September 25, 2025 • 32 mins
Daniel Jeremiah and Bucky Brooks are joined by The Athletic’s Bruce Feldman to break down a loaded college football weekend. (00:26) They preview #6 Oregon’s clash at #3 Penn State (01:49), #17 Alabama’s trip to face #5 Georgia (11:22), and #4 LSU’s showdown with #13 Ole Miss (17:43). Plus, Feldman shares insights on James Franklin, Dan Lanning, and the top candidates for looming Power Four coaching vacancies. (25:41)
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
And now move the sticks with Daniel Jeremiah and Bucky Brooks.
What's up, everybody?
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Welcome to move to stick DJ Buck with our good
friend Bruce Feldman joining us.
Speaker 1 (00:11):
Bruce. How you doing man, I'm doing well. Good to
be hon with you guys.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
Appreciate you taking old time. It's you know, I feel
like every weekend it's been one or two games, you know,
mostly just one game and maybe one and a half
games that I get excited about on the college football slate.
But holy cow, this is the weekend where it kind
of gets cranked up.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
Man.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Is this matchups all over the place, all over the country,
all over the time slots. It's the best weekend of
the season so far.
Speaker 1 (00:36):
It is. I mean, obviously there was a ton of
hype for week one because of it was Arch's big
starting debut, you know, when it was his team at
Texas going to play Ohio State. Huge game. But to me,
I love the matchup in Happy Valley. There's going to
be white out at Penn State. Oregon's going in there,
Dante more and the offense has looked fantastic. They haven't
(00:59):
really played anybody yet though, and this is a real
good test you obviously have Georgia Alabama. That's a huge one.
There's just so many, it's like it's a deep run
of games. But for me, it's just I'm really fascinated
to see what happens in Happy Valley. And not to
say that what happens in Georgia Alabama doesn't have playoff ramifications.
It certainly probably will, but you know, again, just because
(01:23):
like the other two teams, we've at least seen them
play somebody good, you know, and we've seen them have
some adversity. Alabama didn't really deal with it great. Obviously
Georgia did. But in this case, you know, what are
we getting? You know, as Drew Aller taken a big step?
What is Jim Knowles defense looks like in Happy Valley?
You know, how does Dante More in a rebuilt offensive
(01:45):
line handle all that? I can't wait to find that
stuff out.
Speaker 3 (01:48):
You know, it's fiddy Bruce, because you took me right
to where I wanted to go. When it comes to
Penn State, the biggest difference to me in Penn State
is Jim Knowles.
Speaker 1 (01:56):
What does it look like? How is it going there? Like?
What do you expect to see from Jim knowles taking
over the defense. You know, he's as good as there
is as a defensive mind in college football. And if
you look last year when they played he was at
Ohio State. Obviously, when they played Oregon the first time,
I think Oregon averaged like well over seven yards of play.
(02:16):
They obviously won that game. The second meeting, they really
got after the Ducks. The Ducks went from like like
rushing for like one hundred or fifty or sixty yards
to like minus twenty and they averaged under four yards
of play. And obviously the Ohio State you know, really
took it to him on both sides of the ball.
I mean, he's really good. He also has a lot
to work with. I mean, there are a bunch of
(02:37):
freaky dudes on the Penn State defense, you know, Zane Durant.
I don't want to say he's Aaron Donald, but of
all the guys who are going to get compared to
Aaron Donald in college football right now, this would be
that guy who's like super explosive, kind of undersize with
plays in the right scheme. Denied. Dennis Sutton is a menace.
You know, they always seem to have like an elite
(02:59):
edge rusher that guy right now, and there's a bunch
of other dudes around him. Tony Rojas can run as
fast as any linebacker and gets after people. You know,
and I think you have some interesting matchups here because
Kenyan Sadik is probably one of the more unique chess
pieces in college football. Obviously, we just had a great
tight end at Georgia who's now playing for the Raiders
(03:20):
and Brock Bauers. Sadiq is faster and more explosive. I
don't know if he's, like I want to say, as
smooth as Bowers was. You know, Bowers was just like
almost like a running back at times, but Sadiq dominates
as an inline blocker at times, and you see what
a matchup problem he is. And Will Stein, the offensive
(03:41):
coordinator at Oregon, is really good at doing that because
you know, as impressive as Oregon's been, remember they're like
best receiver supposedly coming into this year was Evan Stewart
and he got a knee injury in the summer and
he can't go.
Speaker 3 (03:56):
So.
Speaker 1 (03:58):
You know, it's it's just very to watch how these
things are kind of lining up, and I'm fascinated to
see what how the chess match of Knowles against Stein
Goes Goes Saturday Night.
Speaker 2 (04:12):
Bruce, I had a chance a couple of years ago.
It was the last year, two years, it all runs together,
but I had a chance to the Texas State championship game.
Just happened to be in Dallas when that was going on,
so I went and watched it. And that freshman receiver
for Oregon, like he looked he looked crazy fast on
a high school field, obviously, but I don't. He looks
like he's faster when everybody they're playing. So far, I know,
(04:34):
I haven't seen a ton of talented opposition, but I
mean I'm excited to see that kid on a big stage.
Speaker 1 (04:40):
Yeah, he's really dynamic. I mean they had at one
point and their old receivers coach who's now with the Cowboys,
Junior Adams, had I think three, like legit five star guys.
No one of them ended up, you know, flipping and
going to Florida at the last second. But this kid
is super explosive and I think he's embraced the physicality
piece of it pretty quickly in Eugene, so they're excited
(05:04):
about him. They have a deep running back room, like
I think a lot of us expected Makai Hughes the
transfer from Tulane to emerge as kind of I don't
see the bellcow because that's not really how Oregon plays,
but just to be that feature guy, and it's been
a bunch of other guys. We're averaging like eleven yards
of carry. But again, they haven't played anybody close to
what they're going to see and certainly nothing like that environment.
(05:25):
Dante has looked fantastic, you know, everybody loves him, and
I talked to coaches who face them. You know, we
have a big story on the athletic it's kind of
what we're hearing that it'll go up Friday, and I
think so. You hear some of the people who've played
them just kind of gush about what they see. But again,
(05:48):
I think I'm not saying it's it's fool's gold, but
I just think we need to see it against you know,
like a relevantly relevant like class of athlete and class
you know, it's just you know, there, I feel like
they were just kind of toying with people so far.
This will be a much different kind of test and
(06:08):
if they if they if they ace it the way
they've raced everything else. You know, we probably got a Heisman,
a legit Heisman candidate in Eugene.
Speaker 3 (06:17):
You know, I kind of want to finish the conversation
off with Penn State and Oregon on the two head coaches.
James Franklin kitches a lot of flak for their inability
to knock off the top five team. Yeah, it's challenging
to do, but in Penn State, the expectation is that
he should be able to do it, and people kind
of view him as more recruiter than strategists or tactician.
(06:38):
Dan Lanning appears to kind of be the total package
when you think about head coach, not only a mass
for recruiter, motivator, has the exces and os from the
defense of the ball. Just talk about a comparing contrast
both head coaches in this matchup.
