The Herd with Colin Cowherd - 09/03/2021 - Best of The Herd

Episode Date: September 3, 2021

Colin discusses a survey from NFL executives who rated the Cowboys as the 7th best team in the NFC and why this is bad news for America’s Team heading into the 2021 season. He puts one young quarterback on notice for holding his team back from being a real Super Bowl contender. He also points out which premiere college football programs will likely be looking for a new head coach at the end of the season. Plus, Fox Sports College Football analyst Chris Petersen joins the show to talk about CJ Stroud’s debut for Ohio State and if Jim Harbaugh can bounce back at Michigan.   Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. 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. Will Ferrell's Big Money Players and IHart Podcasts presents soccer moms. So I'm Leanne. Yeah.

This is my best friend, Janet. Hey. And we have been joined at the hips since high school. Absolutely. A redacted amount of years later, we're still joined at the hip. Just a little bit bigger hips. This is a podcast. We're recording it as we tailgate our youth soccer games in the back of my Honda Odyssey.

With all the snacks and drinks. Why did you get hard seltzer instead of beer? Oh, they hit a bogo. Well, then you got it. Listen to soccer moms on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. What's up, fam? It's Isaiah Thomas. And I'm C.J. Toledano.

It's our favorite time of the year on our podcast point game, the playoffs. We're digging into the biggest surprises of the season. And I'm looking back on some of my greatest playoff moments. If we didn't talk ever again, I was hungry. You just understood. That's how personal it got. Wow. Then after that game seven, Marquis keep coming to.

He's like, you know I love you, dog. You know, it's all love. This was just playoffs. This was just basketball. So listen to Point Game on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Joey Dardano. And on my new podcast, Hope from a Hypocrite, I'll be changing lives, helping people in need with thoughtful solutions. Sike, I'm a comedian.

I'm not qualified to give good advice. Join me and my comedian friends as we riff rant and recommend some of the most legally dubious advice known to me. This is Help from a Hypocrite, the worst advice from the dumbest, people you know. Listen to help from Hippocrat Wednesdays on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Thanks for listening to The Best of Heard Podcast. Be sure

to catch us live every weekday. From 12 to 3 Eastern, 9 to noon Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and FS1. Find your local station for the herd at foxports radio.com or stream us live every day on the iHeart Radio app by searching Herd. This is the best of the herd with Colin Cowher

on Fox Sports Radio. Ah, it is a Friday in beautiful Los Angeles. And this show's called The Herd, wherever you may be and however you may be listening. IHeart Radio, Fox Sports Radio, FS1. Quite a show today, college football, huge weekend kicked off last night. Ohio State's better, but got a lot of work to do with quarterback and on that defense. Joy Taylor is joining me. The week has flown by.

We're going into a great college football weekend and a lot of NFL stuff. This is an off weekend for the NFL. League now kind of mandating Friday, Saturday, Sunday. No practicing. Get out of the facility. But here we go. I watched that game last night.

It was so fun. Oh, to have fans back and the energy. It was so great. And it was a great game as well. It was. Ohio State is going to get better and better because they have a very young quarterback. by the end of the year you don't want any piece of them.

Right now they're a little vulnerable. But I want to start with this. NFL executives. These are people that are paid a lot of money to make judgments on personnel, and most have been doing it for years and years and years and years. Not a lot of 20-year-old NFL execs. A lot of 35, 55, 55, people know what they're doing. So they ranked the NFC teams 1 through 16 and the AFC teams 1 through 16.

So let's start with the NFC. I view that is a harder conference to predict. A little weaker at the top than the AFC, not nearly as many great young quarterbacks as the AFC. I think the NFC is now the weaker of the two conferences, especially at the top. But it is very interesting. In the weaker conference, where do the NFL executive has put the Dallas Cowboys right in the middle? Seventh. In fact, no executive in the entire.

league voted them above six, yet none voted them below nine. It is unanimous, their average in the weaker conference. I've always been fascinated by something, and I think I have the answer. I'm always amazed when really smart, successful people can't see obvious stuff. Like you're like, you're successful, you're smart, you went to the right schools. Well, that's obvious. what are you doing? Dallas, of course, has two issues, and they've had these now for several years. And I'm amazed, Jerry Jones can't spot them. And the only answer is ego. And this is often the problem with men, is that if smart men are not acknowledging obvious stuff, they see it. Right? They just got an ego and they can't get through it. So Dallas has two problems. Number one,

they pay good players good great money that's a death sentence in the NFL but why does Dallas do that because of their second issue they become increasingly insular we don't need any external voices we have everything figured out here so in Dallas drafts players and pays them a lot it's a self-fulfilling prophecy our guys are great no they're good you're paying them great money. Dallas does it different than all the top teams in the league, like a Buffalo or a New England. New England just spent $120 million on free agents, Kansas City, all the other top teams in the league acknowledge, oh, Rams, Seattle, that organization did a good job to draft that player that we passed on. We're going to go pay for that player. The top teams in this league

have many of their own players, but a lot of other stars they've purchased, they've traded for other teams. Rams, Jalen Ramsey. Matt Stafford acknowledging, yeah, Sony Michelle now. We don't, Andrew Whitworth, that was a bingle guy, right? Aaron Donald is theirs, but they're acknowledging. A lot of great players elsewhere. Seattle's doing that. They do that all the time, right?

