February 11, 2025 • 13 mins
UND Football Radio Network- Color Analyst, Mike Berg joins Tim & Paul to talk about the Super Bowl, and also about spring football games starting to go away due to the current state of college athletics.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Twenty five minutes after eight o'clock. Let's link up with
the Hall of Famer the coach Mike Bird.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Morning, Mike, gentlemen, good morning.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
Good morning.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Staying warm well inside? Sure, yeah, that's a good spot
to be all your time inside? Do you have to
go outside a little bit?
Speaker 1 (00:21):
Oh? Yeah, it's some nice sun out there right now
to soak in.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
That's what I hear. And it's interesting you have to
wear your sunglasses while freezing to death.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
Yeah, there's that.
Speaker 3 (00:35):
Our side of the planet will get closer to the
sun eventually and we'll that's right, we'll be Everybody will
be complaining it's too hot out. Basically that happens too.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
I was counting. I've been in North Dakota for forty
nine winters. I think I can handle this one.
Speaker 3 (00:52):
Oh okay, well, well, coach, you saw the Super Bowl.
My comment yesterday, My takeaway is any quarterback, no matter
how good they are, you get to them early enough
in the game. It has effects. And even Patrick Mahomes
is susceptible to some of the effects. And I felt
(01:14):
that was the key to the game. I thought the
Eagles getting pressure to Mahomes affected the game and that
allowed the Eagles to do what they did. What was
your takeaway?
Speaker 2 (01:25):
Yeah, very much the same. I'm no pro football expert,
but it seems to me Mahomes operates on a rhythm
where he can get the ball, get rid of it
quick He has an ability to read the secondaries, who
would kind of coverage people are in and and lots
of people because of his athleticism, bring an extra guy
(01:46):
or even two, and so he's able to find those
lanes that are open, either with a pass or his legs.
And so Philadelphia was able to defend with seven and
rush with four and looked like the defensive ends did
a good job of keeping him in the pocket. He
wasn't able to escape, so those lanes weren't there, His
(02:08):
rhythm wasn't there. I mean, he's he's I know he
can do a lot of things, but it seems to
me he's most effective on time, rhythm, get rid of
it quickly, and then if that's not there, he uses
his legs. They took that away from.
Speaker 3 (02:20):
Him, no doubt.
Speaker 1 (02:22):
I think they were saying that. The defensive coordinator for
the Eagles said he wanted to see the number on
your back at all times, so that you're always facing
the play because he's turned away from it and he's
gone or something's going to happen.
Speaker 2 (02:40):
Right, Yeah, the perimeter players, the edge defenders that rush
when we've seen it even in the college game, it's
when they get too far upfield or get pushed out
of their rush lane. They lose that gap integrity as
we call it, and so that creates movements for the
quarterback that wasn't there. So basically, I think, if you know,
(03:04):
we're talking a lot, I think that the offensive tackles
from Kansas City got their butt to beat by some
guys that played kept their outside arm free and just
played really, really well well.
Speaker 3 (03:16):
And I also go and say, you know, when you
talk about the secondary, you know, if you're in a zone, look,
it allows your eyes to be towards the line of scrimmage.
Oftentimes we've seen it in the college game too, and
you're in a man and you're running with that wide
receiver and then all of a sudden, one of these
talented athletic quarterbacks goes running. They're already they're already on
(03:39):
their their way by you by the time.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
It turned around, following you down the field covering a
receiver and if you look behind you, the quarterback's following you.
Speaker 1 (03:47):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (03:48):
Yeah, Well, one of the things that I prefer looking
at film over watching it on TV is you can
see what coverages are in. Right, I'm assuming that Philadelphia
used a number of different coverages, but which you can't
tell on TV really, And you know, it's it's it's
not of great interest to most viewers on a game day,
(04:10):
but to somebody who kind of wonders, you know, why
are these guys not getting open or why these guys
covered so well? I just think they probably threw a
lot of different looks at him. He had to make
decisions quickly, and he couldn't make the quick, get rid
of it decision that he's used to, so all of
a sudden, you know you're down. And actually I didn't
(04:32):
think Kansas City played that poorly on defense for for
a good portion of that game. You know, they would
they stuffed the run game they were playing. Okay, they
give up some big plays, but I think Kansas City's
defensive coordinator was scratching his head like, come on, guy,
what do we got to do? You know, be nice
if you could get a few first downs and give
(04:52):
our guys a break anyway. But your defense was on
the field a lot.
Speaker 1 (04:56):
The was the defense coordinated for the Eagles? Was he
once with the Vikings?
