Geoff Schwartz Is Smarter Than You - Alabama is Inevitable and Geoff’s Top Six CFB Teams After Week 3

Episode Date: September 20, 2021

Geoff and Gabe talk through Geoff’s top six teams right now, and why Oklahoma didn’t make the cut. Florida gets credit for pushing Bama around in the trenches, but Geoff doesn’t think it’ll happen again.Geoff and Gabe wonder if the parity in CFB this season is good or bad, and why so many of the top young QBs have struggled this year. They wonder how the NIL ruling will affect roster decisions down the stretch, and take a look at the top contenders for the playoff to see if this is the year a Group of Five team makes it in. Plus, Geoff explains why he thinks the USC job isn’t as attractive as it once was.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

it's monday september 20th i'm jeff schwartz alongside gabe goodwin this is jeff schwartz is smart with you we will recap week three of college football action including alabama scare versus florida usc might have a pulse but first gabe how are you doing how was your weekend your favorite football team look like they found the quarterback of the future now stop the brave heart paint doesn't do it for me. You know, I'm a Keaton Slovis guy still. Dart is cool, but, you know, he seems like a character from Stranger Things.

I'm not there yet. The problems aren't solved. Let's stick to good teams. You've got a lot to talk about. We don't need to talk about SC. Well, we will get to SC in a little bit. We'll actually get to my conference I love, the Pac-12, who doesn't love me back with wins. But we'll get to that in just a second. Let's go to my top

six we do each and every week. Remember, this is what we see in the field, not who are the six most talented teams according to rivals, okay? Or to 24-7. This is just what we see in the field. And number one still is Alabama. I know, I know, I know, Gabe. I know. They had a scare.

But good teams win those scares, right? Good teams win ugly games. I think they got pushed around a little bit in the trenches, but they won that game. We'll talk about Bama more in a little bit. Bama's number one. Beat Florida on the road, still a good win. Georgia's number two. I moved Georgia up to two.

Maybe I had them at two last week. I'm not quite sure where I had them last week, but they won 40-13 over South Carolina. Offense looking a little bit better now, and obviously they're going to be in a crash course to play Alabama at some point. Number three, there's a couple different options here. I'm going with Penn State for now. What?

What? They've beat two teams in the top 20 so far that are actually good football teams. We'll get to Iowaowa in a second and i don't think indiana is any good they beat wisconsin who has obviously notre dame this coming weekend by the way i will be in chicago at that game really at soldier field um but nonetheless penn state now has won the white out of home against auburn an sec team by the way have you noticed sec teams as they start to leave the footprint start losing road games have you noticed that gabe yeah that that's fine you can you know try to quibble with

the sec are you just each week since we've been doing this you've just pretended that oklahoma doesn't have a football team walk home is not playing good football right now that's why they're not playing good football right now it's's okay. Again, in a couple weeks, they might be up here. They might be up here. But nonetheless, nonetheless, right now they're not. All right. So we're going Penn State number three. Got it.

Number four. I'll put Iowa up there, number four. Getting two ranked wins. Unfortunately, Iowa's kind of a boring team, so it's hard to get into. I'm sorry, Hawkeye fans that are listening to this. Fifth is Oregon, who I had in the top four previously, but their game against Stony Brook. I'm tired of them playing so up and down to opponents.

The first half was atrocious. They're up 17-7 at halftime. They won the game 48-7 because they put a bunch of young guys in the second half, and those young guys balled out. They played their butts off. It was good to see that. Number six is Florida.

What? Yes. Dude, Florida needs to be talked about up here. They went toe-to-toe with Bama, and more importantly, they pushed them around. And that, to me, was the most impressive part of the weekend. They pushed around Bama. Mullen is covered now.

What's it, six of nine games against, I guess, they played him close. What do you want to put for Oklahoma for barely beating a bad Nebraska team? Is that what you want to do? I don't know. Maybe just pick a winner. I don't know. Pick anyone who won. Oklahoma beat Tulane by five, five total points,

and then beat Nebraska by seven, who Nebraska might win three games this season. But, I mean, there's a history there. There's like the game of the century rivalry. There's something. Everyone got up for that game. They won. They won.