Jamal Adams, you're not ours, but he's great. Dwayne Brown, not ours, but he's great. Not the Cowboys. Outside of Amari Cooper, their entire roster of well-competated players, we drafted them, we know better, they're ours, we're paying them well. And that, those are the two. problems is that they pay good players great money and they become increasingly insular. And you see this all the time in America.

Let's say somebody's got a, you know, they've got a car emporium. They own a car business, a big dealership. And they got all their kids working on the dealership. And it's a big city. It's a Cincinnati or a Philadelphia or a Denver or Los Angeles. They have all their kids working on the dealership. And then dad, you know, the Patriarch, retires and the dealership goes down. Well, of course it does.

Because 75% of businesses fail when you hand them to the second generation. 95% fail when the second generation hands them to their kids, the third generation. They almost all fail. Why? Because the best people for any business are all over the place. They're not in your family. Believe it or not, if you have seven kids, they're not the seven smartest people in the world or in your town. You got to go get somebody that went to Wharton or Stanford and bring them into your family business to ask questions, to push.

back. Dallas doesn't do that. It's a family business. It's very insular. We know best the minute Jimmy Johnson, Bill Parcells came in and pushed back. Nope, get them out of here. Those are the two best coaches they've ever had. So and the downside of Dallas is none of this is going to change for a decade. Why? Number one, the Jones family has shown they don't want external voices. And I'm not saying they're dopes. I think Charlotte's the rock star on the organization, but she doesn't do football. And then the second reason is, Dax good, and they're going to keep and they just signed him. So he's going to be around for eight, nine years.

He's good. I don't think he's great. He's good. So in this league, there's four components that matter. Owner, GM, coach, and quarterback. And three of those four in Dallas are not changing for probably eight years. The one that will coach, Jerry Jones, has shown reluctance to hire somebody that will push back.

He wants basically somebody that will listen to him. And so I just think it's interesting. If you go look at two of the best college football programs in America, Alabama and Notre Dame, they were good. How did they get exceptional? They went outside the family. Nick Saban had no connection to Alabama, Brian Kelly, Notre Dame. The way to go from good to great is almost always the same answer. You need another voice in the room.

A man or a woman, somebody that will push back and say, yeah, let me give you a new pair of eyes. Let me give you a fresh set of ears here. Alice won't do that. And that's why, according to executives, they are right in the middle of the lesser of two conferences. They're average. You want to go from average to great? You have to listen to people outside the family. It's uncomfortable. That's how you do it. All right. Let's go to the AFC. This is very interesting. Now, the AFC, I think, is a much easier conference to predict because you have these great. head coach quarterback combinations, Reed, Mahomes, Lamar, Harbaugh, McDermott, Josh Allen. It's much easier to predict. The top is very, very strong. And it's, I mean, let's be honest, if Mack Jones can play, in fact, the top six of the

AFC rankings according to these acts, I agree right down the line. Chiefs one, Bill's two, Ravens three, Browns four, Colts five, Chargers six, totally agree. I would flip the Titans at 7 to 8 and the Patriots 8 to 7. But really the top eight, I almost all agree. And I do think it's the better conference right now because of the great young quarterback play. But do you notice where Miami is? 11.

Not a playoff team. They quote two of the executives in the NFL. One says, I'll believe it when I see it with the quarterback. The other says they're not going to run interceptions back to the five yard line every other week like last year. So this is why I said before last year's draft, you better draft a quarterback because there's five good ones and you're going to be way too good to getting that top five or six in the next decade. And it's also why I refuse to back down on Tua. Watch the games.

And what's interesting is he plays Mack Jones in week one and he's an underdog and this is fascinating. Think about that. Mac Jones only started one year of college. That's it. That's usually trouble. And he's never taken an NFL snap live against the first team defense. And Miami's defense last year was number one third down defense in the league, number one in takeaways, top three fewest penalties.

And they won 10 games. They returned their quarterback. And they're an underdog to Max Jones. Same division. Why? Because Tua had two wins last year, throwing for under 200 yards. That's 1978 football. So last year I went seven for seven predicting the AFC.

