January 22, 2026 • 17 mins
Rick Neuheisel, former Huskies Coach now with CBS Sports, joins Dave Softy Mahler and Dick Fain to talk about Indiana winning the National Championship over Miami on Monday, quarterback Fernando Mendoza and the Seahawks in the NFC Championship.
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Speaker 1 (00:04):
Your home for college football Saturdays is live with CBS
Sports analyst Rick new Heisel, powered by Taco Time. Hungary
at Taco Time, It's easy to create exactly what you're craving,
and we wouldn't have it any other way. How do
you Taco Time customize your meal and order ahead on
the Taco Time Northwest Taco Time Time for something different
(00:25):
Now with Rick new Heisel, here's SOFTI and Dick all right.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Back here at the five twenty bar and grill, our
final visit of the year. That's of the twenty five
college football season. By the way, next guest, who I'm
sure is just relieved to be done with us and
moving on for another season. Now we can go coach's
UFL team. By the way, the Renegades really dive into that.
But here he is, courtesy of Taco Time, our friend
(00:49):
Rick new Heisel, Coach, how are you, man?
Speaker 3 (00:50):
What's going on?
Speaker 4 (00:52):
Here's in my eyes that this is our final segment
of the year. What a college football season it was.
And if the two of you don't meet me in
Dallas for a Renegade game, I'll be wildly disappointed.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
Yeah. Fun, Actually, you know what we'd love to come down.
Just you say the word. Man, We'll be there to
watch you.
Speaker 4 (01:11):
Coach say this field passes part of the deal. Golf, golf.
I'll set it up for you. You boys, just come.
Speaker 3 (01:22):
Can we just play golf and not go to the game.
That's so mean. Jeez, man, I'm kidding. Come on, I'm kiddy.
Speaker 4 (01:30):
Oh god, you know what you get in thirty six? Done?
Speaker 3 (01:35):
Absolutely well? Rick.
Speaker 2 (01:38):
Before we get your thoughts on this Seahawk game, we
we do want to get your take on McDonald versus
McVeigh this weekend huge game in Seattle. Uh, your thoughts, man,
honestly on what you just saw, Kurt signetty do it Indiana.
Speaker 4 (01:53):
An incredible I'm thinking back in my life when what
my comp is for this that worse to first story
of Rags to Rich's story. I mean, we've seen programs
that are Cinderella's go to the Final four, you know,
Loyola Chicago. We've seen different programs, you know, do things
that are wildly off the charts, and you know the
(02:14):
Boise State upsets of all the big time programs. But
to do this over the course of a season and
to go sixteen and oh after starting the year as
the losingest college football program in the history of the game.
That's rare, air, Man, We we haven't seen anything like that.
(02:36):
And then to play Miami in Miami, and I promise
you I was on the field. Miami looked the party.
They did not come out there, you know, looking like
you know, a bunch of also rans that were wearing
old Miami uniforms. These guys look the part. And to
be able to snuff them out and in front of
(02:57):
a home crowd. Now, there were a lot of Indiana
fans there. Let mean, it gets you straight, because who
in Indiana wouldn't want to be there for a Rose Bowl,
for a Peach Bowl, for a national championship. This run
was off the charts. So to me, rare air. Congratulations,
As the great Burn Lunquist said, in your life, we
(03:18):
haven't seen anything.
Speaker 3 (03:19):
Like this, Coach.
Speaker 5 (03:20):
Over thirty million people watch the game. It was the
second most watched title game of all time. It was
the most watched non NFL sporting event in almost a decade. Wow,
why are we in an era right now where more
people are complaining about college football than ever before, and
yet more people are watching college football than ever before.
Speaker 4 (03:43):
Well, the story was unlike anything anybody'd ever seen this. Alberto,
I mean, Fernando Mendoza story is off the charts, right,
Alberto's his younger brothers off to Georgia Tech. But the
Fernando putting on the show was I mean, do you
realize every home in Indiana is going to have that
(04:04):
poster of him diving in on the fourth and four?
Every home is going to have him airborne reaching the
ball across the goal line. It was. It was incredible.
Thirty million people watching the game tells your college football's
idiot proof because we have a bunch of idiots that
are running it. And I don't mean that disparagingly, because
(04:24):
no one really has the title of the leader. It's
a bunch of people trying to find compromise. But when
you look at what happened with Demand, what's happening right
now with Darian Menza, it doesn't make any sense. It's
it's bad, bad business for college football. Sorry about the horns.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
Yeah, Well, whether you're pissed off or whether you're happy,
you're engaged, that's it, right. I mean, there's nobody's apathetic
about college football these days, and that's the kiss of death.
