Games with Names - “513 yards'' with Reggie Bush | Fresno State vs. USC

Episode Date: January 2, 2024

Reggie Bush, one of the greatest running backs of all time, joins us in studio! We’re going deep on his iconic 513 all purpose yard game against Fresno State from the 2005 season. Reggie joins us on the couch (3:05). We look at what was up in November of 2005 (35:56). We revisit each of these rosters...damn USC was stacked (1:07:02). Then it’s time to break down this shootout of a game (1:26:28). We give this one a score (1:58:55). Support the show: http://www.gameswithnames.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In California during the summer of 1975, within the span of 17 days and less than 90 miles, two women did something no other woman had done before, try to assassinate the President of the United States. One was the protege of Charles Manson. 26-year-old Lynette Fromm, nickname Squeaky. The other, a middle-aged housewife working undercover for the FBI. Identified by police as Sarah Jean Moore. The story of one strange and violent summer,

this season on the new podcast, Rip Current. Hear episodes of Rip Current early and completely ad free and receive exclusive bonus content by subscribing to iHeartTrue Crime Plus, only on Apple Podcasts. What happens when a professional football player's career ends and the applause fades and the screaming fans move on. I am going to share my journey of how I went from Christianity to now a Hebrew Israelite. For some former NFL players, a new faith provides answers. You mix homesteading with guns and church.

Voila! You got straight away. They try to save everybody. Listen to Spiraled on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hi, I'm David Eagleman from the podcast Inner Cosmos, which recently hit the number one science podcast in America. I'm a neuroscientist at Stanford, and I've spent my career exploring the three-pound universe in our heads. Join me weekly to explore the relationship between your brain and your life because the more we know about what's running under the hood, the better we can steer our lives. Listen to Inner Cosmos with David Eagleman

on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Today, we have one of the greatest running backs of all time. Today, we are talking about the most legendary game, Fresno State versus USC, when Reggie went for 517 total. Seed touchdown and another thing of beauty from one of the best running backs in the world. It was a dogfight. We looked at you guys like they could probably beat the Niners.

Hans kickoffs, I was going off of this game. It's one of those games I think people remember where they were. Talking about the bush put. Matt 100% needed me on that play. He started getting knocked backwards on a QB sneak. And I just shoved his ass. And then he got some little. Kind of looked like a dead fish.

He's wide open. I pitch it to him. And then the last knock on my head is like, I can't believe I just did that in the national championship. So going back to the debate, could you guys beat the Niners? Games with Names is a production of iHeartRadio. Welcome to Games with Names, presented by WinBet. On today's episode, we are talking fresno state versus usc from the 2000 season with the

reggie bush the glory days of the trojans we get reggie's message for the heisman trust coming for that ass and the greatest college running backs of all time. His list. He's got a solid list. Solid list. That list is kind of crazy. Let's go. Let's go. Fun episode. Hell yeah. Make sure you check out Games With Names

on YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, and TikTok at Games With Names. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Snapchat, and TikTok at Games With Names. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to your podcasts. We want to hear from you. Call in at 424-291-2290. Leave a message of some great wrecks, your own stories from iconic games, or maybe just some advice.

Whatever. Just call in. Games With Names is brought to you by WinBet. WinBet brings the excitement of Win Las Vegas and Encore Boston Harbor to your phone. Join WinBet today and bet with the official online gaming product from win resorts let's go november 19 2005 la coliseum los angeles california the quest for perfection was on the line at the coliseum. Reggie Bush delivered a performance for the ages,

kept title hopes alive. This is Fresno State versus USC. Love it. Welcome to Games with Names presented by Winbet today. As you guys heard, we have a special special insane guest a friend a guy that i've let me he let me like hang out with him back in his heyday he let you know when i was nobody he let me come hang out with him in his heyday one of the greatest running backs of all time you know what it's crazy. If you ask anyone, and I was just talking about this,

whenever we talk to any of my NFL friends, I'm not talking like my little slapdick high school friends. I'm talking about straight NFL ballers. Whenever we all talk about college football, it's never even an argument. The best football player they all talk about is Reggie Bush. Appreciate that, man. Thank you, bro. I appreciate it.

And it's dead-ass true. I mean, if you ask anyone, because it could be our recency because this is our generation and we're like the same age. I mean, you were in the – I was in college when this was going on. And I was at a D1 school. It was a little small D1 school, Kent State, shout out. But, like, we looked at you guys. Like, they could probably beat the Niners.

You know what I mean? These USC teams with Reggie and White and just everything. It seems like you guys had it all. And the other thing is, and I think to your point is, we have five-star players at almost every position. Every player. And we had backup five-star players too, which is something that you probably will never hear again

as long as NIL continues to move the way it's going, transfer portal, you'll never, there's no reason for a five-star backup quarterback to just sit and wait unless he's like at alabama you know i'm saying like next in line to win a national championship but isn't that kid behind uh caleb right now he's any five star yeah yeah yeah and and but again some of those powerhouse schools like that where you know i'm gonna be coached well i'm gonna get to the next level those kind of places you don't want to leave right unless you are going to be coached well, I'm going to get to the next level. Those kind of places you don't want to leave, right?

Unless you are going to another situation. Look at Michael Pennix Jr. this year, right? Came from IU, went to Washington, balled out. He probably going to win the Heisman Trophy. Bo Nix, another guy. I just ran into Bo Nix. I was in Las Vegas at the College Football Hall of Fame induction and ran into Bo Nix.

And, again, another guy who made that transfer from Auburn to Oregon and it just it literally elevated his career and his opportunities and so that's why I say man for our team we have five-star players starting and then we have five-star player backups yeah I mean it's crazy nowadays is like college is professional and it's just it's free agency you get to free agency every year and if we were talking about this 2005 team the whole team would have left yeah the whole team was a pro they were all free agents and specifically today we are talking about one of the most legendary games i remember this when i was i was playing college football i remember this game watching on sports center the fresno state versus usc game when reggie went for 517 total we all remember i it was like top 10 for like two weeks i think the cutback yeah the cutback where he ran down

the sideline and cut back and still outran everyone it was a video game type game for reggie why'd you pick this game well you gave me options you gave me choices you threw out a couple games and i was like we i mean we gotta go straight to the we gotta go straight to one of the best games you know i'm saying and and and i mean that's what i would love to talk about i'm sure if anybody asks you about one of your favorite games, it's going to be one of the games you balled out in, right? You know what I mean? So similar for me as well.

And this was a game that, you know, when I look back on it, one, it was a dogfight. And I don't think people remember that. People obviously talk about obviously how well I play, but that game went down to the wire. Fresno State came to play that game. They always played you guys tough. Always.

Because you guys were like their Super Bowl. Yeah. Exactly. And you know what that's like, right? You know what it's like when you're on the other side and everybody's bringing their A game because everybody's using you as a measuring stick. Yeah.

You know what I'm saying? And so Fresno State always played as well. And they were a sneaky good team. Yeah, they were scrappy. They always had like crazy pros come out of their program. You'd have the Logan Mankins. You'd have the Derek Carrs.

They'd always have some really good linemen. Dilfer. Dilfer. Didn't they have a really good running back? This year? That was like 8-10 years ago. But they always have like a... They're like one of those whack teams. You know, it's kind of like the old Boise States where they were getting good recruits, but they were playing in those lower conference. Yeah, lower conference. But there was, I think, kind of maybe five.

It felt like maybe five years after we left is when, you know, Boise felt like boise started to kind of climb a little bit they were getting a lot of la kids though and they were getting a lot of like southern california kids to go up there and play juco cats too exactly juco cats and and that's when they just started making noise and the smurf turf came out and that like literally elevated um you know another level of like this blue field but they're ballinging, they're playing well, they're scrappy. What was that game they had? The fake throw behind the back? That was this year.

The Statue of Liberty was Zimbrowski. Yeah. Zabranski. Jared Zabranski. We had him on here. We had him and- Did you? Yeah.

Him and AP. And we hit him and AP to talk about that game. That game was crazy. I'll never forget that. The fake with the behind the back? Yeah. I was like, oh, they got him with the cheese plate. Damn.

That was an electric. And then the guy popped a question to his girl afterwards. Ian Johnson. That was fucking Disney. That was Disney movies. We're getting back to this game. How often do people bring this game up to you? Quite a bit.

I get people that bring this game up to you quite a bit i get people that bring this game up quite a bit because um you know it's one of those games i think where it's like people remember where they were yeah um when they either heard about the game or they watched some of the highlights from the game like you said i think one of those runs was running non-stop for like two weeks on top 10 plays and so so everybody remembered that play, but specifically about me, people thought I put the ball behind my back. And it wasn't a predetermined move. It was just, I actually had the ball in the wrong hand.

So as you know, when you're running down the sideline, you gotta have that ball in the outside hand. And so you can stiff arm, exactly. And I did not have the ball in my outside hand and so you can stiff arm exactly and i did not have the ball in my outside hand i had it on the inside and i really when the ball is in my right hand and i got open field that's that's where i'm comfort that's where i'm really like getting i'm taking off so you're you're a right hand guy i'm a right-handed guy you know what's i was always i'm a right-handed guy but i was always a left guy because when i was a kid in

pop warner i was the foreback and i'd always go to the left so it trained me I always use because I'd always use it to the outside of the hand because they're always getting in your head so I was like an orthodox but give me a high five I'll catch you no you're good and so what happened to me my senior year in high school I broke my wrist and I actually was catching a swing route. And when I went to stiff arm the guy, he was already up on me. He was coming full speed and knocked my hand backwards. And I broke this bone right here, the navicular scaphoid,

which is one of the bones that has, like, lowest blood supply. But obviously I was young enough. Doctor put a cast on it. I played my entire football my senior year with a cast on my left wrist. I think I remember and so i i wasn't necessarily comfortable yet back with carrying that ball in my left hand so there's a lot of games you might see when i'm in college when i'm carrying the ball wrong again going down left side but i got in that right hand because i just hadn't got gained that comfort level back with squeezing it and holding it tight, especially when you're fighting through traffic.

And so, again, in this specific play, though, when I'm running down the sideline, I'm literally trying to outrun the safety. And what happened earlier in the game, I had a touchdown where I actually outran him. Same exact spot. Almost identical. And so, the second time now I'm coming around, and I peek out of the corner of my eye, and I see his head down,

and he's just like digging. He was higher angle. He said, he fucking got me last time. I got to go higher. I got to go higher. Exactly. And so he learned his lesson, right? So now he's going at a higher angle.

He got his head down. He's digging. And so now after peeking, and I see that, I know I got to put my foot in the ground because I'm not going to outrun him. And so now, after peaking, and I see that, I know I gotta put my foot in the ground because I'm not gonna outrun him. And so I stop, and he was close enough to me where if he actually reached his hand out, he probably could have hit the ball.

And so naturally, when somebody's that close to you, it's either you squeeze it, or if you're trying to get busy, you just do something crazy, right? And that's what came out, you know, and that's, and I think, you know, when we play the game, a lot of things, a lot of the part, most of the game is really built on instincts. You know what I'm saying? And instincts and vision.

And so for me in that moment, it was all about instincts and vision. And I just, my hand went back. I put my foot in the ground. I knew I was going to stop and reverse. I just didn't know I was going to put my hand on the side behind my back like that with the ball and cut behind him. And then outrun everyone.

And then outrun everybody. Outrun everybody, man. How many times did you think of, did you see that play before you've done it? Like in your dream? Because you know what I mean? A lot of visualization type, because I remember, we all used to think of that play yeah as a kid i used to have that kind of

memory of that kid i talked about another episode where you cut back and you do that and like i never had the speed to do that long speed i could make the miss but it's almost like you visualize did you visualize stuff did you look in your, like? Always. Always. Always visualize the game. That's why you had some of the most immaculate vision. Yeah. That's what people don't realize. Vision is, like, a real thing. There's people that are fast, and there's, like, football fast,

and then there's guys that are, like, that have really good vision that can look fast. He just so happened to have both. Yeah. Yeah. And, you know, the vision part of it started really young when I was growing up watching Barry Sanders. Yeah.

And watching Barry Sanders, it looked like this dude had eyes in the back of his head. Yes. Like, how the hell did he see him coming? And he would make people miss in a tight space, in a phone booth, as we like to say. And I just fell in love with the art of just making somebody miss and the art of making somebody whiff on the tackle. You know what I'm saying?

You were probably so good at kill a pill. You're talking about when you throw the ball up in the air? One ball, whoever got the ball, everyone tried to kill. We don't know why you're running for, but you're just making people miss. Absolutely, man. I ain't going to lie, bro. That was one of my favorite games to play, especially in the streets back home. And so from the first time I stepped foot on that football field, man,

that's all I had in my head was cut back because I saw how lethal it was when you got people running this direction or the stampede is going this direction and you put your foot in the ground and you go that way. Not everybody can switch, can change direction like that and flip their hips, you know what I'm saying, and then, you know, still keep that speed, that momentum going. And so I found a way to use it to my advantage, like that and flip their hips you know i'm saying and then you know still keep that speed that momentum going and so i found a way to use it to my advantage and i felt like that was one of my best weapons was the cutback always and so that's open field tackle you're that's what i see even

when you're in your saints they'd hit you with those little y routes swing routes and it was basically tackling drill you would hit them and you were so good at reading leverage, or you would skinny him up, meaning you attack him, so it gives you a two-way go. And then if he overran it, that's when you'd always cut back. Absolutely. And I think that's such an important thing that you just said, man, is attacking someone's space, attacking someone head-on, it freezes them. You know what I'm saying?