It's not brilliance, although that needs to be. be considered. It's because the AFC is an easier conference to predict. But what they're telling you, remember this, since 1991, four teams, new teams every year make the playoffs. Every single year since 1991, four teams minimum that didn't make the playoffs do. And four teams that made the playoffs don't every single year. So Miami didn't last year. There were an inch away and executives they're telling you, oh, no, they're going to go backwards because they're not going to get every break. Their schedule is, inarguably, much tougher this year, and New England's back. So this is the Tua dilemma.

And Miami, unlike Dallas, which I just talked about, smart people don't get obvious stuff. Miami does. This is the good news for my... They do. That's why the Deshawn Watson rumors happen this week. They see it. they see that New England now has a quarterback that fits. They see how good Josh Allen is.

They see the jets are better than they've been the last two years. They see to it practice. Whereas Dallas, the ego gets in the way and they don't see obvious stuff. Like get external voices in the organization. Miami going after Deshawn is actually a great, great sign of your dolphin fan. They see their dilemma. The dilemma, all these executives are saying, yeah, they're like bottom half. for the AFC. Miami sees it. Your execs see it. Your coach sees it. Your GM sees it. Your

owner sees it. And if Deshawn Watson wasn't in all this trouble, he'd be a dolphin today. Because they're willing to give the picks up reportedly with all the stuff going on in his life. So sometimes bad news is good news. Miami, unlike Dallas, sees the issue and is trying to work on it. Dallas knows there's an issue and refuses to. Be sure to catch live edition. 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, 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 I'm not so great. Listen to Superhuman on the I-Hart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, I'm Jared Adano. You might know me as that loud guy who yells out, help on the internet. Help!

Somebody! Please! But there's so much more to me than that. I'm an actor. I'm a comedian. And recently, I've become quite the helper myself. And on my new podcast, hope from a hypocrite,

I'll be changing lives, helping people in need with my sage advice and thoughtful solutions. Sike, I'm a comedian. I'm not qualified to give good advice. Join me and my comedian friends as we riff, rant, recommend some of the most legally dubious advice

known to man. If I'm calling you, even if you're on your phone, let it ring twice. One ring is too scary. Cream a chicken suit. Hey, cream. Cream a chicken suit.

This is Help from a Hypocrite, the worst advice from the dumbest people you know. Listen to help from a hypocrite. as part of the Mike Coutura Podcast Network available on the I-Hart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. 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 would get that thing. That man, hell get to fly. He run 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. 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.

American Soccer is about to explode. The World Cup is coming. Ramers sending on to Ernie. Score at the chip. I'm Todd Ramos. I'm Tom Boe. On our podcast, inside American soccer, you'll get the real storylines. I'm not worried about Policicic, I'm not worried about Balagan, I'm not worried about McKinney.

My only concern is what happens in the back. The biggest decisions. If you're going to look at stats and numbers, he has no shot at making this World Cup team. And the truth about the U.S. national team. It wouldn't be a huge surprise if our team ends up in the quarterfinals or potentially a great run into the semifinals. The World Cup is almost here. Experience it all with us. Listen, inside American soccer with Tom Bogart and Tabramos

on the I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, wherever you get your podcast. So Ohio State is kind of my pick, along with Clemson to win the national championship this year. I don't think Alabama's has dynamic offensively as they were the last couple of years. They'll be great defensively, well coached. But I think Ohio State and Clemson look like the best teams in the country. I think Oklahoma's good. You know, this is kind of the same teams every year. Georgia will be good.

C.J. Stroud is a young kid, freshman, no real snaps in big games, and he illustrated how hard it is college or pro to be a young quarterback. So Ohio State, their offense has better players than Minnesota's defense at virtually every position. That's not even arguable. That's that the receiving core for Ohio State is the best in the country. Their offensive lines, top three in the country, maybe the best. They're running backs for four and five stars. At every position, and C.J. Stroud, super talented. First half was uneven, over his skis, lost, sloppy, and kind of got it right in the second half.

Now consider, for all the Jet fanboys, how hard it's going to be for Zach Wilson, who has inferior talent in at least half the positions on his offense against the Miami defense, a Buffalo defense or a New England defense. Trevor Lawrence and Zach Wilson have talent, but they're going to have to overcome every snap of the year, a gap in talent.

C.J. Stroud is just guiding superior talent. And here's how I would put it. C.J. Stroud is given the keys to a Lamborghini. And they're telling him, just don't wreck it.

You can go under the speed limit. Don't wreck it. Trevor Lawrence and Zach Wilson are being given the keys to a 98 civic and told, you got to win the race. I mean, you got to beat the faster cars. And what's that going to mean? Zach Wilson and Trevor Lawrence are going to make a bunch of mistakes driving in a junkie car faster than it's meant to go. And C.J. Stroud, his whole Ohio State season is going to be just don't.

