The Herd with Colin Cowherd - 11/24/2020 - HOUR 2 - Herd Hierarchy

Episode Date: November 24, 2020

The Herd Hierarchy: Colin's new NFL rankingsGuests: Mark Schlereth, Joel Klatt Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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We're live in L.A. This is The Herd, wherever you may be. However you may be listening. Fox Sports Radio, I-Heart Radio, and FS1. I'm in the radio studio this week. Abundance of caution, COVID stuff. A show I was on in the weekend. Somebody tested positive, a couple of people.

So I've tested negative three times. I wear a mask everywhere I go except radio. So, so far, I've been. so good. Cross your fingers on that. Joy and I, I go out and occasionally have a chicken pot pie. Joy stays home. Joy, have you gone out yet to a restaurant since March?

Seriously? Yes, of course. Of course. I'm very sympathetic to all of the restaurant owners and workers in restaurants here in L.A. County. I'm sure it's very upsetting and they're distraught right in time for the holidays. So my heart and thoughts are with

them and I will be ordering takeout for the next couple weeks. But yes, I do go to restaurants. Pop pie is interesting, though, because it takes a long time to cook and then you got to wait for it to cool off before you eat it or you burn your mouth. Yeah, like 15 minutes. I watched it. Yeah, the process. Yeah, I watched it longer than I ate it. I watched it most of the night. Yeah. So here we go. It's called the herd hierarchy. We got some good teams now. There's a couple of teams I did not put in this herd hierarchy that I think will make the playoffs. So that's what we're looking at right now. We got some good football teams in this league.

We have a very small top, but a pretty broad middle to slightly above average. And here we go. Heard hierarchy. Time is now. Let's go. The top 10 NFL teams, according to college. Number 10. I've got a soft spot for the Tennessee Titans because it's old school football.

I respect their head coach, Mike Vrable. They overcame an 11. deficit against the Ravens. They run the ball. They lead the league in rushing attempts. And they're pretty good playing from behind. Ryan Tanales had five winning drives this year late in games, which leads the NFL. They are very old school football, but I got a soft spot for him because I've loved the NFL for 40 years and I have the Titans, the well-coached Titans at 10. Number nine. Seattle is nine, but I probably have them too low. Keep your eye on their defensive line. L.J. Collier had his best game as a pro last week, and Carlos Dunlap over from the

Bengals, appear to be able to provide the pass rush they need. They held Arizona to a season low 21, and they have the easiest remaining schedule in the NFL. We know Russell's got 30 touchdown passes, tops in the league. I've got them a little low. I want to watch their defensive line this week. they may have solved a big issue. Number eight. I got to give it to the Raiders. They've become the model of consistency. Three and one in their last four games,

15 straight games with over 300 plus total yards. That's the longest active streak in the NFL. They are best in the NFL on third down efficiency at 52%. Best in the NFL, meaning they've got a good enough offensive line to get a push, they're well coached, and they're efficient at quarterback. When you, this is a big stat for me. teams that are good on third down offensively. It tells you many things.

Good old line, good coaching, and a quarterback that can be efficient against pressure. Raiders at number eight. Number seven. Green Bay Packers, I may have them too high. I'm doing this for Aaron Rogers because they have the worst red zone defense this year. Opponents score on 97% of red zone drives. They can't stop anybody down inside the 20. And they blew a 14-point lead against the Colts.

They got pushed around the entire second half. But Aaron Rogers is fantastic. And Devante Adams, you can make an argument. He's the second or third best wide receiver in this league. So this is just respect for Aaron. I believe they're two Aaron Devante dependent, but I'll put him at seven. Number six. I'll put the Colts, who I think have a lower ceiling but play physical football.

They've won four of five. Their defense ranks top five in scoring. passing yards, and if you watch that second half against Green Bay, it was majestic. They just strapped on the helmets, put their head down and burrowed over the Packers for two hours. By the way, Rivers has only been sacked nine times. I've said this for years. Good offensive line, masks, a lot of issues, and I love the Colts O line.

