College Football Reaction is presented by JLab!
Colin’s joined by John Middlekauff, host of “3 and Out” to discuss why Ohio State has an “identity crisis” on offense (2:45), why he believes Oregon is the best team in the country (4:30) and why USC’s inability of recruit has left them lacking “special” (8:45).
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
The volume all of these college football reactions presented by JLab.
I'm wearing my JLab earbudge right now. They're awesome. They
have the best audio products in the game. They're ready
to take care of you this football season. Okay, whether
you're traveling to watch your favorite team play or just
streaming the game at home. Find the Blue Box. That's
how I first found it at an airport Logan Airport
(00:23):
in Boston. Find the Blue Box at Walmart, Target Best
Buying more, or just visit JLab dot com. Their price
points really good. All right. John Middlecoff, it's time for
our hour plus on a Sunday. He is the former
NFL scout for the Philadelphia Eagles three and Out podcasts.
(00:46):
All right, I want to talk. Listen to Ohio State.
Should have put Penn State away earlier, but they're the
better team USC Lincoln Riley's now twelve and twelve again,
they lead late and lose Oregon. Thump's Michigan. I think
we've spent so much time looking at Texas and Georgia
and Bama and Ohio State, and last year in Michigan,
(01:09):
I watched Oregon this weekend. I'm not sure what they're
not good at like. I'm like, I'll tell you this.
The more I watch Oregon, the more I like him.
The more I watch Ohio State, the less I like them.
I feel like Ohio State offensively, John has a bit
of an identity crisis. They want to run the ball
(01:31):
because they've been criticized for not running it. But their
best players are all wide receivers. And then combine that
with Will Howard just isn't as good as we thought
he was going to be. I figured I watched them
at Kansas State. I thought, you know what, he's getting
all these receivers. He may win a Heisman. He's just
he's a good college quarterback. I don't see any special
(01:51):
And every time I watch Ohio State, I'm like, they
leave points on the table. It just doesn't feel like
I watched Oregon. Oregon is squeezing every fricking ounce of
talent out of that roster. I mean to go on
the road in college, even though Michigan's not great, and
just kick the shit out of them. I mean, the
game wasn't even as close as thirty eight to seventeen.
(02:13):
I just don't think we're ready to embrace this. People
outside of the West Coast. Don't understand Oregon's dominated Southern
California recruiting in the Pac twelve for about eight years.
They just get the best players. They pay for him,
and I don't know. I think I think Oregon's the
best team I've seen.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
I want to hate Ohio State. I actually thought that
was a pretty impressive game yesterday because I thought they
shoved around Penn State. They made the big plays when
they had to. I mean, Penn State Classic just blew
in the red zone. I mean Ohio State is missing
multiple offensive linemen. I think they had a guy started
left tackle and left guard that had never even played
in the position, So they're moving guys around. I'm with
you on the quarterback, but when you look, it's like,
(02:51):
I don't love George's quarterback. You know, Dylan Gabriel can
throw the ball. I have more faith in him than
those guys. But he's kind of small and against a
big time defense. Could he be knocked out or whatever?
But I hear yeah, I mean I think Oregon. If
you had to pick a team to win the national
Championship as we sit here today, it would be Oregon.
But if Ohio State gets healthy like, I mean, their talent,
(03:12):
that safety that they got from Alabama, they basically just
put him on forty four. Who you know, that guy
is going to be a top fifty pick. I mean
against that ce he had like fifty catches in the game,
and he did have a great catch in that game,
but for the most part, they neutralized him a little bit.
And what a what a letdown by Penn State. If
I would have told you they'd be up ten to
nothing on a pick six and they would score three points,
(03:33):
you know, with five minutes in the game, score three
points the rest of the game. That's pretty embarrassing.
Speaker 1 (03:37):
You know what I feel like with James Franklin, and
I've met him before and I do like him. And
I see this sometimes in college basketball and football John
kyla Pari's a little bit of this great recruiter, and
I feel like there's nothing else he's great at. I mean,
there's some guys like Jay Wright was great recruiting, developing,
(03:58):
building a defense, creating leaders, tight late game situations. I mean,
like Jay Wright checked every box. Krzyzewski's offense could be boring,
but Mike checked a lot of boxes. So does Bill self.
You know, Calipari's like the guy he can sell and
that he deserves credit for that. But when I watch
(04:18):
James Franklin, I feel like he's very dependent on having
a great offensive coordinator he can recruit. His defense front
sevens are Oh, it is really formidable. They look like
an SEC front seven. They always got a pass rush.
I just I just think he is sort of I
just think he is what I see a lot of.
