July 24, 2025 • 42 mins
Colin gives his NFL predictions with some interesting thoughts on the Green Bay Packers
USC Head Coach Lincoln Riley joins The Herd to talk about the college football portal, how he is building his program, the football playoff, and more
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
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 Fox Sports 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):
All right, here we go, it's our two Lincoln Riley
in about thirty minutes. A lot of people questioning, is
he the right guy? What is up with USC? I've
got the same questions. Steve Sarkesan's got it rolling. He
was on earlier today at Texas so jmach I saw
a story this morning. Whatever people think about Dion Sanders,
he has added value to Colorado. They sell their games out,
(00:49):
They're on TV all the time. He's got better players
going there than previously. He has been a success. Would
you not agree at Colorado one hundred percent? Thousand percent?
Speaker 3 (00:58):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (00:59):
Yeah. So here's the story out of Caroline on Bill Belichick.
The school announced yesterday all their tickets for twenty twenty five,
all of them including seasons tickets, single game tickets, all
of them sold out. So the hype the juice, the buzz,
the discussion, the recruiting, it's all working. Two years later,
(01:21):
Colorado is a good program, not great, but a good
program with a Heisman Trophy win. So he's And by
the way, Colorado has a clear ceiling financially, historically marginally
at best committed in sports. And it's not like Colorado
has a great high school football. You got to leave
the state to get people into that region of the country.
(01:42):
Caroline is a little bit of a sleeping giant, more
proximity to great high school players, It's got more money
in the athletic department, and frankly, it's a bigger brand
with deeper pockets. So I sawed this this morning. The
athletic just did a story. The timing was good. They
calculated how much college football teams would be worth, all
(02:04):
of them. Division one. Carolina was at twenty six, projected
at five hundred and seventy two million dollars. So and I,
I mean, it's a real brand. Carolina is a real brand.
It may start with basketball, but football they've had good players,
a lot of NFL guys from Carolina. So in Colorado football,
(02:25):
it's a story of shaky commitment brief success and long droughts.
So this thing should work for Bill Belichick. And we're
in the first inning, but so far in the first inning,
they're off too. As going to start as Deon sanders
the money, the buzz, the recruiting, and if you look
at this schedule, Deon's schedule in that first year is
(02:47):
pretty good. Who they had to face this schedule outside
of Clemson, So I put the over under win the
future bet next to the teams the DraftKings projected wins.
The second toughest game on that schedule after Clemson is
(03:09):
TCU at home. Now, Syracuse was good last year, but
they lost their quarterback in fifteen starters, so Syracuse is
in a total rebuilt. But that is as easy as
it gets. Also, it should be noted that ESPN is
going to put eight, if not ten, of Carolina's games
on television, so it's all baked in for him. And
(03:35):
I think Carolina is a really good We said this
between the ease of the schedule. If you go back
and look at Dion's first year at Colorado, their schedule
was a lot tougher than that, and they played a
TCU game ironically to start as well. But it was
a TCU team that was very very good the year before,
but had lost a lot of guys to the NFL,
so they blew out TCU was not very good that year.
(03:56):
This TCU similarly good, not special. Shouldn't work. Belichick is
talking at Carolina. Will have more on that later. And
so as we make our NFL predictions, I've always felt
I do a pretty good job on predicting teams that
were bad and that can double their win total. This year,
I'm taking New England as one of the shocking teams.
(04:17):
Last year I took Washington and Denver did pretty well
on that. And then there are teams that are good
that everybody kind of agrees probably caught lightning in the bubble.
They won't be as good this year. Detroit. The good
team I'm not sure what to do with is Green Bay.
I don't know what to do with them. And the
(04:38):
reason being is most Super Bowl winning teams, even teams
that get to the Super Bowl, have like six to
seven elite players. And I looked at this. The Athletic
this week ran pre training camp NFL power rankings and
they had Green Bay at five. Well, I can name
the Eagles. I can name eight to nine great Eagle players,
(04:59):
seven or eight Ravens, six or seven Bills, six or
seven Chiefs. I can't really name seven or eight great
Packer players. And so I said to the staff is boarding,
let's go to a team that's viewed as middle of
the pack power rankings, Denver. So let's rate the twelve
best players. If you combine Denver viewed as middle of
(05:23):
the pack, I don't think so. I think they're better
than that and Green Bay elite. So the best player
would be Patrick Surtan of Denver. He did not miss
a tackle last year. I'm not joking. He's the best
corner in the NFL. Highest coverage grade of every corner.
He is an unbelievable, all time great corner. They got
(05:43):
him locked up financially. Second best player would be a
Green Bay tackle, Zach tom So. He was the third
highest graded right tackle. I think Tristan Wurf's pinay Seul
was better and Lane Johnson was better. Tristan's moved over
to the left side, so they just signed him up.
He's a really, really good tackle. He'd be the second
best player. Third best player would I'll give it to
(06:04):
the Packers again Josh Jacobs. PFF has their best one
hundred and one players. They have him thirty. Fourth. He
was a touchdown machine last year, fifteen rushing touchdowns. He's
a tremendous player. Fourth Nick Minido, Denver. That guy popped
last year. He absolutely popped. Pro Bowler, All Pro Bowl
(06:25):
First Team. He's he can run like a small linebacker
and give you the edge rush like a Max Strowsby.
He is a just a hybrid great athlete. Number five
Quinn Miners, Denver. I know you don't talk about interior lineman.
Second highest graded guard in the league last year seven
hundred and eleven pass blocking attempts, gave up one sack.
(06:49):
I may have him low, mostly because he's a guard.
I would say the sixth best players defensive end for Denver.
Zach Allen. Again in this franchise, some of these guys
we don't talk about a lot. He led the NFL
in forty quarterback hits and ranked second in quarterback pressure.
So again he's kind of an unheralded guy. We know
about Chris Jones. You know we know a lot about
(07:10):
Jalen Carter because those teams are on TV every week.
Those teams are in a playoff kick. Zach Allen is
a dog. He's a big time player. I'd say number
seven is Garrett Bowles, left tackle for Denver. Again, great physician,
great player. Seven hundred times he dropped back to protect
his quarterback. He gave up two sacks. By the way,
(07:30):
I've sat next to him on a plane. They don't
make humans that big. I'm just telling you right now, man,
they don't make a lot of humans that big. Second
highest credited player on the entire Bronco roster. Now, I'm
gonna put Jordan Love at eight and bow Nix at
nine because I think we both acknowledged Jordan Love is good.
But is he great? We don't know. Felt like he
(07:52):
regressed last year, but he is one of six quarterbacks
with fifty five touchdown passes over the last couple of seasons,
so he's good. Put bone Nicks right behind him. Listen.
He led Jayden Daniels, he led all rookies passing yards, completions,
touchdown passes, total tds, and he's a really good athlete.
So I'm gonna put those guys eight and nine. Ten.
(08:13):
I'll give it back to the Packers. Xavier McKinney. They
got him in a deal. He's been great for them,
nine takeaways last year. He's a great player. Came from
the New York Giants, really really good player. Now in
eleven and twelve again, I think these guys could finish higher,
but they both come off injuries. Tylana Hufunga, the safety
(08:34):
that they got Denver got from San Francisco. He's a
great player. He was great at USC. He was great
at San Francisco Pro Bowler, first team All Pro with
ninety seven tackles as a safety. In twenty twenty two,
he got hurt. He is a tremendous player. He could
be number four or five on this list. I'm gonna
put him eleven. I'm gonna put dra Greenlaw Denver at twelve.
(08:55):
The linebacker. He was the fifth highest rinted linebacker by PFF. Again,
he's a San Francisco did not want to lose him.
They they tried to figure out a way to keep him,
but they paid Fred Warner and they couldn't keep it.
So eight of the twelve best players with Denver, who
the Athletic is saying is kind of the middle of
the pack team. Eight of the twelve or Broncos. So
(09:21):
and here's the thing, it's not that I dislike Green Bay.
I just what's their best unit. You'd be like, oh,
wide receiver, Well, then why do they draft a wide
receiver with their first pick? Because Christian Watson can't stay healthy? Well,
they're offensive line, usually a strength PFF has at fourteen.
So organizational stability has always been outstanding in Green Bay.
(09:43):
But you got to have players. So I when I
see Green Bay top five or six, I just I
just they don't have enough great players. And by the way,
if you told me this year bo Nix was better
than Jordan Love, I put him et ninth. I'm not
doubting it would happen. The for Denver is better than
Green Bay. So my takeaway is that bo Nix is
(10:05):
going to have the advantages any quarterback would have with
an elite defense, which is better field position, you can
open up the playbook. And I think we all acknowledge
that Sean Payton's better than Matt Lafleur. I like both,
Shawn's different. So I just don't know exactly what to
do with Green Bay. Jmck I know they're good. They won.
I mean, listen, last year they had quarterback injuries. They
(10:25):
still want eleven games, but I think the division's better
this year.
Speaker 4 (10:29):
Hey, can you pop that on the screen once again, Colin?
Speaker 5 (10:31):
Because I think that list that you just came up with,
I think this is a first in the history of
your like ranked players.
Speaker 4 (10:38):
There's not one wide receiver or tight end on this list?
Am I correct?
Speaker 1 (10:43):
Here? Now? I love you? No, No, I love Courtland
Sutton's Was he not top twelve? I mean, well, I
hadn't played a snap in Denver, okay, But Hafunnga and
Greenlaw were elite Pro Bowl level players. Sutton, in a
lot of eyes, is a number two receiver. I like him.
He's a lower end one or a great two. Remember
Michael Pittman of the Colts, like is he a one
(11:06):
or a great two? So I look, I like Courtland
Sutton a lot, But if you look at all the ratings,
people see him as like the best number two in
the league. Kind of a number two. That's why they
drafted Mims, who they think has no more number one
potential talent. And again, I love Courtland, but I would
probably have him thirteen and that would be another Denver guy. Yeh.
Speaker 4 (11:26):
Christian Watson just two injury.
Speaker 1 (11:28):
You can't stay healthy. So im, if you told me thirteen,
I would do Courtland Sutton and so now I have
nine of the top thirteen Denver. So when we think
they have a better coach.
Speaker 5 (11:41):
What is it? Well, Lafleur's excellent. I don't know better.