I've got him at six. Number five. Buffalo. Listen, defense can scare me, but they're only like. losses are to the Titans, Chiefs, and Cardinals. Their defense has 10 turnovers in the last five games. That's good. And they have nine takeaways in the fourth quarter this year, meaning when it's crunch time in the fourth quarter, they play defense. So I like their staff. Their quarterback worries me at times, but he's a hell of an athlete. And I don't have a lot of criticisms

with Buffalo. Their defense worries me, but it tends to be good situationally, so I have them at five. Number four. Rams dominated the bucks last night. Had over 200 more yards, almost. 32 and 0 when they lead with Sean McVey at half since he got there. Number one in total defense. Number two in scoring defense. And here's what I really like. I think their secondary is the best in the league.

I think they've drafted their secondary. When they got Jalen Ramsey, a big corner, he is so valuable in that division against D.K. Metcalfe and D'Andre Hopkins, Debo Samuel. That's such a smart pickup. They can put him on a Mike Evans and slow him down. And again, what aren't they good at? Their secondary now is, it was an issue two years ago.

It is now a team strength. They moved the ball without Andrew Whitworth at left tackle. I got them four. Number three. Saints. Defense was really a mess early in the year. It no longer is. Now, I do worry they have seven come from behind wins.

why are they always having to come from behind? But I got to tell you, how many teams in the NFL could go 6-0 with backups? I watched Taysam Hill Sunday, and I'm like, nobody else could do this. They are so good structurally. GM coach, offensive, defensive line play. I think their pass rush is a little more consistent than the Rams is, so I have them at three. Number two. This is where it gets easy.

The Steelers are 10-0 remarkably for the first time in franchise history. they've got now they have played the easiest strength of schedule in the NFL this season some of it is they've beaten a lot of crap they have the Ravens bills colts and browns coming up and I do not think they'll go 4-0 there they win a lot of close games against decent teams they don't have the running game I think that's that gets you to a Super Bowl but I have two because they're 10 and 0 and their defense especially up front is nasty number one The Chiefs are 18 and 1 over the last calendar year. At this point, if you're going to not put them at number one, you're just trying to be obnoxious.

As much as I want to put them two or three because of Nick Wright, I love a football team that can win playing poorly or win when it's outplayed. And I thought the Raiders outplayed them for chunks of that game. And the Raiders are a good team. And they still came back on the road to win. went behind, they went on the road, and again, they're 18 and 1 in the last calendar year. There you go. Or hurt hierarchy. Now, I didn't have the Browns in it.

Good team. Didn't have the Browns in it. I have them at 11. And I will say this. John Gruden's my coat of the year. Kevin Stefansky is the runner-up. I think he's done a great job. First of all, when you become head coach at Cleveland, there's just a history of dysfunction.

overreacting. It's not been one of the great own franchises in the NFL or run. But I got to tell you something, to have a below average quarterback and be seven and three in that division, their losses are to the Steelers, the Raiders in a wacky weather game, and the Ravens. They're good. And here's what I like about Kevin Stavansky. He took him two weeks to identify what the team was and what the team wasn't.

John Dorsey, the GM that's gone, couldn't do that in three years. Three coaches couldn't do it. He has figured out really quickly, Baker Mayfield is a complementary piece. That is it. I mean, think about it. They got two really got a draft of a great tackle, and in free agency, they got a great tackle.

So their offensive line is significantly better, and they added a Pro Bowl level tied in. You'd think, oh, they're going to throw more. No, they're throwing less. they were 10th, 10th in pass attempts last year. They're 26 in pass attempts this year. Why? Because Kevin Stefansky by week two realized, here's what we are and here's what we're not.

He didn't draft Baker. I don't think he would. He's not beholden to him. He doesn't have the general manager who drafted him. And he identified really quickly. Baker is at his best throwing about 25. times a game, hopefully with a strong running game, which allows him to throw on second and five and third and two. And Baker in that space, pretty darn good. But Baker trailing or Baker under pressure,

the numbers are out. He's bad. Like bottom of the league. Baker trailing, Baker has to throw, Baker with a pass rush, he's awful. Okay, that's fine. Baker with a lead in a running game, you win games. They're not pretty. And they've been playing in bad weather, so I haven't had any strong opinions on Cleveland in three weeks. They're playing in 30 mile an hour wins. If you're playing in a city where you'd be cautious to land a plane, I'm not going to rip you. So Cleveland's winning. They deserve credit. But I think Stefansky's done a great job. I have Cleveland at number 11. Sorry if I don't trust them as much as the Titans and Mike Vrabel. I don't. But I think their coach has done a remarkable job. And I'll tell you this. If I'm a Cleveland Brown fan,