Speaker 2 (05:05):
He's been with a lot of teams. Wasn't he new
this year? And is it Fangio? I'll get a name wrong.
I saw the guy sitting there in the press box.
I think he's been around the league, you know. And
it's not like there's any secrets out there. There's you know,
nobody's doing anything. Do you think Andy Reid hasn't seen
(05:28):
a defense like that before? Or the offensive coordinator from
Kansas City. I mean, it's not so they were getting
out played, you know. I mean it still comes down
to the guys on the field. And seemed to me
the guys in the green jerseys were out playing the
guys in the white ones. And so schemes, it's not
ever just schemes alone. Everybody has the same schemes. Everybody
(05:51):
practices that stuff. So, yeah, you don't outsmart these guys,
you know, you don't win a football game on that
level and say we outsmarted the other guys.
Speaker 3 (06:01):
Vic Fangio, by the way, for the Eagles, I'm looking
at his entire career.
Speaker 1 (06:06):
Never with the Vikings.
Speaker 3 (06:08):
Never with the Vikings.
Speaker 1 (06:10):
Yep.
Speaker 3 (06:10):
So but yeah, Vic Fangio for the Eagles the UFL.
But ready to start here in a month or two
or whatever, we'll be ready for some more football.
Speaker 1 (06:21):
I know.
Speaker 3 (06:22):
Coach Berg has said time and time again that he's
okay with not watching the uf.
Speaker 2 (06:30):
I still think spring football is in the in the
domain of the colleges. Yeah, and things have. You know,
everybody's doing their own thing now. Most have gone not most,
many have gone away from the spring game because if
your players play well in the spring game, then somebody
will come and recruit them. So you had them in
(06:51):
the spring and they're gone by the fall. Yeah, So
you have clothes practices or scrimmage situations because you don't
want to give the guy out there that are recruiting
your players any more views than they need.
Speaker 3 (07:04):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (07:05):
Yes, I never thought of it that way, but that
makes sense.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
It's oh yeah, then Nebraska, Nebraska. Every year they will
go about eighty thousand for their spring game. I think
they money maker, big deal. They're not doing one because yeah,
because last year they lost several players between the spring
game and the start of fall practice. People came and
saw them play and recruiting them right off the campus.
Speaker 3 (07:28):
Wow, that's that's yep. They canceled their spring game, so
apparently well and again not only that now and like
this is what Bill James I had him on when
Tim was gone. We talked about the revenue sharing of
the house settlements and the schools that are moving in
(07:53):
on the roster limitations. Even put to football, this will
affect There's going to be a lot of players potentially
looking for homes because there's not going to be room
on some of these roster limitations in it for these
programs that are taking part of the revenue share of
the house settlement and basically with the roster limitation sets,
(08:17):
so there could be a number of individuals after springball
that were kind of looking around for new homes.
Speaker 2 (08:26):
Basically, they're going to go in for their exit meeting
into the year exit meeting, and it's literally going to
be an exit for them, like audios. But see what
bugs me is you guys know, and I'm a high
school guy. Yeah, that trickles down. So you have to
cut twenty guys from your team, and there's all the
(08:47):
teams have to cut these players, so they're going to
go somewhere, So whose place do they take? They take
high school recruits places incoming. Now, these schools aren't bringing
in the number of high school players, so you better
be any elite high school player. So if you're not
that four or five star guy, let's say you're a
no star or whatever, what about you? So, yeah, the
(09:10):
whole thing, it's a trickle down and I you know, somebody, somebody,
I think they came up with this plan. But the
implications are are pretty far reaching.
Speaker 3 (09:21):
Yeah, I completely agree, and we've already seen that now
with you know, college basketball. You know, there's only fifteen
men's college basketball spots up until this point. Not all
fifteen were scholarship. I think there may be in this
new framework of the opt in if they decide to
share revenue with the student athletes. But you know, you
(09:43):
look at that all these teams for the most part,
are skewing older. Most don't want to bring in high
school players much anymore because you know, everybody's going to
see to grab somebody who's twenty two that has played
in a few different places that harry and high.
Speaker 2 (09:58):
School football, primarily basketball even more so, well, you have
such a small squad, and how many high school basketball
players out there that are pretty darn good. But in
the past, would I had a shot, you know, and
they would be willing to go sit for a year
or two to get on that roster. That spot's not
there for you anymore.
Speaker 3 (10:17):
That's exactly right. Yeah, it's not only just football, it's basketball,
and to a lesser degree, I think you'll see it
in hockey now with the Canadian Hockey League getting players
to stand out. Yeah, it's very interesting.
Speaker 1 (10:30):
I am.
