Colin is joined by college football guru Josh Pate to break down the first weekend of the college football season.
They start with Arch Manning’s extremely shaky start for Texas against Ohio State and whether his lofty expectations entering the season were far too high (3:30). They preview Oklahoma vs Michigan and debate whether Michigan’s Bryce Underwood is a generational talent at quarterback (6:45).
They move to UNC and whether Bill Belichick’s inability to recruit good personnel could lead to an underwhelming tenure at Chapel Hill (10:15), and discuss whether Kalen DeBoer’s laid back style of coaching will work at a football crazed SEC school like Alabama, living in the shadow of Nick Saban(17:15).
They highlight the resurgence of the Florida schools, particularly Miami, and debate whether the Hurricanes could be a national title contender (31:00).
Finally, they discuss the outlook for USC and whether Lincoln Riley is the type of head coach that can build a winning culture, and not just be a great scheme guy (38:00).
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
The volume.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
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like college football and I've been watching Josh paid for
a long time. But there are very few people that
cut through like Josh and there's no clicks involved. It's
(01:10):
just knowledge and prep and work. He is newly married
he's got a beautiful wife, he's got an incredible job,
and it looks like he can bench Delaware. So his
shit is rolling right now. He is, Josh, it is
a pleasure to have you on. So I don't like
criticizing college athletes, but I have said we'll start with
(01:30):
this that once they started making five million bucks a year,
you're a professional. Whatever level you play at, you're a professional.
And Arch Manning can handle it. And I said, listen,
there are and this I feel this way about Belichick's opener,
there are games in which you struggle. I've seen Patrick
Mahomes just have bad halves, bad super Bowls. But with
(01:51):
Arch it was I mean, when he first rolled out
to the right and skipped that thing about eight yards shy,
that was more than nerves. It was armslot. It was
Macaire annex. And he'll bounce back in the next three games.
It's you know, it's you know, really second tier programs.
But I don't think it's just a hey, it was jitters.
I had some concerns. I can't unsee it, and I
(02:14):
know that's punitive and harsh, but this is Manning. I
joked before the game. Family dinners are events I don't
want to hear he was nervous. It was more than that.
It was kind of jarring, was it not.
Speaker 1 (02:28):
Yeah, I specially think if you bought into i don't know,
like the superheroification of him over the spring in summer,
you think about this. He has only just now become
a college football starting quarterback, and you and I have
talked about him over half a decade, so we've knowne
about him six years and now I don't think we've
ever said that about anyone. So I go out there
(02:50):
in the spring watching practice, feel my way around the building.
Sarks really just open about stuff, especially when you get
him off the record that staff, and that wasn't oh,
we're worried about it. The feedback was we really hope
that the world's realistic about what we're doing here, about
what we're gonna put on the field, because they never
expected it to be like you know, the preview magazine,
(03:12):
culture expected it to be. So it wasn't a shock
to me that they tried to ease him. Man. I
think the jarring part for me, I was up there,
I was standing on the field is you didn't even
have to watch secondary line of scrimmage. If you just
put your eyes on him. You could tell the moment
the ball came out of his hand that's not a
good ball and that's not going anywhere fast. So I
think that part you get rattled, and at that point
(03:34):
you're playing a good defense, so you feel like you
can just win a rock fight and we'll tuck it
back in. We'll go back home, we'll play a tomato can,
we'll get ready for our trip to Florida, I think
is their next really big game. So it wasn't is
jarring to me because I never did the Heisman thing
with him. I never did the arch manning number one
picking the draft this upcoming year. My whole stance on
him was and it still is, He's gonna be a
(03:55):
pretty good quarterback this year, and anything above and beyond
that great. But it's Texas. You don't have to carry
them for that matter. Nusmier doesn't have to carry LSU
club thing, doesn't have to carry Clemson. A lot of
these guys have really good supporting cast. He has got
racehorses around him. I questioned whether there's speed at wide
receivers quite what it's been. But the whole concept of
(04:16):
Texas is We're going to load the roster up. Just
make good decisions, be big in the leverage moments. He
was not that in week one, but you know you
got a much bigger safety net under you now because
of the structure of the playoff.
Speaker 2 (04:29):
Yeah, and I'll get to a chance. You know. I
think first glances matter. And I followed high school recruiting
not as much as I used to, just because I
have more things on my plate. But I'll just say
I don't know how good Michigan is. I love Oklahoma
this weekend. I think if you can look at Oklahoma's
depth chart, that defense is juniors and seniors. That is
an old team. They're at home. They got a lot
(04:49):
of twenty two year old guys and materears, very talented quarterback.
I think Oklahoma's going to have a day. But my
first glance is at Bryce Underwood on YouTube and high
school and last week, Josh, that's like whoa, whoa, whoa.
That is magic, And I know he's going on the road.
Speaker 1 (05:08):
Now.
Speaker 2 (05:09):
You needed about four snaps. I really think Underwood is
a lot of these five star guys. I never bought
into Quinny yours. I mean, you know, in southern California.
I've heard a lot of five star recruits, and I'm like,
I don't buy it. I always say LA recruits fives
of four, fours of three. They get overhyped. But I
like Oklahoma this weekend. But what were your interpretations of
(05:29):
Bryce Underwood?
Speaker 1 (05:31):
Better than I thought he'd be, and I had really
high expectations for him. I do not throw around the
G word. Okay, generational, you should use that about once
a generation. I believe that's the definition. He Even the
guys I trust in the scouting world, the ones that
assignate the star ratings, even when I listened to them
coming up, you know, the ones who are really careful
(05:52):
with their language, they said that one's just different. Go
watch him, and he did. I don't think he came
to a lead eleven. So I went out there. I
didn't get to see him in person, but eventually you
get to see his high school stuff. Okay, it's high school.
He goes to Michigan. I know it was New Mexico.
Ninety nine percent of the country didn't watch the game.
I don't care if it was air. There is a
way that superstars look. It does not make it does
(06:15):
not take mountains and mountains games and games of film.
You just look at it and you say, WHOA. Now,
that's not like you said. It's not a guarantee that
he's going to go light the world on fire this week.
In fact, it could overinflate him to where he tries
to do too much on the road against a Brent
Venables defense, which is made like the tours of the
world look inferior in your spect. So I'm with you
(06:36):
on the Oklahoma sort of dynamic this weekend, But long term,
here's the way I viewed Michigan this whole year. They
are not good at receiver, so they do not have
the pass catchers to probably have him fully feature himself.
But what is going to happen is everyone is going
to see what you and I are talking about eventually
because it'll play out on the big stage, and they
(06:56):
are going to be I think, a portal magnet for
wide receivers after the year. And I'm I'm viewing Michigan
twenty twenty five three, twenty twenty six prism because I
think twenty twenty six they're right in the national championship conversation.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
Yeah, I don't know that far ahead, And they're not
good at receiver. By the way, if you go look
at Jim harbaughd recruiting through the years, he's never had
good receivers. He didn't have them with Andrew Luck got
in San Francisco, he had Michael Crabtree and that was
about it. Michigan. I mean there were a run defense squash,
you know, eat the clock up. But the ball comes
(07:33):
out of Bryce underwards hand fast, very differently. It just
doesn't look like other kids, all right. So much like
the arch Manning topic. I my question with Belichick and
I and a friend of mine, Yan Rosseillo, and I
got on this years ago, about seven years before Belichick
got bounced in New England. Rosillo and I used to
(07:56):
his joke, were like, he can't draft. He's sitting there
with his dog and nantucket on his iPad, and I'm like,
he can't draft. And I people, and so what happens
in the NFL, And it was Pete Carroll's undoing a
little bit in Seattle where there are coaches Jimmy Johnson
and Sean Payton who are really really Sean McVay really
good with personnel, They really have an eye for it.
(08:16):
Then there's guys like Kyle Shanahan, who I think are
great play designers and play callers, I don't love their
personnel view. And then there's Belichick, who sort of tone
deaf to offensive personnel. I don't think he's tone deaf
to schemes because he's the best defensive coach of my life.
But his last seven years in New England, I mean,
(08:37):
they got a punter who was an All Pro. That
was it. They couldn't draft anything interior, O line, sideline, quarterback.
So my question was why should I trust him in
the transfer portal. I didn't like him drafting college kids.
And when I watched Carolina, one of the first things
after the first series that jumped out to me is
(08:59):
TCU either had much better coaches are much better players.
Because the ore a lot of guys running free in
the second half. I mean, I mean pulling away from
safeties and pulling away from linebackers. I just didn't see
the talent. Now again, the transfer portal, you're getting used
cars a little bit. You know, if Georgia wants to
keep a guy, they're going to keep a guy. I
(09:19):
thought it was again, is it possible that Bill's not
the listen Saban was a brilliant personnel.
