The Herd with Colin Cowherd - 01/12/2021 - HOUR 1 - Eagles, Alabama, Tua

Episode Date: January 12, 2021

The Eagles HC opening probably isn't a good jobAlabama QB Mac Jones was well protected all seasonThe Dolphins may move off of TuaGuest: Joel Klatt Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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It's Tuesday. We're live in Los Angeles. This is the herd. Wherever you may be, and however, you may be listening. Fox Sports Radio, Iheart Radio, right here on FS1. One hour from now, one of my last herd hierarchies of the year, eight teams left, we'll rank them one through eight. Alabama will not make a list, although they were impressive last night. Joel Klatte stops by this hour. Joy Taylor is joining me. Joy, how are you? I'm great. Congrats to Alabama. Nick Saban. It was fun

watching. About three quarters of fun. Well, yeah. Yeah. But I enjoyed watching some future NFL stars last night. A lot of them. Most of them, Alabama. Very excited for Donvante Smith. Yeah. Welcome to Miami if they don't make moves to a. So I was thinking yesterday during

our show, the news broke that the Philadelphia Eagles had fired Doug Peterson. And one of the things I love about the NFL, and you really don't see this in any other league. You can be awful, but you're not awful for wrong if you get a quarterback or a coach. In baseball, you can get tied to awful contracts. In the NBA, you can't find a star. You're saddled with bad contracts.

But in the NFL, you can cut guys. You don't have to be bad more than maybe a year. You can get out of it. Right coach, right coordinator. Look how fast Miami. The dolphins were awful, too interesting, to really, really good. one of the top defense than the NFL. And I'm thinking this yesterday during the show, Philadelphia fires their coach,

and I'm thinking, great job. And I'm driving home and I'm thinking, wait, Doug Peterson won a Super Bowl, and they fired him, and Andy Reid got to a Super Bowl and five NFC championships. And after one bad year, they fired him. And Chip Kelly had a winning record, and they fired him. and they fired him. I'm not sure this is a great job. Expectations make the job.

Tom Coughlin was allowed to have like three, four bad years in a row. They retained him. Doug Peterson beat Belichick in an all-time Super Bowl. He's now gone and here's the owner after the dismissal yesterday. Very few people probably after success. deserve to lose their job. This is much more about the evaluation of whether the Eagles moving forward, our best option is to have a new coach.

And that's really, really what it's about. It's not about did Doug deserve to be let go. No, he did not deserve to be let go. That's not where I'm coming from, and that's not the bar in the evaluation. process. So he didn't deserve to be let go, but he was let go. I'm not sure this is a good job. And the more I thought about it, I thought, they've got a lot of cap space issues. They are sort of an old roster. The general manager has a lot of power in the owner's ear. And oh, by the way, you're stepping into a quarterback mess. Most coaches want personnel say.

you'll get none. Most quarterbacks want to define quarterback room. They're the opposite. I don't know. The NFL changes so quickly. If Urban Meyer landed the Jacksonville job today, with Trevor Lawrence coming, that looks like a pretty decent job.

We never thought the Chargers was a great job, and then they drafted Justin Herbert. And now I think it's the best job going away. But I would have thought, At the beginning of this year, if you had to told me Philadelphia, I'd be like, well, Carson Wentz, you got great owner, competent general manager, Doug Peterson won a Super Bowl. And this morning, I'm like, wait a minute. The owner is saying he didn't deserve to be fired.

Then why did you fire him? Three coaches, the last three coaches fired there, all had winning records. Two got to Super Bowls. One won it. All of them. After one bad year, out. Tough talking, tough act in New York gave Cofflin

bad year after bad year after bad year after bad year after bad year. I don't know. I don't know. This league changes dramatically. I'm not sure this is a great job. Eric B. Enemy, Brian Dable, let some young coach who doesn't want any personnel say have this gig. You'll have better options.

Congrats to Alabama won a national championship. We do this a lot of times. I remember getting almost into a fight 20 years ago. I was at Senior Froggies or something in Tampa. I was a sportscaster there. And some, you know, mouth breather came up to me and said, Danny Wharfell should be drafted number one. He's unbelievable.

And I said, Danny Whirfell is a bad athlete with a new alarm. Well, he dominated in college. And I said, it's in college. It's Steve Spurrier. Does it mean anything? A lot of guys dominate in college. and he was just adamant and I'm like

he's doesn't matter if you're throwing to wide open wide receivers that Steve Spurrier's got four wide, nobody could cover him at the time doesn't make a good NFL prospect and I watched Mac Jones last night for Alabama and my take is

how the hell do you evaluate him he never plays from behind ever he never gets hurried forget hit he's always got a great running game and his wide receivers are wide open. He's not a sensational athlete.

In fact, he's below average. He was a three-star recruit. His arm is fine, not special. His size is okay. The best thing he has going for him, he's going to drop to about 15th, so he may end up with like, you know, a San Francisco or a New England situation.