But Rick new heisl's with us, and Rick, I do
wonder if you're the Vegas Raiders and you're John Spytech,
how comfortable do you feel drafting for now Fernando Mendoza
(05:06):
number one overall in next year's draft.
Speaker 4 (05:11):
What test hasn't he passed? I mean, he got rocked
right in the face the other night in the first quarter,
rocked right in the face, and can't you know, split
his lip and gets up and finds a way. He
didn't complete a pass in the third quarter, in the
third quarter, zero completions. You know, we watched CJ. Stroud
over the course of the NFL deals where all of a
(05:32):
sudden he got a little bad luck and all of
sudden things weren't going his way. It almost fell off
the wheels. If it didn't fall off the wheels, there
are a lot of people in Houston wondering if he
can be their quarterback? Right this guy got punched in
the mouth, didn't hit a pass in the third quarter
and still finds the way to win the game, and
those back shoulder throws to Becker off the charts, and
(05:54):
Tom Brady's there, and tom Brady's watching all this from
the from the front row. I mean he's on the
field and he's in Spy Tech. Is his old roommate
in college. That's why he's the GM. So don't mistake
who's the owner of the Las Vegas Raiders. It's Brady.
And Brady's sitting there looking at him, and he's going, okay,
let's talk about the acumen. Then he finds out this
(06:17):
kid not only memorized everybody at Indiana when he went
there for his visit, he memorized every Heisman, trophy's a
trophy winner's resume when he went to New York to
win the trophy, so he could sit there and have
conversations with these guys. He's a freak and Brady's going
to see a lot of himself in him. And yeah,
there's no question he's the first pick of the draft.
Speaker 3 (06:40):
Rick.
Speaker 5 (06:40):
We had the college football equivalent of hell freezing over
today as Paul.
Speaker 6 (06:44):
Finebaum admitted on the air that the Big Ten was.
Speaker 5 (06:48):
The best conference in America.
Speaker 4 (06:52):
Should we Eagles album has come to life?
Speaker 6 (06:55):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (06:56):
Over?
Speaker 5 (06:58):
Should we expect to see more years of the SEC
getting shut out of this title game?
Speaker 4 (07:04):
Well, here's the SEC's problem. It got so fun in
the SEC that every school in the league, including the
newcomers Oklahoma and Texas, are all all in on football,
so they've got a parody issue. And because you can
buy players, not everybody can afford all the defensive linemen
like Nick Saban hoarded, like Kirby Smart hoarded. So you
(07:26):
just don't have the ability to keep them all on
your side of the fence. And because of that, all
these teams have become vulnerable. They're still damn good teams,
but they're vulnerable and until they find a magic quarterback,
they're going to get locked out. So I think the
same will happen in the Big Ten because the Big
Ten now seas that Indiana did this, so all these
(07:48):
other fan bases are going, wait a minute, if they
can do it, we can do it. It's about four hundred
million dollars by a donor at Michigan State. Northwestern's got
a brand new stadium and and on a go. So
most people are going to find a way to finance
their programs and see if they can't get back in
the fray here, especially as playoff slots continue to grow.
(08:10):
But this has been great for college football, and now
we just got to get the arms around the economics
of it right.
Speaker 3 (08:16):
Well, Rick new has it with us.
Speaker 2 (08:17):
Rick, the sports guys robbed us of a world series,
teased us up two games to none. We feel they
now owe us a super Bowl and a win this
weekend against the LA Rams.
Speaker 3 (08:27):
Do you know McDonald and McVeigh very well, if at all.
Speaker 4 (08:31):
By the way, coach, I've met Sean and I actually
was at Aldera playing golf with McDonald. He was out
there at Alberta this summer and we talked about Jim
Harbaugh and had funny stories. A great young guy. Obviously
he's on fire right now. And they've got a defense
that looks like a Super Bowl champion.
Speaker 3 (08:51):
Yeah. I mean, we'll talk to the end.
Speaker 4 (08:52):
Of the day, if you Yeah, at the end of
the day when you look at championship teams, the old
coach was asked who's going to win? An he says,
I don't know, but I know what they're going to
look like. And this is exactly what they look like,
which is why Denver's in this position. Right. Denver's got
that kind of defense. It would not shock me at
all to see Denver. And by the way, New England
(09:13):
played lights out defensively this last week weekend too, So
to me, it's going to be Seattle in the Super Bowl,
and I'm going to take New England because their quarterbacks healthy.