And you have to sit and wait now and when you do that when you put a guy in that situation where you attack him you attack his space um you put you put him on an island yeah and you force him to make a you know to to choose a side as opposed to just going to one side letting the guy just kind of run you out of bounds or tackle you whatever that is so let's put this in perspective with on the tackler's point of view when he comes into the open field he's taught to keep his feet moving and you you play him with one it's like you're trying to use your help so he's got to use his near shoulder near knee and kind of you're trying to make the runner pick a specific side to hit.

And when you attack them, as soon as the defender puts his feet in the ground because they get scared and they feel the speed, that's when it's game over because once their feet are in the ground and you're continually moving, they can't catch up. And a defensive player wants you to pick a side. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? He does not want you to attack him head on. It's like route running.

It's a two man. Yeah. He got a two way go. The defensive player is taught to, is taught to attack, right? Leverage. Right. And use your help. Help.

Right. Where's the help at? Yeah. And so, you know, that's one thing that I knew, you know, going into every situation. So, for example, when I would run option routes, I'm sure you knew the same thing. You got a guy, man to man, I'm attacking him. You know what I'm saying? I'm getting, I'm doing my steps out and then I'm attacking him because I know I got multiple ways to go. If it's zone, I'm going to run, check down, turn around, sit down, and I'm not going to attack him.

And it's no different than when you're running the ball at somebody. If I'm running the ball at you, I'm going to attack you versus if you've got multiple guys around me, now I've got to go to a specific space versus attacking that guy. Yeah, so man coverage, whenever there was a man coverage, depth, anything, doesn't matter as long as you win yep now when it comes to zone everything there's two things that you always have to have depth and spacing so you can stretch the zone and find the vulnerable spots that's what we're talking about folks a little high level but let's get back yeah it might be too high yeah let's get

back to helix high school in san diego sir now yeah there were always these talks and this was back before i mean social media was just coming i think i saw a myspace page or something about this kid from san diego that was the the highlight tape that was going around the internet was like fucking who is this guy? What's the high school sports scene like in San Diego? Alex Smith went to high school? Yep. And what's up with Alex Smith talking shit about my guy?

I don't know, bro. I don't know where that came from. I swear. When I saw that quote, I was like, what? Listen, I had questions just like you probably got questions. You don't even seem like that. That ain't you, guy. What is it?

He doesn't. That ain't you, pal. That's not you, guy. I don't, you know, I would love to have seen the actual context of the interview. How it was said. Because, you know, sometimes people can take things out of context. Yeah. And they'll take just a little snippet of what you said.

Like, I don't know. That's a headline. I don't know. I watched the whole thing. Him and Rex fucking jumped on him. of context. Yeah. And they'll take just a little snippet of what you said. Like, I don't know. That's a headline. I don't know. I watched the whole thing. Him and Rex fucking jumped on him. Did they? Yeah. Well, I expect that from Rex.

Hating ass Rex. I expect that from Rex, Ryan. All right? I'll tell you right now. He's so funny for TV, Rex. I went out, and it was right after they beat us in the playoffs and the whole foot thing with Welker. Yep.

And they beat us in the playoffs and the whole foot thing with um welker yep and uh they beat us we were over at the belmont new york yeah at the uh the horse thing and that dude like i hated him until i met him i met him he was like the coolest dude drinking beers taking shots with us talking shit bro he's one of the guys he's one of the guys he's one of the guys and And, you know, I have my different takes on as a coach. And, again, you've been around one of the best, right? You understand the level of just how you must approach the coaching game and how you must approach your team on a day-to-day basis, and even optics, right, of how everything looks. It all matters, everything, you know what I'm saying?

And so, again, I love Rex. But I played for Rex in Buffalo for one year, and it was the worst I had ever been around. And there was no control over the team. Rex got fired, like, after a week, like, I don't know, three or four. Then the OC got fired. It was like, bro, we were playing. My running back coach was, like like the head coach at this point.

I mean, Brady just put another one out in the pasture. Bro, exactly. There's another one over there. It's a shitty-ass AFC East that designed a team. Literally, Tom had to have teams that were designed to try to beat Tom for 20 years. Right. Exactly. And everyone wants to say, oh, the AFC East was dog shit.

Yeah, yeah, this, that. But it wasn't, though. It wasn't. It really wasn't. Miami was always really. Yeah, yeah, this, that. But it wasn't, though. It wasn't. It really wasn't. Miami was always really kind of, they always had those years. The Jets always came in. They beat our ass a couple times. Especially when Miami had Ricky Williams.

Yeah. And they had Ronnie Brown. Ronnie Brown. And they were running the Wildcat. The Wildcat. They were destroying people. They whooped our ass. But even a couple of those Tannehill teams, they went to the playoffs.

Tannehill, yep. Because they had good defenses. Exactly. So we know that the AFC was not weak. Especially in the NFL, there's no such thing. There's no such thing. This is the NFL. There's no such thing as.

Alex, you're not that guy. That's not you, pal. Alex, you ain't that guy. I don't know, man. You don't want that smoke with the goat? No, no, no, no. He don't want that smoke with the goat. Stick to the UFOs commercials. Come on, man. No, you don't want that smoke with the goat? No, no, no, no. He don't want that smoke with the goat. Stick to the UFOs commercials.

Come on, man. No, you don't want that smoke with the goat. How was that high school? How was high school football in San Diego? I never really heard of it. I always hear about L.A. I'm from the Bay. So what's the San Diego scene?

It was competitive. It was good, man. High school football in San Diego is big. It's not as big as, like, Texas in some of these other places you know what i mean but um especially the era that i was playing um in san diego our high school we didn't lose we didn't lose any games um alex was our quarterback and um every position at every position on our football team um we had speed and that's one of the things I loved about playing at the high school level was a lot of our athletes that played receiver

running back safety corners they all ran track and so we had a bunch of track guys you know also but football players who also ran track and they just had speed and so we were really good we're really fast we didn't lose like, any games. We ran the football a lot. And it wasn't until like around, I think, my junior year, and Alex just started balling, right? And that's when we started to throw the football a lot more. We kind of spread the offense out more and ran more of a West Coast true style offense.

Before that, I don't know if you remember, before that, oh, my God, the misdirection. Running a shoot? Yeah. Wing T? Wing T. That was it.

Wing T. So we ran the wing T for like the first two years. And then we transitioned more into this West Coast spread out offense, and that's when Alex just took off and started throwing the football a lot more. But, again, the high school football scene in San Diego is really strong, man. Is there a bunch of military kids? No, there's not a bunch of, not a bunch of, I know, but because of the base. Yeah, I was wondering, maybe you got some tough ass, like, military kids.

As far as I know, as far as I came across, no. There wasn't, you know, a bunch of military kids. But, you know, I grew up in the era of watching guys, you know, Ricky Williams is from my neighborhood. Marcus Allen, Terrell Davis, Rasham Salaam, rest in peace. Rasham Salaam was one of the, I think, still the only running back and player to win a Heisman Trophy from University of Colorado. And so we had, just in my area alone, four Heisman Trophy winning running backs and some Hall of famers junior

Sal was from was from San Diego he was the biggest um and that's what I idolized growing up we all did anyone from California anybody from but especially from San Diego though when you're from San Diego and you play football or you play baseball you idolize junior Sal or Tony Gwynn yeah those were our two guys and so for me growing up i used to go to this kids football camp that a guy named martin bayless used to put on martin bay's playing the nfl uh for a number of years about 10 plus years and he used to always do this kids football camp and every year me and my boys it was like the highlight of our summers we get to go to this kids camp and we get a chance to meet an nfl football player and every year, Junior Sal would show up,

and he would spend a little time with the kids, man, and I got a chance to meet him. And it was just like, it literally was like looking at, like, God. You know what I'm saying? Like the God of football. And he was larger than life, just had a great personality. I played with him in New England. And so let me bring it full circle.

I get drafted, go to the NFL. After my first season, I come back home to San Diego to host my first kids football camp. And Junior Sal came to it, bro. And it was just like a full circle moment. You know, just seeing him come to my camp and just having spent some time with a man. You know, there was nobody better when he was at his he was at his prime you know i'm saying nobody at all and so for me growing up watching those guys it was a real treat because i got a chance to see guys from my area do it and do it at the highest level and that gave me all the confidence in the world that okay i can go do

this too you know i'm saying is there something in the water i think so man jesus you hear that list yeah because you know again like just from my area alone and i mean like a like a 15 mile radius yeah like all those guys grew up and grew up in that area man not junior sale jim say i was a little bit more north yeah all the other running backs all from my my area. That's crazy. Junior was, I mean, unbelievable straight up dude. And Ricky Williams was, he was the man coming out of San Diego. And, you know, as big as he was in the NFL, he was that same size in high school. So imagine, like, this dude, he's a tank.

Tank. Just running over people, man. And it was just not fair. You know, it wasn't fair. But shout out to Ricky Williams, man. You know, he's another GOAT from my area that did it before me show me paved the way for me and show me that i could that it was possible i we have ricky on here he he is a gem dude yeah like he got a raw deal man while he was in the league you know he's a pioneer pioneer everything

that's different at first everyone fucking hates exactly it can't yeah exactly exactly man and so you know he but he even to his like he's such a good dude we're like he goes like you could say that narrative like that and he'd be like yeah you know just it was just a little too early before it's time you know or like you know the whole what's his name applewood yeah the whole situation he so you know that he He explained it on ours, and he goes, yeah, you know, it's not his fault. He was banging my girl, you know. She was hot. He said, I can't blame him. I can't blame him.

Yeah, that's what he said. He's just, I'm like, dude, I need your perspective around me all the time. Now, talking about college goats from that area, how did, like, Junior Seau, did he influence you, like, with the USC thing? Or is that just because SoCal, you go to USC? Well, there was, I think there was, you know, an influence there. I think it was more Marcus Allen that influenced me because, again, I looked up to Junior, but Marcus Allen was from my neighborhood.

He grew up in my area, played running back, played the position, went to USC, you know what I'm saying, Hall of Fame career in the NFL. And so it was really more guys like Marcus Allen and Terrell Davis, Rasham Salaam, and Ricky Williams that influenced me heavily because, again, these are guys that played my position from my neighborhood um won heisman trophies and then also had you know amazing careers going forward so you know those are the guys that kind of influenced me um you know while i was um you know in high school you you commit you go to usc yeah your first year you didn't really yeah i didn't play a whole lot my first year they were

just kind of working you in because they were still i mean they were doing the thing they wasn't ready for me yeah you know i'm saying because my freshman year i could have my freshman year i could have went off too yeah i mean but um we had some guys that were ahead of me um herschel dennis and some we and we had a and this other thing like i said we had three five-star running backs that came it was me lindell white and chelsea washington and then we had herschel dennis in front of us who was from long beach poly who also was a five-star running back you know i'm saying and so and hd herschel dennis he he was as you know really big coming from long beach probably because you remember poly was putting out d1 athletes poly consistently every year like 5 10 15 guys you know and all

these guys would go to the nfl and so poly was as big as it got in la from a football standpoint and so when i got to usc um i right away felt the sense of urgency that i got to get on this football field and i gotta get to work yeah because there's a bunch of guys here all great players and i gotta figure out my niche i gotta figure out what's gonna work for me and so that's part of the reason why i started returning kicks punts i'm not started sorry i did that and i did that in high school but that's one of the reasons why i kept that going when i got to college and i didn't just abandon it because i was like i gotta find other ways to get this football in my creating value

folks that's what it's called for young players that's what i had to do too uh you know if you're not great at one thing quite yet like you have to be the man where you don't have to do anything else there's only like three of those guys four of those guys on the team then you have to be the man where you don't have to do anything else there's only like three of those guys four of those guys on the team then you have to if you're not that guy then you got to get really good at a bunch of things you know and the more you get good at the more value you create for yourself to the team and that's i mean i mean it suited you because once you got to the league i mean you're still non-stop monster behind punts kickoffs and that's why i tell you know a lot of guys you know young guys too man at the college level do more don't just go in there and be like i'm only gonna play running back or i'm only gonna

play you know receiver if you're go play x go play in the slot yeah you know i'm saying go go return some punts and kicks and see where it takes you you never know it could be part of your purpose and your calling at the next level and it could make you exponentially more money as well at the next level cordell patterson exactly cordell patterson still playing drafted top 10 returning kicks returning kicks nah playing running back he he started doing that with us. He's a monster. He just reminds you of an elk. He's just so big, like a big-ass elk. Yes. But he can run.

Absolutely. Now, when, so year two comes in. Year two, when was the moment where you walked on campus? It was the last, when was the moment where, like, it was the last time you could, like, walk around campus? Because I'm sure you were getting mobbed everywhere. So what was the game before the mobbing started to happen? You know, honestly, it didn't really get crazy.

And again, when I say crazy, it wasn't like you were mobbed everywhere you went on campus, right? People who saw you, like, people had stuff to do. Kids had, they got stuff to do kids had they got shit to do they got classes to go to they got essays midterms um so it wasn't as big on campus like the mob rushing you trying to get your autograph and pictures but at our games it was like that because we had every celebrity known to mankind on the sidelines you know what i mean and so that was where the stars studied lights camera action hollywood look and feel you know infused into college football that's where all that happened um when we were on a college campus i mean yeah there were people who came up to us

asking us for autographs and pictures and stuff like that but it was not like a mob it was not like that and so i love that about usc, again, people, obviously, they're hardcore football fans, but also people just kind of left you alone, too. You know what I'm saying? And if we went to the parties, then maybe, yeah, it could maybe get like that. You weren't going to parties. You were going to hide and shit. You going to the clubs, 18 years old, in there.