Speaker 1 (09:28):
Guy.
Speaker 2 (09:28):
I don't think Belichick is am I wrong?
Speaker 1 (09:32):
No, I mean I actually wish I did disagree with you.
I completely agree with you. I looked at the dynamic look,
I mean, take a step back for a second. So
I didn't even understand the circus around it. Period. I
got when Dion came to Colorado, that is a massive
circus coming to town, not even in a pejorative way.
I got that a lot of people in my world
(09:53):
made this huge deal about Belichick coming in North Carolina,
and I maybe I just don't pay attention enough to
like mainstream sports talk. So I didn't get it. But
that's just me, that's my personal preference. So then I
start hearing these rumblings like, boy, they got a workable
schedule this year, and I started to pick up what
people were putting down cause the connotation there was ooh,
(10:15):
they could do something this year, and I was I know,
the personnel they have, it's terrible. And so I was
looking at it saying, what are you saying about the schedule?
Come out and say it. No one wanted to say it.
So I finally got some people to admit, yeah, I
think it's Belichick, it's a workable schedule. He could Yeah,
I got the cattle prode theory. He could cattle pride
college football this year. I was like, if that's your
(10:38):
expectation for him, you're in for a very rude awakening,
and so is the rest of America. Like I didn't
get it initially. I thought people understood he's coming in there,
and you know, it's a big show and it's going
to raise the profile of Carolina football, but the expectations
largely to do what Caroline has done. I was so
tone deaf on it when I realized people's expectations were
(10:59):
he's actually gonna llevate them to the level of maybe
a fringe playoff contender. I was so out so quickly
on it for fifty different reasons, but one of them
is the one you talked about. I never talked about NFL.
College football is my space. But I didn't think he
did a great job at all of the personnel side
of things the last several years he was in the NFL,
or he'd probably still be in the NFL. And then
(11:21):
the next part of that is, all right, if you're
telling me that you want him to be more than
a seven or eight win per year on average guy,
which is Carolina football historically. Well, that means he's got
to do better in talent acquisition. And that also means
you got to beat Clemson for kids, You got to
occasionally beat Miami or Florida State for kids. He's just
not going to do that. I don't know if you've
(11:41):
gotten in the weeds a little bit and read some
of the stuff that I've been hearing for months. Has
now sort of started to go public about the impressions
that recruits or portal kids have had, the experiences they've had.
They don't know how to do it, man, And it's
no knock on him. They've never had to do it.
Think about it, like if you're watching right now and
(12:01):
you're mainly an FL and like you just dip your
toe into college Nick Saban, I think's the best to
ever do it. He got to his early seventies after
a lifetime in college football, lifetime of mastering talent acquisition,
and he said, this isn't really for me anymore. Belichick
at the same age, is trying it for the first time.
He's older than any three of his players come by,
(12:22):
and he's trying that for the first time. I never
even gave a passing thought to oh, this will work.
Of course it won't work. I was stunned and still
am that people think it will work.
Speaker 2 (12:32):
Yeah, you know, and what's interesting about you know, in
pro football you draft the player, but in college football,
the player selects you. So if you're around Nick Saban,
he's funny. I've been around him a couple of days.
He's funny. Mario Cristobal, Dan Lanning, they're dynamic men. Brian Kelly,
(12:53):
they've got the personalities you have to sell. Yes, yeah,
they're salesman. And by the way, it's it's not all.
They do bills better schematically than a lot of guys.
But there are almost I mean, you'd have to go
back to Don James Washington in the seventies and eighties,
where a guy was fairly personalityless and was a really
(13:14):
good recruiter. And I always thought James was doing it
with coaching and staff composition. Their personnel was good. I
don't think it was as good it's never been. It
was even in Don's best heyday. They had a couple
the Steve Etman defenses were stacked, but basically they did it.
They were just the smartest staff he had. Just you know,
they always had the best special teams, kind of like
Frank Beemer. They beat you on special teams in defense.
(13:37):
You never thought it was the most creative offense. But
you get him in Blacksburg, get him in Husky Stadium.
They won a lot of games. But by and large,
Belichick is kind of grumpy. Mike Lombardi a smart guy,
he's got that sort of Jersey gruffness. It reminds me
a little of Charlie Weiss Remember when he thought he
had this schematic advantage. And after a while, you're like, Charlie,
(13:57):
you're your O line, your D line, and Notre Dame
should be onlinemen. You're not pulling, you're not pulling the players.
And I think it's got to Charlie Weissfield.
Speaker 1 (14:07):
I am telling you one of the lines point blank
that a head coach gave me top fifteen like playoff
caliber program. He said, you know how biggest slap in
the face it is to listen to the media. Tell
us a guy who has never coached College of Day
in his life in the last several decades is going
to come teach us something like Bill Belichick's gonna come
(14:29):
teach college football something. He said, college football will teach
him ten times more than he's about to teach college football. Calus.
The other thing about it is the insinuation is guys
are either schematics guys x'es and those guys or their
talent acquirers. Sometimes that's true. Sometimes it's an A or
a B. When you get to the higher portion of
(14:51):
the college football pyramid, I know this shot some people colling,
some have both. George's got both, like like Clemson's got both.
They can get the talent better than you. They can
also out coach you. So unless you're going to go
and really convince me that you're gonna out recruit in
which you're not, or you're going to out develop them
and scheme them not once or twice in your career.
(15:13):
You may do that, but you got to do it
about ten or eleven times in a year to be
able to get to the playoff, then I'm out on
them achieving anything more than Carolina Football historically.
Speaker 2 (15:21):
As I think the SEC. You know, every time the
SEC loses a game, you know it's like this guy
is falling. Listen. LSU went into Clemson and one that's
a really big boy football win. The SEC is going
to be fine, but I do think there is a
distinction between the SEC. The Big Ten now is better
than it was five years ago, no question, and the
SEC is still really good. But losing Saban, you know,
(15:43):
it's like losing Lebron James in the Eastern Conference going west,
it's not the same conference. The Kalendi Boor thing is interesting.
When he was at Washington, there was an understanding. It
was one of and I just read this the other
day somewhere where coaches, you know how coaches sometimes pro
scouts and pro coaches will come to college stuff in
off season, and people were saying about Kaylin de Bor,
(16:05):
why are you leaving Man? You got no pressure up here.
And they love college football in Seattle, but they got
the Seahawks and the Mariners. It's a bigger city, and
they said, man, you got it made up here. And
I think it is hard. It's one thing to replace
Nick Saban, but I think the Boor's personality is the
pole ropposite. And I think the program had a certain
(16:28):
urgency and intensity built in by Nick. And I don't
think they tried to divert from that. I just think
Kaylen de Bor was the best candidate. I think Alabama
sort of liked that sometimes, you know, dialing it up
on the sidelines, getting in players' faces. They weren't offended
by that. You see Kirby smart to do it in
the South, that's much more understood where it's just more
(16:49):
intense and they get more restless that it's louder with
the media. But I made the argument today, I'm not
sure Kaylin's a great personality fit. I watched Jim mcelwaine unravel,
I saw eat up urban Meyer's health, and I do
wonder if Klan Maybe. I think he's a terrific coach,
but he may be better at Michigan right like he
(17:10):
may be better at like Washington and Michigan. It does
feel different than Alabama, and it's what makes it's what
separates Alabama from the other program. I always said, Ohio
State's the only SEC team North. It's different in Columbus
than Ann Arbor. I wonder about Kaylan I just the
(17:30):
more I read, I mean, I think he's safe. I
mean I guess I should start with that. Do you
think he's safe for now?
Speaker 1 (17:37):
Safe? Yes?
Speaker 2 (17:38):
Okay, so, but but is it possible personality does matter some.
I mean, Kirby Smart, that's an sec personality. He's just
gonna sell it to you straight. Or do you think
kaylen to Board just turns this puppy around in three weeks?
Speaker 1 (17:56):
Ah, boy, this is a pregnant pause. So so I
don't know if he's going to turn it around this year.
I got to tell you so to get back to
the personality thing for a second, that was one of
my suspicions. You know, I remember when he took the job,
like I know him pretty well, So when he took
the job, after all the dust settled, you know, I
(18:19):
go down there a few times a year. I'll go
down there and watch him practice. I'll go down there
and watching scrimmage. I'm sitting there in his office with him.
And what I wanted to know was the whole taken
over for a legend thing, not what you're saying at
the press conferences. Like I wanted to know to I
shoot with me, how do you view that? And to
(18:39):
you know, not like ruin confidence or anything like that.