Speaker 2 (10:31):
I'm I'm gonna make it a point to visit with
the middle school and youth sports coaches and see when
they have to start cutting eight year olds because they
don't have a place on their roster for them.
Speaker 1 (10:43):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (10:44):
Sorry, it's a trickle down thing. The high school's got cut,
so the middle school's got cut, and so yeah, sorry, sorry,
young young man eight years old, eighth birthday, wanted to
be on the big team. No place for you. Put
a hoop in your back. See how you do out there?
Speaker 3 (11:03):
Yeah, well, it is an interesting time to be alive
to kind of witness.
Speaker 1 (11:09):
This is the.
Speaker 3 (11:12):
Framework that had been NCAA Sports had worked pretty well,
by and large for a long period of time in
comparison to how long the NCAA has been around. But
now we're talking about a whole new era. Basically we've
already seen the early portions of it, but now even
(11:32):
more so here in days to come. Tim anything else
for coach Berg today?
Speaker 1 (11:36):
Nope, it's interesting conversation as always, And like you say,
the landscape is continuously changing. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (11:44):
Well, there's a recognizable name from our neighborhood who's spent
the number of years at U and D and had
a tremendous amount of success. And he and I visited
just a couple of days ago, and he said if
he had to do now, he would not be involved
in college athletics. And this is a guy who had
(12:06):
a lot of success and you know, well known name,
but no more, it's not for me. Yeah, so what
a shame because these are good people that you want
working with your young men and young women, and it's
just not going to happen.
Speaker 3 (12:20):
Yeah, it's Yeah, it is a wild, wild ride, and
for a lot of people, they're just saying, you know what,
I've han enough of it, I have this isn't the
ride that I want to be on. And these are
people that would probably make very good leadership people that
would be good for coaching young people.
Speaker 2 (12:39):
But they have, they have for years and years and forever.
Those are the names that we recognize. And it wasn't
always for just winning a lot of games. So yeah,
it's it's a changing landscape and we're watching it happen.
But I guess that's happening in all aspects of life now,
so no doubt.
Speaker 3 (12:57):
Okay, we're observing, well, coach, enjoy the opening of spring
training is people start getting into the clubhouses in their
in their spring places. So we we look forward to that. We'll, uh,
we'll pull a whole bunch of information and start talking
baseball the next go around.
Speaker 2 (13:12):
I'm sure, why not, Okay, why not?
Speaker 1 (13:16):
Indeed, thanks coach,
Twenty five minutes after eight o'clock. Let's link up with
the Hall of Famer the coach Mike Bird.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Morning, Mike, gentlemen, good morning.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
Good morning.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Staying warm well inside? Sure, yeah, that's a good spot
to be all your time inside? Do you have to
go outside a little bit?
Speaker 1 (00:21):
Oh? Yeah, it's some nice sun out there right now
to soak in.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
That's what I hear. And it's interesting you have to
wear your sunglasses while freezing to death.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
Yeah, there's that.
Speaker 3 (00:35):
Our side of the planet will get closer to the
sun eventually and we'll that's right, we'll be Everybody will
be complaining it's too hot out. Basically that happens too.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
I was counting. I've been in North Dakota for forty
nine winters. I think I can handle this one.
Speaker 3 (00:52):
Oh okay, well, well, coach, you saw the Super Bowl.
My comment yesterday, My takeaway is any quarterback, no matter
how good they are, you get to them early enough
in the game. It has effects. And even Patrick Mahomes
is susceptible to some of the effects. And I felt
(01:14):
that was the key to the game. I thought the
Eagles getting pressure to Mahomes affected the game and that
allowed the Eagles to do what they did. What was
your takeaway?
Speaker 2 (01:25):
Yeah, very much the same. I'm no pro football expert,
but it seems to me Mahomes operates on a rhythm
where he can get the ball, get rid of it
quick He has an ability to read the secondaries, who
would kind of coverage people are in and and lots
of people because of his athleticism, bring an extra guy
(01:46):
or even two, and so he's able to find those
lanes that are open, either with a pass or his legs.
And so Philadelphia was able to defend with seven and
rush with four and looked like the defensive ends did
a good job of keeping him in the pocket. He
wasn't able to escape, so those lanes weren't there, His
(02:08):
rhythm wasn't there. I mean, he's he's I know he
can do a lot of things, but it seems to
me he's most effective on time, rhythm, get rid of
it quickly, and then if that's not there, he uses
his legs. They took that away from.
Speaker 3 (02:20):
Him, no doubt.
Speaker 1 (02:22):
I think they were saying that. The defensive coordinator for
the Eagles said he wanted to see the number on
your back at all times, so that you're always facing
the play because he's turned away from it and he's
gone or something's going to happen.