Speaker 1 (06:52):
Yeah, I think for a little while, James Franklin, you know,
did an amazing job at Bandy, right, he got him
in the top twenty five a couple of years. Then
he really I think he ramped it up after. You know,
Bill O'Brien had a really tough role in trying to
get Penn State back off the you know, off the
scrap heat when it was when he got it, and
(07:12):
I think he did a really good job. He obviously
beat Urban Meyer, you know that that one time, and
then they played in the Rose Bowl when he had
Saquon and Trace McSorley, and I think, you know, he
had a big role in making Penn State kind of
cool for kids wanting to go there. And they've recruited
well and gotten all these guys, but it's just been
one reason or another why they haven't been able to
(07:35):
beat whoever is the top teams that they face, whether
it's Ohio State or occasionally it's been Michigan, before it
was you know, it might have been it might have
been somebody else. And I think that, you know, I
think he probably, I don't want to say it gets
a gets a bad rap for this, because I think
he's one of the best coaches in college football because
you look, he consistently wins double digit games, it consistently
(07:58):
develops players. But it's been kind of figuring out the offense,
you know, outside of when Joe Morehead was there running
the show, I feel like it's been kind of underwhelming
and they plug different, you know, guys in and for
whatever reason, it has not worked now Andy Cotle Nicky
was a he came from Kansas. I think he did
a pretty good job there, But they didn't have like
(08:20):
it was rare to see a team that had really
good skill talent but almost no receivers, you know, like
they had. They had Warren, they had the two elite
running backs, and the receivers were or like a non
factor in the game, you know. For them. Now they've
added three transfer portal guys who've all you know, been
pretty impressive so far, and I think you're getting an
(08:42):
element of contested catches. I think a lot of this
has got to be on you know, if Drew Aller's
the guy some people think he is as an NFL prospect,
we need to see him go out and win a
big game, and we need to see him live in
that moment. Trace McSorley actually could do something, you know,
like and he wasn't a prototype NFL size guy, but
it was a really good college quarterback. He obviously had Saquon.
(09:02):
They had some really good receivers back then. You guys, remember,
they're in the NFL now, and I just feel like
they need to see that part of it. In terms
of lanning, you see a guy who seems to be
in a sweet spot. You know, learned under Kirby, learned
under Sab and took a lot of different things from people.
I think he's really confident in what he's doing. Whoever
he's put on his coaching staff seems like they have
(09:23):
been a good fit, whether it's finding a league Terry
to be the O line guy after he had Adrian
Klem or plug it. You know, Tosh Lapoi has looked
good as a defensive coordinator here obviously went from Kenny
Dillingham as OC. He goes to be the head coach
at Arizona State, he grabs will Stein. Will Stein has
been as good a play caller, honestly in college football
as there's been the last couple of years. So daning
(09:46):
Dan Lanning's got it right now. But I don't think,
you know, I think for people to look at it
goes Jane Franklin can't win big games. I don't. I
don't buy that. I think he hasn't hasn't shown that
he can consistently do it. But we've seen at times.
But now all of a sudden, it's been like one
thing or the other. I don't want to say, there's
(10:06):
no excuses for it if they don't win this game
on Saturday night. But I think everything points in the
direction they should win this game based on, you know,
the experience they have, the home field environment. I think
everything they that's lined up for them. If I was
a Penn State fan and they don't win, I'd really
be resigned to maybe this is not work. It gonna work.
But you can't put everything on one game. But we
(10:28):
have enough of a track record where you can start
to be a little skeptical.
Speaker 2 (10:32):
Well, I mean, Aler is going to get all the credit,
all the blame, no matter what happens, because that seems
to be the that's the sport on social media. I
remember the Ohio State game last year. I mean, he
throws a fade ball, it should be a touchdown and
the receiver didn't fight for it, gets ripped out of
his hands and kind of change the whole dynamic of
that that entire game. And you mentioned the lack of
receivers last year. They didn't have any like that when
(10:53):
they that's why they're trying to generate offense and putting
Warren as a wildcat quarterback. Just whatever we got to do.
He's the best playmaker we have. Let's just try and
put the ball in his hands. So I have not
watched him yet this year. I'm anxious to see what
this this new receiving court looks like and see what
our does on a big stage, to kind of get
the taste of that last game we all saw him
in on the big stage last year. Get that out
(11:14):
of there, they get that taste out of their mouth.
We've got two other ones I want to hit you
on because LSU ol miss is gonna be a great
matchup too. But Bama Bama Georgia, Georgia doesn't lose at home,
and then you've got Bama who I don't know. As
it has it calmed down a little bit, I think
with the quarterback playing better, I think that's taken a
little bit of the heat off of the board. But
(11:34):
that's uh, that's still I feel like a fan base
in Tuscaloosa is sitting on the edge of their seat
waiting to see something they don't like.
Speaker 1 (11:41):
Yeah, I feel like the last time Georgia lost at
home on a on a night game there in Athens,
I worked at ESPN, Budcky was playing DVA. You have
probably you were probably at app Stat or in Louisiana
playing quarterback. It's been a long time. The things that
I want to see in this game is Ken jam
(12:03):
Miller is going to get back. That's the Alabama's best
running back. Can he give them a run game to
really compliment what you have in Ty Simpson, who's played fantastic. Right,
Both the receivers have been really good. Jeremy Bernard has
really stepped up to be the other guy with the
dynamic Ryan Williams. The offensive line has been very inconsistent, right,
(12:25):
And I think from a from a big picture sence,
Ryan Grubb is a very good offensive mind. We saw
he was with Klein de Bor when they had Penix
at Washington they played for the national title. Really dynamic
offense that had three elite receivers with a great quarterback.
You wonder like, how committed does he want to be
(12:47):
to running the football. That was kind of the knock
with him with Mike McDonald last year in Seattle when
he was the OC there. You know, will they do
that against Georgia. Now we saw Tennessee attack them like
a couple of weeks ago in Knoxville. Chris Brasel went
off against them, you know, and I think Georgia Georgia
(13:08):
is vulnerable to some of the same stuff that that
Alabama can attack them with. By the way, Calen Debora
off a bye week. He's won a lot of games,
including his last five games, and four of them have
been against ranked opponents. So I feel like they will
have some stuff up their sleeve. It also helps. It's
really helps the tide. Then other get jam Miller back,
(13:28):
they get Tim Keenan, who's probably their best d line
and he's definitely their best leader on defense. He's missed
most of the season. He probably could have played last week,
but he's ready to go. I think that helps them
because you know, when you look at Georgia, you know,
I thought gunder Stockton aced the first big test. He
rallied them, and you know, the people I talked to
inside the Georgia program were very confident in him before
(13:51):
the game, and I think he backed up that confidence
of why they're confident in him. I still don't think
this is the Georgia caliber or team that we saw
that annihilated TCU and so far for the national title
game or was winning national titles. I think they're really good.
I don't know if I if I buy that they
(14:12):
are at that level where they are the class of
the SEC. I think they're one of the best teams
in the SEC, but I don't know if I think
they're look at them and go, oh yeah, this is
a team that to me is one that you check
the box off that they're you know that they're the
team to be. I think they have flaws, just like
(14:33):
you know the other maybe four best teams in the SEC,
and I would include Alabama in that group right now.
Speaker 3 (14:41):
You know, it's funny when you talk about it, because
to me, you talk about kiddin the board being so
good off by weeks in those things, it's still hard
to look at Alabama and not compare them to what
Alabama looked like under statement, and I'm just talking about
talent or whatever, but I'll talk about discipline and attention
to detail in those things, knowing which you know about
Kidden debor.