But he couldn't have cared less about that. What he
wanted to make sure he had was the proper resources.
Because he is a one percenter. He may have a
different personality than Saban, but please, like anyone, watch and
make no mistake, he when you open the hood on him,
is every bit as competitive as the highest level achievers
(19:01):
in this sport. What he looked at is not who
am I taking over for. What he looked at is
am I going to be given everything I need to win?
Because I know what the expectation level is going to be. Now,
I will say there is no substitute for jumping in
the freezing cold water. When you jump into it, anyone's
body is going to lurch. So I think he has
had a bit of that. But you don't want to
(19:23):
take over for a legend thing in college football has
always needed an asterisk next to it that it hasn't had.
You didn't want to take over Penn State post Paterno,
even without the off the field stuff. You didn't want
to take it over because he's stuck around twenty years
past his prime. So you had a rebuild on your hands.
Bowden FSU, you were going to have a rebuild on
your hands with sky high expectations. Saban's last game was
(19:45):
a playoff game, so you had a pretty full covered Yeah.
You know, guys like him look at it and say, well,
my words, not his screw who was here before? Like,
I'm a one percenter too. I wake up in the morning,
look in the bathroom mirror. I think I could be
the great of all time if I'm being given what
I need. Now, he's got this demeanor that is the
antithesis of that attitude, and that's kind of what you're
(20:07):
talking about. A lot more laid back, and when you've
watched Saban roam the sidelines for fifteen years and you know,
scream at female trainers because the water's not full enough.
Then you get Kaylin de Borr and there's music at practice,
and it's a bunch of anecdotal stuff. It's a bunch
of straw man stuff that if you won, would be
a credit to him. But because he loses is a
detriment to him. But I think now this is where
(20:30):
rubber meets the road. You could get away with what
happened last year because there is a little bit of transition.
They did lose some He looked like you don't replace him.
There was some staff churn as well. You cannot in
any circumstances half what happened against Florida State, and so
you know, again you let the dust setle a little bit.
You ask around Colin. I think they were stunned by it.
(20:52):
I don't think they're coming. I was down there a
couple of weeks ago watch them scrimmage. It was war.
It was unbelievable. It was every bit of physical as
a Nick Saban practice, as a Kirby Smart practice, to
the point where they I thought they were getting guys hurt.
I thought they were about to get guys hurt before
the season started. And the reason I mentioned that is
(21:13):
because it was the total antithesis of what we saw
against Florida State. Guys look slow, guys look timid. Guys,
didn't look physical, didn't look tough, and it was so
jarring because I know my eyes didn't lie to me.
I'm standing there with football minded people and we're all
in agreement. Right, this is a pretty pretty physical practice,
pretty impressive looking secondary. So I think they were just
(21:36):
as stunned by it as anyone else. So they got
U El Monroe this weekend, but they go to Georgia
within the month like they are going to play LSU
this year. They are going to play Tennessee this year,
And there are so many questions in the South right now,
everyone else hates Obaman, they love this, and then the
Bama folks hate what they saw and they're trying to
(21:56):
figure out, like, do we defend this guy or do
we not expose our ourselves to getting our feelings hurt again?
Do we call for his ouster? And in reality, everyone
wants to know one reason, one reason why it happened,
one sound bite, one snapshot. It's probably thirty seven small things.
And that's the trouble because you can't fix thirty seven
little small things in a week. I just I am
(22:17):
dumbfounded by what I saw against Florida State. Now, I
will say this, I think Bama's the first one and
not the last one to be kind of exposed. They
just happen to play quality enough competition in week one.
It could be we got some top fifteen, top ten
caliber teams elsewhere that just happened to be favored by
forty in week one, and so they're tougher competition and
maybe their exposure period is still to come. But I
(22:40):
got to tell you, man, it's hard to trust a team.
I picked them to win the national title, so it
was a tough Saturday for me. It is hard even
if they do rebound, you know, even if they come
out with their hair on fire, beat Wisconsin, go to Georgia,
down to the wire, they win, thirty twenty seven seasons
back on track, Yeah, it would be back on track.
I can't ignore that the Florida State game happened. Once
(23:01):
that's in the cake. It's baked in there, so I
can't fully trust it again. But that doesn't matter. They
can win without me trusting them. It is a tough,
tough task for him right now.
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You know it was interesting. I love to see all
(25:04):
the Florida schools really good, and I'll wait for the Gators.
But I mean Florida State Norville can recruit Mario Crystabal
is an unbelievable recruiter. I mean they looked like I mean,
they had a swagger, they were physical. That old line
is something else, that's what he does. I mean it
was less miles. He used to build good old lines.
(25:25):
That thing was just Notre Dame. Couldn't get a pass rush.
And my kind of takeaway is the SEC has always
needed the state of Florida and I'm like, I'm not
sure Mario was letting a lot out of Dade County
because that in Norville. I looked at those teams, I'm like,
hose boy, this is real football. And I remember when
I was in Vegas out of college, they used to
put the Florida Florida State game on it nine in
(25:47):
the morning out west. I'm not joking. That's how college
football has grown. Now you have you know, you have
the Big Moon kickoff, but for about fifteen years there
was a hole early in the day. That's why Fox
went after it. I mean, it used to be college
football biggest game. They put at nine in the morning,
and it's all of a sudden, Oh, Wright, this has
a big audience. We got to push this back in
the afternoon. But when I was watching Miami this weekend,
(26:09):
I've always felt, Josh, there's three glamour programs in the country. USC,
Texas and Miami. Doesn't mean they're the best, but they're
glamour programs. Their sex appeal. Austin, Coral Gables, Los Angeles,
they feel different. Kirk kurve Street once said when Carroll
was at USC, he goes it's not pro, but it's
not college either. It's somewhere in the It's somewhere in
(26:30):
the middle. So I'm rooting for Lincoln Riley. I'm I'm
you know, I'm I'm really rooting for Mario Christobal and
Steve Sarkshan Is Miami, I mean Notre Dames legit. I
mean they jumped out to a twenty one to seven lead.
I thought that thing was going to get ugly. I mean,
Carson Beck has time. I always feel like it's hard
(26:52):
not to be legitimate college or pro Penn State this year.
If you have a dominant offense in line could be
the Eagles or the line into the Ravens in the NFL,
it could be Penn State this year. And I watched
Miami's O line, Josh, and I'm like, oh, they can
play with anybody if you Carson Beck may not be great,
but with time, I don't know. My interpretation of Miami
(27:13):
was they're gonna be a handful.
Speaker 1 (27:18):
First off, think about what you just said about the
glamour programs, And there was an extended stretch there where
college football is just surging, surging, surging, USC Texas and
Miami or nowhere to be found that doesn't disprove your point.
What it says is, imagine the turbo booster that adds
to that scalability if they're all collectively.
Speaker 2 (27:37):
Did you see the U Did you see the Texas
Ohio state number today? Seventeen million people watch nude Man.
Speaker 1 (27:46):
Unbelievable, big new kickoffs going nowhere, Dude, Yeah, that was unbelievable.
I've always defended the noon kickoffs. I love them because
I can get home that night and the sunburn on
the forehead is still there from Saturday. But I loved it,
so I remember when it was. It was like before
their Wake Forest game. Last week. I flew down to
Miami to visit with the staff, watched practice. When I
(28:09):
go to Miami practice, Mario brings you right out there
on the field. You stand right behind the line of
scrimmage during live during good on Good, and he says
he's just point, He's just he's giving you play by play.
As practice is going on, he says, I want you
to watch something. I want you to keep an eye
on seventy. So seventy. I don't have my eye on him.
He's in my peripheral vision. It's a kid named mark
(28:29):
el Bell. It is now their starting left tackle. He
is a six nine, three sixty at this point. Last year,
he says, watch this. We got this kid out at
Juco in Mississippi. So he steps in. I've never seen
humanity like that. I've just never seen humanity move like that.
He said, not this year, next year. Just just circle
number seventy next year. So you got Francis malanoa at
(28:52):
right tackle, who's a sure fire first day NFL guy
left tackle. The other night, I think a lot of
the world got introduced to MARKL. Bell. They have built
that thing. They have built that offensive line the way
that you would expect Mario Christaball to build an offensive line.
But what ate them up last year was the obvious.
They wasted cam Ward, just like LSU wasted Jaden Daniels
(29:12):
a couple of seasons ago. LSU course corrected with their
defensive hires, and now they're reaping the benefits. Mario went
to Minnesota and got Corey Heatherman, and first thing I
asked him, is is it a two year thing? He said, no,
We're about hit the portal. We will get this thing fixed.