It was probably the best play we're going to see in a decade in that game. The best play we're going to see in a decade? Yeah, the pick in an Oklahoma game. We're never going to see something like that again. Oh, the interception you mean. The interception. Yeah. Yes.

Look, Oklahoma will keep winning. They'll get their due. Don't you worry. I just, okay. I'm all for the Penn State love in reality, and I think Big Ten deserves a little bit of that if you're going to put a top six together. Sure, keep Oregon in there.

Obviously, UCLA loses. Finally, we don't have to keep talking about them in your top six. But Iowa and a loser in Florida. loses finally we don't have to keep talking about them in your top six but iowa and iowa and a loser in florida like what i okay iowa penn state and alabama have the only three teams i think they have two ranked wins now if you want to include oregon in there who beat fresno state you include oregon in there too like is it is it where you is it where the opponents are when you play them? Or is it at some point when they're ranked? Because Fresno's ranked now,

but they weren't ranked, obviously, when Oregon beat them. But they've been two ranked teams. So has Iowa, so has Penn State, so has Bama. All right, so other teams that I could easily make a case for ahead of a team that lost, Texas A&M, clobbered New Mexico, looked like they found a quarterback that lost, Texas A&M. Clobbered New Mexico. Looks like they found a quarterback. Yeah, sure.

Ohio State won again, beat Tulsa. Clemson wins again. It wasn't great, but they beat Georgia Tech. Cincinnati keeps on winning and making a case for Heisman at the quarterback position. They have Notre Dame in two weeks, does Cincinnati. We'll know more about them after that game. My point of the rankings is always this, Gabe,

is in three or four weeks, by about week six or seven, this will all settle back out, right? It'll all settle back out. And at that point, we'll have the top six that everyone expects to have. But Iowa, Penn State, and Alabama have been two ranked opponents. If you want to add Oregon into that as well, they deserve to be up there as of now. Again, this will sort itself out as it goes on

as more teams play conference opponents. Only the Pac-12 has one conference, one team ranked. Everyone else has guys ranked. So only the Pac-12 will... I think the Pac-12 actually has one ranked team left. But nonetheless, they're struggling right now. They are, and we'll talk about them shortly so i'm i'm normally we we start this show and you don't tell me who your top six is going to be so

i have no way to prepare for this what i was prepared to talk about was that florida actually hung with bama and yet bama won and so this season is kind of like pointless so i would like to talk about that on the other side of the break because your top six is insane to me and I do want to dig in on Florida Bama, but I feel like I have to like go get a drink or catch my breath before I can really unpack this with you.

You're only upset that I have Oklahoma there. Like they don't have Oklahoma there. Otherwise you're not upset about anything. I'm very upset that Oklahoma isn't in because they're the most exciting team in the country right now. They're the most what? Exciting. I'm using the word they scored 23 points it's the first time they've scored under 27 points in the last 65 games they got trick plays I mean that that interception was

the best thing I've seen on a football field in years USC's more second offense right now no that's nonsense don't don't say things like that. You're just, that's trolling. You're trying to attempt to troll the people who are listening to this in Los Angeles. That's not fair. Okay, let's take a break. Let's take a break. You come back on the other end of this break like a little bit more clear-headed.

This top six is nuts. I'm not clear-headed. I'm clear-headed. You're going to have to defend these takes. You're going to have to defend this Oklahoma slander. you're going to have to do. These takes, you're going to have to defend this, this Oklahoma slander. You're going to have to defend Penn state being three. And you're certainly going to have to explain Florida to me because a loser

doesn't belong in our top six. Let's do it. All right, Jeff, we're back. It's time for me to throw a few things that I think I learned. And then you're going to make me a little bit smarter and tell me where I may or may not have gotten this right.

So here's my first takeaway. So Florida outgained Bama. They won time of possession. They ran all over them. The run game looked good. And they still lost, okay? They lost. Sorry for you want to put them in top six,

but they lost the game. So I'm just going to say it. The season's finished. Let's pack it up. Let's start over next year. Bama, another championship goes your way. I will say about this game that I am very happy Alabama struggled. And it makes me feel like they're normal, like they're human.