I don't know if Baker's there in a couple years. I think Stefansky will be. I think Cleveland and found their coach. And it's one thing about coaching. Like, you know, you can say, when I look at coaching, there's two things that I look for. And right now, Tampa's struggling with this and Philadelphia is struggling. So Bruce Ariens and Doug Peterson are struggling. Do you identify what you are and what you're not? Tampa still doesn't know. Philadelphia doesn't know. That's the one thing. And do I get a consistent effort week to week? I don't with Philly and I don't with Tampa. When I watch the Browns, I kind of get the same team every week. Even the loss to the Raiders.

You know, there was a crazy weather game. I'm not going to bang on them for that. I didn't say anything negative about Cleveland after that loss. I'm like, come on, it's 35-mile-hour wins. I got nothing to say. But my thing is, do you have an offensive identity? They do? And do I kind of get the same team every week.

I kind of do. I kind of do. The same ceiling, the same strength, the same liability. I kind of get it every week. So I think Stafansky's a home run. I think he did it. I think, you know, it doesn't take long. We've seen this before.

Matt Patricia, we knew about eight games in. Doesn't work. It's not good. And we also knew with Sean McVeigh eight games in. Oh, it's really good. This is really good. Sean McDermott of Buffalo, we knew by very early year two. He knows what he's doing.

Matt Rule at Carolina. I think we have all figured out. He knows what he's doing. It doesn't take long. Joe Judge I'm a fan of. I think Stefansky works. Now you could say, well, they got a lot of talent. Cleveland's had a lot of talent for a lot of my life.

Cleveland's had a lot of talent for a lot of my life. But it's been a circus. Also, Cleveland doesn't talk anymore. Cleveland doesn't it yap anymore. When's the last time we talked about the Cleveland Browns? We don't. I lived on the Browns for three years. They never shut up.

They don't talk anymore. They're like grownups. Stavansky gets credit for that. He's just one of those guys. Academic, cerebral, smart. He's got a little alpha, but not too much to be silly. I like what he's done. I really like what he's done.

Coming up next, Mark Schleras stops by. Trent Dilford doesn't drop a lot of bombs. He did yesterday, that's for sure. And the Lakers, it must be sad to not be them right now because good, God, are they good? That's coming up. One more herd? The herd streams 24 hours a day, seven days a week,

within the IHeart radio app. Search heard to listen live or on demand whenever you'd like. 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 IHard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, 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, 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. 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

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The television continues on Fox as Washington takes on Zeke and the Cowboys. Thanksgiving Day for Eastern only on Fox and the Fox Sports app. Yeah, Dallas favored by a little more than a field goal. Andy Dalton looked pretty good. Weather can be unpredictable this time of the year. Michelin Endurance XT Silicon Wiper Blades.

Last two times longer, available only at Walmart. Mark Slarris got three Super Bowl rings, multiple-time pro bowler, a Fox Sports NFL analyst. He is now joining me live. He had the Eagles Browns game. You know, I was just talking, Mark, about the Browns is that I don't really think they're a top eight, nine, or ten team, but I will say this.

They kind of know what they are now. They've got Baker playing under control right now. When you watch that game, is Cleveland good enough to win a football? playoff game in your opinion? Yeah, I mean, they're going to have to do it. They're going to have, there's a formula to it, Paul. And, I mean, you know, they're going to have to control the temple of the game.

They're going to have to control the clock, the time of possession, eliminate the opponent's offense to maybe take it from a 12 possession game down to an eight possession game and, you know, and allow their defense, allow their defense to stay fresh on the sideline, rush the passer. I mean, that's what they have to do, create turnovers. If they have that kind of game, of course they can win a playoff game. Their issue really is in their passing game. They have lost two guys that make a huge difference.