And so, okay, everyone can say that they get through spring,
they get halfway into fall camp. I check in again
(29:33):
and a lot of the feedback from Miami Colin was running,
game's going to be there. We've got no question about
Carson back. Everyone questioning him. They'll be silenced soon enough.
But I kept being told watch our secondary because that'll
be the key to our season. Because we could not
stop anything through the air last year. We think we
hit on all these guys out of the portal, and
if we're right, it is the portal, so it craps you.
(29:55):
But if we're right, then there's no limit to what
we can do this year. So one game sample size
new quarterback and CJ car on the road. There wasn't
a lot of business to be had through the air
against them the other night either. And so if that's
the case, if they hit on quarterback early, early returns
are they did. If that secondary is even just a
net neutral, much less a positive, they are like the
(30:19):
Swiss army Knife. That's what I prefer in a team.
To pick them, I want to know that you could
win a game thirty eight thirty one if you need to,
I love you in a nineteen sixteen slugfest two. They're
the kind of team that's very multifaceted, but I don't
want to get excited because consistency and performance has bitten
them late game situationals and hitting them. So again it
(30:39):
is trust but verify with Miami. But if they are back,
think about what we saw from Clemson the other night,
not a conference game, but think about what we saw
from Georgia Tech. Clemson goes two Tech in a few weeks.
Think about the ac seam Florida State. Miami goes to
Florida State within the month. Like the ACC is about
to have the volume turned up on it really quick,
and I cannot handicap that thing right now. That thing's
(31:01):
up in the air.
Speaker 2 (31:02):
Yeah, Mario struggled on the road at Oregon. He did
not struggle in recruiting. He did not struggle at home.
He would go on the road. Sometimes it's clock management.
We saw it against Notre Dame a little dubious. But
I love Miami and it fires me up. Let's end
with this. And by the way, for the regular listers
of my show, when I noticed Josh paid over two
(31:23):
years ago, I had told people, I'm like this kid.
He even knows West Coast football and a lot of
southern college football. Writers don't really follow it and you do, so.
Speaker 1 (31:34):
They don't go out there. They don't go out if
they'd go to what I had to go to a
Washington game to get it. But when I went for
that Oregon game a couple of years ago, I got it.
When I went to a Utah game, I got I
love it out there.
Speaker 2 (31:46):
Now.
Speaker 1 (31:46):
People in the South think I'm lying when I say
that I ain't lying about it. Man, it's unbelievable. If
you can get out there. It's just I grew up
in rural Georgia, so you know, Seattle might as well
be on the moon, Eugene might well be rushing to it.
But if you ever get out there, it's awesome.
Speaker 2 (32:02):
So I like Lincoln Riley, I know him. But if
you don't follow recruiting. Until a year ago, they really
didn't aggressively recruit Los Angeles and it was very off
putting to the people here. You know, it'd be like,
you know, Kirby Smart ignoring Georgia. Now they've gone full
bore into it and they have one or two or
(32:24):
top three recruiting class in twenty twenty six as a
lot of Southern California kids, as it should be. I
think kids, when you recruit the local kid, mom and
dad are in town, they're less likely to get in trouble.
Mom and dad read the paper. I like the local kid.
You know they're showing off of their buddies and their friends.
You get away from home. Sometimes it's just it can
change a young man's personality. I don't know if Lincoln
(32:48):
Riley can create a culture. I know we can coach.
I mean he twelve wins, eleven wins, nine wins, eleven
wins at Oklahoma. I mean he took over USC. I'm
here to tell you, man, they had about twenty eight
I was told this by somebody on Lincoln stat They
had about thirty guys that could play at USC, and
very few were good. Their best players were Kayleb Williams
and Jordan Adison, and they were coming from other programs.
(33:11):
But I don't know if he's a culture builder. I've
watched last year they go to Maryland. I mean they
led in almost every football game. They couldn't close games out,
and closing games out is fundamentally about physicality. It's a
seven minute drive. Winning games comes in a variety of forms.
Closing games out when you lead is physical football, three
first downs, close it down. They couldn't do it. Their
(33:34):
running back room is good. Do you have the same
doubts I do about We know he can call plays,
we know he's clever. I didn't even like their quarterback
at UNLV when they got it, I thought, like I
watched him in the opener, I watched them last year.
I'm like, well, he's better than he was at u
on LV. I just I didn't think he was an
elite player. But the reports out of USC is Lincoln
(33:54):
really likes him. But do you have concerns about USC
and culture building because there's a lot of I mean,
what makes Sean mcvayh great is not the schematics. Is
the guy maybe five to ten, he feels like he's six'.
Eight he's like he walks. There he's Half Abe, lincoln
Half Nick. Saban you, know he's like he is Half Warren.
(34:14):
Buffett like its just big And lincoln can got to
be soft, spoken kind of be feel sometimes indifferent to
certain kind of. Conversations where do you land on, HIM.
Speaker 1 (34:29):
I think you have to Be you're in a really
unique position because you get to be in the room
with a lot of those guys at the college. LEVEL
i get to sit down with all of. Them most
people don't get. That most people may find themselves at
some meet and greet one on one with their head,
coach but they don't have the comparative analysis. ABILITY i
(34:50):
agree with your assessment about. Him it is the TWO
i got two big questions about. Him one is the culture.
PIECE a lot of noise coming From Breton vennables in
the past couple of week about what they inherited. There
you could pass that off the sour. Grapes he could
be shooting to you. STRAIGHT i think it's worth paying attention.
To and so When lincoln goes TO. Usc thus far
(35:13):
what you described is what makes a great, coordinator but
he's not the coordinator. There he's a head. Coach so
you got to be able to do more than just
call plays and coach a. Position it's about getting, talent
it's about developing the. Talent, now one piece that they
did is when they went and Got Chad, boden THE
gm From Notre. Dame we're going to take in state recruiting,
seriously like that was going to get turned. UP i
(35:34):
am very interested to see whether proof of performance on
the field this year is necessary to keep that class.
Together that's one thing That i'm. Watching the other thing
That i've Asked chad about, This i've asked, him do
you talk about like locking down the, city locking down the?
State do you really think there's enough line of scrimmage
talent in the state Of california the Question he, said,
YES i disagree with, that but you know he's RUNNING.
(35:58):
Usc i'm. Not but even and even if all the talent's,
there even if all the players are, THERE i have
never thought that that one possession loss metric is. Randomized
turnovers sometimes are. Randomized the, Dude nebraska kept losing one
possession games because they didn't know how to win GAMES
usc last year the five fourth quarter leads that they.
Lost that's cause they didn't possess the ability to take a.
(36:19):
Game and then go look at you go look At
Kirby smart in one possession. Games he's got an incredible
record that's not by. Accident so the question is do
you just flip that once you get better. Players you
may have less one possession games when you have better,
Players but the bottom line is even the best of the,
best we're eventually going to find themselves in those, positions
and you start talking playoff instead of let's make a.
(36:41):
Bowl that's a tight. Rope walk one hundred feet off
the ground instead of ten feet off the. Ground you
fall ten. Feet it hurts you fall one hundred street.
Pizza so what you said is still in the back
of my, mind totally. Fair AND i don't think anyone INSIDE.
USC i don't Think lincoln himself can really put back on.
That cause if he's, honest if you inject truth serum in,
(37:03):
him he knows what it comes down. To you got
to prove. It you don't say, it you got to prove.
Speaker 2 (37:07):
IT i was talking to A usc booster today AND i,
said That illinois, game that's it's.
Speaker 1 (37:12):
It that s, it that's the damage.
Speaker 2 (37:14):
Game they're not winning To, oregon that's, okay they're probably
not winning.
Speaker 1 (37:17):
It Notre.
Speaker 2 (37:18):
Dame they're gonna win their home. GAMES i, SAID i
don't know if they can win In illinois if it's
thirty nine degrees or forty two or. WINDY i said
that that is the kind of game where In illinois is.
GOOD i, THINK i mean they. BRETT i mean this
year they would turn a lot of guys on their,
lines offensive. LINE i think they may return four or five.
Starters illinois is my dark horse team in the. COUNTRY
i don't think they're, great BUT i think they're really
(37:39):
good and they're going to knock people. Off and if
it's forty, Four i'm Taking. Illinois i'll tell you right.