Speaker 1 (15:02):
How different is this programmed than the program did Nick
saban ring. I think it's very different. I mean, I
don't know how to say it beyond like this calender
Boor is a genuinely nice guy, and I think there's
one part that I think was frustrating. If you watched
them play Florida State, was the fight was not there,
(15:24):
you know, I mean you got pushed around. The effort
wasn't there either, The effort was not there. That was
the part that was like Florida State looked hungrier, they
look like they were tougher, and I don't know, you know,
at the end of the day, you know that goes
on Kaylen de boor as much as it goes on
any players. I mean, I know what you guys, you
know what you guys you know, do you know occupation
(15:47):
wise is you know, evaluate players and how much they
love football, how how how tough are they all those
intangible things. But at the end of the day that
you know, that's on the that's on the coaches, which
is anything and the player and so you know, there's
some really good players in there. And I remember you
could see bits and pieces where it's like, why did
this guy give up on this play? I thought this
(16:08):
guy's better than this. You know, this doesn't seem like
this guy and you just kind of wonder, Okay, what
happened there? And I think only the people inside the
program really know the answer to those things, but it
is a long season. We learned that from Ohio State
last year if we didn't already know it. And I
think if you're if you're Alabama, if you're Kalin debor
if you're Kane Wamack the defensive coordinator, I think it's like, hey,
(16:32):
you guys got embarrassed by Diego, Pavia and Vandy last year.
He gave up forty points. Now, some of those players
probably were not the same players in different roles, you know,
like honestly, guys, Like there's a bunch of guys in
the secondary who came from like where you know where
DJ lives. Right, there's a bunch of like either Orange
(16:55):
County or San Diego kids who are really talented who
it's like, Okay, now, are you guys ready to be
those guys? Because obviously they lost, you know, a bunch
of corners and a great safety some to the NFL.
And obviously the Caleb Downs went to Ohio State. But
I felt like they lost a lot of key pieces
and it's you wonder who's going to step up and
(17:16):
take ownership inside the locker room of that because obviously
there's some accountability issues. This is a good test if
you thought Florida State was going to man handle you,
what do you think Georgia is gonna do? What do
you think Krbie Smart wants to do? So, like, I'm
interested to see how does how does calein de boor
(17:37):
make sure that doesn't happen Saturday night in Athens.
Speaker 2 (17:43):
Bruce, just because you know we'll catch up as we
get closer to the draft and I'll get a chance
to jump in on these guys as well, Bucky. But
if I was just going to ask you these four
teams playing these two games, Bama, Georgia, LSU, Old Miss,
who is I'll just ask you for one and four.
We're not worry about two and three. Who is the
most talent? Not the best team, just the most talent.
Who's the most talented of those four teams? And who's
(18:04):
the least talented of those four teams?
Speaker 1 (18:07):
I would say probably Old Miss is the least talented
of those teams. You know, almost lost a lot of
good players on the defense last year, lost a terrific
receiver who's now with the Chargers, and obviously lost to
a terrific quarterback who's now with the Giants, and the
whole day line. Yeah, I mean, like Walter and Olam,
you go down the list, they lost really good players.
(18:29):
They have like a couple of guys back in the
front seven who I think were good players. But I
feel like Old Miss is probably and it's not shouldn't
be shocking, like you know, typically that would be the
least of those groups. I don't you know. LSU is
the wild card of this group because they have a
ton of speed. They could put a track team out
with just their receiver room. I love some of the
(18:52):
additions they have in the portal mansor delayne is A
is a great college cornerback in how he great the
game too. It is came from Virginia Tech. Has has
been his fantastic addition. I think Blake Baker, the defense coordinator,
has done a really good job. I feel like they
are playing a lot of confidence on that side of
the ball. You got Wit Weeks, and the Weeks got
(19:12):
Week's brothers or nine of them. It feels like it
if I saw I.
Speaker 2 (19:16):
Watched one get hurt and one get kicked out, and
there was another one just waiting in the way.
Speaker 1 (19:20):
How many of these dudes are there? I know they're
a little bit like the old schwartz Maker movie where
you know where it's the terminator where one part comes
off and they just kind of regenerate. It looks a
little different because I watched the Netflix thing on them.
They don't like wit looks a certain way. The youngest
brother really doesn't look like them as much, you know,
But it's just they have all the same heart and
(19:42):
I think there's a confidence there. There's also Harold Perkins,
who is who's like, I don't know if this is
Harold Perkins three point zero because he was a fantastic playmaker,
is a true freshman, and then they kind of struggle
to figure out how to use him, and I don't
know if he was lost in there a little bit.
I don't know what happened, but you watched him earlier
this year, and he is making a lot of plays
(20:04):
because he is so twitchy, and it's kind of a
unique also a unique chess piece for them. I think
the part that is puzzling about Lsu is, as I said,
a ton of speeder receiver. You got Garrett nus Meyer,
who I know he's been a little banged up, but
he is He's as good a quarterback as there is
in college football, I think, but you wonder how committed
(20:26):
are they to the run game. It's like, can they
run the football or will they run the football? Started
to become like two different questions. They had to replace
four starters on the old line, including Will Campbell. I
think all four of those linemen, by the way, it's
not just they lost them. Those guys are all like
the Senior Bowl. Those are like pretty good players. And
so I think there's a lot of uncertainty about LSU,
(20:48):
even the win they had, which I thought was a
really good look, good looking win Week one, because they
went to Clemson and beat a team with a lot
of dudes on it. But Clemson doesn't look very good
right though, you know, so to me, they're the wild card.
You know, my default answer to this, in a long
winded way would be Georgia's the most talented team, because
(21:09):
I think they have more guys that are ready in
the front seven than Alabama does. But I don't know
about that, you know, Like I mean, the answer to
the probably is Texas as better guys on the defense
than any of them do. But I know Texas isn't
in this conversation for this point. But I don't know like,
I feel like of this of those four teams, the
(21:32):
one I have the most confidence and in quarterback is
probably nuss Meyer. The one I have the most confidence
in the trenches probably is Georgia. And then you know,
I honestly I would take the two receivers Georgia Alabama
has over anybody Georgia has. I know like Branch is
(21:54):
a dangerous return guy and gadget guy, but I feel
like Ryan Williams is different. I see what Jeremy Bernard
is doing. I feel like Jeremy Bernard is like a
go to guy, and I think Ty Simpson cool story.
I think he's playing with a ton of confidence. And
you're seeing a guy who's much better athlete than people
gave him credit for. And he could be he could
(22:15):
have of this weekend in the sec of these four
of these, you know, four teams, I think he has
a chance to be the guy people come away talking about, going, WHOA,
He's way better than we thought. That's interesting, Yeah, it
is interesting, I'll sell you.
Speaker 3 (22:28):
What's interesting to me is watching Brian Kelly down at LSU.
Have to watching him for years and Notre Dame and
it's just me and I'm a Brian Kelly fan, but
it just doesn't seem like a great mess in terms
of personality and players and program and those things like
thirty thousand view, Like what is that connection like between
(22:48):
BK the football program and the players, because it just
doesn't seem like it's a great fit.
Speaker 1 (22:54):
Yeah, last year I did a story with my colleague
Ralf Russo about the fit. Because he's obviously a terrific coach.
You don't do what he did for as long as
he did a Notre Dame if you're not really good.
In addition to the other jobs he's hadn't done well at.
But you know, I don't want to put it as
bluntly as this, but LS you you're you're coaching in
the Deep South. You're coaching different kinds of kids than
(23:16):
you're getting at Notre Dame. And I think how he's
connected to him or not. You know, one of the
one of the people we talked to for that story
was was his former starting center at LSU had been there.
You know, he was a holdover from the old staff
and you know he started for a couple of years
for Brian Kelly and he was like, I just didn't
have any personal relationship with him, Like this guy was
(23:37):
on the record just basically talking about that. Like he'd
say hi to me and that's it. But it wasn't
like you felt like you had any connection to him.
And I think one of the mistakes Brian Kelly made
early on was the staff he put together. Like Cory
Raymond has produced as many DB's probably for the NFL
in the last decade as anybody in college football. He
(23:57):
clearly knows what he's doing. They got got rid of him,
they ended up bringing him back, you know, because they
were crazy for LSU to be bad in the secondary.
