January 1, 2026 • 36 mins
On this edition of The Best Of Covino and Rich: Jason Fitz and Buck Reising react live as Curt Cignetti’s Hoosiers start strong vs Bama in the Rose Bowl. Drake Maye should win MVP but does he have an “MVP Moment?” All that and more!
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
Hey, thanks for listening to the best of Cabino and
Rich podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
Be sure to catch us live every day from five
to seven pm e Eastern.
Speaker 3 (00:09):
Two to four pacifics on Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Find your local station for Debino and Rich at Fox
Sports Radio dot com, or stream us live every day.
Speaker 3 (00:16):
On the iHeartRadio app by searching the FSR. It's New
Year's Day, you know that means parades and the Rose Bowl.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Because we are only moments away from Alabama taking on
Indiana and again, that will have to change the way
we talk about two different football programs and will have
to at some point change the way that we at
least perceive two of the better teams that are trying
to figure out exactly how to win a championship this year,
Buck Rising, Chason Fitz hanging out with you don't Forget.
(00:50):
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Speaker 3 (01:01):
The way tire body should be look first and foremost parades.
I'm out on parades. Parades are dumb I don't know
why everybody hangs out.
Speaker 2 (01:07):
Like I turned on the TV this morning the Rose
Bowl Parade was on, and I just I could not
have rolled my eyes any physically harder than I rolled them,
Like how many people do we need to commentate on
a parade? I don't understand this, buck, I don't understand
why we're all just going to stand there on the street.
Speaker 3 (01:22):
Like there is just a moment where you're standing.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
There and you're like, okay, the now the float has
gone by, Now what what is my interview?
Speaker 3 (01:30):
I'm out. I'm out on parades. Parades are not my thing.
Speaker 4 (01:33):
That's a that's a tough one.
Speaker 5 (01:34):
I've done the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York,
and that's you know, that's an experience and too itself,
right with the floats and the things like that, especially
if you're the I mean, it's been one hundred years
since I went. We were we were still living in
New Jersey at the time. And do you go as
a kid and you're delighted by it and you see
(01:54):
your favorite Pokemon float or you see you know, whatever
super superherok you want, and that's enough for you, right,
Like it's a delight for a certain generation, but after
a while, and maybe you get if as you're an
adult and we are you know, you and I are
people or two people that do not have children. So
(02:15):
perhaps this is lost on us in particular. But something
that for some of my friends who have kids tell
me is that the fun of having kids at things
like parades or things like Christmas is that you lose
some of your luster for that as you get up
there in age, But when you have kids, you get
to experience those things basically as a brand new event
through your kids. So maybe there's something to that, just
(02:38):
to kind of play Devil's advocate nice guy, which I
never very often.
Speaker 4 (02:41):
Get to do.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
So it's a very fair point by you, and I
think that when you have kids it changes sort of
the equation to everything. Like I chose not to have kids.
I don't want to have kids. Kids aren't something I
want my life. I have had to I love kids,
by the way, I just didn't want any of my own.
I have had to sort of reevaluate what that means
sometimes at Christmas, like Christmas is weird if you don't
because I don't have a lot of family. So since
(03:03):
I don't have any relationship with the family that I
have and I don't have kids, Like, it's just a
little weird when you wake up one day and you're like,
all right, I'm in my forties.
Speaker 3 (03:11):
I don't need you to buy me a Christmas present.
I like it. Just that feels weird to me too.
Speaker 2 (03:17):
So, like you know, I do acquiesce that having kids,
and I've told my friends before, I think that is
the one. There's a weird chapter you go through in
your life on certain holidays where you look around like
it's fine, it's great, it's a good day, but when
you don't have kids, it just gets disconnected.
Speaker 3 (03:32):
Parades I will add to that list.
Speaker 2 (03:33):
I think anything anytime you have it with a kid,
and it's like it's a magic and wonder for them.
Speaker 3 (03:38):
That's great. They weren't all kids standing at the.
Speaker 4 (03:40):
Rose Bowl parade.
Speaker 3 (03:40):
Now, that's all I'm saying.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
But now we get the Rose Bowl and we get
Alabama versus Indiana and look huge. To be very clear,
even though I have so many Alabama friends, Alabama grads,
Alabama fans, friends all over my life from the years
I spent in and around Nashville, I know how many
of you love Alabama.
Speaker 3 (04:00):
You lose today, I really do, and I don't.
Speaker 2 (04:02):
Won't you lose because I care who wins or loses.
Most of the time, I don't I have a favorite
college football team. I'm squarely rooting against Indiana because I'm
tired of benefit of the doubt going and leaving certain
teams for no good reason, like we can't look through
this matchup. And I really respected the fact that even
Nick Saban on Game Day today reference the fact that, man,
(04:23):
so many people say it's Indiana, it's Indiana. This is
not Indiana. This is the number one team in the country.
This is a team with an absolutely explosive defense that
flew around to the football at Ohio State. That really
surprised me. Yes, they've got some key injuries there, they
got to work out. They've got the Heisman Trophy winner,
They've got a couple of wide receivers.
Speaker 3 (04:42):
They are going to be drafted to play in the NFL.
This is not Indiana.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
Like, oh my god, I wanted to make college football
the video game really hard this year, so I picked
Indiana to play, and what do you know, I'm in
the championship. Like that's the way we make it sound
I need Indiana to win a title because A. I
think it opens up the the floodgates for everybody else.
It takes away the excuses for every other programs.
Speaker 3 (05:04):
That well, we can't compete.
Speaker 2 (05:05):
Indiana figured it out and see it forces us to
start talking about Indiana and Alabama not for who they've been,
but for who they are right now.
Speaker 5 (05:15):
Yeah, it's one of those things where this is the
kind of game that could force you to reimagine how
you view the construct of modern day college football, right,
I think to a different extent. And obviously they're not
participating in a college football playoff game, but they have
been a champion multiple times over as a program. Despite
just having lost to Penn State in the Mighty and
(05:38):
illustrious Pinstripe Bowl, Clemson, like Clemson, is one of the
biggest college football powers of my lifetime, of my adult lifetime,
certainly under Davo Swinning and all the success that they
were able to have, whether they were winning championships or
competing for championships and falling short because Alabama Nick Saban
(06:01):
were up against them, or Urban may On, Ohio State,
or whatever the case may be. Like Clemson in the
modern era, of college football. I think you have to
re examine how you view Clemson as a program because
they have not adapted to the times. They are no
longer equipped, or it doesn't seem that they're equipped to
compete at the highest level because they're not willing to
play the game, or at least Dabbo hasn't been willing
(06:22):
to play the game in the way that the game
is being played in or I guess the new way
that the game is being played. Right, This is the
thing that is so much fun to watch about Kurtzignetti
because I'm watching Nick Saban on television, and Nick Saban
is on television because he didn't want to He didn't
want to go through what the new college football is.
And that's fine, as is his right. He's he's done
(06:45):
what he needed to do. He is the greatest coach
in the history of the of that sport. If he
feels that he doesn't want to have to make these
certain kind of accommodations to continue to win at the
level that he's accustomed to winning at, or that he
expects to win at, as is Nick Saban's right. But
Kurtzignetti turned around and said, Hey, I'm gonna do it
with a bunch of three star dudes. I'm gonna get
(07:05):
him paid all over the place. I'm gonna go out
there and whip your ass with a talent profile.
Speaker 4 (07:09):
What is that?
Speaker 5 (07:10):
What is even Indiana's talent composite by like by by
recruiting class. I would venture a guest to say, and
there's a lot of transfer guys in there too, but
I would venture a guest to say that they are
outside of the top fifty, And I bet it's probably
further further below, like closer to closer to seventy than
(07:31):
it would be to fifty or something like that, which
is what makes this entire situation so insane. So you
can do this now, Kurtzignety is obviously a very unique
figure in the landscape of college football. I don't know
how many of those dudes are actually out there in
the way that this dude is that can can do
the kind of things for your your Vanderbilts, your Dukes.
Speaker 4 (07:53):
Your.
Speaker 5 (07:55):
I don't know what's another what's another college football program
that doesn't matter in a Power four conference? Pick whichever
one you want. Indiana is the best example in the
Big Ten, for sure. I don't know how many Kurtzignettes
there are to actually do this job the way that
he's done, and certainly not at the level that he's
done it at. I'm in Nashville, Fitz, he's in Connecticut
(08:15):
as we broadcast here with you on Fox Sports Radio,
and I had a bunch of calls FITSI on the
local show, maybe not a bunch of calls, a lot
of comments in the YouTube comments section of the local
show that we do here in Nashville, basically getting after
me a little bit because Vanderbilt had a really good season,
even though it didn't end well against Iowa yesterday, Power Iowa,
(08:37):
So Diego, Pavia has the Heisman Trophy season and Vanderbilt
has the best season in program history still by the way,
and they should be happy.
Speaker 4 (08:43):
And a ten win season for Andy is awesome.
Speaker 5 (08:45):
It's only the second time they've competed in a bowl
game in back to back seasons in I think the
program's history. But a lot of Vanderbilt fans were kind
of giving me a hard time because they're saying, well,
if you put Kurt Signetti in the SEC, he'd be
doing the exact same thing as Clark Lee would at Vanderbilt,
like you have to grade on the curve of well,
(09:05):
the SEC is just a higher level of competition, and
I will acknowledge that that is something that more often
than not, if you said it, you would be correct.