But even New England, they have no weapons. He's not dynamic enough to make something out of nothing. he is the classic example where Mac Jones lands will absolutely determine his fate. He needs a clever coach. He needs protection. Essentially, what he has at Alabama is the opposite of the NFL reality. He never trails. His receivers are always open.

He's almost never hurried. And he has a great running game. God, Joe Burrow would just like one of those. forget not having the right coach. He's got the best coach ever in college football. When you look around the NFL landscape, what I'm about to say is not a coincidence. Patrick Mahomes did not go to a college football power.

Josh Allen did not go to a college football power. Lamar Jackson did not go to a college football power. Either did Big Ben or Aaron Rogers. or Drew Brees, or Matt Ryan. No, they were always trailing, often getting hit, having to squeeze the ball into tight, tiny windows. Even Justin Herbert had a good program, Oregon's absolutely a top 12 program, but he didn't have NFL wide receivers to throw to. He had a very conservative coach, and that's why everybody out of college said Justin Herbert,

He's very rigid. He's very mechanical. Yeah. He's a great athlete. Justin Herbert's a great athlete. And you said he was mechanical. Mac Jones is a below average athlete. And everybody this morning goes, oh, five touchdowns, no interceptions.

Justin Herbert's bigger, stronger, better arm, more mobile. And we cut him up out of college. Because he came out of a program where nobody was wide open. And he often played trailing and he didn't have an understanding. and he didn't have an unbelievable run game and he didn't have the best coach in the history of college football. I would take Justin Fields every day and twice on Sundays over Mack Jones, and he didn't play particularly well. But if you start looking around the NFL, there is a reason there are not a lot of great Alabama quarterbacks in the NFL,

not a lot of great Ohio State quarterbacks in the NFL, there's not a lot of great college football power quarterbacks in the NFL. Because the college reality for a lot of these guys like Mack Jones is, leads, running game, wide open, best coach. You think you're going to get that drafted in the top 12 in the NFL? I don't even know who's going to be coach in Detroit next year. So I wish the kid the very best, but I don't know how you evaluate him. I really don't.

He'll be the classic example. He'll be as good as the coach, the owner, and the offensive line and skis. kill people that he inherits. Because I'm watching this last night. I mean, come on now. Linebackers on Devante Smith. That's not the way it works in the NFL. All right.

Okay, there's a lot of steam here. Dolphins have the number three pick in the draft. And there's now multiple insinuations that Miami will move off. Tua, at least being now suggested. Joel clatt this hour too. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific on Fox Sports Radio, FS1, and the IHeart Radio app. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's

superhuman documented it all. Embed it in the games and with the athletes, for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the I-Hard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win. A win is a win.

I don't care which I'm saying. Yep, that's me, Cliver Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football, or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagined. And now I'm bringing all of that excitement

to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. One week, I'll take you behind the scenes of the biggest moments in sports and entertainment, and the next we'll talk about life, mental health, purpose, and even music.

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Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. What's up, fam? It's Isaiah Thomas. And I'm C.J. Toledano, and our podcast Point Game is about defying the odds. Like LeBron heading into the playoffs without Luca and Austin Reed. And finding ways to win no matter what.

He's the smartest player to ever play the game. His IQ is at a level that we've never seen before. And he knows. Without Luca and Austin Reeves, I got to manipulate the game. We get a player's perspective on the challenges of the playoffs. I think Joker's going to be exhausted this series because when they don't have Rudy in the lineup, he has to really guard guys like Nas Reid.

He has to guard Julius Randall. And then he has to give us everything he gives us on the night-to-night basis on offense. And when IT's friends stop by, like Quentin Richardson, we dive into some playoff history too. Steve Nash will get that thing. That man, hell get the flying. He running up the court, licking his fingers why he got the ball. Like, you go through a training camp with that, Isaiah, you figure it out real quick.

Oh, yeah. Get your ass up and down the court, and you're going to get the ball. So listen to Point Game on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, I'm Deanna Maria Riva, actress, mother, lover, and a Gen X woman walking through life, one hot flash and hormonal crying jag at a time. You ladies know what I mean. I'll bet you a paramedipausal chin here you do. So let's talk about it.

Join me on my new podcast. How hard can it be with the Adamani Arriva, where I call on my Gen X squads from Ohio to Hollywood as we navigate Midlife's most fantastic BS. All of a sudden, I'd had hanginess happening on my own. I was like, what the hell is that? I was married when I had her, so I didn't even consider how empty that nest was going to be.

Foot swings, night sweats, fupas, sex drive. Wait, what sex? Dating at 45. How hard can it be getting naked at 50 with the new guy? That one's kind of hard. Well, that's lighting. They say we can't polish a turd, but we're sure going to try. So let's get blunt with laughs, tears, or tears of laughter, and dive into it, unfiltered and unbothered and ask, how hard can it be?