He deserves his money. It's a great program. I like
(04:40):
watching them play, but I just don't think. I don't
think I trust them in tight, big game situations.
Speaker 2 (04:48):
I don't where are their wider where are their wide receivers? Yesterday?
You know, for a guy that is a great recruiter,
and like you said, and they got NFL guys all
over that roster. I think that's why it's such a letdown.
You go, our rosters just as good as a roster.
I actually think their quarterback, who was awful last year,
it's kind of grown on me a little bit this year.
But their wide receivers make no place, and they're so
(05:10):
dependent on the tight end, who is a really good player.
But to get them in that spot, they're all bitching
and moaning because it's the morning game. They want the
night games. Like guys, it wouldn't have mattered if the
game would have been at midnight or at you know,
five in the morning. You're never beating this team. And
I just know long Penn State probably in the playoffs
because if you look at their schedule, they have one loss.
But I don't take this program seriously at all, relative
(05:33):
like competing for national championships. Are they gonna have a
ton of NFL guys? If you're a scout, you to
spend five days a week there during the year, do
you need? Yeah? Are they gonna win their ten eleven games?
Depending on how the schedule breaks. You will never pick
them against Ohio State. You will now never pick them
against Oregon. And you know, we'll see if Michigan and
USC can get their shit together over the next couple
of years. But if those teams are good, you will
(05:54):
pick those teams over Penn State as well. And that's
kind of crazy because I think this was the first time.
It's like, I think State's got a shot and then
they're up ten nothing. You're like, God, is Ohio State
about to get their butt kicked? And then you're like, no,
they're not, because they just never make a big play
when it has to be made. Obviously, the pick at
the end of the first half was devastating. They get
they get that final drive, they're adding the goal line essentially,
(06:16):
and they can't punch it in the end zone. They
just run it right up the gut twice and then
they throw it on fourth down. It wasn't even close.
And then Ohio State with all these random offensive linemen
run it right down their throat the strength of their team,
all these NFL guys, and in the game there's a
big win for Ryan Day and I'm I can be
Ohio State hitter. But that was that was impressive to.
Speaker 1 (06:36):
Get when they were winning on the roads. Hard in college,
especially when you don't have a superstar quarterback. When you
have a solid guy and Will Howard, winning on the
road is hard.
Speaker 2 (06:43):
It is.
Speaker 1 (06:44):
So let me touch on USC Lincoln Riley twelve and twelve.
I'll go back.
Speaker 2 (06:49):
What's there a record right now? Colin?
Speaker 1 (06:51):
I think they're four and five or three? And what
are Yeah?
Speaker 2 (06:55):
I think they're four and five. Yes, Yeah, that's pretty crazy,
isn't it. If I would have told you three, they'd
be four and five.
Speaker 1 (07:01):
I think one of the things that gets really disappointing
to me, Lincoln Riley said after the game, you know,
six plays and we're nine to zero, and it's like, yeah,
not really. I do think offensively they'll be better next year.
But I think I go back to something like they're
getting wiped out in the state of California. They're just
not recruiting the state. I don't think. I don't think
(07:24):
he has a love for recruiting. I think there's some
guys that really Saban loved it, he had charisma. I think.
I think there's some guys that really loved a look.
I think Sark Lane, Kiffen, there's a handful of guys.
I think Ryan Day's probably hell of a recruiter. Brian Hartline,
his receiver coach, is a great recruiter. I think sometimes
(07:44):
Lincoln comes off as very prickly, very aloof, very detached,
overly protective of players. I mean, he cut off media
this week, no more media at the practices. It's like,
you're four and five, we got better things to do.
I think I think sometimes he forgetting this is not
a rural town like this is. We got we got
Sean McVay and the Lakers and the Dodgers and Herbert
(08:07):
and the Rams. You start cutting people off like it's
like I'm a I'm considered sort of pro usc But
when I watch him, I go back to something that
I think it's very clear to see they don't have
enough good football players. And you know, Rick Newheiseel won
a Rose Bull Washington. They beat Purdue. I didn't think.
I didn't think new Heiseel was a great coach. But
(08:28):
he liked recruiting. He was engaged. He really really enjoyed
the showmanship of it. And Washington's up in the rain
in the Pacific Northwest. They had Marcus tuiasos sopot quarterback.
But I always come out of it and I'm like,
you know what if you if you recruit at college,
Charlie weise couldn't recruit. He was a smart guy, couldn't recruit.
I just look at their brand. They have literally one
(08:51):
serviceable offensive tackle, they have one running back. They're very
past happy. I look at it and I think to myself,
they'll be better next year. I don't see special. I
don't see the players.