They're both very very good. Maybe you go A and
A B plus whatever. What does it say that neither
of these teams has skill position guys that scare you?
Speaker 4 (11:52):
Are they legit?
Speaker 1 (11:53):
Can they legit? Me?
Speaker 4 (11:54):
Contenders?
Speaker 5 (11:55):
Like, don't put them in the Kansas City group because.
Speaker 4 (11:58):
You have Mahomes who can l eight players.
Speaker 5 (12:00):
I don't know that Love and Nicks can elevate their
receivers the way Mahomes can.
Speaker 1 (12:05):
I think both. I think both are good enough at receiver. Yeah,
Baltimore is, yes, absolutely tell me the Jamar Chase triple
Crown winner last year didn't make the playoff. I know,
I'm away, So I think I mean Mems Cortland Sutton.
They drafted that kid in the second round that that
they that Sean Payton likes Harvey. Their offensive line is good.
(12:29):
Bo Nicks, by the way, hybrid, very capable of moving
the pocket and running. I think Denver's fine offensively, I do.
I think they're fine by the way they the Super
Bowl bro well, but now I'm not saying these are
super Bowl teams. My whole rant was how is one
six and one fourteen? My rant was, I don't get
the greatness of Green Bay.
Speaker 5 (12:51):
I'm assuming at the athletic have them fifth, that they
think they're a super Bowl contender.
Speaker 1 (12:57):
I don't.
Speaker 5 (12:58):
I would agree with you. I don't think the Packers are.
So what are we missing on this team? What are
they seeing that we're not on the Packers?
Speaker 1 (13:06):
By the way Sutton Courtland Sutton twenty seventh wide receiver
according to PFF, A very good starter. But a twenty
seventh best receiver would be like low one, top two,
and I put him thirteen, So nine of thirteen would
be Broncos.
Speaker 5 (13:21):
Yeah, that Packers that high is so puzzling because that
division is so difficult.
Speaker 4 (13:26):
Yeah, that may just be a whiff by the athletic.
I don't know one more.
Speaker 2 (13:30):
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 3 (13:39):
Hey, We're Cavino and Rich Fox Sports Radio every day
five to seven pm Eastern. But here's the thing.
Speaker 1 (13:45):
We never have enough time to get to everything we
want to get to.
Speaker 3 (13:48):
And that's why we have a brand new podcast called
over Promised. You see, we're having so much fun in
our two hour show. We never get to everything, honestly,
because this guy is over promising things we never have
time for.
Speaker 2 (14:01):
Yeah, you blubber list lame and me.
Speaker 4 (14:02):
Well, you know what it's called over promise.
Speaker 1 (14:04):
You should be good at it because you've been over
promising women for years.
Speaker 3 (14:07):
Well, it's a Covino and Rich after show, and we
want you to be a part of it. We're gonna
be talking sports, of course, but we're also gonna talk
life and relationships. And if Rich and I are arguing
about something or we didn't have enough time, it will
continue on our after show called over Promised. Well, if
you don't get enough Covino and Rich, make sure you
check out over Promised and also Uncensored by the way,
so maybe we'll go at it even.
Speaker 4 (14:27):
A little harder.
Speaker 1 (14:28):
It's gonna be the best after show podcast of all time.
Speaker 3 (14:31):
There you go, over promising, and remember you could see
on YouTube, but definitely join us. Listen over Promised with
Cavino and Rich on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or
wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 1 (14:44):
Been great to have James Franklin and Ryan Day and
Steve sar Keshan. Lincoln Riley's around the corner. They went
four and five in the Big Ten last year. A
lot of giveaways. Now it should be known in Texas,
I think led the sec and giveaways. So you can
you can, you can spit the ball up occasionally if
you have a high powered offense. So us he had
a little bit too many giveaways. They had leads in
(15:07):
a lot of Big Ten games and could not hold
the lead. It was a weird season. They went to
another quarterback late in the year and had some success.
So Lincoln Riley's around the corner. But first, j Mac
with the news.
Speaker 5 (15:19):
No news, this is the herd line news, all right,
Patrick Mahomes Colin.
Speaker 4 (15:26):
Everybody loves him, We love to talk about him, but
he's just like us.
Speaker 1 (15:30):
Colin.
Speaker 5 (15:30):
He's looking to change his game a little bit. Here's
what he wants to improve on at trading camp.
Speaker 4 (15:36):
Take a listen.
Speaker 6 (15:37):
Yeah, I think that for me. I gotta be better
at throwing the ball down the field. I mean, obviously
we weren't good enough there. We've had success in prior
years that these last few years we haven't done that.
And in order for our office to be great, you
have to be able to complete those passes. It opens
up everything else. That's the mindset is getting back to
throwing the ball down the field and then if we
can do that, it'll open up the rest of the offense.
Speaker 5 (15:57):
And we have some stats to back that up that
Patrick Mahomes over the last two seasons, Colin, he's kind
of been a checkdown artist. Look at how how much
he's struggled throwing the ball down the field fifteen or
more yards.
Speaker 1 (16:09):
That is not good.
Speaker 4 (16:10):
Six touchdowns in twelve picks.
Speaker 1 (16:13):
Well, in fairness, it's been a revolving door because of
wide receivers, immaturity on the team, a left tackle position,
right tackle position had been a little shaky. So in fairness,
he's had to be a little bit of checkdown Charlie,
and I will defend him. Offensive line has been hit
and miss, and the wide receivers he's you know, these
(16:33):
guys can't get out of trouble, and I like worthy
of the wide receiver, but he feels a bit more
of a gadget guy than a volume guy. To me,
he's good. Rahi Rice, by the way, who's suspended. We're
waiting for that final count on that. He's a volume
by but he can't stay on the field.
Speaker 5 (16:47):
Yeah, of course he'll defend him, Colin. I mean, he's
Patrick Mahomes. And you know we love to talk about
Brock Perdy and his wide receivers. Well, Brandon I hot's
a problem child, Deebo, Samuel's fat.
Speaker 4 (16:57):
They shift him out of town. Oh yet that interesting.
Everybody's got to deal with this stuff.
Speaker 5 (17:02):
Bottom line is Mahomes not the league has caught up
to him, but the way he dominated very early in
his career for like three or four years, that.
Speaker 4 (17:11):
Has tailed off a little bit.
Speaker 5 (17:12):
That's okay to say, Well, I don't know if coordinators
are scheming up new stuff, but he is struggling.
Speaker 1 (17:17):
A little bit. Well, I'll make the argument on big
third and fourth downs in the playoffs, I'll take him
over everybody.
Speaker 4 (17:24):
Else except Ja It hurts right, No, it's not closed.
Speaker 1 (17:29):
I still think he is one of these guys big third,
fourth down postseason, I'll take him because I know Andy
Reid's calling the plays.
Speaker 5 (17:37):
As long as they're not getting blown out in the
Super Bowl, they're in competitive nature for the game next up.
How about this colin Pittsburgh, GM Omar Khan met with
the media for the first time since signing Aaron Rodgers.
Despite it taking forever to happen, con never worried Rogers
would be a Steeler.
Speaker 4 (17:55):
Listen to this.
Speaker 7 (17:58):
Some people might view my pages are paid just as
a weakness, but we view it.
Speaker 1 (18:01):
As a strength. Uh and uh, you.
Speaker 4 (18:05):
Know, we just felt good about it.
Speaker 7 (18:06):
You know, if there was if there was a point
where we didn't think things would end up what we
wanted to end up, we would have you know, gone
in a different direction. But we just still comfortable and felt.
Speaker 1 (18:15):
Good about it.
Speaker 7 (18:15):
And you know, we want Aaron Rodgers and Anna Rodgers
wanted to be a Steeler and it worked out.
Speaker 1 (18:22):
How about we, you know what, you and I should
take a different tech. How about we just get really
positive about Aaron Rodgers.
Speaker 5 (18:27):
Oh no, let's not do that. Aaron Rodgers wanted to
be a Steeler.
Speaker 4 (18:32):
I mean there were multiple courts. He was waiting for
the Vikings to.
Speaker 5 (18:35):
Decide if they want MacArthur to be their guy, like he.
Speaker 4 (18:37):
Was waiting for a better offer. This is probably like you.
Speaker 5 (18:41):
When women, you know, ladies are asking you to the problem,
and you're waiting for the best offer, and then finally
you just all right, I'll take the burden hand here
with pittburd.
Speaker 1 (18:49):
Nobody, nobody asked me to the problem. So yeah, I'm
gonna take a more positive spin. I think from this
point forward, I'm gonna be I'm gonna try to be
very positive. You know what we're going into season. He'll
be interesting. You and I are in the interesting business.
In fairness, I can't wait to watch it. I don't
think you know, I think this organ I think. My
(19:09):
guess is I don't know. If we have the Steelers schedule,
I think they'll start pretty well. I think if you
look at the Steelers the last several years, Tomlin's very
much a motivator and a raw, raw guy, and that
stuff wears thin by Thanksgiving and on. But I think
they're gonna be a pretty compelling team. I'm looking forward
to watching it. It'll be it'll be better than the
Jets situation, simply because there's more organizational fluidity than.
Speaker 4 (19:32):
That yours jab at the Jets.
Speaker 5 (19:33):
Okay, sure, I guarantee you if you were to rank
the most interesting quarterbacks, Rogers is not in your top ten.
I mean Colin the last time he was interesting out
and again I'm not talking about conspiracy theories and Anthony
Fauci and that stuff regarding football.
Speaker 4 (19:49):
Was like twenty nineteen, twenty twenty.
Speaker 1 (19:52):
Like, what are we talking about. Let's look at that schedule.
Open at the Jets win.
Speaker 5 (19:57):
I don't know necessarily that defense. You don't think they're
going to be amped up to come after him.
Speaker 1 (20:01):
Okay, host Seattle, potential win New England, host Minnesota, Cleveland
at Cincinnati Colts. There's a lot of w's here. Pittsburgh's
gonna start strong. Don't be shocked if it's five and two.
I don't think it's going to end well. Now, let's
go to the bottom of the back of the schedule.
(20:22):
Is going to be full of Baltimore and Joe Burrow.