I cannot believe I'm about to say this out loud in public. Listen to How Hard Can It Be with Diana Maria Riva as part of my Cultura Podcast Network, available on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Men Across America love Tommy John Underwear keeps everything in place. Go to Tommyjohn.com slash heard, H-E-R-D, say 15% in your first order. Check out their sites, great for details. Good to have you in today, Joel Clatt in about 10 minutes. So a couple of stories developed over the weekend, and they continue to develop

Chris Mortensen reported Sunday that Deshawn Watson would absolutely consider a move to the Miami Dolphins. he could play hardball with Houston and Miami's one of the places he's interested in. I think that's a very interesting, random story that developed. Pro football focus today in their mock draft has Justin Fields, Ohio State quarterback, going to the Miami Dolphins. Again, kind of strange everything lining up with Miami. Generally, I think you've got to give young people time to develop.

A lot of people are late bloomers. But there are industries and clubs. cultural changes where you can demand more from kids. And I would say NFL quarterback is one of those. Two is six and three and nine games. But he doesn't look special. And you say, that's nine games. Well, first of all, he's had almost 600 snaps and he has 300 passes.

That is a lot of footage. That's a lot of footage. Folks, there are people that believe in Bigfoot and have seen him pass through a forest in two seconds. 600 snaps, 300 passes, hours of footage, and there's no special there. But there's two reasons I'm okay with it, being tough on to it.

Number one is the 15, 16, 17, 18 year old high school quarterback industry has exploded. My kids are much smarter than me. My kids are much more aware than me. Why? Because of global technology that allows them to talk to kids in Russia, Ukraine, Australia. I couldn't. You sent letters, found a pen pal.

They can talk to the president if they wanted to. Kids should be held to certain higher standards today because of the information available to them. And quarterbacks should be held to a quicker, higher standard. You now have people telling you how to take the Wonderlich, how to interview, how to eat, how to throw, how to train, how to recover. It didn't happen 20 years ago. The other thing is, again, I know what you're telling me.

He's only played nine games. Colonies got a winning record. What about Josh Allen? But Josh Allen exploded into this league. He was unrefined. He didn't have polish. He needed coaching. But he was 6'6 with a cannon arm running and jumping over people.

In the reality right now with Tua is, if you're Miami and you'll never have this number three pick again, do you look at Josh Allen and go, next 10 years, I got to play him 20 times? I mean, the last game of the year, regular season was Tua against Josh Allen. Miami's defense, which was great, could not stop Josh Allen. Translation, we're going to be in some shootouts with Josh Allen a lot. The other thing is, we know in the NFL, if I said to you in the NFL,

okay, there's this team. Defense, excellent. Special teams, excellent. Coach, excellent. Didn't make the playoffs. Oh, who's the quarterback? That's where Miami is today. Joy Taylor with the news. No, no, no, no, no. Turn on the news.

This is the herd line news. The Eagles let go of coach Doug Peterson yesterday. That means the next head coach will be involved in discussions on what to do with Carson Wentz moving forward. He had a down year, which led him being benched for Jalen Hertz. And the Eagles owner, Jeffrey Lurie, says he is confident that Wentz will bounce back. We have an asset and we have a talent. He's a great guy.

He wants nothing but to win big and win Lombardi trophies for Philadelphia. This was not the best season for our offense. It was a poor season, and we also had a poor season from Carson in terms of what he's been able to show in the past, very fixable, and I fully expect him to realize his potential. All right. That's the answer, then, very fixable. I mean, let me ask you, when this job came open yesterday, I think we both thought it was a good job.

Initially, I thought it was a good job. But when Jeffrey Lurie says he didn't deserve to be fired, didn't deserve to be fired, and I'm listening to that, and I'm thinking, then generally you don't get fired when you don't deserve to be fired. Well, there's so many. angles to this. Obviously, we know that they are paying Carson Wentz a lot of money. And let's not be childish. That makes a big difference. If they weren't paying him a lot of money, then they would have a quarterback battle and be bringing someone in to develop the entire team, not just Carson Wentz. The problem with this job is, one, Doug Peterson just won a Super Bowl three years ago, four years

ago. And by the way, won the division, not this year, but the year before. In, in an under-imposting, circumstances. Impossible. Won the division. Okay. So what are your standards? You've won one Super Bowl in the entire existence of your franchise. So, I mean, if you look at organizations that are consistently in the Super Bowl or win multiple Super Bowls over their, you know, existence, they're a little more consistent at their main positions. that was a really reactionary fire to me. Like obviously, Benching Jalen Hertz, none of us liked it, but I think it's more to the fact that he's not getting along with Carson Wentz. Now, look, this is more of a psychological breakdown to the situation,

but I don't really understand. Like, this is why I'm probably not a billionaire and why I can't be in charge of things like that, because I'm not having these conversations. What do you mean you don't get along? I pay you $25 million a year. Get along. Make it work.