You know Josh over there with the little hat. We did go to clubs. He got the cane on. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I forgot you know Josh. I forgot you know Josh. Josh had us up in the clubs, bro. I can't lie.

What was your first impression of Pete Carroll? Did he have a huge pack of gum? How big was his pack of gum? My first impression, so I first met Pete when he came to my high school. Obviously a big deal, Pete Carroll's coming to Helix High School to do some scouting, you know, to watch me. And, you know, when I first met him, you know, I was excited, but, you know, I thought he was just, you know, a regular coach, a good guy.

He had a great personality, and he was energetic, too. He always brought a lot of energy to the conversations, to practices, to the film rooms, to team meetings and stuff like that. And so I love the fact that he brought that youthfulness to the game because, as you know, man, football is stressful enough. You know what I'm saying? And it's more stressful when you lose is stressful enough you know i'm saying and it's more stressful when you're losing you know i'm saying and it's more stressful when the environment is not on par with you know trying to win and trying to accomplish the same goals and you're not having fun and so i've been in those environments before i've been on some teams you know at the nfl level

where you know it just wasn't fun you know i'm saying and so you know i at the NFL level where, you know, it just wasn't fun. You know what I'm saying? And so, you know, I always loved the fact that Pete brought the youthfulness to the team. And then he would bring, you know, a bunch of celebrities, Snoop Dogg, was at our practices running routes with the receivers. And Will Ferrell. He looking tall. Yeah, Will Ferrell would be out there. You know, and it was just, it was amazing, man, because, again,

I thought Pete did a masterful job at being able to bring Hollywood and football together, you know, and that's the thing that USC offers that no other university can offer is you have both of these two worlds where if you can bring them together and win forget about it's like the lakers you know what i'm saying i mean i just moved out here and you can feel the presence of three organizations here yeah the dodgers the lakers and usc we're starting to get a kiss of the Rams, but they got to still build. Yeah, they got to. But people around here love SC.

They love SC. Bolt up, baby. Bolt up. Chargers. The Chargers too, yeah. What did you say? Hashtag Bolt up. I thought they were in San Diego still, aren't they? Aren't they?

Come on, man. Hey, man, listen as a san diego homegrown native i hate seeing seeing the chargers not being saying they gotta get back there huh what's up with the city is the city or is the owners who is it i don't it's i think it's from what i i don't know the true facts so i don't fact we don't fact out there. But from what I heard, it's just the two parties just are clashing heads. And nobody wants to give, you know, I'm sure it all comes down to money, as always, you know, usually. The bottom line. And, you know, I think what I've heard is that the city didn't want to fund, you know, the stadium. Which, you know, we know stadiums cost a lot of money.

And, but also at the same time, it's like, why not? You know what I mean? The Super Bowls there would be nice. I mean, who doesn't want to go take a visit, you know, vacation to San Diego? You know how much economic stimulus you get at the Super Bowl? And what, the World Cup comes here? They probably, hey, we'll throw a game out there,

a little qualifier. A little dust-off Qualcomm, baby. Dude, I love playing there. They have good grass. Man, listen, that stadium is old as hell. They need to blow that thing up and build something new. Wake up with football every morning and listen to my new podcast, NFL Daily with Greg Rosenthal.

Five days a week, you'll get all the latest news, previews, recaps, and analysis delivered straight to your podcast feed by the time you get your coffee. No dumb hot takes here. Just smart hot takes. We'll talk every single game every single week, but I can't do it alone. So I'm bringing in the big guns from NFL media. That's Patrick Claiborne, Steve Weiss, Nick Shook, Jordan Rodrigue from The Athletic, and of course, Colleen Wolfe. This is their window right now. This is their Super Bowl window. Why would they trade him away? Because he would be a pivotal part of them winning that Super Bowl.

I don't know why, Colleen. Catch the podcast, the NFL Daily with Greg Rosenthal every day. Subscribe today and you'll immediately be smarter and funnier than your friends. And who doesn't want that? Listen now on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your friends. And who doesn't want that? Listen now on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. All right, here we go. It's Cam Jordan from New Orleans Saints

here to tell you it's going down on season two of my podcast, Off the Edge with me, Cam Jordan. Can't stop it. You know what's going to happen. Can't stop it. That's right. Catch new episodes every Wednesday all season long. That's right. Catch new episodes every Wednesday, all season long.

That's what you look for in year 14, to do more. No days off. And I'll have my friends, who happen to be some of the NFL's biggest stars, join me on the pod. We'll give you a player's perspective of the biggest storylines, trends, and did that really just happen moments from around the league. And you know we'll have fun doing it oh and i'll have a special guest each month join me to mix it up a little bit who is it none other than psych you have to tune in to find out so tap in to off the edge with cam jordan's podcast your ultimate playbook for all things football and not football listen on the iheart Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

History is filled with strange, unusual, and unexpected stories. Stories about people who have accomplished extraordinary things, pets that have gone above and beyond, events that have defied explanation, and I'd like to tell you about them. I'm Aaron Manke, and for the past six years, I've been sharing the most curious tales in history with millions of listeners around the world on my hit podcast, Cabinet of Curiosities. With well over 120 million downloads to date, listeners have been fascinated by such tales as the surprising country that invented the croissant, the stowaway-turned-hero who helped capture a Nazi spy, and the wrestling champ who went on to win the White House.

And now, finally, nearly 200 of these amazing stories from the podcast have been gathered into one book. Curious to know more? Pre-order Cabinet of Curiosities, available November 12th, wherever books and audiobooks are sold. Learn more over at GrimAndMild.com slash curiosities. Speaking of old as hell, this is a segment where we go back in time

of November 19th, 2005, the time and era of what was going on, pop culture of this game. Number one movie was Harry Potter. Little Harry Potter movie. Oh my God. You guys see it? Yeah, that was a Harry Potter movie. Oh, my God. You guys see it? Yeah, I was a Harry Potter guy.

Casual. I was casual. I just started getting into it because my daughter likes it. I've seen some clips. I haven't sat through an entire Harry Potter movie, though. I have to be honest. I've seen the first three. We were going to start reading.

She likes that wizardy stuff. And then we went to that Universal thing. They got the little wands that you could do the magic with oh man number one song we all know this one gold digger by kanye west and jamie foxx that's a long long time ago boy oh that was a great song that was that was a good one we got we got we probably should move on from this slide right now but there's is what's up with our guy? Is he in trouble? Who are we talking about? Jamie Foxx?

He's on the bench. Is he sick? He was sick, right? Yeah, he's doing better, I think. Is he back? I hope so. We need him. He's a gem.

Yeah, he's my dog. Quadruple threat. I see him out and about. He's cool. No, he's good. He's good now. He's healthy. That's good.

Around this time, Harvard beat Yale in a triple overtime. On this day, and Miamiami number three in the nation went down to georgia tech so another upset is this football harvard yeah this is harvard yale baby we're talking some harvard yale love it gotta be honest i've never watched a harvard yale football i don't think i have either do you know it's kind of a big i lived in boston so it's a big it's a pretty big deal out there yeah i mean, it's the oldest. I think it's the oldest rival in football. Oh, really? I think it's the first.

Rutgers-Princeton. Princeton. Yeah, Rutgers. Yeah, Princeton and who? Rutgers. Rutgers. It was the first football game. Oldest stadium in the country.

Yeah, that's crazy. Wild. Got to give a shout out to the olds. Yeah. The old Ivy League. We'll be working for those people. They all own companies now and executives yeah firms i mean we're on our phone they own all of it yeah google facebook yeah xbox 360 was released xbox guy big week playstation are you playstation guy baby

come on man so this is how i break it down. Okay. Ever since I went to college, this is who has Xbox and who doesn't. And just in all my friends, all my international friends, people from Europe, PlayStation. All my black friends, PlayStation.

All my like nerdy white friends, Xbox or PC. I swear to God. Is that not the breakdown? That is it. Is that not the breakdown? That is it. Is that not the breakdown? International people love PlayStation.

I'm going through my homies. All my black friends, they all play 2K on PS5. I had no homies that had Xboxes. None. See? I think this theory checks out.

Full proof. But I was an Xbox guy. Nerd. Nerd. CFL Great Cup went into overtime the first time in 44 years talking weird football games this week man bc lions i almost went to the bc lions i got drafted the bc lines they want me to play quarterback out of college why you didn't take it i didn't grow up trying to be a cfl i player. I couldn't want to go to the NFL. No, it was like, so instead of base, it was like 50 grand to be on the team,

100 grand if you're the starter, another 100. Like, that's how those contracts were. It was gnarly. I took my talents to Fox. Yeah, you did the right thing. The first partial face transplant. Damn. Science talk.

Was it this lady right here? Yeah, she don't look too bad. Face off? She got mauled by a dog. When was the movie Face Off? Nicolas Cage. Oh, she got bit by a dog? Yeah.

Damn dogs. I got bit by a dog once too. Did you? Yeah. What kind? I love dogs though, but dogs will bite your ass if you run up on the wrong one. Yeah, for real. Mine was a Rottweiler with my hand.

I was in high school and I wanted to fuck that Rottweiler yeah my hand i was in i was in high school and i wanted to fuck that rottweiler see you know what i i don't like dogs i love my dog yeah you know because i know i know what my dog's about you don't know what these people are doing behind closed doors with their dogs and it's not the doggie's fault right it's a goddamn owner exactly it's a goddamn owner why don't you go sit in the mirror it's not your dog's fault it's you however your dog acts is a reflection of how you're training or doing something with him you go see my dog he wipes his feet off before he comes in this goddamn house not when you're not here i know a little rascal he's getting terrible this i'll tell you the biggest that if you want to go to a place and

you want to see whose dogs are well trained versus whose dogs are not well trained go to a dog park oh yeah go to dog park i swear to god i've seen some dogs literally like gang fights yeah bunch of dogs just starting a big ass gang fight you're like god damn what is what is uh thug dogs we gotta dude dog park community life should be a tv show it really should it really should the people like i have a dog park i go to around here where i live and you see the people and like some people are so smug like oh you have your dog off uncertainty like it's like they judge you and shit like i'm rolling over in a fucking white tank top a white beater fucking some cortez's

and shit let my little labradoodle just run around these people are like judging me and shit i'm like i get the fuck out of here uh heisman winner yes sir. Let's go into sports history was my guy right here. Now, is that over yet, or we get the Heisman? Oh, no, but we got some things that are coming down the pipeline that are going to change that. Like what? And that's about as far as I can tell you, but, yeah, it's Heisman Trust. We on that ass. I'm on the Heisman Trust ass.

I can say that. I'm on they ass. Let's go. And the NCAA. That's that ass. I'm on the Heisman Trust ass. I can say that. I'm on they ass. Let's go. And the NCAA. That's NCAA. Both of them. Hall of Fame this week, though, right? Last week.

Congratulations. Recently. It was recently. Recently. That's, you know, like I said, top three. Anytime you ask anyone of anyone, Reggie's in the top one. NFL oversees groundbreaking ceremonies for Lucas Oil Stadium and the AT&T Stadium, valuing $1.7 billion collectively. This is kind of the new era of stadiums that we're seeing today.

This kicked off the billion-dollar, we want to host concerts, we want Final Fours, We want to host concerts. We want Final Fours. We want to play indoors. Everything should be 72 degrees on AstroTurf. I don't know if I love it. I like the elements. I just want to say this. Fuck AstroTurf.

Dude. Yes. This is an anti-AstroTurf podcast. AstroTurf is fucking horrible for your body. Horrible. As you know, playing up there in New England, especially in that cold. I don't know how y'all did it in that cold playing on that turf because the turf hurts worse. We practice on grass.

Oh, y'all practice on grass. We practice on grass and outdoors every time. Y'all never practice on turf? No. If we did, there was a couple times where it would be so cold that our ground, our grass would freeze. Yeah. And the pipes, it was so cold that the pipes couldn't our grass would freeze yeah and the pipes it was so cold the pipes couldn't heat it up because they have the heating system yeah where it freeze where

and then they'd have to go into the stadium and we'd have like a lighter practice but like you know when you have an older team yeah that puts guys down for two days absolutely you know i mean there's a residual effect of of on that turf. Just through joint and stuff. You know, so it's definitely tough. Turf is not good for you, and every stadium needs to go back to grass. I'm with you. Couldn't agree more. Also this week, in the backyard brawl, Pat White balled out 250 yards,

set the Big East quarterback rushing record. Reggie, were you keeping an eye on dudes like Pat White back when you were using him? Absolutely. Yeah. Absolutely. Pat White was a dog back then. Beast. He was a beast.

So watching him at West Virginia. Was it West Virginia? Mountaineers. The West Virginia Mountaineers. This dude running up and down the sidelines, man. But nah, he was a beast. And he was rocking that number five, too. I think Pat McAfee was there.

Was Pat McAfee there that year? I think he was. Let me double, too. I think Pat McAfee was there. Was Pat McAfee there that year? I think he was. Let me double check. Probably never had to punt. You got Pat. Dude, Pat White. Pat White was a dog. Talk about drafting.