Speaker 2 (02:40):
Right, Yeah, the perimeter players, the edge defenders that rush
when we've seen it even in the college game, it's
when they get too far upfield or get pushed out
of their rush lane. They lose that gap integrity as
we call it, and so that creates movements for the
quarterback that wasn't there. So basically, I think, if you know,
(03:04):
we're talking a lot, I think that the offensive tackles
from Kansas City got their butt to beat by some
guys that played kept their outside arm free and just
played really, really well well.
Speaker 3 (03:16):
And I also go and say, you know, when you
talk about the secondary, you know, if you're in a zone, look,
it allows your eyes to be towards the line of scrimmage.
Oftentimes we've seen it in the college game too, and
you're in a man and you're running with that wide
receiver and then all of a sudden, one of these
talented athletic quarterbacks goes running. They're already they're already on
(03:39):
their their way by you by the time.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
It turned around, following you down the field covering a
receiver and if you look behind you, the quarterback's following you.
Speaker 1 (03:47):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (03:48):
Yeah, Well, one of the things that I prefer looking
at film over watching it on TV is you can
see what coverages are in. Right, I'm assuming that Philadelphia
used a number of different coverages, but which you can't
tell on TV really, And you know, it's it's it's
not of great interest to most viewers on a game day,
(04:10):
but to somebody who kind of wonders, you know, why
are these guys not getting open or why these guys
covered so well? I just think they probably threw a
lot of different looks at him. He had to make
decisions quickly, and he couldn't make the quick, get rid
of it decision that he's used to, so all of
a sudden, you know you're down. And actually I didn't
(04:32):
think Kansas City played that poorly on defense for for
a good portion of that game. You know, they would
they stuffed the run game they were playing. Okay, they
give up some big plays, but I think Kansas City's
defensive coordinator was scratching his head like, come on, guy,
what do we got to do? You know, be nice
if you could get a few first downs and give
(04:52):
our guys a break anyway. But your defense was on
the field a lot.
Speaker 1 (04:56):
The was the defense coordinated for the Eagles? Was he
once with the Vikings?
Speaker 2 (05:05):
He's been with a lot of teams. Wasn't he new
this year? And is it Fangio? I'll get a name wrong.
I saw the guy sitting there in the press box.
I think he's been around the league, you know. And
it's not like there's any secrets out there. There's you know,
nobody's doing anything. Do you think Andy Reid hasn't seen
(05:28):
a defense like that before? Or the offensive coordinator from
Kansas City. I mean, it's not so they were getting
out played, you know. I mean it still comes down
to the guys on the field. And seemed to me
the guys in the green jerseys were out playing the
guys in the white ones. And so schemes, it's not
ever just schemes alone. Everybody has the same schemes. Everybody
(05:51):
practices that stuff. So, yeah, you don't outsmart these guys,
you know, you don't win a football game on that
level and say we outsmarted the other guys.
Speaker 3 (06:01):
Vic Fangio, by the way, for the Eagles, I'm looking
at his entire career.
Speaker 1 (06:06):
Never with the Vikings.
Speaker 3 (06:08):
Never with the Vikings.
Speaker 1 (06:10):
Yep.
Speaker 3 (06:10):
So but yeah, Vic Fangio for the Eagles the UFL.
But ready to start here in a month or two
or whatever, we'll be ready for some more football.
Speaker 1 (06:21):
I know.
Speaker 3 (06:22):
Coach Berg has said time and time again that he's
okay with not watching the uf.
Speaker 2 (06:30):
I still think spring football is in the in the
domain of the colleges. Yeah, and things have. You know,
everybody's doing their own thing now. Most have gone not most,
many have gone away from the spring game because if
your players play well in the spring game, then somebody
will come and recruit them. So you had them in
(06:51):
the spring and they're gone by the fall. Yeah, So
you have clothes practices or scrimmage situations because you don't
want to give the guy out there that are recruiting
your players any more views than they need.
Speaker 3 (07:04):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (07:05):
Yes, I never thought of it that way, but that
makes sense.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
It's oh yeah, then Nebraska, Nebraska. Every year they will
go about eighty thousand for their spring game. I think
they money maker, big deal. They're not doing one because yeah,
because last year they lost several players between the spring
game and the start of fall practice. People came and
saw them play and recruiting them right off the campus.