They lost Jojo Natson, who's a deep top over the top, live top of coverage guy, and obviously O'Dell Beckham Jr. And so they don't have anybody that really threatens anybody deep, so you can tighten up coverage, even in zone stuff. You can tighten up, and you don't have to worry about getting beat by a double move and all that kind of stuff. So, but if they have the right formula, and Kevin Stefansky, their head coach, is a believer in the formula. Like, we are going to wear you out up front.

We're going to bludgeon you. And then we're going to throw some play action stuff, some of the bootkeep game with Baker, who does that exceptionally well thrown on the run. Like, that's how we have to win. They know their formula. They know their identity. And I appreciate that about teams. You know, there's some teams, well, like Philly, the team they play that really doesn't know what they are.

Yeah. And at least Cleveland knows exactly what they are. Yeah, no, that's watching them. I watched that entire game, and that's what I felt. One team knows what they are, one doesn't. Now, so it's easy to bang on Brady for last night's performance. But three times a quarterback with Bruce Arian has had his career high in picks. Andrew Luck, Carson, Palmer, and James Winston, and Brady's on his way to be the fourth.

A lot of deep balls, not a lot of valves, safety valves, if the old line deteriorates, almost no motion, 66 plays, only motion in six of them. How much of this is an old school coach and an old school quarterback, and they just can't agree on the offense? Yeah, I think there's some of that. You know, I think there is some, like, you look at teams that want to be static in formations. One thing about being static in formation, as you mentioned, with Tampa, is you never make the defense think. And when you don't make the defense think, well, they can just pin their ears back and go, right? When I'm motion and I shift and I change strengths and I change formations, guys have to flip-blop sides of formation.

Linebackers have to criss-cross. It puts you on your heels. And now in the secondary, you have to communicate. And if you never make anybody communicate, guess what? It's pretty easy to play defense that way. So that would be an issue. There's no question about that. And then easy answers.

Like to me, Brady, as good as he's been and he is, you know, the best that's ever played, and he's great manipulating the pocket and slide in the pocket. But when you get him off his spots and you don't have easy answers, like to me there's got to be an easy answer. I can't have my – I can't have my quarterback, especially a guy that's 43, jumping off the high dive every play. Like sometimes I need him just to wade in the water, right? Right.

Just go down the steps and wade in the water and it's thigh deep, and, you know, you're not going to dip your nethers in there, you know? it's not going to shock that way, right? You're just in the thigh deep water. That's okay. We don't have to jump off the high dive every freaking time. And so you need, as a coordinator, you need easy answers. You need them built in.

If we get this, man, just dump it, get four yards, and let's play in third down and four. You know, let's not play in third down and eight, because third down and eight's a miserable place to be. Mark Schlerath joining us three Super Bowl rings. I said this weekend, the Raiders lost to the Chiefs was the single. best loss in the NFL this year by any team. It had blowout written all over it. Andy Reid off a buy, revenge game. Raiders starting to listen to the press. I think I like the Raiders more after that loss than I have off any win this year, including the Kansas City win. Like everybody

stumbles. I was blown away by the Raiders. And Derek Carr, your thoughts? Yeah, I think that Derek Carr won has, I mean, I've always liked Derek Carl, I always thought it was good, but I think he's just taken to the next level. John Gruden having conversations with him, I've done a couple of Raider games where he just said, hey man, I just found out that Derek Carr, the more I put on his plate, the better he plays. Like, he wants all the information. He wants all the checks. He wants to run it all at the line of scrimmage.

And sometimes, like John Grun goes, sometimes I just send in a formation. here's the formation I want. Here's the personnel group I want. You call the play. They are so tied together as head coach, play caller, slash quarterback. They're very tied together that way. And then all the different combinations of offensive line play,

you know, all the different guys that have missed time with COVID injury and everything else, they've had a ton. Their backups come in and play better than most starters. And you've got to give a lot of credit to my former college teammate, Tom Cable, the offensive line coach there. He's done a phenomenal job. So they'll bludgeon you in the running game. Derek Collar will operate at the line of scrimmage.

They are really good. And now defensively, and you talk about teams that are complementary toward one another, defensively, they play really hard. I mean, they really play hard. And usually what you see pre-snap is not what you're going to get post-stap. They're going to change things up. So they're always going to be doing something, you know, to make you go through some mental gymnastics.