They're probably not. They were two touchdown road favorites on the road for the first time this year, obviously in a true road game, with a brand-new quarterback. And Bryce Young played well for the most part. But, Gabe, you're supposed to struggle in these games, right? It's not normal a band would come in and win by four touchdowns. They were up 21-3 at one point. And Florida obviously came back, came back, came back,

and that two-point conversion play was a disaster. I don't know why the quarterback is riding that thing so long as he was um but you are you know you're it made me i tweeted this out like it made me feel normal it made it made the season which has been a kind of a weird season where there's no real great teams but but nonetheless that's what's supposed to happen they're supposed to struggle in this moment and florida didn't pull it out of course which is unfortunate for them but my takeaway was a little kink in the armor right Alabama was getting kind of pushed up front but the problem is there's not a lot of teams that can push them up front like Florida can and secondly again it's

okay they struggle because that's normal it's normal for them to not go and blow everyone out so I liked it but again this might have been you know this might have been Alabama's only scare of scare of the year though i don't know if they're gonna have another one for quite a long time because they they just don't have them very often all right so was it a fluke that florida could run all over them i mean it seemed like they were pushing people around it seemed like they had a few big big runs obviously they get stuff in the goal line when it matters but florida has always played them well i'm not certain that this is this is going to be something that carries over. They're a very prideful unit, of course, is that offensive line. They won the Joe Moore War last year.

They were maybe favorites to win again this year. I don't think enough teams can push them around, though. I mean, Alabama's got some big boys up front, and they're physical, and they've always kind of played well against Bama. So I don't think that there's enough teams on their roster. So they have Southern Miss, who cares, right? Old Miss can score, and that would be fun to watch Lane. And that's at home, though.

At A&M, A&M to me doesn't strike a team that's going to push them around. We'll see. Mississippi State, Tennessee, LSU, New Mexico State. Oh, geez. Arkansas, which would be kind of fun. Because Arkansas, they can do some pushing around up front. But Auburn. So, like, it's not – there's not many teams left where you're like,

okay, they can do what Florida did. That's just why for Alabama to lose, it was going to have to be this game probably until maybe they play Georgia in the NCAA championship game. Okay. But was there something something you always make me smarter about scheme and no they know can i can i if i'm arkansas one of these teams you just named no you think has enough weight in their line what can i learn from that they just push them the frick around man they're like they just like they leaned their weight on them and they just grinded

them out i mean part of sometimes it is, it's a grind, just grind and grind. They just grinded them out. And that's part of it sometimes, right? Like sometimes it just takes some effort and some big hosses and some belief you can do it. And there's nothing they did any different than anyone else would do against Bama. They just physically won in the trenches. In those physical matchups, those one-on-one matchups. Yeah.

I mean, they did it and they had Tim Tebow in the building and they still were not able to pull out the win. So that tells me something. Of course. Of course. That's, of course, you have to go there. Well, I mean, if he's there inspiring the Gators, and they still can't pull it out in the end,

then I kind of think the season is hopeless. Let's talk about Oklahoma, though, for a second. I don't know. I mean, Lincoln Riley looks like he just keeps making quarterbacks into NFL superstars. It looks like they're at least they can score 50 against anyone. I don't know enough about their line play. Could they potentially push Alabama around like Florida did in pockets? You know, if we get to a playoff and they're the team they draw, could they hang with them?

They have in the past. I mean, Oklahoma's been able to push people around up front. They've had really good offensive lines. Obviously, you spent it with Rattler. But the offense is not quite what it's been. I mean, Rattler has not been as explosive. They haven't moved the ball up and down the field as freely as they have in the past. Remember, Gabe, they scored three points against Tulane in the second half

and scored 23 against Nebraska, who, again, is better on defense than Tulane is, but not really a juggernaut. And so, you know, again, as we're seeing throughout this year, right? Rattler is now in his second year starting, but last year was a weird COVID year. DJ at Clemson and then TJ shot at Oklahoma,

excuse me, at Ohio State. Sometimes it just takes some time to get things going with a new offense, with a new quarterback. Not a new offense, but with a new quarterback, with a young quarterback. You're going to have ups and downs. We see guys like Mack Jones and Tua who have one or two years starting, and they play so well, and then you're like, oh, that's normal. No, no, that's not normal.

