January 1, 2026 • 40 mins
Jason Fitz and Buck Reising react live to the kickoff of the Rose Bowl between Indiana and Alabama. NFL Week 18 features a heavyweight battle in the NFC West and private equity flooding college football has tremendous ripple effects.
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 (00:01):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
It's New Year's Day. You know what that means?
Speaker 3 (00:06):
Parades and the Rose Bowl because we are only moments
away from Alabama taking on Indiana and again, that will
have to change the way we talk about two different
football programs and will have to at some point change
the way that we at least perceive two of the
better teams that are trying to figure out exactly how
to win a championship this year, Buck Rising Chase and
(00:29):
Fits hanging out with you Don't Forget. For over forty years,
Tiraq is helping customers find the right tires for how,
what and where they drive.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
Shipped free and Fast backed by free Road.
Speaker 3 (00:38):
Has a protection, convenient installation options like mobile tire installation.
Tiraq dot Com the way tire buying should be look
first and foremost parades. I'm out on parades.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
Parades are dumb. I don't know why everybody hangs out.
Speaker 3 (00:49):
Like I turned on the TV this morning the Rose
Bowl parade was on, and I just I could not
have rolled my eyes any physically harder than I rolled them, Like,
how many people do we need to commentate on a parade?
I don't nderstand this book. I don't understand why we're
all just going to stand there on the street. Like
there is just a moment where you're standing there and
you're like, okay, the now the float has gone by.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
Now what what is my interger? Yeah, I'm out. I'm
out on parades. Parades are not my thing.
Speaker 1 (01:14):
That's a that's a tough one.
Speaker 4 (01:16):
I've done the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York,
and that's you know, that's an experience and to itself,
right with the floats and the things like that, especially
if you're the I mean, it's been one hundred years
since I went. We were we were still living in
New Jersey at the time. And you go as a
kid and you're delighted by it and you see your
(01:36):
favorite Pokemon float or you see you know, whatever super
superhero character you want, and that's enough for you, right,
Like it's it's a delight.
Speaker 1 (01:44):
For a certain generation.
Speaker 4 (01:47):
But after a while and maybe you get if as
you're an adult, and we are you know, you and
I are are people or two people that do not
have children. Uh So, perhaps this is lost on us
in particular, but something for some of my friends who
have kids tell me is that the fun of having
kids at things like parades or things like Christmas is
that you lose some of your luster for that as
(02:10):
you get up there in age. But when you have kids,
you get to experience those things basically as a brand
new event through your kids. So maybe there's something too
that just to kind of play Devil's advocate nice guy,
which I never very often get to do.
Speaker 3 (02:23):
So it's a very fair point by you, and I
think that when you have kids it changes sort of
the equation to everything. Like I chose not to have kids.
I don't want to have kids. Kids aren't something I
want my life. I have had to I love kids,
by the way, I just didn't want any of my own.
I have had to sort of reevaluate what that means
sometimes at Christmas, you know, like Christmas is weird if
you don't because I don't have a lot of family.
(02:44):
So since I don't have any relationship with the family
that I have and I don't have kids, like it's
just a little weird when you wake up one day
and you're like, all right, I'm in my forties. I
don't need you to buy me a Christmas present. I
like it just that feels weird to me too.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
So, like you know, I.
Speaker 3 (03:00):
Do acquiesce that having kids, and I've told my friends before,
I think that is the one. There's a weird chapter
you go through in your life on certain holidays where
you look around like it's fine, it's great, it's a
good day. But when you don't have kids, it just
gets disconnected. Parades I will add to that list. I
think anything anytime you have it with the kid in
and it's like it's a magic and wonder for them.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
That's great. They weren't all kids standing at the Rose
Bowl parade, now, that's what I'm saying.
Speaker 3 (03:23):
But now we get the Rose Bowl and we get
Alabama versus Indiana, and look a huge To be very clear,
even though I have so many Alabama friends, Alabama grads,
Alabama fans, friends all over my life from the years
I spent in and around Nashville, I know how many
of you love Alabama.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
Got to help you lose today. I really do.
Speaker 3 (03:43):
And I don't hope you lose because I care who
wins or loses. Most of the time, I don't. I
don't have a favorite college football team. I'm squarely rooting
against Indiana because I'm tired of benefit of the doubt
going and leaving certain teams for no good reason, like
we can't look through this matchup. And I really respected
the fact that even Nick Saban on Game Day today
(04:03):
reference the fact that, man, so many people say.
Speaker 5 (04:06):
It's Indiana, it's Indiana. This is not Indiana. This is
the number one team in the country. This is a
team with an absolutely explosive defense that flew around to
the football at Ohio State.
Speaker 3 (04:17):
That really surprised me. Yes, they've got some key injuries there,
they got to work out. They've got the Heisman Trophy winner.
They've got a couple of wide.
Speaker 2 (04:23):
Receivers that are going to be drafted to play in
the NFL. This is not Indiana.
Speaker 3 (04:27):
Like, oh my god, I wanted to make college football
the video game really hard this year, so I picked
Indiana to play, and what do you know, I'm in
the championship. Like that's the way we make it sound.
I need Indiana to win a title because A. I
think it opens up the floodgates for everybody else. B
It takes away the excuses for every other program there.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
Well, we can't compete. Indiana figured it out and see it.
Speaker 3 (04:49):
Forces us to start talking about Indiana and Alabama not
for who they've been, but for who they are right now.
Speaker 4 (04:57):
Yeah, it's one of those things where this is the
kind of game that could force you to reimagine how
you view the construct of modern day college football, right
I think to a different extent. And obviously they're not
participating in a college football playoff game, but they have
been a champion multiple.
Speaker 1 (05:14):
Times over as a program.
Speaker 4 (05:16):
Despite just having lost to Penn State in the Mighty
and illustrious Pinstripe Bowl, Clemson, like Clemson, is one of
the biggest college football powers of my lifetime, of my
adult lifetime, certainly under Davo Swinning and all the success
that they were able to have, whether they were winning
(05:37):
championships or competing for championships and falling short because Alabama
and Nick Saban were up against them, or Urban may On,
Ohio State, or whatever the case may be. Like Clemson
in the modern era of college football, I think you
have to re examine how you view Clemson as a
program because they have not adapted to the times. They
are no longer equipped or it doesn't seem that they're
(05:58):
equipped to compete at the highest level because they're not
willing to play the game, or at least Dabbo hasn't
been willing to play the game in the way that
the game is being played in or I guess the
new way that the game is being played.
Speaker 1 (06:11):
Right.
Speaker 4 (06:11):
This is the thing that is so much fun to
watch about Kurt Signetti because I'm watching Nick Saban on television,
and Nick Saban is on television because he didn't want to.
He didn't want to go through what the new college
football is. And that's fine, as is his right. He's
he's done what he needed to do. He is the
greatest coach in the history of the of that sport.
If he feels that he doesn't want to have to
(06:33):
make these certain kind of accommodations to continue to win
at the level that he's accustomed to winning at her
that he expects to win at, as is Nick Saban's right.
But Kurtzignetti turned around and said, Hey, I'm gonna do
it with a bunch of three star dudes. I'm gonna
get him paid all over the place. I'm gonna go
out there and whip your ass with a talent profile.
Speaker 1 (06:51):
What is that?
Speaker 4 (06:51):
What is even Indiana's talent composite by like uh by
by recruiting class. I would venture a guest to say,
and there's a lot of transfer guys in there too,
but I would venture a guest to say that they
are outside of the top fifty. And I bet it's
probably further below, like closer to closer to seventy than
(07:13):
it would be to fifty or something like that, which
is what makes this entire situation so insane. So you
can do this now. Kurtzignety is obviously a very unique
figure in the landscape of college football. I don't know
how many of those dudes are actually out there in
the way that this dude is that can can do
the kind of things for your your Vanderbilts, your Dukes.
Speaker 1 (07:35):
Your I don't know what's another.
Speaker 4 (07:38):
What's another college football program that doesn't matter in a
power for conference? Pick whichever one you want. Indiana is
the best example in the Big Ten, for sure. I
don't know how many Kurtzigneties there are to actually do
this job the way that he's done, and certainly not
at the level that he's done it at. We I'm
in Nashville, fits he's in Connecticut as we broadcast here
with you on Fox Sports Radio, and I had a
(08:00):
bunch of calls fits on the local show, maybe not
a bunch of calls, a lot of comments in the
YouTube comment section of the local show that we do
here in Nashville, basically getting after me a little bit
because Vanderbilt had a really good season, even though it
didn't end well against Iowa yesterday in Power Iowa.
Speaker 1 (08:18):
So Diego.
Speaker 4 (08:19):
Pavia has the Heisman Trophy season and Vanderbilt has the
best season in program history still by the way, and
they should be happy. And a ten win season for
Vandy is awesome. It's only the second time they've competed
in a bowl game in back to back seasons in
I think the program's history. But a lot of Vanderbilt
fans were kind of giving me a hard time because
they're saying, well, if you put Kurtzignetti in the in
(08:40):
the SEC, he'd be doing the exact same thing as
Clark Lee would at Vanderbilt, Like you have to grade
on the curve of well, the SEC is just a
higher level of competition, and I will acknowledge that that
is something that more often than not, if you said it,
you would be correct. But I also just watched Clark
Lee and Vanderbilt, who didn't make the College Football Playoff
(09:01):
and who lost to Texas, and Alabama lose to Iowa
yesterday in the damn Relyaquest Bowl. Okay, Kurt Signetti has
Indiana double digit win seasons back to back for the
first time in program history. God knows, they've never been
the number one overall seat in the College Football Playoff,
favored against Alabama in the Rose Bowl in ways that
(09:21):
are outrageous, and the guy is potentially he has a
Heisman Trophy winner at quarterback who's probably going to be
the number one overall draft pick when all of a
sudden done, that is such a unicorn in the landscape
of sports. I don't know how anybody could look at
this and say, yeah, my program can do that.
Speaker 1 (09:37):
All we have to do is just get the right guy.
Speaker 6 (09:39):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (09:39):
I mean, the funny thing is, it's not about getting
the money, it's not about getting the players.
Speaker 2 (09:44):
It's about both. And at some level.
Speaker 3 (09:47):
I just looked it up and you know, twenty four
to seven with their recruiting rankings, Indiana is the thirty
third ranked recruiting.
Speaker 4 (09:54):
Class or it's coming into coming in coming into this
next year, next year.
Speaker 3 (10:00):
So with all the success that they have had, they're
thirty third. They're behind Vandy right now, which is thirty second.
They have no five star recruits. They only have seven
four star recruits, the majority of these three stars, right
And it's it's just so it's wild because everybody says, well,
you just got to go find the next signetti.