Speaker 2 (09:06):
Yeah. I mean, if you would have told me this
would have taken place after they beat LSU. I wouldn't
have believed you because it was clear like LSU was
gonna be a good team, and if they beat Alabama
next week on, they're gonna be ten to two and
be a playoff team. Yeah, you know, so it's for
them to end up four and five and like, are
we sure they're I mean six and six. They've proven
(09:27):
now they can lose to anybody. I think the craziest part.
And it hit me last night. I'm watching the game.
They're down twenty to seven, and I'm like, they're about
to get rolled. I just turned on other games. I
was actually shocked when I went back to my phone
and saw that the game was close, So then I
turned it back on. But it's barely November first, and
they don't they don't matter in the college landscape like
(09:48):
you watch and you know, some of their fans watched
the whole game because they're invested in the program. But
I didn't need to watch. I was paying attention because
I know we talk about it, but they don't matter
it does it just talk? They all football. You don't
need to watch them. No, which year three paying them
one hundred and twenty million, this is an epic disaster.
Speaker 1 (10:07):
Colin John. They don't have anything resembling a first round player.
They don't have anything. They have a center that is
going about the third round. They have a safety in
about a year I think will go in the third
kind of a third round player. They have some nice receivers,
none feel like first round players. They they have thirteen
million dollars in nil Go buy an elite left tackle
(10:28):
for a million dollars. Go buy the best rush in
and football. They don't have. I mean, Washington's in a rebuild.
I'm not sure they have more good players in Washington
and Washington's in a rebuild. With Jed Fish in his
first year.
Speaker 2 (10:44):
I would say this. I mean, he's not going and
nothing's gonna happen. But UCLA has showed some fight this season.
Oh yeah, like they've they've at least shown some character.
And if he were to lose that game regardless, I mean,
now the record, would you agree the records kind of irrelevant.
I don't even know what bowl games mean anymore in
this college football? Do bowl games even still exist? But
(11:07):
that that would be it'd be hard for people around
the program and the money people to take him seriously.
I mean it is right now at four and five
into year three. Like people are on Brian Kelly. I
mean he's he has a bad half against text A
and M on the road, you know when they have
a million NFL guys, like he was kicking their ass
for a half. He's You watch and I watched a
lot of LSU because I love watching the SEC. It's
(11:28):
where the best players are. He's doing a pretty good job.
And you talked to him. My scouting buddies are like,
it's it's an impressive operation there. When you go in there,
They're like, I would buy stock in this program moving forward.
That is not the case. And like you said, the
reporter thing, he did that last year. He does it
like Lincoln. Why are you even worried about things that
are just completely irrelevant to Can you beat Jetfish? I
(11:50):
mean Jetfish should have beat you two years in a row.
Remember they got very lucky to beat him last year.
Was that that game go to overtime? Maybe beat him
on the last play in the game. Yep, Caleb made
an incredible play in overtime. Remember kind of scrambled. They
easily could have lost that game. They were lucky to
be seven to five last year because they lose that thing,
they're six and six. It looks like they're headed towards
six and six. And I would say, you're six and
six and you lose to this UCLA team with Deshaun Foster.
(12:12):
They're not paying one hundred and twenty million dollars for that.
And like you said, think of all the top coaches,
Dan Lanning, I mean loves to recruit clearly, like you say,
Ryan Day in that program, they recruit their ass off.
Kirby smart recruiter, sark huge. So the top programs, which
USC LSU and you know Brian Kelly puts a lot
of effort into it. They hired you to be their equals. Well,
(12:36):
you know, coaching right now is not going that well.
But it's like, okay, college football is not quite the NFL.
If you just got the Jimmies and the Joe's, you
could win, especially that C what eight nine games, no
doubt about it. Then you got out coach to get
to undefeated or a one. Lost your Jimmy's and the
Joe's sc didn't They didn't play Oregon this year?
Speaker 1 (12:55):
Did they are Ohio State? They get run out of
the stadium with those two.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
So they got lucky with their schedule. It could be
way worse.
Speaker 1 (13:04):
Right, Listen Clay Helton could not recruit or develop, but
he tried. He had an effort. I mean, it's USC
fans come up mask me. I'm like, go watch the games.
They don't have any separators. They're receivers. They have a
kid named Lemon, runs good routes, good hands. They don't
have anybody that separates. They got a safety, a center Wood.
He marks the transfer running backs, a nice player. He's
(13:26):
probably a fourth fifth round er. Nice player. They don't
have a second running back in the program. They have
one tackle that can play offensively. They have no great
pass rushers. They just they just don't have any good player.
