that of Oklahoma, even if Oklahoma is still really good.
(29:50):
I just don't get if I'm Oklahoma, I do not
get it settling for availables, like like what did Scott
Woodward do when the l shoot job came open? He
went and were great? He pried Brian Kelly out of
Notre Dame. Why did you go with Crimson's defensive coordinator
when you give some of the Moose Heisman's college football
history and the most national championship college football history. It
(30:11):
just it's tough.
Speaker 1 (30:12):
Man.
Speaker 2 (30:13):
It all felt very kind of reactive to me in
a way.
Speaker 1 (30:18):
One final question, I want you to because you're such
a funny guy that we all dated girls, fun girls,
but there was something why we married who we married, yep,
and whatever it is we had, there were just women
that you make that decision and they think the same
(30:40):
way with us, By the way, they look at some
of us as datable, some as marriage material. I consider ed, oh,
the best girlfriend in the history of college football. He's
not long term. He's exciting, but he's a lot of
every weekend as a blast. How is he viewed now?
I mean literally, you don't know what he's gonna say.
(31:02):
He's got his own brand. You'd think kill you know,
I mean, he got a divorce, there's recruiting stuff. Yeah,
but yeah, he's just a good time. How is he
viewed by ut Bob and LSU nation?
Speaker 2 (31:16):
So it probably is like the greatest one night stand
in history, Like you said, like when you're laying next
to your wife and you love your wife, or you
love Brian Kelly. He's dependable, he's incredibly intelligent, he's caring,
he does all the little things. But you think about
fifteen to zero and Joe Burrow and the Heisman and
(31:39):
Jamar Chase and Justin Jefferson and all these sorts of things.
So that is actually what he's been a real fascinating
kind of revelation that have had recently, which is ironically,
Brian Kelly is the best thing that ever happened to
ed Osron. And it's because nobody cares about the bad
(31:59):
two years now, nobody cares. It doesn't matter, it's it's gone.
And now all the pressures on Kelly because instead of
Edo like the fear is something like what we mentioned
is happened at Texas or a usc where you hire
the wrong guy or at least it starts to go wrong,
because that was the right guy for a while. Now
he wasn't ready to have success, right, but he went
six and two interim, he went nine and four, ten
(32:23):
and three fifteen to zero, so there was a consistent
climb there. But then success came and we all kind
of saw what happened, and so the fear is if
you miss on a couple of those guys, you set
yourself back years, and that's when people get angry, and
that's when the legacies are tarnished. But all of a sudden,
instead of o setting you back years, you're good. You
(32:46):
feel like you have your best coach that you've had
since ing Sam, and you feel like the future is
brighter than ever. And now all the pressure's on Brian Kelly.
So all of a sudden ed, Oh, there's no bad
ill will towards going six and seven and the last year,
all the drama, all the bad dress. It's like it's
the ex girlfriend. Things actually perfect because you only remember
the good times now, but it's all because of the
(33:08):
success of Kelly and now happy you are now and
where you think your relationships going currently.
Speaker 1 (33:14):
What was it like to be the son of the
New Orleans Saints quarterback Bobby A.
Speaker 2 (33:20):
Bear?
Speaker 1 (33:20):
What is that life like?
Speaker 2 (33:22):
It's cool, man, it's funny. So I was. I was
born in eighty nine and on Men went to the
Falcons about ninety two, so my memories were of him
playing in Atlanta. But he used to have every Saints game,
all of his games, we had him on VHS, and
so I'm being a little kid, and I would pop
(33:43):
in the old Saints recordings and watch like Saints Raiders,
like nineteen ninety or whatever, like Monday Night Football, and
I'd sit there and I'd like take notes and stabs
during the game. So I got a bit of the
don't patrol zeitgeist, right, the birth of the Saints actually
being a team that could consistently make the playoffs. And
(34:03):
so I gained through these VHS tapes, I gained kind
of almost like a time travel understanding of what he
meant to that city and to that franchise where they
had been so bad for so long. They were the Aints,
the paper bags. They were losers, I mean perennial losers.
And I know it pays. I mean, you never want
a playoff game. They end up going zhing for in
(34:23):
the playoffs, right, But it was still the most consistent
winning that they had. And it's funny, man, because, like
I think, it can always whenever you have a father
who has done these great things, sometimes that can be
a negative, right, Maybe you get in your head, maybe
it applies too much pressure or it's just too much.
(34:45):
And maybe because I didn't play quarterback, but I never
felt that it was always dude, it was always such
a it was always just such like a positive like
I remember, like the insight. I mean, he played professional
football for fifteen years, started to Abell Michigan Panthers, Oakland Invaders,
Saints NFL for twelve years. The insight that he gave
me growing up on how to mentally handle things, technique things.
(35:08):
And then when I get older and I need more
offensive line work, I got to work with like some
of his old teammates and everything. So like I'm someone
who it's always been in that positive. Man, It's just
I feel. Look, I am very blessed. I am a
beneficiary of nepotism. I would have never gotten my start
(35:29):
in this industry without him later becoming a radio legend
in New Orleans, right, And so I'm very cognizant of this.
I do not take this for granted. And all I
want to do is try to do the best with
the with the kind of unarmed opportunity that I was
given at a at a very young age. And I
thank my father for that man he was. It's it's yeah,
(35:52):
like I said, I just think back and think about
how he put his body on the line, caging kid
from Louisiana, didn't grow up with much and then and
then he rose to these heights to provide for his
family and to set up the next generation. It's something
that I don't think about a lot.
Speaker 1 (36:09):
Well, I think you're the most creative, articulate, thoughtful Southern
voice in college football. I thought that when I listened
to your first podcast. We were looking for you for
a year and Logan Swain, who runs the volume, gave
me a tape. I got a tape of you. You
and Aaron are great. He's the straight man and you
(36:32):
are crazy town. We could not love you more. I
think you're just such a unique voice in the sport
and we are so f and happy to have you.
Speaker 2 (36:41):
Manel, I'm not gonna lie. God, I feel like I've
been like a little of Tidier.
Speaker 1 (36:46):
You know.
Speaker 2 (36:46):
Well there is the boss man, dude. I grew up
watching you and everything, and so I mean, I think
I'm blessing pretty hard right now. I can't that that means,
but making no mistake, bro, we got big things coming
to Snaps. So you're me and Aaron are fired up,
drums fired up. We've been recording a bunch of stuff
here in Nashville. We've been taking going around making the rounds.
(37:09):
The Volume's been like one of the best things ever
happened to me because I love LSU, I love doing
the morning show and everything, but I've been doing Louisiana
for like ten years now. Now all of a sudden,
I get to expand and talk about the PAC twelve
and the Big ten and just all of college hoble
and I love it all and I know it all,
(37:30):
and it's yeah, thank you, man, It's been awesome things
for having me on the podet. This was super fun.
Speaker 1 (37:36):
Well, I'm gonna try to do this on a regular basis,
my man. Congrats, say hi to Aaron, and I'll put
this out in the morning and on the volume page tonight, Bud,
all right, con
Speaker 2 (37:44):
Take it easy man, YouTube dot Com slash at Volume snaps,
hit it up, the Volume
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Colin Cowherd
Jason McIntyre
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