But I think they're gonna start I think they're gonna
be pretty interesting, because all of a sudden, you get
to mid October and then it's you know, you're getting
some Joe Burrow and you're getting some Green Bay. Okay,
let's look at the end of the schedule. Yeah, against
top here is Oh, there's on the road justin Herbert
Joe Burrow, Buffalo at Baltimore at Detroit. Yeah, so it's
(20:46):
going to here's my prediction. Five and two is the start,
eight and nine is the finish.
Speaker 4 (20:52):
Absolutely no shots.
Speaker 5 (20:53):
So what's weird about that is the league should have
learned their lesson from his first year with the Jets.
Speaker 4 (20:59):
Remember, they load up.
Speaker 5 (21:00):
All these great games and Rogers got hurt early in
the season, and so end of the season, Jets, we're
not on TV at all. I mean the Steelers, you
really I would have flipped it. I would have had
the hard games early when Rogers is around well late
in the season, you think he's gonna still be standing
up right.
Speaker 1 (21:16):
Yeah. I think if you look at the schedule week
nine on, it gets it gets prickly. But the first
eight weeks there's a lot of wins there.
Speaker 4 (21:26):
For aner eight and a half.
Speaker 1 (21:29):
I think that's the right number. I would you know,
Tomlin's never had a losing season, so I'd say I'll
take the over. But it's an eight or nine win team,
that's what it is.
Speaker 5 (21:37):
We need a scoreboard. You're going over. I'm going under
for sure, eight and a half, and we're.
Speaker 1 (21:42):
Just I'm I can be talked into either one. Let
me watch the preseason. Does everybody stay healthy? I mean, honestly,
let me watch the first Let me watch the preseason.
Let's see what the camp shows us. But I ain't
gonna be I think it'd be.
Speaker 4 (21:54):
Fine, Okay, all right.
Speaker 5 (21:55):
Next up is Baker Mayfield, who has bounced around a
bit in the NFL before landing in Tampa, and it
feels like he's found a.
Speaker 4 (22:01):
Home pro bowler coach seasons.
Speaker 5 (22:04):
At training camp, Baker talked about like Tampa is such
a great fit.
Speaker 8 (22:08):
This isn't on the other teams and franchises. Like when
you step in and your GM and your head coach say, hey,
just be you. After I've been told at every stop
and everywhere I go, hey, you need to tone it
down a little bit.
Speaker 1 (22:24):
You need to be a franchise quarterback. It's just not
who I am.
Speaker 8 (22:27):
Like, I wear my emotions on my sleeves, talk I'm
gonna do whatever. But when it's time to turn the
lights on and go do something, I'm gonna do it.
So when I stepped into the building. They all told
me to just be myself.
Speaker 1 (22:37):
I still have hopes I can get them back on
the show. Your boy Baker, Yeah, because if somebody asked
Baker about me a year ago and he said, we're
front of me, that's what That's what he said, And
I think I don't think. I think I told her
the story about what he did at a restaurant in
la He's a really good guy. Baker is a really
good guy. He's had to deal with some family nonsense,
(22:58):
but he's a really good guy, and he and Emily
are good people. I am genuinely happy for him, and
I think i've I've even in the darkest hour, I
always said, oh, he's the starting quarterback. He throws a
beautiful ball. When he can plan it and let it rip,
he throws a great ball. He now, sometimes he gets
ahead of himself and he can get a little reckless.
(23:18):
Soa can Darnold so can He can get a little reckless.
Sometimes his confidence is better than his game. But that's
part of the beauty of him, is that he's got
incredible confidence. They're gonna win that division.
Speaker 4 (23:34):
I'll go Aheadtlanta. Yeah, we're just on opposite side. Today, Man,
I don't know.
Speaker 5 (23:39):
Colin.
Speaker 1 (23:40):
Well, there's a right side on your side. So that's
all the sides were on. J Mack with the News.
Speaker 2 (23:46):
Well that's the news.
Speaker 1 (23:48):
And thanks for stopping by the herd Line News. I
really you know, I talked about this to start the show,
is that people were so freaked out, and I understand this.
I think I was talking to Danny Parkins about this
on a podcast yesterday that if you take AI, watch
how people react to AI. There are people out there
(24:09):
in life that are just they don't like change. They
get very new erotic on stuff. You can see it
with AI. The world's going to end. And then there
are people that I didn't grow up in a traditional household,
so I like change. I've moved all over the country.
I now live in Chicago. I love it. How do
you I love it? It's just I like change. I like
new stuff. My wife's the same way. And I think
(24:31):
AI is going to be revolutionary. I'm not worried about
robots taking over the world. I think in science and
in medicine, it's going to change everything. We're going to have.
We're going to find cures for cancer, it's going to
save lives. I think AI is unbelievable, and I trust
the smartest people in the world to put enough guardrails
on it that the robots are not going to be
(24:53):
knocking on my door and slinging me around the yard.
But and so, when the college football playoffs was announced,
I mean, there was just a lot of naysayers and
negative people. What about the bowl games? What about them?
Most are awful, Half the seats are empty. Well what
about the rivalries. You're not gonna watch Ohio State Michigan
(25:16):
if it's on, you're not gonna watch it. You're gonna
watch it, Well, it won't feel the same. It will
if your team's winning or your bets winning, it'll feel
just the same. So I love that Ohio State and
Texas are playing. And the thing I really like about
it you can be aggressive. You can take chances in
your play calling because you can lose the game and
still lose another game, and both these teams can get
(25:38):
into the playoff. Think about last year, Ohio State they
lose a go either way game at Oregon in the
old system, they lose to Michigan and the season's over
because they were a home favorite. Season's over. Fiestable. Instead
they win the National Championship. They use that loss as
jet fuel the staff, the players. That's how it works
(26:01):
in the NFL. When the Raiders beat the Chiefs years
ago at the end of the year and the Chiefs
won the Super Bowl. This idea that this harsh punitive
action for a nineteen year old kid losing a game,
you should. I mean, if you look at how many
games these teams are playing, if you count the playoffs,
(26:21):
like sixteen games, you got to go fifteen and one
with a transfer portal with the nil I mean, Georgia
now doesn't have a third great receiver. They're lucky to
have two. The third guy just got poached by Oklahoma
or Louisville. So you don't these You can't stock pile
(26:42):
talent at Georgia or LSU because the minute you have
a five star guy by the beginning of his sophomore year,
if he's not playing, he's gonna go play it. Oklahoma,
he's gonna go play it. Clemson, he's out, he's leaving.
So the teams aren't gonna be as dominating as those
Alabama teams eight years ago. They're not going to be
as deep. You're not going to be able to have
(27:03):
two offensive line injuries. You're done. It's over. So I mean,
here was sark on facing the Ohio State and the
opener in Columbus.
Speaker 9 (27:15):
That's the beauty of this format, now that you can
afford to play these games. It's great for the fans,
it's great for college football. Everybody's talking about it, and
I was jokingly saying, you know, it's so different than
the NFL. Nobody's talking about week one matchups in the NFL.
Everybody's talking about this game. And then the idea that
(27:35):
I don't think either of us get punished playing this game. Obviously,
we all we both need to play well throughout the
entirety of the season. But sure, it's what a spotlight
it puts on both programs as well as college football.
Speaker 1 (27:47):
I mean, it just makes no sense. We don't ask
thirty two year old professional football players to go seventeen
to zero or fifteen and two, but we're asking nineteen,
twenty and twenty one year old kids, Hey, you lose
the opener, you got to win the rest of your games.
That's why the playoff is great. It allows coaches to
take risks, schedule bigger games, young people can grow. These
(28:09):
college football players from week two to week seven, you
have a different person. They got midterms and girlfriends in classes.
Let them grow. It's okay to lose a couple of games.
I love the college Football Playoff for the growth of
the young people playing it. Lincoln Riley's now joining US
Entersports season at USC. You know, Lincoln, all of this
(28:31):
stuff is you're growing with it. The nil, the portal.
Let's talk portal. What have you learned about the portal
from the first year you dealt with it to now?
Like is there something that you know to be true
with the portal? Or is it still kind of you
take your swings at it and you cross your fingers
(28:54):
all right? Right now, he can't hear us, Lincoln Riley
can't hear us. All right, We'll try to get it right,
because that's the thing about like when the portal came
out again, just like the playoff, everybody freaked out with
a portal. And my takeaway was, Guys, if you hire
a new coach and they use the portal, I mean
Dion Sanders without the portal, he'd still be rebuilding Colorado.
(29:18):
He'd still be rebuilding Colorado. I mean Lincoln Riley won
eleven games first year at USC that had thirty guys
in the portal. I mean, if you want to sit
and wait for three years to build a program, but
the portal allows you to build it virtually overnight. We'll
take a break back with Lincoln Riley next.
Speaker 2 (29:36):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
and noon Eastern a em Pacific on Fox Sports Radio
FS one and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 1 (29:46):
Lincoln Riley fourth year USC. They have struggled in their
opening year in the Big Ten, So I got to
ask you to start. The weather's colder, the flights are longer. Stylistically,
it's different than the air raid, all the passing in
the seventy degree weather of the of the Pac twelve.
So is there when you this offseason looked at your roster.
(30:08):
Did you recruit and say, hey this, we got to
get bigger here, we got to get sturdier here. Did
it change because you were kind of flying blind you
just went into the Big Ten? Did you build your
roster accordingly? Did you make alterations?
Speaker 10 (30:25):
We did, And I think some of that's in response
to the Big Ten, but also think a lot of
it is just response to our natural growth as a program.
Now we want to be a team that's a national
championship contender every single year, like you should expect at
USC and to do that you have to be great
on the line of scrimmage, and so we've certainly tried
to build that throughout the years. I think this group
(30:46):
coming up on both fronts, has a chance to be
the very best we've had, and certainly see a major difference,
especially on the defensive line that I know if they dividends.
Speaker 1 (30:53):
This year, you know you guys got your nil in order.
Now there is a sense with Jen Cohen people can
look can go well, what about the record and what
about the record? But the reality is is that the
portal in the nil create advantages and sometimes they muddy
it up. I want to go back to the question
I ask you, what have you learned about the portal
(31:15):
that you like and that you may have a cautionary
tale about. How do you view the portal today? Lincoln?