They don't have enough quality. If you took the best
ten Ohio State players and the USC the best ten
Ohio State's got eight of them.
Speaker 2 (13:47):
Well, is there a chance that like the point of
difference of Lincoln who was supposed to be this genius
offensive guy, the gap between him Jed Fish an offensive
guy who's coached with the best in the business, and
his staff has a Belichick and and at Carrol obviously
Dan Lanning staff is elite. You know, Ryan Day and
Chip Kelly don't suck. I mean you look around the conference.
(14:08):
You go, you got to beat some pretty well coached staffs.
Iowa was a well coached staff. You got some of
these teams. It's just going to be very, very difficult
for them if they are not recruiting the I mean
Pete Carroll and his Heyday ad the best of both worlds.
Speaker 1 (14:21):
Rights go to rivals dot Com twenty twenty five. Recruiting
California an M Texas, Oregon, Texas A and m LSU.
There's no u USC's got one rush and good kid
from about thirty minutes outside of La up north. They're
not getting a the players.
Speaker 2 (14:40):
Well, think about this. If you're a kid right now,
Let's say you're seventeen years old for your entire life,
starting to like eight nine years old, when you kind
of start really understanding sports. SC's never been relevant, So
you don't remember, like Matt Lioner thrown to Dwayne Jarrett.
You weren't even born. So it's like, wait, maybe you
were born to No.
Speaker 1 (15:00):
Six.
Speaker 2 (15:01):
Those teams have already they were done. So how this
notion of like momentum is a real thing, right, I
think Schefter had a report today like people are interested
in going to the commanders. Don't blame him. I would
be too. No one would have said that eight months ago.
Things change faster than ever in society. If you're a
kid like I'd want to go to Oregon, I'd want
to go to Georgia, I'd want to go to LSU.
I'd want to go Hell South Carolina. Beat the crap
(15:22):
at A and M. They look cool. You know, Ohio State?
Why would you want to go to sc What have
they done over the last I would just say ten
years to be If you're a young kid like I
want to go there. We talk about it a lot
because we remember these moments. Yeah they do not Yeah,
and now with social media and stuff, their moments are
they don't even exist. So I think he has a
(15:44):
lot to overcome. And this gets to the thing is
like can he build from scratch because that's what this
need and it doesn't look like he really can. Yeah,
where Jedfish is a good example. Went to Arizona. That
was a disaster. What he proved that he was able
to do And look at Arizona this year they stink again. Yeah,
it's like that that is really difficult to do, to
go to a program just in general in college football
that's down and out let alone a non power program,
(16:06):
and turned into a nine to ten win team. He
took over Bob Stoop's team, which he inherited. I don't know,
a team full of over under probably twenty NFL guys
I'll start in the league right now.
Speaker 1 (16:17):
Yeah, yeah, I mean what worries me? Even the guys
outside of Caleb Williams that he brought from Oklahoma to USC.
This is one of the first warning signs. He brought
about six guys from Oklahoma to USC. One could play
one one guy.
Speaker 2 (16:33):
And the Jordan Addison move, which obviously was a really
good move. You know, they had Caleb like, is he
getting Jordanadison this offseason? Like the equivalent of that guy,
No chance.
Speaker 1 (16:44):
I mean, one of their starters in the D line
is from Wyoming. One of the starters in their own
line is from Wyoming. They're cherry picking Wyoming players in
the transfer portal like they're just not They just don't
have a good enough sales pitch. And that's college football.
I think I think this.
Speaker 2 (16:58):
I think the sad thing is if you're a big,
you know, la sc booster and money guy. You look
around college football, it's not like there are these programs
that are head and shoulder like it is very winnable
right now. Yeah, I would say most of these teams,
like you said, Oregon has really got their swag back
after beating Ohio State. But I've watched Georgia against Florida.
They don't look great. I mean, it's not like Ohio State.
(17:19):
This is their best team in the last twenty years.
Probably wouldn't even be a top five team last twenty years.
So you look around college football, you go, well, Alabama's
kind of meh for their standards. LSU's got some issues.
Speaker 1 (17:31):
Yeah we should.
Speaker 2 (17:32):
Yeah, what are we doing here? We can't We can't
even sniff those We can't even beat Washington. What's Washington?
A seven win team? That's that's a problem, Colin, that's
a problem.
Speaker 1 (17:43):
John Middlecoff, former NFL Scout three and out as always, buddy,
great talking to him.
Speaker 2 (17:49):
See you, Colin, fight on, baby. That's all we can
do the volume.