None of that is normal. And what we're seeing now with some of these teams is the normal progression of, hey, look, our young guy has to improve. Either it's Spencer Rattler, who maybe there's tape on him now. They figured out what he's good and not good at. And they have to make sure that Oklahoma figures out what that is and changes his game or changes the offense for him. But there's just the explosive nature of the offense just not there.

And so defensively, they play better against Nebraska there's just the explosive nature of the offense just not there. And so defensively, they play better against Nebraska than I thought they would. Even Nebraska offensively, Adrian Martinez can only really run the football. But nonetheless, Oklahoma's offense has not been as juggernaut as we've seen in the past. Okay, but I mean, they put up 70-something points a week ago. So that was my...

Yeah, it's Western Carolina. All right. Well, you know, this was my second takeaway of the weekend. What I thought I learned was that Oklahoma is exciting as hell. And I don't know if they're elite or mediocre, you know, sort of masquerading as elite,

but I'm buying their stock. And until they run into Alabama or Georgia, I don't really see anyone who can mess with them. They might play closer than they should, but they're going to make it fun, and they've clearly got better athletes than anyone else they play. And their schedule's nonsense for the next 10 weeks, it seems. So, I don't know. I'm buying Sooners. I mean, their schedule makes it so you can buy them, right?

I mean, part of it is that their schedule is not that tough. Iowa State does not look like the team we thought they'd be this year, right? Brock Purdy, the offense hasn't been as special. Texas is what's Texas, right? There's just not a lot of competition for them in the Big 12. They could easily run the table. And look, in the end game, if they run the table, guess what? They'll be in the playoff.

They'll be my top six. Actually, they'll be my top four probably. Yeah, well, they'll probably be the playoff. They'll be my top six. Actually, they'll be my top four probably. Yeah. Well, they'll probably be the three seed. Right? I mean, they're not going to draw the four. They're not going to have to play Bama in the opening round if they win their conference and look as good as we think they'll look.

They're not going to have to play Bama opening round. Right? Probably not. That'd be like Oregon. That was a long pause. that scared me for a minute that probably would be like Oregon yeah right if so Oregon probably wins the Pac-12 Oregon probably takes the four they go into Bama as a 12-point dog or something or not into Bama but they play Bama in the opening round and then we'll see you know Clemson and Oklahoma or the SEC's second

best team in Oklahoma that seems like where we're headed, right? Which sets up this point. I mean, we're probably headed for the best SEC team, the second best SEC team, and then like Oregon, Oklahoma, Ohio State. And maybe this is a year where Cincinnati gets in. I mean, they beat Notre Dame. They're alive to get in, I think. Well, so let me ask you about that because I think some fans are kind of wondering

where we are with sort of, there's the top, those teams ask you about that, because I think some fans are kind of wondering where we are with sort of there's the top those teams that you just said. And then it's just parody of mediocrity. Right. There's just a lot of like, oh, man, like any of those teams might be the four and none of them can actually compete with Alabama. So is that sort of are we just stuck in a rut? Are we just stuck in the everyone Cincinnati kind of phase? Yeah. So it's pretty interesting because I generally like really good teams. And they're fun to watch.

The film's good. Offensive line's good. They play crisp football. And we've seen for a lot of years now, we've had two or three teams every year that are really elite. And I think we have, I mean, is Bama, I know they survived Florida, but maybe Bama's the only one maybe. I mean, Georgia, there's still questions offensively.

Now they play again, better against South Carolina. I get that, and we'll see as they go. And there's people very high on JT Daniels, so I'm hopeful that they can beat that team. But you look at the top of every conference. Oregon is a team that plays way too up and down, right? They play up to opponents, down to opponents. In their quarterback situation, Anthony Brown got hurt,

but will probably play against Arizona. He's not a guy that you're down seven on the road who's going to lead you to win that game. And they can afford a loss because of where they are if they're beating Ohio State. But Ohio State, right? Defensively, still not really crisp. C.J. Stroud did not look terribly well against Tulsa.

