September 4, 2024 • 42 mins
Colin reacts to the latest AP Poll in college football and what the new BIG 10 and SEC tells us about the 12-team playoff format
Plus, Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian joins the show to talk about how this year's team stacks up against last year's roster that made the college football playoff
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to The Herd podcast. Be sure to
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Speaker 2 (00:21):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
Oh here we go, our number two on a Wednesday,
live in Los Angeles. It's the Hurt wherever, whenever, whatever
you're watching off, Thanks for making us part of your day.
Joel flat five minutes by the way, last night watching
(00:48):
Angels Dodgers. Some guy for the Angels to one hundred
and five mile an hour fastball. I just hope you're
ready for our football season because all I'm gonna be
thrown is one oh five. I got no change up
this football season. I'm just throwing heat, all gas, no brains,
no junk, no off speed stuff. This show's one oh
five every day, every pitch. Now, I'm gonna throw my
(01:10):
arm out By November. I might be on the I
L or IR or whatever it is.
Speaker 3 (01:14):
So is this a combo of Cafe Americano drinks and
the gum?
Speaker 1 (01:17):
This morning. I already had a Cafe Americano neuro gull,
one sip of red Bull and my red bull and
my second I had one sip and a second Cafe America.
Speaker 4 (01:29):
You cracked and open a red Bull, took a sip
and then tossed it.
Speaker 1 (01:32):
Yeah, have any Christmas? I mean the company paid for
it here man, And now you're definitely doing Blazing five.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
You have to when you're that juiced up.
Speaker 1 (01:43):
Suggested last hour that I am considering doing Blazing five.
I did not commit to it. It's like when I
first met and I am considering many things. I am
not committed to it yet. And then she put the
kibosh on that sense, and I had to commit. And
I'm glad I did, you know. So we'll see. I
(02:05):
got so much going through my blood here right now,
I'm going to a thousand miles an hour. One oh five.
That's it. Steve Sark forty five minutes, Joel Clatt five.
Tom Brady was on the show yesterday, and uh, the
many questions we asked him. I thought it was interesting.
I said, you know, of all these young quarterbacks, Tom,
(02:25):
what will you see that I don't identify? What will
you see they give you a feeling of oh yeah,
this is going to work in the NFL as a
franchise quarterback.
Speaker 5 (02:35):
For me, I think the sustainable part about quarterbacking is
really what's up here is what's in the brain. Are
you snapping the ball and running good plays consistently against
the defenses that you're out there watching as you're reading
the defenses? So so much of it to me is
our is the coach giving the quarterback because he's going
to see it every day in practice. The coach and
(02:56):
the players, are they giving the quarterback the freedom to
make the plays and the decisions that he needs to
make to get the team to win.
Speaker 1 (03:05):
That sounds very Sean Payton bo Nicks, That's what that
sounds like. That's why I think that's gonna work. And
Sean has texted me and bow Nicks and Sean have
talked about this is the ability. Speed is not just mobility.
Speed is cognitive. Cognitive Can you very quickly see it,
(03:27):
identify it, and execute it in one second. That's Brady
Manning Mahomes. I've said this before about Mahomes. His ability
to see something, identify it, and let it go. It's insane.
Only guy I have seen that can see and identify
and let go as quickly as Brady and maybe Marino,
maybe Manning, like like mahomes is, it's just different. It
(03:51):
doesn't look like anybody else. And I've said this for years.
Zach Wilson and Justin Field's mobile yet sack so much.
Don't blame the old line. Justin Fields and Zach Wilson
struggled to see, identify and let her rip. Sam Donald,
for the record, has struggled with this. Sam Donald publicly
(04:12):
acknowledged last year as a member of the Niners. I'll
give some love to brock perty who jmack loves. Sam
Donald said. Rock Perdy identified cognitively identified things faster than
any quarterback he play with. That's kind of the gift
that certain quarterbacks have. We spend so much time talking
(04:32):
about athletic ability and mobility, and it matters Josh Allen,
of course it matters. But it's the ability, as Tom
Brady talks about, see it, quickly, identify it, let it rip.
That's you know, mahomes I don't think has the arm
of Josh Allen. He didn't run like Lamar Jackson. Brady
had a good arm. It wasn't as good as Matt Stafford,
maybe not as good as Jay Cutler. This bo Nix
(04:55):
thing's going to work to me because of what Brady
talks about. And with that, the voice of college football
at Fox, Joel Klatt, joining us for his first Wednesday visit. Oh,
and what a visit it will be. I don't know
if you got it. I don't know if you've got
a heads up on it. But somebody down there and
(05:18):
Los Angeles had quite a weekend in Vegas. Did you
hear about that? I did hear about that. I did
hear about that. Yeah, because you're from Colorado. Yeah, and
let me identify something. I just always just can't wait
to where this is gonna go. I'm so interested right now.
So as a USC insider, I've watched the score points
(05:42):
with Sark Lane and Clay Hilton. That was the first
game since Pete Carroll where they went up against the
big dog, and I would argue were more physical than LSU,
an SEC team I don't want to hear about. LSU
is not good. They're LSU. They have two guys that
are probably first round tackles and the tight ends of
(06:04):
stud and the linebacker first time since Pete Carroll. It
wasn't first quarter, second three. By the end of that game,
they were hitting running backs and knocking them off their feet.
I saw four times. The defense was such a substantial
upgrade it was almost shocking. It was, you know, and
it was almost like, well, wait, is LSU good up front?
(06:26):
And then you have to remind yourself like, yeah, those
tackles are that good. I will tell you. I've always
felt like, if you can just get aligned properly, if
you can know your assignment and do it with any
amount of effort and then run to the football, you
can play adequate defense. Like just on those things. Those
(06:46):
are kind of basics, wouldn't you say, Colin. And unfortunately
for USC and Lincoln Riley last year and really some
of the last two years, they were so far out
of position as far as being in the right gap
being fundamentally so, they couldn't even get into the align
and assign portion. So even if guys were trying to
fly around, they weren't tackling very well, and the effort
(07:09):
then never even paid off. Even if they were trying
really hard, it didn't pay off because the alignment and
the assignment weren't there. Now, what you see with Danton
Lynn is that they were in the proper positions and
then all of a sudden, the effort was rewarded, and
then all of a sudden, you get more effort, and
so it's it's it's like this feedback loop where they
started to have success and they're like, oh, wait, we
(07:30):
are better than everybody thinks. We are better players than
everybody thinks. We are highly recruited, we are talented, and
we are physical. And then you started to see that
play out during the course of that second half. And
I think that was what was most surprising for everybody
watching that game is that it wasn't forty two forty one.
USC and LSU went in there and they got in
(07:51):
a fistfight in the second half and USC one yes,
And it was an impressive win for USC, and it
was a really big win for the Big Ten because
of what everything that we talked about in the offseason.
Remember I told you, I told you all the way
back in July. I said, one, I think USC is
going to beat LSU. That was number one and number two.
When and if they do, they will immediately be a
(08:13):
playoff contender, a CFP contender because of what that means
in the narrative between the two conferences, Because these two teams,
you can say pretty confidently, we're sitting in the preseason
in a very similar spot within their conference, and that
both felt like twelve thirteen in the country. Yeah, that's right.
I thought that I thought that USC was underrated by
(08:35):
the AP, so I thought that they were right around
fifteen or something along those lines and in a very
similar spot within their conference of the Big Ten as
LSU was in the SEC. So, now, like it or not, folks,
college football is still a narrative business, and it's still subjective,
and we're still going to assign twelve teams and some
of these at large teams based on narrative and subjective viewpoints.
(08:59):
And you've got a direct win of USC over LSU.
So it's big for the Big Ten and it's massive
for US. You and I both talked about this. USC
gets Penn State and Notre Dame at home, and they
don't face Ohio State in Oregon. Yeah, it's a favorable
schedule for USC, not this weekend, next weekend, and that's
gonna be I think kind of a low scoring, another
physical tough game. Well, USC's got it. I remember remember
(09:22):
when I told you everyone was saying like, oh, their
schedule is tough. I'm like, no, no, no, no, their schedule
is actually really good. They got a huge break, a
huge break. They don't travel East and have to play
a cold November Game's that's number one, because that's what
everyone would immediately assume, and so they don't have to
do that. They get Penn State at home, which is
a great get for them, and Penn State looks to
(09:42):
be in the elite team and played well against West Virginia.
And then the other big piece of this was you
get Michigan before they develop into the tough, hard nosed
Michigan that inevitably will show up in November. You get
them in September. That's a great schedule for USC. I
was saying this to a friend over the weekend. If
my son played quarter back, he'd be tall, lanky, with
a great, great pocket present and I'm sure you would
(10:03):
process information quickly. You would know what he's seeing and
he could react right away, just like Tom Brady. I said,
I'd send him to two coaches, Sark or Lincoln Riley.
And I want you to address this. I watched midder Moss.
He got one start, big stage, high leverage, sophomore wide receivers,
freshman left tackle, freshman right guard. He looked like a
(10:24):
four year start. Yes, so I love that you brought
this up. In the heck does Lincoln Riley do to
get these quarterback transfers? Baker Kyler? It doesn't matter where
guys come from. You give him an off season with
a guy as a starter taking first team snaps. They
all look like this. Do you know what he gives
this quarterback answers, answers and options. That's what Lincoln Riley
(10:47):
and Sark to that matter, you can. You can lump
them into this, and Lane Kiffin, all the great play callers,
even Ryan Day, will do this to a certain extent.
They give their quarterback answers and options. What is the
defense doing? What are they trying to do to me?
What do I have in my toolbox that I can
(11:09):
combat that with on every play? And Lincoln does this
as good or better than anybody. Is that he trusts
his quarterback to put the football where the defense tells
him to put the football, not where Lincoln wants him
to throw it, But where does the defense, tell me
this football should go. How about the evidence of some
of those run plays late in the second half or
(11:30):
on third down? Why why do they do that? It's
not because Lincoln Riley is brilliant. It's like, oh, he
timed that run call brilliantly. That's not a run call.
That is a play with options. It's a package play
with options, and the quarterback, Miller Moss, says, what is
the defense doing? Okay, I have answers and options for
how to combat that, and then he uses those. Now,
(11:52):
this is what's not a very popular take because Caleb
was such a generationally talented player at quarterback. But Caleb
didn't always go in the right spot with the football
based on what the defense was doing, because he thought
to himself, listen, I'm a generational talent and I'm gonna
make this play. And then a lot of times it worked.