They were really bad in the secondary, so they brought
him back. Blake Baker, Louisiana guy. He was the linebacker
coach on the old ozer On staff. He's now the
defensive coordinator. That was a really good move. I think
a lot of those things is how do you supplement
(24:20):
it to make it fit? Sometimes I feel like LSU.
I don't want to say they're winning in spite of
Brian Kelly, but it's just it is a weird fit,
you know, everything there. I think it helps that he
has a really experienced quarterback who wants to be there.
We know that because nuss Meyer was one of the
rare guys who could have left when he waited behind
(24:41):
Jaden Daniels and waited and waited, and you know, it's
like he's a leader there. I think they probably have
good leaders in the locker room. Sure seems like what
Weeks is one of them, you know, And I think,
but the fit is weird, no doubt. And I know
this like the only thing three guys he followed as
(25:01):
head coaches there, Nick saban Less, Miles and Ed Ozeron.
The only thing they have in common is they all
won national titles in their first four years at LSU.
It's a year four. This is they spent like three
times as much money on their roster as they did
the year before. So clearly they're invested. You know, go
at least be a playoff team. I don't think they
(25:21):
have to win the national title to keep his job,
but I think given the experience, given who your quarterback
is and his experience, I think you got to prove
it and be a playoff team. I think there's really
no excuses for not and there's no excuses for LSU
not to be able to run the ball better than
it's doing right now.
Speaker 2 (25:39):
Oh, that's great stuff, Bruce. Last one then I'm gonna
let you run here. You've been gracious with your time
as always. But you mentioned you know that job likely
isn't going to come open. The one that is looking
like it could come open is Florida. We'll see if
unless Napier can really recover against just a brutal schedule
that they have, But not just that job, the other
jobs that potentially could become available. After last year was
(26:00):
such a light movement year, it looks like we could
see more movement this year. So just early on off,
you know, for candidates that maybe are a little off
the radar, I'd love to know. Can you give me
a couple of names, non Power four coaches that you
that you think have an opportunity to ascend and be good,
you know, power for guys.
Speaker 1 (26:17):
Yeah, there's already three three Power four jobs that are open. Obviously,
Mike Gundy got got blown out of Oklahoma State this week,
and you had Deshaun Foster at u c l A.
You had Virgia Tech and Brent pry Uh you know
they fire. Stanford's open too, Yeah, that's right, Stanford is
open and go you know, go work for Andrew Luck
and try to get players in academically right, so and
(26:39):
play in a league that you know, it's just the
worst geographical, geographical lot. But that's yeah, that's that's four jobs.
There will be more. I think what's different this year
for billion napier than was last year is a d
Scott Strickland. You know, like last year he was on
a lot of thin ice. Well, what happened between this
(26:59):
year last year, in addition to Billy and Aper going
on a run at the end of the year, was
the basketball coach he hired, Todd Golden, won a national title.
So all of a sudden, now Scott Strickland's kind of
separated a little bit from his from you know, if
if this football coach gets fired, I may lose my
job too. That's not going to happen, at least the
latter is not. So the guys I think to keep
(27:20):
an eye on, especially maybe watch Virginia Tech. That job is.
There's I think there's four or five very good group
of five head coaches out there. One of them is
John Sumrall. He is the coach a lot in the s.
He really good coach. I think John Sumrall would win anywhere.
Anybody who's talked to him, and I know a lot
of you know, your brethren who do scouting probably talked
(27:42):
to John Sumrall a lot. He's just got it. He's
super sharp. He's at Tulane, done a did a really
good job first to Troy and then there. You know
whether if Elaine ever left Ole Miss, which if the
Florida job comes open, who knows how that plays out, right,
But you know, I could see some role at Old Miss.
(28:02):
I could see him at at Auburn. He's you know,
from Alabama. He's a guy that I think will be
in much demand. Ryan Silverfield just beat just beat Arkansas.
He's the head coach at Memphis. Has done a very
good job there, consistently has won. The one thing that's
kind of like a quirky thing, you know, with him
in this dynamic is Virginia Tack's open. Virginia Tech hired
(28:26):
Justin fuent Day to replace Frank Beemer. Did a pretty
good job at the beginning, then really tailed off. They
hired him from Memphis. I don't know if they would
they we can't hire another Memphis coach. I don't think
he and Ryan Silverfield are very similar in any way,
but they both have coached at Memphis and maybe that'll
be a question mark. Then Bob Chesney who's at James Madison,
(28:47):
you know, who's at holy Cross, won a lot of games,
been a long time head coach, even though he's in
his mid forties. He's one to watch. Alex Golish, who
is a hypol protege who's at USF. He's got to
win record. It's not like he has an amazing record
in three years, but he did beat Florida this year.
He blew out Boyse State and they were like four
(29:07):
and twenty nine at USF before he showed up. The
other thing that's that's worth noting with him is of
all the guys I mentioned, he's the only one who
worked at Oklahoma State before he was a GA for
gun Beach two thousand and eight, so he does have
a connection. Who runs the warp speed offense. He's a
good coach. And then the other guy I would put
in there is Charles Huff who's now at Southern Mish
(29:29):
one ten games last year at Marshall. I mean I
could see Virginia Tech being tempted by him because he
went to college in that state. He's from Maryland. You know,
he coached for James Franklin at Penn State. He coached
for Saban at Alabama. You know, he knows what he's doing.
So those guys are the ones I think that are
the most I would say upwardly mobile, you know, in
(29:53):
terms of like, I think maybe all of them, if not,
you know, half of them will probably end up at
bigger jobs come this winter. And then you have a
cluster of really good offensive coordinators who I think will
get long looks, certainly at the at the Oklahoma State job.
I don't know what UCLA is going to do because
UCLA is a unique kind of mess, and they, you
(30:14):
know they, I think that they have to be careful
hiring somebody who's never been a head coach after what
just happened with Deshaun Roster. He just seemed like he
was really spinning his wheels there. And you don't have
a ton of support inside the athletic program there.
Speaker 2 (30:29):
Well, free advice, if will Stein's listening, you have a
better job as the offensive coordinator at Oregon than being
the head.
Speaker 1 (30:34):
Coach at UCLA.
Speaker 2 (30:36):
So I would I would not jump with that one.
I would hold off and see what else outh until
they get stuff figured out there in Westwood. Hey, Bruce,
you're the best buddy. We kept you a little long.
We appreciate your time. Look forward to doing this again soon.
Speaker 1 (30:47):
Man. Always a pleasure. Guys, good seeing you all right, Buck.
Speaker 2 (30:52):
Great to have our buddy Bruce Feldman. If you don't
know Bruce, then you probably aren't watching a lot of
college football. But you'll see him on Fox each and
every set. Also does incredible work at the Athletic. Has
a great article up on Ryan Williams, by the way,
I just read that this morning, the receiver we were
talking about from Alabama and kind of his upbringing and
some of the adversity that he's faced. But Bruce has
(31:12):
dialed in as anybody and always always love it when
we get a chance to have him on.
Speaker 1 (31:16):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (31:17):
Look, he knows a lot about everything in the college
football landscape, and it was great to have his insights
not only on the things that are happening on the field,
but man, the coaching stuff. At such a fascinating time
when you think about college football, the jobs that are available,
but dealing with the news landscape, you know what I'm
saying the portal, the money, the boosters, revenue share, whatever.
(31:39):
Life I say now is more challenging than ever. To
be ahead of a program is more a whole lot
more involved.
Speaker 1 (31:46):
Yep.
Speaker 2 (31:47):
You better have hopefully a general manager that you can
partner with, that can that you can trust. It can
take a lot of that stuff off of your plate.
But anyways, we'll have Bruce on again, trying to get
him on about once a month. Look forward to those conversations.