But the complementary nature is we're going to control the time of possession. We're going to control the clock. We're going to make sure that we do that. and we're going to let you play with your hair on fire because we're going to keep you fresh. And they have done a really nice job of creating a complimentary football team and a complimentary style. The Raiders, to me, are one of the best teams in the NFL because of the way they play. And again, the identity, they know who they are. You know, finally, I've got to ask you a Denver question.

You do morning radio in Denver, and you look at the Broncos. Mahomes, best quarterback in football. I've got to play them twice a year. Derek Carr with Gruden is a pro bowler. Justin Herbert, oh my God. He's just, he's just has everything you'd, I'm not sure he's worse than Trevor Lawrence. He's that talented.

If you're Denver this morning in John Elway, Drew Locke, I mean, I'm serious about this. Is it time for them to make a move at quarterback? Nothing against Drew Locke. But when you look at that division, I'm sorry. I got huge mega talent six games in. What are they going to do a quarterback at Denver? Yeah, it's a great question, Colin, because it's funny, I had this conversation on my show today.

I was like, listen, even if Drew Locke dramatically improves, and he was better last week, there's still a lot of mechanical issues, there's still a lot of decision issues. He had four or five deep balls, maybe six deep balls that he threw that were woefully inadequate. They were woefully inaccurate. And so not only, or you're not completing them, but you can't even draw PI. At least give us a chance to draw PI, you can't even do that. So there are a lot of those issues that crop up. And even if you dramatically improve in the next, let's call it whatever it is, six games, six games left,

even if you dramatically improve or seven games, you know what, you're still the fourth best quarterback in your division. You tell me, Colin, you'd know better than I would. How many division winners are there in the history of the National Football League who had the fourth best quarterback in their division? because I would venture to guess not many. Yeah, I mean. There may be an outlier every now and again, but I don't think it happens very often. Well, if you're Kirk Cousins, who's considered the third best talent and you have a really good defense or spectacular offensive talent, you can get to the playoffs. But the rule has always been, and I've sadly looked this up, you've got to have one of the best, too.

You don't have to have the best. You can win a Super Bowl having the second best if you have better players around you. But once you get into that Kirk Cousins' third best guy in a division, you have to have a best. you have to really get a discounted quarterback or have sensational weapons, a sensational defense or sensational offensive weapons. And that's hard to come by in the National Football League. I got to run. He's Mark Slareth.

It's good talking to you, buddy. Likewise, man. Be good. All right, Joy Taylor, live with the news. No, no, no, no. Turn on the news. This is the herd line news. Well, it was a great game last night, and I enjoyed it.

Tom Brady, a little disappointed in his performance last night. The buck struggled again in prime time, losing 2724. He completed 26 of 48 passes for 216 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions. And he expressed his frustration with his performance after the loss. He said, I think that's a good word, disappointed. I have to do a better job, absolutely. Tonight was very inefficient. Didn't do a very good job during the second half.

offensively, we just couldn't make the plays that were necessary to be efficient. We had plenty of chances. We've got to get them fixed. He was clearly very frustrated yesterday. I was actually surprised he continued to go to Leonard Fournett after the third drop there. He did not shake John Goff's hand after the game, which is clearly becoming a thing. You know, I thought about it this morning because I noticed it right away that he didn't shake Goff's hand. And my initial reaction was like, wow, he's really.

he's really going to do this again. And, you know what, I came to the conclusion that, you know what, when someone doesn't go out there and shake his hand, then that's how it'll go. Like, I think people always shake his hand, obviously, because that's the thing that you're supposed to do after the game, is shake the opponent's hand. I don't get too crazy about the whole sportsmanship thing

because I think competitors get emotional. So I'm not going to lose my mind about it, but I just, I don't ever want to hear about if someone doesn't shake Tom Brady's hand after a loss that they're being disrespectful. That is what I don't want to hear. But look, they had a frustrating end to the game. And, you know, that interception he threw at the end of the game

was obviously brutal. He's had nine so far this season. He threw five through 11 games in 2019 and only had eight all of last season. So there's obviously a very big difference. Arian said today that he thinks Brady is getting confused at times with the coverage. He says that he doesn't see that at all in practice. We don't miss the deep ball in practice. That's for sure.