Figure it out. Go see the, go see the, go see the, go see the team therapist. Yeah, I know. You know what I'm saying? Light some candles. I don't know. Meditate.

Figure it out. Why is that my problem? You can't get along. I don't hire you to like give your opinion about personalities. This is what we do. You're the coach. You have to get along with the starting quarterback. You're the quarterback.

We might draft another quarterback because this is a competitive. This is a competitive place. And I understand like people's emotions come into play. Nobody's robots. But this is big boy stuff. Like I don't, I don't, when it comes down to people not getting along, that's when I'm like, okay, I'm just, what is that? Do I get that option?

Like, I just get to not get along with people all the time. Guys have a lot of guys have a lot. It's a lot of alpha and ego and the GM, Howie Roseman, and Doug Peterson, I heard a quote yesterday. I'm tired of people telling me what to do. Listen, they're struggling and so you've got egos. I mean, the Lakers had Riley, Phil Jackson, Jerry West, and they were dominating people. And guys just somebody's guy's got to get take credit.

We deserve, I want all the credit. What a life. What a life. And we have to shave. It's really difficult. It's so tough. No, I think it's going to be a very, I don't not believe in Carson Wentz. I do think that he needs to be somewhere else to be successful.

Yeah, I think it would work somewhere else too. Yes. So former Falcons head coach Dan Quinn has agreed to become the new defensive coordinator for the Cowboys. It's reportedly a three-year deal and will mark his second second. as a defensive coordinator in the NFL. Before taking over in Atlanta, he was the DC in Seattle with the Legion of Boom. Seahawks defense ranked number one in yards and points allowed in both seasons he was there and he was part of their Super Bowl winning team.

This is a great hire, by the way. This is what Nick Sabin does. He takes head coaches. Lane Kiff and Sark, he takes head coaches and says, I'm going to rehabilitate you. I'm going to put you as an assistant. And Dan Quinn now, he's not going to be career jumping. He's got his money. he's got millions in the bank

and he's good at what he does and he understands what it's like to be a head coach those are the best assistants they know the pressure and the nonsense you have to deal with to be a head coach so I don't think Dallas could have done better than hiring Dan Grant's a great hire I think it's a great move as well

and they were obviously awful on the defensive side of the ball this year 28th ranked defense 26 and rush 17th tackling 10th and past rush and 27th and past coverage so he's in immediate upgrade and I think this was a great move by Dallas. Yeah, if you're a Dallas Cowboy fan, that is, and also he's another set of eyes on personnel.

So this is a guy that's had to draft. He understands personnel. And he wasn't completely unsuccessful as a head coach. So it's not like he was a disaster. And now you're bringing in somebody who's like has huge doubts about them. It fell apart in Atlanta. A lot of that had to do with Shanahan leaving. Like, it happens.

So I think it's a great move for them. It's the changing of the guard in the AFC with young quarterbacks starting to names for themselves. Of the four remaining quarterbacks in the playoffs, Baker Mayfield is the oldest at just 25 and 273 days old. This is in the AFC, obviously, followed by

Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen, and Lamar Jackson. Only Mahomes has one more postseason win from this AFC group. Now, the NFC, on the other hand, we bit older. Forty-three-fourty-one, 37, and Derek Goff is 26, who is still older than all of the AFC quarterbacks. Well, a lot of the times, it's because

the Saints and Green Bay, you know, they've been really good for a while, so they haven't had to worry about quarterback. When you go to the AFC, there's been some bad teams, and so bad teams get good draft picks. By the way, Jacksonville AFC is going to get Trevor Lawrence. Jets probably get Justin Field. So you're going to get two more young stars, and Miami's got the third pick. What if they go for a quarterback? So the reality is, and this is why the NFL is great, if you are down as a franchise, you get a really good draft pick. College doesn't work that way. The better you are, The better you can get. This is the magic solution in the NFL is you're bad. You get a top five pick and you can change everything with a Mahomes or a Josh Allen or Lamar Jackson.

And several of those teams have a long time to go with those guys. Mahomes, obviously. Josh Allen, so they've got a big future. Great future. AFC's got some unbelievable young quarterbacks right. And by the way, we're not even counting Joe Burrough. Yep. Here comes Trevor Lawrence, Justin Fields, and maybe Trey Lance or Zach Wilson.

Good stuff. with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The Hurd Lie News. I have so many thoughts about last night's game, but you know, I'm going to share them with Joel Klat, college football analyst, former Colorado Buff quarterback, joining us now live, our lead analyst. You know, it's so nice for you to stop by, brought to you by Mercedes Ben's the best or not. And you could have just done this from your swanky joint. No, no, no, no. I needed to come in and say hello. How are you guys? Good to see you. Good to see you. All right, let me start with this. Is Alabama the best team ever?