So New England and the Seahawks down in Santa Clara
should be a hell of a game.
Speaker 5 (09:33):
Give me your thoughts on Sam Donald in general, and
then also what an oblique injury looks like for a
quarterback and how you can get through it.
Speaker 4 (09:43):
Well, here's what I know about Donald. So I went
right after I got fired at UCLA, I was joining
the radio ranks, and we went over to sc to
do kind of a campus radio show, you know, because
they were one of the top teams. And he walks
in and it was like saltwater in is still in
his hair. Right, He's an orange Christian guy and he
(10:06):
walks in looking like beach and then some I'm looking
at him and I go, this is so sc this
is so sc right here. And all I did was
watch that guy win games. I mean, he was fearless.
And then he got to the dang Jets and unfortunately
it didn't have anything around him, and he kind of
went through a period of his life where people were
(10:27):
casting him off and he probably wondered if he could
ever do this again. All of a sudden, he gets
with some guys that can play in Minnesota. They win
fourteen games, but they're not sure, and he gets to
Seattle and now they finally have a team that's sure.
And I think this guy is tougher than nails. I
think he's had enough adversity in his life and he
always judge people by how they respond to adversity. And
(10:50):
if Sam Darnold hasn't passed that test, I don't know
what test he's passed, but the oblique thing I would
have worried a week ago. A week later, I think
obviously going to have healed some The RAMS will be
after him. Get it out of your hands. We remember
the last time these two teams played, it was an
epic game up there in Seattle. Should be an epic game,
(11:11):
but I'm going to take the Seahawks.
Speaker 3 (11:12):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (11:13):
Well, that's what concerns me is that the last time
these two teams played, Rick Sean McVay put up four
hundred and ninety yards in the first forty seven minutes
against Mike McDonald's defense. I mean, I don't know, I mean,
both teams are angry for obvious reasons, the Rams because
they blew the lead and lost the game of the
Seahawks defense pissed off because they got shoved around for
three and a half quarters.
Speaker 3 (11:33):
So I mean, what the hell was that all about?
Speaker 2 (11:35):
And how concerned are we that we're going to see
that again on Sunday?
Speaker 4 (11:40):
Yeah? I think this is this is a running game matchup.
I think the throw games are going to be the same.
It's who can run the football. And Kyron Williams, the
kid for the Rams, is a hell of a player.
But you've got that kid from Michigan State that is
on a mission right now, and to me, that's going
to be the difference.
Speaker 2 (12:01):
Rick Neuheisel, great stuff, man, appreciate everything you do for
the radio station. Big thanks to Taco Time for doing
this as well again this year. Go ahead and take
a few months off from the radio, go kick ass
with the renn of Gage. Dick and I are waiting
the invite officially in the mail. You picked the course,
you picked the game, and we'll be there right love it.
Speaker 4 (12:20):
I promise you you'll have a blast. And my thanks
to Taco Time as well. Is a great college football season.
Can't wait for it to get here again, and you
know what it will, it'll be here before we know it. Well, guys,
you take care and thanks for everything.
Speaker 3 (12:33):
Rick. When does your season start? Actually?
Speaker 4 (12:37):
First game March twenty eighth against the Houston Gamblers Kevin
Kevin someone, the head coach of the Gamblers, and they're
coming to Dallas and Frisco in the soccer Stadium, eleven
thousand strong, ready to just get after their ass. You guys,
come and be a part of that.
Speaker 3 (12:53):
Go get it.
Speaker 6 (12:53):
I love it springing Dallas better than spring in Seattle.
Speaker 3 (12:56):
I'll tell you that, no doubt. Great stuff.
Speaker 2 (12:58):
Rick appreciate this, all right.
Speaker 3 (13:03):
You bet Rick new Eil with us on the radio show.
Speaker 2 (13:05):
He's gonna run off and coach a UFL football team
over the summer and then go back to his TV
duties coming it up in September. I mean, he's kind
of like he makes total sense about how this thing
is gonna go on Sunday, because just when you think
you know what is gonna happen, you expect a certain
type of game, right, we get seventeen to thirteen, right, Yeah, someday.
Speaker 3 (13:24):
Does that kind of feel like that?
Speaker 5 (13:25):
Yeah, it's funny because normally I have a strong feeling
one way or the other of what type of game
we're gonna have. Yeah, I I don't have any idea
if this is gonna be a wide open game or
kind of a slow down. I always felt like the
games against San Francisco, we're gonna be super low scoring, conservative, Yes, but.