Speaker 3 (07:28):
Wow, that's that's yep. They canceled their spring game, so
apparently well and again not only that now and like
this is what Bill James I had him on when
Tim was gone. We talked about the revenue sharing of
the house settlements and the schools that are moving in
(07:53):
on the roster limitations. Even put to football, this will
affect There's going to be a lot of players potentially
looking for homes because there's not going to be room
on some of these roster limitations in it for these
programs that are taking part of the revenue share of
the house settlement and basically with the roster limitation sets,
(08:17):
so there could be a number of individuals after springball
that were kind of looking around for new homes.
Speaker 2 (08:26):
Basically, they're going to go in for their exit meeting
into the year exit meeting, and it's literally going to
be an exit for them, like audios. But see what
bugs me is you guys know, and I'm a high
school guy. Yeah, that trickles down. So you have to
cut twenty guys from your team, and there's all the
(08:47):
teams have to cut these players, so they're going to
go somewhere, So whose place do they take? They take
high school recruits places incoming. Now, these schools aren't bringing
in the number of high school players, so you better
be any elite high school player. So if you're not
that four or five star guy, let's say you're a
no star or whatever, what about you? So, yeah, the
(09:10):
whole thing, it's a trickle down and I you know, somebody, somebody,
I think they came up with this plan. But the
implications are are pretty far reaching.
Speaker 3 (09:21):
Yeah, I completely agree, and we've already seen that now
with you know, college basketball. You know, there's only fifteen
men's college basketball spots up until this point. Not all
fifteen were scholarship. I think there may be in this
new framework of the opt in if they decide to
share revenue with the student athletes. But you know, you
(09:43):
look at that all these teams for the most part,
are skewing older. Most don't want to bring in high
school players much anymore because you know, everybody's going to
see to grab somebody who's twenty two that has played
in a few different places that harry and high.
Speaker 2 (09:58):
School football, primarily basketball even more so, well, you have
such a small squad, and how many high school basketball
players out there that are pretty darn good. But in
the past, would I had a shot, you know, and
they would be willing to go sit for a year
or two to get on that roster. That spot's not
there for you anymore.
Speaker 3 (10:17):
That's exactly right. Yeah, it's not only just football, it's basketball,
and to a lesser degree, I think you'll see it
in hockey now with the Canadian Hockey League getting players
to stand out. Yeah, it's very interesting.
Speaker 1 (10:30):
I am.
Speaker 2 (10:31):
I'm I'm gonna make it a point to visit with
the middle school and youth sports coaches and see when
they have to start cutting eight year olds because they
don't have a place on their roster for them.
Speaker 1 (10:43):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (10:44):
Sorry, it's a trickle down thing. The high school's got cut,
so the middle school's got cut, and so yeah, sorry, sorry,
young young man eight years old, eighth birthday, wanted to
be on the big team. No place for you. Put
a hoop in your back. See how you do out there?
Speaker 3 (11:03):
Yeah, well, it is an interesting time to be alive
to kind of witness.
Speaker 1 (11:09):
This is the.
Speaker 3 (11:12):
Framework that had been NCAA Sports had worked pretty well,
by and large for a long period of time in
comparison to how long the NCAA has been around. But
now we're talking about a whole new era. Basically we've
already seen the early portions of it, but now even
(11:32):
more so here in days to come. Tim anything else
for coach Berg today?
Speaker 1 (11:36):
Nope, it's interesting conversation as always, And like you say,
the landscape is continuously changing. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (11:44):
Well, there's a recognizable name from our neighborhood who's spent
the number of years at U and D and had
a tremendous amount of success. And he and I visited
just a couple of days ago, and he said if
he had to do now, he would not be involved
in college athletics. And this is a guy who had
(12:06):
a lot of success and you know, well known name,
but no more, it's not for me. Yeah, so what
a shame because these are good people that you want
working with your young men and young women, and it's
just not going to happen.
Speaker 3 (12:20):
Yeah, it's Yeah, it is a wild, wild ride, and
for a lot of people, they're just saying, you know what,
I've han enough of it, I have this isn't the
ride that I want to be on. And these are
people that would probably make very good leadership people that
would be good for coaching young people.
Speaker 2 (12:39):
But they have, they have for years and years and forever.
Those are the names that we recognize. And it wasn't
always for just winning a lot of games. So yeah,
it's it's a changing landscape and we're watching it happen.
But I guess that's happening in all aspects of life now,
so no doubt.
Speaker 3 (12:57):
Okay, we're observing, well, coach, enjoy the opening of spring
training is people start getting into the clubhouses in their
in their spring places. So we we look forward to that. We'll, uh,
we'll pull a whole bunch of information and start talking
baseball the next go around.
Speaker 2 (13:12):
I'm sure, why not, Okay, why not?
Speaker 1 (13:16):
Indeed, thanks coach,
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