Maybe it was a little bit of a hangover with the Oregon win. Some Oregon loss. Oklahoma, I've mentioned them enough already today. But then who's second or third? The ACC, by the way, outside of Clemson, dumpster fire, just like the Pac-12. But Clemson's not all that great, right? I mean, you can easily see Clemson dropping a game or two in the ACC.

And this does set up a situation where you know maybe cincinnati this is the year they get in or the year fresno maybe fresno goes 12 and 1 with a win at uc i'm just saying i'm trying to like a group of five teams with one loss probably not happening coastal carolina i feel like carolina coastal um and so there's i think there's. Maybe this is the year. But again, the big difference, and I keep going back to this, is the conference schedules, right? Cincinnati is going to play a bunch of duds for nine weeks in their conference where these other conferences are playing much better opponents.

And that's the hard part when you have to evaluate whether or not a group of five teams should be in. It's like, well, yeah, I mean, yeah. So they beat Indiana. Maybe they beat Notre Dame. But if they beat Notre Dame, they should be in it's like well yeah i mean yeah so they beat indiana they you know maybe they beat notre dame but if they beat notre dame they could be in but they don't then there's no chance to get there right gabe so no um but but it is it reminds me of 2007 if you remember 2007 we were working up to number two in the country that year there were like 11 teams that were number two that year just every week is someone was rotating in and out of that two spot.

Upsets, parity, and this is going to be one of those years that feels like where it's completely wild. Because guess what? The quarterback play just not been as good as we thought at these top programs. A lot of what happens, obviously, in football depends on what your quarterback does. It's interesting you say that.

And this is a very uninformed question I want to ask. But do you think that the transfer portal has something to do with that? I feel like some of the very top programs have guys who are just kind of like moving around like free agents in the NFL. And you get guys who have no history in a program, just show up one year and are expected to be a Heisman contender and carry a team to a national championship. And I guess maybe I'm thinking of Georgia.

Yeah, but really that's not really the issue at Clemson or Ohio State or Oklahoma. I mean, obviously Oregon there's a transfer portal, right, with Anthony Brown, but they played Ty Thompson, their true freshman, a half against Tony Brook. So, no, I don't think it's that way. A transfer portal has other concerns in my opinion, but not that. And't think it's, I don't think it's that way. Um, a transfer portal has other concerns in my opinion, but not, not that. And I think it's helped him.

He's helped UCLA have lost to Fresno, but you know, the teams can use a transfer portal as like NFL for agency, right? You just go and you find yourself a couple of teams, a couple of guys that help you, but I don't think that's what's happening with quarterback play this year. Okay. Well, I don't know if you're going to propose a better theory as to what's going wrong it's because look it's it's not really good look there's two conferences that really stink right now right the acc and and the and the pac-12 it's the quarterback was not good i mean sam howell's supposed to be great he was better against virginia but it's not like top

five pick like we thought he'd be right you know obviously obviously DJ has not been as good at Clemson as we thought. And, you know, Derek King at Miami has just been okay. You know, where are those guys in, you know, out in the ACC we thought are going to be studs? The Pac-12, right? We just haven't seen the quarterback play like we thought it would be, right? Keaton Slovis has been up and down and then got hurt. Jaden Daniels at Arizona State hasn't been as good as we thought Anthony Brown's been good but not it's just okay it's just it's just game it's a weird year for quarterback play in college football just not as good quality as

we thought look go to the the big 12 Spencer Rattler hasn't been as good as I think people predicted Texas already switched quarterbacks Brock Purdy I would say got benched I mean it's just a year where maybe the quarterback play is not as good as it's been in the past all right let me throw this at you before we move to sc because he brought them up i heard some guys talking today um and they were wildly speculating that maybe some of these guys and you just named a few of them who took a whole lot of money and and no reason they shouldn't have, but who took a whole lot of money with the new rules with NIL, maybe they're not living. They're just the pressure.