Now if it's forty two forty, Four Lincoln riley has
not proven he can win that game with. Discomfort Josh,
pate what a. Pleasure we're gonna make this a regular
thing On wednesdays for our. AUDIENCE i hope you guys
enjoyed it listening as much AS i. DID i just
(38:00):
have great admiration for your, prep your. Intensity you're obviously
a very bright. GUY i love your work AND i
want to say thank. You and this is the start
of a lot of these sit, downs AND i loved.
Speaker 1 (38:11):
It love, it, Man love you. BROTHER i appreciate you having.
Me can't wait for the rest of the. Year the
volume
The volume.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
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go download the Game Time app today. Well, if you
like college football and I've been watching Josh paid for
a long time. But there are very few people that
cut through like Josh and there's no clicks involved. It's
(01:10):
just knowledge and prep and work. He is newly married
he's got a beautiful wife, he's got an incredible job,
and it looks like he can bench Delaware. So his
shit is rolling right now. He is, Josh, it is
a pleasure to have you on. So I don't like
criticizing college athletes, but I have said we'll start with
(01:30):
this that once they started making five million bucks a year,
you're a professional. Whatever level you play at, you're a professional.
And Arch Manning can handle it. And I said, listen,
there are and this I feel this way about Belichick's opener,
there are games in which you struggle. I've seen Patrick
Mahomes just have bad halves, bad super Bowls. But with
(01:51):
Arch it was I mean, when he first rolled out
to the right and skipped that thing about eight yards shy,
that was more than nerves. It was armslot. It was
Macaire annex. And he'll bounce back in the next three games.
It's you know, it's you know, really second tier programs.
But I don't think it's just a hey, it was jitters.
I had some concerns. I can't unsee it, and I
(02:14):
know that's punitive and harsh, but this is Manning. I
joked before the game. Family dinners are events I don't
want to hear he was nervous. It was more than that.
It was kind of jarring, was it not.
Speaker 1 (02:28):
Yeah, I specially think if you bought into i don't know,
like the superheroification of him over the spring in summer,
you think about this. He has only just now become
a college football starting quarterback, and you and I have
talked about him over half a decade, so we've knowne
about him six years and now I don't think we've
ever said that about anyone. So I go out there
(02:50):
in the spring watching practice, feel my way around the building.
Sarks really just open about stuff, especially when you get
him off the record that staff, and that wasn't oh,
we're worried about it. The feedback was we really hope
that the world's realistic about what we're doing here, about
what we're gonna put on the field, because they never
expected it to be like you know, the preview magazine,
(03:12):
culture expected it to be. So it wasn't a shock
to me that they tried to ease him. Man. I
think the jarring part for me, I was up there,
I was standing on the field is you didn't even
have to watch secondary line of scrimmage. If you just
put your eyes on him. You could tell the moment
the ball came out of his hand that's not a
good ball and that's not going anywhere fast. So I
think that part you get rattled, and at that point
(03:34):
you're playing a good defense, so you feel like you
can just win a rock fight and we'll tuck it
back in. We'll go back home, we'll play a tomato can,
we'll get ready for our trip to Florida, I think
is their next really big game. So it wasn't is
jarring to me because I never did the Heisman thing
with him. I never did the arch manning number one
picking the draft this upcoming year. My whole stance on
him was and it still is, He's gonna be a
(03:55):
pretty good quarterback this year, and anything above and beyond
that great. But it's Texas. You don't have to carry
them for that matter. Nusmier doesn't have to carry LSU
club thing, doesn't have to carry Clemson. A lot of
these guys have really good supporting cast. He has got
racehorses around him. I questioned whether there's speed at wide
receivers quite what it's been. But the whole concept of
(04:16):
Texas is We're going to load the roster up. Just
make good decisions, be big in the leverage moments. He
was not that in week one, but you know you
got a much bigger safety net under you now because
of the structure of the playoff.
Speaker 2 (04:29):
Yeah, and I'll get to a chance. You know. I
think first glances matter. And I followed high school recruiting
not as much as I used to, just because I
have more things on my plate. But I'll just say
I don't know how good Michigan is. I love Oklahoma
this weekend. I think if you can look at Oklahoma's
depth chart, that defense is juniors and seniors. That is
an old team. They're at home. They got a lot
(04:49):
of twenty two year old guys and materears, very talented quarterback.
I think Oklahoma's going to have a day. But my
first glance is at Bryce Underwood on YouTube and high
school and last week, Josh, that's like whoa, whoa, whoa.
That is magic, And I know he's going on the road.
Speaker 1 (05:08):
Now.
Speaker 2 (05:09):
You needed about four snaps. I really think Underwood is
a lot of these five star guys. I never bought
into Quinny yours. I mean, you know, in southern California.
I've heard a lot of five star recruits, and I'm like,
I don't buy it. I always say LA recruits fives
of four, fours of three. They get overhyped. But I
like Oklahoma this weekend. But what were your interpretations of
(05:29):
Bryce Underwood?
Speaker 1 (05:31):
Better than I thought he'd be, and I had really
high expectations for him. I do not throw around the
G word. Okay, generational, you should use that about once
a generation. I believe that's the definition. He Even the
guys I trust in the scouting world, the ones that
assignate the star ratings, even when I listened to them
coming up, you know, the ones who are really careful
(05:52):
with their language, they said that one's just different. Go
watch him, and he did. I don't think he came
to a lead eleven. So I went out there. I
didn't get to see him in person, but eventually you
get to see his high school stuff. Okay, it's high school.
He goes to Michigan. I know it was New Mexico.
Ninety nine percent of the country didn't watch the game.
I don't care if it was air. There is a
way that superstars look. It does not make it does
(06:15):
not take mountains and mountains games and games of film.
You just look at it and you say, WHOA. Now,
that's not like you said. It's not a guarantee that
he's going to go light the world on fire this week.
In fact, it could overinflate him to where he tries
to do too much on the road against a Brent
Venables defense, which is made like the tours of the
world look inferior in your spect. So I'm with you
(06:36):
on the Oklahoma sort of dynamic this weekend, But long term,
here's the way I viewed Michigan this whole year. They
are not good at receiver, so they do not have
the pass catchers to probably have him fully feature himself.
But what is going to happen is everyone is going
to see what you and I are talking about eventually
because it'll play out on the big stage, and they
(06:56):
are going to be I think, a portal magnet for
wide receivers after the year. And I'm I'm viewing Michigan
twenty twenty five three, twenty twenty six prism because I
think twenty twenty six they're right in the national championship conversation.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
Yeah, I don't know that far ahead, And they're not
good at receiver. By the way, if you go look
at Jim harbaughd recruiting through the years, he's never had
good receivers. He didn't have them with Andrew Luck got
in San Francisco, he had Michael Crabtree and that was
about it. Michigan. I mean there were a run defense squash,
you know, eat the clock up. But the ball comes
(07:33):
out of Bryce underwards hand fast, very differently. It just
doesn't look like other kids, all right. So much like
the arch Manning topic. I my question with Belichick and
I and a friend of mine, Yan Rosseillo, and I
got on this years ago, about seven years before Belichick
got bounced in New England. Rosillo and I used to
(07:56):
his joke, were like, he can't draft. He's sitting there
with his dog and nantucket on his iPad, and I'm like,
he can't draft. And I people, and so what happens
in the NFL, And it was Pete Carroll's undoing a
little bit in Seattle where there are coaches Jimmy Johnson
and Sean Payton who are really really Sean McVay really
good with personnel, They really have an eye for it.
(08:16):
Then there's guys like Kyle Shanahan, who I think are
great play designers and play callers, I don't love their
personnel view. And then there's Belichick, who sort of tone
deaf to offensive personnel. I don't think he's tone deaf
to schemes because he's the best defensive coach of my life.
But his last seven years in New England, I mean,
(08:37):
they got a punter who was an All Pro. That
was it. They couldn't draft anything interior, O line, sideline, quarterback.
So my question was why should I trust him in
the transfer portal. I didn't like him drafting college kids.
And when I watched Carolina, one of the first things
after the first series that jumped out to me is
(08:59):
TCU either had much better coaches are much better players.
Because the ore a lot of guys running free in
the second half. I mean, I mean pulling away from
safeties and pulling away from linebackers. I just didn't see
the talent. Now again, the transfer portal, you're getting used
cars a little bit. You know, if Georgia wants to
keep a guy, they're going to keep a guy. I
(09:19):
thought it was again, is it possible that Bill's not
the listen Saban was a brilliant personnel.
Speaker 1 (09:28):
Guy.
Speaker 2 (09:28):
I don't think Belichick is am I wrong?
Speaker 1 (09:32):
No, I mean I actually wish I did disagree with you.