I have no idea. There's a bunch of Miami Hurricanes had a couple teams with like 13 NFL. I thought LSU last year was the deepest team I'd ever seen. But let me just say this. I didn't love Ohio State's game plan. First of all, defensively. You know, Steve Sarkesian had a nice night. The announcers made it sound like he was Elon Musk.

Like, it wasn't that complicated. He put Devonte Smith in motion a lot. Yeah. The orbital motion, the Lincoln Riley stuff. I didn't love Ohio State's defensive game. It's interesting, you know, and I know Ryan really well. And every time, so it's been twice now, but when they lost to Clemson, he talked to me at length in the offseason last year about really diving deep and evaluating three areas of your team. And really, this is every team. If you need an

evaluation, you need to evaluate three areas of your team if you're a head coach. Your players, you know, were your players good enough? Your scheme? Was your scheme good enough? And your coaches, were your coaches good enough? And last year for the Clemson game, game. He kind of deemed it like, no, we were all fine. All three of those, we were fine. We just didn't get the brakes and didn't win. And then they focused on Clemson and they went out and beat him a couple of weeks ago. This one is totally different because they were deficient in every single area last night to Alabama. And this is not a big knock. I mean, this is part and parcel to the fact that Alabama is a great team this year. And that offense is a great team. The defensive game plan was was not very good. I didn't like it. I thought that they needed to either put eight in coverage and really blanket those zones in coverage or send the house. So that my theory was Mac Jones had not been uncomfortable all year. Right. And you probably don't match up where they're wide receivers.

So give Mac Jones, he has to make quick throw. And if he beat, he beat you. I mean, they score 50 on everybody. But my takeaway was you can't let Mac Jones be comfortable. Right. And so to me, I was with you. I'm like, just lay it on the line. We don't match up personnel-wide.

we can't we don't match up with their receivers at all so the more time he has the uglier little get and they gave him all day i think one of the things that alabama did incredibly well all year and again last night is that when you just sent one if you had like a five-man rush or even just a six-man rush and tried to play some coverage behind it they decimated that style of defense because they were too good yeah they were just too good you you had to overwhelm their protection to get a free rusher in max face immediately absolutely and disrupt the timing of the offense and they never really did that maybe one that one that one that's a little bit time. It looked like it was kind of an auto

blitz on a motion, you know, and he engaged into a blitz, and then Browning knocked the fumble loose, and Ohio State got the score, but that was really the only time Mack had any pressure. And by the way, that was a bootleg. You know, that's not really a protection. He's just kind of booting out and they put a guy in his face. So I thought that the scheme was

insufficient for Alabama's offense last night for Ohio State. And then their players, you know, with the issues that they had with COVID and with injuries, they just weren't good enough last night to beat them. You know, how do you evaluate Mac Jones? He's living the opposite of the NFL reality. Yeah. Always plays with a lead. I'm throwing on third and one. It's so interesting that you bring this up. Receivers are

why. I mean, it's like, it reminded me of Danny Werfel, although he's a much better prospect than Danny Werfel. But Danny Werfel came out of college. Everybody's like, that's unbelievable. And I'm like, no, they're going four wide. The SEC hasn't caught up to it. And it's receivers. He's doing lollipop throws up the sideline. There's nobody close. How do you evaluate him? Well, it's so interesting because you bring up Worfell. You know who I was having this conversation with last night on our watch party? We had our big digital watch party. He jumped in in the fourth quarter and we had this conversation with Matt Liner, who lived very much this style of existence in college.

And Matt was very candid last night and talking about the awakening, the eye-opening difference when he got to the league and the margin of talent was then closed. right, the margin of talent that Mac Jones had, even last night in the national championship game, was substantial. Look at this. Linebacker on Devante Smith. Like, not close. I feel terrible for tough Borland there. That was just a regular.

Everyone's like, why would you put Borland in coverage on Devante Smith? They weren't trying to. It was just a zone defense. He happened to be the middle linebacker, and Devonte Smith is the inside of the three receivers. Having said that, though, you know, Jones was not pressured all that much. So you ask, how do I evaluate? Well, that's certainly part of the evaluation. You have to take that into consideration, the marginal player that he was playing with as opposed to the opposition.

Now, having said that, Colin, there are some things that translate for Mack. He plays with a great understanding of the game. You can tell that he has complete control over his gameplay and he understands where the defense is. You know that because his eyes are decisive, his feet are decisive, and he throws the football on time and on target. Those are things that translate, right? I mean, he's an anticipatory thrower. He throws it with great touch. He doesn't have the best arm in the world, but he tends to put the ball in great spots.

And when you look at the fact that they had a yak, yards after catch, of second in the country, over 2,000 yards. Part of that is the timing and ball placement of the quarterback. The equation for yak, and this goes back to Bill Walsh, by the way. He used to draw this equation up for Rice and Montana and these guys. He said timing plus ball placement equals yards after the catch. That was their equation in the West Coast offense. Well, Mack Jones is responsible for two of those, right? And there's some spacing issues for the wide receivers.