(12:13):
So this is not a knock. It's just a framing
of what's going on with Miller Moss. Who is not
going to play outside of the system. Baker didn't play
outside of the system, Jalen didn't play outside of the system.
Guess who else didn't play outside of the system. For
Sarkesian late in his career as an old journeyman, gets
(12:35):
one year to start Mac Jones, who quarterback one of
the great offenses in college football history in twenty twenty
with the Alabama Crimson Tide. Miller Moss feels a lot
like Mac Jones from Alabama, and they have guys that
give them answers and options. That's why you run the
football on third and eight and get it. It's not
(12:56):
a lucky play call. It's that the defense tells you
you should run the ball based on the ratios and
the numbers. Why do you throw the ball in certain
spots and it's always open? Well, because he gives you
answers and options. It's a long winded answer to tell you, like,
if I'm a quarterback, I want to play for a
guy like that. He broke forty four records at Colorado.
Of course most have been broken since, but Joel Cloud
(13:16):
is joining us. Okay, Okay, it's true, it's true, and
they should be. Yeah, they outlawed the pad. Also, do
you know what record I didn't hold though? What's that?
Thankfully career interceptions thrown? I was close, I was charging
after that thing, didn't quite get it. Congratulations let's move
on to relevant stories. Texas Michigan, Texas Michigan. I don't
(13:40):
I don't like this matchup for Michigan. Texas is really
really good. I don't think they're going to move the
ball on Texas. I don't know. I'm not as concerned
about Michigan's offense as some You know what, I'm concerned
about Texas speed. Texas looks like Alabama has looked and
Georgia has looked. They started a little bit of that
last year. Yes, they didn't have the back end defensively,
(14:01):
but you watch them against Alabama, you're like, oh, wait
a minute, they can run and and they're just as
big as Alabama. That's exactly right, Textaly, that's what Sark
is building. He left Alabama and he left the Nick
Saban tree, and that's what he's building from a roster.
And what I like about what Sark has done is
that he didn't go try to copy Nick Saban from
a personal personality standpoint or philosophy. But he did look
(14:24):
at that roster at Alabama and say, oh, yeah, that's
how you win, that's how you went. This looks like
an early two thousands USC team. It looks like the
Alabama teams and the Georgia teams. They're big, they're experienced upfront.
In fact, four of their offensive lineman this is their
third year starting their veteran They're as good an offensive
line as anybody in the country. And you you couple
(14:44):
that with a quarterback that I think is as good
as anybody I do, and I think he's going to
be a Heisman guy at the.
Speaker 6 (14:52):
End of the year.
Speaker 1 (14:53):
For me, I mean Drew Lockey to me, I don't
know if I will be as high on Quinn in
the draft process as I am for him for Texas now.
And I think those can be two truthful, state efferent Okay,
so to your point, yeah, but having said that, he's
an experienced guy with a lot of confidence that has
(15:14):
weapons around him, and this is going to be a
difficult game for Michigan. I will say this, and I
know you love like you love history. We sat on
a desk together. It might have been like one of
your first weeks at FS at Fox at Fox Sports.
It was Jim Harbaugh's first game. I remember that Utah
at Utah, and that came up this week in my memory.
(15:40):
And it wasn't because you were blowing me away with
smart takes. Although I'm sure they were fine, it was
more so this Michigan team reminds me more of those
early Harbaugh teams. Jake Rudoc at quarterback, Wilton's Spate at quarterback, developing,
trying to be tough upfront, leaning on the run game,
really good defense, tough defensive line that can play limitation offensively,
(16:05):
a limited offense, but trying to get it done, complimentary football.
Both of those teams in twenty fifteen and sixteen one
ten football games. In fact, in sixteen, you know, they
were that overtime game with Ohio State away from going
and playing for a Big Ten championship. So I still
think that Michigan can be very good. I just think
that they're vastly more limited than what they were a
(16:25):
year ago when they had all of that NFL talent,
namely at the quarterback position and JJ McCarthy. So that's
how it frames in my mind. And I think it's
an uphill battle for Michigan this week because Texas is
really good. And remember this, the last game Texas played,
their defense was riddled with mistakes. They didn't play well
(16:46):
against Washington, right their whole offseason, the offense is fine.
I tend to look at what was your last game,
like like Miller moss last game, Louisville Holiday Bowl, got
some confidence, Sure Texas got Washington just was a hot
knife through that secondary. And I think Texas going to
come with a chip on their shoulder to prove to
everybody we're not just flashy. We can hit you in
(17:08):
the mount and play defense well. Texas this year reminds
me a lot of what Michigan was a year ago,
a team that lost in the previous semi final, and
you could see the train coming all off season and
you can see and you're like, oh man, they're really experienced.
Oh man. Their quarterback is very good college quarterback there.
They've got talent, they've got speed, they've got toughness, and
(17:29):
they've got a culture. And like Texas is real. They're
going to be a problem for Georgia, They're going to
be a problem for anybody in the country. Texas is
legitimately a national championship contender, and at least in this September,
with this roster, with all the newness at Michigan, I
can't in good conscience say that Michigan is a true
national title contender right now, they might develop into that.
(17:52):
I'm not sure the Wilton Spate twenty sixteen team did.
They developed into that late in that season behind an
incredible defense, and maybe that happens this year for Michigan.
But right now, Texas is the team that walks in there.
But with that, by the way, with that expectation comes
an immense amount of pressure they If they lose this
game to this Michigan team, that is awful, awful for
(18:15):
them and their fan base and their narrative and their
momentum because of the expectations of what we just talked about.
So that's on Fox Texas at Michigan, first top ten matchup.
It's gonna be such good TV. Yeah, it'll be great.
That's good. I'm happy for you.
Speaker 5 (18:30):
I am.
Speaker 1 (18:30):
I appreciate I poke you a little bit, but I
am happy. You know what, you still hold reciprocal Colorado record.
Some of them they're they're they're deep down and we
got something like that, you know, like most drop snaps. Okay,
So I'll get the Clemson next week. Florida State's done.
I'm gonna throw it. I you and I liked Oregon
a lot. Yeah, time out. I don't know what that was,
(18:53):
but that doesn't look like correctable in a week. Well,
that was the most could have won that game. Yeah,
and by the way, if I would have won, that
would have been a bigger upset than the app State
Michigan game from the early two thousand, So that would
have been the biggest upset in sure. Four star guys,
all we know Dan Lanning's a good coach. What was that?
That was as concerning as any game, and in the
(19:15):
first week of the season, there's no question about it.
And here's the thing. It's because it's not like they
went out there and turned the ball over seven times
and we're all of a sudden in a close game.
Dylan Gabriel threw for incredible production, including forty one of fifty.
They had to throw fifty passes against Idaho. That is concerning,
to say the least. If I'm Dan Lanning, I'm going
(19:36):
in there and it's it's fire and brimstone all week
with that team. Because a lot in a lot of respects.
You've got to take this team that won the football
game and treat them like losers, right, You've got to
take them and humble them down. And say this has
got to get better, namely the offensive line. No, the
offensive line was a problem. Three starters back, they ran
(19:57):
the ball for under three yards per carry again Idaho.
Five of their eight penalties were on the offensive line,
and they gave up three sacks. And you might say
to yourself, like, well, three is not not terrible. They
give up five all last season and five all last
season starters they return. These are four and five star guys. Yeah,
(20:17):
they're good players. They recruit high end linemen, they're they're
good players. And and you know this Oregon team, I'm
gonna I'm going to run ride with Oregon this week
and say, okay, that's what I think. I'm going to
give you your pass and say you're going to go
back to the grindstone and you're going to correct those issues.
Poise State comes in. By the way, Boise State has
(20:40):
never lost to Oregon. They're three and zero against Oregon
in their history. I know that that sounds crazy, but
good program. Ashton Gent They're running back is an excellent player.
That might be the top running back taken in next
year's NFL draft, just he's he's that good. But I
think Oregon rights the ship and I think that they
win in a big way. I'm watching that thinking we
(21:01):
got ourselves a problem. Yeah, that was that was there's
Clatt's top ten. Oh there does apparently, as I said
to Clatt on Twitter, he does. He only has direct TV.
He did not see the USC game. Clatt does not
have USC in that physicality and Miller moss I put
them at eleven. Okay, I was, I don't understand what
(21:24):
your I watched the Oregon and I watched USC. Like
I said, I'm gonna give I'm giving Oregon one last chance.
I felt the same way. I'm like, no, this is
something happened that the bus broke down. They were playing
nodded cleats they're playing in I don't know, I don't
know what that was.
Speaker 5 (21:41):
Man.
Speaker 1 (21:42):
You know what was so great about that Week one
of college football?
Speaker 2 (21:45):
So good?
Speaker 1 (21:45):
It wasn't just like, well, Georgia and Alabama looked good.
I mean, Georgia looks great. You've got freshman for Ohio State,
Texas look great. Notre Dame with a big win. Bama
looks like they're rolling with a young wide receiver that
could be divorce next a Dunes. You've got Miami Oklahom Like,
You've got a lot of really great storylines, including West
Coast football. USC with that huge win. That was really big.
(22:08):
It really was. Let me, I got something else here.
I was gonna bring up Oh, you didn't even bring
up Colorado Nebraska. It's a huge game. Okay, I'll just listen.
I was for Dion Sanders. I think he has brought
awareness to the program and energy and he can recruit.
I like Nebraska. I think Nebraska is the sleeping giant
(22:31):
in the country. They're gonna knock off good teams, including
USC as that Sandwich game right in the middle of
like Pen It's like UCLA, Penn State, Nebraska. Think of
it this way. For Nebraska, you'll love this. Last year
they won. They've lost four games by a field goal,
and those four games they turned it over seventeen times.