Speaker 10 (31:23):
Well, the portal is just another tool to build your roster,
and certainly it gives teams opportunities to really maybe shock
the system when it hasn't been successful. I mean our
first year at US is a great example. We went
heavy in the portal, we were able to have a
really good season. But also, you know, the portal has
it's dangerous, right You don't get a real chance to
(31:45):
evaluate and get to know a lot of these guys.
Some of these guys are coming in for such a
short amount of time and finding the right fit I
think can be very very difficult.
Speaker 1 (31:54):
And so you know, we're a great example.
Speaker 10 (31:56):
And then you see teams across the country are having
to decide are we going to really be a portal
heavy team that dabbles in high school ri's recruiting or
are we going to be vice versa. And certainly we
know what we did early at USC, but we've certainly
pivoted to what we believe we want to be and
know we want to be long term, especially being in
Los Angeles and in southern California. And that's a high
school developmental program that uses the portal sparingly. And I
(32:19):
think our you know, upcoming recruiting class is a great
example of that.
Speaker 1 (32:25):
Jade, my ive as your quarterback comes from you in LV.
You also get a five star best high school football
player arguably in LA in the program, so you want
to be patient, but there are kids that are really
good really soon. And I've seen your five star all
you know, all the highlights, and it's a lot of
jaw dropping wild stuff. Could it be a rotational situation?
(32:46):
How do you weigh it? When you have an enormously
gifted back up quarterback, you have a very tough schedule,
how do you weigh that stuff? Well, it's first world problems, right.
Speaker 10 (33:00):
Having two guys that you really believe in and multiple
guys that you believe in a quarterback room is a
great thing. It's hard to do, especially in this day
and age. We were super impressed without Jaye Mayeva played
in the last four games, has four starts. We went
three and one against four really quality teams, four very
strong defenses, and thought he did some just really really
outstanding work in those games. And he's grown and progressed
(33:23):
a lot. Certainly, Hassan long Street is a really special
talent that I think is certainly one of those guys
that is going to get better quickly and certainly could
have a role on this football team, There's no doubt
about it. And then really plays with Sam Hewart as well.
I think the room is as deep as we've had
it at USC and from then on, it's competition. Now,
that's what the best programs are based on. There's got
(33:46):
to be competition in that room and we always want that.
We've always had that, and we think that's the reason
that our quarterback rooms throughout history have been pretty successful.
Speaker 1 (33:55):
If you go back to your Oklahoma years, we didn't
have a twelve team playoff, right, we didn't have that
we do now. And I've said this, I I it's
a different world. I look at your schedule and it's like, Okay,
do you I mean, how do you go five six
years ago? I look at your schedule and I think, Man,
that Michigan, that Illinois, Michigan, Notre Dame Nebraska run. That
(34:19):
is rough? Do you? And then you have a couple
of games early that you will be heavy favorites. Do
you think if you went six years ago, Lincoln, do
you look at the season more as a whole? Are
you more strategic with it because now it could be
potentially a fifteen game schedule if you get into the playoff.
Speaker 10 (34:40):
Yeah, I think that you certainly have to factor that in.
I mean, so much of this has changed. I think one,
you know, like you said, keep it in mind that
this season could be several games longer than anything we
ever would have thought of, you know, multiple years ago.
And I think the other thing that you have to really,
you know, pay attention to it maybe create awareness of
one staff, the coaches, fans, everybody is you know, now,
(35:03):
you know, losing a game here or there, you know,
doesn't put you out, whereas years ago, you know, you
knew pretty quickly that it was going to be a
tough road to have a chance to get back to
the playoff. I mean, heck, the national champion last year
lost two games, and so I think it's something that
everybody's kind of got to get used to, especially with
these you know, almost super conferences starting to get established,
(35:25):
like the Big ten in the SEC has done, where
there's so many good football teams, you know, week in
and week out, the competitions high, the parodies high, and
so yeah, I think it's you've had to change your mindset,
and I think you have to have an awareness within
the program then adapt to whatever systems in front of
us at the current time.
Speaker 1 (35:42):
So your first seven years a head coach, you were
a top ten offensive team every year Oklahoma USC last year,
it drops off some of it. It was a turnover year.
You were also very young. I mean your two receivers
I love were both kids. Do you look at it
as you turnovers? What happened last year that you look
at the season as it ends and you said, hey,
(36:04):
we got to clean this up, we got to get
better here. Where will you make the two biggest leaps
offensively to get back to a top ten offense, which
you were your first seven years a head coach?
Speaker 10 (36:15):
I think I think first I would look at our
at our offensive line, the recruiting, the development that we've done.
I feel like we really have championship caliber depth and
a really strong strong starting group.
Speaker 1 (36:28):
There right now.
Speaker 5 (36:29):
Uh.
Speaker 10 (36:29):
And then yeah, I think the big thing for us
is is you've certainly, you know, we've got to get
more consistent play, you know, out of our quarterback position
as well. And that was a that was a you know,
we had some really great moments last year, but also
you know, we turned it over a few too many times.
And when you're playing, you know, in a league like
what's being created where you're playing a really good defense
(36:49):
just about every single week, you know that's that there's
going to.
Speaker 1 (36:53):
Become a little bit more pressure on that.
Speaker 10 (36:55):
Right, the windows to make throws or to make plays,
or the opportunities to score points are going to start
to tell up. So you've got to be that much sharper.
So certainly our expectations are as high as they possibly
could be there, and I think this group has a
chance to be one of the best groups in the country.
Speaker 1 (37:09):
I was watching the Caleb Williams story in Chicago, and
it's interesting about quarterbacks. When a quarterback gets out of rhythm,
it could be Caleb, it could be your young kids.
Now go back to your career, could be Baker Mayfield.
When a quarterback is a little out of sorts, reportedly
Caleb has been in camp, what do you tell, like,
do you keep message messaging simple for quarterbacks? They have
(37:32):
to know the whole playback. In your career of coaching quarterbacks,
you've hat Heisman winners, you've got first rounders, number one picks.
What is a message that almost always works for any
young quarterback that's a little out of rhythm or struggling. Well,
you said a word there.
Speaker 10 (37:50):
I think simplicity is very important, And then I think
it's important for the coach to remember It's such a
confidence driven position. And so often in my career with guys,
even some of the guys that were more experiencing and
played a lot of ball, you know, when when they
got out of rhythm, it was just kind of going
back to the basics, you know, going back to the
day one things that they learned, because that's what they're
(38:11):
going to have the most confidence, They're going to have
the most repetitions banked on, and a lot of times
that helps those guys settle in. And then I think
it's also you know on every coach and head coach
that you've got that type of relationship, you know, with
your guys, and so that there is that trust built
and you can have that conversation and help adjust them
and get them back on the same page and get
them back playing confident football.
Speaker 1 (38:32):
All right. Lincoln Riley entering his fourth season at USC.
There are twenty twenty six recruiting classes, number one in
the country. It is the best O and D line
size wise. Usc'll say it since the Pete Carroll era.
It is NFL bodies. They are big across both lines,
and I can't wait to watch it. Lincoln, I appreciate
stopping by anytime. Thanks going. Okay, yeah, it's the It
(38:55):
is the first time since I would say Pete Carroll
where you Their left tackle is going to be a pro,
their right guard is going to be a pro. They'll
probably leave early defensive line, spend some money NFL bodies.
But again, you start looking at that schedule. Look, they've
got a four game stretch that is brutal. Illinois returned
sixteen starters. This is the best Illinois football team in
(39:16):
a decade. Okay, Illinois is good. That is a tough game.
First four, you'll be favored. Michigan at home, very winnable,
playing probably a freshman quarterback. Notre Name on the road,
good luck. Nebraska has trouble written all over it. So
obviously at Oregon and at Notre Dame, you can lose
(39:37):
those games and make the playoffs. Those are really good team.
It's how you lose them. You get right, Like Ohio
State lost twice close to Oregon, close to Michigan. Can't
get blown out. But if you look at that schedule
at Notre Name, in at Oregon, they're going to be underdogs.
They're going to be favorites a lot nine wins. Let
me think here one, two, three, four, five, I've six, seven, eight,
(40:04):
I have nine wins. What are you shaking your head out?
Speaker 4 (40:06):
I mean nine wins, and your boy's going to keep
his job, that's for sure.
Speaker 1 (40:10):
He's keeping his job.
Speaker 5 (40:11):
Well, listen, it's one of he's You see all these
hot seat lists. I don't think he deserves to be
on there because of the contract. He's not going anywhere.
But you look at the hot seat Listen, he's up there.
Speaker 4 (40:22):
Colin, You're at the top.
Speaker 1 (40:25):
Yeah, that's what they say. You know all I know,
you know there are people out there that love the
NFL but don't watch college football. How can you not
watch some of these games? Like, I mean, honestly, I
looked at the Labor Day schedule. There was obviously Texas,
Ohio State. College football is so much fun, and I
(40:46):
do think, I really do think this. The quarterback play
in college is so much better than ten years ago.
These guys have so many seven on seven camps and
private tutoring and private coaching. You got Lsu, not Smyer,
you got Aller, you got arch manning the kid at
South Carolina. There's like five or six guys and by
the way, there will be a quarterback in college that
(41:06):
emerges by week six, seven or eight, we're all gonna go,
I didn't know about this guy, like.
Speaker 2 (41:10):
A cam Ward.
Speaker 1 (41:11):
Yeah, I mean we thought cam Ward was interesting at
Washington State and you look up and you're like, oh
my god. So I mean we could have we could
have six first round quarterbacks and we got three of
them being keep your eye on the kit at Clemson.
Highly highly productive. It is the ACC, but highly productive.
Speaker 3 (41:32):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (41:32):
So we've had sark On, Lincoln, Ryan Day, and James Frank.
Speaker 5 (41:36):
I love your optimism this week. You're really in a
positive headspace right now. Every you think, every quarterback is amazing,
Every team is outstanding. You're loving everything right now except
the Lakers and Clippers. But fortunately Lakers will be fine.
NBA's on the back burner.
Speaker 1 (41:49):
No, Lakers will be fine. DeAndre Ayton, Marcus Smart, Lebron,
Austin Reeves, Luca. That's a fine team. But it's the
way if you put them in the East, they could
buy for a conference championship series. Absolutely, the West is
a whole different ballgame. It's the difference between the ACC
and the Big Ten. It's the whole different ballgame. The
West is completely stacked. Mark Sanchez is going to be
(42:12):
stopping by last hour of the former Trojan good Stuff.