But for two of those variables in the equation, that's the quarterback's responsibility. And Mack Jones is really good at those two elements. All right. Yeah. I think he's a first round. I think he's a first round player. All right. I won't be shocked if New England takes him.

They don't have any skill player, so good luck with that. Good luck throwing into a window that's a size of a walnut. I fully hear that. And I think that that has to be taken into consideration. And people say, oh, you didn't like Pearl. No, no, no. I said Burrow was Tony Romo. Tony Romo's great player in the NFL.

He's better than Romo. Yeah, no, I admit that now. No, he is. But that was my comp. My comp is a less athletic Kirk Cousins. No, Mac is Tony Romo. Burroughs better than Romo. I think Mack Jones is a Tony Romo.

He's not as athletic. Yeah, he's just a poor man's borough. Just a poor man's borough. He's a homeless man's borough. There's no way he's a poor man's borough. Wow, wow. I mean. Joe Burrow is a really active athlete.

Really active athlete. I understand that. Jones looks, I didn't say he is Joe Burrow. You're getting all bent out of shape. Mac Jones, listen. Joe Burrow is my friend. Watch out. He was on the show this week.

We are tight. And he doesn't wear a backwards hat either. All right. I don't want to attack Matt Jones. He could be a wonderful person. He'll be a first round player. No, I'm not doubting that. He just looks a little trunky and a little inactive and not real.

Timing plus ball placement equals yards after the catch. Oh, yak. Is the ball on time and on target? All right, let me move to this one. Go ahead. Okay. 14 of the last 15 national champions are from the South. Yeah.

Okay. And the SEC is dominant. Okay, so I just want to throw this at you. I want to throw this at you. The media, we are governed by the FCC, the governing body. Drugs, food, governed by the FDA. Wall Street, our 401k governed by the SEC, ironically. Pro football, a commissioner, rules, good teams, tougher schedule, bad draft picks.

College football, unlike pro sports, has no interest in making it competitive. It's true. And everything in America, people are complaining now that tech doesn't have a governing. ruling body. And by the way, some of those complaints are very realistic on Facebook and nothing against them. But those are real complaints that they can just say you can't be on our accounts, right? So I look at college football and I think it's a $10 billion annual industry. There's no CEO. The schedules are totally, I went to this. Listen to this this morning. This guy does his homework. Next year, Alabama plays something called Mercer, New Mexico State,

Southern Miss and by the way they get by is right before Auburn. It's like, come on we've got to have somebody make a schedule. You're preaching to the choir here. I have said several times on this show that

college football behaves exactly like our country behaved after the Revolutionary War and before the Constitutional Convention. Before we actually had a federal government. We were just 13 colonies behaving however they wanted to.

Some would adhere to international law. Others weren't. And what were they doing? They were behaving in their own self-interest. Well, we have five Power-Five conferences that behave and act in their own self-interest. And what's hard in football as opposed to maybe even college basketball is that the playoff is owned by the conferences. So that means, guess who the most powerful people in the sport are?

The Five Power-Five Commission. And by the way, and two of them, one of them, the SEC has the most power. Yes. Because they have the most television revenue and the most draw. Not only that, but Greg Sankey, the commissioner of the SEC, is going to have even more power now because of the way that they were able to play through this fall. Yes. You know, Larry Scott and Kevin Warren are going to lose a lot of any equity that they had within

the sport, if they had much at all to begin with. They're the Big Ten and the Pac-12. And then the other guy that's going to carry a lot of weight is Bob Bullsby in the Big 12, because of how he handled everything this fall. But getting back to the point, they have no incentive to change. That's right. Now, having said that,

the SEC is starting to get so dominant that you're starting to see some of the other commissioners coalesce and start to say, hey, you know what, this is actually not good because this is not the Power 5. This is just like, we're just continuing to prop up the SEC. It's the Power 1. It's the Power 1.

You're exactly right, with a couple of schools that can sometimes compete with. that conference. Kind of. In ACC and Clemson and Ohio State. I love the sport, but listen, this is how UFC caught up to boxing. I agree. Dana White, a centralized voice. Here's the problem.

Let me give you an analogy. Well, let me just create a scenario. Okay. Let's paint a scenario. Okay. My biggest issue with college football is the burden of proof. Okay, you might be wondering, just bear with me for a second. We have two standards of burden of proof in our country.

criminal cases and civil cases. One is beyond a reasonable doubt in a criminal case, and one is the preponderance of the evidence. If you don't know what that means, that basically means like if there's a greater than 50% chance, then you can get a ruling in a civil case. So those are two different burdens of proof. Well, the top of college football right now has a lower burden of proof.