Speaker 2 (10:19):
I don't know that it's that easy.
Speaker 3 (10:21):
I just there is something that's a little bit lightning
in a bottle with this Indiana team, and lightning in
a bottle with signetti with this Indiana team.
Speaker 2 (10:28):
And you know this is this is also to me.
Speaker 3 (10:31):
One thing I've said to you pretty consistently with Clark
leeam Bandy, for example, is show it to me with
another quarterback, right like, we need to see a different
person playing quarterback.
Speaker 2 (10:39):
Indiana's done that.
Speaker 3 (10:40):
This is the second street year that they've made the
College Football Playoff, right Like, so I feel like the
tide no pun intendance has turned a little bit on
the conversation of Indiana. But until they win a game
like this, I mean, Indiana beating Alabama at the Rose
Bowl would then force us to have a much different
conversation because any other year, any other year.
Speaker 2 (11:03):
In college football.
Speaker 3 (11:04):
If we had just watched the number two team in
the whole college football playoff who happened to be the
number one team all year, if we just watch them
go down in their first playoff game, would the narrative
not be all man The life just got a lot
easier for that one seed to go win a championship.
Like guess why, y'all, life just got a lot easier
for Indiana to go win a national championship. Oregon won today.
(11:26):
Indiana has already whooped a snot out of Oregon at Oregon,
so they ain't scared Oregon any way, shape or form.
Right Ohio State's the toughest game they played all year,
and it came down to the wire in a big
Den championship game.
Speaker 2 (11:38):
And Ohio State's gone from this thing.
Speaker 3 (11:40):
So there is a very real clear path to Indiana
winning the college football Championship this year. I just don't
think until they get a win in a game like
they're about to play today against Alabama, it will get
the level of love that it deserves. They're kicking off
right now. We will keep you updated over the next
several hours. Are with you all, the way up until
(12:01):
seven pm Eastern, so we're gonna be on radio.
Speaker 2 (12:03):
We will keep you.
Speaker 3 (12:04):
Updated on everything that's happening there in the meantime. This
weekend we have an NFL matchup for the number one
seed and the entire thing the top seed home field
a van is. The question is how much difference will
it really make? We'll answer that for you. Next Sea's
Buck Rising on Jason Fitz hanging out with you Bucking
Fits on Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 7 (12:22):
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
the nation. Catch all of our shows at foxsports Radio
dot com and within the iHeartRadio app search FSR to
listen live.
Speaker 2 (12:35):
Hey, this is Jason McIntyre.
Speaker 8 (12:37):
Join me every weekday morning on my podcast, Straight Fire
with Jason McIntyre. This isn't your typical sports pod pushing
the same tired narratives down your throat every day.
Speaker 2 (12:47):
Straight Fire gives.
Speaker 8 (12:48):
You honest opinions on all the biggest sports headlines, accurate
stats to.
Speaker 2 (12:52):
Help you win big at the sportsbook, and all the
best guests.
Speaker 8 (12:55):
Do yourself a favor and listen to Straight Fire with
Jason McIntyre on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever
you get your podcasts.
Speaker 3 (13:07):
It's fucking fits taking over Fox Sports Radio. He's Buck Rising.
I'm Jason Fitz. Will be with you all the way
up until seven pm Eastern time. The Rose Bowl is
underway between Indiana and Alabama.
Speaker 2 (13:22):
We will keep you updated on it.
Speaker 3 (13:23):
And you know, frankly, so you lean all the way
in because my co host that I'm sitting with right now,
Buck Rising, is currently doing the show while wearing an
Indiana hoodie.
Speaker 2 (13:31):
He's an Indiana brad although he.
Speaker 3 (13:33):
Has never once gone to a Indiana football game, which.
Speaker 2 (13:37):
Is a bit of a conversation.
Speaker 3 (13:40):
There is no doubt what is leaning is going to
be on this, So you know, I can't promise there
won't be just rebel yells in the middle of segments.
That's the level of professionalism we are going to bring here, Buck,
I think that's important. I was buying you a little
time because I'm slightly ahead of you, and I knew
that you would see that your favorite team, your team
in this almost almost picked off the ball, but they
didn't want to do a bunch.
Speaker 4 (14:01):
I mean, I guess it's okay because it was third
and fourteen. Anyway, Yeah, I am going I mean I'm
not professional under normal circumstances anyway, when FITZI and I
are doing the show that we normally do for Fox
Sports Radio on Saturdays. Obviously, we've been filling in a
lot across all the network here over the holiday season
while people take some much needed vacation. But I yeah,
(14:23):
I'm going to make a lot of sounds throughout the
course of the remainder of this radio show while the
Rose Bowl is on the air, because you're right, Fitzi,
and we're going to talk about some NFL here in
just a second, so I will refocus my attention as
we go to commercial break in the Rose Bowl. But
I am I would be very happy to see Indiana win.
(14:44):
I've never never, to your point, never been doing an
Indiana football game in my life, despite being a graduate
of that institution, because that's not it's just Indiana football
is not a part of the culture. And I don't
need to repeat that every time we talk about Indiana football,
but sometimes I feel like it's important to say this.
This is how you change is how you change perception,
This is how you completely Indiana never cared about the
(15:07):
Colts until Peyton Manning became the quarterback of the Indianapolis Colts. Right,
it's IndyCar and it's basketball in the state of Indiana.
That's what they do. It's like crab cakes and football.
That's what Maryland does.
Speaker 1 (15:17):
Right.
Speaker 4 (15:18):
So Indiana taking this thing basically from Notre Dame and Purdue,
who have more established I have produced terrible lately, and
Notre Dame is, you know, always hovering around the college
football playoff picture and things like that, and it's a
huge national fan base, one of the you know, oldest
and longest standing college football programs in the country. For
(15:40):
Indiana to do this and to make people have to
pay attention to them, this is how you start generations
of fandom. So I'm excited for my alma mater. I'm
excited for the Indiana football team. I hope they beat
Alabama today. Three and out to start the game, and
getting Alabama off the field is a decent way to start.
But yeah, I'm gonna make a lot of noises throughout
(16:01):
the course of this segment while we talk about some
other things.
Speaker 3 (16:04):
I also think that there's so much in my mind
to how do you handle these moments? And we do
have to remember that some of these moments are still
new for Indiana as a program, so I am genuinely
curious to see how they handle They're about to start
a drive backed up against their own goal line, right,
and so you're backed up deep in your own territory.
(16:26):
It's the Rose Bowl, which has its own gravitas, right,
and it's against Alabama, which, whether or not that has
any meeting Signetti says, the guys in the field don't
really care about that. Okay, fine, I'm buying all that,
But certainly there isn't a lot of bend there done that.
What do we do and how do we respond and
playoff atmosphere experience for anybody. So I do think it's
(16:46):
interesting as we continue, as we continue to keep you
updated on that. Now this weekend we have an epic
NFL matchup, And it's funny to me because when I
say there's a battle for the number one overall seed
between the Seahawks and forty nine Ers, you would presume
that that means that the Seahawks and the forty nine
Ers are clearly the two best teams in the NFC,
when in fact, I think many people would argue that
(17:08):
the Rams are. Actually it's amazing to me that a
ball sitting in the end zone that nobody realized was
live being recovered on a two point conversion for Seattle
turns out to be the absolute difference between the Rams
playing for a number one seed and not.
Speaker 2 (17:22):
Right So here we sit.
Speaker 3 (17:23):
But this matchup is so interesting to me, Buck because
I feel like the forty nine Ers have been backed
into a corner for a month and they just have
fought and fought and fought, and I don't know how
they win with no pass rush, and I don't know
how they win with the defense that has so many
injuries all over the place. We have talked about Kyle
(17:44):
Shanahan's Coach of the Year candidacy and all of this,
but I'm watching a forty nine Ers team that just
has been fighting against the Seahawks teams that I've watched
a lot of this year. You want to talk about
a team that starts slow almost every week. You want
to talk about a team that just makes you wondered
the first half every week what in the hell are
they doing? And then finds a way to win. Like,
I think there's a lot here to learn about two teams,
(18:08):
because nobody really knows who's great in the NFC. I
want to see how they respond to this moment for
these two teams.
Speaker 4 (18:15):
So you're you're still and understandably so, because his play
is definitely tailed off here in a little bit in
the last I don't know, would you say the last
month of Sam Donald has been kind of you.
Speaker 3 (18:25):
Know, I think Sam Donald is still very very very good.
I yeah, I think, but you're right, heat boys some
turnover games in big games, and he's had some sloppy throws. Yeah,
Sam Donald, there are flashes where Sam looks like your
crazy ex girlfriend.
Speaker 1 (18:39):
That's still crazy, there is.
Speaker 4 (18:44):
And the Niners, right, the Niners have just overcome the
odds at every turn, and I get that they're not
beating like the best teams in the NFL and route
to winning six straight, which is what they've done since
they lost to the Rams. Since they got blown out
by the Rams forty two to twenty six back in
early November, they've beaten the Cardinals, Panthers, Browns, Titans, Colts,
(19:04):
the Philip Rivers Colts right, and the Chicago Bears, which
was an excellent game of fun game and a quality win.
So I don't know, would we consider the Panthers beating
the Panthers and the Bears the best of those wins,
and the Panthers kind of suspect in the NFC South
just generally that entire division suspect.
Speaker 1 (19:22):
So what does this really look like?
Speaker 4 (19:24):
Because the point totals for San Francisco in these wins
forty two on the Bears, forty eight on the Colts,
thirty seven on the Titans, twenty six on the Browns,
which are a good defense even though their team has
not had the kind of season that they wanted, forty
one on the Cardinals. I mean, they're just shelling teams.
So if you had to pick a nightmare scenario for
Seahawks fans at this point in time, I would think
(19:47):
it would be the slow starting Seattle Seahawks against just
an absolute fire breathing dragon of an offense in Kyle
Shanahan's San Francisco forty nine ers, who seem to have
found a little bit of success on the ground as
of late. McCaffrey is I mean, I think he's one
hundred and ten yards from being having a one thousand
yard rushing one thousand yard receiving season for the second
(20:07):
time in his career. The last time he did it
was twenty nineteen. I think one hundred and ten is
the total in receiving yards that he needs to eclipse
that mark, which is outrageous, and he could very well
do that in this game. Seattle is going to be
thinking very much about that and they'll try and find
ways to stop him. I just, I mean, there are
so many different answers that Kyle Shanahan has on offense,
(20:27):
and Seattle's a tough defense. This is an excellent, excellent
matchup for us to get to conclude one of the
matchups for us to get to conclude the NFL's regular season.
Speaker 3 (20:36):
With you could talk me into Christian McCaffrey for MVP.