Speaker 3 (13:45):
This one I got no idea.
Speaker 5 (13:47):
I mean, I could just as easily see twenty to
seventeen as I could see thirty seven thirty three.
Speaker 3 (13:51):
Well, I think the Hawks wanted to be a lower
scoring game. I would agree with that. They want to
be a run game. They want it to be lower scoring.
Speaker 2 (13:56):
They want to be able to be right there in
the fourth quarter and not have to match my stafford,
not with an injured quarterback, and not with an offense that,
let's face it, hasn't been performing at a great level.
I mean, you know, Hugh was on I think today
it was, and he was talking about Jackson Smith and Jigma.
I mean, you look at his numbers over like the
last five or six games, and he is he has
(14:17):
slowed down considerably. Man, And there's a lot of people
that actually think that Pukinakua should have won the offensive
Player of the Year over Jackson Smith and Jigma, And
I understand it. I mean Pukinakua is the highest graded
player by Pro Football Focus this year. I mean, he
was a monster in PFF's perspective. But I'm going back
and looking at what pukin Akua has done in the
(14:38):
month of December. The guy's got one touchdown in his
last four games because he had or two actually because
he had one of the playoff game, right, these guys
got one. He's got two touchdowns since the seventh of
December against Atlanta and he's only got the one hundred
yard day since then, So his numbers have changed dramatically.
They're not pushing the ball downfield the way that they
(14:59):
were earlier in the year. I think the Hawks would
love this to be a twenty seventeen type game.
Speaker 5 (15:04):
Yeah, And like coach Holmgren said, he said, the number
one way to attack the Rams is via the pass.
Speaker 6 (15:10):
He doesn't like their secondary.
Speaker 5 (15:12):
And you know, Sam Darnold has got to be ripping
it and he should throw in that thirty to thirty
five range in this game to rest Ken Walker a
little bit. And also, you just got to be varied
in your offense. You didn't have to be varied at
all against San Francisco. The last two games, you could
just do one thing and that's all you need to do.
Speaker 6 (15:31):
You're gonna have to be balanced this week.
Speaker 2 (15:33):
Well, the first game was a little different than the
second game because the first game was still a ten
point game in the fourth quarter. It wasn't a blowout,
like they had to play four cours, right, but we
didn't run the ball. Now, no game, they didn't do anything.
I mean, they scored thirteen points, right, but they should
have scored twenty six. That's the first game we didn't
pass that. People keep forgetting that they missed two field goals.
They had first and goal with the one where they
absolutely should have scored. I mean, that was a better
(15:54):
offensive game, I think than the scoreboard set against the
Niners in Week eighteen. But it was a quarter game.
They weren't taking the game off. I mean, obviously the
second game they're pulling guy. I mean, Darnold came out,
you know what, nine minutes to go in the fourth
quarter whatever it was, and they were kind of shutting
her down after the first half. But man, dude, things
that have mattered before for this franchise have got a
(16:15):
matter on Sunday. Home field's gotta matter. Yep, right, defense
has gotta matter. Twelfth Man's gotta matter. You know, you
don't want to go on the air, go on social
media and remind people about the basic stuff. But be
loud in the huddle, you know, be loud when they're
leaving the sideline. Don't don't wait until the balls is
on a scrimmage and they're snapping it. Give these guys
a problem inside the huddle. And if you watch the
(16:36):
Bears game last weekend, you could see Dick that Matt
Stafford was having problems hearing McVeigh in his helmet in
the huddle at Soldier Field.
Speaker 3 (16:47):
And I guarantee it's gonna be louder here than it
was there.
Speaker 5 (16:50):
Yeah, I thought the one thing that the Twelves did
a lot better last week than they did in the
regular season was getting louder earlier.
Speaker 6 (16:57):
That decibel meter got up there to one ten.
Speaker 5 (16:59):
One a lets been one twelve when they were in
the huddle instead of waiting, and a lot a lot
of times it's very quiet until they get to the
line of scrimmage. Sometimes you gotta wait until somebody even
starts audibling and then it gets loud. So they were
much better last week and they're just gonna be on
their ear this week.
Speaker 2 (17:15):
Do it from the jump, guys, let's go. Come on,
all right, we're gonna break Cooper Cup. We're gonna hear
a few minutes from Cooper Cup. And then Scott Kaplan,
who works down in LA sports talk radio loudmouth my buddy,
so I can say that he's actually a good dude.