Don't wreck the Lambo. Drive it a little slower. You know what? If you're uneasy, take the exit. Pull off to the side. Go refuel. Take a break. That even he last night,

with that offense, that talent, Ohio State's so much better. Their offensive talent this year is just as good as they've had ever. And he was uneven. And he's a brilliant, brilliant young quarterback. He talked after the game. In the first half, I just, my mind wasn't right. I mean, I was kind of all over the place a little bit.

So, I mean, talk to my teammates praying a lot, just trying to lock back in. In the game of football, you have ups and downs, and they believe in me, you know what I'm saying? So they put me in a situation to get them the ball. And, I mean, that's a big opportunity for me. That's a big task. So I feel like I did that. Of all the great young quarterbacks, freshman quarterbacks in college football, and of all those great five first round rookie quarterbacks in the NFL,

I'll make a prediction. CJ Stroud and Mack Jones will win the most games. Not saying they're the best. They'll win the most games because they're being asked simply to not wreck the car. You can go slower than the speed limit. That's what we talk about all the time. Where you lance is why the best high school quarterbacks go to the best programs. It's nice to hand off to a five-star running back who zips around the corner and outruns all the Minnesota

to Defenders. Makes life a lot easier. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific. Hey, this is Jason McIntyre. Join me every weekday morning on my podcast, Straight Fire with Jason McIntyre. This isn't your typical sports pod pushing the same tired narratives down your throat every day. Straight Fire gives you honest opinions on all the biggest sports headlines, accurate stats to help you win big at the sports book and all the best guests. Do yourself a favor and listen to Straight Fire with Jason McIntyre 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-Hart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, I'm Jared Adano. You might know me as that loud guy who yells out, help on the internet. Help! Somebody! Please! But there's so much more to me than that. I'm an actor. I'm a comedian, and recently, I've become quite the helper myself. And on my new podcast,

I was ho from a hypocrite, I'll be changing lives, helping people in need with my sage advice and thoughtful solutions. Sike, I'm a comedian. I'm not qualified to give good advice. Join me and my comedian friends as we riff rant and recommend some of the most legally dubious advice known to man.

If I'm calling you, even if you're on your phone, let it ring twice. One ring is too scary. Oh, cream of chicken soup. Hey, cream a chicken soup. This is Help from a Hypocrite, the worst advice from the dumbest people you know. Listen to Help from Hypocrite as part of the Mike Coutura Podcast Network available on the IHart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

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. for. 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 Nass would get that thing. That man, hell get to 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. American Soccer is about to explode. The World Cup is coming. Ramers sending on to earn a score at the chip. I'm Tad Ramos. I'm Tom Boke. On our podcast, Inside American Soccer, get the real storylines. I'm not worried about Policic. I'm not worried about Balagan. I'm not worried about McKinney.

My only concern is what happens in the back. The biggest decisions. If you're going to look at stats and numbers, he has no shot at making this World Cup team. And the truth about the U.S. national team. It wouldn't be a huge surprise if our team ends up in the quarterfinals or potentially a great run into the semifinals.

The World Cup is almost here. Experience it all with us. Listen, inside American soccer with Tom Bogart and Tab Ramos on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, wherever you get your podcast. I am picking an upset. I like UCLA over LSU, and this is the really big game for ramifications. There's five or six jobs in this country, maybe seven great college football jobs. Ohio State, Oklahoma, Alabama, LSU, USC, Florida, Texas, multiple coaches, have either won national championships, multiple coaches. have had great success. Clemson was irrelevant until Dabo Sweeney showed up.

Dabo makes Clemson a great job. Those other places have won multiple national championships with multiple coaches and LSU is one of those jobs. And Ed Orgeron is in trouble. And SEC fans do not think highly of Pack 12 soft out here in liberal California. They don't like losing out west. And Ed Orgeron's record without Joe Burrow is 20. and 11 at LSU. That ain't good enough. By the way, Clay Helton, his record without Sam Darnold, is 24 and 17 at USC. That is not good enough.

So the two programs, very rarely do you get two top five or six jobs in college football that are available? USC and LSU, we're going to know in three months. And my guess is LSU we're going to know by Saturday night. Because if they lose to UCLA, and this is UCLA's best Chip Kelly team, it's a really good team. They've got offensively good O line, multiple excellent tight ends, two NFL level potential running backs. And Chip Kelly now, been in the program several years. Don't love their quarterback, not a great throw over the football, but he's been around. He can guide the offense.