I know, like this is where everybody just wants to
put it on Stafford, and that's that's fine Stafford according
to Vegas by the way, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (20:48):
I know.
Speaker 3 (20:48):
Then everybody decided it was Drake May, and I will
remind you that Drake May and Jackson Dart have the
same number of wins over teams with the winning record,
So like, I don't know, I mean, what Christian McCaffrey
has done, and especially given how injured and beat up
everything has been for San Francisco just to think. And
this is the hardest part, and this is why I
(21:09):
constantly preached the same thing to you, Buck, Like if
there's any one big calling card, like if I was
asked what my main tenant for how to build a
successful football program like in college or the NFL, the
one thing that I truly believe more than anything, the
one thing I truly believe is no one player wins
you a championship. I truly believe that you have got
to have synergy from the top down on the types
(21:32):
of players that work in the system. Everybody's got to
be on the same page. And then you have got
to have depth. You've just got to have a way
to go next man up. Everybody says next man up
like it's this cute concept. You've got to actually have
a way to generate next man up. San Francisco. For
every single team that turns around and says, well, we've
been injured here, Kyle Shanahan, get turned around and say,
shut the hell up, right, because the injuries that they've
(21:54):
had all over the place, have they just haven't slowed
them down. And then to think of how good Mac Jones,
Like Mac Jones looked good enough this year that people
are talking about trying to trade for mac Jones. Like
that's where we are on this in Brock Party. I'm
so tired. I am so you know what I'm gonna
get on a Brock Party ramp. I'm gonna tell you
the truth. I'm gonna give you the gospel on Brock
(22:14):
Party that you needed to hear.
Speaker 2 (22:15):
First.
Speaker 3 (22:16):
Martin Weiss get us caught up on the scoreboards. Soo
we can see how this Indiana game's going.
Speaker 1 (22:20):
First down Hoosiers.
Speaker 9 (22:21):
Well there you go, Buck, First down Hoosiers. It is
as no, this is all It's gonna be. Second down Indiana.
But they're driving the ball down the field. Alabama had
a three and out earlier in the game, scoreless so
far with just four minutes and thirty seconds left in
the first quarter out here in Pasadena at the Rose Bowl,
Indiana and Alabama. Indiana the number one overall seed, undefeated
(22:43):
on the year, Alabama the nine seed with three losses
eleven and three. Oregon advance is twenty three to nothing
over Texas Tech.
Speaker 6 (22:51):
And that was in the Orange Bowl.
Speaker 9 (22:52):
Oregon with this massiful defense performance shutting down the Red
Raider offense Miami Beatlehouse Date and the Cotton Bowl twenty
four to four.
Speaker 6 (23:00):
Team Miami, after needing.
Speaker 9 (23:01):
That a large bit to make the playoffs, now made
the final four. Ole, Miss and Georgia will play in
the Sugar Bowl later tonight. Uh Lamar Jackson expected to
start for the Ravens on Sunday against the Steelers NFL
court of the NFL. New Orleans Saints quarterback Stevers Chris
Olave out for the finale due to a blood clot.
Packers quarterback Jordan love Clear's protocol but gonna sit out
(23:24):
until the playoffs start. Milik willis expected to go there.
Clayton Toone expected to go as well. Buccaneers cornerback Jamel
Dean and linebacker Anthony Nelson's going to be out due
to the against the Panthers that Buccaneers need to win
that game to make the postseason.
Speaker 6 (23:40):
Packers that coach Matt Lafloor said Formers.
Speaker 9 (23:41):
Dallas cornerback Trayvon Diggs could be in a lineup against
green Bay against the vike For green Bay against the
Vikings on Sunday. Diggs claimed off waivers after the Cowboys.
Speaker 6 (23:51):
Released him earlier this week. Fellas back to.
Speaker 3 (23:55):
He's Buck rising up, Jason Fitzmer hanging out with you
on Fox Sports Radio the Nex Spart and appreciate the
up on all of that. It's here's the thing, as
we will keep you updated on the college football accidents
that's happening. But this weekend we have the forty nine
Ers versus the Seahawks, and man, look, I was one
on one of our Yahoo shows that I was a
part of for several years since I coveraged, I constantly
(24:17):
argue with my co host and told everybody the same thing,
Brock Party was going to get paid.
Speaker 2 (24:21):
And the number of people that.
Speaker 3 (24:22):
Said, oh, you can't pay brock Party, Oh you can't
pay No, he's a system quarterback.
Speaker 2 (24:25):
Kyle can't just get that anywhere.
Speaker 3 (24:27):
And my answer to that has always been if Kyle
was simply if Kyle Shanahan could make any quarterback successful
in his system, they would have put those resources into
Trey Lance so they didn't have the egg on their
face for losing on the draft.
Speaker 2 (24:38):
Right didn't matter because they got Brock. But the fact is,
and I.
Speaker 3 (24:42):
Covered with college football at ESPN at the time, I
covered much of Brock Party's career. I've read more Brock
Party highlights in my career than ninety percent of the
people you will ever talked to. I didn't see a
single second of this coming, not a single second. Doesn't
change the fact that as we sit right now, Rock
Party is absolutely great. And I don't care. I don't
(25:04):
care Buck if it's the system, I don't care if
it's like, well, it's really shitning, And none of that matters.
What matters is that you've got two people that are
symbiotic in the way.
Speaker 2 (25:13):
That they do business.
Speaker 3 (25:15):
So you've got a coach and a quarterback that are
on the same page all the time, and a coach
that's calling the right place for that quarterback and a
quarterback that's executing the right place for that coach. And
just like I tell you all the time, I don't
think it's one or the other. It's like an eighties
tag team in WWE. You gotta have two guys that
are both bringing something, both bringing a heat. Right, Shanahan
with Brock Party is elite, And I don't really care
(25:36):
which side of it is elite.
Speaker 2 (25:37):
I don't really care why it is or isn't. Brock.
Speaker 3 (25:40):
What I care about is every single Sunday when I
see Brock party on the football field.
Speaker 2 (25:44):
I know that that man can.
Speaker 3 (25:46):
Beat the quarterback standing across from and I don't give
a damn if it's because he has a superpower as
a head coach. I just think we need to start
having a real conversation about Brock that isn't just painted
on where he's drafted, and instead it's painted around how
he's playing today.
Speaker 4 (26:00):
Well, the only pushback that I would offer in that
situation is it does matter very much where he's drafted.
In fact, the most important thing I would argue in
any of these players' ability to succeed or fail is geography,
like more so than traits or mental makeup or any
of these other things like I would argue. And I
(26:22):
say that as somebody who is watching cam Ward in
Tennessee and just came back from Titan's practice about an
hour and a half ago. Have to navigate through all
of the problematic things that come with a franchise that's
picking number one overall, right, So I'm not saying that
parties super super advantageous situation being the last pick of
(26:47):
the draft, and anybody could have had a rock party,
and even Kyle Shanahan passed on brock Party how many
times before they picked him right as somebody who has
a level of personnel control with the San Francisco forty
nine ers as a head coach. There's not many coaches
that do have that ability or that right within their organization,
and even the Niners waited until the very last pick
of the NFL Draft to take brock Perty. He is
(27:10):
such a unique figure in this because to your point,
I don't know when, I don't know who the first
person a pioneer system quarterback is a means of using
it as a slur against these players.
Speaker 1 (27:22):
I don't know who the first person was.
Speaker 4 (27:24):
To do that, but I feel like they fundamentally misunderstand
football whomever that person was, because the quarterbacks, that's their
entire existence. They are coached on how to operate the system.
Patrick Mahomes has a system that he plays with it
now he can do superhero stuff. Bo Hart Agree, who's
the play caller here in Tennessee, was talking about cam
(27:45):
Or today. We talked to assistant coaches after practice and
he said, you know, I know he can do the
Superman thing, but sometimes I just need him to be
Clark Kent, like I need him to get me to
I need him to get me to second and three,
I need him to take the dirty play to survive
for another down, as opposed to just trying to superhero
your way through it, because that's not how you win.
In the NFL, teams are preparing for players, yes, but
(28:08):
teams are also mostly preparing for the systems that they're
up against, the coaches and the tendencies. That's where the
chess match actually is. Whatever the players can give you
above and beyond replacement value, that's where the player superpower
superpower comes into play. But at the end of the day,
the crux of football is system on system, not player
(28:29):
versus player. And for some reason, at some point in
time in our dialogue around football, we lost the threat.
Speaker 3 (28:34):
On that if I could bring an entire gospel choir
into just sing Hallelujah and clap on beat behind you
while you spree while you say that it's so important
because look weird.
Speaker 2 (28:46):
Oh that's a holiday that's even better.
Speaker 3 (28:49):
I'm in on this because look, I get asked right
now a lot about quarterbacks because of my Raiders fandom,
and everybody says, well.
Speaker 2 (28:56):
What do you want?
Speaker 3 (28:57):
And I think we have to remember that The key
to modern quarterbacking is can you make the plays in
the system that you're asked to make on time, on schedule,
with the right read, and then when it all breaks down,
can you save your team several times? So, yeah, you've
got guys like Josh Allen that certainly when he came
into the league, it was clear he could save teams.
(29:18):
He could save the offense, it was clear from day one.
But he needed to work on his accuracy and his
mechanics to be capable of executing the actual system in
front of him. You've got guys like Caleb that Caleb
came in And one of the things that I was
told by somebody particularly smart around college football when we
were doing breakdowns, I was getting ready for my bread
in one of my draft shows. I asked him, I said, well,
(29:39):
what are the thoughts on Caleb? And he said, the
crazy thing is that Caleb does so many things so well.
And you'll look at this incredible play and you'll ask
immediately when you look back at the film, why did
you make that when the easy read was right there?
And I say that all the time, because what's Ben
Johnson had to do? Ben Johnson's had to figure out
how to get Caleb to play better on schedule. You
mentioned cam Ward, like the young quarterbacks got to figure
(30:00):
out how to play better on schedule. So there is
this element for me of if Brock comes in and
is able to play on schedule, but then also also
on top of being able to execute Kyle Shannan's offense
like he's a painter and he knows exactly what he's doing,
then you see plays like we saw last week where
he's rolling outside the pocket, jukes two people and throws
(30:21):
against his body to the corner of the front of
the end zone for a touchdown.
Speaker 2 (30:24):
Right, Like he made a play that's saved.
Speaker 3 (30:27):
And Shanahan afterwards said, you know, I was nervous until
I was happy, right, So I just think to your point, Buck,
every quarterback like Mahomes is in part Mahomes because he's
had Andy Reid as his play caller and has his system.
And then on top of that, he makes Andy Reid better.
Andy Reid makes him better. He makes Andy Reid better.