Sarah Walsh tweeted that. So I don't know. Maybe there's a little something extra going on there. Yeah, well, you don't have the Rams secondary in practice, and you don't have Aaron Donald at practice. So meaning, I mean, at practice, you're not facing. I think the story last night, I guess there's many, but in the last several weeks, the Rams defense,

it's not as flashy as the Steelers. It's not as forceful. But the Rams back end is so good. and they're such a smartly coached team. We all know the Steelers defense is great. I think the Rams defense is the most underrated side of the ball for any team in the league this year. We always kind of know Kansas City's offense is great. The Titans run gate.

We kind of identify what's great. The Rams back end is sensational. It's like three pro bowlers. They're rookies. They had Jordan Fuller had two picks last night. They have drafted the back end. And Jalen Ramsey is so valuable, George. because you're getting a big physical corner in a division with the Andre Hopkins who's big.

In the NFC, Devante Adams is big. D.K. Metcalf is big. So he just takes that kind of star player. Mike Evans is big. Jalen Ramsey has been a huge difference maker for the Rams on the back end. And he's fearless. He wants to go up against the best competitor on the other side of the ball. I think it's a little bit has to do with as well what Nick Wright talked about.

earlier, which has always been the book on Brady. He does not like to get hit. He doesn't like a lot of pressure. And of course, no one does. But it is, it's what it is. If you can get pressure on Brady, you can get him out of his pocket and make him uncomfortable. He's, he's not only going to make mistakes, but he's going to get frustrated. And that's what he was last night.

I don't think it's all falling apart for the bucks or anything like that. But this is just a new environment for Tom Brady. And again, because it's Tom Brady, we're going to have higher expectations of him in the team that he goes to. they're a team with a new quarterback this year in a COVID-shortened season, so maybe our expectations are a little too high for the bucks going into the season. So Doug Peterson has been very clear that Carson Wentz is not going to lose his starting job, even though they ask him every single week. But we could see more of Jalen Hertz in the coming weeks.

Peterson said he's going to try and give Hertz an expanded role in the offense and get him in the game more in the near future. He's only played one offensive snap this. week against Cleveland. He played 28 offensive snaps all season. He's completed two passes for 27 yards and also has 12 carries for 56 yards. I don't think that this is going to be something where we're going to see a complete transition in a game to Jalen Hurst's starting quarterback. But what's going on in Philly, I think, it's a, it's a grouping of things, right? It's never ever one thing, or very rarely is it one thing? Because if it's that one thing, anyone would make

that change, right? I think not having Frank Wright there has been huge. I think that the injuries has been almost insurmountable for any team, and we're kind of, you know, smoothing over that because so many people have injuries this year, so we don't really want to give that as an excuse, but it is a factor. And the fact that Howie Long and Trent Dillfer said yesterday that he's not being coached hard enough, there's got to be something there. Those are two people whose word I respect very much. If they're both saying independently of each other, that, that Carson Wentz is not being coached hard enough. And this isn't an issue of all those other things.

It's that there's no accountability with him. And it's kind of strange because that doesn't really seem like that's Carson Wents' personality, that he's somebody that couldn't be coached hard. So is it on Peterson that he, that's not his personality to coach very hard? And that's where the mistakes are coming from? I don't know. But he's turning the ball over way too much. And if that's the case that he can't be coached hard,

then I don't know if that's fixable there. Yeah. And I watched the Browns Eagles game and it just came. Philadelphia that says no offensive identity. They don't even, and Cleveland has a complete offensive identity. And you watched it, and it looked a little bit like a coaching mismatch, not just a quarterback issue or a running game issue. Good stuff, Joy Taylor with the news.

Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The Hurd-Lie News. Joel clad around the corner, some college football. Am I the, USC's even winning in Los Angeles. Dodgers won the World Series. Lakers won the championship. USC is 3 and O.

Good God, our teams here are good. They're really, really good. Joel Clatt, joining us next. 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 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, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win. A win is a win.

I don't care what you're saying. Yep, that's me, Cliver Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball. 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.

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Faced a lot of opponents through the years. Age is one of them. about one scoop. MDrive Start.com. Enzymes, protein, minerals, mdrivstart.com, check it out. Joel Klatte, voice of college football for Fox, our lead analyst.