So when I got coming out and I was getting recruited, and you know how the process goes. You go to a pro day. You work out for teams. Then you get visited to facilities. Miami was like all over me, and it was because they had the Wildcat. We were just talking, Ricky Williams, Ronnie Brown. The Wildcat thing was like hot, and I was, you know,

my senior year of my college, I ran for like 1,500 yards. And I threw for like, so I could, they were like thinking of an evolution potential. So like I was thinking. Man, wait, can we just stop there? yards and i threw for like so i could they were like thinking of an evolution potential so like i was thinking man wait can we just stop there you ever think about that and where that may have could have taken you if that if that actually happened you know i'm saying like do you ever think about that go back and like damn i could have been like nah because you know i i was catching a ball i couldn't hit them 18-yard outs like these dudes.

These dudes could throw. You know, if you're in the league. Okay, so you wasn't accurate. You wasn't. I could do. I was more of a runner. I was more of a runner. I like to run.

All right. You know, so I. I like it. No, that was like a hot thing, the Wildcat. And draft day came, and I'm like sitting there. I got a Miami hat. I think I'm going to miami potentially i've been talking to their scout and first with their second round pick they picked pat

white i was like oh fucking pat white i got so mad at him i was like i went out there it's the first time ever in miami i was like this place is so nice yeah fucking pat white hey man but look at look how good look how they worked out for you. You know what I'm saying? Turned out good. And I look at that situation similar to mine. I was supposed to be the number one draft pick to Houston. Yeah.

And, you know, not going to Houston, probably the best thing that ever happened to me because I get a chance to go to New Orleans, play with Drew Brees, go win a Super Bowl, and, you know, be able to bring back hope into a city that was just destroyed by Hurricane Katrina by just winning football games. You know what I'm saying?

And I never would have been privileged to that had I not been drafted there, had I gone first. So everything works out for a reason, man. How did that draft process go? It was, so for me, when I went to the Combine, you go through all your interview process, 31 teams didn't want to interview me because they're like he's not gonna be here he's going number one so i literally only spoke to houston and i only was talking to houston the entire process leading up to the night before the draft it was the only team i ever spoke to and so charlie casterly was

the gm at this time and he you know i later found out some really some reasons why um which had to do you know with the heisman trophy and i guess you know supposedly they had a private investigator come do a whole investigation why does it matter you're an investigator came back and told him i had bad character don't draft me and so that's how i ended up not going to houston and why they took um you know marie williams which is fine it is what it is um but it's just to give you context as to you know again why it didn't happen and why i ended up going to new orleans but it all worked out for the best you know i'm saying and you know i look at that as you know one of the greatest moments in my life being able to go to new orleans because um one it's an amazing place i don't know if you've

ever been there amazing people and the best food in the world yeah best food in the world bro i've never experienced it i've only got there i went down there and got my ass beat in 2009 when you guys beat the out of us on my night football people had umbrellas and stuff inside and beating it was the loudest i felt like i i don't know i don't know where i was at but we got our ass beat and i i didn't even remember anything of that yeah and but but again man it's you know just going back to the story and me going down there um i believe everything happens for a reason yeah and i believe you know our purpose you know sometimes um you know we think we're in control and there's times when we're not in control and it's you know it's

for a reason yeah so that's how it goes man every i i'm a firm believer of that as well you know whether you're whether it's good or bad it's it's happening you can do two things you know you could either relish on something that good happened there's going to be another day you know so and something bad happens you can you know you learn from it and things happen now what what's what's drew breeze like you talked to mom yeah absolutely man monster love him man drew's the man. Focus, hyper focus. So I'll tell the story.

I always tell the story about Drew. I was coming from USC. I'm always proud of myself and being one of the hardest workers. That's like my main focus is I'm just going to outwork everybody. I'm going to outwork my competition. I'm going to outwork my opponents and games. And when I got drafted to New Orleansleans um you know and again feeling that that sense of responsibility of you know you have an opportunity to bring back hope into a city and

you know all that was inside of me um going into new orleans and so i made it a point to you know be one of the first guys in the locker room one of the first guys in the film room first guys on the practice field and the last guy off type thing and to put in context for people out there when when when you're a veteran guy and your first round draft pick does that like that's not always the case you know that that sets a that sets a tone to the whole team that this guy is about business when when you because there's a lot of guys that can come in. They're the guy who has to take the pictures. And every time the team does something, he's the first one doing it. He's got the jersey. And so a lot of guys eat that up, and they don't take that shit like that.

And so I'm telling you, right now, as Drew Brees being a professional, I don't know him, but I know he's a fucking excellent preparer and practices everything. When you see a guy like reggie coming who's the number two overall pick and he starts like setting that tone yeah i mean you it's instantly he's gonna gravitate towards you and it was instant success with me and drew on the football field i had 98 receptions my rookie i remember 98 as a running back you a thousand thousand guy right yeah as a running back i had 98 receptions um

you know and so but again like i said it was instant success because of my mindset coming in was that i wanted to be the hardest worker and so i go back to the story um i would try to get to the facility first i try to be literally the first guy in the facility and i would get there when it's completely dark outside it'd be like six o'clock in the morning uh maybe even 5 45 sometimes and there would be one car always in the parking lot already and i would walk into the facility and drew would already be in there watching film and i know this guy was the last person off the football field off a practice field the day before yeah you know what I'm saying? And so I'm thinking, when did he go to sleep?

You know what I mean? If he's here this late, and when I say this late, I mean, Drew stays on a practice field for about an hour to an hour and a half after practice is done. And I actually shot a video one time, I went back to New Orleans and I posted it. And they had, practice was done, and everybody had walked off and was gone inside,

and I had actually went back into the facility. I was kind of taking a tour because all this shit was new, and so I went back into the weight room, and then I looked out into the football field because from the weight room, you could see directly into the practice facility, and Drew was out there by himself. No football. Going through plays.

No coaching. Visualization. Literally, I swear, it kind of creeped me out for a second. Having the football, I'm like, what the hell is he doing? And he's going through every play, every motion. He's going through his checks. I see him just doing stuff like this, like that. You know what I'm saying?

He's going through the game plan, the script, everything, the reps. Guys have gone home at this point. So there's nobody in the weight room, maybe one of the coaches and Drew's still in there working. And I shot this video and I posted it and I was just like, man, listen, for you young guys out there, if you want to know how to play for a long time in this league, you want to make a lot of money, this is how you do it right here. This is the way that you go to work. This is the way that you show up. And so, again, going back to the story, I would try to beat Drew into the locker room.

And he'll tell you this as well. He would already be in that chair sitting down watching film. And I would just shake my head every time because, again, I'm 21 at this point. I'm 21, 22. So, you know, I, I'm 21 at this point. I'm 21, 22. So, you know, I'm doing everything I can to try to beat this guy. Which is a lot easier, people don't realize. When you're 21, 22, you're fresh in the league.

Yeah. You ain't got family. Exactly. You ain't really got kids unless you got kids. You know, you ain't got responsibility. Yep. You know, when you're probably what was Drew is like eighth year. He was.

Yeah, because he had already played half a career in San Diego. He's got eight years in. He's got a fucking wife at home. He's got kids. He got to be home for dinner. He got to make sure things are all right. Like there's so that's different perspective. It really is.

So the fact that he's going out of his way to try to beat young buck yeah i mean that's that's taking effort exactly so i had ogs in front of me i had guys like drew deuce mcallister um he was nasty the great will smith rest in peace our defensive end who's passed away tragically he was shot and killed um but you know having these guys and joe horn too joe horn was there as well but having guys like that um in front of me and them me watching them work but it was my it was mainly drew that i watched i really focused in on drew right i watched the other guys but drew was the guy i was like nah he the captain of the ship he's the guy he's the guy that I want to try to emulate the way I come to work. You know what I'm saying?

And so I never beat him, though. I never beat him into the facility. I was never – he was always later than me off the field. You know what I'm saying? It was just, you know, relentless work, relentless pursuit. And long after I left, he never wavered. He stayed the same, you know, up until after I was long retired from the game and he was still playing.

You see, you know what that does right there? That's what a lot of guys that play that position, because I was around a guy the same way. A lot of guys that play that position, you got to hear that, that everyone is looking at you and so what you put yourself out there to be on the field off the field whatever they're looking at that absolutely and and the professional that drew was that motivates guys to fall in line because he's the highest paid guy in the team he's been there he's got this he's got all these you know so you

have to so that that's that's a that's a big thing to have that example from the quarterback position you know what i mean because that i mean this who we kidding it's a fucking quarterback league it really if you don't have a quarterback and there's so many different size shape how you play but if you don't have your guy and if he's not the right guy, and he's not putting in and showing the guys how it needs to be done, I mean, you're light years ahead. I know that's such a famous thing that everyone wants to say, buzz light years behind.

Right, right, yeah, yeah. And the other thing is that, like you said, the rest of the team will follow suit, you know what I'm saying? And when you set that culture, know from day one the first time you stepped foot um you know in that uniform so this was my rookie year was drew's first year in new orleans and it was also sean payton's rookie year as a head coach yeah and so we had a lot of unknown right we had some great players but they were still unknown because the year before the saints were the ain'ts and they weren't great they weren't good obviously weren't going through her katrina affected a lot of that but the years

prior before that they were one of the worst teams in the league you know for a very long time and so it started with drew you know changing the culture and sean and sean and and and me and so you know taking that team and changing the culture to being a respected organization, you know, respected winning organization, you know, was just. I mean, that's the crazy thing. It's because of you guys' success that we still think that the Saints are still going to be good right now. Exactly. You know what I mean? Like, we fail to forget they don't have Drew Brees.

They ain't got Reggie Bush. They don't got Sean Payton. Oh, they're going to bomb it to Marquise Golsan. They'll be good. Take some help. I mean, it's. Exactly. But that's, you know, I think you've done this in New England,

so you understand it, man. But, again, the optics of everything you do, how you work, how you prepare, how you engage with your teammates, the kind of player you are on a football field, the unselfishness of your play and of your work ethic each and every day, it all matters. Every single bit of it matters. And that's why the ones who prepare the best and the most, Patriots, that's why you guys are considered one of the best teams,

the best team ever. You had the greatest quarterback ever, man, because preparation is key and it's the number one thing it over it it takes over anything and that and that's kind of how it goes you know i'm sure sean set the template of what we expect yeah and you got a guy like drew who polices and enforces and is the flag carrier coach's message and then you got foot soldier reggie you know you got your you got your leaders but it has to be the quarter which was kind of like how we were you know exactly exactly bill had an expectation tom you know followed that and and like was the guy

who was fucking showing everyone how to do it and then you had the guys under him that had to keep you know the hurdle in tom brady made a lot of people money brother he did a lot of people money i know you can't say it but i'ma say it he done made a lot of coaches money he done made some players who didn't deserve who weren't that great got paid right one of my boys matt castle prime example brady gets hurt he goes in balls out and then goes and gets paid and plays X amount of more years. I like you, Cass. From watching a guy like Tom Brady, right?

Just joking. I think you're a really good guy. Cass gets sensitive about that. Castle's my guy. I know. You know Cass gets sensitive. He might try to wrestle after he hears this. He literally, he will wrestle you.

It doesn't matter where you are. You could be at a barbecue you could be at the street you could be you go to a restaurant if you say something piss off castle he's wrestling you but nobody my point is nobody knew castle right castle didn't even play at usc because of matt leiner right and there's no disrespect but it is what it is like he didn't get on the football field. But you go to a team like New England, and you watch the best prepare, right? And then you step in, and you take full advantage of that opportunity.

And now other teams want to pay you and go, and the rest is history. And so that's why I always say Brady made a lot of people money. He made a lot of people money. He made a lot of coaches money. A lot. A lot. A lot. Some coaches who I don't think they're great coaches that were in New England with you guys who got exposed

when they went and tried to go be head coaches. He got those guys paid. And he made y'all believe that. Which coaches are you talking about? A recent one that just got fired with the Raiders. Mickey D's. With the Raiders. Mickey D's. With the Raiders. But again, like.

Very good X's and O's guy right here. You know, that's, yeah, it's tough. Yeah, X's and O's, right? But this is what I always say. Jimmy's and Joe's. This is where I think the NFL has an issue, is the NFL has gone more towards analytics and stat driven um coaching

searches right and the reason why that's an issue and why we constantly see these coaches fail is because you go from coaching offense and just speaking to the quarterback to now where you got to be the cabinet of ship of the whole whole team, offense, defense, special teams, assistant coaches, executives. Hey, coach, what hotel are we staying at? Exactly. What's the curfew set at? Hey, coach. Yeah, one of our rookies just got arrested.

Yeah. Yeah, go get in front of the team. Don't manage that. Don't handle that. Right before your biggest game that you got to play. It's a tough job. It's not easy. And so what I'm getting at is you need somebody who understands how to build

winning culture. And in winning culture, you got to be a people person. You got to be able to talk to you, to me, to her, to him, everybody, and it's all got to be genuine. And it's all got to come from a genuine place and everybody has to believe you right because like you said now the eyes are on you even more there's a bigger microscope you can kind of hide you in a in the booth oh you definitely coach your play from the booth i mean mackenna he hid for fucking three years once you step out to that front line and that camera's on you it all

matters you know what i'm saying and you know i think a great example of someone who has taken full advantage of that is one of my old teammates dan campbell who's coaching the lions at a high level right now and you talk about this guy who played the game, was a great, was a good player. Well, not a great player. He was not a big, well-known player. But he understood. Did his job. He did his job. Dan was like a blocking tight end when I got to New Orleans.