Speaker 1 (31:59):
I appreciate you guys with us.
Speaker 2 (32:00):
Tomorrow we will preview some of the big NFL weekend
games we have in front of us. We'll check that
out tomorrow right here on, Move the sticks.
And now move the sticks with Daniel Jeremiah and Bucky Brooks.
What's up, everybody?
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Welcome to move to stick DJ Buck with our good
friend Bruce Feldman joining us.
Speaker 1 (00:11):
Bruce. How you doing man, I'm doing well. Good to
be hon with you guys.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
Appreciate you taking old time. It's you know, I feel
like every weekend it's been one or two games, you know,
mostly just one game and maybe one and a half
games that I get excited about on the college football slate.
But holy cow, this is the weekend where it kind
of gets cranked up.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
Man.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Is this matchups all over the place, all over the country,
all over the time slots. It's the best weekend of
the season so far.
Speaker 1 (00:36):
It is. I mean, obviously there was a ton of
hype for week one because of it was Arch's big
starting debut, you know, when it was his team at
Texas going to play Ohio State. Huge game. But to me,
I love the matchup in Happy Valley. There's going to
be white out at Penn State. Oregon's going in there,
Dante more and the offense has looked fantastic. They haven't
(00:59):
really played anybody yet though, and this is a real
good test you obviously have Georgia Alabama. That's a huge one.
There's just so many, it's like it's a deep run
of games. But for me, it's just I'm really fascinated
to see what happens in Happy Valley. And not to
say that what happens in Georgia Alabama doesn't have playoff ramifications.
It certainly probably will, but you know, again, just because
(01:23):
like the other two teams, we've at least seen them
play somebody good, you know, and we've seen them have
some adversity. Alabama didn't really deal with it great. Obviously
Georgia did. But in this case, you know, what are
we getting? You know, as Drew Aller taken a big step?
What is Jim Knowles defense looks like in Happy Valley?
You know, how does Dante More in a rebuilt offensive
(01:45):
line handle all that? I can't wait to find that
stuff out.
Speaker 3 (01:48):
You know, it's fiddy Bruce, because you took me right
to where I wanted to go. When it comes to
Penn State, the biggest difference to me in Penn State
is Jim Knowles.
Speaker 1 (01:56):
What does it look like? How is it going there? Like?
What do you expect to see from Jim knowles taking
over the defense. You know, he's as good as there
is as a defensive mind in college football. And if
you look last year when they played he was at
Ohio State. Obviously, when they played Oregon the first time,
I think Oregon averaged like well over seven yards of play.
(02:16):
They obviously won that game. The second meeting, they really
got after the Ducks. The Ducks went from like like
rushing for like one hundred or fifty or sixty yards
to like minus twenty and they averaged under four yards
of play. And obviously the Ohio State you know, really
took it to him on both sides of the ball.
I mean, he's really good. He also has a lot
to work with. I mean, there are a bunch of
(02:37):
freaky dudes on the Penn State defense, you know, Zane Durant.
I don't want to say he's Aaron Donald, but of
all the guys who are going to get compared to
Aaron Donald in college football right now, this would be
that guy who's like super explosive, kind of undersize with
plays in the right scheme. Denied. Dennis Sutton is a menace.
You know, they always seem to have like an elite
(02:59):
edge rusher that guy right now, and there's a bunch
of other dudes around him. Tony Rojas can run as
fast as any linebacker and gets after people. You know,
and I think you have some interesting matchups here because
Kenyan Sadik is probably one of the more unique chess
pieces in college football. Obviously, we just had a great
tight end at Georgia who's now playing for the Raiders
(03:20):
and Brock Bauers. Sadiq is faster and more explosive. I
don't know if he's, like I want to say, as
smooth as Bowers was. You know, Bowers was just like
almost like a running back at times, but Sadiq dominates
as an inline blocker at times, and you see what
a matchup problem he is. And Will Stein, the offensive
(03:41):
coordinator at Oregon, is really good at doing that because
you know, as impressive as Oregon's been, remember they're like
best receiver supposedly coming into this year was Evan Stewart
and he got a knee injury in the summer and
he can't go.
Speaker 3 (03:56):
So.
Speaker 1 (03:58):
You know, it's it's just very to watch how these
things are kind of lining up, and I'm fascinated to
see what how the chess match of Knowles against Stein
Goes Goes Saturday Night.
Speaker 2 (04:12):
Bruce, I had a chance a couple of years ago.
It was the last year, two years, it all runs together,
but I had a chance to the Texas State championship game.
Just happened to be in Dallas when that was going on,
so I went and watched it. And that freshman receiver
for Oregon, like he looked he looked crazy fast on
a high school field, obviously, but I don't. He looks
like he's faster when everybody they're playing. So far, I know,
(04:34):
I haven't seen a ton of talented opposition, but I
mean I'm excited to see that kid on a big stage.
Speaker 1 (04:40):
Yeah, he's really dynamic. I mean they had at one
point and their old receivers coach who's now with the Cowboys,
Junior Adams, had I think three, like legit five star guys.
No one of them ended up, you know, flipping and
going to Florida at the last second. But this kid
is super explosive and I think he's embraced the physicality
piece of it pretty quickly in Eugene, so they're excited
(05:04):
about him. They have a deep running back room, like
I think a lot of us expected Makai Hughes the
transfer from Tulane to emerge as kind of I don't
see the bellcow because that's not really how Oregon plays,
but just to be that feature guy, and it's been
a bunch of other guys. We're averaging like eleven yards
of carry. But again, they haven't played anybody close to
what they're going to see and certainly nothing like that environment.
(05:25):
Dante has looked fantastic, you know, everybody loves him, and
I talked to coaches who face them. You know, we
have a big story on the athletic it's kind of
what we're hearing that it'll go up Friday, and I
think so. You hear some of the people who've played
them just kind of gush about what they see. But again,
(05:48):
I think I'm not saying it's it's fool's gold, but
I just think we need to see it against you know,
like a relevantly relevant like class of athlete and class
you know, it's just you know, there, I feel like
they were just kind of toying with people so far.
This will be a much different kind of test and
(06:08):
if they if they if they ace it the way
they've raced everything else. You know, we probably got a Heisman,
a legit Heisman candidate in Eugene.
Speaker 3 (06:17):
You know, I kind of want to finish the conversation
off with Penn State and Oregon on the two head coaches.
James Franklin kitches a lot of flak for their inability
to knock off the top five team. Yeah, it's challenging
to do, but in Penn State, the expectation is that
he should be able to do it, and people kind
of view him as more recruiter than strategists or tactician.
(06:38):
Dan Lanning appears to kind of be the total package
when you think about head coach, not only a mass
for recruiter, motivator, has the exces and os from the
defense of the ball. Just talk about a comparing contrast
both head coaches in this matchup.