Two down, one to go. It's thirt
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 Fox Sports 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):
All right, here we go, it's our two Lincoln Riley
in about thirty minutes. A lot of people questioning, is
he the right guy? What is up with USC? I've
got the same questions. Steve Sarkesan's got it rolling. He
was on earlier today at Texas so jmach I saw
a story this morning. Whatever people think about Dion Sanders,
he has added value to Colorado. They sell their games out,
(00:49):
They're on TV all the time. He's got better players
going there than previously. He has been a success. Would
you not agree at Colorado one hundred percent? Thousand percent?
Speaker 3 (00:58):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (00:59):
Yeah. So here's the story out of Caroline on Bill Belichick.
The school announced yesterday all their tickets for twenty twenty five,
all of them including seasons tickets, single game tickets, all
of them sold out. So the hype the juice, the buzz,
the discussion, the recruiting, it's all working. Two years later,
(01:21):
Colorado is a good program, not great, but a good
program with a Heisman Trophy win. So he's And by
the way, Colorado has a clear ceiling financially, historically marginally
at best committed in sports. And it's not like Colorado
has a great high school football. You got to leave
the state to get people into that region of the country.
(01:42):
Caroline is a little bit of a sleeping giant, more
proximity to great high school players, It's got more money
in the athletic department, and frankly, it's a bigger brand
with deeper pockets. So I sawed this this morning. The
athletic just did a story. The timing was good. They
calculated how much college football teams would be worth, all
(02:04):
of them. Division one. Carolina was at twenty six, projected
at five hundred and seventy two million dollars. So and I,
I mean, it's a real brand. Carolina is a real brand.
It may start with basketball, but football they've had good players,
a lot of NFL guys from Carolina. So in Colorado football,
(02:25):
it's a story of shaky commitment brief success and long droughts.
So this thing should work for Bill Belichick. And we're
in the first inning, but so far in the first inning,
they're off too. As going to start as Deon sanders
the money, the buzz, the recruiting, and if you look
at this schedule, Deon's schedule in that first year is
(02:47):
pretty good. Who they had to face this schedule outside
of Clemson, So I put the over under win the
future bet next to the teams the DraftKings projected wins.
The second toughest game on that schedule after Clemson is
(03:09):
TCU at home. Now, Syracuse was good last year, but
they lost their quarterback in fifteen starters, so Syracuse is
in a total rebuilt. But that is as easy as
it gets. Also, it should be noted that ESPN is
going to put eight, if not ten, of Carolina's games
on television, so it's all baked in for him. And
(03:35):
I think Carolina is a really good We said this
between the ease of the schedule. If you go back
and look at Dion's first year at Colorado, their schedule
was a lot tougher than that, and they played a
TCU game ironically to start as well. But it was
a TCU team that was very very good the year before,
but had lost a lot of guys to the NFL,
so they blew out TCU was not very good that year.
(03:56):
This TCU similarly good, not special. Shouldn't work. Belichick is
talking at Carolina. Will have more on that later. And
so as we make our NFL predictions, I've always felt
I do a pretty good job on predicting teams that
were bad and that can double their win total. This year,
I'm taking New England as one of the shocking teams.
(04:17):
Last year I took Washington and Denver did pretty well
on that. And then there are teams that are good
that everybody kind of agrees probably caught lightning in the bubble.
They won't be as good this year. Detroit. The good
team I'm not sure what to do with is Green Bay.
I don't know what to do with them. And the
(04:38):
reason being is most Super Bowl winning teams, even teams
that get to the Super Bowl, have like six to
seven elite players. And I looked at this. The Athletic
this week ran pre training camp NFL power rankings and
they had Green Bay at five. Well, I can name
the Eagles. I can name eight to nine great Eagle players,
(04:59):
seven or eight Ravens, six or seven Bills, six or
seven Chiefs. I can't really name seven or eight great
Packer players. And so I said to the staff is boarding,
let's go to a team that's viewed as middle of
the pack power rankings, Denver. So let's rate the twelve
best players. If you combine Denver viewed as middle of
(05:23):
the pack, I don't think so. I think they're better
than that and Green Bay elite. So the best player
would be Patrick Surtan of Denver. He did not miss
a tackle last year. I'm not joking. He's the best
corner in the NFL. Highest coverage grade of every corner.
He is an unbelievable, all time great corner. They got
(05:43):
him locked up financially. Second best player would be a
Green Bay tackle, Zach tom So. He was the third
highest graded right tackle. I think Tristan Wurf's pinay Seul
was better and Lane Johnson was better. Tristan's moved over
to the left side, so they just signed him up.
He's a really, really good tackle. He'd be the second
best player. Third best player would I'll give it to
(06:04):
the Packers again Josh Jacobs. PFF has their best one
hundred and one players. They have him thirty. Fourth. He
was a touchdown machine last year, fifteen rushing touchdowns. He's
a tremendous player. Fourth Nick Minido, Denver. That guy popped
last year. He absolutely popped. Pro Bowler, All Pro Bowl
(06:25):
First Team. He's he can run like a small linebacker
and give you the edge rush like a Max Strowsby.
He is a just a hybrid great athlete. Number five
Quinn Miners, Denver. I know you don't talk about interior lineman.
Second highest graded guard in the league last year seven
hundred and eleven pass blocking attempts, gave up one sack.
(06:49):
I may have him low, mostly because he's a guard.
I would say the sixth best players defensive end for Denver.
Zach Allen. Again in this franchise, some of these guys
we don't talk about a lot. He led the NFL
in forty quarterback hits and ranked second in quarterback pressure.
So again he's kind of an unheralded guy. We know
about Chris Jones. You know we know a lot about
(07:10):
Jalen Carter because those teams are on TV every week.
Those teams are in a playoff kick. Zach Allen is
a dog. He's a big time player. I'd say number
seven is Garrett Bowles, left tackle for Denver. Again, great physician,
great player. Seven hundred times he dropped back to protect
his quarterback. He gave up two sacks. By the way,
(07:30):
I've sat next to him on a plane. They don't
make humans that big. I'm just telling you right now, man,
they don't make a lot of humans that big. Second
highest credited player on the entire Bronco roster. Now, I'm
gonna put Jordan Love at eight and bow Nix at
nine because I think we both acknowledged Jordan Love is good.
But is he great? We don't know. Felt like he
(07:52):
regressed last year, but he is one of six quarterbacks
with fifty five touchdown passes over the last couple of seasons,
so he's good. Put bone Nicks right behind him. Listen.
He led Jayden Daniels, he led all rookies passing yards, completions,
touchdown passes, total tds, and he's a really good athlete.
So I'm gonna put those guys eight and nine. Ten.
(08:13):
I'll give it back to the Packers. Xavier McKinney. They
got him in a deal. He's been great for them,
nine takeaways last year. He's a great player. Came from
the New York Giants, really really good player. Now in
eleven and twelve again, I think these guys could finish higher,
but they both come off injuries. Tylana Hufunga, the safety
(08:34):
that they got Denver got from San Francisco. He's a
great player. He was great at USC. He was great
at San Francisco Pro Bowler, first team All Pro with
ninety seven tackles as a safety. In twenty twenty two,
he got hurt. He is a tremendous player. He could
be number four or five on this list. I'm gonna
put him eleven. I'm gonna put dra Greenlaw Denver at twelve.
(08:55):
The linebacker. He was the fifth highest rinted linebacker by PFF. Again,
he's a San Francisco did not want to lose him.
They they tried to figure out a way to keep him,
but they paid Fred Warner and they couldn't keep it.
So eight of the twelve best players with Denver, who
the Athletic is saying is kind of the middle of
the pack team. Eight of the twelve or Broncos. So
(09:21):
and here's the thing, it's not that I dislike Green Bay.
I just what's their best unit. You'd be like, oh,
wide receiver, Well, then why do they draft a wide
receiver with their first pick? Because Christian Watson can't stay healthy? Well,
they're offensive line, usually a strength PFF has at fourteen.
So organizational stability has always been outstanding in Green Bay.
(09:43):
But you got to have players. So I when I
see Green Bay top five or six, I just I
just they don't have enough great players. And by the way,
if you told me this year bo Nix was better
than Jordan Love, I put him et ninth. I'm not
doubting it would happen. The for Denver is better than
Green Bay. So my takeaway is that bo Nix is
(10:05):
going to have the advantages any quarterback would have with
an elite defense, which is better field position, you can
open up the playbook. And I think we all acknowledge
that Sean Payton's better than Matt Lafleur. I like both,
Shawn's different. So I just don't know exactly what to
do with Green Bay. Jmck I know they're good. They won.
I mean, listen, last year they had quarterback injuries. They
(10:25):
still want eleven games, but I think the division's better
this year.
Speaker 4 (10:29):
Hey, can you pop that on the screen once again, Colin?
Speaker 5 (10:31):
Because I think that list that you just came up with,
I think this is a first in the history of
your like ranked players.
Speaker 4 (10:38):
There's not one wide receiver or tight end on this list?
Am I correct?
Speaker 1 (10:43):
Here? Now? I love you? No, No, I love Courtland
Sutton's Was he not top twelve? I mean, well, I
hadn't played a snap in Denver, okay, But Hafunnga and
Greenlaw were elite Pro Bowl level players. Sutton, in a
lot of eyes, is a number two receiver. I like him.
He's a lower end one or a great two. Remember
Michael Pittman of the Colts, like is he a one
(11:06):
or a great two? So I look, I like Courtland
Sutton a lot, But if you look at all the ratings,
people see him as like the best number two in
the league. Kind of a number two. That's why they
drafted Mims, who they think has no more number one
potential talent. And again, I love Courtland, but I would
probably have him thirteen and that would be another Denver guy. Yeh.
Speaker 4 (11:26):
Christian Watson just two injury.
Speaker 1 (11:28):
You can't stay healthy. So im, if you told me thirteen,
I would do Courtland Sutton and so now I have
nine of the top thirteen Denver. So when we think
they have a better coach.
Speaker 5 (11:41):
What is it? Well, Lafleur's excellent. I don't know better.
They're both very very good. Maybe you go A and
A B plus whatever. What does it say that neither
of these teams has skill position guys that scare you?
Speaker 4 (11:52):
Are they legit?