(22:52):
Fourteen of them were by the quarterback. Dylan Rayla. The
true freshman doesn't have to be great. He just has
to be a net positive for them to turn into
an eight to nine, maybe ten win team. If they're
able to beat Colorado on Saturday night, they'll be undefeated
facing Ohio State, which means even if they lose that game,
they'll go into November as an eight and one team
(23:14):
playing legitimate college football playoff games. You know, coaches love
Matt Rule. I told the staff this this morning. People
can say what they want about the Carolina experiment, but
nothing works in Carolina. Matt Rule is one of those
guys when you talk to other coaches. You talked turban Meyer,
He's like, no, that dude can go. Matt Rule does stuff,
Guys rip off. The problem for Nebraska and Matt is
(23:35):
that Colorado has three or four players that are better
than any player than Nebraska has. I think so this
is the problem for Nebraska is the better team I
will fully admit, But if Shador goes off and Travis
has a couple of picks, Colorado could easily win this
game because those two guys are just better than everybody else.
Travis maybe the best player in the sport this year.
(23:57):
I think he is. I think I think he's probably
the best overall player. Yeah, I would agree with that.
Clatt is excellent. I'm gonna give you a on this one. Wow,
you brought it the fact that you had all those
numbers up there. I'm a high processor. You are, you
can trust you. On third and three to audible to
a third play. That's what I like about it. Sometimes
even a four roh was like, well, now you're pushing
your luck. I don't want a fourth read from Clatt.
(24:19):
You just let her rip.
Speaker 5 (24:20):
Okay?
Speaker 1 (24:21):
Uh J Lab Headphones, Best audio products in the game,
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Speaker 2 (24:31):
One more heard. The Herd streams twenty four hours a day,
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to listen live or on demand whenever you like.
Speaker 1 (24:41):
Steve Sarkisan showing up Texas Michigan this weekend on Fox.
That is that is blue blood territory, man bands, logos,
the teams, the coaches, everything is it just college football
has got a lot of rich history. Texas Michigan provides
so much context and Jay now with the news.
Speaker 2 (25:04):
This is the Herd line News.
Speaker 3 (25:07):
One of the more least appealing games of the weekend
is Patriots Bengals. Still know Jamar Chase, but how about
this the Jacoby Brissett situation. So he's going to be
the starter despite Drake may out playing him in the preseason.
Even the coach admitted that many fans want to see
May under center. Former Patriot Devin mccordy agrees with the
decision to start percent.
Speaker 6 (25:29):
You go into a preseason game, he looks great, plays well.
Then you go into a third preseason game, he plays
well again, and I think everyone's like, oh my goodness,
he needs to be out there. I think you got
to be careful of telling a quarterback. Hey, we know
you're young, but we need you to save the day.
Every single play. You need to make sure you can
(25:49):
put us in a perfect play.
Speaker 5 (25:51):
I e.
Speaker 2 (25:51):
Tom Brady, put us in a.
Speaker 6 (25:53):
Perfect play, get us out of a bad play, get
us into a good play. Hey, CDA justinas, Hey understand
the coverage. We need you to do that every little time.
Speaker 1 (26:03):
Yeah, I'm I'm good either way. I don't generally like
Week one favorites, but boy, it's hard not to like
Cincinnati in this spot. I know, I know Jamar Chase.
The number would be ten if we felt Jamar was
ready to go. I don't see the weaponry here. There's
one way New England can win games this year. There
(26:25):
is one way seventeen to fourteen win the turnover battle.
They got one avenue to win games and Burrow didn't
turn it over much.
Speaker 4 (26:32):
Yeah, I think the public is like reluctant to back
to Bengals. You see that seven and a half, Collins
was nine and a half like in ten days ago? Like, who,
why are people on the Patriots here? I don't know.
Speaker 3 (26:42):
I'm still seeing Bengals blowout. Next up the Phila Delphia Eagles. Man,
this is the game Friday night, by the way, hope
you carved out time on your calendar. Eagles looking to
rebound after the horrific end of the season. They went
one in six. They got blasted by the Bucks in
the wild card game. Nick Sirianni's gonna be on the
high seat, and one Philadelphia reporter believes anything short of
(27:04):
a deep playoff run will put his job.
Speaker 4 (27:06):
On the line.
Speaker 3 (27:07):
I guess you can only lose so many coordinators right
before you ultimately get that.
Speaker 6 (27:11):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (27:11):
I think at this point if they struggle this year,
and I don't think they'll struggle because I think their
talent in that division is so overwhelmingly in their favor.
I mean, the Rams have talent, the Niners have talent,
but there's players all over the division. It's like Philly's
talent and everybody else in that division. It's just a
different level.
Speaker 4 (27:28):
Philly's schedule is so easy.
Speaker 1 (27:30):
I mean they should stumble into ten to eleven wins.
But he has not done himself favor sometimes at the
podium on the sideline. So I think the pressure's amounts.
Speaker 4 (27:41):
Relationship with Hurts kind of rocket.
Speaker 1 (27:43):
That news was. I mean, ask yourself, how many offensive
coaches struggle with a quarterback. You could have a Belichick
mac Jones thing where Matt came in with a little
chip on his shoulder. Belichick's history very rarely does an
offensive coach struggle with a quarterback.
Speaker 4 (27:59):
That's an issue you We'll see Kellen Moore.
Speaker 1 (28:02):
Jalen Hurts has a history of being difficult.
Speaker 4 (28:04):
No, he's a great guy. What he went through it
in college at Alabama. No, I'm definitely pro Jalen Hurts.
I like the Eagles against your Packers. Sorry to see
your Packers go zero and one to start the season.
You really do you like Packers?
Speaker 1 (28:17):
Yeah? I don't know. First of all game in Brazil,
I'm not I'm not touching it. I don't know what
to make.
Speaker 2 (28:24):
Of it, but I'm rooting Eagles.
Speaker 1 (28:26):
Well, I'm not rooting for anybody. I'm America's honesty broker.
I root for I root for competition. J Mack with
an English.
Speaker 2 (28:38):
Well that's the news, and thanks for stopping by the
herd line news.
Speaker 1 (28:44):
So fired up Texas and Michigan. That Bears game, That
Bears Titans game. Can you do me one favor? What's
the line at now? In that game?
Speaker 4 (28:53):
Three and a half?
Speaker 1 (28:54):
See, that's one of those games I like Chicago I
would take. I mean, I don't know what ten offense
is gonna look like. I got no idea what well.
Speaker 4 (29:03):
We know the new offense, the new guys Callahan shark right.
Speaker 3 (29:07):
He ran a lot of three wide receiver sets with
the Bengals and Burrows, So they're gonna come out and
chuck and duck. This is no mohere Derrick Henry and
a cloud or dust, So be careful. I'm a little
nervous about the Bears here, so am I.
Speaker 1 (29:19):
We'll see the first two weeks of the season. This
tends to be true first three weeks. Bad teams don't
know they're bad. Like you get a team and they're
not good, but they're playing like they're good. Maybe they
had a good preseason. They've got young guy. They don't know.
Tennessee didn't know they're bad. Yeah, and so and by
the way, Chicago may say they're good, they don't know
(29:39):
they're good yet. They got too many moving parts. So
this week one is like outside of Cincinnati, New England,
I could see seven upsets. I told you one of
my favorite, one of my favorite plays is Carolina.
Speaker 5 (29:51):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (29:52):
So you would people just especially when you bring a
new offensive coaching. I mean Tennessee's got all new receiving core,
all new people on his staff, and I love Vrabel
but offensively that it was a tough.
Speaker 4 (30:04):
Wanting Tony Pollard is running back one. There another new guy.
Speaker 1 (30:06):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (30:07):
Like they got a lot of munis.
Speaker 1 (30:08):
Yeah, and good players. Good a little bit like Houston
where they brought in a lot of guys that aren't
superstars minus the quarterback. Yeah I'm not Yeah. Sarks around
the Corner Live in LA, It's The Herd.
Speaker 2 (30:20):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
and noon eastern nn am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio
FS one and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 7 (30:29):
He's Mike Krmen, I'm Dan Bayern. We have a fantasy
football podcast called I Want Your.
Speaker 2 (30:34):
Flex that's right, Dan.
Speaker 8 (30:35):
Every week we're gonna scour the waiver wire to find
the pickups to turbo boost your fantasy lineup, sit starts,
fantasy football players rankings to get you ready to dominate
the competition.
Speaker 7 (30:47):
Listen to I Want Your Flex with Mike Carmon and
meet Dan Byer on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts and
wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 1 (30:54):
I was encouraged by the sports media really pushing back
on some comments by Cheryl Swoops on Caitlin Clark. Everybody
just has to sit back. Nick Wright and I talked
about this yesterday. Caitlin Clark is great. She's like magic.
She walked into the Pro league and you're like, oh wow,
he's really really good right now. Don't care about college
(31:14):
inexperienced age. Caitlin Clark's great, and she's great right now. Now.
She's not Asia Wilson of Las Vegas, that's the best
player in the league, jumps out of the TV great player,
but Caitlyn Clark. And you see this a lot. You
used to see this all the time, where somebody came
out of men's college basketball who had played three or
four years. Patrick Ewing, Tim Duncan you know they were
(31:36):
ready to play. Now it's one and done. So even
if you get a Wemby or you get an Aunt Edwards,
they're just not old enough. They're not experience enough. But
it used to be when guys stayed in college for
three and four years, they would walk in and dominate. Well,
that's what women's basketball is. That's why Angel Reese can
walk in to the WNBA and be a dominant rodman
like rebounder. She's got four years of college. She's mature physic.
(32:00):
Now guys coming to the NBA. Jalen Green goes G
League NBA. It took him two years to figure out
how to play basketball. Like the end of his second year,
you're like, oh, okay, now he's got it. Okay, this
guy's really good. Like Wimby didn't improve the Spurs a
game and he was really good, but he was so raw.
Chet Holmgren, they're all raw. So what women's basketball is
right now is what men's basketball used to be twenty
(32:21):
years ago, fifteen years ago, where guys came in they
were like twenty three years old. They've been playing in
the Big East in you know, physical basketball and the
Big East. Syracuse in Yukon and they're ready to play,
and they're ready to produce, and they can give you
minutes and points and wins in the playoffs. That's what
women's basketball now presents. And I don't know. I mean,
(32:44):
I'm just watching Angel Reese and like every time I
watch her, it's a double double. She's a dominant rebounder.
I'm watching Caitlin Clark. She's a dominant player in this league.