He would block his ass off. I knew if I was running to his side, I was going to get some yards. But he did his job, and he understood how to build culture. And you can't build culture from analytics. You know what i'm saying i think that's a great example of also a guy that because teams are predicated you have superstars everyone has superstars it's the role players how do the role players play yeah and dan campbell being a guy that he was a role guy he was a role player your fucking role dan you sit on and you block the nine technique you blow his ass up maybe a couple

times we'll have you sneak out to the flat and we'll throw you a bone exactly no and dan campbell loved it he was a role guy he understood his role on the team yep him being able to translate that to his team that goes a long way and you could say that probably with D'Amico as well how he's getting guys to fight I'm so glad you just said that bro I'm so glad you just said that because D'Amico I mean I keep on I do Fox and I'm over here talking about yeah they gotta have a hiccup here soon you know these guys have been playing too good yeah there ain't no hiccups where's the hiccup rookie quarterback playing lights out lights out nick casario shout out patriot gm he was he started he drafted lights out drafted them and i've always felt player coaches are always gonna

have an advantage over coaches who never played the game because they understand what it's like to be in the jungle they understand what it's like to be in the trenches let's let's talk about this let's talk about this real quick all right who how many player coaches have won a super bowl let me look that up how many player coaches have there been i mean that would be my neck that would be my that's a good next question one you know i'm saying because there are not a lot of former player head i mean we're getting to it it's getting to the point now because we're getting older yeah you know we're like our generation 20 years ago these motherfuckers are player coaches now right exactly so maybe maybe it's gonna be re-winning that motherfucker ain't played. Mike Ditka. Ditka. Ditka. Rivera.

There you go. He didn't win a Super Bowl. He didn't win a Super Bowl. Ron Rivera. So maybe I wonder who, out of these player coaches now, who's going to be the coach that guy. Because Vrabel, Vrabel's been in Tennessee for a while. Vrabel's good.

I like Vrabel. Has not won a Super Bowl down there. But when Vrabel first took over, you saw how the culture of that team changed right away. Right away. Right away. They're always in it and they're always hurt. Yeah, always hurt. Dungy won as a player and a head coach.

Oh, yeah, Dungy. I think it was Rivera as an assistant. Okay, and people who play for Tony Dungy loved him. Love him. Everybody who I've ever spoken to about Tony Dungy loved him. I'm like, yo, this was a great guy, great man, great coach. Everybody loved him. The people that watch him on Peacock hate him now.

I ain't going to lie. Now, when you're talking about TV and broadcasting, I'll be ready to fall asleep. But I love Tony Dungda as a cuss though. On TV, I look at him like, oh, that's like the old uncle. The old jolly uncle. Alright, let's get into these.

They need some youth on that damn show. They got Dev, McCarty. They got McCarty. I see you, McCarty. Thank God we got a young dude on there. You don't bring your rings on national TV. Act like you've been there, my buddy. God damn. First episode in, he brings all three rings.

I'm like, all right, dude. Cat's out the bag. Oh, man. We got to get back into the game. Let's get back to it. Let's get back into the game. We'll be right back after this quick break. Games with Names is brought to you by my friends at win bet win bet is bringing

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Join the WinBet team and bet with the best. Must be 21 or older and present in the state where play through win bet is available terms and conditions at winbet.com if you or someone you know has a gambling problem call 1-800-522-4700 set the stage for these fresno state bulldogs we talked about them earlier scrappy bunch. Pete Carroll said after this game, this should have been a top 10 team. The motto was anybody, anywhere, anytime. They were going all over since 2000.

They played 12 FBS teams on the road. Won four of those. Pat Hill. Pat Hill. Fucking tough. He used to come to our practices, and he was a cool-ass dude. He had the, what does he have?

The fucking... He had the Fu Manchu. The Fu Manchu. He's a Belichick guy. Yeah, him and Bill, he was with Bill, I think, in Cleveland. And then it was a top 10 offense. This was post-David Carr. David Carr had been gone since 01.

So we're in the Paul Pinnegar era here. Pinnegar. He came in 32-9 as a starter. So they had some leadership on this one. They had gone on the road. Their only loss was at Eugene playing at Oregon earlier in the year, so ranked all year pretty much. Came in this one ranked 16th.

Tough bunch. Yeah, but they didn't play like they was ranked 16th. Yeah, they came in. They were like they was a top five team. Yeah, I mean, they came in slinging on this one. And then, as Reggie alluded to earlier, we know, I mean, everybody knows this USC team. Five stars galore.

Dwayne Jarrett, Steve Smith, Fred Davis, Lindale White, Pete Carroll. I mean, Coach O had just left. Norm Chow had just left. Wait. Coach just left what? Coach Ed Ogeron had left them the season before. He went to Ole Miss. Did he? Yeah. Oh did he did he did because we had um jethro franklin yep they came over you're right and then you had uh norm chow leave but it doesn't matter you get bring in lane kiffin

on the coaching staff sark was on the coach lane was already there he was lane was just like a quarterback's coach the entire time. Elevated to OC. And then they elevated him to OC with Sark. Scoring 49 points a game this season. Ranked number one all year. This is a young Lane Kiffin. Yeah. I like that one.

I can only imagine. I need some Lane stories about Lane Kiffin. In the stream. I can't tell him on camera. All aboard. I love Lane. Can't talk about it on camera. This team was defending back-to-back natties, as we know.

The 32-game win streak led by Pete Carroll and all these guys. The pressure. The pressure had to be coming. So was it starting to build? You guys are winning so many fucking games. So this year, this is my junior year, it felt like the first, I mean, it felt like every game we played we were down at halftime yeah yeah four games up to this one it was down at half we're down at half and we had

to fight tooth and nail because every team was circle they circle us throwing the kitchen sink at us every trick play known to mankind i had i had never seen as many trick plays in one season reverse pass back to the lineman. I mean, it was. Lineman throws it. Bro, it was nonstop. And excision of Puerto Rico. Everything.

It was a dogfight this year. We did not have it easy. We felt like every game that we went into, it was like up in the air. Like, we don't know. We're going to find out a lot about ourselves in these dogfights. And every game, second half, we don't know. We're going to find out a lot about ourselves in these dogfights. And every game, second half, we would just step on the gas and turn it on. You guys were tired.

You guys were toying with teams at first. You guys were probably bored over at the club the night before. Ain't nobody. Hey, all right, all right. Let me strap up. Let me get a Gatorade real quick. Hey, now. And our entire D-line went to the NFL.

Our entire D-line. I remember that. Plus linebackers. You got them up here. Brian Cushing, Ray Maluga, Clay Matthews. I know the team boys. I played Pop Warner with the Kings. He played D-line. No, that's the D-line I'm talking about.

I played Pop Warner with the Kings. Did you? Oh, Kings, my guys. Those are. You went to Logan. You didn't go to. They went to Logan. No, we played pop warner oh pop warner sorry and then they they went yeah they went to they went across bay to their dad but like his dad worked on my my hand or something

oh really yeah where'd you go to high school i went to woodside into woodside okay yeah ain't no big deal let me say this about the Tings. All right. To this day, the only Asian football players I have ever met. All right. But twins. And then when I watched their high school highlight tape, it was crazy. They were stupid quick. And when they played defense, though, this was crazy when we watched this because Coach Carroll would put up guys' high school highlight tapes. they would ladle the ball to each other they would do like

the craziest stuff man and still to this day like it's a sensation to me like telekinesis twin activity on the field like twin activity on the football field just pitching the ball to each other scoring touchdowns like and and so i was like i said i was just in uh vegas for the recently for the College Football Hall of Fame, and they were both there. They both came, man. They're awesome. Shout out to the teens, man.

Love you all. Yeah, you know their older brother, Arthur, he's like a huge actor. Yeah, big Hollywood actor. Yeah, he's a big, like, I don't know where, but I think in China. No, all over, though. All over. I grew up with those guys. Yeah.

Like, they were the cool kids because they always their dad was the the niners doc so they'd have all the wristbands and the good gatorade and shit like their mom used to do the the film and they'd have this was like in 1993 four or five and their mom had like the cool camera and break it down for the coaches and shit they were awesome they had everything man but yeah shout out to the Kings, man. Love y'all boys. They literally were comparing. They were making arguments this year of this team that you guys could go out and beat.

I remember the San Francisco 49ers. Remember? Because this was when the Niners were terrible. Really bad. Really bad. And this is what I would say about that. We don't know, everybody pretty much everybody on our on our defensive line went to the nfl bunch of running backs pretty much damn their entire team went to the nfl so you think it's a bunch of future nfl guys so you think it could happen just we'll never know

we'll never know never know what was your relationship with with lindell great that's my dog i love lindell he also showed up and surprised me at the college football hall he's a monster huh shout out to my dog lindell um you know we this is what i say about he was nasty he pushed me every single day in practice he pushed me every single day on the football field because he was always on his a game and i knew i had to be on my a game because, again, as much as we're teammates, we're also competing for the ball, right? We're competing for touches.

And so, you know, there's no better bond and relationship, you know, from somebody who's going to push you to be your greatest every single day. No. You have to have that. There's nothing. I would say that that happened with me and Amendola. Yeah. There's a brotherly competition where it raises both of your levels

because you're competing, but you're also competing against yourself. Exactly. And the better versions that we have for us, the better for the team. The better for the team, man. And so, you know, shout out to my dog, Lindell, man. You know, again, he was such a force and is just such a, you know, just a great player to have beside me and to push me every single day, you know. And I thank him, you know, for that, for being there

and just for being that great player on that field. But, you know, going again, like I said said we had a bunch of five-star players and you know the competition level of practice was always up it was never down it was always up gotta show out in front of snoop and it was nasty some sometimes you know i'm saying it got to point to where we would be in fights with the defense um defensive line we 907 was a dog fight we started 907 every practice 997 for you guys that's a run drill where there's no receivers receivers are usually doing one-on-ones playing you know catch and it's full live go for the fucking hogs in the box it's full live go it's a jungle they know you're not throwing

the football they know so they're not throwing everyone is downhill everybody's it is designed to kill the offense and And it is literally. There's no play action. Nothing. It might as well be fucking goal line. It is. It might as well be goal line. But if you can win on that, you can fucking do it in the game.

Exactly. And that's where those battles in 907 for me is where I became a man. Because I have five-star linebackers and d lineman on the other other side of that football ready to try to take my head off in practice and so that just always kept your your attention your focus your attention to detail everything had to be at a high level and you got nfl scouts every day at the fucking thing so you know motherfuckers are going hard like i'm gonna show this motherfucker. And Pete would do this.

He would also, our practices, we would have like, there would be some high school teams would be there watching us. There would be fans there. We'd have celebrities there. So practice had an audience. So we had to be on our A game not only for ourselves, but we didn't want to get embarrassed in front of some high school kids.

Cause you know high school kids gonna make noises if somebody gets, oh, if you fumble the ball or you make a move with some, oh shit. And they all going crazy on the sidelines. So it just amped up practice even more. Especially these LA kids. Bet you these LA kids going rowdy out there.

But yeah, man, 907, I don't even know if that's like, you know, at the high school level, you know, if they still really like getting it popping like that. But that's where you become a man is in them 907s. Oklahoma drills. You ever do Oklahoma drills? Yeah. I was a quarterback when it was going down, though.

I was at Kent. They were doing it. I wasn't. I was like. I mean, in Pop Warner, you do Bull in the Ring and all that stuff. You know what I mean? Same thing. But, you know, Lindell White being your homie, your best friend.

You know, it brings me to the point where we need to get to the Bounty Wingman question. Yeah. It is time for the Bounty Wingman question. Bring out the wings, please. We got the wings. Well, you know, Bounty is everyone's favorite wingman. Because you can't please we got the wings well you know bounty is everyone's favorite wingman because you can't have football without wings reggie you cannot and you can't have wings without bounty especially on this beautiful suede couch that we have these beautiful uh it

gets messy no it doesn't it doesn't because of Bounty. Let's see what this. Well, I got kids. So for me, my perspective, it gets messy. It definitely gets messy. And then that's when I got to clean up with the paper towel. We know that Bounty helps clean up the messiest moments. Yep. So what was your messiest moment when you were at USC?

Is this on the field or off the field? What are we talking here? We don't care. Oh, my God. I definitely can't tell the off the field stories because this, you know, I think, you know, let's keep it PG and stick to the football. No, PG. PG-13.

PG-13. Now, when you talk about messy, are we talking about sloppy? Are we talking about dirty? Anything? No matter? This is where I'm going to let you use your imagination. And it's kind of like art. It's whatever it means to you.

All right. I'm going to tell this story right now because this is all I can think about right now. So this was, we were at US, this is one of those 907 because we were just talking about 907. And so, like I said, 907 was a dogfight. Cushions over here, probably fucking going crazy, doing war dances. Yeah. And we had, you know, our linebackers were coached by the great Ken Norton Jr. Ken Norton hitting the fucking bag right now. Ken Norton Jr. talked the most shit of any coach I had ever been around.

I love Ken. I love Ken Norton Jr. I was a Niners fan. Every time. I have a book now of old collectible cards when I was young. Did you collect cards? I mean, I have some. I had a book that I still have them in the little uh plastic uh individual slides and i have like three or four ken norton

junior cards when he was with the 49ers and we was with the cowboys and so ken norton um would always amp up practice especially when we went on one-on-ones with the linebackers blocking or when we had 907 it was he's talking shit from from the time we step on the field right and our running back coach todd mcnair played in nfl as well was a dog and so the shit talking was always at a premium always player coaches always they think that they're still playing yes so you understand, these coaches were living vicariously through us. And so by this shit talking. Because they get motherfucked by head coach on who wins the goddamn period.