He'll be doing Ohio State in Illinois this week. I'm watching Ohio State, and it's the shakiest top four team in the country. I've seen in a while, and Joel Klaz joining us. The college football, first college football rankings will be released tonight. I get Bama would be number one. What is your guess on the top four from the committee tonight? Well, a question.

I don't know. Normally, I feel like I've got a good beat on them, Colin, but this year is just so different. I have no idea how they're going to view what teams are doing as far as number of games that they've played. Are they going to reward teams that have played more games versus fewer games? I think that remains to be seen. How much of the eye tests are we giving credence to? How much the quality wins, you know, so on and so forth?

If I had to venture a guess, I always think that the committee at the end of the day takes the least path of the path of least resistance. You know, I've said that to you before, path of least resistance. That's what they want to do. They don't want controversy. So I think that the easiest path for them, at least this week, is going to be Alabama number one, Notre Dame, number two, Ohio State three, and Clemson, four. Now, having said that, I'm not going to be shocked at all after last week when you saw Ohio State give up well over almost 500 yards. passing 491 yards passing to Indiana, when Indiana couldn't run the football at all,

I'm not going to be shocked at all if they put Clemson ahead of Ohio State and put them at number three in particular because they didn't have their quarterback and lost in overtime on the road with a true freshman quarterback starting that game against Notre Dame. No, I think Clemson, if they had Trevor Lawrence would beat Ohio State. What is wrong with their defense? Well, you have to understand that last year this defense and this team was basically invented by Jeff Hathley, who's now the head coach at Boston College. And it was a scheme that, in large part, was built in order to allow great players to be great. We're just going to line up and we're going to let them run and make plays and be really good. Minimize explosives. He thought that the more times he forced an opposing team to snap the football, the better his chances are of Chase Young making a play or Jeff Okuda making a play or Damon Arnette making a play, all first round draft pick. two corners in the defensive end.

So now all of a sudden, and by the way, that worked, right? They played with one safety. Jordan Fuller picked off Tom Brady last night, I think twice, but definitely to end that game, basically. He's a great player at free safety. So he's the free safety last year. And then they put three corners on the field. Sean Wade, likely a first round pick who's still there.

And then two first rounders, Arnette and Okuda. You put those corners on the field, and then you let Chase Young, maybe the best pass rusher we've seen in college football in a long time, up there up front and you're going to minimize explosive plays and you're going to dominate. Now you move to this year, Colin, here's the problem. Last week alone, they gave up four plays of 50 or more yards, four of them. Last year, they only gave up one of those plays in the whole season. Last week, they gave up four plays of 50 yards.

In all four plays, there was a four-man rush that did not get home. You cannot underestimate the power of what Chase Young brought to that defense last year. You could not sit back in the pocket and put the ball down the field. They had missed assignments all over in the back end. I think that you saw a team that was playing their fourth game with a lot of new players in the back end, and they didn't have an excellent pass rusher up front. And I think that's really what's wrong with them right now. By the way, I have Bama 1, Notre Dame, Clemson, Ohio State, Florida.

After that, you know, I don't, Florida's got a really good quarter of, I like Dan Mullen, so I put him there. But we have Michigan Penn State playing this week. Obviously, two coaches, one got to a Super Bowl, one James Franklin's very good. They're both a mess. Is there one common thread? James Franklin's a good coach. Harbaugh's been a good coach. They're both a mess.

You told me last week Penn State had some key guys opt out. Maybe that's it. Who do you think wins? And can either one of these teams, they'll be better next year, right? like Penn State and Michigan will win again next year, right? I think so. I mean, this is weird. I think the Penn State one is in particular, very weird.