All right. Steve Sarkajan, fourth year at Texas. Here we go,
joining us live game of the weekend against Michigan, former
head coach at Washington USC. I'm so fired up for
this stuff. You had a lot of influences. You had
(33:05):
Pete Carroll, you had Dan Quinn, you had Nick Saban,
but yet you've developed your own program. I can feel
the swagger, I can feel the attitude. Here's my question.
I think all of us in the media are too
tough on coaches. I feel this is actually your first
team and roster that I look at and I go, oh,
that's a national championship team. I looked at you last
(33:26):
year and I thought they're close. But I don't trust
the back end. Is that fair to say that's not
a knock on last year's team, but I feel this
team's different. I just do sark. What do you think?
Speaker 9 (33:37):
Well, I thought we were pretty good last you know,
we in we ran into a hot Michael Pennix there
in the Semis. But hey that we didn't play our
best game on either side of the ball. But you know,
I like our team this year. I would think, you know,
when you look at our roster, I think we only
have four or five guys on our team that were
here before I got here. The rest of the players
(33:59):
we were rooted. A lot of these players have been
here for you know, two, three and four years now
and have really grown up in the culture and understand
what we're about. We've got great leadership. But I also
think we've got great depth. I would say the one
thing about this year's team is we definitely have more
depth than we've had in any of our other years
and are too deep. Sometimes you can't tell the difference
between our ones and our twos, and that's great for us.
(34:21):
That's that's great for us right now early in the
season where we can play a lot of players, especially
in the heat when we're at home, but also for
the longevity of this season. You know, to think that
we kicked off August thirty first and we're hoping to
play January twentieth, you know we're gonna need We're gonna
need all the.
Speaker 1 (34:35):
Depth that we have. Okay, you lost a great tight end,
you lost two great receivers, one of them late first
of the Chiefs. You lost a running back. I like,
are you going to be as dynamic offensively, because that's
a lot of NFL talent that walked out the door.
Speaker 9 (34:48):
We lost three receivers, the other ones playing for the
Rams now too.
Speaker 1 (34:51):
Jordan's right, That's right, yeah, Jordan, Yeah.
Speaker 9 (34:54):
You know what I liked about the way we played
Saturday was the efficiency we played with offense. You know,
we've I think there's a there's a nice blend of
new faces on our offensive side of the ball. You know,
we have some transfers at receiver and tight end, but
we also have some true freshmen that have stepped up.
But we also have some guys that kind of you know,
(35:14):
waited their turn last year. But I think that the
most important thing is we've got a veteran offensive line.
We were turning four of our five starters on the
offensive front. You know, we've got a third year starting quarterback,
and so if you want to be good on on
the offensive side of the ball, the quarterback the offensive
line are critical. And then I think we filled in
some nice pieces around those those elements. And and like
I said, I thought we played really efficient game Saturday.
(35:37):
We showed the explosiveness, we showed the speed and space,
we showed the physicality and which we which we like
to play.
Speaker 1 (35:42):
With Quinn yours? Now, now, is there an advantage to
play in Michigan early? Hardball's gone new staff, although it's
the same kind of physical culture, this a bit, This
is a is a tough one, this is a blue blood.
It's a big game, it's high leverage. Is it an
advantage to play Michigan early?
Speaker 9 (36:04):
I don't know, You know, there are some there's plenty
of new faces, you know, and I think there's one
thing about Michigan that what coach Harbaugh did and now
what coach Moore is doing is when you think about
this program, there's three consecutive years they've gone to the
College Football Playoff wo Naturally that's capped off last year
with them being national champs. You know the amount of
(36:26):
draft picks that they've had thirteen I believe last year.
I think they're forty one and three in their last
forty four games. They've won sixteen games in a row.
They've won twenty three straight games at home in the
Big House. So this is a great program. As much
as it is about the team, this current team they have,
it's about the program, the development, what they've done, and
so the harder part for us isn't about that they're
(36:47):
going to be a quality opponent. It's about some of
the new faces. And then, naturally, from a staff perspective,
Wink Martin Dale's a defensive coordinator. You know, we've only
got one game sample size of him as a defensive
coordinator at Michigan, so some of those things can be
a little bit more difficult. But at the end of
the day, it's a great opportunity, you know, to go
play Michigan in the Big House. First time I ever
calling in the regular season that Texas is meeting Michigan.
(37:11):
And so when you two think about those two iconic
programs coming together, and it's pretty humbling for myself that
I get to be on the sideline leading leading the
Texas long home.
Speaker 1 (37:21):
What did you say to Quinn, yours you give you
played quarterback in college, You've had a lot of great quarterbacks.
What was the one thing after the season that you
told Quinn of yours? Hey, you know, I mean you
do this with all your quarterbacks. Here's what we're going
to work on in the off season. What is the
one thing that you said, Hey, let's get better at this.
Because you've you've made your mark with him, there's no
que even diet wise, you've changed it. What's the one
(37:44):
thing you said, Quinn, let's work on this. Let's make
this a point of attack in the off season.
Speaker 2 (37:49):
This is your team, go lead them.
Speaker 9 (37:51):
Really, it was about leadership. We knew we were going
to have to replace all those pieces, and we knew
we were going to have to bring in some transfers.
We knew we were going to have to rely on
some young players on the perimeter, and it was gonna
take Quinn leading them. It was gonna take Quinn getting
the rapport with those receivers in the tight end. It
was gonna take Quinn stepping up into that leadership role
(38:12):
where Jordan Wittington and Jalen Ford and those guys had
moved on from and so that's been our focus, and
he's done a tremendous job of that. You can feel
his presence. I think he instills confidence and belief into
everybody in the organization, not just his teammates. And that's
what quarterbacks do. That that's why it's the most important
position in sports. You know, you know, if you've ever
(38:33):
you know, you've ever been to Gillette And when when
Tom Brady took the field, it was almost like a
sigh of relief for everybody in the stands, like, Okay,
Tom's here, We're good to go. And I'm sure it's
the same way in Kansas City with Pat Mahomes and
so on and so forth. So the quarterback is a
powerful guy, not only with his play, but I just
think in the presence and the leadership that he provides.
Speaker 1 (38:54):
A couple of minutes left, I would argue in a
twelve team playoff, if I was a coach, I think
I think I be more aggressive because sometimes in college
football's history, it's like, I'm not saying anybody coaches not
to lose, but I think everybody's gonna lose a game potentially,
even the good teams. Does the twelve team playoff does
it matter to you at all, or is it like
(39:15):
just go Saturdays or Saturdays. I mean, I think it matters.
Speaker 9 (39:20):
There's still some strategy involved, especially if if you have
to play in the first round. You'd should love to
have home field advantage and get a home game and
not have to go back to Michigan in December, right,
And you sure would love to win your conference and
to get a buy in the first round, So you know,
I do think that matters. I don't think we're out
(39:41):
here just trying to be reckless and take shots and
go for it on fourth down. I do think there's
a rhyme and reason to everything that we're trying to
accomplish and what we're trying to do and develop in
our team in our program. But in the end, I
do think it allots you to play in games like
this and not feel like, man, if we don't to
win this game, we have to be perfect the rest
(40:02):
of the way. I do think it allots you to
expose your team to some tough environments, to play against
quality opponents, to get yourself ready for conference play, and
then not have to feel the repercussions if you don't
come out on top on the flip side of that, Man,
it can be It can serve as a great springboard
if you know you're going to going to the big
House and get this win. What it can do for
(40:23):
the rest of your season and the confidence of some
of the players in your program that are just getting
the you know, maybe their second game of exposure to
to big time football.
Speaker 1 (40:31):
Twelve and two won the Big Twelve. They're pivoting to
the SEC, and I think their roster, along with Georgia,
is the best in that conference. I only got a
minute left, I know you, coach Texas. Did you just
get a couple of minutes of that USC game at all? Sark?
Did your teav How did I know you were gonna?
Speaker 2 (40:46):
Ask me?
Speaker 9 (40:47):
Man?
Speaker 2 (40:47):
How did I know?
Speaker 1 (40:48):
You were so giddy? You?
Speaker 9 (40:50):
You were so giddy you probably went for a walk
the next morning right around Manhattan beach Man and you
were just you were kind of throwing throwing your your
victory sign up there, just excited about it.
Speaker 1 (41:01):
Hook him great, saying you Sark.
Speaker 2 (41:04):
Appreciate you.
Speaker 9 (41:05):
There.
Speaker 7 (41:05):
Hey, you got it going?
Speaker 1 (41:06):
Let me see it there you go right there? All right,
all right, Steve, somebody mix uh Michigan and Texas. I
just wondered if his TV just stumbled past. I mean,
you're flipping through the you know you're flipping through you're
watching whatever you're watching. You know, just USC game pops
up whatever I told you this. I don't know why
this is. I grew up with Texas, Nebraska, Oklahoma. I
(41:27):
always love Texas. I have no idea why I didn't
grow up in Texas. I've been Austin a bunch of times.
But there's something about the band, the color, they have
a unique scheme, the horns. Texas is big, the Texas
is big boy football. I can't wait for that thing.
And I like I like Texas and that thing.
Speaker 4 (41:46):
I would say I was the opposite. I grew up
in Notre Dame. Guy, just because they were on TV
every weekend, right, like it was easy. I'm growing up
in Virginia and it's like.
Speaker 1 (41:55):
But Notre Dame was never cool.
Speaker 4 (41:57):
What do you Texas about the late eighties? Notre Dame
rocket Ishmael.
Speaker 1 (42:01):
Come on, he was cool. Notre Dame wasn't cool.
Speaker 4 (42:04):
They were the fight song for Notre Dame. Well, it
was the Notre Dame in Miami.
Speaker 1 (42:07):
Hurricanes were the two Miami in the late Texas were cool.
Nebraska Notre Dame one cool, Tommy Fraser and Lawrence Phillips.
Speaker 4 (42:19):
Nebraska Beame was cool. Nebraska's not, but they made the
program cool. No, maybe you.
Speaker 1 (42:26):
Notre Dame has been great.
Speaker 4 (42:27):
I've never thought of the assessed what cool is.
Speaker 1 (42:30):
I think I have a pretty good sense of its cool.