Speaker 1 (17:56):
Thanks so much for listening. If you've enjoyed the podcast,
take a moment, rate and review
The volume all of these college football reactions presented by JLab.
I'm wearing my JLab earbudge right now. They're awesome. They
have the best audio products in the game. They're ready
to take care of you this football season. Okay, whether
you're traveling to watch your favorite team play or just
streaming the game at home. Find the Blue Box. That's
how I first found it at an airport Logan Airport
(00:23):
in Boston. Find the Blue Box at Walmart, Target Best
Buying more, or just visit JLab dot com. Their price
points really good. All right. John Middlecoff, it's time for
our hour plus on a Sunday. He is the former
NFL scout for the Philadelphia Eagles three and Out podcasts.
(00:46):
All right, I want to talk. Listen to Ohio State.
Should have put Penn State away earlier, but they're the
better team USC Lincoln Riley's now twelve and twelve again,
they lead late and lose Oregon. Thump's Michigan. I think
we've spent so much time looking at Texas and Georgia
and Bama and Ohio State, and last year in Michigan,
(01:09):
I watched Oregon this weekend. I'm not sure what they're
not good at like. I'm like, I'll tell you this.
The more I watch Oregon, the more I like him.
The more I watch Ohio State, the less I like them.
I feel like Ohio State offensively, John has a bit
of an identity crisis. They want to run the ball
(01:31):
because they've been criticized for not running it. But their
best players are all wide receivers. And then combine that
with Will Howard just isn't as good as we thought
he was going to be. I figured I watched them
at Kansas State. I thought, you know what, he's getting
all these receivers. He may win a Heisman. He's just
he's a good college quarterback. I don't see any special
(01:51):
And every time I watch Ohio State, I'm like, they
leave points on the table. It just doesn't feel like
I watched Oregon. Oregon is squeezing every fricking ounce of
talent out of that roster. I mean to go on
the road in college, even though Michigan's not great, and
just kick the shit out of them. I mean, the
game wasn't even as close as thirty eight to seventeen.
(02:13):
I just don't think we're ready to embrace this. People
outside of the West Coast. Don't understand Oregon's dominated Southern
California recruiting in the Pac twelve for about eight years.
They just get the best players. They pay for him,
and I don't know. I think I think Oregon's the
best team I've seen.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
I want to hate Ohio State. I actually thought that
was a pretty impressive game yesterday because I thought they
shoved around Penn State. They made the big plays when
they had to. I mean, Penn State Classic just blew
in the red zone. I mean Ohio State is missing
multiple offensive linemen. I think they had a guy started
left tackle and left guard that had never even played
in the position, So they're moving guys around. I'm with
you on the quarterback, but when you look, it's like,
(02:51):
I don't love George's quarterback. You know, Dylan Gabriel can
throw the ball. I have more faith in him than
those guys. But he's kind of small and against a
big time defense. Could he be knocked out or whatever?
But I hear yeah, I mean I think Oregon. If
you had to pick a team to win the national
Championship as we sit here today, it would be Oregon.
But if Ohio State gets healthy like, I mean, their talent,
(03:12):
that safety that they got from Alabama, they basically just
put him on forty four. Who you know, that guy
is going to be a top fifty pick. I mean
against that ce he had like fifty catches in the game,
and he did have a great catch in that game,
but for the most part, they neutralized him a little bit.
And what a what a letdown by Penn State. If
I would have told you they'd be up ten to
nothing on a pick six and they would score three points,
(03:33):
you know, with five minutes in the game, score three
points the rest of the game. That's pretty embarrassing.
Speaker 1 (03:37):
You know what I feel like with James Franklin, and
I've met him before and I do like him. And
I see this sometimes in college basketball and football John
kyla Pari's a little bit of this great recruiter, and
I feel like there's nothing else he's great at. I mean,
there's some guys like Jay Wright was great recruiting, developing,
(03:58):
building a defense, creating leaders, tight late game situations. I mean,
like Jay Wright checked every box. Krzyzewski's offense could be boring,
but Mike checked a lot of boxes. So does Bill self.
You know, Calipari's like the guy he can sell and
that he deserves credit for that. But when I watch
(04:18):
James Franklin, I feel like he's very dependent on having
a great offensive coordinator he can recruit. His defense front
sevens are Oh, it is really formidable. They look like
an SEC front seven. They always got a pass rush.
I just I just think he is sort of I
just think he is what I see a lot of.
He deserves his money. It's a great program. I like
(04:40):
watching them play, but I just don't think. I don't
think I trust them in tight, big game situations.