But I also just watched Clark Lee and Vanderbilt, who
didn't make the College Football Playoff and who lost to Texas,
and Alabama lose to Iowa yesterday in the damn Relyoquest Bowl. Okay,
(09:26):
Kurtzignetti has Indiana double digit win seasons back to back
for the first time in program history. God knows, they've
never been the number one overall seat in the College
Football Playoff, favored against Alabama in the Rose Bowl in
ways that are outrageous, and the guy is potentially he
has a Heisman Trophy winner at quarterback who's probably going
to be the number one overall draft pick when all
(09:47):
of a sudden done, that is such a unicorn in
the landscape of sports. I don't know how anybody could
look at this and say, yeah, my program can do that.
Speaker 4 (09:55):
All we have to do is just get the right guy.
Speaker 3 (09:57):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (09:58):
I mean, the funny thing is, it's not about getting
the money, It's not about getting the players it's about
both and it's at some level. I just looked it
up and you know, twenty four to seven. With their
their recruiting rankings, Indiana is the thirty third ranked recruiting
class going into its high coming into coming in coming
into next year, no coming in next year. So with
(10:19):
all the success that they have had, they're thirty third.
They're behind Vandy right now, which is thirty second. They
have no five star recruits. They only have seven four
star recruits, the majority of these three stars, right, And
it's it's just so it's wild because everybody says, well,
you just got to go find the next Signetti.
Speaker 3 (10:37):
I don't know that it's that easy.
Speaker 2 (10:39):
I just there is something that's a little bit lightning
in a bottle with this Indiana team, and lightning in
a bottle with signetti.
Speaker 3 (10:46):
With this Indiana team. And you know this is this
is also to me.
Speaker 2 (10:50):
One thing I've said to you pretty consistently with Clark
leeam Bandy, for example, is show it to me with
another quarterback, right, like we need to see a different
person playing quarterback.
Speaker 3 (10:58):
Indiana has done that. This is the street year.
Speaker 2 (11:00):
That they've made the college football Playoff, right, Like, so
I feel like the tide no pun intendance has turned
a little bit on the conversation of Indiana. But until
they win a game like this, I mean, Indiana beating
Alabama at the Rose Bowl would then force us to
have a much different conversation because any other year, any
(11:20):
other year.
Speaker 3 (11:21):
In college football, if we had just watched the.
Speaker 2 (11:24):
Number two team in the whole college football playoffs who
happened to be the number one team all year, if
we just watch them go down in their first playoff game,
would the narrative not be all man The life just
got a lot easier for that one seed to go
win a championship. Like guess why, y'all, life just got
a lot easier for Indiana to go win a national championship.
Speaker 3 (11:43):
Oregon won today.
Speaker 2 (11:45):
Indiana has already whooped a snot out of Oregon at Oregon,
so they ain't scared.
Speaker 3 (11:49):
Oregon any way, shape or form.
Speaker 2 (11:51):
Right, Ohio State's the toughest game they played all year,
and it came down to the wire in a big
Den championship game.
Speaker 3 (11:56):
And Ohio State's gone from this thing.
Speaker 2 (11:58):
So there is a very real clear path to Indiana
winning the college football Championship this year. I just don't
think until they get a win in a game like
they're about to play today against Alabama, it will get
the level of love that it deserves.
Speaker 6 (12:15):
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Speaker 3 (12:28):
Hey, this is Jason McIntyre.
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Speaker 3 (12:39):
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Speaker 2 (13:00):
I mean, if you really wanted to take Cavino and
Rich make it a little bit dumber but a hell
of a lot better looking, that's what we've got right now.
He's buck rising on Jason Fitz. It's a bucket fits
takeover on Fox Sports Radio. Hanging out with you Indiana
up ten to nothing over Alabama in the second quarter.
Speaker 3 (13:18):
Bama with the ball, and the.
Speaker 2 (13:20):
Entire state of Alabama is starting to feel a little
bit puckered up.
Speaker 3 (13:24):
But here's the thing. Here's the thing.
Speaker 2 (13:26):
We haven't seen a lot in this game, but here's
one common thread that we've seen throughout the course of
the college football playoff. Over the last twenty four hours,
we've had a bunch of playoff games, and it's.
Speaker 3 (13:35):
Been really easy quickly to figure out which team was
gonna win.
Speaker 2 (13:39):
All you have to do is ask yourself which defense
is flying to the ball more? Because I would argue,
at the end of the day, I wouldn't even are
I don't think anybody would argue with me. Miami's defense
flat out out played Ohio State's defense as good as
they are, and in the game earlier today, as much
as we were touting the greatness of Texas Tech, my god,
that Oregon defense was even better. Right, And so far
(14:00):
in this game, Indiana's defense has stepped up and made
the plays they need to make.
Speaker 3 (14:05):
If I'm Bama, I'm starting to get a little bit nervous.
Speaker 4 (14:07):
Book. We love it.
Speaker 5 (14:09):
We love anytime we can cause great discomfort to the
state of Alabama. Respectfully, to our Fox Sports radio affiliates
in the state of Alabama, I am actively rooting on
your downfall today as in Indiana, Alum. It makes me
very very happy to see my team up ten to nothing,
But I also remember that Oklahoma was up seventeen to
nothing on Alabama, and so I fear that in the
back of my mind at this point in time, like
(14:30):
I'm just waiting for that moment. And maybe that's just
the way that that sports fans exist. Like you don't
you don't ever feel good about it until it's over right.
Speaker 3 (14:40):
Why is that? Explain this to me.
Speaker 2 (14:42):
Why is it that when your favorite team is ahead
by ten, you're like, no lead is safe, and when
your favorite team is down by ten, you're like, well,
we can never come back from that. Like it's it's
the same point differential, it's just a total different mindset.
Speaker 5 (14:53):
Well, it's easier to do I think it's just like
it's an easier way to do the analysis that way,
rather than be.
Speaker 4 (15:00):
Rational or.
Speaker 5 (15:02):
Remove emotion from the situation, because that's you know, at
that point, you're not being a fan. I am fascinated
to see today in this particular game with this matchup.
I've been and I've talked to you about this before.
I've talked locally, I've talked nationally about it. The idea
that Indiana's talent profile is so much lower, so much
(15:24):
less than Alabama's is So at what point am I
going to see? You know, these stud wide receivers for
Alabama just turn it on and do something that Indiana's
secondary is not capable of competing with because they're just
physically less. Now, Ty Simpson has to make more throws.
(15:46):
Ty Simpson has to be protected. They have to be
able to run the ball. For Alabama to be able
to have a balanced offense, they can't just get in
these dropback situations and expect to win. I mean, I
suppose they can, because they did it for a good
chunk of the season, but lately, no, I can't go
ahead that.
Speaker 2 (16:01):
Point, though, buck is an important one, Like we're watching
Alabama right now get no balance in their offense. And
I said earlier the better defense is won every game.
I could take the flip side of that and say
the quarterback that was incapable of getting comfortable lost every game,
like Dante Moore was never really comfortable, but he handled
the game a hell of a lot better at Texas Tech.
Speaker 3 (16:22):
Right, So you know there is some moment of you know,
Carson Beck.
Speaker 2 (16:27):
One of the most surprising parts about the game that
we saw, like is how many times have.
Speaker 3 (16:30):
I said I don't really trust Carson Beck?
Speaker 2 (16:32):
Right, But man, Carson Beck flat he didn't look like
the moment was too big for him, Julian saying, did
look overwhelmed for Ohio State.
Speaker 3 (16:39):
Right.
Speaker 2 (16:39):
So to your point in this game, what I saw
in the second drive was a Fernando Mendoza that's starting
to get a little bit comfortable. What I just saw
on the response drive for Alabama was that we don't
have that same level of comfort here right now in Alabama.
So there is some I think you're onto something with
quarterbacks in this Well.
Speaker 5 (16:58):
It's it's just it's something that we've seen for Alabama,
like they've kind of been living dangerously for a while now, Right.
And at some point you have talked about this at
great length, I'm sure, not just on Yahoo, but in
every other place you're being asked college football question when
you do interviews or appearances or things like that. The
idea of Alabama they can they win. I'm not saying
(17:21):
that they're outright one dimensional, but there is one dimensional.
I mean, is there a more one dimensional offense in
the postseason right now based on what their season has
been than Alabama and their inability to run the football
and their perpetual existence in third and six plus.
Speaker 3 (17:36):
No. No, you're one thousand percent right.
Speaker 5 (17:38):
No.
Speaker 2 (17:38):
And you know that's why I thought this was an
Indiana matchup opportunity before the injury to the defensive line
from the Big Ten championship, because all you got to
do is get after the quarterback, you can beat Alabama.
Speaker 5 (17:49):
Yeah, So at that point, I just don't think that's
a successful formula.
Speaker 4 (17:54):
I mean, I know that's a not successful.
Speaker 5 (17:57):
Formula to having any kind of meaningful impact on a
game unless you just get into a situation where Oklahoma,
for example, isn't equipped to score with you and starts
to play a little more. I wouldn't say lacks on defense,
but starts to kind of ease up, ends up playing
a little bit more.
Speaker 4 (18:17):
I mean, not to.