Speaker 1 (11:53):
Can they legit? Me?
Speaker 4 (11:54):
Contenders?
Speaker 5 (11:55):
Like, don't put them in the Kansas City group because.
Speaker 4 (11:58):
You have Mahomes who can l eight players.
Speaker 5 (12:00):
I don't know that Love and Nicks can elevate their
receivers the way Mahomes can.
Speaker 1 (12:05):
I think both. I think both are good enough at receiver. Yeah,
Baltimore is, yes, absolutely tell me the Jamar Chase triple
Crown winner last year didn't make the playoff. I know,
I'm away, So I think I mean Mems Cortland Sutton.
They drafted that kid in the second round that that
they that Sean Payton likes Harvey. Their offensive line is good.
(12:29):
Bo Nicks, by the way, hybrid, very capable of moving
the pocket and running. I think Denver's fine offensively, I do.
I think they're fine by the way they the Super
Bowl bro well, but now I'm not saying these are
super Bowl teams. My whole rant was how is one
six and one fourteen? My rant was, I don't get
the greatness of Green Bay.
Speaker 5 (12:51):
I'm assuming at the athletic have them fifth, that they
think they're a super Bowl contender.
Speaker 1 (12:57):
I don't.
Speaker 5 (12:58):
I would agree with you. I don't think the Packers are.
So what are we missing on this team? What are
they seeing that we're not on the Packers?
Speaker 1 (13:06):
By the way Sutton Courtland Sutton twenty seventh wide receiver
according to PFF, A very good starter. But a twenty
seventh best receiver would be like low one, top two,
and I put him thirteen, So nine of thirteen would
be Broncos.
Speaker 5 (13:21):
Yeah, that Packers that high is so puzzling because that
division is so difficult.
Speaker 4 (13:26):
Yeah, that may just be a whiff by the athletic.
I don't know one more.
Speaker 2 (13:30):
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 3 (13:39):
Hey, We're Cavino and Rich Fox Sports Radio every day
five to seven pm Eastern. But here's the thing.
Speaker 1 (13:45):
We never have enough time to get to everything we
want to get to.
Speaker 3 (13:48):
And that's why we have a brand new podcast called
over Promised. You see, we're having so much fun in
our two hour show. We never get to everything, honestly,
because this guy is over promising things we never have
time for.
Speaker 2 (14:01):
Yeah, you blubber list lame and me.
Speaker 4 (14:02):
Well, you know what it's called over promise.
Speaker 1 (14:04):
You should be good at it because you've been over
promising women for years.
Speaker 3 (14:07):
Well, it's a Covino and Rich after show, and we
want you to be a part of it. We're gonna
be talking sports, of course, but we're also gonna talk
life and relationships. And if Rich and I are arguing
about something or we didn't have enough time, it will
continue on our after show called over Promised. Well, if
you don't get enough Covino and Rich, make sure you
check out over Promised and also Uncensored by the way,
so maybe we'll go at it even.
Speaker 4 (14:27):
A little harder.
Speaker 1 (14:28):
It's gonna be the best after show podcast of all time.
Speaker 3 (14:31):
There you go, over promising, and remember you could see
on YouTube, but definitely join us. Listen over Promised with
Cavino and Rich on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or
wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 1 (14:44):
Been great to have James Franklin and Ryan Day and
Steve sar Keshan. Lincoln Riley's around the corner. They went
four and five in the Big Ten last year. A
lot of giveaways. Now it should be known in Texas,
I think led the sec and giveaways. So you can
you can, you can spit the ball up occasionally if
you have a high powered offense. So us he had
a little bit too many giveaways. They had leads in
(15:07):
a lot of Big Ten games and could not hold
the lead. It was a weird season. They went to
another quarterback late in the year and had some success.
So Lincoln Riley's around the corner. But first, j Mac
with the news.
Speaker 5 (15:19):
No news, this is the herd line news, all right,
Patrick Mahomes Colin.
Speaker 4 (15:26):
Everybody loves him, We love to talk about him, but
he's just like us.
Speaker 1 (15:30):
Colin.
Speaker 5 (15:30):
He's looking to change his game a little bit. Here's
what he wants to improve on at trading camp.
Speaker 4 (15:36):
Take a listen.
Speaker 6 (15:37):
Yeah, I think that for me. I gotta be better
at throwing the ball down the field. I mean, obviously
we weren't good enough there. We've had success in prior
years that these last few years we haven't done that.
And in order for our office to be great, you
have to be able to complete those passes. It opens
up everything else. That's the mindset is getting back to
throwing the ball down the field and then if we
can do that, it'll open up the rest of the offense.
Speaker 5 (15:57):
And we have some stats to back that up that
Patrick Mahomes over the last two seasons, Colin, he's kind
of been a checkdown artist. Look at how how much
he's struggled throwing the ball down the field fifteen or
more yards.
Speaker 1 (16:09):
That is not good.
Speaker 4 (16:10):
Six touchdowns in twelve picks.
Speaker 1 (16:13):
Well, in fairness, it's been a revolving door because of
wide receivers, immaturity on the team, a left tackle position,
right tackle position had been a little shaky. So in fairness,
he's had to be a little bit of checkdown Charlie,
and I will defend him. Offensive line has been hit
and miss, and the wide receivers he's you know, these
(16:33):
guys can't get out of trouble, and I like worthy
of the wide receiver, but he feels a bit more
of a gadget guy than a volume guy. To me,
he's good. Rahi Rice, by the way, who's suspended. We're
waiting for that final count on that. He's a volume
by but he can't stay on the field.
Speaker 5 (16:47):
Yeah, of course he'll defend him, Colin. I mean, he's
Patrick Mahomes. And you know we love to talk about
Brock Perdy and his wide receivers. Well, Brandon I hot's
a problem child, Deebo, Samuel's fat.
Speaker 4 (16:57):
They shift him out of town. Oh yet that interesting.
Everybody's got to deal with this stuff.
Speaker 5 (17:02):
Bottom line is Mahomes not the league has caught up
to him, but the way he dominated very early in
his career for like three or four years, that.
Speaker 4 (17:11):
Has tailed off a little bit.
Speaker 5 (17:12):
That's okay to say, Well, I don't know if coordinators
are scheming up new stuff, but he is struggling.
Speaker 1 (17:17):
A little bit. Well, I'll make the argument on big
third and fourth downs in the playoffs, I'll take him
over everybody.
Speaker 4 (17:24):
Else except Ja It hurts right, No, it's not closed.
Speaker 1 (17:29):
I still think he is one of these guys big third,
fourth down postseason, I'll take him because I know Andy
Reid's calling the plays.
Speaker 5 (17:37):
As long as they're not getting blown out in the
Super Bowl, they're in competitive nature for the game next up.
How about this colin Pittsburgh, GM Omar Khan met with
the media for the first time since signing Aaron Rodgers.
Despite it taking forever to happen, con never worried Rogers
would be a Steeler.
Speaker 4 (17:55):
Listen to this.
Speaker 7 (17:58):
Some people might view my pages are paid just as
a weakness, but we view it.
Speaker 1 (18:01):
As a strength. Uh and uh, you.
Speaker 4 (18:05):
Know, we just felt good about it.
Speaker 7 (18:06):
You know, if there was if there was a point
where we didn't think things would end up what we
wanted to end up, we would have you know, gone
in a different direction. But we just still comfortable and felt.
Speaker 1 (18:15):
Good about it.
Speaker 7 (18:15):
And you know, we want Aaron Rodgers and Anna Rodgers
wanted to be a Steeler and it worked out.
Speaker 1 (18:22):
How about we, you know what, you and I should
take a different tech. How about we just get really
positive about Aaron Rodgers.
Speaker 5 (18:27):
Oh no, let's not do that. Aaron Rodgers wanted to
be a Steeler.
Speaker 4 (18:32):
I mean there were multiple courts. He was waiting for
the Vikings to.
Speaker 5 (18:35):
Decide if they want MacArthur to be their guy, like he.
Speaker 4 (18:37):
Was waiting for a better offer. This is probably like you.
Speaker 5 (18:41):
When women, you know, ladies are asking you to the problem,
and you're waiting for the best offer, and then finally
you just all right, I'll take the burden hand here
with pittburd.
Speaker 1 (18:49):
Nobody, nobody asked me to the problem. So yeah, I'm
gonna take a more positive spin. I think from this
point forward, I'm gonna be I'm gonna try to be
very positive. You know what we're going into season. He'll
be interesting. You and I are in the interesting business.
In fairness, I can't wait to watch it. I don't
think you know, I think this organ I think. My
(19:09):
guess is I don't know. If we have the Steelers schedule,
I think they'll start pretty well. I think if you
look at the Steelers the last several years, Tomlin's very
much a motivator and a raw, raw guy, and that
stuff wears thin by Thanksgiving and on. But I think
they're gonna be a pretty compelling team. I'm looking forward
to watching it. It'll be it'll be better than the
Jets situation, simply because there's more organizational fluidity than.
Speaker 4 (19:32):
That yours jab at the Jets.
Speaker 5 (19:33):
Okay, sure, I guarantee you if you were to rank
the most interesting quarterbacks, Rogers is not in your top ten.
I mean Colin the last time he was interesting out
and again I'm not talking about conspiracy theories and Anthony
Fauci and that stuff regarding football.
Speaker 4 (19:49):
Was like twenty nineteen, twenty twenty.
Speaker 1 (19:52):
Like, what are we talking about. Let's look at that schedule.
Open at the Jets win.
Speaker 5 (19:57):
I don't know necessarily that defense. You don't think they're
going to be amped up to come after him.
Speaker 1 (20:01):
Okay, host Seattle, potential win New England, host Minnesota, Cleveland
at Cincinnati Colts. There's a lot of w's here. Pittsburgh's
gonna start strong. Don't be shocked if it's five and two.
I don't think it's going to end well. Now, let's
go to the bottom of the back of the schedule.
(20:22):
Is going to be full of Baltimore and Joe Burrow.
But I think they're gonna start I think they're gonna
be pretty interesting, because all of a sudden, you get
to mid October and then it's you know, you're getting
some Joe Burrow and you're getting some Green Bay. Okay,
let's look at the end of the schedule. Yeah, against
top here is Oh, there's on the road justin Herbert
Joe Burrow, Buffalo at Baltimore at Detroit. Yeah, so it's
(20:46):
going to here's my prediction. Five and two is the start,
eight and nine is the finish.