Speaker 2 (04:48):
I don't where are their wider where are their wide receivers? Yesterday?
You know, for a guy that is a great recruiter,
and like you said, and they got NFL guys all
over that roster. I think that's why it's such a letdown.
You go, our rosters just as good as a roster.
I actually think their quarterback, who was awful last year,
it's kind of grown on me a little bit this year.
But their wide receivers make no place, and they're so
(05:10):
dependent on the tight end, who is a really good player.
But to get them in that spot, they're all bitching
and moaning because it's the morning game. They want the
night games. Like guys, it wouldn't have mattered if the
game would have been at midnight or at you know,
five in the morning. You're never beating this team. And
I just know long Penn State probably in the playoffs
because if you look at their schedule, they have one loss.
But I don't take this program seriously at all, relative
(05:33):
like competing for national championships. Are they gonna have a
ton of NFL guys? If you're a scout, you to
spend five days a week there during the year, do
you need? Yeah? Are they gonna win their ten eleven games?
Depending on how the schedule breaks. You will never pick
them against Ohio State. You will now never pick them
against Oregon. And you know, we'll see if Michigan and
USC can get their shit together over the next couple
of years. But if those teams are good, you will
(05:54):
pick those teams over Penn State as well. And that's
kind of crazy because I think this was the first time.
It's like, I think State's got a shot and then
they're up ten nothing. You're like, God, is Ohio State
about to get their butt kicked? And then you're like, no,
they're not, because they just never make a big play
when it has to be made. Obviously, the pick at
the end of the first half was devastating. They get
they get that final drive, they're adding the goal line essentially,
(06:16):
and they can't punch it in the end zone. They
just run it right up the gut twice and then
they throw it on fourth down. It wasn't even close.
And then Ohio State with all these random offensive linemen
run it right down their throat the strength of their team,
all these NFL guys, and in the game there's a
big win for Ryan Day and I'm I can be
Ohio State hitter. But that was that was impressive to.
Speaker 1 (06:36):
Get when they were winning on the roads. Hard in college,
especially when you don't have a superstar quarterback. When you
have a solid guy and Will Howard, winning on the
road is hard.
Speaker 2 (06:43):
It is.
Speaker 1 (06:44):
So let me touch on USC Lincoln Riley twelve and twelve.
I'll go back.
Speaker 2 (06:49):
What's there a record right now? Colin?
Speaker 1 (06:51):
I think they're four and five or three? And what
are Yeah?
Speaker 2 (06:55):
I think they're four and five. Yes, Yeah, that's pretty crazy,
isn't it. If I would have told you three, they'd
be four and five.
Speaker 1 (07:01):
I think one of the things that gets really disappointing
to me, Lincoln Riley said after the game, you know,
six plays and we're nine to zero, and it's like, yeah,
not really. I do think offensively they'll be better next year.
But I think I go back to something like they're
getting wiped out in the state of California. They're just
not recruiting the state. I don't think. I don't think
(07:24):
he has a love for recruiting. I think there's some
guys that really Saban loved it, he had charisma. I think.
I think there's some guys that really loved a look.
I think Sark Lane, Kiffen, there's a handful of guys.
I think Ryan Day's probably hell of a recruiter. Brian Hartline,
his receiver coach, is a great recruiter. I think sometimes
(07:44):
Lincoln comes off as very prickly, very aloof, very detached,
overly protective of players. I mean, he cut off media
this week, no more media at the practices. It's like,
you're four and five, we got better things to do.
I think I think sometimes he forgetting this is not
a rural town like this is. We got we got
Sean McVay and the Lakers and the Dodgers and Herbert
(08:07):
and the Rams. You start cutting people off like it's
like I'm a I'm considered sort of pro usc But
when I watch him, I go back to something that
I think it's very clear to see they don't have
enough good football players. And you know, Rick Newheiseel won
a Rose Bull Washington. They beat Purdue. I didn't think.
I didn't think new Heiseel was a great coach. But
(08:28):
he liked recruiting. He was engaged. He really really enjoyed
the showmanship of it. And Washington's up in the rain
in the Pacific Northwest. They had Marcus tuiasos sopot quarterback.
But I always come out of it and I'm like,
you know what if you if you recruit at college,
Charlie weise couldn't recruit. He was a smart guy, couldn't recruit.
I just look at their brand. They have literally one
(08:51):
serviceable offensive tackle, they have one running back. They're very
past happy. I look at it and I think to myself,
they'll be better next year. I don't see special. I
don't see the players.