Speaker 5 (18:20):
Cliche it too much, but the idea of bend, don't
break defense that allows you to continue to kill clock
versus being hyper aggressive and dictating matchups and sending pressure
and jamming at the line of scrimmage and all these
different things depending on game situation. I just don't think
that Oklahoma handled that moment particularly well and Alabama was
(18:41):
able to make them pay. Alabama is good enough to
still make you pay in that situation. I just don't
think Indiana's going to underestimate anybody at this point in time,
because this is the team, this is the program of
perpetual underestimation.
Speaker 2 (18:54):
Be sure to check out your brand our brand new
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Speaker 3 (19:07):
Let us know the takes that you like and the
takes that you don't.
Speaker 2 (19:09):
Checking out a brand new YouTube channel, just search Caveno
and rich FSR and subscribe. He's buck Rising. I'm Jason
fitzbucking Fits taken over for the guys. And you know
it's interesting too, because everything you're talking about is why
this gets more and more difficult.
Speaker 3 (19:25):
I know, I understand that.
Speaker 2 (19:27):
Alabama was just down seventeen nothing and I was ready
to talk my talk.
Speaker 3 (19:31):
I was ready to go out there and totally this
Alabama team.
Speaker 4 (19:34):
You've tried to kill them so many times this season.
Speaker 3 (19:36):
I have I have. Look, it's because here's here's where
I am on Alabama.
Speaker 2 (19:39):
I think Alabama's a very good football program, and statement
Alabama fans haven't realized yet that they're just a very
good football program. Like they're no longer this separate Like
I always go back to what Michael Junior told me
about Notre Dame walking off the bus. And we've heard
this before, but Mike told me first, and he said,
when you just watched the guys walk off the bus,
(20:00):
they were so huge, and the way they walked off
the bus, you just felt like, man, that's Alabama. Something
was different. And I think that's the certain little seasoning
that was left off when Saban left. So now you're
just a very good football team, and very good football
teams are fallible. I don't think as a program today
for the next five years, there's any real indication that
(20:20):
Indiana will be worse off than Alabama is. So it's
not that I'm trying to leave them for dead. It's
just that I no longer think they're special. So if
I don't think they're special, then I think they can
be beat by special teams. Not special teams and special teams,
but by a special football program. This gets interesting now
because to your point, they lose, this is a big
drive for Nanna Mendoza has the ball back. We'll see
(20:42):
what Indiana can do with it. But at some point
you don't feel like you want to drop down to
a two score deficit to Indiana, because particularly this defense
is good. This defense is going to make it a
nightmare if they lose any semblance of balance. They being Alabama,
this is going to get really tricky for them. The
defense is going to have to step up and keep
them in the game until their offense can get any
(21:04):
dang rhythm.
Speaker 5 (21:05):
Is there any sense to the idea or any would
you buy any anything to the effect of Alabama has
faced a good defense and come back from down seventeen
to nothing on a good defense in Oklahoma, and they've
had something. I mean, they did it again. Auburn is
bad this year, right, Auburn is not any kind of
(21:26):
any kind of competitive at least in terms of the
kind of teams that we're talking about, right, But they
had to come back in the Iron Bowl against Auburn
Alabama did. Is there any logic to the notion that
Alabama has been in a lot of these situations and
so just because they find themselves in these situations, that
(21:47):
they are battle tested and that they would just to
play again Devil's advocate.
Speaker 4 (21:51):
I'm actively rooting against this idea.
Speaker 5 (21:53):
I hope that Alabama that this is finally the place
where they slip up too many times, and Indiana is
the team that gets past them. I have an act
of rooting interest in this game, but I will acknowledge
that Alabama, with a good coaching staff and a lot
of talented players and a quarterback who is above average,
I wouldn't I wouldn't say that Ty Simpson is excellent,
but he's above average in the right circumstance. I just
(22:17):
I don't want to myself underestimate their ability to do this,
even though every time I watch them, I look at
them and say, yeah, But like, Alabama is the definition
of the yeah butt team to me this.
Speaker 3 (22:29):
Year, and I think all of that is fair. In
the Sabman era.
Speaker 2 (22:34):
Part of what made Alabama so hard to beat is
that everybody involved on both sidelines believed that Alabama was
going to find a way to get it done. So
it didn't matter if you were beating them or if
they were getting beat on the sidelines.
Speaker 3 (22:47):
It's like, now we're fine. We are Alabama. We're gonna
be just fine.
Speaker 2 (22:51):
I don't think this version of Alabama has that same
level of swagger, And even if they do, I don't
think that they have that same level of intimidate nation
factor to the opposite sideline, to just where their belief
carries over. I think part of where belief gets really
scary is when both sides look at it and say,
oh my god, man here, Like one of the things
about playing the Chiefs for years has been the minute
(23:13):
Matt Patrick Mahomes gets the ball with a minute and
a half, the players on the other sideline are just
like us watching it home.
Speaker 3 (23:18):
They're like, oh, son of a biscuit, there goes Mahomes.
He's got the ball back right Like, there's belief all
the way across the board.
Speaker 2 (23:25):
So I think that's where intimidation can actually that vibe
can turn into a result for these Indiana guys. I
just don't think they've been watching Alabama on film over
the course of this season and said, oh man, boy,
we can't let this team back in it like this,
You'd make the easy argument to me that Alabama is
at best their third best opponent this year. Alabama was
(23:48):
not tougher than Alabama neutral side at the Rose Bowl,
not tougher than going to Oregon, not tougher than taking
on Ohio State. I'm not even sure in their minds
it's that much tougher than going two Penn State was.
Speaker 5 (24:00):
Which, by the way, it's winning at Penn State is
something Indiana has never done as a program.
Speaker 4 (24:04):
That's the first time it's happened in history. And they
almost slipped up there right. That was the.
Speaker 5 (24:08):
Amari Cooper Mendoza comeback situation where Mendoza didn't play his
best game through an interception, put them behind and had
to dig themselves out. But to again talk about battle tested,
that was the stub your toe moment that they were
able to survive in ways that for example, Vandy at
Texas or at Tuscalosa was not able to do, or
Tennessee had some moments like that missing a field goal
(24:28):
against Georgia where they had them in a back and
forth overtime game, Like so many different moments of this
where Indiana has broken through that way, and so many
other programs, so many other teams this season have fallen short.
I think that Signetti has Indiana thinking that they're Nick
Saban's Alabama, and not just because Signetti was on that
Nick Saban Alabama staff as a wide receivers coach and assistant.
Speaker 4 (24:50):
Head coach like he is.
Speaker 5 (24:53):
He is a figure here who gives them that kind
of what's the word, and it permeates everything that they do.
And like, you know, Mendoz is a bit of a
a I don't even know how to describe him. I
was talking to an NFL executive about him today as
a matter of fact, and just the the quirkiness of
(25:16):
him that is going to be picked at a little
bit in the upcoming draft process, Like can somebody with
that kind of a personality And it's not a bad thing, right.
He's just a goober, you know, and he's clearly highly
intelligent and very serious about football. And if you're those
two things, then you have a good chance as long
as you're you know, tough enough to handle going to
bad organizations like cam Ord with the Titans or potentially
(25:38):
Mendoza with the Raiders or any of these other Browns
washout quarterbacks that we've seen over the past couple of years.
I am. I am looking at the idea of Signetti
and just how ready he has them at every turn.
They seem prepared for every scenario under the sun. And
it's because that is very rare context that a I mean,
(26:01):
what a Signetti's sixty two, he's sixty three. He's a
very Again, this is a very unicorn type of situation
have that that kind of a veteran coach only in
year two of his tenure at a power for program
that has them winning and clicking at the highest levels
because he's he has seen it and experienced it all
at a different version of that, but getting to do
(26:23):
it from the back seat and watching Nick Saban go
through it, and then taking that to where did he go?
He was at like India, some kind of Indiana directional school,
and then he went to JMU and then he's at
Indiana and people are laughing at him because, oh, what
are you going to do in Indiana?
Speaker 4 (26:35):
What do you mean?
Speaker 5 (26:36):
Ohio State and Michigan suck to not just Purdue. When
he's getting people gassed up at a basketball game, like
who is this guy? You know that's what I said.
I was like, Hell, is this guy the Google me guy?
Right turns out Google results when you google card SIGNETI
pretty good.
Speaker 2 (26:50):
Now Google Me and the Googer quarterback together are ahead
ten to nothing right now, Google Alabama Buddy Cup.
Speaker 6 (27:00):
Fox Sports Radio had the best sports talk lineup in
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Speaker 2 (27:08):
Just when Alabama looked like they had him, they don't
have them anymore. Indiana converts for a big first down buck.
We were talking earlier about Lamar is gonna play and
what it means for the Ravens and the Steelers moving forward.
But there is one reason why I look at this year,
particularly with the Ravens, and I just I hate one
thing about the result that we're likely to see. I
(27:30):
think we can both agree that right now it would
be a surprise if the Ravens won the Super Bowl. Unfortunately,
we talk so much about Super Bowls and championships and legacies.
All I keep thinking about with Lamar coming back in
is the opportunity lost because there's no Chiefs in the playoffs.
This year, everything went to hell in a handbasket. For
Kansas City, which is fine, that's fine, right, But so
(27:51):
much of my conversation about when we talk about championships
has been, hey, you have to acknowledge who else is
in the league at the time. So, yeah, Josh Allen
doesn't have a championship, Lamar j doesn't have a championship.