He's gonna join us, coming up at six o'clock and
tell us what the vibe is like in LA. He's
with ESPN seven to ten down there. He'll join us
(17:37):
at six on ninety three three KJRFM
Your home for college football Saturdays is live with CBS
Sports analyst Rick new Heisel, powered by Taco Time. Hungary
at Taco Time, It's easy to create exactly what you're craving,
and we wouldn't have it any other way. How do
you Taco Time customize your meal and order ahead on
the Taco Time Northwest Taco Time Time for something different
(00:25):
Now with Rick new Heisel, here's SOFTI and Dick all right.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Back here at the five twenty bar and grill, our
final visit of the year. That's of the twenty five
college football season. By the way, next guest, who I'm
sure is just relieved to be done with us and
moving on for another season. Now we can go coach's
UFL team. By the way, the Renegades really dive into that.
But here he is, courtesy of Taco Time, our friend
(00:49):
Rick new Heisel, Coach, how are you, man?
Speaker 3 (00:50):
What's going on?
Speaker 4 (00:52):
Here's in my eyes that this is our final segment
of the year. What a college football season it was.
And if the two of you don't meet me in
Dallas for a Renegade game, I'll be wildly disappointed.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
Yeah. Fun, Actually, you know what we'd love to come down.
Just you say the word. Man, We'll be there to
watch you.
Speaker 4 (01:11):
Coach say this field passes part of the deal. Golf, golf.
I'll set it up for you. You boys, just come.
Speaker 3 (01:22):
Can we just play golf and not go to the game.
That's so mean. Jeez, man, I'm kidding. Come on, I'm kiddy.
Speaker 4 (01:30):
Oh god, you know what you get in thirty six? Done?
Speaker 3 (01:35):
Absolutely well? Rick.
Speaker 2 (01:38):
Before we get your thoughts on this Seahawk game, we
we do want to get your take on McDonald versus
McVeigh this weekend huge game in Seattle. Uh, your thoughts, man,
honestly on what you just saw, Kurt signetty do it Indiana.
Speaker 4 (01:53):
An incredible I'm thinking back in my life when what
my comp is for this that worse to first story
of Rags to Rich's story. I mean, we've seen programs
that are Cinderella's go to the Final four, you know,
Loyola Chicago. We've seen different programs, you know, do things
that are wildly off the charts, and you know the
(02:14):
Boise State upsets of all the big time programs. But
to do this over the course of a season and
to go sixteen and oh after starting the year as
the losingest college football program in the history of the game.
That's rare, air, Man, We we haven't seen anything like that.
(02:36):
And then to play Miami in Miami, and I promise
you I was on the field. Miami looked the party.
They did not come out there, you know, looking like
you know, a bunch of also rans that were wearing
old Miami uniforms. These guys look the part. And to
be able to snuff them out and in front of
(02:57):
a home crowd. Now, there were a lot of Indiana
fans there. Let mean, it gets you straight, because who
in Indiana wouldn't want to be there for a Rose Bowl,
for a Peach Bowl, for a national championship. This run
was off the charts. So to me, rare air. Congratulations,
As the great Burn Lunquist said, in your life, we
(03:18):
haven't seen anything.
Speaker 3 (03:19):
Like this, Coach.
Speaker 5 (03:20):
Over thirty million people watch the game. It was the
second most watched title game of all time. It was
the most watched non NFL sporting event in almost a decade. Wow,
why are we in an era right now where more
people are complaining about college football than ever before, and
yet more people are watching college football than ever before.
Speaker 4 (03:43):
Well, the story was unlike anything anybody'd ever seen this. Alberto,
I mean, Fernando Mendoza story is off the charts, right,
Alberto's his younger brothers off to Georgia Tech. But the
Fernando putting on the show was I mean, do you
realize every home in Indiana is going to have that
(04:04):
poster of him diving in on the fourth and four?
Every home is going to have him airborne reaching the
ball across the goal line. It was. It was incredible.
Thirty million people watching the game tells your college football's
idiot proof because we have a bunch of idiots that
are running it. And I don't mean that disparagingly, because
(04:24):
no one really has the title of the leader. It's
a bunch of people trying to find compromise. But when
you look at what happened with Demand, what's happening right
now with Darian Menza, it doesn't make any sense. It's
it's bad, bad business for college football. Sorry about the horns.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
Yeah, Well, whether you're pissed off or whether you're happy,
you're engaged, that's it, right. I mean, there's nobody's apathetic
about college football these days, and that's the kiss of death.