Somehow, being basically a semi-professional is not working out for a few of these guys. And all of a sudden, they're expected to be seven-figure earners, and they can't hack it. I don't believe that, but that's something I've heard. And they can't hack it. I mean, I don't believe that, but that's something I've heard. So the thing about some of these NIL deals is I'm not quite sure how much these players are actually getting. Because we know this, right? A lot of agents report deals that really aren't the actual numbers.

No. Agents rounding up? But if you're, like, example, you're Quinn Ewers. You're the true freshman at Ohio State. It was reported that he had a million-dollar deal with a member-billion company. example like you're you're quinn yours you're the the true freshman ohio state there was a point it was like he had a million dollar deal with a member billion company so there's arguments we made that that deal was done um you know because of um uh because of his his probe his pro potential that he you know it was done because you know they're saving basically saving up for

when he's in the nfl but if he doesn't play this year doesn doesn't play next year, it's not making a million dollars on his deal. No way they're paying him to sit on the bench. So I'm not sure it's pressuring players that aren't playing now, players that are playing now, but I do think it makes roster decisions a little more interesting, right? What if some big booster calls,

like, hey man, I'm paying this player a bunch of money to come to our school and you're not playing him. What happens? I don't think that's happening yet gabe but it's interesting to keep the back of our heads as we move forward into a new era of college sports yeah well when we have these schools because we've talked about this on this show just in the in the last few weeks when you have a quarterback room with two or three potential nfl players in it and some company is throwing some money behind one of those guys

and he can't get on the field. There's going to be some weird pressures. Or he's going to leave. Or he's going to go find the other starting job. Well, yeah, but that's what this always is, right? I mean, there's always going to be transfer portal now. That's what the game is. All right, well, so then let me use that as a segue.

And this isn't to talk about FC for no reason, but obviously USC was the biggest, you know, college football story all of last week. So they get rid of Helton and now they're back. They're back. The quarterback got injured. And so now they have the freshman Jackson Dart. That's a real name. He throws for like 400 yards and four touchdowns, a couple of well but they beat washington state everything's fixed there's nothing wrong uh in southern california usc is back and now they have two quarterbacks so clearly you know one of those guys is going to go be the starter somewhere else right they're just problem solved usc job is the dream job for everyone they've got a bounty of quarterbacks i'm being sarcastic obviously things aren't i get it yes so it's it's interesting about you know the usc comeback it was a good

job the first half they looked dead and lifeless and i'm not sure i don't know i don't know if dante williams will get this job be because of it um but we'll find out uh jackson dart did play well with his with his with his brave heart black. Yeah, I didn't like that. It was odd for a young kid, but nonetheless, again, that's a swag, right? He ended up playing well. The USC job is really interesting because obviously everyone's going to be connected to the USC job. I think they need one of two things. You go two directions, in my opinion.

You go young, energetic coach who's been a head coach before. I think you need head coaching experience. Young, energetic, like amazing recruiter, like a fantastic recruiter. Just recruits his butt off. You hope he hires two good coordinators, right? Offensive coordinators. Or you go uber experienced. I don't think you can hire a guy who is an assistant coach right now.

hire a guy who is an assistant coach right now on the only you you can hire a guy that like isn't um that isn't like um you know isn't isn't experience like you you have to hire someone who is either young energetic but has experienced coaching or kind of old and wily does that make sense like yeah i get it so i know like Colin Coward has suggested a pro coach. Interesting. Like Doug Peterson. I mean, I think that's what they do with Pete Carroll, obviously. But you can't – like Dante Williams to me, and he might win the job. Who knows as a coach right now.

But he's just – he's never coached before. He's never been a head coach before. I don't think USC can make that mistake again. They've got to hire someone who has proven to win either at a smaller level school with a high energy, recruiting their butts off, or kind of like stately veteran who knows what they're doing. And I don't know who that's going to be, but it's not going to be the names we think it's going to be. It's not going to be James Franklin, in my opinion.