Speaker 3 (28:01):
Okay, well, of course they don't.
Speaker 2 (28:02):
They're taking on the best head coach, with the best
quarterback of his generation, with the best defensive coordinator right now,
like all of these things that wants on a Chiefs
team that just keeps winning Super Bowl after super Bowl,
they're hogging all the championships. They're hogging all the Super
Bowl appearance. It's one thing that really stands out to me,
though about opportunity lost for the Ravens if they're not
able to get into the playoffs, if they're not able
(28:23):
to go on a run. Is this was one of
those years where the window is open. I mean for
the Joshs and Lamars that simply don't get a lot
of shots at championships because of the Mahomes.
Speaker 3 (28:32):
You got to take.
Speaker 2 (28:33):
Advantage of the window when it's even cracked open. It's
wild to me to think that, right, now Vegas thinks
there's a better chance that Drake May is going to
go home with the Super Bowl ring than any of
these quarterbacks that we constantly talk about as MVPs that
need these sort of moments, because that will avenge in
twenty years. It'll be part of the context of how
we look at this era of quarterback.
Speaker 5 (28:53):
Man, Well, can I can I pivot the conversation real quick,
just based off the Drake May thing, Not that I'm
not interested and what you just asked me, but I
wonder what you make of the Drake May Matt Stafford thing,
because Matt Stafford played that game on what was that
Monday night Football against the Falcons and the Ram loss.
Speaker 4 (29:12):
Rams lost. He threw three interceptions.
Speaker 5 (29:14):
You and I have talked about this at some point,
I'm sure in the Overnight show that we did the
other night for Jason Smith and Mike Carmon. But is
there a scenario in which Drake May is just has
Drake May really earned MVP consideration, like truly and honestly
(29:34):
earned MVP consideration, Because I saw last year Lamar Jackson
earn real MVP consideration and still lose it. Anyway, the
best season of Lamar Jackson's career and he lost the
MVP after having two MVP awards where he had played
football at a lesser level. Drake May is fine. Drake
(29:54):
May has been. I mean he was dominate against the
Jets in the last time that we saw him. So
I'm not and listen, like, you go out there and
you beat whoever's asked you want to you that's across
from you, and and that's all you can do at
that point in time. I'm not down on Drake May
by any stretch of the imagination. I just think it's
so bizarre that, like one sample size of Matt Stafford
throwing three interceptions late in the season, when the Rams
(30:16):
are still probably the best team in football top to bottom,
would just completely crater Matt's I mean not completely crater,
but like completely put him so far behind Drake May, who,
as you mentioned earlier in the show, has a record
the same record as Jackson Dart against teams with a
winning record so far this season, and the Patriots have
i think the easiest schedule in the NFL.
Speaker 2 (30:37):
If I'm not mistaken, here's I'm going to oversimplify my
answer to your question, because fun I get answered, I
get asked all the time, you know about hall of
Fame status for guys? Is this guy a hall of famer?
It's a it's a common barbershop conversation. My answer to
that is really almost never about stats, because stats from
every error are so difficult to digest.
Speaker 4 (30:59):
Right.
Speaker 2 (31:00):
My answer to that question, more often than not is
when the schedule comes out and you're a fan of
a team and you look at the schedule for years,
if you open up the schedule and you're like, man,
what was the thing you said, God, we gotta take
on Brady, God, we gotta take on Peyton. Part of
the reason that I've never really felt like for me,
Eli isn't really what I think of as a Hall
of Famer, even though he has some big accomplishments in
(31:22):
his career, is I don't remember everybody, at anybody ever
starting the year saying, oh damn, man, we gotta take
on Eli this year. God, I don't know how we're
gonna beat Like I grew up saying Oh my god,
I don't know how you're gonna beat l Way Right now.
I constantly look around and say, oh, mahomes, how am
I gonna beat mahomes like, and frankly, I just don't
(31:43):
think that that is the mind. Most of us are
not looking at this playoff run that's about to happen
and saying.
Speaker 3 (31:48):
Oh my god, how are you gonna take down Drake? Like,
how is that gonna be possible?
Speaker 2 (31:53):
I think part of the reason that more fans and
more just people that watch are scared of Josh Allen, Like,
and the Bills have not had a better year than
the New England Patriots, and they both played soft schedules.
That's fine, but I've seen moment after moment after moment
where it's like the Bills just rolled the ball out
and said, Josh Allen, go do something, and then he's
forced to be Superman and do fifty two things that
(32:15):
you just can't even figure out how to stop. And
then all of a sudden you end up in this
situation where you're like, oh, that's Josh Allen for you.
Drake May's had some nice plays. I just don't Drake
May doesn't sit there. I don't sit up all week
saying oh my god, we have to play Drake.
Speaker 3 (32:29):
May this week, Like that's some my mindset around it.
Speaker 4 (32:31):
I just want to see him really tested.
Speaker 5 (32:33):
Like I guess, I guess it's one of those things
where maybe he's capable of that because he's obviously a
plus athlete, and he's got a great harm and he's
elevating the team around him, and Josh McDaniels has obviously
done a great deal of good for him. As Indiana
breaks a long one touchdown, John Dead buried gone backup quarterback,
starting quarterback, all of you take your bomb asses back
(32:56):
to Alabama. Oh that feels so good. That was outstanding.
It is now thirty to three, pending the extra point
with fourteen twenty one to play in the fourth quarter
of the Rose Bowl.
Speaker 4 (33:09):
I'm sorry. Back to your regulation pro.
Speaker 2 (33:11):
That is, you were asking for Drake May to be tested,
and then we watched Alabama get buried. I think that
there's like both are fair, so would I guess for me,
there's just no no one moment that. If I was
making a storyboard of the Patriots season and somebody turned
around and said, ooh, put all the MVP Drake May
(33:33):
moments up there, I don't know.
Speaker 3 (33:36):
I struggle to find some of them.
Speaker 4 (33:38):
Mmmm, Drake May's MVP moment.
Speaker 3 (33:43):
I mean, we always talk about the Heisman moment, right,
like what is now?
Speaker 5 (33:46):
We don't really do MVP that way, although Stafford just
had a moment that cost him apparently the MVP.
Speaker 2 (33:52):
Yeah, if one bad game can take you out of it,
then give me the great game with everything on the
line where it was just oh my god, gotta have
it where Drake May And the answer to this is
probably the Bills game.
Speaker 5 (34:02):
And yeah at Buffalo, I mean just just top to
bottom at Buffalo.
Speaker 2 (34:06):
And all of this sounds like I'm a Drake May hater,
Like I'm not a Drake May Hayter. I think Drake
May is developing into one of the great young quarterbacks
in the NFL.
Speaker 3 (34:14):
I think that's really fair to say.
Speaker 2 (34:16):
I also think, just like you and I've talked about people,
how when we get into these playoffs, it's all gonna
be about what Josh Allen hasn't accomplished in the playoffs
with the Bills haven't done in the playoffs. When Lamar
gets on the field, it's gonna be, ah my god,
if the Ravens make the playoffs, oh my god, Lamar's
got to show something because you know, we haven't seen
Lamar do in the playoffs. What the hell have we
(34:36):
seen from Drake Maya, What in the hell have we
seen from Drake may in the playoffs to give any
indication if we're gonna sit here and chied everybody else
for their playoff results. I just want that to keep
that same energy for Drake.
Speaker 3 (34:47):
That's all I'm saying.
Speaker 5 (34:48):
I think it's fair, and I listen, I'm not The
Patriots have been in the news this week for reasons
that are beyond Drake may and MVP voting and things
like that, But I I don't want to discount what
the Patriots are doing, what what that staff, and what
that roster have contributed to do for an organization that hasn't,
you know, hasn't had a lack of success by any
(35:09):
stretch of the imagination, though they've been on harder times
by their own standards here lately, it is deeply impressive.
I don't care what your caliber of competition is. What
what did their streak end at before they lost to
the Bills ten in a row?
Speaker 4 (35:19):
They won ten straight games in the NFL.
Speaker 5 (35:21):
Yeah, that's that's difficult no matter who you're playing at
the professional level. So it is if you wanted to
say honestly, Fitzy, I might argue that, if you wanted
to argue Drake May's MVP moment, it's ten consecutive wins
as an NFL starting quarterback for a team that won
what three games last year?
Speaker 4 (35:37):
Did the Patriots.
Speaker 2 (35:38):
Yeah, but it's also a team that Vegas thought was
going to win ten. Like the Vegas over under total
coming into the season was double digits.
Speaker 3 (35:44):
So like, ye, crazy, I looked at that.
Speaker 4 (35:47):
That was insane. But I mean, Vegas clearly smarter than us.
Speaker 2 (35:50):
Vegas laked crown and said, oh, this schedule is really bad.
They're gonna win a bunch of games. I mean, so
they are who they thought we thought they were. Like,
I don't know, I'm torn on all of this because
so often the head coach of the year, the MVP.
It all comes from the story that we didn't expect,
and like, I get it, and I get that we're
always in love with shiny new toys. I just at
(36:11):
times think that we could simplify all of it and
just look for you know, I don't know who's the
player that if you tell the story of this season,
who's the player that had the most moments that you
just absolutely have to have to tell that story.
Hey, thanks for listening to the best of Cabino and
Rich podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
Be sure to catch us live every day from five
to seven pm e Eastern.