Speaker 2 (09:06):
Yeah. I mean, if you would have told me this
would have taken place after they beat LSU. I wouldn't
have believed you because it was clear like LSU was
gonna be a good team, and if they beat Alabama
next week on, they're gonna be ten to two and
be a playoff team. Yeah, you know, so it's for
them to end up four and five and like, are
we sure they're I mean six and six. They've proven
(09:27):
now they can lose to anybody. I think the craziest part.
And it hit me last night. I'm watching the game.
They're down twenty to seven, and I'm like, they're about
to get rolled. I just turned on other games. I
was actually shocked when I went back to my phone
and saw that the game was close, So then I
turned it back on. But it's barely November first, and
they don't they don't matter in the college landscape like
(09:48):
you watch and you know, some of their fans watched
the whole game because they're invested in the program. But
I didn't need to watch. I was paying attention because
I know we talk about it, but they don't matter
it does it just talk? They all football. You don't
need to watch them. No, which year three paying them
one hundred and twenty million, this is an epic disaster.
Speaker 1 (10:07):
Colin John. They don't have anything resembling a first round player.
They don't have anything. They have a center that is
going about the third round. They have a safety in
about a year I think will go in the third
kind of a third round player. They have some nice receivers,
none feel like first round players. They they have thirteen
million dollars in nil Go buy an elite left tackle
(10:28):
for a million dollars. Go buy the best rush in
and football. They don't have. I mean, Washington's in a rebuild.
I'm not sure they have more good players in Washington
and Washington's in a rebuild. With Jed Fish in his
first year.
Speaker 2 (10:44):
I would say this. I mean, he's not going and
nothing's gonna happen. But UCLA has showed some fight this season.
Oh yeah, like they've they've at least shown some character.
And if he were to lose that game regardless, I mean,
now the record, would you agree the records kind of irrelevant.
I don't even know what bowl games mean anymore in
this college football? Do bowl games even still exist? But
(11:07):
that that would be it'd be hard for people around
the program and the money people to take him seriously.
I mean it is right now at four and five
into year three. Like people are on Brian Kelly. I
mean he's he has a bad half against text A
and M on the road, you know when they have
a million NFL guys, like he was kicking their ass
for a half. He's You watch and I watched a
lot of LSU because I love watching the SEC. It's
(11:28):
where the best players are. He's doing a pretty good job.
And you talked to him. My scouting buddies are like,
it's it's an impressive operation there. When you go in there,
They're like, I would buy stock in this program moving forward.
That is not the case. And like you said, the
reporter thing, he did that last year. He does it
like Lincoln. Why are you even worried about things that
are just completely irrelevant to Can you beat Jetfish? I
(11:50):
mean Jetfish should have beat you two years in a row.
Remember they got very lucky to beat him last year.
Was that that game go to overtime? Maybe beat him
on the last play in the game. Yep, Caleb made
an incredible play in overtime. Remember kind of scrambled. They
easily could have lost that game. They were lucky to
be seven to five last year because they lose that thing,
they're six and six. It looks like they're headed towards
six and six. And I would say, you're six and
six and you lose to this UCLA team with Deshaun Foster.
(12:12):
They're not paying one hundred and twenty million dollars for that.
And like you said, think of all the top coaches,
Dan Lanning, I mean loves to recruit clearly, like you say,
Ryan Day in that program, they recruit their ass off.
Kirby smart recruiter, sark huge. So the top programs, which
USC LSU and you know Brian Kelly puts a lot
of effort into it. They hired you to be their equals. Well,
(12:36):
you know, coaching right now is not going that well.
But it's like, okay, college football is not quite the NFL.
If you just got the Jimmies and the Joe's, you
could win, especially that C what eight nine games, no
doubt about it. Then you got out coach to get
to undefeated or a one. Lost your Jimmy's and the
Joe's sc didn't They didn't play Oregon this year?
Speaker 1 (12:55):
Did they are Ohio State? They get run out of
the stadium with those two.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
So they got lucky with their schedule. It could be
way worse.
Speaker 1 (13:04):
Right, Listen Clay Helton could not recruit or develop, but
he tried. He had an effort. I mean, it's USC
fans come up mask me. I'm like, go watch the games.
They don't have any separators. They're receivers. They have a
kid named Lemon, runs good routes, good hands. They don't
have anybody that separates. They got a safety, a center Wood.
He marks the transfer running backs, a nice player. He's
(13:26):
probably a fourth fifth round er. Nice player. They don't
have a second running back in the program. They have
one tackle that can play offensively. They have no great
pass rushers. They just they just don't have any good player.
They don't have enough quality. If you took the best
ten Ohio State players and the USC the best ten
Ohio State's got eight of them.