Speaker 4 (20:52):
Absolutely no shots.
Speaker 5 (20:53):
So what's weird about that is the league should have
learned their lesson from his first year with the Jets.
Speaker 4 (20:59):
Remember, they load up.
Speaker 5 (21:00):
All these great games and Rogers got hurt early in
the season, and so end of the season, Jets, we're
not on TV at all. I mean the Steelers, you
really I would have flipped it. I would have had
the hard games early when Rogers is around well late
in the season, you think he's gonna still be standing
up right.
Speaker 1 (21:16):
Yeah. I think if you look at the schedule week
nine on, it gets it gets prickly. But the first
eight weeks there's a lot of wins there.
Speaker 4 (21:26):
For aner eight and a half.
Speaker 1 (21:29):
I think that's the right number. I would you know,
Tomlin's never had a losing season, so I'd say I'll
take the over. But it's an eight or nine win team,
that's what it is.
Speaker 5 (21:37):
We need a scoreboard. You're going over. I'm going under
for sure, eight and a half, and we're.
Speaker 1 (21:42):
Just I'm I can be talked into either one. Let
me watch the preseason. Does everybody stay healthy? I mean, honestly,
let me watch the first Let me watch the preseason.
Let's see what the camp shows us. But I ain't
gonna be I think it'd be.
Speaker 4 (21:54):
Fine, Okay, all right.
Speaker 5 (21:55):
Next up is Baker Mayfield, who has bounced around a
bit in the NFL before landing in Tampa, and it
feels like he's found a.
Speaker 4 (22:01):
Home pro bowler coach seasons.
Speaker 5 (22:04):
At training camp, Baker talked about like Tampa is such
a great fit.
Speaker 8 (22:08):
This isn't on the other teams and franchises. Like when
you step in and your GM and your head coach say, hey,
just be you. After I've been told at every stop
and everywhere I go, hey, you need to tone it
down a little bit.
Speaker 1 (22:24):
You need to be a franchise quarterback. It's just not
who I am.
Speaker 8 (22:27):
Like, I wear my emotions on my sleeves, talk I'm
gonna do whatever. But when it's time to turn the
lights on and go do something, I'm gonna do it.
So when I stepped into the building. They all told
me to just be myself.
Speaker 1 (22:37):
I still have hopes I can get them back on
the show. Your boy Baker, Yeah, because if somebody asked
Baker about me a year ago and he said, we're
front of me, that's what That's what he said, And
I think I don't think. I think I told her
the story about what he did at a restaurant in
la He's a really good guy. Baker is a really
good guy. He's had to deal with some family nonsense,
(22:58):
but he's a really good guy, and he and Emily
are good people. I am genuinely happy for him, and
I think i've I've even in the darkest hour, I
always said, oh, he's the starting quarterback. He throws a
beautiful ball. When he can plan it and let it rip,
he throws a great ball. He now, sometimes he gets
ahead of himself and he can get a little reckless.
(23:18):
Soa can Darnold so can He can get a little reckless.
Sometimes his confidence is better than his game. But that's
part of the beauty of him, is that he's got
incredible confidence. They're gonna win that division.
Speaker 4 (23:34):
I'll go Aheadtlanta. Yeah, we're just on opposite side. Today, Man,
I don't know.
Speaker 5 (23:39):
Colin.
Speaker 1 (23:40):
Well, there's a right side on your side. So that's
all the sides were on. J Mack with the News.
Speaker 2 (23:46):
Well that's the news.
Speaker 1 (23:48):
And thanks for stopping by the herd Line News. I
really you know, I talked about this to start the show,
is that people were so freaked out, and I understand this.
I think I was talking to Danny Parkins about this
on a podcast yesterday that if you take AI, watch
how people react to AI. There are people out there
(24:09):
in life that are just they don't like change. They
get very new erotic on stuff. You can see it
with AI. The world's going to end. And then there
are people that I didn't grow up in a traditional household,
so I like change. I've moved all over the country.
I now live in Chicago. I love it. How do
you I love it? It's just I like change. I like
new stuff. My wife's the same way. And I think
(24:31):
AI is going to be revolutionary. I'm not worried about
robots taking over the world. I think in science and
in medicine, it's going to change everything. We're going to have.
We're going to find cures for cancer, it's going to
save lives. I think AI is unbelievable, and I trust
the smartest people in the world to put enough guardrails
on it that the robots are not going to be
(24:53):
knocking on my door and slinging me around the yard.
But and so, when the college football playoffs was announced,
I mean, there was just a lot of naysayers and
negative people. What about the bowl games? What about them?
Most are awful, Half the seats are empty. Well what
about the rivalries. You're not gonna watch Ohio State Michigan
(25:16):
if it's on, you're not gonna watch it. You're gonna
watch it, Well, it won't feel the same. It will
if your team's winning or your bets winning, it'll feel
just the same. So I love that Ohio State and
Texas are playing. And the thing I really like about
it you can be aggressive. You can take chances in
your play calling because you can lose the game and
still lose another game, and both these teams can get
(25:38):
into the playoff. Think about last year, Ohio State they
lose a go either way game at Oregon in the
old system, they lose to Michigan and the season's over
because they were a home favorite. Season's over. Fiestable. Instead
they win the National Championship. They use that loss as
jet fuel the staff, the players. That's how it works
(26:01):
in the NFL. When the Raiders beat the Chiefs years
ago at the end of the year and the Chiefs
won the Super Bowl. This idea that this harsh punitive
action for a nineteen year old kid losing a game,
you should. I mean, if you look at how many
games these teams are playing, if you count the playoffs,
(26:21):
like sixteen games, you got to go fifteen and one
with a transfer portal with the nil I mean, Georgia
now doesn't have a third great receiver. They're lucky to
have two. The third guy just got poached by Oklahoma
or Louisville. So you don't these You can't stock pile
(26:42):
talent at Georgia or LSU because the minute you have
a five star guy by the beginning of his sophomore year,
if he's not playing, he's gonna go play it. Oklahoma,
he's gonna go play it. Clemson, he's out, he's leaving.
So the teams aren't gonna be as dominating as those
Alabama teams eight years ago. They're not going to be
as deep. You're not going to be able to have
(27:03):
two offensive line injuries. You're done. It's over. So I mean,
here was sark on facing the Ohio State and the
opener in Columbus.
Speaker 9 (27:15):
That's the beauty of this format, now that you can
afford to play these games. It's great for the fans,
it's great for college football. Everybody's talking about it, and
I was jokingly saying, you know, it's so different than
the NFL. Nobody's talking about week one matchups in the NFL.
Everybody's talking about this game. And then the idea that
(27:35):
I don't think either of us get punished playing this game. Obviously,
we all we both need to play well throughout the
entirety of the season. But sure, it's what a spotlight
it puts on both programs as well as college football.
Speaker 1 (27:47):
I mean, it just makes no sense. We don't ask
thirty two year old professional football players to go seventeen
to zero or fifteen and two, but we're asking nineteen,
twenty and twenty one year old kids, Hey, you lose
the opener, you got to win the rest of your games.
That's why the playoff is great. It allows coaches to
take risks, schedule bigger games, young people can grow. These
(28:09):
college football players from week two to week seven, you
have a different person. They got midterms and girlfriends in classes.
Let them grow. It's okay to lose a couple of games.
I love the college Football Playoff for the growth of
the young people playing it. Lincoln Riley's now joining US
Entersports season at USC. You know, Lincoln, all of this
(28:31):
stuff is you're growing with it. The nil, the portal.
Let's talk portal. What have you learned about the portal
from the first year you dealt with it to now?
Like is there something that you know to be true
with the portal? Or is it still kind of you
take your swings at it and you cross your fingers
(28:54):
all right? Right now, he can't hear us, Lincoln Riley
can't hear us. All right, We'll try to get it right,
because that's the thing about like when the portal came
out again, just like the playoff, everybody freaked out with
a portal. And my takeaway was, Guys, if you hire
a new coach and they use the portal, I mean
Dion Sanders without the portal, he'd still be rebuilding Colorado.
(29:18):
He'd still be rebuilding Colorado. I mean Lincoln Riley won
eleven games first year at USC that had thirty guys
in the portal. I mean, if you want to sit
and wait for three years to build a program, but
the portal allows you to build it virtually overnight. We'll
take a break back with Lincoln Riley next.
Speaker 2 (29:36):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
and noon Eastern a em Pacific on Fox Sports Radio
FS one and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 1 (29:46):
Lincoln Riley fourth year USC. They have struggled in their
opening year in the Big Ten, So I got to
ask you to start. The weather's colder, the flights are longer. Stylistically,
it's different than the air raid, all the passing in
the seventy degree weather of the of the Pac twelve.
So is there when you this offseason looked at your roster.
(30:08):
Did you recruit and say, hey this, we got to
get bigger here, we got to get sturdier here. Did
it change because you were kind of flying blind you
just went into the Big Ten? Did you build your
roster accordingly? Did you make alterations?
Speaker 10 (30:25):
We did, And I think some of that's in response
to the Big Ten, but also think a lot of
it is just response to our natural growth as a program.
Now we want to be a team that's a national
championship contender every single year, like you should expect at
USC and to do that you have to be great
on the line of scrimmage, and so we've certainly tried
to build that throughout the years. I think this group
(30:46):
coming up on both fronts, has a chance to be
the very best we've had, and certainly see a major difference,
especially on the defensive line that I know if they dividends.
Speaker 1 (30:53):
This year, you know you guys got your nil in order.
Now there is a sense with Jen Cohen people can
look can go well, what about the record and what
about the record? But the reality is is that the
portal in the nil create advantages and sometimes they muddy
it up. I want to go back to the question
I ask you, what have you learned about the portal
(31:15):
that you like and that you may have a cautionary
tale about. How do you view the portal today? Lincoln?
Speaker 10 (31:23):
Well, the portal is just another tool to build your roster,
and certainly it gives teams opportunities to really maybe shock
the system when it hasn't been successful. I mean our
first year at US is a great example. We went
heavy in the portal, we were able to have a
really good season. But also, you know, the portal has
it's dangerous, right You don't get a real chance to
(31:45):
evaluate and get to know a lot of these guys.