Speaker 3 (00:09):
Two to four pacifics on Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Find your local station for Debino and Rich at Fox
Sports Radio dot com, or stream us live every day.
Speaker 3 (00:16):
On the iHeartRadio app by searching the FSR. It's New
Year's Day, you know that means parades and the Rose Bowl.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Because we are only moments away from Alabama taking on
Indiana and again, that will have to change the way
we talk about two different football programs and will have
to at some point change the way that we at
least perceive two of the better teams that are trying
to figure out exactly how to win a championship this year,
Buck Rising, Chason Fitz hanging out with you don't Forget.
(00:50):
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Speaker 3 (01:01):
The way tire body should be look first and foremost parades.
I'm out on parades. Parades are dumb I don't know
why everybody hangs out.
Speaker 2 (01:07):
Like I turned on the TV this morning the Rose
Bowl Parade was on, and I just I could not
have rolled my eyes any physically harder than I rolled them,
Like how many people do we need to commentate on
a parade? I don't understand this, buck, I don't understand
why we're all just going to stand there on the street.
Speaker 3 (01:22):
Like there is just a moment where you're standing.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
There and you're like, okay, the now the float has
gone by, Now what what is my interview?
Speaker 3 (01:30):
I'm out. I'm out on parades. Parades are not my thing.
Speaker 4 (01:33):
That's a that's a tough one.
Speaker 5 (01:34):
I've done the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York,
and that's you know, that's an experience and too itself,
right with the floats and the things like that, especially
if you're the I mean, it's been one hundred years
since I went. We were we were still living in
New Jersey at the time. And do you go as
a kid and you're delighted by it and you see
(01:54):
your favorite Pokemon float or you see you know, whatever
super superherok you want, and that's enough for you, right,
Like it's a delight for a certain generation, but after
a while, and maybe you get if as you're an
adult and we are you know, you and I are
people or two people that do not have children. So
(02:15):
perhaps this is lost on us in particular. But something
that for some of my friends who have kids tell
me is that the fun of having kids at things
like parades or things like Christmas is that you lose
some of your luster for that as you get up
there in age, But when you have kids, you get
to experience those things basically as a brand new event
through your kids. So maybe there's something to that, just
(02:38):
to kind of play Devil's advocate nice guy, which I
never very often.
Speaker 4 (02:41):
Get to do.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
So it's a very fair point by you, and I
think that when you have kids it changes sort of
the equation to everything. Like I chose not to have kids.
I don't want to have kids. Kids aren't something I
want my life. I have had to I love kids,
by the way, I just didn't want any of my own.
I have had to sort of reevaluate what that means
sometimes at Christmas, like Christmas is weird if you don't
because I don't have a lot of family. So since
(03:03):
I don't have any relationship with the family that I
have and I don't have kids, Like, it's just a
little weird when you wake up one day and you're like,
all right, I'm in my forties.
Speaker 3 (03:11):
I don't need you to buy me a Christmas present.
I like it. Just that feels weird to me too.
Speaker 2 (03:17):
So, like you know, I do acquiesce that having kids,
and I've told my friends before, I think that is
the one. There's a weird chapter you go through in
your life on certain holidays where you look around like
it's fine, it's great, it's a good day, but when
you don't have kids, it just gets disconnected.
Speaker 3 (03:32):
Parades I will add to that list.
Speaker 2 (03:33):
I think anything anytime you have it with a kid,
and it's like it's a magic and wonder for them.
Speaker 3 (03:38):
That's great. They weren't all kids standing at the.
Speaker 4 (03:40):
Rose Bowl parade.
Speaker 3 (03:40):
Now, that's all I'm saying.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
But now we get the Rose Bowl and we get
Alabama versus Indiana and look huge. To be very clear,
even though I have so many Alabama friends, Alabama grads,
Alabama fans, friends all over my life from the years
I spent in and around Nashville, I know how many
of you love Alabama.
Speaker 3 (04:00):
You lose today, I really do, and I don't.
Speaker 2 (04:02):
Won't you lose because I care who wins or loses.
Most of the time, I don't I have a favorite
college football team. I'm squarely rooting against Indiana because I'm
tired of benefit of the doubt going and leaving certain
teams for no good reason, like we can't look through
this matchup. And I really respected the fact that even
Nick Saban on Game Day today reference the fact that, man,
(04:23):
so many people say it's Indiana, it's Indiana. This is
not Indiana. This is the number one team in the country.
This is a team with an absolutely explosive defense that
flew around to the football at Ohio State. That really
surprised me. Yes, they've got some key injuries there, they
got to work out. They've got the Heisman Trophy winner,
They've got a couple of wide receivers.
Speaker 3 (04:42):
They are going to be drafted to play in the NFL.
This is not Indiana.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
Like, oh my god, I wanted to make college football
the video game really hard this year, so I picked
Indiana to play, and what do you know, I'm in
the championship. Like that's the way we make it sound
I need Indiana to win a title because A. I
think it opens up the the floodgates for everybody else.
It takes away the excuses for every other programs.
Speaker 3 (05:04):
That well, we can't compete.
Speaker 2 (05:05):
Indiana figured it out and see it forces us to
start talking about Indiana and Alabama not for who they've been,
but for who they are right now.
Speaker 5 (05:15):
Yeah, it's one of those things where this is the
kind of game that could force you to reimagine how
you view the construct of modern day college football, right,
I think to a different extent. And obviously they're not
participating in a college football playoff game, but they have
been a champion multiple times over as a program. Despite
just having lost to Penn State in the Mighty and
(05:38):
illustrious Pinstripe Bowl, Clemson, like Clemson, is one of the
biggest college football powers of my lifetime, of my adult lifetime,
certainly under Davo Swinning and all the success that they
were able to have, whether they were winning championships or
competing for championships and falling short because Alabama Nick Saban
(06:01):
were up against them, or Urban may On, Ohio State,
or whatever the case may be. Like Clemson in the
modern era, of college football. I think you have to
re examine how you view Clemson as a program because
they have not adapted to the times. They are no
longer equipped, or it doesn't seem that they're equipped to
compete at the highest level because they're not willing to
play the game, or at least Dabbo hasn't been willing
(06:22):
to play the game in the way that the game
is being played in or I guess the new way
that the game is being played. Right, This is the
thing that is so much fun to watch about Kurtzignetti
because I'm watching Nick Saban on television, and Nick Saban
is on television because he didn't want to He didn't
want to go through what the new college football is.
And that's fine, as is his right. He's he's done
(06:45):
what he needed to do. He is the greatest coach
in the history of the of that sport. If he
feels that he doesn't want to have to make these
certain kind of accommodations to continue to win at the
level that he's accustomed to winning at, or that he
expects to win at, as is Nick Saban's right. But
Kurtzignetti turned around and said, Hey, I'm gonna do it
with a bunch of three star dudes. I'm gonna get
(07:05):
him paid all over the place. I'm gonna go out
there and whip your ass with a talent profile.
Speaker 4 (07:09):
What is that?
Speaker 5 (07:10):
What is even Indiana's talent composite by like by by
recruiting class. I would venture a guest to say, and
there's a lot of transfer guys in there too, but
I would venture a guest to say that they are
outside of the top fifty, And I bet it's probably
further further below, like closer to closer to seventy than
(07:31):
it would be to fifty or something like that, which
is what makes this entire situation so insane. So you
can do this now, Kurtzignety is obviously a very unique
figure in the landscape of college football. I don't know
how many of those dudes are actually out there in
the way that this dude is that can can do
the kind of things for your your Vanderbilts, your Dukes.
Speaker 4 (07:53):
Your.
Speaker 5 (07:55):
I don't know what's another what's another college football program
that doesn't matter in a Power four conference? Pick whichever
one you want. Indiana is the best example in the
Big Ten, for sure. I don't know how many Kurtzignettes
there are to actually do this job the way that
he's done, and certainly not at the level that he's
done it at. I'm in Nashville, Fitz, he's in Connecticut
(08:15):
as we broadcast here with you on Fox Sports Radio,
and I had a bunch of calls FITSI on the
local show, maybe not a bunch of calls, a lot
of comments in the YouTube comments section of the local
show that we do here in Nashville, basically getting after
me a little bit because Vanderbilt had a really good season,
even though it didn't end well against Iowa yesterday, Power Iowa,
(08:37):
So Diego, Pavia has the Heisman Trophy season and Vanderbilt
has the best season in program history still by the way,
and they should be happy.
Speaker 4 (08:43):
And a ten win season for Andy is awesome.
Speaker 5 (08:45):
It's only the second time they've competed in a bowl
game in back to back seasons in I think the
program's history. But a lot of Vanderbilt fans were kind
of giving me a hard time because they're saying, well,
if you put Kurt Signetti in the SEC, he'd be
doing the exact same thing as Clark Lee would at Vanderbilt,
like you have to grade on the curve of well,
(09:05):
the SEC is just a higher level of competition, and
I will acknowledge that that is something that more often
than not, if you said it, you would be correct.
But I also just watched Clark Lee and Vanderbilt, who
didn't make the College Football Playoff and who lost to Texas,
and Alabama lose to Iowa yesterday in the damn Relyoquest Bowl. Okay,
(09:26):
Kurtzignetti has Indiana double digit win seasons back to back
for the first time in program history. God knows, they've
never been the number one overall seat in the College
Football Playoff, favored against Alabama in the Rose Bowl in
ways that are outrageous, and the guy is potentially he
has a Heisman Trophy winner at quarterback who's probably going
to be the number one overall draft pick when all
(09:47):
of a sudden done, that is such a unicorn in
the landscape of sports. I don't know how anybody could
look at this and say, yeah, my program can do that.