I think America sees that I'm not Joe Burrow changing
Yex Green. That's cool, Okay. Our three next live in
La
Thanks for listening to The Herd podcast. Be sure to
catch us live every weekday on Fox Sports Radio in
noon to three Eastern nine am to noon Pacific. Find
your local station for The Herd at Foxsports Radio dot com,
or stream us live every day on the iHeartRadio app
by searching Fox Sports Radio or FSR.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
Oh here we go, our number two on a Wednesday,
live in Los Angeles. It's the Hurt wherever, whenever, whatever
you're watching off, Thanks for making us part of your day.
Joel flat five minutes by the way, last night watching
(00:48):
Angels Dodgers. Some guy for the Angels to one hundred
and five mile an hour fastball. I just hope you're
ready for our football season because all I'm gonna be
thrown is one oh five. I got no change up
this football season. I'm just throwing heat, all gas, no brains,
no junk, no off speed stuff. This show's one oh
five every day, every pitch. Now, I'm gonna throw my
(01:10):
arm out By November. I might be on the I
L or IR or whatever it is.
Speaker 3 (01:14):
So is this a combo of Cafe Americano drinks and
the gum?
Speaker 1 (01:17):
This morning. I already had a Cafe Americano neuro gull,
one sip of red Bull and my red bull and
my second I had one sip and a second Cafe America.
Speaker 4 (01:29):
You cracked and open a red Bull, took a sip
and then tossed it.
Speaker 1 (01:32):
Yeah, have any Christmas? I mean the company paid for
it here man, And now you're definitely doing Blazing five.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
You have to when you're that juiced up.
Speaker 1 (01:43):
Suggested last hour that I am considering doing Blazing five.
I did not commit to it. It's like when I
first met and I am considering many things. I am
not committed to it yet. And then she put the
kibosh on that sense, and I had to commit. And
I'm glad I did, you know. So we'll see. I
(02:05):
got so much going through my blood here right now,
I'm going to a thousand miles an hour. One oh five.
That's it. Steve Sark forty five minutes, Joel Clatt five.
Tom Brady was on the show yesterday, and uh, the
many questions we asked him. I thought it was interesting.
I said, you know, of all these young quarterbacks, Tom,
(02:25):
what will you see that I don't identify? What will
you see they give you a feeling of oh yeah,
this is going to work in the NFL as a
franchise quarterback.
Speaker 5 (02:35):
For me, I think the sustainable part about quarterbacking is
really what's up here is what's in the brain. Are
you snapping the ball and running good plays consistently against
the defenses that you're out there watching as you're reading
the defenses? So so much of it to me is
our is the coach giving the quarterback because he's going
to see it every day in practice. The coach and
(02:56):
the players, are they giving the quarterback the freedom to
make the plays and the decisions that he needs to
make to get the team to win.
Speaker 1 (03:05):
That sounds very Sean Payton bo Nicks, That's what that
sounds like. That's why I think that's gonna work. And
Sean has texted me and bow Nicks and Sean have
talked about this is the ability. Speed is not just mobility.
Speed is cognitive. Cognitive Can you very quickly see it,
(03:27):
identify it, and execute it in one second. That's Brady
Manning Mahomes. I've said this before about Mahomes. His ability
to see something, identify it, and let it go. It's insane.
Only guy I have seen that can see and identify
and let go as quickly as Brady and maybe Marino,
maybe Manning, like like mahomes is, it's just different. It
(03:51):
doesn't look like anybody else. And I've said this for years.
Zach Wilson and Justin Field's mobile yet sack so much.
Don't blame the old line. Justin Fields and Zach Wilson
struggled to see, identify and let her rip. Sam Donald,
for the record, has struggled with this. Sam Donald publicly
(04:12):
acknowledged last year as a member of the Niners. I'll
give some love to brock perty who jmack loves. Sam
Donald said. Rock Perdy identified cognitively identified things faster than
any quarterback he play with. That's kind of the gift
that certain quarterbacks have. We spend so much time talking
(04:32):
about athletic ability and mobility, and it matters Josh Allen,
of course it matters. But it's the ability, as Tom
Brady talks about, see it, quickly, identify it, let it rip.
That's you know, mahomes I don't think has the arm
of Josh Allen. He didn't run like Lamar Jackson. Brady
had a good arm. It wasn't as good as Matt Stafford,
maybe not as good as Jay Cutler. This bo Nix
(04:55):
thing's going to work to me because of what Brady
talks about. And with that, the voice of college football
at Fox, Joel Klatt, joining us for his first Wednesday visit. Oh,
and what a visit it will be. I don't know
if you got it. I don't know if you've got
a heads up on it. But somebody down there and
(05:18):
Los Angeles had quite a weekend in Vegas. Did you
hear about that? I did hear about that. I did
hear about that. Yeah, because you're from Colorado. Yeah, and
let me identify something. I just always just can't wait
to where this is gonna go. I'm so interested right now.
So as a USC insider, I've watched the score points
(05:42):
with Sark Lane and Clay Hilton. That was the first
game since Pete Carroll where they went up against the
big dog, and I would argue were more physical than LSU,
an SEC team I don't want to hear about. LSU
is not good. They're LSU. They have two guys that
are probably first round tackles and the tight ends of
(06:04):
stud and the linebacker first time since Pete Carroll. It
wasn't first quarter, second three. By the end of that game,
they were hitting running backs and knocking them off their feet.
I saw four times. The defense was such a substantial
upgrade it was almost shocking. It was, you know, and
it was almost like, well, wait, is LSU good up front?
(06:26):
And then you have to remind yourself like, yeah, those
tackles are that good. I will tell you. I've always
felt like, if you can just get aligned properly, if
you can know your assignment and do it with any
amount of effort and then run to the football, you
can play adequate defense. Like just on those things. Those
(06:46):
are kind of basics, wouldn't you say, Colin. And unfortunately
for USC and Lincoln Riley last year and really some
of the last two years, they were so far out
of position as far as being in the right gap
being fundamentally so, they couldn't even get into the align
and assign portion. So even if guys were trying to
fly around, they weren't tackling very well, and the effort
(07:09):
then never even paid off. Even if they were trying
really hard, it didn't pay off because the alignment and
the assignment weren't there. Now, what you see with Danton
Lynn is that they were in the proper positions and
then all of a sudden, the effort was rewarded, and
then all of a sudden, you get more effort, and
so it's it's it's like this feedback loop where they
started to have success and they're like, oh, wait, we
(07:30):
are better than everybody thinks. We are better players than
everybody thinks. We are highly recruited, we are talented, and
we are physical. And then you started to see that
play out during the course of that second half. And
I think that was what was most surprising for everybody
watching that game is that it wasn't forty two forty one.
USC and LSU went in there and they got in
(07:51):
a fistfight in the second half and USC one yes,
And it was an impressive win for USC, and it
was a really big win for the Big Ten because
of what everything that we talked about in the offseason.
Remember I told you, I told you all the way
back in July. I said, one, I think USC is
going to beat LSU. That was number one and number two.
When and if they do, they will immediately be a
(08:13):
playoff contender, a CFP contender because of what that means
in the narrative between the two conferences, Because these two teams,
you can say pretty confidently, we're sitting in the preseason
in a very similar spot within their conference, and that
both felt like twelve thirteen in the country. Yeah, that's right.
I thought that I thought that USC was underrated by
(08:35):
the AP, so I thought that they were right around
fifteen or something along those lines and in a very
similar spot within their conference of the Big Ten as
LSU was in the SEC. So, now, like it or not, folks,
college football is still a narrative business, and it's still subjective,
and we're still going to assign twelve teams and some
of these at large teams based on narrative and subjective viewpoints.
(08:59):
And you've got a direct win of USC over LSU.
So it's big for the Big Ten and it's massive
for US. You and I both talked about this. USC
gets Penn State and Notre Dame at home, and they
don't face Ohio State in Oregon. Yeah, it's a favorable
schedule for USC, not this weekend, next weekend, and that's
gonna be I think kind of a low scoring, another
physical tough game. Well, USC's got it. I remember remember
(09:22):
when I told you everyone was saying like, oh, their
schedule is tough. I'm like, no, no, no, no, their schedule
is actually really good. They got a huge break, a
huge break. They don't travel East and have to play
a cold November Game's that's number one, because that's what
everyone would immediately assume, and so they don't have to
do that. They get Penn State at home, which is
a great get for them, and Penn State looks to
(09:42):
be in the elite team and played well against West Virginia.
And then the other big piece of this was you
get Michigan before they develop into the tough, hard nosed
Michigan that inevitably will show up in November. You get
them in September. That's a great schedule for USC. I
was saying this to a friend over the weekend. If
my son played quarter back, he'd be tall, lanky, with
a great, great pocket present and I'm sure you would
(10:03):
process information quickly. You would know what he's seeing and
he could react right away, just like Tom Brady. I said,
I'd send him to two coaches, Sark or Lincoln Riley.
And I want you to address this. I watched midder Moss.
He got one start, big stage, high leverage, sophomore wide receivers,
freshman left tackle, freshman right guard. He looked like a
(10:24):
four year start. Yes, so I love that you brought
this up. In the heck does Lincoln Riley do to
get these quarterback transfers? Baker Kyler? It doesn't matter where
guys come from. You give him an off season with
a guy as a starter taking first team snaps. They
all look like this. Do you know what he gives
this quarterback answers, answers and options. That's what Lincoln Riley
(10:47):
and Sark to that matter, you can. You can lump
them into this, and Lane Kiffin, all the great play callers,
even Ryan Day, will do this to a certain extent.
They give their quarterback answers and options. What is the
defense doing? What are they trying to do to me?
What do I have in my toolbox that I can
(11:09):
combat that with on every play? And Lincoln does this
as good or better than anybody. Is that he trusts
his quarterback to put the football where the defense tells
him to put the football, not where Lincoln wants him
to throw it, But where does the defense, tell me
this football should go. How about the evidence of some
of those run plays late in the second half or
(11:30):
on third down? Why why do they do that? It's
not because Lincoln Riley is brilliant. It's like, oh, he
timed that run call brilliantly. That's not a run call.
That is a play with options. It's a package play
with options, and the quarterback, Miller Moss, says, what is
the defense doing? Okay, I have answers and options for
how to combat that, and then he uses those. Now,
(11:52):
this is what's not a very popular take because Caleb
was such a generationally talented player at quarterback. But Caleb
didn't always go in the right spot with the football
based on what the defense was doing, because he thought
to himself, listen, I'm a generational talent and I'm gonna
make this play. And then a lot of times it worked.