Like this is simple to me.
Speaker 2 (30:48):
You need a.
Speaker 3 (30:48):
Coach that makes your quarterback better and a quarterback that
makes your coach better. And if Brock Perdy is doing that,
then I don't really care about any of the qualifiers anymore.
Like I trust the forty nine ers this I think
the Seahawks are a better team than the forty nine
ers top to bottom. I trust the forty nine ers
more though, because I trust Brought Party more than I
trust Sam Donald.
Speaker 1 (31:08):
And I don't think that's That.
Speaker 4 (31:11):
Is where the kind of conversations that we have about
these players individually beyond what the scheme provides them that
I think is fair because they both have.
Speaker 1 (31:20):
Track records right and Party listen?
Speaker 4 (31:21):
Party was It took him a little while this season
around into form, dealing with the injuries that he's dealt with,
and I mean, think about how foolish those And I'm
not saying that I didn't have similar conversations or even
similar thoughts, but like when Mac Jones was winning games
for the Niners, don't tell me it didn't cross America's
mind at some point in time to say, well, do
they really need to put Party back out there? Mac
(31:43):
Jones is playing pretty good football. Mac Jones. It's kind
of like a full circle experience for Kyle Shanahan, who
if you remember FITZI and I know you do because
you've covered the draft for many years, the draft that
they ended up taking Trey Lance. There was a lot
of conversation about how much Shanahan liked mac Jones and
how that might how that might fit within what it
(32:04):
is that he's trying to accomplish. And so you started
to see that once mac re signed with or signed
with San Francisco as a free agent after being drafted
by the Patriots, washing out there, going to Jacksonville for
a year.
Speaker 1 (32:15):
I think that's the only other stop he had before
he ended up in San Francisco.
Speaker 4 (32:18):
Mac Jones, but you had those conversations in real time,
and again you're talking about, all right, is the system
doing this or is the player performing at such a
high level within the system that it needs to be
acknowledged and they need to think about making meaningful change.
Thank God, the NFL coaches, or at least Kyle Shanahan maybe
other coaches are prisoner of the moment that way, because
I'm sure it was tempting at certain points in time
(32:40):
if you were if you had less conviction in the
people that you were putting in position, like Kyle Shanahan
and Brock Party and Kyle Shanahan and Mac Jones Kyle
Shanahan didn't bet to night, So as soon as Brock
Party's ready to go, we're putting them back out there.
And of course there were some things to work through.
The rest versus Rust's conversation that we had earlier in
the college football playoff. Party was definitely working through some rust.
(33:01):
But my god, I mean, if there was a late
season MVP candidacy to be had, Brock Perty's playing some
really high level football.
Speaker 3 (33:08):
Yeah, one hundred percent, And I trust a beat up,
banged up, oh my god, forty nine Ers team to
be able to go on a run because the NFC
looks wide open. It's just absolutely why it looks wide
open right now, and that is It's gonna be an
epic matchup, obviously, but it's gonna be wild to try
and figure out how this all plays. That's not the
only huge matchup this weekend, though. There is one loser
(33:30):
leaves town and we now know that Lamar is going
to be in for the Ravens against the Steelers.
Speaker 2 (33:36):
So what does it mean for that epic Sunday night matchup.
Speaker 3 (33:38):
We'll talk about it next these Buck Rising I'm Jason
Fitzbucking fits hanging out with the on Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 1 (33:44):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio Radio.
Speaker 3 (33:48):
They just played a graphic on the Alabama Indiana game.
It's pretty stunning. Teams coming off of first round by
so far in the history of the college football playoff.
Speaker 2 (33:58):
Not only ohen six.
Speaker 3 (33:59):
We already knew that, but now we are through the
first quarter of this game between Alabama and Indiana. Indiana
coming off of bye teams coming off the buye have
been outscored forty five to three in the first quarter.
Speaker 2 (34:12):
That's not good. That's not good.
Speaker 3 (34:13):
Buck, It's bucking Fitz Buck rising, Jason fitz But Fox
Sports Radio that just continues to scream to why this
is all gonna change? For over forty years, by the way,
one thing that doesn't change is tireract They've been helping
customers find the right tires for how, what and.
Speaker 2 (34:26):
Where they drive, ship fast and for ree back by.
Speaker 3 (34:29):
Free Road has their protection with convenient installation options like
mobile tire installation tirack dot com.
Speaker 2 (34:35):
The way tire buying should be.
Speaker 3 (34:36):
Forty five to three after the first quarter, like we
have an answer and rest versus rust, we have an answer.
Rust is real. This is all going to have to change.
There is no way that the powers of college football
are going to watch as their best teams continue to
just get picked off week will game one after these
buys over and over and over and over again and
(34:57):
not want to make a change.
Speaker 4 (34:59):
Well, it's the but the conference commissioners will get involved.
I mean, Greg Sankey is not going to stand for
the idea of an SEC team getting eliminated in the
first round over and over and over again if they
get the first round by no matter how many teams
they get in the field, right, And I know that
is something that's going to come up.
Speaker 1 (35:14):
Oh, is Alabama punning in the situation?
Speaker 4 (35:16):
That seems like a little I don't know what yard
line they're on, So maybe I shouldn't say that. I
am trying not to give live time observations of this
game as we watch the Rose Bowl, because of course
I am invested in Indiana's success today.
Speaker 2 (35:29):
For the first day of his life, he's invested in INDIANAFL.
Speaker 1 (35:32):
Yeah, so that's okay.
Speaker 4 (35:33):
Like I think that's okay, you know, like I genuinely
like I went to I went to practice today.
Speaker 1 (35:39):
I got my Indiana, I got my Indiana hoodie.
Speaker 4 (35:41):
On and one of the wide receivers coach of the
wide receivers coach Tig Tubert comes up and said, I
didn't think you. I didn't know you were an Indiana fan.
I go, I'm I'm really not. But like, I just
want to see them do something cool. I want to
see my school do something awesome that's never been done
before by I went.
Speaker 3 (36:00):
But you went to Indiana since they got years of
your life and money, Yes, you can celebrate.
Speaker 2 (36:05):
It however you choose.
Speaker 3 (36:06):
It is not my work, like you have given years
of money to Indiana at your level, I can't I
can't question that. Like at this point, you're allowed to
celebrate this run however you choose.
Speaker 4 (36:16):
Okay, fine, as long as but I just want you
to note that I didn't need your permission to do
that anyway. I just wanted you to know on the
front end that I am going to do this regardless
of whether you're going to grant me said permission or not.
But I appreciate you giving me your stamp of approval anyway.
The structure of this is something that we've talked about
several times, whether it be on today's show or in
(36:36):
the last couple of days that we've been on where
we've just been bemoaning the layoff of the college football
Playoff and how much time it has been since we've
seen Indiana, Georgia, Texas Tech play play in these games.
Ohio State obviously looking like a shell of themselves last night.
And you posed a really good solution to this and
(36:59):
how you would reach structure where to you would put
these things back on college campuses, not just in the
first round, right, you would play the entire college football
Playoff with home field advantage being on campus, and then
if you wanted to have a bidding situation for the
Orange Bowl to host the National Championship of the Rose
Bowl to host the national Championship. I'm summarizing, so if
(37:20):
I've missed any important points in your solution fits you
feel free.
Speaker 1 (37:23):
To correct me.
Speaker 4 (37:25):
The other part of this is just the nature of
the college football calendar anyway. There are so many different
webs or wires that have to be untangled here that
have completely ensnared the sport, that are working actively to
its detriment. Despite giving us I would argue this is
as much fun as college football has ever been because
(37:45):
of the nature of the field. Because of the current
environment and how it can create stories like Indiana and
Vandy and whichever you up and coming upstart program that's
been downtrodden for the vast majority of existence, all of
a sudden, it gets a little funding, it turns into
a real thing.
Speaker 6 (38:01):
Right.
Speaker 4 (38:01):
I would argue that this is the best version of
college football from a competitive on the field product standpoint,
and it's just being it's being shipped away at it
every turn because they haven't taken the time in the
modern age to sit down and actually hammer out the
best version of this because what we know, what we
(38:22):
definitively know, is this is not acceptable. The way that
the structure is currently being or executed, for lack of
a better term, is Alabama is.
Speaker 1 (38:31):
It ooh, fake punt?
Speaker 4 (38:32):
Maybe fake punt, fake punt, fake punt, No, trying to
fake the defense out anyway. I am fascinated to see
who actually gets.
Speaker 2 (38:42):
Sorry, shiny Bike, Buck Rising, shy Bike.
Speaker 4 (38:47):
I want to say that I'm not going to do
this for the rest of the show, but I'm definitely
gonna do this for the rest of the show. My
point is I want to see how the adults are
going to operate when they get in the room and
who the adults actually are and who actually has the
best interest of college football in mind, college athletics in mind,
versus who's just satisfied to keep things status quo because
of the money that Capital One is giving the Rose
(39:08):
Bowl or whatever the case, or the Orange Bowl or
whatever the case may be. Like, these are the things
that make me insane. There's too many competing interests, and
you know it's gonna make it worse, not better. We
haven't talked about this story. I don't thank you and me.
This Utah situation where they're going to get investment from
private equity, so you're gonna have a variety of different
people on a board somewhere making decisions at least in
(39:29):
part on behalf of Utah football, and how many of
those people have competing interests. I understand that in a
perfect world those things would be aligned, but still, like,
I think it's only gonna get worse.
Speaker 3 (39:38):
Well, and it's only gonna get worse. I'll talk for
a minute so you can watch what's about to happen.
I guess I'm ahead of you. It's only gonna get
It's only gonna get worse because there is a very
clear situation that solves all of this, and nobody wants it.
Speaker 2 (39:51):
There's a very clear situation to solve the entire problem
of college football.
Speaker 3 (39:55):
All it's gonna take is every single school coming together
with every single athlete and forming a collective bargaining situation
where the schools are bargained as one voice and all
the players unionize, which is going to take years in court.
And I will just remind everybody if you think that's
not the solution. Every single time there's been an NCAA
issue challenged in court, the players have won because it's
(40:16):
not constitutional to throttle back their ability to transfer, it's
not constitutional to throttle back their ability to earn money.
The courts have told you over and over and over
again that none of that is constitutional. So if you
really want to know what the change in college football
looks like, it's going to end up looking like the NFL,
major League Baseball, the NHL, every other major professional sport.
(40:37):
Because Buck's right, there's going to be private equity money
in it. Everybody's going to be putting their equity around.
In the meantime, let's get you caught up. We'll let
you know what's going on in the Rose Bowl. Next,
we'll see if Buck is able to handle the drama
bucking fits on Fox Sports Radio
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
It's New Year's Day. You know what that means?