But if they lose, I've said this before, the people that can hire and fire you make a decision a year before they tell you. Right. When you have a big job, CEO head coach decisions are made well before you're told. If LSU loses to UCLA, Ed's done. It's not public, but they were bad last year. He was in trouble before Joe Burrow. he's in trouble immediately after Joe Burrow. And this is every, that's a big game.

I mean, Wisconsin, Penn State, loser of that could still win nine, ten games. If you look at the SEC, if they can't beat UCLA, they're not winning games in the SEC. So that is a huge, huge game. Penn State, Wisconsin, early, UCLA, LSU late. Those are the games to keep your eye on. Very big weekend of college football. By the way, I asked Joel Clatt yesterday. end of our interview.

I asked him. I said at the end of the year, who's going to be better in L.A., USC or UCLA, and he said UCLA. So this is like a legitimate, I think UCLA beat USC this year, the city championship. So watch out LSU. You guys all fell in love with Ed Orsoran a couple years ago. There's a lot of heat on Edo. One more herd? The herd streams 24 hours a day, seven days a week within the IHeart radio app.

Search Hurd to listen live or on demand. whenever you'd like. Everybody has one or two people in their life that you bump into every like year. And you're always like, oh my God, we should hang out more. I've got your number. I promise, we'll go out for lunch soon. And then you walk away and you never do. We've all got, I got that friend.

You know, we've all had that person where you bump in. You like them. They're an acquaintance. Not somebody you want to hang out a ton with. Cam Newton is that in the NFL. Everybody tells you they love him. Every time he's available, nobody takes him. Nobody badmouthed him his entire career.

I mean, Ron Rivera said nothing but nice stuff. And Belichick, I mean, we joked about it on their show. He treated Cam better than Tom Brady. He gave Cam Newton more compliments in the first month that he didn't Brady in 20 years. Belichick once had to give Tom Brady a game ball last year. It was so, or the year before, it was cringy. It was so uncomfortable. Cam walks into the door.

Oh, it's the most coach. guy I've ever had. I love it. Yet, yet Ron Rivera chose Kyle Allen, Cam's backup in Washington over Cam, and Belichick released him. He's the friend, you, oh, God, look, the minute they're available, I can't make lunch today. Cam Newton had no market as a free agent, and now he has no market as a backup. Will Greer was released by Carolina an hour later. the Cowboys picked him up.

Ryan Fitzpatrick and Tyrod Taylor and Mitch Trebisky. Not only had markets, they had markets quickly. Washington flew Ryan Fitzpatrick up on a private jet. Tyrod Taylor was out of work a minute. Mitch Trubisky, Buffalo, good team. Get over here. They had a market. Cam's got no market.

Had no market. Before he got no market. Now, well, it's the mechanic. You know, he's been injured. Stop with the injuries. Carson Wentz and Sam Bradford are hurt every 15 minutes. Bradford always had a market, and Carson Wentz had multiple teams interested with a huge contract off a terrible year and a bunch of injuries. Carson Wentz had one of the best run teams in the league won.

By the way, Sam Darnel went 2 in 10 last year. He had a quarterback rating at 72. He had more interceptions than touchdowns. Nothing went right. He completed 59% of his throat. He regressed terribly, and I love Sam Darnel. He was bad last year. He had a market.

Cam has no market. So you got to, it's like, what I don't even know what it is with Cam, but there's just certain athletes. We do this all the time. We just, maybe it's because he came into the NFL as a number one pick and a star. And I've said this for years.

How you enter a company is how you're viewed. If you start in the mail room, you could be the smartest person at the company, but there's going to be a percentage of people that always think, well, you know, she started, he started in the mailroom. If you start as a vice president, you could be a buffoon, but you're always viewed, well, corner office.

He really knows what he's doing. Cam came in so highly projected as the number one pick and a star. And that's just how we view him. We just view him as a star. But at some point, how good you are in life in any industry is, you're available. Who wants you? It's not a big market here. There wasn't, before he got to New England, there's not now.

I thought Dallas was a really good fit. Will Greer, I mean, they were obviously looking for a backup because the second, Will Greer was available the second. Dallas picked the phone up, picked him up. And there's one or two other teams I think could really use a backup. But this is not a calling right, calling wrong. I really, Joy and I talk about this all the time. I don't get paid to be right.

I get paid to be interesting. I'm not paralyzed by being right or wrong. I'm really not. I'd rather be right then wrong. But on the CAM thing, I've been saying this for years, is that people, and they did this with Carmelo Anthony for years. They just, everybody said the nicest stuff. and then nobody, when he was in his prime, wanted to play with him.

I don't know what it was. And it may be with Mello. He came into the league as such a highly coveted star. That's how he's viewed. And so people are afraid to go against the grain and say, maybe Mello's a little overrated. Maybe Cam's a little overrated because they're so popular on social media. They come into the league as stars.