Speaker 1 (06:52):
Yeah, I think for a little while, James Franklin, you know,
did an amazing job at Bandy, right, he got him
in the top twenty five a couple of years. Then
he really I think he ramped it up after. You know,
Bill O'Brien had a really tough role in trying to
get Penn State back off the you know, off the
scrap heat when it was when he got it, and
(07:12):
I think he did a really good job. He obviously
beat Urban Meyer, you know that that one time, and
then they played in the Rose Bowl when he had
Saquon and Trace McSorley, and I think, you know, he
had a big role in making Penn State kind of
cool for kids wanting to go there. And they've recruited
well and gotten all these guys, but it's just been
one reason or another why they haven't been able to
(07:35):
beat whoever is the top teams that they face, whether
it's Ohio State or occasionally it's been Michigan, before it
was you know, it might have been it might have
been somebody else. And I think that, you know, I
think he probably, I don't want to say it gets
a gets a bad rap for this, because I think
he's one of the best coaches in college football because
you look, he consistently wins double digit games, it consistently
(07:58):
develops players. But it's been kind of figuring out the offense,
you know, outside of when Joe Morehead was there running
the show, I feel like it's been kind of underwhelming
and they plug different, you know, guys in and for
whatever reason, it has not worked now Andy Cotle Nicky
was a he came from Kansas. I think he did
a pretty good job there, But they didn't have like
(08:20):
it was rare to see a team that had really
good skill talent but almost no receivers, you know, like
they had. They had Warren, they had the two elite
running backs, and the receivers were or like a non
factor in the game, you know. For them. Now they've
added three transfer portal guys who've all you know, been
pretty impressive so far, and I think you're getting an
(08:42):
element of contested catches. I think a lot of this
has got to be on you know, if Drew Aller's
the guy some people think he is as an NFL prospect,
we need to see him go out and win a
big game, and we need to see him live in
that moment. Trace McSorley actually could do something, you know,
like and he wasn't a prototype NFL size guy, but
it was a really good college quarterback. He obviously had Saquon.
(09:02):
They had some really good receivers back then. You guys, remember,
they're in the NFL now, and I just feel like
they need to see that part of it. In terms
of lanning, you see a guy who seems to be
in a sweet spot. You know, learned under Kirby, learned
under Sab and took a lot of different things from people.
I think he's really confident in what he's doing. Whoever
he's put on his coaching staff seems like they have
(09:23):
been a good fit, whether it's finding a league Terry
to be the O line guy after he had Adrian
Klem or plug it. You know, Tosh Lapoi has looked
good as a defensive coordinator here obviously went from Kenny
Dillingham as OC. He goes to be the head coach
at Arizona State, he grabs will Stein. Will Stein has
been as good a play caller, honestly in college football
as there's been the last couple of years. So daning
(09:46):
Dan Lanning's got it right now. But I don't think,
you know, I think for people to look at it
goes Jane Franklin can't win big games. I don't. I
don't buy that. I think he hasn't hasn't shown that
he can consistently do it. But we've seen at times.
But now all of a sudden, it's been like one
thing or the other. I don't want to say, there's
(10:06):
no excuses for it if they don't win this game
on Saturday night. But I think everything points in the
direction they should win this game based on, you know,
the experience they have, the home field environment. I think
everything they that's lined up for them. If I was
a Penn State fan and they don't win, I'd really
be resigned to maybe this is not work. It gonna work.
But you can't put everything on one game. But we
(10:28):
have enough of a track record where you can start
to be a little skeptical.
Speaker 2 (10:32):
Well, I mean, Aler is going to get all the credit,
all the blame, no matter what happens, because that seems
to be the that's the sport on social media. I
remember the Ohio State game last year. I mean, he
throws a fade ball, it should be a touchdown and
the receiver didn't fight for it, gets ripped out of
his hands and kind of change the whole dynamic of
that that entire game. And you mentioned the lack of
receivers last year. They didn't have any like that when
(10:53):
they that's why they're trying to generate offense and putting
Warren as a wildcat quarterback. Just whatever we got to do.
He's the best playmaker we have. Let's just try and
put the ball in his hands. So I have not
watched him yet this year. I'm anxious to see what
this this new receiving court looks like and see what
our does on a big stage, to kind of get
the taste of that last game we all saw him
in on the big stage last year. Get that out
(11:14):
of there, they get that taste out of their mouth.
We've got two other ones I want to hit you
on because LSU ol miss is gonna be a great
matchup too. But Bama Bama Georgia, Georgia doesn't lose at home,
and then you've got Bama who I don't know. As
it has it calmed down a little bit, I think
with the quarterback playing better, I think that's taken a
little bit of the heat off of the board. But
(11:34):
that's uh, that's still I feel like a fan base
in Tuscaloosa is sitting on the edge of their seat
waiting to see something they don't like.
Speaker 1 (11:41):
Yeah, I feel like the last time Georgia lost at
home on a on a night game there in Athens,
I worked at ESPN, Budcky was playing DVA. You have
probably you were probably at app Stat or in Louisiana
playing quarterback. It's been a long time. The things that
I want to see in this game is Ken jam
(12:03):
Miller is going to get back. That's the Alabama's best
running back. Can he give them a run game to
really compliment what you have in Ty Simpson, who's played fantastic. Right,
Both the receivers have been really good. Jeremy Bernard has
really stepped up to be the other guy with the
dynamic Ryan Williams. The offensive line has been very inconsistent, right,
(12:25):
And I think from a from a big picture sence,
Ryan Grubb is a very good offensive mind. We saw
he was with Klein de Bor when they had Penix
at Washington they played for the national title. Really dynamic
offense that had three elite receivers with a great quarterback.
You wonder like, how committed does he want to be
(12:47):
to running the football. That was kind of the knock
with him with Mike McDonald last year in Seattle when
he was the OC there. You know, will they do
that against Georgia. Now we saw Tennessee attack them like
a couple of weeks ago in Knoxville. Chris Brasel went
off against them, you know, and I think Georgia Georgia
(13:08):
is vulnerable to some of the same stuff that that
Alabama can attack them with. By the way, Calen Debora
off a bye week. He's won a lot of games,
including his last five games, and four of them have
been against ranked opponents. So I feel like they will
have some stuff up their sleeve. It also helps. It's
really helps the tide. Then other get jam Miller back,
(13:28):
they get Tim Keenan, who's probably their best d line
and he's definitely their best leader on defense. He's missed
most of the season. He probably could have played last week,
but he's ready to go. I think that helps them
because you know, when you look at Georgia, you know,
I thought gunder Stockton aced the first big test. He
rallied them, and you know, the people I talked to
inside the Georgia program were very confident in him before
(13:51):
the game, and I think he backed up that confidence
of why they're confident in him. I still don't think
this is the Georgia caliber or team that we saw
that annihilated TCU and so far for the national title
game or was winning national titles. I think they're really good.
I don't know if I if I buy that they
(14:12):
are at that level where they are the class of
the SEC. I think they're one of the best teams
in the SEC, but I don't know if I think
they're look at them and go, oh yeah, this is
a team that to me is one that you check
the box off that they're you know that they're the
team to be. I think they have flaws, just like
(14:33):
you know the other maybe four best teams in the SEC,
and I would include Alabama in that group right now.
Speaker 3 (14:41):
You know, it's funny when you talk about it, because
to me, you talk about kiddin the board being so
good off by weeks in those things, it's still hard
to look at Alabama and not compare them to what
Alabama looked like under statement, and I'm just talking about
talent or whatever, but I'll talk about discipline and attention
to detail in those things, knowing which you know about
Kidden debor.
Speaker 1 (15:02):
How different is this programmed than the program did Nick
saban ring. I think it's very different. I mean, I
don't know how to say it beyond like this calender
Boor is a genuinely nice guy, and I think there's
one part that I think was frustrating. If you watched
them play Florida State, was the fight was not there,
(15:24):
you know, I mean you got pushed around. The effort
wasn't there either, The effort was not there. That was
the part that was like Florida State looked hungrier, they
look like they were tougher, and I don't know, you know,
at the end of the day, you know that goes
on Kaylen de boor as much as it goes on
any players. I mean, I know what you guys, you
know what you guys you know, do you know occupation
(15:47):
wise is you know, evaluate players and how much they
love football, how how how tough are they all those
intangible things. But at the end of the day that
you know, that's on the that's on the coaches, which
is anything and the player and so you know, there's
some really good players in there. And I remember you
could see bits and pieces where it's like, why did
this guy give up on this play? I thought this
(16:08):
guy's better than this. You know, this doesn't seem like
this guy and you just kind of wonder, Okay, what
happened there? And I think only the people inside the
program really know the answer to those things, but it
is a long season. We learned that from Ohio State
last year if we didn't already know it. And I
think if you're if you're Alabama, if you're Kalin debor
if you're Kane Wamack the defensive coordinator, I think it's like, hey,
(16:32):
you guys got embarrassed by Diego, Pavia and Vandy last year.