I completely agree with you. I looked at the dynamic look,
I mean, take a step back for a second. So
I didn't even understand the circus around it. Period. I
got when Dion came to Colorado, that is a massive
circus coming to town, not even in a pejorative way.
I got that a lot of people in my world
(09:53):
made this huge deal about Belichick coming in North Carolina,
and I maybe I just don't pay attention enough to
like mainstream sports talk. So I didn't get it. But
that's just me, that's my personal preference. So then I
start hearing these rumblings like, boy, they got a workable
schedule this year, and I started to pick up what
people were putting down cause the connotation there was ooh,
(10:15):
they could do something this year, and I was I know,
the personnel they have, it's terrible. And so I was
looking at it saying, what are you saying about the schedule?
Come out and say it. No one wanted to say it.
So I finally got some people to admit, yeah, I
think it's Belichick, it's a workable schedule. He could Yeah,
I got the cattle prode theory. He could cattle pride
college football this year. I was like, if that's your
(10:38):
expectation for him, you're in for a very rude awakening,
and so is the rest of America. Like I didn't
get it initially. I thought people understood he's coming in there,
and you know, it's a big show and it's going
to raise the profile of Carolina football, but the expectations
largely to do what Caroline has done. I was so
tone deaf on it when I realized people's expectations were
(10:59):
he's actually gonna llevate them to the level of maybe
a fringe playoff contender. I was so out so quickly
on it for fifty different reasons, but one of them
is the one you talked about. I never talked about NFL.
College football is my space. But I didn't think he
did a great job at all of the personnel side
of things the last several years he was in the NFL,
or he'd probably still be in the NFL. And then
(11:21):
the next part of that is, all right, if you're
telling me that you want him to be more than
a seven or eight win per year on average guy,
which is Carolina football historically. Well, that means he's got
to do better in talent acquisition. And that also means
you got to beat Clemson for kids, You got to
occasionally beat Miami or Florida State for kids. He's just
not going to do that. I don't know if you've
(11:41):
gotten in the weeds a little bit and read some
of the stuff that I've been hearing for months. Has
now sort of started to go public about the impressions
that recruits or portal kids have had, the experiences they've had.
They don't know how to do it, man, And it's
no knock on him. They've never had to do it.
Think about it, like if you're watching right now and
(12:01):
you're mainly an FL and like you just dip your
toe into college Nick Saban, I think's the best to
ever do it. He got to his early seventies after
a lifetime in college football, lifetime of mastering talent acquisition,
and he said, this isn't really for me anymore. Belichick
at the same age, is trying it for the first time.
He's older than any three of his players come by,
(12:22):
and he's trying that for the first time. I never
even gave a passing thought to oh, this will work.
Of course it won't work. I was stunned and still
am that people think it will work.
Speaker 2 (12:32):
Yeah, you know, and what's interesting about you know, in
pro football you draft the player, but in college football,
the player selects you. So if you're around Nick Saban,
he's funny. I've been around him a couple of days.
He's funny. Mario Cristobal, Dan Lanning, they're dynamic men. Brian Kelly,
(12:53):
they've got the personalities you have to sell. Yes, yeah,
they're salesman. And by the way, it's it's not all.
They do bills better schematically than a lot of guys.
But there are almost I mean, you'd have to go
back to Don James Washington in the seventies and eighties,
where a guy was fairly personalityless and was a really
(13:14):
good recruiter. And I always thought James was doing it
with coaching and staff composition. Their personnel was good. I
don't think it was as good it's never been. It
was even in Don's best heyday. They had a couple
the Steve Etman defenses were stacked, but basically they did it.
They were just the smartest staff he had. Just you know,
they always had the best special teams, kind of like
Frank Beemer. They beat you on special teams in defense.
(13:37):
You never thought it was the most creative offense. But
you get him in Blacksburg, get him in Husky Stadium.
They won a lot of games. But by and large,
Belichick is kind of grumpy. Mike Lombardi a smart guy,
he's got that sort of Jersey gruffness. It reminds me
a little of Charlie Weiss Remember when he thought he
had this schematic advantage. And after a while, you're like, Charlie,
(13:57):
you're your O line, your D line, and Notre Dame
should be onlinemen. You're not pulling, you're not pulling the players.
And I think it's got to Charlie Weissfield.
Speaker 1 (14:07):
I am telling you one of the lines point blank
that a head coach gave me top fifteen like playoff
caliber program. He said, you know how biggest slap in
the face it is to listen to the media. Tell
us a guy who has never coached College of Day
in his life in the last several decades is going
to come teach us something like Bill Belichick's gonna come
(14:29):
teach college football something. He said, college football will teach
him ten times more than he's about to teach college football. Calus.
The other thing about it is the insinuation is guys
are either schematics guys x'es and those guys or their
talent acquirers. Sometimes that's true. Sometimes it's an A or
a B. When you get to the higher portion of
(14:51):
the college football pyramid, I know this shot some people colling,
some have both. George's got both, like like Clemson's got both.
They can get the talent better than you. They can
also out coach you. So unless you're going to go
and really convince me that you're gonna out recruit in
which you're not, or you're going to out develop them
and scheme them not once or twice in your career.
(15:13):
You may do that, but you got to do it
about ten or eleven times in a year to be
able to get to the playoff, then I'm out on
them achieving anything more than Carolina Football historically.
Speaker 2 (15:21):
As I think the SEC. You know, every time the
SEC loses a game, you know it's like this guy
is falling. Listen. LSU went into Clemson and one that's
a really big boy football win. The SEC is going
to be fine, but I do think there is a
distinction between the SEC. The Big Ten now is better
than it was five years ago, no question, and the
SEC is still really good. But losing Saban, you know,
(15:43):
it's like losing Lebron James in the Eastern Conference going west,
it's not the same conference. The Kalendi Boor thing is interesting.
When he was at Washington, there was an understanding. It
was one of and I just read this the other
day somewhere where coaches, you know how coaches sometimes pro
scouts and pro coaches will come to college stuff in
off season, and people were saying about Kaylin de Bor,
(16:05):
why are you leaving Man? You got no pressure up here.
And they love college football in Seattle, but they got
the Seahawks and the Mariners. It's a bigger city, and
they said, man, you got it made up here. And
I think it is hard. It's one thing to replace
Nick Saban, but I think the Boor's personality is the
pole ropposite. And I think the program had a certain
(16:28):
urgency and intensity built in by Nick. And I don't
think they tried to divert from that. I just think
Kaylen de Bor was the best candidate. I think Alabama
sort of liked that sometimes, you know, dialing it up
on the sidelines, getting in players' faces. They weren't offended
by that. You see Kirby smart to do it in
the South, that's much more understood where it's just more
(16:49):
intense and they get more restless that it's louder with
the media. But I made the argument today, I'm not
sure Kaylin's a great personality fit. I watched Jim mcelwaine unravel,
I saw eat up urban Meyer's health, and I do
wonder if Klan Maybe. I think he's a terrific coach,
but he may be better at Michigan right like he
(17:10):
may be better at like Washington and Michigan. It does
feel different than Alabama, and it's what makes it's what
separates Alabama from the other program. I always said, Ohio
State's the only SEC team North. It's different in Columbus
than Ann Arbor. I wonder about Kaylan I just the
(17:30):
more I read, I mean, I think he's safe. I
mean I guess I should start with that. Do you
think he's safe for now?
Speaker 1 (17:37):
Safe? Yes?
Speaker 2 (17:38):
Okay, so, but but is it possible personality does matter some.
I mean, Kirby Smart, that's an sec personality. He's just
gonna sell it to you straight. Or do you think
kaylen to Board just turns this puppy around in three weeks?
Speaker 1 (17:56):
Ah, boy, this is a pregnant pause. So so I
don't know if he's going to turn it around this year.
I got to tell you so to get back to
the personality thing for a second, that was one of
my suspicions. You know, I remember when he took the job,
like I know him pretty well, So when he took
the job, after all the dust settled, you know, I
(18:19):
go down there a few times a year. I'll go
down there and watch him practice. I'll go down there
and watching scrimmage. I'm sitting there in his office with him.
And what I wanted to know was the whole taken
over for a legend thing, not what you're saying at
the press conferences. Like I wanted to know to I
shoot with me, how do you view that? And to
(18:39):
you know, not like ruin confidence or anything like that.
But he couldn't have cared less about that. What he
wanted to make sure he had was the proper resources.
Because he is a one percenter. He may have a
different personality than Saban, but please, like anyone, watch and
make no mistake, he when you open the hood on him,
is every bit as competitive as the highest level achievers
(19:01):
in this sport. What he looked at is not who
am I taking over for. What he looked at is
am I going to be given everything I need to win?