Speaker 4 (09:55):
All we have to do is just get the right guy.
Speaker 3 (09:57):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (09:58):
I mean, the funny thing is, it's not about getting
the money, It's not about getting the players it's about
both and it's at some level. I just looked it
up and you know, twenty four to seven. With their
their recruiting rankings, Indiana is the thirty third ranked recruiting
class going into its high coming into coming in coming
into next year, no coming in next year. So with
(10:19):
all the success that they have had, they're thirty third.
They're behind Vandy right now, which is thirty second. They
have no five star recruits. They only have seven four
star recruits, the majority of these three stars, right, And
it's it's just so it's wild because everybody says, well,
you just got to go find the next Signetti.
Speaker 3 (10:37):
I don't know that it's that easy.
Speaker 2 (10:39):
I just there is something that's a little bit lightning
in a bottle with this Indiana team, and lightning in
a bottle with signetti.
Speaker 3 (10:46):
With this Indiana team. And you know this is this
is also to me.
Speaker 2 (10:50):
One thing I've said to you pretty consistently with Clark
leeam Bandy, for example, is show it to me with
another quarterback, right, like we need to see a different
person playing quarterback.
Speaker 3 (10:58):
Indiana has done that. This is the street year.
Speaker 2 (11:00):
That they've made the college football Playoff, right, Like, so
I feel like the tide no pun intendance has turned
a little bit on the conversation of Indiana. But until
they win a game like this, I mean, Indiana beating
Alabama at the Rose Bowl would then force us to
have a much different conversation because any other year, any
(11:20):
other year.
Speaker 3 (11:21):
In college football, if we had just watched the.
Speaker 2 (11:24):
Number two team in the whole college football playoffs who
happened to be the number one team all year, if
we just watch them go down in their first playoff game,
would the narrative not be all man The life just
got a lot easier for that one seed to go
win a championship. Like guess why, y'all, life just got
a lot easier for Indiana to go win a national championship.
Speaker 3 (11:43):
Oregon won today.
Speaker 2 (11:45):
Indiana has already whooped a snot out of Oregon at Oregon,
so they ain't scared.
Speaker 3 (11:49):
Oregon any way, shape or form.
Speaker 2 (11:51):
Right, Ohio State's the toughest game they played all year,
and it came down to the wire in a big
Den championship game.
Speaker 3 (11:56):
And Ohio State's gone from this thing.
Speaker 2 (11:58):
So there is a very real clear path to Indiana
winning the college football Championship this year. I just don't
think until they get a win in a game like
they're about to play today against Alabama, it will get
the level of love that it deserves.
Speaker 6 (12:15):
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listen live.
Speaker 3 (12:28):
Hey, this is Jason McIntyre.
Speaker 1 (12:29):
Join me every weekday morning on my podcast, Straight Fire
with Jason McIntyre. This isn't your typical sports pod pushing
the same tired narratives down your.
Speaker 3 (12:39):
Throat every day.
Speaker 1 (12:40):
Straight Fire gives you honest opinions on all the biggest
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the sportsbook, and all the best guests. Do yourself a
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Speaker 2 (13:00):
I mean, if you really wanted to take Cavino and
Rich make it a little bit dumber but a hell
of a lot better looking, that's what we've got right now.
He's buck rising on Jason Fitz. It's a bucket fits
takeover on Fox Sports Radio. Hanging out with you Indiana
up ten to nothing over Alabama in the second quarter.
Speaker 3 (13:18):
Bama with the ball, and the.
Speaker 2 (13:20):
Entire state of Alabama is starting to feel a little
bit puckered up.
Speaker 3 (13:24):
But here's the thing. Here's the thing.
Speaker 2 (13:26):
We haven't seen a lot in this game, but here's
one common thread that we've seen throughout the course of
the college football playoff. Over the last twenty four hours,
we've had a bunch of playoff games, and it's.
Speaker 3 (13:35):
Been really easy quickly to figure out which team was
gonna win.
Speaker 2 (13:39):
All you have to do is ask yourself which defense
is flying to the ball more? Because I would argue,
at the end of the day, I wouldn't even are
I don't think anybody would argue with me. Miami's defense
flat out out played Ohio State's defense as good as
they are, and in the game earlier today, as much
as we were touting the greatness of Texas Tech, my god,
that Oregon defense was even better. Right, And so far
(14:00):
in this game, Indiana's defense has stepped up and made
the plays they need to make.
Speaker 3 (14:05):
If I'm Bama, I'm starting to get a little bit nervous.
Speaker 4 (14:07):
Book. We love it.
Speaker 5 (14:09):
We love anytime we can cause great discomfort to the
state of Alabama. Respectfully, to our Fox Sports radio affiliates
in the state of Alabama, I am actively rooting on
your downfall today as in Indiana, Alum. It makes me
very very happy to see my team up ten to nothing,
But I also remember that Oklahoma was up seventeen to
nothing on Alabama, and so I fear that in the
back of my mind at this point in time, like
(14:30):
I'm just waiting for that moment. And maybe that's just
the way that that sports fans exist. Like you don't
you don't ever feel good about it until it's over right.
Speaker 3 (14:40):
Why is that? Explain this to me.
Speaker 2 (14:42):
Why is it that when your favorite team is ahead
by ten, you're like, no lead is safe, and when
your favorite team is down by ten, you're like, well,
we can never come back from that. Like it's it's
the same point differential, it's just a total different mindset.
Speaker 5 (14:53):
Well, it's easier to do I think it's just like
it's an easier way to do the analysis that way,
rather than be.
Speaker 4 (15:00):
Rational or.
Speaker 5 (15:02):
Remove emotion from the situation, because that's you know, at
that point, you're not being a fan. I am fascinated
to see today in this particular game with this matchup.
I've been and I've talked to you about this before.
I've talked locally, I've talked nationally about it. The idea
that Indiana's talent profile is so much lower, so much
(15:24):
less than Alabama's is So at what point am I
going to see? You know, these stud wide receivers for
Alabama just turn it on and do something that Indiana's
secondary is not capable of competing with because they're just
physically less. Now, Ty Simpson has to make more throws.
(15:46):
Ty Simpson has to be protected. They have to be
able to run the ball. For Alabama to be able
to have a balanced offense, they can't just get in
these dropback situations and expect to win. I mean, I
suppose they can, because they did it for a good
chunk of the season, but lately, no, I can't go
ahead that.
Speaker 2 (16:01):
Point, though, buck is an important one, Like we're watching
Alabama right now get no balance in their offense. And
I said earlier the better defense is won every game.
I could take the flip side of that and say
the quarterback that was incapable of getting comfortable lost every game,
like Dante Moore was never really comfortable, but he handled
the game a hell of a lot better at Texas Tech.
Speaker 3 (16:22):
Right, So you know there is some moment of you know,
Carson Beck.
Speaker 2 (16:27):
One of the most surprising parts about the game that
we saw, like is how many times have.
Speaker 3 (16:30):
I said I don't really trust Carson Beck?
Speaker 2 (16:32):
Right, But man, Carson Beck flat he didn't look like
the moment was too big for him, Julian saying, did
look overwhelmed for Ohio State.
Speaker 3 (16:39):
Right.
Speaker 2 (16:39):
So to your point in this game, what I saw
in the second drive was a Fernando Mendoza that's starting
to get a little bit comfortable. What I just saw
on the response drive for Alabama was that we don't
have that same level of comfort here right now in Alabama.
So there is some I think you're onto something with
quarterbacks in this Well.
Speaker 5 (16:58):
It's it's just it's something that we've seen for Alabama,
like they've kind of been living dangerously for a while now, Right.
And at some point you have talked about this at
great length, I'm sure, not just on Yahoo, but in
every other place you're being asked college football question when
you do interviews or appearances or things like that. The
idea of Alabama they can they win. I'm not saying
(17:21):
that they're outright one dimensional, but there is one dimensional.
I mean, is there a more one dimensional offense in
the postseason right now based on what their season has
been than Alabama and their inability to run the football
and their perpetual existence in third and six plus.
Speaker 3 (17:36):
No. No, you're one thousand percent right.
Speaker 5 (17:38):
No.
Speaker 2 (17:38):
And you know that's why I thought this was an
Indiana matchup opportunity before the injury to the defensive line
from the Big Ten championship, because all you got to
do is get after the quarterback, you can beat Alabama.
Speaker 5 (17:49):
Yeah, So at that point, I just don't think that's
a successful formula.
Speaker 4 (17:54):
I mean, I know that's a not successful.
Speaker 5 (17:57):
Formula to having any kind of meaningful impact on a
game unless you just get into a situation where Oklahoma,
for example, isn't equipped to score with you and starts
to play a little more. I wouldn't say lacks on defense,
but starts to kind of ease up, ends up playing
a little bit more.
Speaker 4 (18:17):
I mean, not to.