(12:13):
So this is not a knock. It's just a framing
of what's going on with Miller Moss. Who is not
going to play outside of the system. Baker didn't play
outside of the system, Jalen didn't play outside of the system.
Guess who else didn't play outside of the system. For
Sarkesian late in his career as an old journeyman, gets
(12:35):
one year to start Mac Jones, who quarterback one of
the great offenses in college football history in twenty twenty
with the Alabama Crimson Tide. Miller Moss feels a lot
like Mac Jones from Alabama, and they have guys that
give them answers and options. That's why you run the
football on third and eight and get it. It's not
(12:56):
a lucky play call. It's that the defense tells you
you should run the ball based on the ratios and
the numbers. Why do you throw the ball in certain
spots and it's always open? Well, because he gives you
answers and options. It's a long winded answer to tell you, like,
if I'm a quarterback, I want to play for a
guy like that. He broke forty four records at Colorado.
Of course most have been broken since, but Joel Cloud
(13:16):
is joining us. Okay, Okay, it's true, it's true, and
they should be. Yeah, they outlawed the pad. Also, do
you know what record I didn't hold though? What's that?
Thankfully career interceptions thrown? I was close, I was charging
after that thing, didn't quite get it. Congratulations let's move
on to relevant stories. Texas Michigan, Texas Michigan. I don't
(13:40):
I don't like this matchup for Michigan. Texas is really
really good. I don't think they're going to move the
ball on Texas. I don't know. I'm not as concerned
about Michigan's offense as some You know what, I'm concerned
about Texas speed. Texas looks like Alabama has looked and
Georgia has looked. They started a little bit of that
last year. Yes, they didn't have the back end defensively,
(14:01):
but you watch them against Alabama, you're like, oh, wait
a minute, they can run and and they're just as
big as Alabama. That's exactly right, Textaly, that's what Sark
is building. He left Alabama and he left the Nick
Saban tree, and that's what he's building from a roster.
And what I like about what Sark has done is
that he didn't go try to copy Nick Saban from
a personal personality standpoint or philosophy. But he did look
(14:24):
at that roster at Alabama and say, oh, yeah, that's
how you win, that's how you went. This looks like
an early two thousands USC team. It looks like the
Alabama teams and the Georgia teams. They're big, they're experienced upfront.
In fact, four of their offensive lineman this is their
third year starting their veteran They're as good an offensive
line as anybody in the country. And you you couple
(14:44):
that with a quarterback that I think is as good
as anybody I do, and I think he's going to
be a Heisman guy at the.
Speaker 6 (14:52):
End of the year.
Speaker 1 (14:53):
For me, I mean Drew Lockey to me, I don't
know if I will be as high on Quinn in
the draft process as I am for him for Texas now.
And I think those can be two truthful, state efferent Okay,
so to your point, yeah, but having said that, he's
an experienced guy with a lot of confidence that has
(15:14):
weapons around him, and this is going to be a
difficult game for Michigan. I will say this, and I
know you love like you love history. We sat on
a desk together. It might have been like one of
your first weeks at FS at Fox at Fox Sports.
It was Jim Harbaugh's first game. I remember that Utah
at Utah, and that came up this week in my memory.
(15:40):
And it wasn't because you were blowing me away with
smart takes. Although I'm sure they were fine, it was
more so this Michigan team reminds me more of those
early Harbaugh teams. Jake Rudoc at quarterback, Wilton's Spate at quarterback, developing,
trying to be tough upfront, leaning on the run game,
really good defense, tough defensive line that can play limitation offensively,
(16:05):
a limited offense, but trying to get it done, complimentary football.
Both of those teams in twenty fifteen and sixteen one
ten football games. In fact, in sixteen, you know, they
were that overtime game with Ohio State away from going
and playing for a Big Ten championship. So I still
think that Michigan can be very good. I just think
that they're vastly more limited than what they were a
(16:25):
year ago when they had all of that NFL talent,
namely at the quarterback position and JJ McCarthy. So that's
how it frames in my mind. And I think it's
an uphill battle for Michigan this week because Texas is
really good. And remember this, the last game Texas played,
their defense was riddled with mistakes. They didn't play well
(16:46):
against Washington, right their whole offseason, the offense is fine.
I tend to look at what was your last game,
like like Miller moss last game, Louisville Holiday Bowl, got
some confidence, Sure Texas got Washington just was a hot
knife through that secondary. And I think Texas going to
come with a chip on their shoulder to prove to
everybody we're not just flashy. We can hit you in
(17:08):
the mount and play defense well. Texas this year reminds
me a lot of what Michigan was a year ago,
a team that lost in the previous semi final, and
you could see the train coming all off season and
you can see and you're like, oh man, they're really experienced.
Oh man. Their quarterback is very good college quarterback there.
They've got talent, they've got speed, they've got toughness, and
(17:29):
they've got a culture. And like Texas is real. They're
going to be a problem for Georgia, They're going to
be a problem for anybody in the country. Texas is
legitimately a national championship contender, and at least in this September,
with this roster, with all the newness at Michigan, I
can't in good conscience say that Michigan is a true
national title contender right now, they might develop into that.
(17:52):
I'm not sure the Wilton Spate twenty sixteen team did.
They developed into that late in that season behind an
incredible defense, and maybe that happens this year for Michigan.
But right now, Texas is the team that walks in there.
But with that, by the way, with that expectation comes
an immense amount of pressure they If they lose this
game to this Michigan team, that is awful, awful for
(18:15):
them and their fan base and their narrative and their
momentum because of the expectations of what we just talked about.
So that's on Fox Texas at Michigan, first top ten matchup.
It's gonna be such good TV. Yeah, it'll be great.
That's good. I'm happy for you.
Speaker 5 (18:30):
I am.
Speaker 1 (18:30):
I appreciate I poke you a little bit, but I
am happy. You know what, you still hold reciprocal Colorado record.
Some of them they're they're they're deep down and we
got something like that, you know, like most drop snaps. Okay,
So I'll get the Clemson next week. Florida State's done.
I'm gonna throw it. I you and I liked Oregon
a lot. Yeah, time out. I don't know what that was,
(18:53):
but that doesn't look like correctable in a week. Well,
that was the most could have won that game. Yeah,
and by the way, if I would have won, that
would have been a bigger upset than the app State
Michigan game from the early two thousand, So that would
have been the biggest upset in sure. Four star guys,
all we know Dan Lanning's a good coach. What was that?
That was as concerning as any game, and in the
(19:15):
first week of the season, there's no question about it.
And here's the thing. It's because it's not like they
went out there and turned the ball over seven times
and we're all of a sudden in a close game.
Dylan Gabriel threw for incredible production, including forty one of fifty.
They had to throw fifty passes against Idaho. That is concerning,
to say the least. If I'm Dan Lanning, I'm going
(19:36):
in there and it's it's fire and brimstone all week
with that team. Because a lot in a lot of respects.
You've got to take this team that won the football
game and treat them like losers, right, You've got to
take them and humble them down. And say this has
got to get better, namely the offensive line. No, the
offensive line was a problem. Three starters back, they ran
(19:57):
the ball for under three yards per carry again Idaho.
Five of their eight penalties were on the offensive line,
and they gave up three sacks. And you might say
to yourself, like, well, three is not not terrible. They
give up five all last season and five all last
season starters they return. These are four and five star guys. Yeah,
(20:17):
they're good players. They recruit high end linemen, they're they're
good players. And and you know this Oregon team, I'm
gonna I'm going to run ride with Oregon this week
and say, okay, that's what I think. I'm going to
give you your pass and say you're going to go
back to the grindstone and you're going to correct those issues.
Poise State comes in. By the way, Boise State has
(20:40):
never lost to Oregon. They're three and zero against Oregon
in their history. I know that that sounds crazy, but
good program. Ashton Gent They're running back is an excellent player.
That might be the top running back taken in next
year's NFL draft, just he's he's that good. But I
think Oregon rights the ship and I think that they
win in a big way. I'm watching that thinking we
(21:01):
got ourselves a problem. Yeah, that was that was there's
Clatt's top ten. Oh there does apparently, as I said
to Clatt on Twitter, he does. He only has direct TV.
He did not see the USC game. Clatt does not
have USC in that physicality and Miller moss I put
them at eleven. Okay, I was, I don't understand what
(21:24):
your I watched the Oregon and I watched USC. Like
I said, I'm gonna give I'm giving Oregon one last chance.
I felt the same way. I'm like, no, this is
something happened that the bus broke down. They were playing
nodded cleats they're playing in I don't know, I don't
know what that was.
Speaker 5 (21:41):
Man.
Speaker 1 (21:42):
You know what was so great about that Week one
of college football?
Speaker 2 (21:45):
So good?
Speaker 1 (21:45):
It wasn't just like, well, Georgia and Alabama looked good.
I mean, Georgia looks great. You've got freshman for Ohio State,
Texas look great. Notre Dame with a big win. Bama
looks like they're rolling with a young wide receiver that
could be divorce next a Dunes. You've got Miami Oklahom Like,
You've got a lot of really great storylines, including West
Coast football. USC with that huge win. That was really big.
(22:08):
It really was. Let me, I got something else here.
I was gonna bring up Oh, you didn't even bring
up Colorado Nebraska. It's a huge game. Okay, I'll just listen.
I was for Dion Sanders. I think he has brought
awareness to the program and energy and he can recruit.
I like Nebraska. I think Nebraska is the sleeping giant
(22:31):
in the country. They're gonna knock off good teams, including
USC as that Sandwich game right in the middle of
like Pen It's like UCLA, Penn State, Nebraska. Think of
it this way. For Nebraska, you'll love this. Last year
they won. They've lost four games by a field goal,
and those four games they turned it over seventeen times.