Speaker 3 (00:06):
Parades and the Rose Bowl because we are only moments
away from Alabama taking on Indiana and again, that will
have to change the way we talk about two different
football programs and will have to at some point change
the way that we at least perceive two of the
better teams that are trying to figure out exactly how
to win a championship this year, Buck Rising Chase and
(00:29):
Fits hanging out with you Don't Forget. For over forty years,
Tiraq is helping customers find the right tires for how,
what and where they drive.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
Shipped free and Fast backed by free Road.
Speaker 3 (00:38):
Has a protection, convenient installation options like mobile tire installation.
Tiraq dot Com the way tire buying should be look
first and foremost parades. I'm out on parades.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
Parades are dumb. I don't know why everybody hangs out.
Speaker 3 (00:49):
Like I turned on the TV this morning the Rose
Bowl parade was on, and I just I could not
have rolled my eyes any physically harder than I rolled them, Like,
how many people do we need to commentate on a parade?
I don't nderstand this book. I don't understand why we're
all just going to stand there on the street. Like
there is just a moment where you're standing there and
you're like, okay, the now the float has gone by.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
Now what what is my interger? Yeah, I'm out. I'm
out on parades. Parades are not my thing.
Speaker 1 (01:14):
That's a that's a tough one.
Speaker 4 (01:16):
I've done the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York,
and that's you know, that's an experience and to itself,
right with the floats and the things like that, especially
if you're the I mean, it's been one hundred years
since I went. We were we were still living in
New Jersey at the time. And you go as a
kid and you're delighted by it and you see your
(01:36):
favorite Pokemon float or you see you know, whatever super
superhero character you want, and that's enough for you, right,
Like it's it's a delight.
Speaker 1 (01:44):
For a certain generation.
Speaker 4 (01:47):
But after a while and maybe you get if as
you're an adult, and we are you know, you and
I are are people or two people that do not
have children. Uh So, perhaps this is lost on us
in particular, but something for some of my friends who
have kids tell me is that the fun of having
kids at things like parades or things like Christmas is
that you lose some of your luster for that as
(02:10):
you get up there in age. But when you have kids,
you get to experience those things basically as a brand
new event through your kids. So maybe there's something too
that just to kind of play Devil's advocate nice guy,
which I never very often get to do.
Speaker 3 (02:23):
So it's a very fair point by you, and I
think that when you have kids it changes sort of
the equation to everything. Like I chose not to have kids.
I don't want to have kids. Kids aren't something I
want my life. I have had to I love kids,
by the way, I just didn't want any of my own.
I have had to sort of reevaluate what that means
sometimes at Christmas, you know, like Christmas is weird if
you don't because I don't have a lot of family.
(02:44):
So since I don't have any relationship with the family
that I have and I don't have kids, like it's
just a little weird when you wake up one day
and you're like, all right, I'm in my forties. I
don't need you to buy me a Christmas present. I
like it just that feels weird to me too.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
So, like you know, I.
Speaker 3 (03:00):
Do acquiesce that having kids, and I've told my friends before,
I think that is the one. There's a weird chapter
you go through in your life on certain holidays where
you look around like it's fine, it's great, it's a
good day. But when you don't have kids, it just
gets disconnected. Parades I will add to that list. I
think anything anytime you have it with the kid in
and it's like it's a magic and wonder for them.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
That's great. They weren't all kids standing at the Rose
Bowl parade, now, that's what I'm saying.
Speaker 3 (03:23):
But now we get the Rose Bowl and we get
Alabama versus Indiana, and look a huge To be very clear,
even though I have so many Alabama friends, Alabama grads,
Alabama fans, friends all over my life from the years
I spent in and around Nashville, I know how many
of you love Alabama.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
Got to help you lose today. I really do.
Speaker 3 (03:43):
And I don't hope you lose because I care who
wins or loses. Most of the time, I don't. I
don't have a favorite college football team. I'm squarely rooting
against Indiana because I'm tired of benefit of the doubt
going and leaving certain teams for no good reason, like
we can't look through this matchup. And I really respected
the fact that even Nick Saban on Game Day today
(04:03):
reference the fact that, man, so many people say.
Speaker 5 (04:06):
It's Indiana, it's Indiana. This is not Indiana. This is
the number one team in the country. This is a
team with an absolutely explosive defense that flew around to
the football at Ohio State.
Speaker 3 (04:17):
That really surprised me. Yes, they've got some key injuries there,
they got to work out. They've got the Heisman Trophy winner.
They've got a couple of wide.
Speaker 2 (04:23):
Receivers that are going to be drafted to play in
the NFL. This is not Indiana.
Speaker 3 (04:27):
Like, oh my god, I wanted to make college football
the video game really hard this year, so I picked
Indiana to play, and what do you know, I'm in
the championship. Like that's the way we make it sound.
I need Indiana to win a title because A. I
think it opens up the floodgates for everybody else. B
It takes away the excuses for every other program there.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
Well, we can't compete. Indiana figured it out and see it.
Speaker 3 (04:49):
Forces us to start talking about Indiana and Alabama not
for who they've been, but for who they are right now.
Speaker 4 (04:57):
Yeah, it's one of those things where this is the
kind of game that could force you to reimagine how
you view the construct of modern day college football, right
I think to a different extent. And obviously they're not
participating in a college football playoff game, but they have
been a champion multiple.
Speaker 1 (05:14):
Times over as a program.
Speaker 4 (05:16):
Despite just having lost to Penn State in the Mighty
and illustrious Pinstripe Bowl, Clemson, like Clemson, is one of
the biggest college football powers of my lifetime, of my
adult lifetime, certainly under Davo Swinning and all the success
that they were able to have, whether they were winning
(05:37):
championships or competing for championships and falling short because Alabama
and Nick Saban were up against them, or Urban may On,
Ohio State, or whatever the case may be. Like Clemson
in the modern era of college football, I think you
have to re examine how you view Clemson as a
program because they have not adapted to the times. They
are no longer equipped or it doesn't seem that they're
(05:58):
equipped to compete at the highest level because they're not
willing to play the game, or at least Dabbo hasn't
been willing to play the game in the way that
the game is being played in or I guess the
new way that the game is being played.
Speaker 1 (06:11):
Right.
Speaker 4 (06:11):
This is the thing that is so much fun to
watch about Kurt Signetti because I'm watching Nick Saban on television,
and Nick Saban is on television because he didn't want to.
He didn't want to go through what the new college
football is. And that's fine, as is his right. He's
he's done what he needed to do. He is the
greatest coach in the history of the of that sport.
If he feels that he doesn't want to have to
(06:33):
make these certain kind of accommodations to continue to win
at the level that he's accustomed to winning at her
that he expects to win at, as is Nick Saban's right.
But Kurtzignetti turned around and said, Hey, I'm gonna do
it with a bunch of three star dudes. I'm gonna
get him paid all over the place. I'm gonna go
out there and whip your ass with a talent profile.
Speaker 1 (06:51):
What is that?
Speaker 4 (06:51):
What is even Indiana's talent composite by like uh by
by recruiting class. I would venture a guest to say,
and there's a lot of transfer guys in there too,
but I would venture a guest to say that they
are outside of the top fifty. And I bet it's
probably further below, like closer to closer to seventy than
(07:13):
it would be to fifty or something like that, which
is what makes this entire situation so insane. So you
can do this now. Kurtzignety is obviously a very unique
figure in the landscape of college football. I don't know
how many of those dudes are actually out there in
the way that this dude is that can can do
the kind of things for your your Vanderbilts, your Dukes.
Speaker 1 (07:35):
Your I don't know what's another.
Speaker 4 (07:38):
What's another college football program that doesn't matter in a
power for conference? Pick whichever one you want. Indiana is
the best example in the Big Ten, for sure. I
don't know how many Kurtzigneties there are to actually do
this job the way that he's done, and certainly not
at the level that he's done it at. We I'm
in Nashville, fits he's in Connecticut as we broadcast here
with you on Fox Sports Radio, and I had a
(08:00):
bunch of calls fits on the local show, maybe not
a bunch of calls, a lot of comments in the
YouTube comment section of the local show that we do
here in Nashville, basically getting after me a little bit
because Vanderbilt had a really good season, even though it
didn't end well against Iowa yesterday in Power Iowa.
Speaker 1 (08:18):
So Diego.
Speaker 4 (08:19):
Pavia has the Heisman Trophy season and Vanderbilt has the
best season in program history still by the way, and
they should be happy. And a ten win season for
Vandy is awesome. It's only the second time they've competed
in a bowl game in back to back seasons in
I think the program's history. But a lot of Vanderbilt
fans were kind of giving me a hard time because
they're saying, well, if you put Kurtzignetti in the in
(08:40):
the SEC, he'd be doing the exact same thing as
Clark Lee would at Vanderbilt, Like you have to grade
on the curve of well, the SEC is just a
higher level of competition, and I will acknowledge that that
is something that more often than not, if you said it,
you would be correct. But I also just watched Clark
Lee and Vanderbilt, who didn't make the College Football Playoff
(09:01):
and who lost to Texas, and Alabama lose to Iowa
yesterday in the damn Relyaquest Bowl. Okay, Kurt Signetti has
Indiana double digit win seasons back to back for the
first time in program history. God knows, they've never been
the number one overall seat in the College Football Playoff,
favored against Alabama in the Rose Bowl in ways that
(09:21):
are outrageous, and the guy is potentially he has a
Heisman Trophy winner at quarterback who's probably going to be
the number one overall draft pick when all of a
sudden done, that is such a unicorn in the landscape
of sports. I don't know how anybody could look at
this and say, yeah, my program can do that.
Speaker 1 (09:37):
All we have to do is just get the right guy.
Speaker 6 (09:39):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (09:39):
I mean, the funny thing is, it's not about getting
the money, it's not about getting the players.
Speaker 2 (09:44):
It's about both. And at some level.
Speaker 3 (09:47):
I just looked it up and you know, twenty four
to seven with their recruiting rankings, Indiana is the thirty
third ranked recruiting.
Speaker 4 (09:54):
Class or it's coming into coming in coming into this
next year, next year.
Speaker 3 (10:00):
So with all the success that they have had, they're
thirty third. They're behind Vandy right now, which is thirty second.
They have no five star recruits. They only have seven
four star recruits, the majority of these three stars, right
And it's it's just so it's wild because everybody says, well,
you just got to go find the next signetti.
Speaker 2 (10:19):
I don't know that it's that easy.
Speaker 3 (10:21):
I just there is something that's a little bit lightning
in a bottle with this Indiana team, and lightning in
a bottle with signetti with this Indiana team.
Speaker 2 (10:28):
And you know this is this is also to me.