In particular, when you think about losing to a team like Nebraska, who then the very following week gets basically run out of their own building by Illinois, right? Like, none of this makes sense. And I think that there is a common thread, by the way, between the struggles of these two programs. And the struggle, at least in my estimation, has been on the deep. defensive side. You know that these two teams are tied for 12th in the Big Ten and 101st overall tied, giving up 36 points per game. These two teams have played great defense over the last three

years. They've been top five Big Ten defenses, top ten defenses in the country over the last three years. And now they're sitting at 101st tied, given up 36 points per game. That's a problem. That is a huge problem. For Michigan, I think it's a deeper problem than what Penn State is. And the reason is that you can point to Micah Parsons not being on the field for Penn State. Collins, I think he's the best defensive player in college football or would have been this year. And him

not being out there is a drastic blow for Penn State. Meanwhile, Michigan, they just don't have the corners. They're not getting to the quarterback, and they don't have the corners to play like they have in the last couple of years under Don Brown, who's a very aggressive man coverage, blitzing style, a

defensive coordinator, and they're just getting torched on the outside. I mean, Think about it. Rucker scored more points on Saturday against Michigan than they had in their previous five meetings. Right? I mean, this is not even close for Michigan, and I don't know what the answer is. They've recruited really well, or at least they will be recruiting really well. They've got a top 10 class coming in for 2021, but they need help on the outside, and I don't know where that fix is. Yeah, it's just, it's bizarre. You know, Harbaugh is one of those guys. I understand the criticism. He makes himself a target, but it is funny. His resume is extremely. and he's having a terrible year. And so I think if you're unlikable,

Brian Kelly at Notre Dame, first couple of years, wasn't very likable. He was kind of opinionated, blustery face. They had that tragedy on campus, and Brian wasn't terribly likable. And we all kind of pick favorite. So the minute Harbaugh truly stumbles, we all beat up on him.

But his resume is he wins a bunch of games everywhere. And Brian Kelly now, nobody wants to acknowledge they were wrong in Brian Kelly. There's a likeability quotient. I will say this. Dabo Sweeney to me. I think he's funny. He just doesn't give a damn.

You know, he's talking about COVID and all this stuff. Do you think Dabo in five years is in Clemson? It seems like to me he is really rolling the dice with some of his public comments. They don't bother me, but I can see him bothering administrators. What is the future for him? Is it just Clemson and he's an outspoken guy? Well, I Because as he becomes more and more successful, Colin, don't you get the sense that he becomes kind of a public enemy?

Yes. You know, number one in college football. Isn't that fascinating? And listen, he is what social media hates. Let's just, I mean, let's not beat around the book. Confront. You know, like in this day and age, social media in particular, that sector of people who are really active on that site, on those sites, don't like anything

that Davos-weeney represents. I'm talking about personally anything, right? And so he does things like this. He's hitting some hot-button issues that social media is just like, yo, like, we're not here for that. And yet, and yet, I will say this, Colin, think of all the players that stay an extra year when they should be going to the NFL. Yes. Like his players love him. Yes. They have this culture of family there at Clemson that I don't think people from the outside understand. And I think that's part of the reason why people want to tear it down.

They don't like it, right? They don't like this. Whatever's going on at Clemson, people don't like it. And yes, this is not going to help his reputation or likability factor what's going on this week. I don't necessarily disagree with him. The problem is that that's not his place, right? This is not the year to start throwing out your chicken for not playing us when it's the medical expert's job to say whether the game is played or not. So I don't think it's terribly a good look, but I will say that a lot of what you're seeing and hearing surrounding Davosweeney, I think, is because he represents in a lot of different ways what social media despises currently.

That makes him more likable to me. I think I like him. I mean, social media, social media is just Snowflake City. It leans goofy left. And I tend to be somebody that socially leans left. It's all goofy left. It's all, you know, I got to be honest with you. Dabo can be, there are things I don't love about him and things I socially totally disagree.

But you make a very good point. His players love him. We got to go. Joel Clatt, this week has Ohio State at Illinois. Maybe Ohio State, the Buckeyes can hold Illinois. Illinois under 600 yards. We'll see how that works out. We will see how that goes. By the way, my alma mater is catching 12 and a half. I feel like, what? What?

I feel like you're almost upset to me. I don't know. Go buff. See you, buddy. RecTech Grills, R-E-C-E-Q.com. RecTech with a queue, built by grillers for grillers. If you're hated on social media, I may like you. Hour 3 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 performance. 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, Apple Podcasts, 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 Clifford 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 Clifford show on the I-Hard Radio app, Apple Podcast,

you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok's podcast network on TikTok. Hey, what's good, y'all? You're listening to Learn the Hardway 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 and learn the hard way on the IHard radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. This is an IHart podcast. Guaranteed human.