So let's put that in perspective too. And this is what Pete would do, which I thought was great. And if I ever become a coach, I'm going to do the same thing, where he would put up highlights from those periods in the team meeting room the next morning. So if you had a one-on-one drill and you got your ass knocked out, you better believe he's going to be on that screen in the team meeting room and people's going to be clowning you.

Accountability. Accountability, right? Don't fuck it up. Go in there and do what you're supposed to. And so there's one practice where we're about to do 907 and you know i think the the defense this is one of the plays where the defense just kind of destroyed me and i got like picked up and i think like dumped i don't know i think i got dumped or something like that so i jumped up took my helmet off and literally was about to my bad was about to hit my teammate across the head with it.

And in that moment, like halfway through, I was like, nah, I can't fucking do that. Like, I can't smash him over the head with the helmet. Can't get no gear. But, you know, it was one of those moments where, you know, tensions are high. I mean, these are dogs going at it. You know, these are Rams. Like, literally, I always say football is not a contact sport. I hate when people say that.

Football is a collision sport. Football is about two Rams going head-to-head, and one of them is going to go to sleep. It's inertia. Law versus mass. That's it. And so this practice, you know, I got out of character because the game before, I think I had a fumble. And it was funny because T-Mac afterwards,

I guess Pete had a really good beat on the kind of person that I was. And so if I didn't play well the next practice that week, I was going to fucking light it up. And so I didn't play. I don't think I played well in this game. Maybe I had a fumble. And I came to practice hot, angry, like ready to like a bull, like ready to just destroy somebody.

And so I got out of character. I was about to take my helmet off, hit my – I literally took it off and was like this, like ready to like a bull, like ready to just destroy somebody. And so I got out of character. I was about to like take my helmet off, hit my, I literally took it off and was like this, like about to hit my teammate over the head. And so. But, but, but you had a paper towel to clean it up. Absolutely. Just in case it almost got messy. It almost got messy and it didn't.

And, you know, I was able to. 19 years old too, guys. Don't forget. Keep my composure, you know, in that moment. But, you know, it got messy for someone like me because the kind of player I was on the football field, I never let people get to me. You know what I'm saying? And then if you talk shit to me, though, all bets is off.

I'm coming. I'm coming for you. You know what I'm saying? And that's the way we were kind of raised in the sport. Right. You don't back down from nobody. You can't back down from nobody. You know what I'm saying?

You got to go down and get your ass whooped. You got to go down and get your ass whooped, and you got to get right back up and come back for more. He'll respect you more. So, you know, that was one of my messy moments, you know, that I think about when I was at USC. Not proud of it. Even to this day, I think I'm like, man, why the hell did I do that?

Why did I take my helmet off like I was about to? It's football. I got one thing. Let me give you one more messy moment, all right? It just came to my head. But I got one thing. I got to address one thing. I was known to fight and practice.

Sometimes plan to get some juice. You had the fight to get the juice for the boys. If I were to ever fight you, I i mean you can't take your helmet off that's rule number exactly that's part of the reason why it's messy your helmet off you got the helmet on exactly and you got the helmet on that's protection have you listened to this this is so funny because that's the last time i took my helmet off i never took my helmet off in a fight ever again after that because I was like, that was fucking stupid. That gives you a couple shots.

Because if somebody catches you, you going to sleep. I promise you. And I have seen it happen. Everyone's big and fast. Everybody. If someone gets you, you're done with no helmet. And we're talking about a five-star D lineman that are bench pressing 450, 500, you know like

squatting 500 pounds like these dudes are built like gorillas like you don't just try to hit somebody like that with a helmet and you definitely don't take your helmet off and give them a free shot to no it was messy face but thank god we had the towel let me give you one bounty this is another moment that i think might be a little bit better than that one. Messier. Messier. This is the national championship. Natty.

National championship against Texas. All right. I get this sometimes from people. Why did you pitch the football in the national championship? Why did you do that? Right? I don't know if you remember. I remember.

In the game. I had a play. I'm running. I pitched the ball to one of my teammates now the reason why i'm saying that's messy is because it was a fumble and texas ended up getting the ball back and in that moment i i was pitching the ball to just a teammate right and when you go back and you look at the film, the guy was wide the fuck open. And he's running towards me, right? He's coming towards me.

Mind you, everybody's about to tackle me. He's wide open. I pitch it to him, thinking I gave him just a nice little alley-oop just right in his hand. In my mind, that ball landed perfectly in his hands. And he scored a touchdown and when i looked he was not looking at me so he's running towards me but looking this way and i'm like wait what the fuck is happening right now like this ball now it's like everything's happening in slow motion and i'm seeing the ball hit the ground and I'm like, oh my God, I'm seeing everybody jump on the ball.

And then the last I can think of is like, this is the fucking national championship. Like, I can't believe I just did that in the national championship. And let me give you some perspective. We would actually practice laddering the ball in practice at USC. And Pete was actually okay with it.

He was down with it. Like, he was down with us being us. He gave us the room to be, you know, free on the football field. He was averaging 800 points a game. There were no guardrails. Like, hey, go out and be you. You know what I'm saying? And so that was one of those moments, you know, I look back on it,

you know, maybe it was a little messy because it was a national championship. And, you know, it was the national championship against Texas, you know, against Vince Young, which they ended up winning last second but let me say this it happened in the first half so we lost the game in the second half not the first half yeah you know what it's just it's it's the perfect example of why you need a paper towel for messy moment you didn't have it you didn't have a bounty paper towel bro you didn't have a bounty paper towel let's move on let's get in set the game jack let's get let's hear about this game this was the first meeting between usc and fresno state since 92 wow that was the freedom bowl

played in anaheim when trent dilfer led fresno to a victory hadn't played since then um these were as we said two dogs coming into this one rankings didn't matter um usc hadn't lost at home since 01 had the streak going back to back natties going for the 33rd straight win uh fresno was hot they hadn't lost um since week two when they went out to eugene as we mentioned earlier tough game this was number one versus 16 coming into this one. USC's average margin of victory this year coming into this was 28.65 points.

So turning it on in the second half and blowing teams out. So that's our, you got our schedule up there. I'm trying to see what week was this? This was the second to

last game for you guys. So only, only UCLA left after this. I'm just looking at this schedule now all over again so arizona state october 1st we were down at halftime that game notre dame you already know that's the bush push game washington state we were down at halftime uh or oregon we were down at halftime against oregon um arkansas we blew the doors off them boys they wouldn't even close that was a track 70 burger we put up a 70 burger on them boys they wasn't even close

that was a track 70 burger we put up a 70 burger on them boys and they came over talking all that SEC talk you know like just needs a mark

man I could wait wasn't there yet and mind you hold on let's think about the Arkansas team and who they had running back

McFadden Darren McFadden Felix Jones Felix Jones Felix what's the Peyton Hillis Peyton Hillis Peyton Hillis running back. McFadden. Darren McFadden. Felix Jones. Felix Jones. Felix. What's the... Peyton Hillis. Peyton Hillis.

Peyton Hillis. Peyton Hillis was there. They had some dogs. They had some guys there in Arkansas. Like, they wasn't just... Slumps. Slumps. Like, they had some guys there

that have gone on and have great careers, man. So, you know, shout out to those guys, man. You know, but that was one game where I know we took it personal because, you know, shout out to those guys, man. You know, but that was one game where I know we took it personal because, you know, there was this SEC talk and how Pac-12 teams couldn't play against SEC. You know, and we always took –

and anybody there was a narrative out there like that about us, we always, you know, used that. Hey, we just had Leinart talking about the Bush push. Did you? What's your perspective on that whole thing? We got his. I want to see if it dials up. I want to see who's talking.

Matt 100% needed me on that call. 100% needed me. He was going backwards. He was going backwards. First of all, when you look at what Jalen Hurts is doing now, they're trying to call it the brotherly love shove or the tush push. That's bullshit. It's the bush push.

And it started on accident. It started because I was trying to fucking win a game, and I just didn't want to lose. And that's that relentless pursuit, that relentless mindset. No matter what, we're going to score this touchdown. And so before that play, we're in the huddle. It's timeout because everything is going crazy. Matt just gets knocked out of bounds.

First of all, Matt got knocked out of bounds and fumbled the ball out of bounds. So it was one of those plays where if he gets tackled in bounds, game over. Game over. So he gets knocked out of bounds. Ball goes out clock stops even though Notre Dame tried to keep the clock running and we get the time out and we're in the huddle and it's just I just remember it just being chaos and I'm just like I can't fucking believe we could possibly lose this game right now like I can't believe we're in this dog

fight with Notre Dame like and so I go to I, I'm like, what are you going to do? And he's like, I'm going to sneak it. I'm like, fuck. Literally, first thing that came to my head, I'm like, oh, shit. Didn't he say, like, yeah, dude? He said that you said, like, yeah, man, I think you got it. That's not how I felt. I was like, yo.

He said he was doing some hand signal things with you. He said, I got this. Audible, something. We might have the Audible or something right now, because I don't know if this is going to work. And so then we break the huddle, and all 11 players are lined up waiting for this QB sneak. I'm like, man, oh my God.

And so Matt hikes the ball. He starts getting knocked backwards on a QB sneak. I'm like, man, oh, my God. And so Matt hikes the ball. He starts getting knocked backwards on a QB sneak, moving backwards. I'm like, oh, no, this ain't happening. I just shoved his ass, pushed him as hard as I could, bro, over the line. And then he kind of like does some little, like, falls. You didn't even, like, get your head down and, like. Dude, you got to have a knack for the end zone. I'm so glad that we have the Philadelphia Eagles perfecting it now

because you see what it's supposed to look like. It's supposed to. That's what it's supposed to look like. Ours didn't look like that. It kind of looked like a dead fish. He was doing one of those moves he learned in the ballroom dancing class. Pirouette. It was a dead fish move it was the ballroom dancing that he was taking

that year only he slid up in there but but again he 100 needed that push over that over that line and i had i didn't even know it was illegal at the time i was was just like, we got to win this game. And, you know, the rest is history. And so, you know, but yeah, man, that game, you know, was crazy. And let's get back to this Fresno State game. Wild. Shootout, all game. Let's start. We love talking celebrities on the sidelines. So,

before we get into it, Marcus Allen, Spike Lee, Rick Fox, and George Clinton were all there. George Clinton actually played with the band, which was pretty dope. And most likely Snoop Dogg, The Game, Will Ferrell. I was going to say, I'm sure there were other ones. They're all there, too. I'm 100%. Over 900 yards of total offense in this one.

But the real story was 513 all-purpose yards from Reggie. 294 yards on the ground, 68 receiving, two tutties, and then 151 in return yards. I was going off on a return game. It was yards. I was going off on the return game. It was insane. I was going off on the return game. The punts. Punts.

Punts, kickoffs, too. I was going off of this game. And somehow, with six turnovers in the second half, somehow Fresno State hung around. And this is a one-score game. And we put up 50. It wasn't like we didn't score points. Yeah.

We put up 50 points, and they had six turnovers, and still. It was 42. Insane. Knocking on the door. Insane. It was just a wild game in every sense of the word. Shootout in the Coliseum, and of course, one of Reggie's best games of all time. And I have to say this.

The one and only turnover was my fumble. That kickoff. I made a bad read. I don't remember which way the kickoff return was supposed to go, but I went the opposite way. Because where they kicked the ball to me, I was kind of deep, and they had done a great job. I remember one guy was, like, knifing in to, like, tackle me, you know,

from the kickoff team from Fresno State. And so I tried to just improvise, put my foot in the ground, and I went away from where the kick. Play call. Play call was supposed to go, and I went the complete opposite way. And I tried to make a move on the guy, stuck the ball out like this. Yep. And he just hit it right out of my hands.

And, I mean, that was such a gut-wrenching feeling because I think it was towards the end of the game yeah that was toward they uh they ended up scoring two touchdowns in 12 seconds there exactly nine minutes left so it was it was crunch time they took the lead 42 41 whenever you abort the play call on a kickoff return all right our special teams coordinator Scotty O'Brien, used to say, you're at the grace of God. Because the guys are setting their angles, and they're pushing guys that way. So there's a free run to the returner. And I tried to be Superman on that play, which was, again, not smart,

but it's just caught up in the nature of the game and just made a bad move, bad decision, and and didn't protect the football but then you pulled it out i saw you pull the superman out after the throw or the the cutback the infamous cutback is the cutback the heisman moment i think so i think it is i think that was a moment um that's when you knew you had it or were you still nervous game is when i felt like i had solidified it um because it was still you know talk about you know some other guys i think agent peterson was up for the heisman trophy this year yeah um i think young vince young uh d'angelo williams was ever in the dog d'angelo um shout out to d'angelo and vince my guys um and that's what i love about you know

games like this you know there's i've built friendships with guys now that, you know, I played against Vince Young and they beat us and me and him are, you know, are cool now and friends. And so, you know, it's just, it's just, it's great. That's why I love the game. I was cool with Vince until I hit him and I broke my back. Fucking, this wasn't like. When was this?