But Rick new heisl's with us, and Rick, I do
wonder if you're the Vegas Raiders and you're John Spytech,
how comfortable do you feel drafting for now Fernando Mendoza
(05:06):
number one overall in next year's draft.
Speaker 4 (05:11):
What test hasn't he passed? I mean, he got rocked
right in the face the other night in the first quarter,
rocked right in the face, and can't you know, split
his lip and gets up and finds a way. He
didn't complete a pass in the third quarter, in the
third quarter, zero completions. You know, we watched CJ. Stroud
over the course of the NFL deals where all of a
(05:32):
sudden he got a little bad luck and all of
sudden things weren't going his way. It almost fell off
the wheels. If it didn't fall off the wheels, there
are a lot of people in Houston wondering if he
can be their quarterback? Right this guy got punched in
the mouth, didn't hit a pass in the third quarter
and still finds the way to win the game, and
those back shoulder throws to Becker off the charts, and
(05:54):
Tom Brady's there, and tom Brady's watching all this from
the from the front row. I mean he's on the
field and he's in Spy Tech. Is his old roommate
in college. That's why he's the GM. So don't mistake
who's the owner of the Las Vegas Raiders. It's Brady.
And Brady's sitting there looking at him, and he's going, okay,
let's talk about the acumen. Then he finds out this
(06:17):
kid not only memorized everybody at Indiana when he went
there for his visit, he memorized every Heisman, trophy's a
trophy winner's resume when he went to New York to
win the trophy, so he could sit there and have
conversations with these guys. He's a freak and Brady's going
to see a lot of himself in him. And yeah,
there's no question he's the first pick of the draft.
Speaker 3 (06:40):
Rick.
Speaker 5 (06:40):
We had the college football equivalent of hell freezing over
today as Paul.
Speaker 6 (06:44):
Finebaum admitted on the air that the Big Ten was.
Speaker 5 (06:48):
The best conference in America.
Speaker 4 (06:52):
Should we Eagles album has come to life?
Speaker 6 (06:55):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (06:56):
Over?
Speaker 5 (06:58):
Should we expect to see more years of the SEC
getting shut out of this title game?
Speaker 4 (07:04):
Well, here's the SEC's problem. It got so fun in
the SEC that every school in the league, including the
newcomers Oklahoma and Texas, are all all in on football,
so they've got a parody issue. And because you can
buy players, not everybody can afford all the defensive linemen
like Nick Saban hoarded, like Kirby Smart hoarded. So you
(07:26):
just don't have the ability to keep them all on
your side of the fence. And because of that, all
these teams have become vulnerable. They're still damn good teams,
but they're vulnerable and until they find a magic quarterback,
they're going to get locked out. So I think the
same will happen in the Big Ten because the Big
Ten now seas that Indiana did this, so all these
(07:48):
other fan bases are going, wait a minute, if they
can do it, we can do it. It's about four hundred
million dollars by a donor at Michigan State. Northwestern's got
a brand new stadium and and on a go. So
most people are going to find a way to finance
their programs and see if they can't get back in
the fray here, especially as playoff slots continue to grow.
(08:10):
But this has been great for college football, and now
we just got to get the arms around the economics
of it right.
Speaker 3 (08:16):
Well, Rick new has it with us.
Speaker 2 (08:17):
Rick, the sports guys robbed us of a world series,
teased us up two games to none. We feel they
now owe us a super Bowl and a win this
weekend against the LA Rams.
Speaker 3 (08:27):
Do you know McDonald and McVeigh very well, if at all.
Speaker 4 (08:31):
By the way, coach, I've met Sean and I actually
was at Aldera playing golf with McDonald. He was out
there at Alberta this summer and we talked about Jim
Harbaugh and had funny stories. A great young guy. Obviously
he's on fire right now. And they've got a defense
that looks like a Super Bowl champion.
Speaker 3 (08:51):
Yeah. I mean, we'll talk to the end.
Speaker 4 (08:52):
Of the day, if you Yeah, at the end of
the day when you look at championship teams, the old
coach was asked who's going to win? An he says,
I don't know, but I know what they're going to
look like. And this is exactly what they look like,
which is why Denver's in this position. Right. Denver's got
that kind of defense. It would not shock me at
all to see Denver. And by the way, New England
(09:13):
played lights out defensively this last week weekend too, So
to me, it's going to be Seattle in the Super Bowl,
and I'm going to take New England because their quarterbacks healthy.
So New England and the Seahawks down in Santa Clara
should be a hell of a game.