(22:52):
Fourteen of them were by the quarterback. Dylan Rayla. The
true freshman doesn't have to be great. He just has
to be a net positive for them to turn into
an eight to nine, maybe ten win team. If they're
able to beat Colorado on Saturday night, they'll be undefeated
facing Ohio State, which means even if they lose that game,
they'll go into November as an eight and one team
(23:14):
playing legitimate college football playoff games. You know, coaches love
Matt Rule. I told the staff this this morning. People
can say what they want about the Carolina experiment, but
nothing works in Carolina. Matt Rule is one of those
guys when you talk to other coaches. You talked turban Meyer,
He's like, no, that dude can go. Matt Rule does stuff,
Guys rip off. The problem for Nebraska and Matt is
(23:35):
that Colorado has three or four players that are better
than any player than Nebraska has. I think so this
is the problem for Nebraska is the better team I
will fully admit, But if Shador goes off and Travis
has a couple of picks, Colorado could easily win this
game because those two guys are just better than everybody else.
Travis maybe the best player in the sport this year.
(23:57):
I think he is. I think I think he's probably
the best overall player. Yeah, I would agree with that.
Clatt is excellent. I'm gonna give you a on this one. Wow,
you brought it the fact that you had all those
numbers up there. I'm a high processor. You are, you
can trust you. On third and three to audible to
a third play. That's what I like about it. Sometimes
even a four roh was like, well, now you're pushing
your luck. I don't want a fourth read from Clatt.
(24:19):
You just let her rip.
Speaker 5 (24:20):
Okay?
Speaker 1 (24:21):
Uh J Lab Headphones, Best audio products in the game,
Blue Box at your airport, Walmart, best Buy, Target, Moore,
or go to JLab dot com.
Speaker 2 (24:31):
One more heard. The Herd streams twenty four hours a day,
seven days a week. Within the iHeartRadio app, Search Herd
to listen live or on demand whenever you like.
Speaker 1 (24:41):
Steve Sarkisan showing up Texas Michigan this weekend on Fox.
That is that is blue blood territory, man bands, logos,
the teams, the coaches, everything is it just college football
has got a lot of rich history. Texas Michigan provides
so much context and Jay now with the news.
Speaker 2 (25:04):
This is the Herd line News.
Speaker 3 (25:07):
One of the more least appealing games of the weekend
is Patriots Bengals. Still know Jamar Chase, but how about
this the Jacoby Brissett situation. So he's going to be
the starter despite Drake may out playing him in the preseason.
Even the coach admitted that many fans want to see
May under center. Former Patriot Devin mccordy agrees with the
decision to start percent.
Speaker 6 (25:29):
You go into a preseason game, he looks great, plays well.
Then you go into a third preseason game, he plays
well again, and I think everyone's like, oh my goodness,
he needs to be out there. I think you got
to be careful of telling a quarterback. Hey, we know
you're young, but we need you to save the day.
Every single play. You need to make sure you can
(25:49):
put us in a perfect play.
Speaker 5 (25:51):
I e.
Speaker 2 (25:51):
Tom Brady, put us in a.
Speaker 6 (25:53):
Perfect play, get us out of a bad play, get
us into a good play. Hey, CDA justinas, Hey understand
the coverage. We need you to do that every little time.
Speaker 1 (26:03):
Yeah, I'm I'm good either way. I don't generally like
Week one favorites, but boy, it's hard not to like
Cincinnati in this spot. I know, I know Jamar Chase.
The number would be ten if we felt Jamar was
ready to go. I don't see the weaponry here. There's
one way New England can win games this year. There
(26:25):
is one way seventeen to fourteen win the turnover battle.
They got one avenue to win games and Burrow didn't
turn it over much.
Speaker 4 (26:32):
Yeah, I think the public is like reluctant to back
to Bengals. You see that seven and a half, Collins
was nine and a half like in ten days ago? Like, who,
why are people on the Patriots here? I don't know.
Speaker 3 (26:42):
I'm still seeing Bengals blowout. Next up the Phila Delphia Eagles. Man,
this is the game Friday night, by the way, hope
you carved out time on your calendar. Eagles looking to
rebound after the horrific end of the season. They went
one in six. They got blasted by the Bucks in
the wild card game. Nick Sirianni's gonna be on the
high seat, and one Philadelphia reporter believes anything short of
(27:04):
a deep playoff run will put his job.
Speaker 4 (27:06):
On the line.
Speaker 3 (27:07):
I guess you can only lose so many coordinators right
before you ultimately get that.
Speaker 6 (27:11):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (27:11):
I think at this point if they struggle this year,
and I don't think they'll struggle because I think their
talent in that division is so overwhelmingly in their favor.
I mean, the Rams have talent, the Niners have talent,
but there's players all over the division. It's like Philly's
talent and everybody else in that division. It's just a
different level.
Speaker 4 (27:28):
Philly's schedule is so easy.
Speaker 1 (27:30):
I mean they should stumble into ten to eleven wins.
But he has not done himself favor sometimes at the
podium on the sideline. So I think the pressure's amounts.
Speaker 4 (27:41):
Relationship with Hurts kind of rocket.
Speaker 1 (27:43):
That news was. I mean, ask yourself, how many offensive
coaches struggle with a quarterback. You could have a Belichick
mac Jones thing where Matt came in with a little
chip on his shoulder. Belichick's history very rarely does an
offensive coach struggle with a quarterback.
Speaker 4 (27:59):
That's an issue you We'll see Kellen Moore.
Speaker 1 (28:02):
Jalen Hurts has a history of being difficult.
Speaker 4 (28:04):
No, he's a great guy. What he went through it
in college at Alabama. No, I'm definitely pro Jalen Hurts.
I like the Eagles against your Packers. Sorry to see
your Packers go zero and one to start the season.
You really do you like Packers?
Speaker 1 (28:17):
Yeah? I don't know. First of all game in Brazil,
I'm not I'm not touching it. I don't know what
to make.
Speaker 2 (28:24):
Of it, but I'm rooting Eagles.
Speaker 1 (28:26):
Well, I'm not rooting for anybody. I'm America's honesty broker.
I root for I root for competition. J Mack with
an English.
Speaker 2 (28:38):
Well that's the news, and thanks for stopping by the
herd line news.
Speaker 1 (28:44):
So fired up Texas and Michigan. That Bears game, That
Bears Titans game. Can you do me one favor? What's
the line at now? In that game?
Speaker 4 (28:53):
Three and a half?
Speaker 1 (28:54):
See, that's one of those games I like Chicago I
would take. I mean, I don't know what ten offense
is gonna look like. I got no idea what well.
Speaker 4 (29:03):
We know the new offense, the new guys Callahan shark right.
Speaker 3 (29:07):
He ran a lot of three wide receiver sets with
the Bengals and Burrows, So they're gonna come out and
chuck and duck. This is no mohere Derrick Henry and
a cloud or dust, So be careful. I'm a little
nervous about the Bears here, so am I.
Speaker 1 (29:19):
We'll see the first two weeks of the season. This
tends to be true first three weeks. Bad teams don't
know they're bad. Like you get a team and they're
not good, but they're playing like they're good. Maybe they
had a good preseason. They've got young guy. They don't know.
Tennessee didn't know they're bad. Yeah, and so and by
the way, Chicago may say they're good, they don't know
(29:39):
they're good yet. They got too many moving parts. So
this week one is like outside of Cincinnati, New England,
I could see seven upsets. I told you one of
my favorite, one of my favorite plays is Carolina.
Speaker 5 (29:51):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (29:52):
So you would people just especially when you bring a
new offensive coaching. I mean Tennessee's got all new receiving core,
all new people on his staff, and I love Vrabel
but offensively that it was a tough.
Speaker 4 (30:04):
Wanting Tony Pollard is running back one. There another new guy.
Speaker 1 (30:06):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (30:07):
Like they got a lot of munis.
Speaker 1 (30:08):
Yeah, and good players. Good a little bit like Houston
where they brought in a lot of guys that aren't
superstars minus the quarterback. Yeah I'm not Yeah. Sarks around
the Corner Live in LA, It's The Herd.
Speaker 2 (30:20):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
and noon eastern nn am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio
FS one and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 7 (30:29):
He's Mike Krmen, I'm Dan Bayern. We have a fantasy
football podcast called I Want Your.
Speaker 2 (30:34):
Flex that's right, Dan.
Speaker 8 (30:35):
Every week we're gonna scour the waiver wire to find
the pickups to turbo boost your fantasy lineup, sit starts,
fantasy football players rankings to get you ready to dominate
the competition.
Speaker 7 (30:47):
Listen to I Want Your Flex with Mike Carmon and
meet Dan Byer on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts and
wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 1 (30:54):
I was encouraged by the sports media really pushing back
on some comments by Cheryl Swoops on Caitlin Clark. Everybody
just has to sit back. Nick Wright and I talked
about this yesterday. Caitlin Clark is great. She's like magic.
She walked into the Pro league and you're like, oh wow,
he's really really good right now. Don't care about college
(31:14):
inexperienced age. Caitlin Clark's great, and she's great right now. Now.
She's not Asia Wilson of Las Vegas, that's the best
player in the league, jumps out of the TV great player,
but Caitlyn Clark. And you see this a lot. You
used to see this all the time, where somebody came
out of men's college basketball who had played three or
four years. Patrick Ewing, Tim Duncan you know they were
(31:36):
ready to play. Now it's one and done. So even
if you get a Wemby or you get an Aunt Edwards,
they're just not old enough. They're not experience enough. But
it used to be when guys stayed in college for
three and four years, they would walk in and dominate. Well,
that's what women's basketball is. That's why Angel Reese can
walk in to the WNBA and be a dominant rodman
like rebounder. She's got four years of college. She's mature physic.
(32:00):
Now guys coming to the NBA. Jalen Green goes G
League NBA. It took him two years to figure out
how to play basketball. Like the end of his second year,
you're like, oh, okay, now he's got it. Okay, this
guy's really good. Like Wimby didn't improve the Spurs a
game and he was really good, but he was so raw.
Chet Holmgren, they're all raw. So what women's basketball is
right now is what men's basketball used to be twenty
(32:21):
years ago, fifteen years ago, where guys came in they
were like twenty three years old. They've been playing in
the Big East in you know, physical basketball and the
Big East. Syracuse in Yukon and they're ready to play,
and they're ready to produce, and they can give you
minutes and points and wins in the playoffs. That's what
women's basketball now presents. And I don't know. I mean,
(32:44):
I'm just watching Angel Reese and like every time I
watch her, it's a double double. She's a dominant rebounder.
I'm watching Caitlin Clark. She's a dominant player in this league.