This wasn't college Vince when he was thin. And so this was Philadelphia Vince When I was playing defense And you know Vince was a little thicker I hit him square in the middle And broke my back I led the league in ice

Hot packs From there on out That's what my lead stat was Oh my god That's funny man Everybody get them Welcome The moments

No I hit him oh yeah he was standing like brick wall brick and i you know you go high you get a penalty because i was playing corner i had a corner blitz wait you was playing corner yeah i played corner with new england for a while so i had a corner blitz and wait i wasn't gonna go this why don't i read why am i not i played like four or five games at corner when we went to the Super Bowl. Oh, okay, four or five games. You might have sounded like it was a couple years. Nah.

We went to the Super Bowl that year, AFC Championship. I had like 30 plus. Why'd you end up playing corner? We were getting guys off the street. We were banged up. Guys were hurt. I do remember this now. We were banged up.

What was that like? It was crazy. Playing corner, is it? My first NFL slot receiver trying to make the transition. I do remember this now. We were banged up. What was that like? He was crazy. Playing corner, is it? My first. My first. NFL slot receiver trying to make the transition. Yeah.

Dude, my first game was against the Jets when LT was there. And my first play, I had tackled him. I had to tackle him. Went low. I hurt him, actually. I felt bad. Because I loved LT when he was on San Diego. That is crazy.

I think I ended his career with an MCL. He retired after that. He was like old. Yeah. He was old LT. He was Jets old. Yeah. The game retired him, man.

Well, you know, once we get to that. Running backs, man. That's tough. That is tough. It's a hard position. And the position has been watered down. And you know what else is a hard position? Being down six points at halftime, 23-13. What Pete say?

Pete probably came in there with one of his. Chewing his gums. Chewing his gum. One of his speeches talking about, like, let's just keep doing what we're going to do, guys. And we're going to get them in halftime. Oh, so this is what Pete loved to say. He would always come in the locker room doing this. Can you beat them in the first quarter?

Everybody would be like, no. Can you beat them in the second quarter? No, I can beat them in the third quarter. No this. Can you beat him in the first quarter? Everybody be like, no. Can you beat him in the second quarter? Oh, I can beat him in third quarter. No, but can you beat him in fourth quarter? Everybody go, yeah, let's go, let's fucking go. And so it was always this mindset of like four quarters. We got to play for four quarters, finish. And everything that we did in practice was about finishing.

So running backs would finish plays 40, 50 yards after you've already broke past the line and you go score, you got to go score a touchdown every single time. This is in practice. So you running like 50 yards every time you got the football in practice. And so just that mindset of finishing every play, finishing every rep, you know, that was our mindset in every single game we went into. And that's part of the reason why we were able to come back in the second

half in every game during the year. Who's the guy why we were able to come back in the second half in every game this you know during the year who's the guy at halftime let's paint the picture is offense defense separated you guys doing yeah so you guys are separated who's the guy when everyone comes together that's making who's talking on this team who's the guy that say all right you know who who's the there's always that guy it It was always Pete. Pete? There was no player? Who was the player? We had – What was Cushion doing over the defense?

Was he going crazy? Cushion was a young buck. Cushion couldn't say nothing. He didn't have enough respect yet. You know what I'm saying? That's what I'm saying. But, you know, you got to earn your stripes. You know how it is.

Yeah, it is. When you're young – Who was the guy that had the stripes? Leinert. So Leinert was the rah-rah guy? Lindell. Not rah-rah guy because our entire team was rah-rah you know i'm saying like we were all amped up crazy young like all we were about was

just getting it popping you know i'm saying and getting on the football field hitting somebody in the mouth our defense all they all talked about was just hitting somebody in the mouth you know i'm saying having that mindset of like trying to literally knocking guys on their backs right and not trying to end guys careers because when i say this and everybody don't understand this but like literally when you say taking somebody's head off we understand like that you're not trying to end a guy's career but it's literally like you're trying to go in there and tattoo somebody back in the 90s motherfuckers are trying to end people's careers get out of here we were kids you were trying to go in there and tattoo somebody. Back in the 90s, motherfuckers were trying to end people's careers. Get out of here.

We were kids. You were taught to put your helmet right on that guy's helmet. On that guy's helmet. Now, whatever happens to him after that is not on you. But this is the nature of the game. Motherfuckers were trying to kill people out there back in the day. Taking somebody's head off. But I don't literally am not trying to end your career.

You know what I'm saying? Because we understand that within the physical play of it, people can get injured. People can get hurt. And so that's just the nature. It's a jungle. It is what it is. This ain't basketball.

This ain't even hockey. Football is a jungle inside those trenches. In between those linebackers, D linemen, offense linemen, and running backs and tight ends, it's a jungle in there. What are you shaking your head over there for, Kyler? Hockey. You know, hockey's a tough sport.

No. Hockey's a tough sport. The motherfuckers are flying. There's more hitting in football. Okay, let me just say this. If they let football players fight like hockey players, what do you think is going to happen? Motherfuckers would die. Die.

Dead. It would be hilarious on ice, though. Okay, so you already got one difference right there we can't fight like that because if we did somebody gonna get hurt somebody gonna be in the hospital i promise you jj watts have a hockey player ain't no refs is he going back up kelsey brothers too you remember when uh what's his name from houston fought um oh andre johnson andre johnson fought you can't punch a face mask no that's why you gotta rip helmet off

and then hit it's like D2 Mike Ducks gloves, shirt, helmet or whatever gotta go up to Compton and get fucking tied up the other thing that is crazy about our game that we play is that there's no weight class

when you box you fight there's no weight class. When you box, you fight somebody in your weight class. In football, I had to fucking face Vince Wilfork playing these dudes. Shout out Big Vince. Hold on. Let me tell you a story about Vince, though. This is crazy. One time, me and Mayo was about to get into a fight after a play.

This was when I was in Miami, and I was running the shadow ball that year. And Vince, it was like a little brawl, like a little mini brawl. A couple guys getting into it, but me and Mayo was at the center of it. Vince came over there and literally his presence broke it up and in sync, everybody turned around and went to their huddle. Offense and defense. It was like the parting of the Red Sea.

Once he came over there, it was like, alright, you right. You know what it's like? It's like a lion fighting a fucking gazelle, and all of a sudden the rhino walks out the fucking water. Yeah, exactly. You know the rhinos are bad. It's a bad motherfucker out there.

They don't say nothing. They all just, all right. That fight stopped so quick on the dime. I was like, yeah, all right, you got it. We're going to go ahead and go to our sides and get back to the game. Wake up with football every morning and listen to my new podcast, NFL Daily with Greg Rosenthal. Five days a week, you'll get all the latest news, previews,

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And who doesn't want that? Listen now on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. All right, here we go. It's Cam Jordan from New Orleans Saints here to tell you it's going down on season two of my podcast, Off the Edge with me, Cam Jordan. Can't stop it. You know what's going to happen. Can't stop it. That's right. Catch new episodes every Wednesday, all season long. That's what you look for in year 14, to do more.

No days off! And I'll have my friends, who happen to be some of the NFL's biggest stars, join me on the pod. We'll give you a player's perspective of the biggest storylines, trends, and did that really just happen moments from around the league. And you know we'll have fun doing it. Ha! Yeah! Oh, and I'll have a special guest each month join me to mix it up a little bit. Who is it?

None other than... Psyche! You'll have to tune in to find out. So tap in to Off the Edge with Cam Jordan's podcast, your ultimate playbook for all things football and not football. Listen on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,

or wherever you get your podcasts. History is filled with strange, unusual, and unexpected stories. Stories about people who have accomplished extraordinary things, pets that have gone above and beyond, events that have defied explanation, and I'd like to tell you about them. I'm Aaron Manke, and for the past six years, I've been sharing the most curious tales in history with millions of listeners around the world on my hit podcast, Cabinet of Curiosities. With well over 120 million downloads to date, listeners have been fascinated by such tales as the surprising country that invented the croissant, the stowaway-turned-hero who helped capture a Nazi spy, and the wrestling champ who went on to win the White House. And now,

finally, nearly 200 of these amazing stories from the podcast have been gathered into one book. Curious to know more? Pre-order Cabinet of Curiosities, available November 12th, wherever books and audiobooks are sold. Learn more over at GrimAndMild.com slash curiosities. This, uh, wrapping up this game, 50 to 42 is the final score yeah i love i love pete carroll's uh kind of like a pete-ism after this when he said reggie was firing and roaring all night i like i like how pete talks his diction's hilarious to me man that quote summed it up for

me you know it was one of those games where um one they fed me the ball a lot and you know everything was was working right the return game uh was working really well um catching them edges catching them edges and hitting them seams um on punt returns and kick returns catching the ball out of backfield and then running the football obviously as well this is one of the games where they they really fed me the rock you know and i don't want to say that this was a game where it was just one of those magical performances because I went into every game with the same mindset. The same mindset I had here was the same mindset I had

in that Texas game against Hawaii, against Arizona State. It didn't matter. But this is one of those games where everything was working. And every time they fed me the ball, it was just like my offensive line just, I mean holes you know opportunities it was just it was it was open you said your mindset you probably you know in college your mindset was i'm the baddest motherfucker on the field anytime i step on now did that mindset change when you got to the league and everyone was fucking that guy hell yeah everyone has changed quick like my first

preseason game has changed him university a lot of himmies nope yep so my first preseason game was against the dallas cowboys and they had demarcus where and drew through a wide route to me and now usually i i outrun defensive ends easy in college level easy i'llrun defensive ends. Easy. In college level, easy to outrun defensive ends. And it was, I think we were on the five-yard line. So we were about to score. This boy tackled me on the four-yard line. Mind you, and I had to step on him and caught me. And once that happened, I was like, oh, it's different up here.

Now how did you have to change? How did you have to change? How did it prepare you so i had to change my mindset with the read with the way that i read um the defense and with the way that i approach running the football in between tackles because at the college level you can get away with outrunning people right you can get away with you know just flying past somebody um you can get away with some of those holes you know it's about as wide as this this room right here um but at the nfl level it's that quick that hole opens and closes that quick and if you're not in there when it opens

and closes you're gonna get hit behind the line of scrimmage and it's always fun because i would always watch the young running backs and you'd see you'd see a kid come in who was probably the fastest, the best guy. And like you said, that hole opens up, and you see that hole in the NFL. Mm-hmm. But because of what you used to be able to do in college where you could just run through it, you could beat it. Yes. In the nfl those

d linemen and those those linebackers are two gap in you so you have to manipulate those guys and you have to you have to help your linemen yes your double teams and you have to you have to bring it to a certain level and cut like right off of his ass which the coaches always say and guys always say pause but that's what they would always say you You got cut off his ass. You know what I mean? So you have to, and you get impatient when you're a young guy sometimes. So that's like a learning thing. Absolutely.

So I had to be more patient. I had to pay more attention to the details with the offensive line, with our schemes, with how to manipulate the defense. And those were all things that i hadn't mastered yet you know and so i was a great athlete right i was a space player you know and again usc we got five star players are playing hawaii the hole's gonna be wide open you know what i'm saying like when you're playing some of these other teams that just don't have the same caliber of athletes as you um that

we don't have that in nfl right there's not there's not one team that has a bunch of five-star players and another team has a couple like three-star players everybody it's a league of all-stars every team even the teams that maybe have the worst league still have all-star players on their team and so it doesn't matter who you play so going back to the debate did you guys beat the Niners I need to see who's on their roster i need to see who's on their roster first i need to see who's on their roster before i make that you know what what would your advice be to the new player coming out which is completely different than us we were at the very beginning we were the first guys in the locker room with the fucking internet and the

phones and the social like that was our first generation. We were that generation. It's kind of completely different with NIL and all what's going on in college football, the transfer portal. Transfer portal, NIL. What would your advice be to a young football player, young running back coming out right now? To running backs? Find another job?

Find another position. Listen to me. Because you would flourish. You're a McCaffrey. You're basically the original McCaffrey. Hear me and hear me clearly. There's only a couple guys that had 1,000, 1,000. I think you, Roger Craig, and someone else.

I think McCaffrey may have done it. Yeah. And, you know, it's just. The game's changed. You've got to pay attention to the game and pay attention to where the direction that the game is going. It's a passing league now. And this is one thing that I've always thought about. If I could go back, I would have made a shift to slot receiver about halfway through my career. Yeah. And I would have played probably 10 more years, made a lot more money.

And this is and this is why I say that, because at the NFL level, we know that running backs get worn down, right? And I think about B. John Robinson right now, right, when I think about this, because I also came into the league with a ton of speed, you know, all the accolades in the world, and it only took one injury, one knee injury on that field turf to then, you're on the clock. You know what I'm saying?

You tear a PCL. I tore my PCL in 2007, my second year in the NFL. So we balled out my rookie year, my first year there. We went to the NFC Championship game, lost to Chicago Bears. At that point, I'm thinking like, oh, we're going to win the Super Bowl next year. Next year, tear my PCL. The next year after that, I focused on just getting strong as i could coming back as strong as i could the issue with that is you don't pay attention to the flexibility side of

it um and you don't get to be a better football player you're worried about getting healthy exactly and so when and i had never been injured before so once i started going through those injuries um it was a very very tough place for me to be because I just wasn't used to it. And so I tore my PCL. Then the next year tore my medial meniscus and then had to get microfracture surgery. And that's year four of my career. So I'm at this point now, year four, where doctors are like, you probably got about another three years left. So now I'm like, damn, like my entire career is flashing before my eyes

and i'm thinking that i may not be able to play this game um like myself anymore like there's going to be a significant difference you know from the the special player that i was at usc in my rookie year um and so for running backs just understanding running backs get hurt a lot um and it's the nature of the position it's the reason why owners don't want to pay the position until we get guaranteed nfl contracts you know it's going to be a position that's you're not going to have a lot of leverage you're just not and you know i think saquon barkley is a good example of that right like saquon is as great a running back as anybody. And it only took one injury, one knee injury,

for them to start to devalue him. And to the point to where he's not going to see another big contract. It's not going to happen. And it's unfortunate because it's just the nature of the beast of that position. And when I look and why I say I would have made a switch to slot receivers because you go from running against seven guys in a box versus if I break one tackle, I got to break the safety tackle and maybe go corner.