Speaker 5 (09:33):
Give me your thoughts on Sam Donald in general, and
then also what an oblique injury looks like for a
quarterback and how you can get through it.
Speaker 4 (09:43):
Well, here's what I know about Donald. So I went
right after I got fired at UCLA, I was joining
the radio ranks, and we went over to sc to
do kind of a campus radio show, you know, because
they were one of the top teams. And he walks
in and it was like saltwater in is still in
his hair. Right, He's an orange Christian guy and he
(10:06):
walks in looking like beach and then some I'm looking
at him and I go, this is so sc this
is so sc right here. And all I did was
watch that guy win games. I mean, he was fearless.
And then he got to the dang Jets and unfortunately
it didn't have anything around him, and he kind of
went through a period of his life where people were
(10:27):
casting him off and he probably wondered if he could
ever do this again. All of a sudden, he gets
with some guys that can play in Minnesota. They win
fourteen games, but they're not sure, and he gets to
Seattle and now they finally have a team that's sure.
And I think this guy is tougher than nails. I
think he's had enough adversity in his life and he
always judge people by how they respond to adversity. And
(10:50):
if Sam Darnold hasn't passed that test, I don't know
what test he's passed, but the oblique thing I would
have worried a week ago. A week later, I think
obviously going to have healed some The RAMS will be
after him. Get it out of your hands. We remember
the last time these two teams played, it was an
epic game up there in Seattle. Should be an epic game,
(11:11):
but I'm going to take the Seahawks.
Speaker 3 (11:12):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (11:13):
Well, that's what concerns me is that the last time
these two teams played, Rick Sean McVay put up four
hundred and ninety yards in the first forty seven minutes
against Mike McDonald's defense. I mean, I don't know, I mean,
both teams are angry for obvious reasons, the Rams because
they blew the lead and lost the game of the
Seahawks defense pissed off because they got shoved around for
three and a half quarters.
Speaker 3 (11:33):
So I mean, what the hell was that all about?
Speaker 2 (11:35):
And how concerned are we that we're going to see
that again on Sunday?
Speaker 4 (11:40):
Yeah? I think this is this is a running game matchup.
I think the throw games are going to be the same.
It's who can run the football. And Kyron Williams, the
kid for the Rams, is a hell of a player.
But you've got that kid from Michigan State that is
on a mission right now, and to me, that's going
to be the difference.
Speaker 2 (12:01):
Rick Neuheisel, great stuff, man, appreciate everything you do for
the radio station. Big thanks to Taco Time for doing
this as well again this year. Go ahead and take
a few months off from the radio, go kick ass
with the renn of Gage. Dick and I are waiting
the invite officially in the mail. You picked the course,
you picked the game, and we'll be there right love it.
Speaker 4 (12:20):
I promise you you'll have a blast. And my thanks
to Taco Time as well. Is a great college football season.
Can't wait for it to get here again, and you
know what it will, it'll be here before we know it. Well, guys,
you take care and thanks for everything.
Speaker 3 (12:33):
Rick. When does your season start? Actually?
Speaker 4 (12:37):
First game March twenty eighth against the Houston Gamblers Kevin
Kevin someone, the head coach of the Gamblers, and they're
coming to Dallas and Frisco in the soccer Stadium, eleven
thousand strong, ready to just get after their ass. You guys,
come and be a part of that.
Speaker 3 (12:53):
Go get it.
Speaker 6 (12:53):
I love it springing Dallas better than spring in Seattle.
Speaker 3 (12:56):
I'll tell you that, no doubt. Great stuff.
Speaker 2 (12:58):
Rick appreciate this, all right.
Speaker 3 (13:03):
You bet Rick new Eil with us on the radio show.
Speaker 2 (13:05):
He's gonna run off and coach a UFL football team
over the summer and then go back to his TV
duties coming it up in September. I mean, he's kind
of like he makes total sense about how this thing
is gonna go on Sunday, because just when you think
you know what is gonna happen, you expect a certain
type of game, right, we get seventeen to thirteen, right, Yeah, someday.
Speaker 3 (13:24):
Does that kind of feel like that?
Speaker 5 (13:25):
Yeah, it's funny because normally I have a strong feeling
one way or the other of what type of game
we're gonna have. Yeah, I I don't have any idea
if this is gonna be a wide open game or
kind of a slow down. I always felt like the
games against San Francisco, we're gonna be super low scoring, conservative, Yes, but.
Speaker 3 (13:45):
This one I got no idea.