Some of these guys are coming in for such a
short amount of time and finding the right fit I
think can be very very difficult.
Speaker 1 (31:54):
And so you know, we're a great example.
Speaker 10 (31:56):
And then you see teams across the country are having
to decide are we going to really be a portal
heavy team that dabbles in high school ri's recruiting or
are we going to be vice versa. And certainly we
know what we did early at USC, but we've certainly
pivoted to what we believe we want to be and
know we want to be long term, especially being in
Los Angeles and in southern California. And that's a high
school developmental program that uses the portal sparingly. And I
(32:19):
think our you know, upcoming recruiting class is a great
example of that.
Speaker 1 (32:25):
Jade, my ive as your quarterback comes from you in LV.
You also get a five star best high school football
player arguably in LA in the program, so you want
to be patient, but there are kids that are really
good really soon. And I've seen your five star all
you know, all the highlights, and it's a lot of
jaw dropping wild stuff. Could it be a rotational situation?
(32:46):
How do you weigh it? When you have an enormously
gifted back up quarterback, you have a very tough schedule,
how do you weigh that stuff? Well, it's first world problems, right.
Speaker 10 (33:00):
Having two guys that you really believe in and multiple
guys that you believe in a quarterback room is a
great thing. It's hard to do, especially in this day
and age. We were super impressed without Jaye Mayeva played
in the last four games, has four starts. We went
three and one against four really quality teams, four very
strong defenses, and thought he did some just really really
outstanding work in those games. And he's grown and progressed
(33:23):
a lot. Certainly, Hassan long Street is a really special
talent that I think is certainly one of those guys
that is going to get better quickly and certainly could
have a role on this football team, There's no doubt
about it. And then really plays with Sam Hewart as well.
I think the room is as deep as we've had
it at USC and from then on, it's competition. Now,
that's what the best programs are based on. There's got
(33:46):
to be competition in that room and we always want that.
We've always had that, and we think that's the reason
that our quarterback rooms throughout history have been pretty successful.
Speaker 1 (33:55):
If you go back to your Oklahoma years, we didn't
have a twelve team playoff, right, we didn't have that
we do now. And I've said this, I I it's
a different world. I look at your schedule and it's like, Okay,
do you I mean, how do you go five six
years ago? I look at your schedule and I think, Man,
that Michigan, that Illinois, Michigan, Notre Dame Nebraska run. That
(34:19):
is rough? Do you? And then you have a couple
of games early that you will be heavy favorites. Do
you think if you went six years ago, Lincoln, do
you look at the season more as a whole? Are
you more strategic with it because now it could be
potentially a fifteen game schedule if you get into the playoff.
Speaker 10 (34:40):
Yeah, I think that you certainly have to factor that in.
I mean, so much of this has changed. I think one,
you know, like you said, keep it in mind that
this season could be several games longer than anything we
ever would have thought of, you know, multiple years ago.
And I think the other thing that you have to really,
you know, pay attention to it maybe create awareness of
one staff, the coaches, fans, everybody is you know, now,
(35:03):
you know, losing a game here or there, you know,
doesn't put you out, whereas years ago, you know, you
knew pretty quickly that it was going to be a
tough road to have a chance to get back to
the playoff. I mean, heck, the national champion last year
lost two games, and so I think it's something that
everybody's kind of got to get used to, especially with
these you know, almost super conferences starting to get established,
(35:25):
like the Big ten in the SEC has done, where
there's so many good football teams, you know, week in
and week out, the competitions high, the parodies high, and
so yeah, I think it's you've had to change your mindset,
and I think you have to have an awareness within
the program then adapt to whatever systems in front of
us at the current time.
Speaker 1 (35:42):
So your first seven years a head coach, you were
a top ten offensive team every year Oklahoma USC last year,
it drops off some of it. It was a turnover year.
You were also very young. I mean your two receivers
I love were both kids. Do you look at it
as you turnovers? What happened last year that you look
at the season as it ends and you said, hey,
(36:04):
we got to clean this up, we got to get
better here. Where will you make the two biggest leaps
offensively to get back to a top ten offense, which
you were your first seven years a head coach?
Speaker 10 (36:15):
I think I think first I would look at our
at our offensive line, the recruiting, the development that we've done.
I feel like we really have championship caliber depth and
a really strong strong starting group.
Speaker 1 (36:28):
There right now.
Speaker 5 (36:29):
Uh.
Speaker 10 (36:29):
And then yeah, I think the big thing for us
is is you've certainly, you know, we've got to get
more consistent play, you know, out of our quarterback position
as well. And that was a that was a you know,
we had some really great moments last year, but also
you know, we turned it over a few too many times.
And when you're playing, you know, in a league like
what's being created where you're playing a really good defense
(36:49):
just about every single week, you know that's that there's
going to.
Speaker 1 (36:53):
Become a little bit more pressure on that.
Speaker 10 (36:55):
Right, the windows to make throws or to make plays,
or the opportunities to score points are going to start
to tell up. So you've got to be that much sharper.
So certainly our expectations are as high as they possibly
could be there, and I think this group has a
chance to be one of the best groups in the country.
Speaker 1 (37:09):
I was watching the Caleb Williams story in Chicago, and
it's interesting about quarterbacks. When a quarterback gets out of rhythm,
it could be Caleb, it could be your young kids.
Now go back to your career, could be Baker Mayfield.
When a quarterback is a little out of sorts, reportedly
Caleb has been in camp, what do you tell, like,
do you keep message messaging simple for quarterbacks? They have
(37:32):
to know the whole playback. In your career of coaching quarterbacks,
you've hat Heisman winners, you've got first rounders, number one picks.
What is a message that almost always works for any
young quarterback that's a little out of rhythm or struggling. Well,
you said a word there.
Speaker 10 (37:50):
I think simplicity is very important, And then I think
it's important for the coach to remember It's such a
confidence driven position. And so often in my career with guys,
even some of the guys that were more experiencing and
played a lot of ball, you know, when when they
got out of rhythm, it was just kind of going
back to the basics, you know, going back to the
day one things that they learned, because that's what they're
(38:11):
going to have the most confidence, They're going to have
the most repetitions banked on, and a lot of times
that helps those guys settle in. And then I think
it's also you know on every coach and head coach
that you've got that type of relationship, you know, with
your guys, and so that there is that trust built
and you can have that conversation and help adjust them
and get them back on the same page and get
them back playing confident football.
Speaker 1 (38:32):
All right. Lincoln Riley entering his fourth season at USC.
There are twenty twenty six recruiting classes, number one in
the country. It is the best O and D line
size wise. Usc'll say it since the Pete Carroll era.
It is NFL bodies. They are big across both lines,
and I can't wait to watch it. Lincoln, I appreciate
stopping by anytime. Thanks going. Okay, yeah, it's the It
(38:55):
is the first time since I would say Pete Carroll
where you Their left tackle is going to be a pro,
their right guard is going to be a pro. They'll
probably leave early defensive line, spend some money NFL bodies.
But again, you start looking at that schedule. Look, they've
got a four game stretch that is brutal. Illinois returned
sixteen starters. This is the best Illinois football team in
(39:16):
a decade. Okay, Illinois is good. That is a tough game.
First four, you'll be favored. Michigan at home, very winnable,
playing probably a freshman quarterback. Notre Name on the road,
good luck. Nebraska has trouble written all over it. So
obviously at Oregon and at Notre Dame, you can lose
(39:37):
those games and make the playoffs. Those are really good team.
It's how you lose them. You get right, Like Ohio
State lost twice close to Oregon, close to Michigan. Can't
get blown out. But if you look at that schedule
at Notre Name, in at Oregon, they're going to be underdogs.
They're going to be favorites a lot nine wins. Let
me think here one, two, three, four, five, I've six, seven, eight,
(40:04):
I have nine wins. What are you shaking your head out?
Speaker 4 (40:06):
I mean nine wins, and your boy's going to keep
his job, that's for sure.
Speaker 1 (40:10):
He's keeping his job.
Speaker 5 (40:11):
Well, listen, it's one of he's You see all these
hot seat lists. I don't think he deserves to be
on there because of the contract. He's not going anywhere.
But you look at the hot seat Listen, he's up there.
Speaker 4 (40:22):
Colin, You're at the top.
Speaker 1 (40:25):
Yeah, that's what they say. You know all I know,
you know there are people out there that love the
NFL but don't watch college football. How can you not
watch some of these games? Like, I mean, honestly, I
looked at the Labor Day schedule. There was obviously Texas,
Ohio State. College football is so much fun, and I
(40:46):
do think, I really do think this. The quarterback play
in college is so much better than ten years ago.
These guys have so many seven on seven camps and
private tutoring and private coaching. You got Lsu, not Smyer,
you got Aller, you got arch manning the kid at
South Carolina. There's like five or six guys and by
the way, there will be a quarterback in college that
(41:06):
emerges by week six, seven or eight, we're all gonna go,
I didn't know about this guy, like.
Speaker 2 (41:10):
A cam Ward.
Speaker 1 (41:11):
Yeah, I mean we thought cam Ward was interesting at
Washington State and you look up and you're like, oh
my god. So I mean we could have we could
have six first round quarterbacks and we got three of
them being keep your eye on the kit at Clemson.
Highly highly productive. It is the ACC, but highly productive.
Speaker 3 (41:32):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (41:32):
So we've had sark On, Lincoln, Ryan Day, and James Frank.
Speaker 5 (41:36):
I love your optimism this week. You're really in a
positive headspace right now. Every you think, every quarterback is amazing,
Every team is outstanding. You're loving everything right now except
the Lakers and Clippers. But fortunately Lakers will be fine.
NBA's on the back burner.
Speaker 1 (41:49):
No, Lakers will be fine. DeAndre Ayton, Marcus Smart, Lebron,
Austin Reeves, Luca. That's a fine team. But it's the
way if you put them in the East, they could
buy for a conference championship series. Absolutely, the West is
a whole different ballgame. It's the difference between the ACC
and the Big Ten. It's the whole different ballgame. The
West is completely stacked. Mark Sanchez is going to be
(42:12):
stopping by last hour of the former Trojan good Stuff.
Two down, one to go. It's thirt
Hosts And Creators
Colin Cowherd
Jason McIntyre
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com