Speaker 3 (10:31):
One thing I've said to you pretty consistently with Clark
leeam Bandy, for example, is show it to me with
another quarterback, right like, we need to see a different
person playing quarterback.
Speaker 2 (10:39):
Indiana's done that.
Speaker 3 (10:40):
This is the second street year that they've made the
College Football Playoff, right Like, so I feel like the
tide no pun intendance has turned a little bit on
the conversation of Indiana. But until they win a game
like this, I mean, Indiana beating Alabama at the Rose
Bowl would then force us to have a much different
conversation because any other year, any other year.
Speaker 2 (11:03):
In college football.
Speaker 3 (11:04):
If we had just watched the number two team in
the whole college football playoff who happened to be the
number one team all year, if we just watch them
go down in their first playoff game, would the narrative
not be all man The life just got a lot
easier for that one seed to go win a championship.
Like guess why, y'all, life just got a lot easier
for Indiana to go win a national championship. Oregon won today.
(11:26):
Indiana has already whooped a snot out of Oregon at Oregon,
so they ain't scared Oregon any way, shape or form.
Right Ohio State's the toughest game they played all year,
and it came down to the wire in a big
Den championship game.
Speaker 2 (11:38):
And Ohio State's gone from this thing.
Speaker 3 (11:40):
So there is a very real clear path to Indiana
winning the college football Championship this year. I just don't
think until they get a win in a game like
they're about to play today against Alabama, it will get
the level of love that it deserves. They're kicking off
right now. We will keep you updated over the next
several hours. Are with you all, the way up until
(12:01):
seven pm Eastern, so we're gonna be on radio.
Speaker 2 (12:03):
We will keep you.
Speaker 3 (12:04):
Updated on everything that's happening there in the meantime. This
weekend we have an NFL matchup for the number one
seed and the entire thing the top seed home field
a van is. The question is how much difference will
it really make? We'll answer that for you. Next Sea's
Buck Rising on Jason Fitz hanging out with you Bucking
Fits on Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 7 (12:22):
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
the nation. Catch all of our shows at foxsports Radio
dot com and within the iHeartRadio app search FSR to
listen live.
Speaker 2 (12:35):
Hey, this is Jason McIntyre.
Speaker 8 (12:37):
Join me every weekday morning on my podcast, Straight Fire
with Jason McIntyre. This isn't your typical sports pod pushing
the same tired narratives down your throat every day.
Speaker 2 (12:47):
Straight Fire gives.
Speaker 8 (12:48):
You honest opinions on all the biggest sports headlines, accurate
stats to.
Speaker 2 (12:52):
Help you win big at the sportsbook, and all the
best guests.
Speaker 8 (12:55):
Do yourself a favor and listen to Straight Fire with
Jason McIntyre on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever
you get your podcasts.
Speaker 3 (13:07):
It's fucking fits taking over Fox Sports Radio. He's Buck Rising.
I'm Jason Fitz. Will be with you all the way
up until seven pm Eastern time. The Rose Bowl is
underway between Indiana and Alabama.
Speaker 2 (13:22):
We will keep you updated on it.
Speaker 3 (13:23):
And you know, frankly, so you lean all the way
in because my co host that I'm sitting with right now,
Buck Rising, is currently doing the show while wearing an
Indiana hoodie.
Speaker 2 (13:31):
He's an Indiana brad although he.
Speaker 3 (13:33):
Has never once gone to a Indiana football game, which.
Speaker 2 (13:37):
Is a bit of a conversation.
Speaker 3 (13:40):
There is no doubt what is leaning is going to
be on this, So you know, I can't promise there
won't be just rebel yells in the middle of segments.
That's the level of professionalism we are going to bring here, Buck,
I think that's important. I was buying you a little
time because I'm slightly ahead of you, and I knew
that you would see that your favorite team, your team
in this almost almost picked off the ball, but they
didn't want to do a bunch.
Speaker 4 (14:01):
I mean, I guess it's okay because it was third
and fourteen. Anyway, Yeah, I am going I mean I'm
not professional under normal circumstances anyway, when FITZI and I
are doing the show that we normally do for Fox
Sports Radio on Saturdays. Obviously, we've been filling in a
lot across all the network here over the holiday season
while people take some much needed vacation. But I yeah,
(14:23):
I'm going to make a lot of sounds throughout the
course of the remainder of this radio show while the
Rose Bowl is on the air, because you're right, Fitzi,
and we're going to talk about some NFL here in
just a second, so I will refocus my attention as
we go to commercial break in the Rose Bowl. But
I am I would be very happy to see Indiana win.
(14:44):
I've never never, to your point, never been doing an
Indiana football game in my life, despite being a graduate
of that institution, because that's not it's just Indiana football
is not a part of the culture. And I don't
need to repeat that every time we talk about Indiana football,
but sometimes I feel like it's important to say this.
This is how you change is how you change perception,
This is how you completely Indiana never cared about the
(15:07):
Colts until Peyton Manning became the quarterback of the Indianapolis Colts. Right,
it's IndyCar and it's basketball in the state of Indiana.
That's what they do. It's like crab cakes and football.
That's what Maryland does.
Speaker 1 (15:17):
Right.
Speaker 4 (15:18):
So Indiana taking this thing basically from Notre Dame and Purdue,
who have more established I have produced terrible lately, and
Notre Dame is, you know, always hovering around the college
football playoff picture and things like that, and it's a
huge national fan base, one of the you know, oldest
and longest standing college football programs in the country. For
(15:40):
Indiana to do this and to make people have to
pay attention to them, this is how you start generations
of fandom. So I'm excited for my alma mater. I'm
excited for the Indiana football team. I hope they beat
Alabama today. Three and out to start the game, and
getting Alabama off the field is a decent way to start.
But yeah, I'm gonna make a lot of noises throughout
(16:01):
the course of this segment while we talk about some
other things.
Speaker 3 (16:04):
I also think that there's so much in my mind
to how do you handle these moments? And we do
have to remember that some of these moments are still
new for Indiana as a program, so I am genuinely
curious to see how they handle They're about to start
a drive backed up against their own goal line, right,
and so you're backed up deep in your own territory.
(16:26):
It's the Rose Bowl, which has its own gravitas, right,
and it's against Alabama, which, whether or not that has
any meeting Signetti says, the guys in the field don't
really care about that. Okay, fine, I'm buying all that,
But certainly there isn't a lot of bend there done that.
What do we do and how do we respond and
playoff atmosphere experience for anybody. So I do think it's
(16:46):
interesting as we continue, as we continue to keep you
updated on that. Now this weekend we have an epic
NFL matchup, And it's funny to me because when I
say there's a battle for the number one overall seed
between the Seahawks and forty nine Ers, you would presume
that that means that the Seahawks and the forty nine
Ers are clearly the two best teams in the NFC,
when in fact, I think many people would argue that
(17:08):
the Rams are. Actually it's amazing to me that a
ball sitting in the end zone that nobody realized was
live being recovered on a two point conversion for Seattle
turns out to be the absolute difference between the Rams
playing for a number one seed and not.
Speaker 2 (17:22):
Right So here we sit.
Speaker 3 (17:23):
But this matchup is so interesting to me, Buck because
I feel like the forty nine Ers have been backed
into a corner for a month and they just have
fought and fought and fought, and I don't know how
they win with no pass rush, and I don't know
how they win with the defense that has so many
injuries all over the place. We have talked about Kyle
(17:44):
Shanahan's Coach of the Year candidacy and all of this,
but I'm watching a forty nine Ers team that just
has been fighting against the Seahawks teams that I've watched
a lot of this year. You want to talk about
a team that starts slow almost every week. You want
to talk about a team that just makes you wondered
the first half every week what in the hell are
they doing? And then finds a way to win. Like,
I think there's a lot here to learn about two teams,
(18:08):
because nobody really knows who's great in the NFC. I
want to see how they respond to this moment for
these two teams.
Speaker 4 (18:15):
So you're you're still and understandably so, because his play
is definitely tailed off here in a little bit in
the last I don't know, would you say the last
month of Sam Donald has been kind of you.
Speaker 3 (18:25):
Know, I think Sam Donald is still very very very good.
I yeah, I think, but you're right, heat boys some
turnover games in big games, and he's had some sloppy throws. Yeah,
Sam Donald, there are flashes where Sam looks like your
crazy ex girlfriend.
Speaker 1 (18:39):
That's still crazy, there is.
Speaker 4 (18:44):
And the Niners, right, the Niners have just overcome the
odds at every turn, and I get that they're not
beating like the best teams in the NFL and route
to winning six straight, which is what they've done since
they lost to the Rams. Since they got blown out
by the Rams forty two to twenty six back in
early November, they've beaten the Cardinals, Panthers, Browns, Titans, Colts,
(19:04):
the Philip Rivers Colts right, and the Chicago Bears, which
was an excellent game of fun game and a quality win.
So I don't know, would we consider the Panthers beating
the Panthers and the Bears the best of those wins,
and the Panthers kind of suspect in the NFC South
just generally that entire division suspect.
Speaker 1 (19:22):
So what does this really look like?
Speaker 4 (19:24):
Because the point totals for San Francisco in these wins
forty two on the Bears, forty eight on the Colts,
thirty seven on the Titans, twenty six on the Browns,
which are a good defense even though their team has
not had the kind of season that they wanted, forty
one on the Cardinals. I mean, they're just shelling teams.
So if you had to pick a nightmare scenario for
Seahawks fans at this point in time, I would think
(19:47):
it would be the slow starting Seattle Seahawks against just
an absolute fire breathing dragon of an offense in Kyle
Shanahan's San Francisco forty nine ers, who seem to have
found a little bit of success on the ground as
of late. McCaffrey is I mean, I think he's one
hundred and ten yards from being having a one thousand
yard rushing one thousand yard receiving season for the second
(20:07):
time in his career. The last time he did it
was twenty nineteen. I think one hundred and ten is
the total in receiving yards that he needs to eclipse
that mark, which is outrageous, and he could very well
do that in this game. Seattle is going to be
thinking very much about that and they'll try and find
ways to stop him. I just, I mean, there are
so many different answers that Kyle Shanahan has on offense,
(20:27):
and Seattle's a tough defense. This is an excellent, excellent
matchup for us to get to conclude one of the
matchups for us to get to conclude the NFL's regular season.
Speaker 3 (20:36):
With you could talk me into Christian McCaffrey for MVP.
I know, like this is where everybody just wants to
put it on Stafford, and that's that's fine Stafford according
to Vegas by the way, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (20:48):
I know.