It's not going to be Matt Campbell, maybe Luke Fickle. The one thing to watch out for in that category is Bill O'Brien. Oh, God, really? Bill can coach, man. He can coach. He's not a good general manager in the NFL. He can coach, God. Really? Bill can coach, man. He can coach. He's not a good general manager in the NFL. Dude can coach, though.

So I'm just curious to see where they go as we continue to move forward down the season. Everyone's going to be mentioned for it. My last thing on USC, I know this is not a podcast only for USC and Pac-12 listeners. I don't think the job is as good as people think it is. And I'll tell you why. So obviously the recruiting is in the area. The athletes are there.

But again, you're not always going to, you know, everyone says, oh, the quarterback starting for Oklahoma, Ohio State, Clemson, Georgia, and Iowa State or something like that are all from California and Arizona. Okay. But USC also got a five-star player three years ago JT Daniels it's not like they don't get five-star players Jackson Dart's a high four-star quarterback it's not like they're not getting these players now they're not magically gonna get all the five-star quarterbacks in California to come to USC um USC alone though they won last one championship game in 2004. Recruits were barely born in 2004.

They don't care about the past. They care about the future. It's why, in my opinion, Texas, Michigan, USC, Miami, Florida State, they don't worry about the past too much. What we did in the past, what we won in the past, you don't worry about the future. You don't worry about the future. There's a lot of boosters there that want to say, Gabe,

what happens at USC. A lot of hands in the cookie jar can mike bone the you know the ad kind of keep everyone away obviously it's win or bust at usc you know if you don't win in a couple years you're out of there unlike when pete carroll came to to usc there was no organ then there was an organ now the organ problem right Oregon's a top 10 recruiting school and they're going to be a playoff team hopefully in the next couple of years. I just don't think the job is as good as people want it to be.

I think it's as good as a coach can make it and you hope that it's good enough because you hire the coach that makes it good enough. But I just don't know if it's, people have a top three job. I just don't see that. Well, okay. But I mean, the reason would be that it shouldn't be that hard to recruit kids to play at

sc there is a tradition they have the seventh best recruiting class in the country last year okay so that should they should be able to maintain that and it's a we just spent time talking about how this conference is nothing special outside of oregon outside of oregon so that means if you you know beat up the Pac-12 South and beat Oregon, you're in the playoff. I mean, it's an easier path to a chance at a title than almost anywhere else in the country. And you're in LA.

Like, you're walking into the NFL after a couple good years at SC. Guaranteed. Pete showed the path. So I think it's a pretty good job. It's a pretty good job. I don't think it's like a top three job where people think like want it to be essentially.

Where would you, I mean, it's not fair. I hate it when people say that Alabama is a better job. So I guess the question is like, see, here's, here's the thing that I always have trouble with,

with discussions. Gabe is Alabama is a good job because nick saban's there right now so what so you know if you were to say best job in country you'd be like is it is it georgia is it is it you know photo recruiting ground history of success there is it texas is it lsu people said lsu i've even seen people talk about kentucky right like unfireable if you win eight games you're never fired kentucky like i Texas? Is it LSU? People said LSU. I've even seen people talk about Kentucky, right? Like unfireable. If you win eight games, you're never fired in Kentucky. I mean, it's like, you know, Mark Stoops will never get fired in Kentucky.

So I don't know if Alabama is the best job in the country. But, you know, Texas, LSU, I mean, they have the resources and the passion, the fan base. So I just don't know what makes a job as good anymore because recruiting is national now. Like, you don't have to be you know 30 years ago usc had a huge advantage recruiting los angeles because they you know

the south wasn't coming to los angeles clemson wasn't coming to los angeles recruiting players now recruiting is national like you don't have that built-in advantage you used to have i think the game is much different now and i don't think usc is as good of a job as people think it will find out who they hire, whether or not— we can obviously make a judgment on that at the time, whether or not we think they got the guy they wanted. Because in theory, if your job is that good, you say, hey, Urban Meyer, do you want this job?

And he says yes, right? Or Bob Stoops or James Franklin or Matt Campbell. I mean, Matt Campbell and Luke Fickle would clearly do it. But, you know, a coach who's who's Mario Cristobal at Oregon. Mario, do you want the job? If it's that good of a job, he'd say yes. But I don't think it is. Well, okay.