It's like a civil case. It's like the preponderance of the... Do we think Alabama is one of the four best? Yeah, probably. So guess what? necessarily have to win their division. They don't have to win every single game. And they can schedule three cupcakes. And it doesn't matter. And it doesn't matter. Now, I would say in Alabama's case, and I've defended the SEC for years on this,

I think there's more great high school football players and programs in the footprint of the South. Yes. And so I think just like everything else. In Texas. So the same people, the southern football fan will hear us today and say, why should we balance it out? And I would say this. Our federal government every year sends Kentucky nine billion dollars because the state can't live without it. New York has to send the federal government $10 billion because they have a surplus. Translation, our government protects states. So the Southerners who go, oh, this is no, there's no, why should we be even? Our federal government sends states big checks if they feel they can't run sufficiently

a state without federal funding. Point being is we have these protective mechanisms all over America. It's true. Media, law, sports, Wall Street. The judicial system. Yes. And by the way, so if you're Iowa State, like Iowa State next year is going to be really good. I think that they could start in the top 10, right? They got Brock Purdy back, Bruce Hall back. Iowa State is going to be really good. The burden of proof is on them. They're going to have to win every single game in order to go to the playoff. They don't get this benefit of the doubt. It's not the preponderance of the evidence. They have to be beyond a reason. reasonable doubt, one of the four best, even to get in.

So I think that we need to increase the pathways in college football for teams to get included into the playoffs. Let me give you an example right here. This is one of my scenarios, Colin. I want you to look at this and see what you think. This is my 14-10 playoff. All right, okay, I want to take a break and come back with you. Okay, great.

Okay, I want to take a break with Joel Cloud. He's in studio. We get one of those guests a year. So, no, I want to talk about this. You're the only guy that you show up. So I feel like you're a house guest. So I'm going to give you a bottle of wine and a gift on the way out. I appreciate that.

By the way, I have my herd hierarchy top of next hour, Joe Clat. It's the herd. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documented it all.

all embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the I-Hard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care which I'll say it. Yep, that's me, Cliver Taylor the 4th.

You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football, or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagined. And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. One week, I'll take you behind the scenes of the biggest moments in sports and entertainment, and the next we'll talk about life, mental health, purpose, and even music.

The Clifford Show isn't just a podcast. It's a space for honest conversations, stories that don't always get told, and for people who are chasing something bigger. So, if you've ever supported me or you're just chasing down a dream, this is right where you need to be. Listen to The Clifford Show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. What's up, fam? It's Isaiah Thomas. And I'm CJ Toledano, and our podcast Point is about defying the odds. Like LeBron heading into the playoffs without Luca and Austin Reed.

and finding ways to win no matter what. He's the smartest player to ever play the game. His IQ is at a level that we've never seen before. And he knows. Without Luca and Austin Reeves, I got to manipulate the game. We get a player's perspective on the challenges of the playoffs. I think Joker's going to be exhausted this series

because when they don't have Rudy in the lineup, he has to really guard guys like Nas Reid. He has to guard Julius Randall. And then he has to give us everything he gives us on the night-to-night basis on offense. And when IT's first, friends stopped by like Quentin Richardson, we dive into some playoff history too. Steve Nash will get that thing. That man, hell get the flying. He running up the court,

licking his fingers why he got the ball. Like, after you go through a training camp with that Isaiah, you figure it out real quick. Get your ass up and down the court, and you're going to get the ball. So listen to Point Game on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, I'm Deanna Maria Riva, actress, mother, lover, and a Gen X woman walking through life one hot flash and hormonal crying jag at a time. You ladies know what I mean. I'll bet you a met you're a pauposal chin here you do. So let's talk about it. Join me on my new podcast. How hard can it be with the Adamia Riva, where I call on my Gen X squads from Ohio to Hollywood as we navigate midlife's most fantastic BS. All of a sudden I'd had hanginess happening on my own. I was like,

what the hell is that? I was married when I had her, so I didn't even consider how empty that That's what's going to be. Mood swings, night sweats, fupas, sex drive. Wait, what sex? Dating at 45. How hard can it be getting naked at 50 with a new guy? That one's kind of hard now. Well, that's lighting.

They say we can't polish a turd, but we're sure going to try. So let's get blunt with laughs, tears or tears of laughter, and dive into it unfiltered and unbothered and ask, how hard can it be? I cannot believe I'm about to say this out loud in public. Listen to how hard can it be with Diana Maria Riva as part of my Cultura Podcast Network, available on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. All right, it's the last day of college football talk on this show for a long time. So I know many of you who watch our show love the sport and I do too. So I thought I'd bring the Clatster on today and give them a second segment.

I don't do that. I'm very judicious with my time. Listen, I'm very grateful and thankful. Thank you. Okay. Is that the nicest we've ever been? Yeah, no kidding. You guys have been very nice.