Because I know what the expectation level is going to be. Now,
I will say there is no substitute for jumping in
the freezing cold water. When you jump into it, anyone's
body is going to lurch. So I think he has
had a bit of that. But you don't want to
(19:23):
take over for a legend thing in college football has
always needed an asterisk next to it that it hasn't had.
You didn't want to take over Penn State post Paterno,
even without the off the field stuff. You didn't want
to take it over because he's stuck around twenty years
past his prime. So you had a rebuild on your hands.
Bowden FSU, you were going to have a rebuild on
your hands with sky high expectations. Saban's last game was
(19:45):
a playoff game, so you had a pretty full covered Yeah.
You know, guys like him look at it and say, well,
my words, not his screw who was here before? Like,
I'm a one percenter too. I wake up in the morning,
look in the bathroom mirror. I think I could be
the great of all time if I'm being given what
I need. Now, he's got this demeanor that is the
antithesis of that attitude, and that's kind of what you're
(20:07):
talking about. A lot more laid back, and when you've
watched Saban roam the sidelines for fifteen years and you know,
scream at female trainers because the water's not full enough.
Then you get Kaylin de Borr and there's music at practice,
and it's a bunch of anecdotal stuff. It's a bunch
of straw man stuff that if you won, would be
a credit to him. But because he loses is a
detriment to him. But I think now this is where
(20:30):
rubber meets the road. You could get away with what
happened last year because there is a little bit of transition.
They did lose some He looked like you don't replace him.
There was some staff churn as well. You cannot in
any circumstances half what happened against Florida State, and so
you know, again you let the dust setle a little bit.
You ask around Colin. I think they were stunned by it.
(20:52):
I don't think they're coming. I was down there a
couple of weeks ago watch them scrimmage. It was war.
It was unbelievable. It was every bit of physical as
a Nick Saban practice, as a Kirby Smart practice, to
the point where they I thought they were getting guys hurt.
I thought they were about to get guys hurt before
the season started. And the reason I mentioned that is
(21:13):
because it was the total antithesis of what we saw
against Florida State. Guys look slow, guys look timid. Guys,
didn't look physical, didn't look tough, and it was so
jarring because I know my eyes didn't lie to me.
I'm standing there with football minded people and we're all
in agreement. Right, this is a pretty pretty physical practice,
pretty impressive looking secondary. So I think they were just
(21:36):
as stunned by it as anyone else. So they got
U El Monroe this weekend, but they go to Georgia
within the month like they are going to play LSU
this year. They are going to play Tennessee this year,
And there are so many questions in the South right now,
everyone else hates Obaman, they love this, and then the
Bama folks hate what they saw and they're trying to
(21:56):
figure out, like, do we defend this guy or do
we not expose our ourselves to getting our feelings hurt again?
Do we call for his ouster? And in reality, everyone
wants to know one reason, one reason why it happened,
one sound bite, one snapshot. It's probably thirty seven small things.
And that's the trouble because you can't fix thirty seven
little small things in a week. I just I am
(22:17):
dumbfounded by what I saw against Florida State. Now, I
will say this, I think Bama's the first one and
not the last one to be kind of exposed. They
just happen to play quality enough competition in week one.
It could be we got some top fifteen, top ten
caliber teams elsewhere that just happened to be favored by
forty in week one, and so they're tougher competition and
maybe their exposure period is still to come. But I
(22:40):
got to tell you, man, it's hard to trust a team.
I picked them to win the national title, so it
was a tough Saturday for me. It is hard even
if they do rebound, you know, even if they come
out with their hair on fire, beat Wisconsin, go to Georgia,
down to the wire, they win, thirty twenty seven seasons
back on track, Yeah, it would be back on track.
I can't ignore that the Florida State game happened. Once
(23:01):
that's in the cake. It's baked in there, so I
can't fully trust it again. But that doesn't matter. They
can win without me trusting them. It is a tough,
tough task for him right now.
Speaker 2 (23:13):
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You know it was interesting. I love to see all
(25:04):
the Florida schools really good, and I'll wait for the Gators.
But I mean Florida State Norville can recruit Mario Crystabal
is an unbelievable recruiter. I mean they looked like I mean,
they had a swagger, they were physical. That old line
is something else, that's what he does. I mean it
was less miles. He used to build good old lines.
(25:25):
That thing was just Notre Dame. Couldn't get a pass rush.
And my kind of takeaway is the SEC has always
needed the state of Florida and I'm like, I'm not
sure Mario was letting a lot out of Dade County
because that in Norville. I looked at those teams, I'm like,
hose boy, this is real football. And I remember when
I was in Vegas out of college, they used to
put the Florida Florida State game on it nine in
(25:47):
the morning out west. I'm not joking. That's how college
football has grown. Now you have you know, you have
the Big Moon kickoff, but for about fifteen years there
was a hole early in the day. That's why Fox
went after it. I mean, it used to be college
football biggest game. They put at nine in the morning,
and it's all of a sudden, Oh, Wright, this has
a big audience. We got to push this back in
the afternoon. But when I was watching Miami this weekend,
(26:09):
I've always felt, Josh, there's three glamour programs in the country. USC,
Texas and Miami. Doesn't mean they're the best, but they're
glamour programs. Their sex appeal. Austin, Coral Gables, Los Angeles,
they feel different. Kirk kurve Street once said when Carroll
was at USC, he goes it's not pro, but it's
not college either. It's somewhere in the It's somewhere in
(26:30):
the middle. So I'm rooting for Lincoln Riley. I'm I'm
you know, I'm I'm really rooting for Mario Christobal and
Steve Sarkshan Is Miami, I mean Notre Dames legit. I
mean they jumped out to a twenty one to seven lead.
I thought that thing was going to get ugly. I mean,
Carson Beck has time. I always feel like it's hard
(26:52):
not to be legitimate college or pro Penn State this year.
If you have a dominant offense in line could be
the Eagles or the line into the Ravens in the NFL,
it could be Penn State this year. And I watched
Miami's O line, Josh, and I'm like, oh, they can
play with anybody if you Carson Beck may not be great,
but with time, I don't know. My interpretation of Miami
(27:13):
was they're gonna be a handful.
Speaker 1 (27:18):
First off, think about what you just said about the
glamour programs, And there was an extended stretch there where
college football is just surging, surging, surging, USC Texas and
Miami or nowhere to be found that doesn't disprove your point.
What it says is, imagine the turbo booster that adds
to that scalability if they're all collectively.
Speaker 2 (27:37):
Did you see the U Did you see the Texas
Ohio state number today? Seventeen million people watch nude Man.
Speaker 1 (27:46):
Unbelievable, big new kickoffs going nowhere, Dude, Yeah, that was unbelievable.
I've always defended the noon kickoffs. I love them because
I can get home that night and the sunburn on
the forehead is still there from Saturday. But I loved it,
so I remember when it was. It was like before
their Wake Forest game. Last week. I flew down to
Miami to visit with the staff, watched practice. When I
(28:09):
go to Miami practice, Mario brings you right out there
on the field. You stand right behind the line of
scrimmage during live during good on Good, and he says
he's just point, He's just he's giving you play by play.
As practice is going on, he says, I want you
to watch something. I want you to keep an eye
on seventy. So seventy. I don't have my eye on him.
He's in my peripheral vision. It's a kid named mark
(28:29):
el Bell. It is now their starting left tackle. He
is a six nine, three sixty at this point. Last year,
he says, watch this. We got this kid out at
Juco in Mississippi. So he steps in. I've never seen
humanity like that. I've just never seen humanity move like that.
He said, not this year, next year. Just just circle
number seventy next year. So you got Francis malanoa at
(28:52):
right tackle, who's a sure fire first day NFL guy
left tackle. The other night, I think a lot of
the world got introduced to MARKL. Bell. They have built
that thing. They have built that offensive line the way
that you would expect Mario Christaball to build an offensive line.
But what ate them up last year was the obvious.
They wasted cam Ward, just like LSU wasted Jaden Daniels
(29:12):
a couple of seasons ago. LSU course corrected with their
defensive hires, and now they're reaping the benefits. Mario went
to Minnesota and got Corey Heatherman, and first thing I
asked him, is is it a two year thing? He said, no,
We're about hit the portal. We will get this thing fixed.
And so, okay, everyone can say that they get through spring,
they get halfway into fall camp. I check in again
(29:33):
and a lot of the feedback from Miami Colin was running,
game's going to be there. We've got no question about
Carson back. Everyone questioning him. They'll be silenced soon enough.