He gave up forty points. Now, some of those players
probably were not the same players in different roles, you know,
like honestly, guys, Like there's a bunch of guys in
the secondary who came from like where you know where
DJ lives. Right, there's a bunch of like either Orange
(16:55):
County or San Diego kids who are really talented who
it's like, Okay, now, are you guys ready to be
those guys? Because obviously they lost, you know, a bunch
of corners and a great safety some to the NFL.
And obviously the Caleb Downs went to Ohio State. But
I felt like they lost a lot of key pieces
and it's you wonder who's going to step up and
(17:16):
take ownership inside the locker room of that because obviously
there's some accountability issues. This is a good test if
you thought Florida State was going to man handle you,
what do you think Georgia is gonna do? What do
you think Krbie Smart wants to do? So, like, I'm
interested to see how does how does calein de boor
(17:37):
make sure that doesn't happen Saturday night in Athens.
Speaker 2 (17:43):
Bruce, just because you know we'll catch up as we
get closer to the draft and I'll get a chance
to jump in on these guys as well, Bucky. But
if I was just going to ask you these four
teams playing these two games, Bama, Georgia, LSU, Old Miss,
who is I'll just ask you for one and four.
We're not worry about two and three. Who is the
most talent? Not the best team, just the most talent.
Who's the most talented of those four teams? And who's
(18:04):
the least talented of those four teams?
Speaker 1 (18:07):
I would say probably Old Miss is the least talented
of those teams. You know, almost lost a lot of
good players on the defense last year, lost a terrific
receiver who's now with the Chargers, and obviously lost to
a terrific quarterback who's now with the Giants, and the
whole day line. Yeah, I mean, like Walter and Olam,
you go down the list, they lost really good players.
(18:29):
They have like a couple of guys back in the
front seven who I think were good players. But I
feel like Old Miss is probably and it's not shouldn't
be shocking, like you know, typically that would be the
least of those groups. I don't you know. LSU is
the wild card of this group because they have a
ton of speed. They could put a track team out
with just their receiver room. I love some of the
(18:52):
additions they have in the portal mansor delayne is A
is a great college cornerback in how he great the
game too. It is came from Virginia Tech. Has has
been his fantastic addition. I think Blake Baker, the defense coordinator,
has done a really good job. I feel like they
are playing a lot of confidence on that side of
the ball. You got Wit Weeks, and the Weeks got
(19:12):
Week's brothers or nine of them. It feels like it
if I saw I.
Speaker 2 (19:16):
Watched one get hurt and one get kicked out, and
there was another one just waiting in the way.
Speaker 1 (19:20):
How many of these dudes are there? I know they're
a little bit like the old schwartz Maker movie where
you know where it's the terminator where one part comes
off and they just kind of regenerate. It looks a
little different because I watched the Netflix thing on them.
They don't like wit looks a certain way. The youngest
brother really doesn't look like them as much, you know,
But it's just they have all the same heart and
(19:42):
I think there's a confidence there. There's also Harold Perkins,
who is who's like, I don't know if this is
Harold Perkins three point zero because he was a fantastic playmaker,
is a true freshman, and then they kind of struggle
to figure out how to use him, and I don't
know if he was lost in there a little bit.
I don't know what happened, but you watched him earlier
this year, and he is making a lot of plays
(20:04):
because he is so twitchy, and it's kind of a
unique also a unique chess piece for them. I think
the part that is puzzling about Lsu is, as I said,
a ton of speeder receiver. You got Garrett nus Meyer,
who I know he's been a little banged up, but
he is He's as good a quarterback as there is
in college football, I think, but you wonder how committed
(20:26):
are they to the run game. It's like, can they
run the football or will they run the football? Started
to become like two different questions. They had to replace
four starters on the old line, including Will Campbell. I
think all four of those linemen, by the way, it's
not just they lost them. Those guys are all like
the Senior Bowl. Those are like pretty good players. And
so I think there's a lot of uncertainty about LSU,
(20:48):
even the win they had, which I thought was a
really good look, good looking win Week one, because they
went to Clemson and beat a team with a lot
of dudes on it. But Clemson doesn't look very good
right though, you know, so to me, they're the wild card.
You know, my default answer to this, in a long
winded way would be Georgia's the most talented team, because
(21:09):
I think they have more guys that are ready in
the front seven than Alabama does. But I don't know
about that, you know, Like I mean, the answer to
the probably is Texas as better guys on the defense
than any of them do. But I know Texas isn't
in this conversation for this point. But I don't know like,
I feel like of this of those four teams, the
(21:32):
one I have the most confidence and in quarterback is
probably nuss Meyer. The one I have the most confidence
in the trenches probably is Georgia. And then you know,
I honestly I would take the two receivers Georgia Alabama
has over anybody Georgia has. I know like Branch is
(21:54):
a dangerous return guy and gadget guy, but I feel
like Ryan Williams is different. I see what Jeremy Bernard
is doing. I feel like Jeremy Bernard is like a
go to guy, and I think Ty Simpson cool story.
I think he's playing with a ton of confidence. And
you're seeing a guy who's much better athlete than people
gave him credit for. And he could be he could
(22:15):
have of this weekend in the sec of these four
of these, you know, four teams, I think he has
a chance to be the guy people come away talking about, going, WHOA,
He's way better than we thought. That's interesting, Yeah, it
is interesting, I'll sell you.
Speaker 3 (22:28):
What's interesting to me is watching Brian Kelly down at LSU.
Have to watching him for years and Notre Dame and
it's just me and I'm a Brian Kelly fan, but
it just doesn't seem like a great mess in terms
of personality and players and program and those things like
thirty thousand view, Like what is that connection like between
(22:48):
BK the football program and the players, because it just
doesn't seem like it's a great fit.
Speaker 1 (22:54):
Yeah, last year I did a story with my colleague
Ralf Russo about the fit. Because he's obviously a terrific coach.
You don't do what he did for as long as
he did a Notre Dame if you're not really good.
In addition to the other jobs he's hadn't done well at.
But you know, I don't want to put it as
bluntly as this, but LS you you're you're coaching in
the Deep South. You're coaching different kinds of kids than
(23:16):
you're getting at Notre Dame. And I think how he's
connected to him or not. You know, one of the
one of the people we talked to for that story
was was his former starting center at LSU had been there.
You know, he was a holdover from the old staff
and you know he started for a couple of years
for Brian Kelly and he was like, I just didn't
have any personal relationship with him, Like this guy was
(23:37):
on the record just basically talking about that. Like he'd
say hi to me and that's it. But it wasn't
like you felt like you had any connection to him.
And I think one of the mistakes Brian Kelly made
early on was the staff he put together. Like Cory
Raymond has produced as many DB's probably for the NFL
in the last decade as anybody in college football. He
(23:57):
clearly knows what he's doing. They got got rid of him,
they ended up bringing him back, you know, because they
were crazy for LSU to be bad in the secondary.
They were really bad in the secondary, so they brought
him back. Blake Baker, Louisiana guy. He was the linebacker
coach on the old ozer On staff. He's now the
defensive coordinator. That was a really good move. I think
a lot of those things is how do you supplement
(24:20):
it to make it fit? Sometimes I feel like LSU.