Speaker 5 (13:47):
I mean, I could just as easily see twenty to
seventeen as I could see thirty seven thirty three.
Speaker 3 (13:51):
Well, I think the Hawks wanted to be a lower
scoring game. I would agree with that. They want to
be a run game. They want it to be lower scoring.
Speaker 2 (13:56):
They want to be able to be right there in
the fourth quarter and not have to match my stafford,
not with an injured quarterback, and not with an offense that,
let's face it, hasn't been performing at a great level.
I mean, you know, Hugh was on I think today
it was, and he was talking about Jackson Smith and Jigma.
I mean, you look at his numbers over like the
last five or six games, and he is he has
(14:17):
slowed down considerably. Man, And there's a lot of people
that actually think that Pukinakua should have won the offensive
Player of the Year over Jackson Smith and Jigma, And
I understand it. I mean Pukinakua is the highest graded
player by Pro Football Focus this year. I mean, he
was a monster in PFF's perspective. But I'm going back
and looking at what pukin Akua has done in the
(14:38):
month of December. The guy's got one touchdown in his
last four games because he had or two actually because
he had one of the playoff game, right, these guys
got one. He's got two touchdowns since the seventh of
December against Atlanta and he's only got the one hundred
yard day since then, So his numbers have changed dramatically.
They're not pushing the ball downfield the way that they
(14:59):
were earlier in the year. I think the Hawks would
love this to be a twenty seventeen type game.
Speaker 5 (15:04):
Yeah, And like coach Holmgren said, he said, the number
one way to attack the Rams is via the pass.
Speaker 6 (15:10):
He doesn't like their secondary.
Speaker 5 (15:12):
And you know, Sam Darnold has got to be ripping
it and he should throw in that thirty to thirty
five range in this game to rest Ken Walker a
little bit. And also, you just got to be varied
in your offense. You didn't have to be varied at
all against San Francisco. The last two games, you could
just do one thing and that's all you need to do.
Speaker 6 (15:31):
You're gonna have to be balanced this week.
Speaker 2 (15:33):
Well, the first game was a little different than the
second game because the first game was still a ten
point game in the fourth quarter. It wasn't a blowout,
like they had to play four cours, right, but we
didn't run the ball. Now, no game, they didn't do anything.
I mean, they scored thirteen points, right, but they should
have scored twenty six. That's the first game we didn't
pass that. People keep forgetting that they missed two field goals.
They had first and goal with the one where they
absolutely should have scored. I mean, that was a better
(15:54):
offensive game, I think than the scoreboard set against the
Niners in Week eighteen. But it was a quarter game.
They weren't taking the game off. I mean, obviously the
second game they're pulling guy. I mean, Darnold came out,
you know what, nine minutes to go in the fourth
quarter whatever it was, and they were kind of shutting
her down after the first half. But man, dude, things
that have mattered before for this franchise have got a
(16:15):
matter on Sunday. Home field's gotta matter. Yep, right, defense
has gotta matter. Twelfth Man's gotta matter. You know, you
don't want to go on the air, go on social
media and remind people about the basic stuff. But be
loud in the huddle, you know, be loud when they're
leaving the sideline. Don't don't wait until the balls is
on a scrimmage and they're snapping it. Give these guys
a problem inside the huddle. And if you watch the
(16:36):
Bears game last weekend, you could see Dick that Matt
Stafford was having problems hearing McVeigh in his helmet in
the huddle at Soldier Field.
Speaker 3 (16:47):
And I guarantee it's gonna be louder here than it
was there.
Speaker 5 (16:50):
Yeah, I thought the one thing that the Twelves did
a lot better last week than they did in the
regular season was getting louder earlier.
Speaker 6 (16:57):
That decibel meter got up there to one ten.
Speaker 5 (16:59):
One a lets been one twelve when they were in
the huddle instead of waiting, and a lot a lot
of times it's very quiet until they get to the
line of scrimmage. Sometimes you gotta wait until somebody even
starts audibling and then it gets loud. So they were
much better last week and they're just gonna be on
their ear this week.
Speaker 2 (17:15):
Do it from the jump, guys, let's go. Come on,
all right, we're gonna break Cooper Cup. We're gonna hear
a few minutes from Cooper Cup. And then Scott Kaplan,
who works down in LA sports talk radio loudmouth my buddy,
so I can say that he's actually a good dude.
He's gonna join us, coming up at six o'clock and
tell us what the vibe is like in LA. He's
with ESPN seven to ten down there. He'll join us
(17:37):
at six on ninety three three KJRFM
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