Speaker 5 (18:20):
Cliche it too much, but the idea of bend, don't
break defense that allows you to continue to kill clock
versus being hyper aggressive and dictating matchups and sending pressure
and jamming at the line of scrimmage and all these
different things depending on game situation. I just don't think
that Oklahoma handled that moment particularly well and Alabama was
(18:41):
able to make them pay. Alabama is good enough to
still make you pay in that situation. I just don't
think Indiana's going to underestimate anybody at this point in time,
because this is the team, this is the program of
perpetual underestimation.
Speaker 2 (18:54):
Be sure to check out your brand our brand new
YouTube channel. Just search Caveno in rich fs are on
YouTube beginning Caveno and rich FSR. Then hit the subscribe button.
Don't stop there. Hit that thumbs up icon common away.
Speaker 3 (19:07):
Let us know the takes that you like and the
takes that you don't.
Speaker 2 (19:09):
Checking out a brand new YouTube channel, just search Caveno
and rich FSR and subscribe. He's buck Rising. I'm Jason
fitzbucking Fits taken over for the guys. And you know
it's interesting too, because everything you're talking about is why
this gets more and more difficult.
Speaker 3 (19:25):
I know, I understand that.
Speaker 2 (19:27):
Alabama was just down seventeen nothing and I was ready
to talk my talk.
Speaker 3 (19:31):
I was ready to go out there and totally this
Alabama team.
Speaker 4 (19:34):
You've tried to kill them so many times this season.
Speaker 3 (19:36):
I have I have. Look, it's because here's here's where
I am on Alabama.
Speaker 2 (19:39):
I think Alabama's a very good football program, and statement
Alabama fans haven't realized yet that they're just a very
good football program. Like they're no longer this separate Like
I always go back to what Michael Junior told me
about Notre Dame walking off the bus. And we've heard
this before, but Mike told me first, and he said,
when you just watched the guys walk off the bus,
(20:00):
they were so huge, and the way they walked off
the bus, you just felt like, man, that's Alabama. Something
was different. And I think that's the certain little seasoning
that was left off when Saban left. So now you're
just a very good football team, and very good football
teams are fallible. I don't think as a program today
for the next five years, there's any real indication that
(20:20):
Indiana will be worse off than Alabama is. So it's
not that I'm trying to leave them for dead. It's
just that I no longer think they're special. So if
I don't think they're special, then I think they can
be beat by special teams. Not special teams and special teams,
but by a special football program. This gets interesting now
because to your point, they lose, this is a big
drive for Nanna Mendoza has the ball back. We'll see
(20:42):
what Indiana can do with it. But at some point
you don't feel like you want to drop down to
a two score deficit to Indiana, because particularly this defense
is good. This defense is going to make it a
nightmare if they lose any semblance of balance. They being Alabama,
this is going to get really tricky for them. The
defense is going to have to step up and keep
them in the game until their offense can get any
(21:04):
dang rhythm.
Speaker 5 (21:05):
Is there any sense to the idea or any would
you buy any anything to the effect of Alabama has
faced a good defense and come back from down seventeen
to nothing on a good defense in Oklahoma, and they've
had something. I mean, they did it again. Auburn is
bad this year, right, Auburn is not any kind of
(21:26):
any kind of competitive at least in terms of the
kind of teams that we're talking about, right, But they
had to come back in the Iron Bowl against Auburn
Alabama did. Is there any logic to the notion that
Alabama has been in a lot of these situations and
so just because they find themselves in these situations, that
(21:47):
they are battle tested and that they would just to
play again Devil's advocate.
Speaker 4 (21:51):
I'm actively rooting against this idea.
Speaker 5 (21:53):
I hope that Alabama that this is finally the place
where they slip up too many times, and Indiana is
the team that gets past them. I have an act
of rooting interest in this game, but I will acknowledge
that Alabama, with a good coaching staff and a lot
of talented players and a quarterback who is above average,
I wouldn't I wouldn't say that Ty Simpson is excellent,
but he's above average in the right circumstance. I just
(22:17):
I don't want to myself underestimate their ability to do this,
even though every time I watch them, I look at
them and say, yeah, But like, Alabama is the definition
of the yeah butt team to me this.
Speaker 3 (22:29):
Year, and I think all of that is fair. In
the Sabman era.
Speaker 2 (22:34):
Part of what made Alabama so hard to beat is
that everybody involved on both sidelines believed that Alabama was
going to find a way to get it done. So
it didn't matter if you were beating them or if
they were getting beat on the sidelines.
Speaker 3 (22:47):
It's like, now we're fine. We are Alabama. We're gonna
be just fine.
Speaker 2 (22:51):
I don't think this version of Alabama has that same
level of swagger, And even if they do, I don't
think that they have that same level of intimidate nation
factor to the opposite sideline, to just where their belief
carries over. I think part of where belief gets really
scary is when both sides look at it and say,
oh my god, man here, Like one of the things
about playing the Chiefs for years has been the minute
(23:13):
Matt Patrick Mahomes gets the ball with a minute and
a half, the players on the other sideline are just
like us watching it home.
Speaker 3 (23:18):
They're like, oh, son of a biscuit, there goes Mahomes.
He's got the ball back right Like, there's belief all
the way across the board.
Speaker 2 (23:25):
So I think that's where intimidation can actually that vibe
can turn into a result for these Indiana guys. I
just don't think they've been watching Alabama on film over
the course of this season and said, oh man, boy,
we can't let this team back in it like this,
You'd make the easy argument to me that Alabama is
at best their third best opponent this year. Alabama was
(23:48):
not tougher than Alabama neutral side at the Rose Bowl,
not tougher than going to Oregon, not tougher than taking
on Ohio State. I'm not even sure in their minds
it's that much tougher than going two Penn State was.
Speaker 5 (24:00):
Which, by the way, it's winning at Penn State is
something Indiana has never done as a program.
Speaker 4 (24:04):
That's the first time it's happened in history. And they
almost slipped up there right. That was the.
Speaker 5 (24:08):
Amari Cooper Mendoza comeback situation where Mendoza didn't play his
best game through an interception, put them behind and had
to dig themselves out. But to again talk about battle tested,
that was the stub your toe moment that they were
able to survive in ways that for example, Vandy at
Texas or at Tuscalosa was not able to do, or
Tennessee had some moments like that missing a field goal
(24:28):
against Georgia where they had them in a back and
forth overtime game, Like so many different moments of this
where Indiana has broken through that way, and so many
other programs, so many other teams this season have fallen short.
I think that Signetti has Indiana thinking that they're Nick
Saban's Alabama, and not just because Signetti was on that
Nick Saban Alabama staff as a wide receivers coach and assistant.
Speaker 4 (24:50):
Head coach like he is.
Speaker 5 (24:53):
He is a figure here who gives them that kind
of what's the word, and it permeates everything that they do.
And like, you know, Mendoz is a bit of a
a I don't even know how to describe him. I
was talking to an NFL executive about him today as
a matter of fact, and just the the quirkiness of
(25:16):
him that is going to be picked at a little
bit in the upcoming draft process, Like can somebody with
that kind of a personality And it's not a bad thing, right.
He's just a goober, you know, and he's clearly highly
intelligent and very serious about football. And if you're those
two things, then you have a good chance as long
as you're you know, tough enough to handle going to
bad organizations like cam Ord with the Titans or potentially
(25:38):
Mendoza with the Raiders or any of these other Browns
washout quarterbacks that we've seen over the past couple of years.
I am. I am looking at the idea of Signetti
and just how ready he has them at every turn.
They seem prepared for every scenario under the sun. And
it's because that is very rare context that a I mean,
(26:01):
what a Signetti's sixty two, he's sixty three. He's a
very Again, this is a very unicorn type of situation
have that that kind of a veteran coach only in
year two of his tenure at a power for program
that has them winning and clicking at the highest levels
because he's he has seen it and experienced it all
at a different version of that, but getting to do
(26:23):
it from the back seat and watching Nick Saban go
through it, and then taking that to where did he go?
He was at like India, some kind of Indiana directional school,
and then he went to JMU and then he's at
Indiana and people are laughing at him because, oh, what
are you going to do in Indiana?
Speaker 4 (26:35):
What do you mean?
Speaker 5 (26:36):
Ohio State and Michigan suck to not just Purdue. When
he's getting people gassed up at a basketball game, like
who is this guy? You know that's what I said.
I was like, Hell, is this guy the Google me guy?
Right turns out Google results when you google card SIGNETI
pretty good.
Speaker 2 (26:50):
Now Google Me and the Googer quarterback together are ahead
ten to nothing right now, Google Alabama Buddy Cup.
Speaker 6 (27:00):
Fox Sports Radio had the best sports talk lineup in
the nation. Catch all of our shows at Foxsportsradio dot
com and within the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 2 (27:08):
Just when Alabama looked like they had him, they don't
have them anymore. Indiana converts for a big first down buck.
We were talking earlier about Lamar is gonna play and
what it means for the Ravens and the Steelers moving forward.
But there is one reason why I look at this year,
particularly with the Ravens, and I just I hate one
thing about the result that we're likely to see. I
(27:30):
think we can both agree that right now it would
be a surprise if the Ravens won the Super Bowl. Unfortunately,
we talk so much about Super Bowls and championships and legacies.
All I keep thinking about with Lamar coming back in
is the opportunity lost because there's no Chiefs in the playoffs.
This year, everything went to hell in a handbasket. For
Kansas City, which is fine, that's fine, right, But so
(27:51):
much of my conversation about when we talk about championships
has been, hey, you have to acknowledge who else is
in the league at the time. So, yeah, Josh Allen
doesn't have a championship, Lamar j doesn't have a championship.