I don't want to say they're winning in spite of
Brian Kelly, but it's just it is a weird fit,
you know, everything there. I think it helps that he
has a really experienced quarterback who wants to be there.
We know that because nuss Meyer was one of the
rare guys who could have left when he waited behind
(24:41):
Jaden Daniels and waited and waited, and you know, it's
like he's a leader there. I think they probably have
good leaders in the locker room. Sure seems like what
Weeks is one of them, you know, And I think,
but the fit is weird, no doubt. And I know
this like the only thing three guys he followed as
(25:01):
head coaches there, Nick saban Less, Miles and Ed Ozeron.
The only thing they have in common is they all
won national titles in their first four years at LSU.
It's a year four. This is they spent like three
times as much money on their roster as they did
the year before. So clearly they're invested. You know, go
at least be a playoff team. I don't think they
(25:21):
have to win the national title to keep his job,
but I think given the experience, given who your quarterback
is and his experience, I think you got to prove
it and be a playoff team. I think there's really
no excuses for not and there's no excuses for LSU
not to be able to run the ball better than
it's doing right now.
Speaker 2 (25:39):
Oh, that's great stuff, Bruce. Last one then I'm gonna
let you run here. You've been gracious with your time
as always. But you mentioned you know that job likely
isn't going to come open. The one that is looking
like it could come open is Florida. We'll see if
unless Napier can really recover against just a brutal schedule
that they have, But not just that job, the other
jobs that potentially could become available. After last year was
(26:00):
such a light movement year, it looks like we could
see more movement this year. So just early on off,
you know, for candidates that maybe are a little off
the radar, I'd love to know. Can you give me
a couple of names, non Power four coaches that you
that you think have an opportunity to ascend and be good,
you know, power for guys.
Speaker 1 (26:17):
Yeah, there's already three three Power four jobs that are open. Obviously,
Mike Gundy got got blown out of Oklahoma State this week,
and you had Deshaun Foster at u c l A.
You had Virgia Tech and Brent pry Uh you know
they fire. Stanford's open too, Yeah, that's right, Stanford is
open and go you know, go work for Andrew Luck
and try to get players in academically right, so and
(26:39):
play in a league that you know, it's just the
worst geographical, geographical lot. But that's yeah, that's that's four jobs.
There will be more. I think what's different this year
for billion napier than was last year is a d
Scott Strickland. You know, like last year he was on
a lot of thin ice. Well, what happened between this
(26:59):
year last year, in addition to Billy and Aper going
on a run at the end of the year, was
the basketball coach he hired, Todd Golden, won a national title.
So all of a sudden, now Scott Strickland's kind of
separated a little bit from his from you know, if
if this football coach gets fired, I may lose my
job too. That's not going to happen, at least the
latter is not. So the guys I think to keep
(27:20):
an eye on, especially maybe watch Virginia Tech. That job is.
There's I think there's four or five very good group
of five head coaches out there. One of them is
John Sumrall. He is the coach a lot in the s.
He really good coach. I think John Sumrall would win anywhere.
Anybody who's talked to him, and I know a lot
of you know, your brethren who do scouting probably talked
(27:42):
to John Sumrall a lot. He's just got it. He's
super sharp. He's at Tulane, done a did a really
good job first to Troy and then there. You know
whether if Elaine ever left Ole Miss, which if the
Florida job comes open, who knows how that plays out, right,
But you know, I could see some role at Old Miss.
(28:02):
I could see him at at Auburn. He's you know,
from Alabama. He's a guy that I think will be
in much demand. Ryan Silverfield just beat just beat Arkansas.
He's the head coach at Memphis. Has done a very
good job there, consistently has won. The one thing that's
kind of like a quirky thing, you know, with him
in this dynamic is Virginia Tack's open. Virginia Tech hired
(28:26):
Justin fuent Day to replace Frank Beemer. Did a pretty
good job at the beginning, then really tailed off. They
hired him from Memphis. I don't know if they would
they we can't hire another Memphis coach. I don't think
he and Ryan Silverfield are very similar in any way,
but they both have coached at Memphis and maybe that'll
be a question mark. Then Bob Chesney who's at James Madison,
(28:47):
you know, who's at holy Cross, won a lot of games,
been a long time head coach, even though he's in
his mid forties. He's one to watch. Alex Golish, who
is a hypol protege who's at USF. He's got to
win record. It's not like he has an amazing record
in three years, but he did beat Florida this year.
He blew out Boyse State and they were like four
(29:07):
and twenty nine at USF before he showed up. The
other thing that's that's worth noting with him is of
all the guys I mentioned, he's the only one who
worked at Oklahoma State before he was a GA for
gun Beach two thousand and eight, so he does have
a connection. Who runs the warp speed offense. He's a
good coach. And then the other guy I would put
in there is Charles Huff who's now at Southern Mish
(29:29):
one ten games last year at Marshall. I mean I
could see Virginia Tech being tempted by him because he
went to college in that state. He's from Maryland. You know,
he coached for James Franklin at Penn State. He coached
for Saban at Alabama. You know, he knows what he's doing.
So those guys are the ones I think that are
the most I would say upwardly mobile, you know, in
(29:53):
terms of like, I think maybe all of them, if not,
you know, half of them will probably end up at
bigger jobs come this winter. And then you have a
cluster of really good offensive coordinators who I think will
get long looks, certainly at the at the Oklahoma State job.
I don't know what UCLA is going to do because
UCLA is a unique kind of mess, and they, you
(30:14):
know they, I think that they have to be careful
hiring somebody who's never been a head coach after what
just happened with Deshaun Roster. He just seemed like he
was really spinning his wheels there. And you don't have
a ton of support inside the athletic program there.
Speaker 2 (30:29):
Well, free advice, if will Stein's listening, you have a
better job as the offensive coordinator at Oregon than being
the head.
Speaker 1 (30:34):
Coach at UCLA.
Speaker 2 (30:36):
So I would I would not jump with that one.
I would hold off and see what else outh until
they get stuff figured out there in Westwood. Hey, Bruce,
you're the best buddy. We kept you a little long.
We appreciate your time. Look forward to doing this again soon.
Speaker 1 (30:47):
Man. Always a pleasure. Guys, good seeing you all right, Buck.
Speaker 2 (30:52):
Great to have our buddy Bruce Feldman. If you don't
know Bruce, then you probably aren't watching a lot of
college football. But you'll see him on Fox each and
every set. Also does incredible work at the Athletic. Has
a great article up on Ryan Williams, by the way,
I just read that this morning, the receiver we were
talking about from Alabama and kind of his upbringing and
some of the adversity that he's faced. But Bruce has
(31:12):
dialed in as anybody and always always love it when
we get a chance to have him on.
Speaker 1 (31:16):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (31:17):
Look, he knows a lot about everything in the college
football landscape, and it was great to have his insights
not only on the things that are happening on the field,
but man, the coaching stuff. At such a fascinating time
when you think about college football, the jobs that are available,
but dealing with the news landscape, you know what I'm
saying the portal, the money, the boosters, revenue share, whatever.
(31:39):
Life I say now is more challenging than ever. To
be ahead of a program is more a whole lot
more involved.
Speaker 1 (31:46):
Yep.
Speaker 2 (31:47):
You better have hopefully a general manager that you can
partner with, that can that you can trust. It can
take a lot of that stuff off of your plate.
But anyways, we'll have Bruce on again, trying to get
him on about once a month. Look forward to those conversations.
Speaker 1 (31:59):
I appreciate you guys with us.
Speaker 2 (32:00):
Tomorrow we will preview some of the big NFL weekend
games we have in front of us. We'll check that
out tomorrow right here on, Move the sticks.
Hosts And Creators
Daniel Jeremiah
Bucky Brooks
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