It's much easier to say popular, easy things on social media than push back on stars. That's when you get the avalanche of hate. I mean, for me, seven years ago to say, Westbrook's not a winning player. He's talented. I'd pay to watch him play, but you're not a winning player. I remember getting so much heat when I used to say I love Chris Paul, because he doesn't dunk, he's not flashy, and he didn't get along with Blake Griffin. And I can remember getting nasty stuff.

I'd be like, Chris Paul's the key to the clippers, not Blake Griffin. Chris Paul's winning player. Blake Griffin's just athletic. Blake Griffin's overrated. Chris Paul's way underrated. But again, Chris Paul went to a non-power. out of college. He doesn't dunk. He's not flashy. He's not trying to curry favor constantly with memes. So it's easy to crush Chris Paul. Plus, he keeps, you know, he loses in the playoffs.

So it's easy to bury Chris Paul. But it's harder with Westbrook because he's so entertaining and he's so crazy. He wins an MVP. It's hard to crush. So I think some of it with Cam is he is, he is really popular and was, and he won an MVP for a long time that nobody wants to just acknowledge that. everybody tells me how great he is. There's no markets for him. Will Greer had a bigger market. Sam Darnold did. I love Darnold.

He was terrible last year. He was bad. And I'm the biggest Darnold fan in the world. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific on Fox Sports Radio, FS1, and the IHeard Radio app. Well, I've been a fan of Chris Peterson forever. He's now at Fox Sports. Two-time national coach of the year.

multiple Pac-12 championships. He is the new analyst for Fox Sports College football, and I have been talking his ear off for 15 minutes with a bunch of nonsense, and he's just about tired of me. It's great to see you. Awesome to be here, Colin. Thanks. Okay, so let's just go to last night, C.J. Stroud,

and we were talking about this earlier. I think Ohio State's really good. I think C.J. is a kid. And you, over the course of your Boise State career and your Washington career, sometimes your best quarterback is your youngest quarterback. So what do you do if you're Ryan Day? because he was a little uneven last night in the first half. How do you talk him through games when he's going to see stuff?

He's never seen in games. Yeah, that's really hard to do. You've got to put them in the games. You can only do so much in practice. And then you have to just throw them in there. And you have to just stay calm, talking them through. Do you coach them differently in a game, a younger quarterback? You know, I would try to always coach him the same.

You don't want them feeling different. So that's why I think practice. You know, you're always in practice trying to recreate the game in practice. And part of that is your demeanor as well. If you're going to air, air on the calm side. And obviously what Ryan Day and those guys were doing was working. So they go in at halftime and they come out and they just start rolling. So, you know, you could go in there very easily at halftime and start to panic.

You know, we're not doing what we're supposed to be doing. And you could just tell. Like, they just got into a groove and away they went. So it's very rare Penn State Wisconsin play. you almost never get a massive conference rival week one. Unlike the NFL, there's no preseason. Unlike the NFL, you're dealing with 18-year-old kids. For a consumer, it's great.

But I think to myself, if I was a coach, and I coach Penn State, the last team I'm going to see is Paul Chris and Wisconsin. When you've had one or two of those in your career where your opener is a hugely important game, does it change your game plan? Does it change your practices? I mean, that game almost feels too bad.

big for tomorrow. You're right. It really does. It doesn't really change anything. You know, you get about eight days out from game time, and then you start in fall camp, you start honing into whatever opponent you're going to play. Now, everybody does work in the summer, analyzing their first three opponents. But when you play the league, you know, you open with your league, you're going to know those guys a lot better.

And so in some ways, the game planning comes together quicker than it would if it's somebody that you don't know it all. Yeah, you kind of know what those. teams do. Wisconsin is going to run the football right at you. You've seen it. And you have a library of tape, especially when there's consistency at these programs like Wisconsin, Penn State. So it's almost too much tape. Sometimes you start chasing ghosts. So I am a fan of Jim Harbaugh, but he's a big presence. And I think in college football, that's just great for recruiting. You know, in college football, the player selects you. In the NFL, you select the player. So having a presence, you had a presence. Pete Carroll at USC big.

And I think Harbaugh has that. And then about year three at Michigan, it's just kind of unraveled. And I read a story the other day in the athletic where, you know, the AD sat him down and said, we've got to make some changes here. And I would theorize that Jim had a lot of power. And sometimes when you have a lot of power, we're all human, right? You lean into that and you don't want to hear, you know, people are afraid to come at you and say, coach, I disagree.

That's kind of my theory with Harbaugh. he almost gave him a little bit too much power. Let's have him answer to certain people. I'm just throwing that out there. I mean, he was successful in the NFL. It's successful as heck at Stanford. About year three at Michigan, it went sideways. What did the personnel?