Speaker 3 (20:48):
Then everybody decided it was Drake May, and I will
remind you that Drake May and Jackson Dart have the
same number of wins over teams with the winning record,
So like, I don't know, I mean, what Christian McCaffrey
has done, and especially given how injured and beat up
everything has been for San Francisco just to think. And
this is the hardest part, and this is why I
(21:09):
constantly preached the same thing to you, Buck, Like if
there's any one big calling card, like if I was
asked what my main tenant for how to build a
successful football program like in college or the NFL, the
one thing that I truly believe more than anything, the
one thing I truly believe is no one player wins
you a championship. I truly believe that you have got
to have synergy from the top down on the types
(21:32):
of players that work in the system. Everybody's got to
be on the same page. And then you have got
to have depth. You've just got to have a way
to go next man up. Everybody says next man up
like it's this cute concept. You've got to actually have
a way to generate next man up. San Francisco. For
every single team that turns around and says, well, we've
been injured here, Kyle Shanahan, get turned around and say,
shut the hell up, right, because the injuries that they've
(21:54):
had all over the place, have they just haven't slowed
them down. And then to think of how good Mac Jones,
Like Mac Jones looked good enough this year that people
are talking about trying to trade for mac Jones. Like
that's where we are on this in Brock Party. I'm
so tired. I am so you know what I'm gonna
get on a Brock Party ramp. I'm gonna tell you
the truth. I'm gonna give you the gospel on Brock
(22:14):
Party that you needed to hear.
Speaker 2 (22:15):
First.
Speaker 3 (22:16):
Martin Weiss get us caught up on the scoreboards. Soo
we can see how this Indiana game's going.
Speaker 1 (22:20):
First down Hoosiers.
Speaker 9 (22:21):
Well there you go, Buck, First down Hoosiers. It is
as no, this is all It's gonna be. Second down Indiana.
But they're driving the ball down the field. Alabama had
a three and out earlier in the game, scoreless so
far with just four minutes and thirty seconds left in
the first quarter out here in Pasadena at the Rose Bowl,
Indiana and Alabama. Indiana the number one overall seed, undefeated
(22:43):
on the year, Alabama the nine seed with three losses
eleven and three. Oregon advance is twenty three to nothing
over Texas Tech.
Speaker 6 (22:51):
And that was in the Orange Bowl.
Speaker 9 (22:52):
Oregon with this massiful defense performance shutting down the Red
Raider offense Miami Beatlehouse Date and the Cotton Bowl twenty
four to four.
Speaker 6 (23:00):
Team Miami, after needing.
Speaker 9 (23:01):
That a large bit to make the playoffs, now made
the final four. Ole, Miss and Georgia will play in
the Sugar Bowl later tonight. Uh Lamar Jackson expected to
start for the Ravens on Sunday against the Steelers NFL
court of the NFL. New Orleans Saints quarterback Stevers Chris
Olave out for the finale due to a blood clot.
Packers quarterback Jordan love Clear's protocol but gonna sit out
(23:24):
until the playoffs start. Milik willis expected to go there.
Clayton Toone expected to go as well. Buccaneers cornerback Jamel
Dean and linebacker Anthony Nelson's going to be out due
to the against the Panthers that Buccaneers need to win
that game to make the postseason.
Speaker 6 (23:40):
Packers that coach Matt Lafloor said Formers.
Speaker 9 (23:41):
Dallas cornerback Trayvon Diggs could be in a lineup against
green Bay against the vike For green Bay against the
Vikings on Sunday. Diggs claimed off waivers after the Cowboys.
Speaker 6 (23:51):
Released him earlier this week. Fellas back to.
Speaker 3 (23:55):
He's Buck rising up, Jason Fitzmer hanging out with you
on Fox Sports Radio the Nex Spart and appreciate the
up on all of that. It's here's the thing, as
we will keep you updated on the college football accidents
that's happening. But this weekend we have the forty nine
Ers versus the Seahawks, and man, look, I was one
on one of our Yahoo shows that I was a
part of for several years since I coveraged, I constantly
(24:17):
argue with my co host and told everybody the same thing,
Brock Party was going to get paid.
Speaker 2 (24:21):
And the number of people that.
Speaker 3 (24:22):
Said, oh, you can't pay brock Party, Oh you can't
pay No, he's a system quarterback.
Speaker 2 (24:25):
Kyle can't just get that anywhere.
Speaker 3 (24:27):
And my answer to that has always been if Kyle
was simply if Kyle Shanahan could make any quarterback successful
in his system, they would have put those resources into
Trey Lance so they didn't have the egg on their
face for losing on the draft.
Speaker 2 (24:38):
Right didn't matter because they got Brock. But the fact is,
and I.
Speaker 3 (24:42):
Covered with college football at ESPN at the time, I
covered much of Brock Party's career. I've read more Brock
Party highlights in my career than ninety percent of the
people you will ever talked to. I didn't see a
single second of this coming, not a single second. Doesn't
change the fact that as we sit right now, Rock
Party is absolutely great. And I don't care. I don't
(25:04):
care Buck if it's the system, I don't care if
it's like, well, it's really shitning, And none of that matters.
What matters is that you've got two people that are
symbiotic in the way.
Speaker 2 (25:13):
That they do business.
Speaker 3 (25:15):
So you've got a coach and a quarterback that are
on the same page all the time, and a coach
that's calling the right place for that quarterback and a
quarterback that's executing the right place for that coach. And
just like I tell you all the time, I don't
think it's one or the other. It's like an eighties
tag team in WWE. You gotta have two guys that
are both bringing something, both bringing a heat. Right, Shanahan
with Brock Party is elite, And I don't really care
(25:36):
which side of it is elite.
Speaker 2 (25:37):
I don't really care why it is or isn't. Brock.
Speaker 3 (25:40):
What I care about is every single Sunday when I
see Brock party on the football field.
Speaker 2 (25:44):
I know that that man can.
Speaker 3 (25:46):
Beat the quarterback standing across from and I don't give
a damn if it's because he has a superpower as
a head coach. I just think we need to start
having a real conversation about Brock that isn't just painted
on where he's drafted, and instead it's painted around how
he's playing today.
Speaker 4 (26:00):
Well, the only pushback that I would offer in that
situation is it does matter very much where he's drafted.
In fact, the most important thing I would argue in
any of these players' ability to succeed or fail is geography,
like more so than traits or mental makeup or any
of these other things like I would argue. And I
(26:22):
say that as somebody who is watching cam Ward in
Tennessee and just came back from Titan's practice about an
hour and a half ago. Have to navigate through all
of the problematic things that come with a franchise that's
picking number one overall, right, So I'm not saying that
parties super super advantageous situation being the last pick of
(26:47):
the draft, and anybody could have had a rock party,
and even Kyle Shanahan passed on brock Party how many
times before they picked him right as somebody who has
a level of personnel control with the San Francisco forty
nine ers as a head coach. There's not many coaches
that do have that ability or that right within their organization,
and even the Niners waited until the very last pick
of the NFL Draft to take brock Perty. He is
(27:10):
such a unique figure in this because to your point,
I don't know when, I don't know who the first
person a pioneer system quarterback is a means of using
it as a slur against these players.
Speaker 1 (27:22):
I don't know who the first person was.
Speaker 4 (27:24):
To do that, but I feel like they fundamentally misunderstand
football whomever that person was, because the quarterbacks, that's their
entire existence. They are coached on how to operate the system.
Patrick Mahomes has a system that he plays with it
now he can do superhero stuff. Bo Hart Agree, who's
the play caller here in Tennessee, was talking about cam
(27:45):
Or today. We talked to assistant coaches after practice and
he said, you know, I know he can do the
Superman thing, but sometimes I just need him to be
Clark Kent, like I need him to get me to
I need him to get me to second and three,
I need him to take the dirty play to survive
for another down, as opposed to just trying to superhero
your way through it, because that's not how you win.
In the NFL, teams are preparing for players, yes, but
(28:08):
teams are also mostly preparing for the systems that they're
up against, the coaches and the tendencies. That's where the
chess match actually is. Whatever the players can give you
above and beyond replacement value, that's where the player superpower
superpower comes into play. But at the end of the day,
the crux of football is system on system, not player
(28:29):
versus player. And for some reason, at some point in
time in our dialogue around football, we lost the threat.
Speaker 3 (28:34):
On that if I could bring an entire gospel choir
into just sing Hallelujah and clap on beat behind you
while you spree while you say that it's so important
because look weird.
Speaker 2 (28:46):
Oh that's a holiday that's even better.
Speaker 3 (28:49):
I'm in on this because look, I get asked right
now a lot about quarterbacks because of my Raiders fandom,
and everybody says, well.
Speaker 2 (28:56):
What do you want?
Speaker 3 (28:57):
And I think we have to remember that The key
to modern quarterbacking is can you make the plays in
the system that you're asked to make on time, on schedule,
with the right read, and then when it all breaks down,
can you save your team several times? So, yeah, you've
got guys like Josh Allen that certainly when he came
into the league, it was clear he could save teams.
(29:18):
He could save the offense, it was clear from day one.
But he needed to work on his accuracy and his
mechanics to be capable of executing the actual system in
front of him. You've got guys like Caleb that Caleb
came in And one of the things that I was
told by somebody particularly smart around college football when we
were doing breakdowns, I was getting ready for my bread
in one of my draft shows. I asked him, I said, well,
(29:39):
what are the thoughts on Caleb? And he said, the
crazy thing is that Caleb does so many things so well.
And you'll look at this incredible play and you'll ask
immediately when you look back at the film, why did
you make that when the easy read was right there?
And I say that all the time, because what's Ben
Johnson had to do? Ben Johnson's had to figure out
how to get Caleb to play better on schedule. You
mentioned cam Ward, like the young quarterbacks got to figure
(30:00):
out how to play better on schedule. So there is
this element for me of if Brock comes in and
is able to play on schedule, but then also also
on top of being able to execute Kyle Shannan's offense
like he's a painter and he knows exactly what he's doing,
then you see plays like we saw last week where
he's rolling outside the pocket, jukes two people and throws
(30:21):
against his body to the corner of the front of
the end zone for a touchdown.
Speaker 2 (30:24):
Right, Like he made a play that's saved.
Speaker 3 (30:27):
And Shanahan afterwards said, you know, I was nervous until
I was happy, right, So I just think to your point, Buck,
every quarterback like Mahomes is in part Mahomes because he's
had Andy Reid as his play caller and has his system.
And then on top of that, he makes Andy Reid better.
Andy Reid makes him better. He makes Andy Reid better.
Like this is simple to me.
Speaker 2 (30:48):
You need a.
Speaker 3 (30:48):
Coach that makes your quarterback better and a quarterback that
makes your coach better. And if Brock Perdy is doing that,
then I don't really care about any of the qualifiers anymore.