All right. Steve Sarkajan, fourth year at Texas. Here we go,
joining us live game of the weekend against Michigan, former
head coach at Washington USC. I'm so fired up for
this stuff. You had a lot of influences. You had
(33:05):
Pete Carroll, you had Dan Quinn, you had Nick Saban,
but yet you've developed your own program. I can feel
the swagger, I can feel the attitude. Here's my question.
I think all of us in the media are too
tough on coaches. I feel this is actually your first
team and roster that I look at and I go, oh,
that's a national championship team. I looked at you last
(33:26):
year and I thought they're close. But I don't trust
the back end. Is that fair to say that's not
a knock on last year's team, but I feel this
team's different. I just do sark. What do you think?
Speaker 9 (33:37):
Well, I thought we were pretty good last you know,
we in we ran into a hot Michael Pennix there
in the Semis. But hey that we didn't play our
best game on either side of the ball. But you know,
I like our team this year. I would think, you know,
when you look at our roster, I think we only
have four or five guys on our team that were
here before I got here. The rest of the players
(33:59):
we were rooted. A lot of these players have been
here for you know, two, three and four years now
and have really grown up in the culture and understand
what we're about. We've got great leadership. But I also
think we've got great depth. I would say the one
thing about this year's team is we definitely have more
depth than we've had in any of our other years
and are too deep. Sometimes you can't tell the difference
between our ones and our twos, and that's great for us.
(34:21):
That's that's great for us right now early in the
season where we can play a lot of players, especially
in the heat when we're at home, but also for
the longevity of this season. You know, to think that
we kicked off August thirty first and we're hoping to
play January twentieth, you know we're gonna need We're gonna
need all the.
Speaker 1 (34:35):
Depth that we have. Okay, you lost a great tight end,
you lost two great receivers, one of them late first
of the Chiefs. You lost a running back. I like,
are you going to be as dynamic offensively, because that's
a lot of NFL talent that walked out the door.
Speaker 9 (34:48):
We lost three receivers, the other ones playing for the
Rams now too.
Speaker 1 (34:51):
Jordan's right, That's right, yeah, Jordan, Yeah.
Speaker 9 (34:54):
You know what I liked about the way we played
Saturday was the efficiency we played with offense. You know,
we've I think there's a there's a nice blend of
new faces on our offensive side of the ball. You know,
we have some transfers at receiver and tight end, but
we also have some true freshmen that have stepped up.
But we also have some guys that kind of you know,
(35:14):
waited their turn last year. But I think that the
most important thing is we've got a veteran offensive line.
We were turning four of our five starters on the
offensive front. You know, we've got a third year starting quarterback,
and so if you want to be good on on
the offensive side of the ball, the quarterback the offensive
line are critical. And then I think we filled in
some nice pieces around those those elements. And and like
I said, I thought we played really efficient game Saturday.
(35:37):
We showed the explosiveness, we showed the speed and space,
we showed the physicality and which we which we like
to play.
Speaker 1 (35:42):
With Quinn yours? Now, now, is there an advantage to
play in Michigan early? Hardball's gone new staff, although it's
the same kind of physical culture, this a bit, This
is a is a tough one, this is a blue blood.
It's a big game, it's high leverage. Is it an
advantage to play Michigan early?
Speaker 9 (36:04):
I don't know, You know, there are some there's plenty
of new faces, you know, and I think there's one
thing about Michigan that what coach Harbaugh did and now
what coach Moore is doing is when you think about
this program, there's three consecutive years they've gone to the
College Football Playoff wo Naturally that's capped off last year
with them being national champs. You know the amount of
(36:26):
draft picks that they've had thirteen I believe last year.
I think they're forty one and three in their last
forty four games. They've won sixteen games in a row.
They've won twenty three straight games at home in the
Big House. So this is a great program. As much
as it is about the team, this current team they have,
it's about the program, the development, what they've done, and
so the harder part for us isn't about that they're
(36:47):
going to be a quality opponent. It's about some of
the new faces. And then, naturally, from a staff perspective,
Wink Martin Dale's a defensive coordinator. You know, we've only
got one game sample size of him as a defensive
coordinator at Michigan, so some of those things can be
a little bit more difficult. But at the end of
the day, it's a great opportunity, you know, to go
play Michigan in the Big House. First time I ever
calling in the regular season that Texas is meeting Michigan.
(37:11):
And so when you two think about those two iconic
programs coming together, and it's pretty humbling for myself that
I get to be on the sideline leading leading the
Texas long home.
Speaker 1 (37:21):
What did you say to Quinn, yours you give you
played quarterback in college, You've had a lot of great quarterbacks.
What was the one thing after the season that you
told Quinn of yours? Hey, you know, I mean you
do this with all your quarterbacks. Here's what we're going
to work on in the off season. What is the
one thing that you said, Hey, let's get better at this.
Because you've you've made your mark with him, there's no
que even diet wise, you've changed it. What's the one
(37:44):
thing you said, Quinn, let's work on this. Let's make
this a point of attack in the off season.
Speaker 2 (37:49):
This is your team, go lead them.
Speaker 9 (37:51):
Really, it was about leadership. We knew we were going
to have to replace all those pieces, and we knew
we were going to have to bring in some transfers.
We knew we were going to have to rely on
some young players on the perimeter, and it was gonna
take Quinn leading them. It was gonna take Quinn getting
the rapport with those receivers in the tight end. It
was gonna take Quinn stepping up into that leadership role
(38:12):
where Jordan Wittington and Jalen Ford and those guys had
moved on from and so that's been our focus, and
he's done a tremendous job of that. You can feel
his presence. I think he instills confidence and belief into
everybody in the organization, not just his teammates. And that's
what quarterbacks do. That that's why it's the most important
position in sports. You know, you know, if you've ever
(38:33):
you know, you've ever been to Gillette And when when
Tom Brady took the field, it was almost like a
sigh of relief for everybody in the stands, like, Okay,
Tom's here, We're good to go. And I'm sure it's
the same way in Kansas City with Pat Mahomes and
so on and so forth. So the quarterback is a
powerful guy, not only with his play, but I just
think in the presence and the leadership that he provides.
Speaker 1 (38:54):
A couple of minutes left, I would argue in a
twelve team playoff, if I was a coach, I think
I think I be more aggressive because sometimes in college
football's history, it's like, I'm not saying anybody coaches not
to lose, but I think everybody's gonna lose a game potentially,
even the good teams. Does the twelve team playoff does
it matter to you at all, or is it like
(39:15):
just go Saturdays or Saturdays. I mean, I think it matters.
Speaker 9 (39:20):
There's still some strategy involved, especially if if you have
to play in the first round. You'd should love to
have home field advantage and get a home game and
not have to go back to Michigan in December, right,
And you sure would love to win your conference and
to get a buy in the first round, So you know,
I do think that matters. I don't think we're out
(39:41):
here just trying to be reckless and take shots and
go for it on fourth down. I do think there's
a rhyme and reason to everything that we're trying to
accomplish and what we're trying to do and develop in
our team in our program. But in the end, I
do think it allots you to play in games like
this and not feel like, man, if we don't to
win this game, we have to be perfect the rest
(40:02):
of the way. I do think it allots you to
expose your team to some tough environments, to play against
quality opponents, to get yourself ready for conference play, and
then not have to feel the repercussions if you don't
come out on top on the flip side of that, Man,
it can be It can serve as a great springboard
if you know you're going to going to the big
House and get this win. What it can do for
(40:23):
the rest of your season and the confidence of some
of the players in your program that are just getting
the you know, maybe their second game of exposure to
to big time football.
Speaker 1 (40:31):
Twelve and two won the Big Twelve. They're pivoting to
the SEC, and I think their roster, along with Georgia,
is the best in that conference. I only got a
minute left, I know you, coach Texas. Did you just
get a couple of minutes of that USC game at all? Sark?
Did your teav How did I know you were gonna?
Speaker 2 (40:46):
Ask me?
Speaker 9 (40:47):
Man?
Speaker 2 (40:47):
How did I know?
Speaker 1 (40:48):
You were so giddy? You?
Speaker 9 (40:50):
You were so giddy you probably went for a walk
the next morning right around Manhattan beach Man and you
were just you were kind of throwing throwing your your
victory sign up there, just excited about it.
Speaker 1 (41:01):
Hook him great, saying you Sark.
Speaker 2 (41:04):
Appreciate you.
Speaker 9 (41:05):
There.
Speaker 7 (41:05):
Hey, you got it going?
Speaker 1 (41:06):
Let me see it there you go right there? All right,
all right, Steve, somebody mix uh Michigan and Texas. I
just wondered if his TV just stumbled past. I mean,
you're flipping through the you know you're flipping through you're
watching whatever you're watching. You know, just USC game pops
up whatever I told you this. I don't know why
this is. I grew up with Texas, Nebraska, Oklahoma. I
(41:27):
always love Texas. I have no idea why I didn't
grow up in Texas. I've been Austin a bunch of times.
But there's something about the band, the color, they have
a unique scheme, the horns. Texas is big, the Texas
is big boy football. I can't wait for that thing.
And I like I like Texas and that thing.
Speaker 4 (41:46):
I would say I was the opposite. I grew up
in Notre Dame. Guy, just because they were on TV
every weekend, right, like it was easy. I'm growing up
in Virginia and it's like.
Speaker 1 (41:55):
But Notre Dame was never cool.
Speaker 4 (41:57):
What do you Texas about the late eighties? Notre Dame
rocket Ishmael.
Speaker 1 (42:01):
Come on, he was cool. Notre Dame wasn't cool.
Speaker 4 (42:04):
They were the fight song for Notre Dame. Well, it
was the Notre Dame in Miami.
Speaker 1 (42:07):
Hurricanes were the two Miami in the late Texas were cool.
Nebraska Notre Dame one cool, Tommy Fraser and Lawrence Phillips.
Speaker 4 (42:19):
Nebraska Beame was cool. Nebraska's not, but they made the
program cool. No, maybe you.
Speaker 1 (42:26):
Notre Dame has been great.
Speaker 4 (42:27):
I've never thought of the assessed what cool is.
Speaker 1 (42:30):
I think I have a pretty good sense of its cool.
I think America sees that I'm not Joe Burrow changing
Yex Green. That's cool, Okay. Our three next live in
La
Hosts And Creators
Colin Cowherd
Jason McIntyre
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