Speaker 3 (28:01):
Okay, well, of course they don't.
Speaker 2 (28:02):
They're taking on the best head coach, with the best
quarterback of his generation, with the best defensive coordinator right now,
like all of these things that wants on a Chiefs
team that just keeps winning Super Bowl after super Bowl,
they're hogging all the championships. They're hogging all the Super
Bowl appearance. It's one thing that really stands out to me,
though about opportunity lost for the Ravens if they're not
able to get into the playoffs, if they're not able
(28:23):
to go on a run. Is this was one of
those years where the window is open. I mean for
the Joshs and Lamars that simply don't get a lot
of shots at championships because of the Mahomes.
Speaker 3 (28:32):
You got to take.
Speaker 2 (28:33):
Advantage of the window when it's even cracked open. It's
wild to me to think that, right, now Vegas thinks
there's a better chance that Drake May is going to
go home with the Super Bowl ring than any of
these quarterbacks that we constantly talk about as MVPs that
need these sort of moments, because that will avenge in
twenty years. It'll be part of the context of how
we look at this era of quarterback.
Speaker 5 (28:53):
Man, Well, can I can I pivot the conversation real quick,
just based off the Drake May thing, Not that I'm
not interested and what you just asked me, but I
wonder what you make of the Drake May Matt Stafford thing,
because Matt Stafford played that game on what was that
Monday night Football against the Falcons and the Ram loss.
Speaker 4 (29:12):
Rams lost. He threw three interceptions.
Speaker 5 (29:14):
You and I have talked about this at some point,
I'm sure in the Overnight show that we did the
other night for Jason Smith and Mike Carmon. But is
there a scenario in which Drake May is just has
Drake May really earned MVP consideration, like truly and honestly
(29:34):
earned MVP consideration, Because I saw last year Lamar Jackson
earn real MVP consideration and still lose it. Anyway, the
best season of Lamar Jackson's career and he lost the
MVP after having two MVP awards where he had played
football at a lesser level. Drake May is fine. Drake
(29:54):
May has been. I mean he was dominate against the
Jets in the last time that we saw him. So
I'm not and listen, like, you go out there and
you beat whoever's asked you want to you that's across
from you, and and that's all you can do at
that point in time. I'm not down on Drake May
by any stretch of the imagination. I just think it's
so bizarre that, like one sample size of Matt Stafford
throwing three interceptions late in the season, when the Rams
(30:16):
are still probably the best team in football top to bottom,
would just completely crater Matt's I mean not completely crater,
but like completely put him so far behind Drake May, who,
as you mentioned earlier in the show, has a record
the same record as Jackson Dart against teams with a
winning record so far this season, and the Patriots have
i think the easiest schedule in the NFL.
Speaker 2 (30:37):
If I'm not mistaken, here's I'm going to oversimplify my
answer to your question, because fun I get answered, I
get asked all the time, you know about hall of
Fame status for guys? Is this guy a hall of famer?
It's a it's a common barbershop conversation. My answer to
that is really almost never about stats, because stats from
every error are so difficult to digest.
Speaker 4 (30:59):
Right.
Speaker 2 (31:00):
My answer to that question, more often than not is
when the schedule comes out and you're a fan of
a team and you look at the schedule for years,
if you open up the schedule and you're like, man,
what was the thing you said, God, we gotta take
on Brady, God, we gotta take on Peyton. Part of
the reason that I've never really felt like for me,
Eli isn't really what I think of as a Hall
of Famer, even though he has some big accomplishments in
(31:22):
his career, is I don't remember everybody, at anybody ever
starting the year saying, oh damn, man, we gotta take
on Eli this year. God, I don't know how we're
gonna beat Like I grew up saying Oh my god,
I don't know how you're gonna beat l Way Right now.
I constantly look around and say, oh, mahomes, how am
I gonna beat mahomes like, and frankly, I just don't
(31:43):
think that that is the mind. Most of us are
not looking at this playoff run that's about to happen
and saying.
Speaker 3 (31:48):
Oh my god, how are you gonna take down Drake? Like,
how is that gonna be possible?
Speaker 2 (31:53):
I think part of the reason that more fans and
more just people that watch are scared of Josh Allen, Like,
and the Bills have not had a better year than
the New England Patriots, and they both played soft schedules.
That's fine, but I've seen moment after moment after moment
where it's like the Bills just rolled the ball out
and said, Josh Allen, go do something, and then he's
forced to be Superman and do fifty two things that
(32:15):
you just can't even figure out how to stop. And
then all of a sudden you end up in this
situation where you're like, oh, that's Josh Allen for you.
Drake May's had some nice plays. I just don't Drake
May doesn't sit there. I don't sit up all week
saying oh my god, we have to play Drake.
Speaker 3 (32:29):
May this week, Like that's some my mindset around it.
Speaker 4 (32:31):
I just want to see him really tested.
Speaker 5 (32:33):
Like I guess, I guess it's one of those things
where maybe he's capable of that because he's obviously a
plus athlete, and he's got a great harm and he's
elevating the team around him, and Josh McDaniels has obviously
done a great deal of good for him. As Indiana
breaks a long one touchdown, John Dead buried gone backup quarterback,
starting quarterback, all of you take your bomb asses back
(32:56):
to Alabama. Oh that feels so good. That was outstanding.
It is now thirty to three, pending the extra point
with fourteen twenty one to play in the fourth quarter
of the Rose Bowl.
Speaker 4 (33:09):
I'm sorry. Back to your regulation pro.
Speaker 2 (33:11):
That is, you were asking for Drake May to be tested,
and then we watched Alabama get buried. I think that
there's like both are fair, so would I guess for me,
there's just no no one moment that. If I was
making a storyboard of the Patriots season and somebody turned
around and said, ooh, put all the MVP Drake May
(33:33):
moments up there, I don't know.
Speaker 3 (33:36):
I struggle to find some of them.
Speaker 4 (33:38):
Mmmm, Drake May's MVP moment.
Speaker 3 (33:43):
I mean, we always talk about the Heisman moment, right,
like what is now?
Speaker 5 (33:46):
We don't really do MVP that way, although Stafford just
had a moment that cost him apparently the MVP.
Speaker 2 (33:52):
Yeah, if one bad game can take you out of it,
then give me the great game with everything on the
line where it was just oh my god, gotta have
it where Drake May And the answer to this is
probably the Bills game.
Speaker 5 (34:02):
And yeah at Buffalo, I mean just just top to
bottom at Buffalo.
Speaker 2 (34:06):
And all of this sounds like I'm a Drake May hater,
Like I'm not a Drake May Hayter. I think Drake
May is developing into one of the great young quarterbacks
in the NFL.
Speaker 3 (34:14):
I think that's really fair to say.
Speaker 2 (34:16):
I also think, just like you and I've talked about people,
how when we get into these playoffs, it's all gonna
be about what Josh Allen hasn't accomplished in the playoffs
with the Bills haven't done in the playoffs. When Lamar
gets on the field, it's gonna be, ah my god,
if the Ravens make the playoffs, oh my god, Lamar's
got to show something because you know, we haven't seen
Lamar do in the playoffs. What the hell have we
(34:36):
seen from Drake Maya, What in the hell have we
seen from Drake may in the playoffs to give any
indication if we're gonna sit here and chied everybody else
for their playoff results. I just want that to keep
that same energy for Drake.
Speaker 3 (34:47):
That's all I'm saying.
Speaker 5 (34:48):
I think it's fair, and I listen, I'm not The
Patriots have been in the news this week for reasons
that are beyond Drake may and MVP voting and things
like that, But I I don't want to discount what
the Patriots are doing, what what that staff, and what
that roster have contributed to do for an organization that hasn't,
you know, hasn't had a lack of success by any
(35:09):
stretch of the imagination, though they've been on harder times
by their own standards here lately, it is deeply impressive.
I don't care what your caliber of competition is. What
what did their streak end at before they lost to
the Bills ten in a row?
Speaker 4 (35:19):
They won ten straight games in the NFL.
Speaker 5 (35:21):
Yeah, that's that's difficult no matter who you're playing at
the professional level. So it is if you wanted to
say honestly, Fitzy, I might argue that, if you wanted
to argue Drake May's MVP moment, it's ten consecutive wins
as an NFL starting quarterback for a team that won
what three games last year?
Speaker 4 (35:37):
Did the Patriots.
Speaker 2 (35:38):
Yeah, but it's also a team that Vegas thought was
going to win ten. Like the Vegas over under total
coming into the season was double digits.
Speaker 3 (35:44):
So like, ye, crazy, I looked at that.
Speaker 4 (35:47):
That was insane. But I mean, Vegas clearly smarter than us.
Speaker 2 (35:50):
Vegas laked crown and said, oh, this schedule is really bad.
They're gonna win a bunch of games. I mean, so
they are who they thought we thought they were. Like,
I don't know, I'm torn on all of this because
so often the head coach of the year, the MVP.
It all comes from the story that we didn't expect,
and like, I get it, and I get that we're
always in love with shiny new toys. I just at
(36:11):
times think that we could simplify all of it and
just look for you know, I don't know who's the
player that if you tell the story of this season,
who's the player that had the most moments that you
just absolutely have to have to tell that story.
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