Like I trust the forty nine ers this I think
the Seahawks are a better team than the forty nine
ers top to bottom. I trust the forty nine ers
more though, because I trust Brought Party more than I
trust Sam Donald.
Speaker 1 (31:08):
And I don't think that's That.
Speaker 4 (31:11):
Is where the kind of conversations that we have about
these players individually beyond what the scheme provides them that
I think is fair because they both have.
Speaker 1 (31:20):
Track records right and Party listen?
Speaker 4 (31:21):
Party was It took him a little while this season
around into form, dealing with the injuries that he's dealt with,
and I mean, think about how foolish those And I'm
not saying that I didn't have similar conversations or even
similar thoughts, but like when Mac Jones was winning games
for the Niners, don't tell me it didn't cross America's
mind at some point in time to say, well, do
they really need to put Party back out there? Mac
(31:43):
Jones is playing pretty good football. Mac Jones. It's kind
of like a full circle experience for Kyle Shanahan, who
if you remember FITZI and I know you do because
you've covered the draft for many years, the draft that
they ended up taking Trey Lance. There was a lot
of conversation about how much Shanahan liked mac Jones and
how that might how that might fit within what it
(32:04):
is that he's trying to accomplish. And so you started
to see that once mac re signed with or signed
with San Francisco as a free agent after being drafted
by the Patriots, washing out there, going to Jacksonville for
a year.
Speaker 1 (32:15):
I think that's the only other stop he had before
he ended up in San Francisco.
Speaker 4 (32:18):
Mac Jones, but you had those conversations in real time,
and again you're talking about, all right, is the system
doing this or is the player performing at such a
high level within the system that it needs to be
acknowledged and they need to think about making meaningful change.
Thank God, the NFL coaches, or at least Kyle Shanahan maybe
other coaches are prisoner of the moment that way, because
I'm sure it was tempting at certain points in time
(32:40):
if you were if you had less conviction in the
people that you were putting in position, like Kyle Shanahan
and Brock Party and Kyle Shanahan and Mac Jones Kyle
Shanahan didn't bet to night, So as soon as Brock
Party's ready to go, we're putting them back out there.
And of course there were some things to work through.
The rest versus Rust's conversation that we had earlier in
the college football playoff. Party was definitely working through some rust.
(33:01):
But my god, I mean, if there was a late
season MVP candidacy to be had, Brock Perty's playing some
really high level football.
Speaker 3 (33:08):
Yeah, one hundred percent, And I trust a beat up,
banged up, oh my god, forty nine Ers team to
be able to go on a run because the NFC
looks wide open. It's just absolutely why it looks wide
open right now, and that is It's gonna be an
epic matchup, obviously, but it's gonna be wild to try
and figure out how this all plays. That's not the
only huge matchup this weekend, though. There is one loser
(33:30):
leaves town and we now know that Lamar is going
to be in for the Ravens against the Steelers.
Speaker 2 (33:36):
So what does it mean for that epic Sunday night matchup.
Speaker 3 (33:38):
We'll talk about it next these Buck Rising I'm Jason
Fitzbucking fits hanging out with the on Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 1 (33:44):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio Radio.
Speaker 3 (33:48):
They just played a graphic on the Alabama Indiana game.
It's pretty stunning. Teams coming off of first round by
so far in the history of the college football playoff.
Speaker 2 (33:58):
Not only ohen six.
Speaker 3 (33:59):
We already knew that, but now we are through the
first quarter of this game between Alabama and Indiana. Indiana
coming off of bye teams coming off the buye have
been outscored forty five to three in the first quarter.
Speaker 2 (34:12):
That's not good. That's not good.
Speaker 3 (34:13):
Buck, It's bucking Fitz Buck rising, Jason fitz But Fox
Sports Radio that just continues to scream to why this
is all gonna change? For over forty years, by the way,
one thing that doesn't change is tireract They've been helping
customers find the right tires for how, what and.
Speaker 2 (34:26):
Where they drive, ship fast and for ree back by.
Speaker 3 (34:29):
Free Road has their protection with convenient installation options like
mobile tire installation tirack dot com.
Speaker 2 (34:35):
The way tire buying should be.
Speaker 3 (34:36):
Forty five to three after the first quarter, like we
have an answer and rest versus rust, we have an answer.
Rust is real. This is all going to have to change.
There is no way that the powers of college football
are going to watch as their best teams continue to
just get picked off week will game one after these
buys over and over and over and over again and
(34:57):
not want to make a change.
Speaker 4 (34:59):
Well, it's the but the conference commissioners will get involved.
I mean, Greg Sankey is not going to stand for
the idea of an SEC team getting eliminated in the
first round over and over and over again if they
get the first round by no matter how many teams
they get in the field, right, And I know that
is something that's going to come up.
Speaker 1 (35:14):
Oh, is Alabama punning in the situation?
Speaker 4 (35:16):
That seems like a little I don't know what yard
line they're on, So maybe I shouldn't say that. I
am trying not to give live time observations of this
game as we watch the Rose Bowl, because of course
I am invested in Indiana's success today.
Speaker 2 (35:29):
For the first day of his life, he's invested in INDIANAFL.
Speaker 1 (35:32):
Yeah, so that's okay.
Speaker 4 (35:33):
Like I think that's okay, you know, like I genuinely
like I went to I went to practice today.
Speaker 1 (35:39):
I got my Indiana, I got my Indiana hoodie.
Speaker 4 (35:41):
On and one of the wide receivers coach of the
wide receivers coach Tig Tubert comes up and said, I
didn't think you. I didn't know you were an Indiana fan.
I go, I'm I'm really not. But like, I just
want to see them do something cool. I want to
see my school do something awesome that's never been done
before by I went.
Speaker 3 (36:00):
But you went to Indiana since they got years of
your life and money, Yes, you can celebrate.
Speaker 2 (36:05):
It however you choose.
Speaker 3 (36:06):
It is not my work, like you have given years
of money to Indiana at your level, I can't I
can't question that. Like at this point, you're allowed to
celebrate this run however you choose.
Speaker 4 (36:16):
Okay, fine, as long as but I just want you
to note that I didn't need your permission to do
that anyway. I just wanted you to know on the
front end that I am going to do this regardless
of whether you're going to grant me said permission or not.
But I appreciate you giving me your stamp of approval anyway.
The structure of this is something that we've talked about
several times, whether it be on today's show or in
(36:36):
the last couple of days that we've been on where
we've just been bemoaning the layoff of the college football
Playoff and how much time it has been since we've
seen Indiana, Georgia, Texas Tech play play in these games.
Ohio State obviously looking like a shell of themselves last night.
And you posed a really good solution to this and
(36:59):
how you would reach structure where to you would put
these things back on college campuses, not just in the
first round, right, you would play the entire college football
Playoff with home field advantage being on campus, and then
if you wanted to have a bidding situation for the
Orange Bowl to host the National Championship of the Rose
Bowl to host the national Championship. I'm summarizing, so if
(37:20):
I've missed any important points in your solution fits you
feel free.
Speaker 1 (37:23):
To correct me.
Speaker 4 (37:25):
The other part of this is just the nature of
the college football calendar anyway. There are so many different
webs or wires that have to be untangled here that
have completely ensnared the sport, that are working actively to
its detriment. Despite giving us I would argue this is
as much fun as college football has ever been because
(37:45):
of the nature of the field. Because of the current
environment and how it can create stories like Indiana and
Vandy and whichever you up and coming upstart program that's
been downtrodden for the vast majority of existence, all of
a sudden, it gets a little funding, it turns into
a real thing.
Speaker 6 (38:01):
Right.
Speaker 4 (38:01):
I would argue that this is the best version of
college football from a competitive on the field product standpoint,
and it's just being it's being shipped away at it
every turn because they haven't taken the time in the
modern age to sit down and actually hammer out the
best version of this because what we know, what we
(38:22):
definitively know, is this is not acceptable. The way that
the structure is currently being or executed, for lack of
a better term, is Alabama is.
Speaker 1 (38:31):
It ooh, fake punt?
Speaker 4 (38:32):
Maybe fake punt, fake punt, fake punt, No, trying to
fake the defense out anyway. I am fascinated to see
who actually gets.
Speaker 2 (38:42):
Sorry, shiny Bike, Buck Rising, shy Bike.
Speaker 4 (38:47):
I want to say that I'm not going to do
this for the rest of the show, but I'm definitely
gonna do this for the rest of the show. My
point is I want to see how the adults are
going to operate when they get in the room and
who the adults actually are and who actually has the
best interest of college football in mind, college athletics in mind,
versus who's just satisfied to keep things status quo because
of the money that Capital One is giving the Rose
(39:08):
Bowl or whatever the case, or the Orange Bowl or
whatever the case may be. Like, these are the things
that make me insane. There's too many competing interests, and
you know it's gonna make it worse, not better. We
haven't talked about this story. I don't thank you and me.
This Utah situation where they're going to get investment from
private equity, so you're gonna have a variety of different
people on a board somewhere making decisions at least in
(39:29):
part on behalf of Utah football, and how many of
those people have competing interests. I understand that in a
perfect world those things would be aligned, but still, like,
I think it's only gonna get worse.
Speaker 3 (39:38):
Well, and it's only gonna get worse. I'll talk for
a minute so you can watch what's about to happen.
I guess I'm ahead of you. It's only gonna get
It's only gonna get worse because there is a very
clear situation that solves all of this, and nobody wants it.
Speaker 2 (39:51):
There's a very clear situation to solve the entire problem
of college football.
Speaker 3 (39:55):
All it's gonna take is every single school coming together
with every single athlete and forming a collective bargaining situation
where the schools are bargained as one voice and all
the players unionize, which is going to take years in court.
And I will just remind everybody if you think that's
not the solution. Every single time there's been an NCAA
issue challenged in court, the players have won because it's
(40:16):
not constitutional to throttle back their ability to transfer, it's
not constitutional to throttle back their ability to earn money.
The courts have told you over and over and over
again that none of that is constitutional. So if you
really want to know what the change in college football
looks like, it's going to end up looking like the NFL,
major League Baseball, the NHL, every other major professional sport.
(40:37):
Because Buck's right, there's going to be private equity money
in it. Everybody's going to be putting their equity around.
In the meantime, let's get you caught up. We'll let
you know what's going on in the Rose Bowl. Next,
we'll see if Buck is able to handle the drama
bucking fits on Fox Sports Radio
Host
Doug Gottlieb
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.
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by Audiochuck Media Company.
NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal
Gregg Rosenthal and a rotating crew of elite NFL Media co-hosts, including Patrick Claybon, Colleen Wolfe, Steve Wyche, Nick Shook and Jourdan Rodrigue of The Athletic get you caught up daily on all the NFL news and analysis you need to be smarter and funnier than your friends.