What did you see? What do you think happened? That's a really difficult question to answer because you'd have to know the inside operations. But I agree with you. He's a good football coach. You follow his track record at University of San Diego, all of a sudden they start winning,

goes to Stanford when Stanford is really hurting. I mean, you follow the track record, the guy can coach football. And I agree with you on the presence. I think he's really good for college football. So do I. And so you like those type of things. They've recruited pretty well.

Pretty well. And so, you know, I don't know what's going on inside of the program, but I really admire and respect how hard he's competing and fighting to get this thing right. You know, I mean, they adjusted his salary. You know, he's changing. staff. He's trying to get the recruiting thing going. I mean, he's doing everything in his power. And, you know, he's fighting the tidal wave of public opinion. And that thing can get overwhelming.

So he's just got to put the earplugs in and do his deal. So Chip Kelly, it looks like this is the best UCLA team he had. Very good at tight end, very good at running back. They return all their alignment. It should be, it plays, it won't be as a, as dynamic as maybe some of those Oregon teams. but you've coached. You know Chip very well. I think they have a shot to beat LSU tomorrow. Ed's on the rails a little bit here. Give me your thoughts.

Chip comes into the sport, comes out west, and literally changes the pace of play. Your initial reaction to this guy named Chip Kelly at Oregon, and it was the first time you saw what he was doing, and your reaction to what he's done at UCLA. Well, I loved what they were doing in Oregon. And, of course, I was tied into that program

at one time with Mike Bellotti. And so I knew all those coaches for so long and then saw how they kind of adjusted their scheme and took the next step. And it was, you know, it was transformative. No, it certainly was on the West Coast. I mean, I think it did it across the country into high school football and everything.

And then, you know, people catch up and adapt to styles and it's not such a unique style. But the one thing that everybody knows about Chip is he's a good football coach. X's and O's, and he's into running the football. and, you know, he does a great job with that. There's just so much more to, like, the program than just X's and O's. It's culture and having time to get your way established of how you wanted.

And so he walks into a culture at Oregon that Mike Bellotti was there for so long, and they had a certain way of doing things that was really good, and then they just come out with this new scheme, and it just blows up and takes off and transforms football. And so you've got to have time. And so Chip's been there a couple years now at UCLA, and I think they're ready to roll as well. Yeah, it's not the SEC.

UCLA is going to give you a little time. You know, we were just talking about this. You know, one of my favorite shows years ago was Seinfeld, and I have a Hollywood buddy one time. I have one Hollywood buddy, and we were talking a couple weeks ago. He said it would be canceled today because you don't get two years to figure out a TV show. And he said, you know, nobody has any patience in Hollywood. Literally, you can do a show.

If the executives don't like it, you get one episode. He goes, most of the great shows of our lives were bad in the first year. Right. And in college football similarly, there's so much money now, people are impatient. If let's say you take over, you take over a good name program, not great good, got seven, eight wins, you're okay. What is a reasonable amount of time? I mean, you took over Washington.

They were winning about seven games. How many years did it take you before you looked at your staff and thought we can really go toe to toe with almost anybody? it's going to take about 18 to 24 months to transform a program into the culture you want, depending on how different it is. Well, it took Nick that, by the way. He lost Louisiana Monroe first year at Alabama. We had to win my second year at Washington.

We had to win our last three games to even get to a bowl game, to even get to a bowl game. We win this bowl game. And the next year we go to the college football playoffs. And the whole time you're like, oh, we're going to. ever figure this out. The second year felt better than the first year. We had a bunch of young players and you could feel the culture going, but you're losing still. You're losing games. And so you still like, are we going to ever get this right? But you watch the kids and you see the buy-in. Are they in? Are they practicing hard after a hard loss? They come back on Monday and Tuesday and they got a

chip on their shoulder and they're ready to roll. And that's the one thing we did feel about our crew the second year. So it really can take two to three years. And you're right. And you're Right. Nobody has patience. I used to say that money's just like changed it and ruined everything. Money always ruins everything almost all the time. And even as a head coach making a lot of money, I just say, man, that it's a trade officer. Like this doesn't feel like what college football should be all about when you can't really build something because when you pay somebody so much money, they expect results quickly. That's what leadership's all about to take productive change. Like that's the purpose of leadership is to have productive change. You know, it's interesting. In the SEC, they don't have as many pro sports franchises. So the college football in the SEC feels bigger. I mean, they're saying is it matters more here. And they're right.