That's it. Good living. And all these guys also are around the same weight as me. You know what i'm saying and so i'm not getting hit by these big-ass linebackers these d linemen in the trenches which is you know again can you do it yes right and can you do it and can you do it at a high level can you sustain it is is the thing right it's hard how many you know running backs have we seen recently that have had three, four-year runs of greatness? Usually they peak and then drop right away.

We saw Nick Chubb. Man, I hate to see Nick Chubb get hurt because Nick Chubb is a dog and he's a beast. He's a professional too. He's a professional. He never hurt anything from him. He goes. And that's all it takes is for that to happen.

And then everybody else in the league gets devalued only because a player like that gets hurt. Right. And so now other players can't go get big contracts because they're like, well, the best player got hurt. You know what I'm saying? And so I think for running backs coming out, I'm saying all this is to say for running backs coming out, play more than one position. You know, learn how to play slot receiver because I would have been a big slot receiver at 208 pounds. You know what I'm saying? 205 pounds. And I also have that running back mentality. So what does that do to a safety once I get the ball in my hands and it's open space? You know what I'm saying? You know, again, I just think running backs do more. And that's why I played a lot of positions is because I wanted to create as much value for myself,

like you talked about earlier, as possible. I never wanted to be, I didn't want there to be one situation where a coach didn't need me. Right? Like kickoff, punt return, catching the ball out of backfield, running the ball between tackles, or playing receiver. I wanted to do everything, and I wanted to excel at that so that they couldn't take me off the football field. And that's what you displayed here against Fresno State in 2005 in all three facets of the game, through the air, on the ground,

and in special teams. Jackie, what's the aftermath of this baby? After this game, the wheels fell off for Fresno State. Lost their final three games. Lost to Tulsa in the Liberty Bowl. USC went on to beat number 11 UCLA. Finished the regular season undefeated. Reggie won the Heisman.

And USC lost to Texas in that epic national championship game. Man. That was a dogfight in a national championship game. I'll have to save that for another one. Got to come back and talk about it. What's up with the Pac-12? Are you sad? R.I.P.

It's gone. Yeah, man. It's on the officials. It's on them. They're smug, the Pac-12. You know what? This is the state of college football. It's a mess.

That's where it's at right now. And it's unfortunate to see that because there are too many chefs in the kitchen too many people trying to make decisions on the most basic simple things like why don't we have a true playoff system right the NFL would never be caught in a situation like this right where Georgia gets penalized five spots for losing a game in the last five seconds you know I'm saying and not being a playoffs um and Alabama jumping four spots you know it's just it's all crazy man it literally doesn't make sense and when you say that there's people in a room making this decision that's already worries me they already I'm already worried because what are they looking y'all have they

did they play y'all did they play the game like do they have 10-year careers in the league and so he's an ai now dude that's who's doing it is ai is artificial intelligence and they're making business decisions based on you know college' careers. And that's what I always think about. I think about the players' careers that are being penalized because Florida State should be in the playoffs. They earned the right to be there. You should not be penalized because of one player not being able to play because he got hurt.

Not because he don't want to play, because he got hurt, which is the natural part of the game. And I know sometimes there's pushback on that because they're like oh we don't want to see another tcu georgia right but what about the integrity of the game though it's a disneyland okay hold on hold on okay i'm so glad you just said that it's a disneyland i'm so glad you just said that hold on real't Disneyland. I'm so glad you just said that. Florida State, go get in there and get whooped. Real quick, for context. Hold on. For context, this episode is airing the day after the New Year's Eve or the New Year's Day games.

So we're talking from the past, but not yet the championship game. Just keep that in mind. Now, are you talking about, what did you say you called it? What? Fairy tales? No, there's no fairy tale ending. There's no fairy tale ending, right? Now now what about the next man up mentality right somebody gets hurt the next guy comes in right steps up now we're saying the fairy tale ending because

of one player we're talking about one player that got hurt the quarterback next kids from like georgia who's 18 who's been been playing Fortnite for the last four months because he didn't think he was going to play because they got an unbelievable quarterback, and this kid's going to come in and try to beat Alabama? Okay, what about a slot receiver making a shift to play corner? On a year you win the Super Bowl, you talk about the next man up mentality, you literally did it.

You tell them, Reggie. They lost the team winner championship. You tell them. We lost. Oh, y'all lost? We lost him, Reggie. You tell him. They lost the team winner championship. You tell him. We lost. Oh, y'all lost? We lost to the Giants. Okay, but you won a bunch of other ones. So boo fucking who?

I don't want to hear it. You still had that next man up mentality. We did, and we got to the championship, but we lost. We lost. Of the four in it, who are you picking to win it all, Reggie? I mean, Alabama. Roll Tide. You know, Kent State is represented through Alabama because Nick Saban. How is that?

Nick Saban went to Kent State. He's our biggest donor. I think he gives like five grand a year. I think, hold on, hold on. Did Urban Meyer coach at Kent State? No, he went to Bowling Green. He was at Bowling Green. We had Lou Holtz.

We had Jack Lambert. We had Josh Cribs came from our school, James Harrison. Okay. Huh? Josh Cribs. Antonio Gates. Are you talking about coaches? And then coaches Saban and Holtz, they both played.

All right, so it was a different team. So here's what happened. Florida State beat the shit out of Georgia yesterday, and they're going to split the national title. That's what's happened. What? That's a future prediction. Yeah, Florida State in the Orange Bowl.

Georgia's not even in. No, Florida State beat Georgia in the Orange Bowl, and they're going to split the national championship. You heard it here first. They can't do that. They can't do that. Grandma's going to win it all. We split the national championship. You heard it here first. They can't do that. Bama's going to win it all, baby. We split the national championship my freshman year.

And you deserved it. With Auburn. Was it Auburn? Or LSU. LSU, sorry. A two-loss LSU. Yeah. Nick Saban.

We split co-national champs in two, which is the dumbest thing ever. But again, this is the state of college football. It's unbelievable. It's ridiculous. So college football, last final question for this. Who's your top five running backs of all time in college football? Top five.

I can't put myself in there? You can put yourself in there. You don't have to number it, but I will, according to who's the first. I got to put Barry Sanders in there,'re gonna take me you can put yourself you're in yeah you gotta be yeah you don't have to number it but i will on according to who i gotta put barry sanders in there ricky williams me um hold on now i got a backtrack now hold on no juice oh jackson oh jackson yeah i gotta put bo jackson in there the glove don't fit listen oj was a bad man in college. He was insane. That boy was nasty on the football field. And off.

And off. Yeah, you're right. And off the field. But I can't put juice in there. I can't put juice in there. But I love the juice, man. Listen, when he was on the football field. On the field.

On the field. We're talking about on the field now. On the field. I like juice, too. Some headlines like Reggie Bush said. Juice. I like juice. I want to hear it.

All right, but no. I like apple juice. Let's go to the segment where we name the game and we score the game presented by Win Bet. The name of the game is the Reggie Bush game. Yep. Or do you think it should be the 553 game or 513 game? Or another game. Or another game. What do you of the game is the reggie bush game yep or do you think it should be the 553 game or 513 game or another game or another game what do you name the game score the this is what's the

name of the game name of the game reggie bush game reggie bush game all right the bush game so we score the game presented by win bet is this the greatest game of all time. Let's score it. Stakes 0-10. Decimal is okay. 1-10 on the stakes of this game. Fresno. 10 being the highest? Huh? Which one's the highest? 10 is the highest.

Okay. Where does Fresno State rank? No, where does the stakes of this game rank? Oh, it's a 10. 10. 10. Well, hold on. Hold on.

Hold on. This is a regular season game. Yeah, you got the winning streak going on here, sure. But we're talking undefeated Super Bowls is the stakes of a game. We're talking like game seven of an NBA or NHL final. This isn't like, you know, let's say Texas, USC, the championship game. The Heisman Trophy was at stake. If you lose this one, no natty.

Yeah, exactly. That's what I'm saying. And Heisman Trophy's at stake, too. So, sticking with 10? I'm sticking with 10. He's going with 10. I'm going with 10, man. Star power. Star power. In crowd, on game,

who's in this field. Star power for our games? Or for this specific game? Oh, for that specific... There's like a 9. I'm putting 9. We'll put a 9. The gameplay of the game. 0 to for that specific... Oh, that... There's like a nine. I'll put a nine. We'll put a nine. We'll put a nine. The gameplay of the game. Zero to ten.

Decimal's okay. Ten. Ten. Ten. Ten at a high level. Back and forth. Shootout. Ten.

That's a ten. Statue of Liberty game. That's a ten. Yeah. This is a shootout. So it's not a ten? I mean, it's your opportunity to score. I'm just trying to keep some integrity in the games with names podcast.

Oh, integrity, huh? We just got done talking about the juice, K. I think we threw that out the goddamn door. Let Mr. Bush rank his game. Game play was at, my game play was at a 10. You know what? 500 yards, that's a 10. That's a 10. That at a 10. You know what? 500 all-courtes yards, that's a 10. That's a 10.

Name of the game. What do you mean? The name of the game, 0 out of 10. The Bush game, I'm going to give it like a 4 or 5. That's like a 5. 5. It goes 5. So what is our average and where does it stand in the games

that we've done here on Games with Names, folks? Where is it? 8.5. And where does 8.5 go on the richter scale that is right between the statue of liberty game and the patriots falcons 28 to 3 see what i'm talking about when i say integrity i mean how was i supposed to know you're gonna have those fucking games up there i mean i i mean come on man we're talking about record season i know you're gonna have it up against the comeback, like the comeback in the Super Bowl.

Reggie, some would say, you know. By the way, you had a dope-ass catch in that game. I remember that shit, bro. Appreciate it. I remember I meant, I don't know if I ever told you, but I was like, if I ever see Jules again, I need to tell him about that catch. That catch was ridiculous, bro.

And that was a catch that started the comeback. There was a lot of plays. There was a lot of plays. Oh, now you're going to be modest. A lot of plays. Trey Flowers, Hightower, there's a lot of things that have to happen. If I remember it, then it obviously

was a great play because CTE is a real thing. I don't be remembering shit lately. He doesn't lie. When he's being shit lately so he doesn't he doesn't lie when he's being real modest he'll say he messed up the route it was a bad route it was only a second did you mess the route up kind of it was a shitty sloppy route it was like our 99th play we played a lot of plays that game on offense that was crazy that game was crazy well reggie anything we miss?

From this game? No. From the Fresno State game that I can think about? This was the stamp. This was the stamp this game, man. This was the stamp to watching arguably the best college football player of all time. I appreciate it, man. I appreciate you coming out. You got to plug anything?

You got anything? Last time I saw you you came and stayed at my house in Boston you had a backpack with speakers on that you were trying to sell to me now

what do we got this we got anything man we done come a long way bro we done come a long way it was still working I was working with this company that the idea of it was kind of cool

but it was basically a back i don't even know what happened this company my money is gone by the way my investment is gone all right we ain't make no money on that investment but the idea was a backpack that had these speakers in it so you know and it was kind of a smaller backpack so that when you're listening to your music you're getting like the full effect of like it literally felt like you was inside of a club yeah it had bass on the back yeah you wore this back thing it had bass so you're getting bass and stuff i remember it knocking me around like man appreciate it it was a cool gadget toy it was a good toy but um it didn't work out you know so what do you got now though so right now um you see i'm rocking travis matthew bro the swing is

looking dialed by the way thank you I was on your Instagram this morning. Thank you, man. Appreciate it. I worked on it. I appreciate it. I worked hard for that compliment, too, right there. That's a top five compliment you can get. I mean, if anybody says that to me, I'm like,

I'm going to get it. So I'm working with Travis Matthew, and I'm going to be launching my own golf clothing line with the Travis Matthew brand, which I'm very proud of. And it's my first opportunity to step into the clothing design business, which I've always wanted to get into it. I just never knew how it was going to happen. And, you know, through the grace of God and some opportunities, you know, in the golf game and golf space, which is where I'm focusing a lot of my attention is in the golf game and golf space which is where i'm i'm focusing a lot of um my attention is in the golf space um i'm able to partner with someone like travis matthew so we're gonna be

launching our own clothing line i'll get you some stuff you got it you got it i mean from the looks it looks comfortable fashionable comfortable and it probably makes a couple of your strokes go down yeah that's where we're gonna sell travis Travis Matthew, guys, go check it out. It's coming. Golf is huge. Everyone loves it. Thank you, Reggie, for coming on. I appreciate you.

I'm a little sad that we didn't get into the old 14 stories, but we'll leave that for another time. We'll save that for another time. And that's been another episode of Games With Names presented by Winbet. Remember to follow Games With Names on YouTube, Instagram, X, TikTok,

and Snapchat. We'll see you next week, guys. Later. Games With Names is a production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. which recently hit the number one science podcast in America. I'm a neuroscientist at Stanford, and I've spent my career exploring the three-pound universe in our heads. Join me weekly to explore the relationship between your brain and your life,

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