The New Year's resolution. Get along with Clat. and no knocking on Joe Burrow, my close friend. That's right. Okay, so you, before the break, you threw something out in regards to, is this a way to fix college football? Yeah, I think it's a way to spread college football out. All right, let's see it. Okay, so here is a 14-team playoff model.

And I would just say, before I get into the playoff real quick, this goes along with a few assumptions. Colin, I think that we should do away with divisions in every conference so that the top two teams would play in a conference championship game. I also believe that we should tier teams for your non-conference game and schedule a power five opponent for you. So the best teams get tiered together and they have to play quality opponents. You don't get the schedule like you mentioned with Alabama next season. Having said that, I believe that a group of five teams should get an automatic bit if they win, the best group of five champion, which would be Cincinnati. And this model 14, here's what it does. It rewards the best two teams in the country with a buy.

I totally agree with this. It also eliminates Bama against a 14 seed. That's exactly right. And so you avoid a massive blowout. You reward the best two teams and you make their conference championship games meaningful for them because they still have to win in order to get a buy. So you're stretching out the meaning of some of those games down the stretch. Then you've got these other six games out there.

You're going to play it on campus, which I think would be amazing. You play on campus. Now, for this argument, I took the six champions, five power five champions, best group of five champions, and I actually seeded them one thing. through six based on, and here's another change, Colin, I would do away with the committee. Go back to the BCS style of ranking teams where you have more inputs, a larger equation that I think would be less bias inherent. And so this is what it would look like.

Okay, well, what's that two rounds on campus? Okay, some of it I like a lot. Who's that 12 seed? Let's see, that's coastal. Based on the BCS, they would be in. Based on those standings, they would be in. Based on those standings, they would be in. well then let's blow this algorithm up coastal carolina can't make it we can talk about and that's but

that's part of the we can talk and debate about what style of ranking system would be better i think that we should incorporate some computers and then have a couple of committees for human polls right so i wouldn't leave it to the api and the coaches poll i mean dabbo had ohio state 11th for for goodness sake so we can talk about how we rank teams but this is just an example of what you could get you would have six games on the opening week of the playoffs. They would be on campus. The second round would be back on campus, higher seed host. And I think that we would have more interest in college football. North Carolina would be in. Florida would be in. All these teams, A&M would be in. I don't mind having Cincinnati sneaking in there. I like Indiana's in there. That'd be fun against

Texas A&M. I'm for all this stuff here. Except for coastal. You don't want to see coastal. Well, that's just part of the equation. We can talk. We can debate about the equation. You can't throw a 72 mile an hour fastball pass. Greg Maddox begs to differ. I raked that thing right in the right field. I got the... By the way, in an inner squad, Greg Maddoch... I actually hit off of Greg Maddox once. So I was a minor league baseball player in like a former life.

That day, he was sick. He had influenza. He was very tired that day. No, I didn't get a hit. That's what I'm trying to tell you. His fastball broke a foot. It looked like a slider. And it was like, that was kind of slow and it slid.

I was like, was that a fastball. And I was like, yeah, that was a fastball. I was like, well, I can't hit that. And then you went into a... the glamorous job of local radio before you became an icon. You were a bit, weren't you big in Colorado Springs? Clatt and Jenkins in the morning on 92.4.

You know, one of my shows was with Charles Johnson, who was the backup quarterback for Colorado, came in for Dary and Hagan when they won the Orange Bowl and won the national championship. CJ and Clat talked a lot of buffs. Very big and Boulder. I bet you were. CJ, I love you, brother.

In the mornings. No, it wasn't. Did you have sound effects? It was like 9 to noon on like the third. Best Sports Talk radio show That's exactly right. You were so far down the AM dial, you were right next to the glove compartment. I got to just pushed your show into the glove compartment.

Real quick. Do you know what I did one day? I prank called the governor of Nebraska. Oh, that's a good call. I didn't realize that you couldn't put somebody on without letting them know they were on the radio. So you got fired from that lame job? I did. Wow, that's quite a. It's worked out well for you.

You know what it worked out. All right. Her hierarchy. Hour two next. Another podcast from some SNL late-night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer Streeter Seidel

help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and Friends on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal, but encouraged. It's the enhanced games.

Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the I-Hard Radio app. or wherever you get your podcasts.

A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what I'm saying. Yep, that's me, Clifford Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, my basketball and college football journey, or my career in sports media. Well, now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Cliford Show. This is a place for raw unfilled conversations with athletes,

creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. So let's get to it. Listen to the Clivert Show on the I-Rourts show on the I-Rourts show. hard radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. Hey, what's good, y'all? You're listening to learn the hard way with your favorite therapist and host Kear Games. This space is about black men's experiences, having honest conversations that it's really not safe to have anywhere, but you're having them with a licensed professional who knows what he's doing. How many men

carry a suit or armor? It signals to the world that you're not to be played with. And just because you have the capability that does not mean that you need to. Listen to learn the hard way on the IHard radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. This is an IHart podcast. Guaranteed Human.