Out West, I mean, in L.A, we got two of everything. It's two NBA, two baseball, two NFL. Is somebody that loves the Pact 12, I can't even have the time get the Pact 12 network on my TV. You could have gone anywhere in the country. But you were a West Coast guy. where your home was and you stayed there. Do you worry about the PAC 12 going forward? Are you concerned? 100%. And not only just for the sake of the PAC 12, I don't think it's good for college football for the PAC 12 not to be good. Like I don't think this zero-sum game works in college football.

Like I don't think it's good for the Big 12 to dissolve or take a step back. Like I think parity is what we want. Yeah, big competitive games. But there's no really rules right now. it feels like, you know, in some ways in college football, it feels like it's a race to the bottom. There's no guardrails. There's no, you know, everything's changing so rapidly. And there's nobody to really say, okay, this is exactly what we're doing. Name image and likeness. Everybody's trying to figure that out from themselves from campus to campus, conference to conference. On the fly. On the fly. And they're just panic because it's like, is this, can we do this? Can we not? And, you know, that's just one small little thing. And so I'm really concerned about, I mean, it'll adjust and we'll adapt

and all those things, but I'm a college football guy, and I love college football. I mean, I love watching it. I don't like watching my football. That's why I'm sitting here with you, but I like watching college football, and I really care about it. And so I just hope for the health of the game

that we can get some guardrails and we get some leadership and direction. You know, it just feels so transactional right now. And to me, that's not what college football. Like, I haven't known college football. I've never thought about it as transactional. I mean, it's, you know, I know it sounds corner, and all these things.

But, you know, the relationships and the things you do for some of these kids and putting them through the process of college football and getting that degree. Like, to me, that really matters because I've seen it change lives. Well, families, yeah. Completely. But now it's just like, how much money can I get in name and into the likelihoods? Where do I go to get the NFL as fast as I can? And we're all about that.

Like, every coach wants this guys to go to the NFL. You want to help them be their best and chase their dreams. But there's got to be a certain way where it's just, not the Wild Wild West and a free-for-all. Yeah. By the way, I'm going to give you a couple quick questions. I'll put you on the spot. Best team in your years of being a head coach in college football, best team you ever saw, that you watched either on film, you were prepping for them,

you played them or you watched, that you watched as a consumer or live perhaps and thought, we can't compete with that. Well, I never go there and say, we can't compete with that. Like, I don't know any coach competitor is going to go. you're like, okay, these guys are darn good. Obviously, when we played Alabama in the playoffs, a couple years back in 16, you know, they just had draft pick after draft pick and the D line.

And the film looked incredible. Well, it was like they brought in their second D line and there's no drop-off. And you're like trying to figure out eight guys. Usually you're figuring out two guys that you got to take care of, you know, in the D-line. They got like eight. They were really good.

You know, the year after that, we played Ohio State in the Rose Bowl. I remember that. And I thought they were really, really good and underrated. Now, they were still like five or seven in the country, didn't make the playoffs that year. But on tape, I thought they were as good as anybody. Urban's last year, so I knew they were motivated. That's a matchup that I was really worried about. And we were on our heels most of the game to catch up and just even kind of make it close. Best player you ever saw. Coached against saw that you just could not believe how good he was.

Well, I always, you know, you get to know your own guys and you have such an affinity for those guys. But, you know, just as a raw football player was Shaq Thompson that we had up at Washington. Oh, he's Shaq could play. Shack could have been an NFL back, linebacker, safety. I'm serious, he's the best athlete I've ever seen play high school football. And he won the Thorpe Award. So that was like an accurate award. Sometimes these guys get awards and I'm like, that's not the best player there.

This guy, so we moved him to running back for about three games because we got to remember. And he ran for over 100 yards in every game. And I'm like, Shaq, we good? And he's like, no, I want to go back to linebacker. He could do anything. He could do anything. Kicks and punts and all that.

And so he, you know, just as a football player, it's like, wow, this guy's like old school. You know, he would have been a great two-way player. Yeah. In fact, he was the number one rated athlete in America out of high school that year, number one California player, Shaq Thompson. I've talked to Sark about that. Sark's like you just could not believe what you saw. And he was so fun just to be around. Like he liked football.

He liked to practice. The games were fun. I mean, I remember, you know, I think it was our second game. My second game at Washington were playing Georgia State. And we're losing at halftime. And we're getting booed, deservedly so. And I'm running off the field going, oh, my gosh. And Shaq runs next to me.

And he looks at me and goes, coach, Pete, this isn't Boise, Idaho. These fans will get after you in a heartbeat. And he's laughing and saying it. And it made me laugh. And it made me relax. And we go into the locker room. Actually, more relaxed than came out and we were fine.

But that was Shaq. You know, not only just a great player, but just a really, had to play the game for the love of the game. Love it. Great seeing you. You too. Chris Peterson, part of the Fox family now can't wait. Another podcast from some SNL late night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and friends.

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