But let's talk about a couple other names, and then we can wrap it up here because we've got chances to talk about this and a whole lot of other storylines on our more NFL-focused show later this week. I've heard Eric BiennAmi's name a lot. I don't really believe too much of that, but I want your take on it because you've had some of the smartest things to say about Bien-Ami. I feel like you're closest to him

of anyone talking about these positions nationally. Why not him? Yeah, that's a good question. I think he'd be a really good coach. I think he'd be a better college coach than pro coach, just the way I've been around him and just I think his ability to recruit would be at a high level. It's a good question. Again, he's been a head coach for a little bit of time in Colorado, and I just don't know if that's enough experience.

I think this job requires someone who just has been a head coach for a good amount of time. But can't you hire any assistants you want? mean if you get if you're so so part of so part of the process of a job interview is putting together a list of of coordinators you could hire and so i don't know what i might i don't know what bnm's list would be i i don't know but part of that is like okay here's the list i'm going to bring in for coaches. And maybe they don't like the list the team's interviewed with. I have no idea. I mean, you're basically getting a shortcut to the Andy Reid coaching tree. If you bring in Bien-Ami in, then he can bring in some coordinators.

Some of them presumably have college experience. If those guys want to go to college. But it's not like going to Nowheresville, college town. You're going to Los Angeles. I know, but there's the recruiting part of it and moving your family there. Like it's – it's just – not all pro coaches want that. All right. Well, let me ask you this then because I live here in LA.

And I would say, obviously, if you're a head coach at a major program, you're making plenty of money, right? But if you're the head coach at Florida versus the head coach at SC, boy, a lot of your paycheck's disappearing at SC in California, and it ain't in Florida. So to your point. That's why Clay's making a bazillion dollars a year, or was making a bazillion dollars a year.

Right, so you got to make up for that in some way. So do you think that that's on people's minds? I mean, they're already millionaires if they take the job, but are they worried about those extra couple of millions uh i think it's always a concern but i think family life is a concern too like you know some people just don't want the hectic the hectic los angeles lifestyle i mean do you want to live some people don't i mean i'm fine with los angeles you're obviously fine with it. But some families might want to stay in Ames or in Happy Valley. I know it sounds silly that both of us are LA guys and I love Los Angeles.

But some people might say, you know what? Yeah, I might make a couple million less to stay where I'm at. But the quality of life is more what my family wants is better for me. We've seen plenty of coaches say that before. It's not like a surprise when coaches say, hey, I'm not taking this job because my family situation is much better where I'm at now. Yeah. Well, no, listen, if you said here's

three million bucks and you can go be the next coach at Texas in Austin or come work at SC, I'm definitely thinking about living in Austin with my three million dollar salary and the potential to run that program. I have to consider that. But short of that or a few other jobs, I feel like you just roll the dice and hope that it works out for you for a couple of years in the Pac-12. And then any job in the country is yours. But who knows? We got plenty of weeks to talk about this. We'll see if they can string a few wins together and then this gets more interesting uh anything else from the college game that we need to talk about no a lot of parody man we'll uh we'll have obviously more to talk about each week as we get um as we get closer to uh to the enemy it's already been you know we had week zero plus three weeks it's wild yeah and the college uh college game is not all we talk about

on this show jeff so we're back on tuesdays focusing on the nfl but we'll hit a few college storylines there and then on thursdays you're making picks you get us some college picks you get us some nfl picks tough week this week huh yeah it's a rough one but look it's week two we'll we'll bounce back we it's nothing we've we haven't done before so uh it's it seemed like a tough week for everyone and we'll talk more about that on Thursday, obviously. Jeff, I've known you a few years. And if I bet, you know, 100 units every week on your picks, I'd have made some money. Yeah, we'll get there eventually. Over the course of a few years, you make me money. So I'm going to tune in on Thursday and see who you're picking.

Yeah, it takes a little bit of time sometimes. But we have a long season left. So thank you guys for tuning in. Please rate, review, subscribe. And we'll be back on Tuesday with our NFL show. Take care, everyone.