But I kept being told watch our secondary because that'll
be the key to our season. Because we could not
stop anything through the air last year. We think we
hit on all these guys out of the portal, and
if we're right, it is the portal, so it craps you.
(29:55):
But if we're right, then there's no limit to what
we can do this year. So one game sample size
new quarterback and CJ car on the road. There wasn't
a lot of business to be had through the air
against them the other night either. And so if that's
the case, if they hit on quarterback early, early returns
are they did. If that secondary is even just a
net neutral, much less a positive, they are like the
(30:19):
Swiss army Knife. That's what I prefer in a team.
To pick them, I want to know that you could
win a game thirty eight thirty one if you need to,
I love you in a nineteen sixteen slugfest two. They're
the kind of team that's very multifaceted, but I don't
want to get excited because consistency and performance has bitten
them late game situationals and hitting them. So again it
(30:39):
is trust but verify with Miami. But if they are back,
think about what we saw from Clemson the other night,
not a conference game, but think about what we saw
from Georgia Tech. Clemson goes two Tech in a few weeks.
Think about the ac seam Florida State. Miami goes to
Florida State within the month. Like the ACC is about
to have the volume turned up on it really quick,
and I cannot handicap that thing right now. That thing's
(31:01):
up in the air.
Speaker 2 (31:02):
Yeah, Mario struggled on the road at Oregon. He did
not struggle in recruiting. He did not struggle at home.
He would go on the road. Sometimes it's clock management.
We saw it against Notre Dame a little dubious. But
I love Miami and it fires me up. Let's end
with this. And by the way, for the regular listers
of my show, when I noticed Josh paid over two
(31:23):
years ago, I had told people, I'm like this kid.
He even knows West Coast football and a lot of
southern college football. Writers don't really follow it and you do, so.
Speaker 1 (31:34):
They don't go out there. They don't go out if
they'd go to what I had to go to a
Washington game to get it. But when I went for
that Oregon game a couple of years ago, I got it.
When I went to a Utah game, I got I
love it out there.
Speaker 2 (31:46):
Now.
Speaker 1 (31:46):
People in the South think I'm lying when I say
that I ain't lying about it. Man, it's unbelievable. If
you can get out there. It's just I grew up
in rural Georgia, so you know, Seattle might as well
be on the moon, Eugene might well be rushing to it.
But if you ever get out there, it's awesome.
Speaker 2 (32:02):
So I like Lincoln Riley, I know him. But if
you don't follow recruiting. Until a year ago, they really
didn't aggressively recruit Los Angeles and it was very off
putting to the people here. You know, it'd be like,
you know, Kirby Smart ignoring Georgia. Now they've gone full
bore into it and they have one or two or
(32:24):
top three recruiting class in twenty twenty six as a
lot of Southern California kids, as it should be. I
think kids, when you recruit the local kid, mom and
dad are in town, they're less likely to get in trouble.
Mom and dad read the paper. I like the local kid.
You know they're showing off of their buddies and their friends.
You get away from home. Sometimes it's just it can
change a young man's personality. I don't know if Lincoln
(32:48):
Riley can create a culture. I know we can coach.
I mean he twelve wins, eleven wins, nine wins, eleven
wins at Oklahoma. I mean he took over USC. I'm
here to tell you, man, they had about twenty eight
I was told this by somebody on Lincoln stat They
had about thirty guys that could play at USC, and
very few were good. Their best players were Kayleb Williams
and Jordan Adison, and they were coming from other programs.
(33:11):
But I don't know if he's a culture builder. I've
watched last year they go to Maryland. I mean they
led in almost every football game. They couldn't close games out,
and closing games out is fundamentally about physicality. It's a
seven minute drive. Winning games comes in a variety of forms.
Closing games out when you lead is physical football, three
first downs, close it down. They couldn't do it. Their
(33:34):
running back room is good. Do you have the same
doubts I do about We know he can call plays,
we know he's clever. I didn't even like their quarterback
at UNLV when they got it, I thought, like I
watched him in the opener, I watched them last year.
I'm like, well, he's better than he was at u
on LV. I just I didn't think he was an
elite player. But the reports out of USC is Lincoln
(33:54):
really likes him. But do you have concerns about USC
and culture building because there's a lot of I mean,
what makes Sean mcvayh great is not the schematics. Is
the guy maybe five to ten, he feels like he's six'.
Eight he's like he walks. There he's Half Abe, lincoln
Half Nick. Saban you, know he's like he is Half Warren.
(34:14):
Buffett like its just big And lincoln can got to
be soft, spoken kind of be feel sometimes indifferent to
certain kind of. Conversations where do you land on, HIM.
Speaker 1 (34:29):
I think you have to Be you're in a really
unique position because you get to be in the room
with a lot of those guys at the college. LEVEL
i get to sit down with all of. Them most
people don't get. That most people may find themselves at
some meet and greet one on one with their head,
coach but they don't have the comparative analysis. ABILITY i
(34:50):
agree with your assessment about. Him it is the TWO
i got two big questions about. Him one is the culture.
PIECE a lot of noise coming From Breton vennables in
the past couple of week about what they inherited. There
you could pass that off the sour. Grapes he could
be shooting to you. STRAIGHT i think it's worth paying attention.
To and so When lincoln goes TO. Usc thus far
(35:13):
what you described is what makes a great, coordinator but
he's not the coordinator. There he's a head. Coach so
you got to be able to do more than just
call plays and coach a. Position it's about getting, talent
it's about developing the. Talent, now one piece that they
did is when they went and Got Chad, boden THE
gm From Notre. Dame we're going to take in state recruiting,
seriously like that was going to get turned. UP i
(35:34):
am very interested to see whether proof of performance on
the field this year is necessary to keep that class.
Together that's one thing That i'm. Watching the other thing
That i've Asked chad about, This i've asked, him do
you talk about like locking down the, city locking down the?
State do you really think there's enough line of scrimmage
talent in the state Of california the Question he, said,
YES i disagree with, that but you know he's RUNNING.
(35:58):
Usc i'm. Not but even and even if all the talent's,
there even if all the players are, THERE i have
never thought that that one possession loss metric is. Randomized
turnovers sometimes are. Randomized the, Dude nebraska kept losing one
possession games because they didn't know how to win GAMES
usc last year the five fourth quarter leads that they.
Lost that's cause they didn't possess the ability to take a.
(36:19):
Game and then go look at you go look At
Kirby smart in one possession. Games he's got an incredible
record that's not by. Accident so the question is do
you just flip that once you get better. Players you
may have less one possession games when you have better,
Players but the bottom line is even the best of the,
best we're eventually going to find themselves in those, positions
and you start talking playoff instead of let's make a.
(36:41):
Bowl that's a tight. Rope walk one hundred feet off
the ground instead of ten feet off the. Ground you
fall ten. Feet it hurts you fall one hundred street.
Pizza so what you said is still in the back
of my, mind totally. Fair AND i don't think anyone INSIDE.
USC i don't Think lincoln himself can really put back on.
That cause if he's, honest if you inject truth serum in,
(37:03):
him he knows what it comes down. To you got
to prove. It you don't say, it you got to prove.
Speaker 2 (37:07):
IT i was talking to A usc booster today AND i,
said That illinois, game that's it's.
Speaker 1 (37:12):
It that s, it that's the damage.
Speaker 2 (37:14):
Game they're not winning To, oregon that's, okay they're probably
not winning.
Speaker 1 (37:17):
It Notre.
Speaker 2 (37:18):
Dame they're gonna win their home. GAMES i, SAID i
don't know if they can win In illinois if it's
thirty nine degrees or forty two or. WINDY i said
that that is the kind of game where In illinois is.
GOOD i, THINK i mean they. BRETT i mean this
year they would turn a lot of guys on their,
lines offensive. LINE i think they may return four or five.
Starters illinois is my dark horse team in the. COUNTRY
i don't think they're, great BUT i think they're really
(37:39):
good and they're going to knock people. Off and if
it's forty, Four i'm Taking. Illinois i'll tell you right.
Now if it's forty two forty, Four Lincoln riley has
not proven he can win that game with. Discomfort Josh,
pate what a. Pleasure we're gonna make this a regular
thing On wednesdays for our. AUDIENCE i hope you guys
enjoyed it listening as much AS i. DID i just
(38:00):
have great admiration for your, prep your. Intensity you're obviously
a very bright. GUY i love your work AND i
want to say thank. You and this is the start
of a lot of these sit, downs AND i loved.
Speaker 1 (38:11):
It love, it, Man love you. BROTHER i appreciate you having.
Me can't wait for the rest of the. Year the
volume
Hosts And Creators
Colin Cowherd
Jason McIntyre
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