Speaker 2 (13:47):
Well, is there a chance that like the point of
difference of Lincoln who was supposed to be this genius
offensive guy, the gap between him Jed Fish an offensive
guy who's coached with the best in the business, and
his staff has a Belichick and and at Carrol obviously
Dan Lanning staff is elite. You know, Ryan Day and
Chip Kelly don't suck. I mean you look around the conference.
(14:08):
You go, you got to beat some pretty well coached staffs.
Iowa was a well coached staff. You got some of
these teams. It's just going to be very, very difficult
for them if they are not recruiting the I mean
Pete Carroll and his Heyday ad the best of both worlds.
Speaker 1 (14:21):
Rights go to rivals dot Com twenty twenty five. Recruiting
California an M Texas, Oregon, Texas A and m LSU.
There's no u USC's got one rush and good kid
from about thirty minutes outside of La up north. They're
not getting a the players.
Speaker 2 (14:40):
Well, think about this. If you're a kid right now,
Let's say you're seventeen years old for your entire life,
starting to like eight nine years old, when you kind
of start really understanding sports. SC's never been relevant, So
you don't remember, like Matt Lioner thrown to Dwayne Jarrett.
You weren't even born. So it's like, wait, maybe you
were born to No.
Speaker 1 (15:00):
Six.
Speaker 2 (15:01):
Those teams have already they were done. So how this
notion of like momentum is a real thing, right, I
think Schefter had a report today like people are interested
in going to the commanders. Don't blame him. I would
be too. No one would have said that eight months ago.
Things change faster than ever in society. If you're a
kid like I'd want to go to Oregon, I'd want
to go to Georgia, I'd want to go to LSU.
I'd want to go Hell South Carolina. Beat the crap
(15:22):
at A and M. They look cool. You know, Ohio State?
Why would you want to go to sc What have
they done over the last I would just say ten
years to be If you're a young kid like I
want to go there. We talk about it a lot
because we remember these moments. Yeah they do not Yeah,
and now with social media and stuff, their moments are
they don't even exist. So I think he has a
(15:44):
lot to overcome. And this gets to the thing is
like can he build from scratch because that's what this
need and it doesn't look like he really can. Yeah,
where Jedfish is a good example. Went to Arizona. That
was a disaster. What he proved that he was able
to do And look at Arizona this year they stink again. Yeah,
it's like that that is really difficult to do, to
go to a program just in general in college football
that's down and out let alone a non power program,
(16:06):
and turned into a nine to ten win team. He
took over Bob Stoop's team, which he inherited. I don't know,
a team full of over under probably twenty NFL guys
I'll start in the league right now.
Speaker 1 (16:17):
Yeah, yeah, I mean what worries me? Even the guys
outside of Caleb Williams that he brought from Oklahoma to USC.
This is one of the first warning signs. He brought
about six guys from Oklahoma to USC. One could play
one one guy.
Speaker 2 (16:33):
And the Jordan Addison move, which obviously was a really
good move. You know, they had Caleb like, is he
getting Jordanadison this offseason? Like the equivalent of that guy,
No chance.
Speaker 1 (16:44):
I mean, one of their starters in the D line
is from Wyoming. One of the starters in their own
line is from Wyoming. They're cherry picking Wyoming players in
the transfer portal like they're just not They just don't
have a good enough sales pitch. And that's college football.
I think I think this.
Speaker 2 (16:58):
I think the sad thing is if you're a big,
you know, la sc booster and money guy. You look
around college football, it's not like there are these programs
that are head and shoulder like it is very winnable
right now. Yeah, I would say most of these teams,
like you said, Oregon has really got their swag back
after beating Ohio State. But I've watched Georgia against Florida.
They don't look great. I mean, it's not like Ohio State.
(17:19):
This is their best team in the last twenty years.
Probably wouldn't even be a top five team last twenty years.
So you look around college football, you go, well, Alabama's
kind of meh for their standards. LSU's got some issues.
Speaker 1 (17:31):
Yeah we should.
Speaker 2 (17:32):
Yeah, what are we doing here? We can't We can't
even sniff those We can't even beat Washington. What's Washington?
A seven win team? That's that's a problem, Colin, that's
a problem.
Speaker 1 (17:43):
John Middlecoff, former NFL Scout three and out as always, buddy,
great talking to him.
Speaker 2 (17:49):
See you, Colin, fight on, baby. That's all we can
do the volume.
Speaker 1 (17:56):
Thanks so much for listening. If you've enjoyed the podcast,
take a moment, rate and review
Host
Colin Cowherd
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