The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Colin Cowherd Podcast - CFB Special with Jboy on Lincoln Riley --> USC, Best Fit for LSU

Episode Date: November 30, 2021

Colin explains why USC's Lincoln Riley hire is actually good news for UCLA's Chip Kelly. Then Jake Crain -- host of The Jboy Show -- joins Colin to discuss why Riley made the move to the Pac-12, the regional differences between Oklahoma and California, how the proposed CFP changes influenced the move, the right coach for LSU, and how the transfer portal has become a total game-changer.Make sure to Subscribe and follow Colin and The Volume on Twitter for the latest content and updates and check out FanDuel for the best wagering and daily fantasy action! Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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sign up. Hi, everybody. This is going to be kind of an emergency 15 minute, 20 minute, Colin Coward podcast on college football, LSU job, USC job, what it means for all of college football. You know, there's an old saying, if you want to build a successful gas station, then find a successful gas station and build right across the street from it. Not only is USC a winner with Lincoln Riley, but UCLA is a winner. So Chip Kelly, despite winning eight games, having the Bruins bowl eligible, beating USC and LSU soundly, there are some UCLA boosters, big boosters, that want Chip Kelly out. Do you really think now that Lincoln Riley and his offense comes to town,

it'd be prudent to bail on the best offensive coach you've had in over 20 years, Chip Kelly? To me, it actually secures Chip Kelly. You're going to be in shootouts. I'd rather be armed with a really good offensive coach in Chip Kelly. I'd rather not be blowing up my staff in a world in which you've got to pay $10 million now for a top coach. And all the good coaches are either resigning with their universities or they're getting gobbled up already. So this is good for Chip Kelly in UCLA. Chip Kelly, the last thing I'm going to do is boot a really clever progressive offensive

coach from the Bruins when Lincoln Riley is coming to town. Most people fear competition. Most people are followers, not leaders. And so you're terrified of losing to your rival. But I've been saying this for years. You want your rival in college sports to succeed because it forces your school to always be committed. Let's be honest. That Michigan win over Ohio State.

Ohio State is going to be laser-focused, more driven, more willful, probably have a better recruiting season, looking at some of their weaknesses in the trenches, that they were very vulnerable against the Wolverines. You always want your rival to have some modicum, some level of success to keep your administration focused and on it. content is the enemy for these college football programs. That's the reality of Nick Saban. He gets to use Auburn. Auburn beats Alabama just enough that Nick Saban can go to the administration and say, hey, we need a new wing in our facility. Hey, we need some academic help.

Hey, I need two more people in operations. Auburn is just enough of a threat that Nick can keep going back to the Alabama administration and getting more and more financial advantages and commitments. If Auburn's 0.12 every year, it's harder to raise that money. There's no fear in the state. Alabama's better when Auburn's viable. You may lose every four or five years, but it's easier to raise money when you're concerned at Alabama about your neighbor.

Okay, I want to bring on Jake Crane. He's the host of the Jay Boy Show. You can get the podcast, watch it live on our YouTube channel. So months and months ago, actually a year, ago and I started creating the volume, I said I wanted a Southern voice. Somebody really knew his stuff was dialed in. I looked for a year. And then somebody tipped me off to Jake Crane on the Jay Boy Show. And not only am I glad that we brought him in, but he is the most passionate, driven, aspirational, connected voice in the South in college football.

And we are just over our skis, how he's performed in our first college football season together. So, Jake, I'm going to start with a story. Years ago, when I moved to Manhattan Beach, California, there's a lot of surfing here. And on Saturdays, like you, I work all days of the week, actually. So I'd Saturday mornings, I would go get a big coffee. Pete's coffee and I'd go down to the pier and watch surfers. It's pretty cool. And, you know, I'd go by myself sometimes, put the dog in the car and just go sit and watch it for 45 minutes to an hour.

And I made the observation one time to a friend. I said, you know, I've learned something from those surfers. It's not about the number of waves you can catch. It's about catching the right wave. And when you sat and watched the surfers for an hour, you'd very quickly figure out who are just guys. and who were the really long-time surfers by the peer who get up on the board in one second, they're flying around. And I said, those guys took the fewest waves, much more discretion, much pickier.

Because when you get the right wave, the right wave does the work for you. If you don't get the right wave, you've got to do work. And so my takeaway on Lincoln Riley is that if you want to get into the playoff, the PAC 12 is the right wave for him. I'd rather battle Oregon than LSU and Georgia and Bama. And by the way, even throw in Texas. These days, Kentucky, Florida, Ole Miss, Lane Kiffin, that I don't see it as a weakness. I think he looked at it and went, A, my administration, I was happy in the Big 12.

You know, I fit the Big 12. I grew up in the Big 12. You didn't tell me we were going to the SEC. It'll always be Sabin's conference. And Nick, by the way, he's not retiring anytime soon. it's historically it's a defensive conference first. I think Alabama is very much on the up and up. But there's some bags being handed out at the people chasing Alabama.

I think that's kind of known in the sport. And I think Lincoln Riley said, hell, I got to get through Utah. I got to get through Oregon. Right now, Washington's teetering. I would argue Stanford and Cal are kind of a mess. So that's just the way I view it is Lincoln's saying, hey, this sport's about getting into the plan. It's just an easier route to the playoff.

I mean, Colorado West, Jake, Oregon's the only school financially that can compete with USC. Yeah. And, you know, number one, Colin, I just want to echo what you said earlier. I appreciate it, man. We've been really excited joining you. I felt like I got caught up to the bigs. I got in the box and just guessed fastball and turned out I got one right down the middle. But, you know, again, what I talked about today on the show is there's two trains of thoughts in this.

And I think there's different types of people, and especially coaches. We all know the egos that are in this business. from the coaches through the staff, even to the players. You have the guys in one hand like the Brian Harsons that will leave the West Coast that want to see at the end of the day. Can they compete against the best and how do they stack up? Because I always make the argument. People say, oh, well, this one-off bowl game against this SEC team,

this team competed, this other team didn't compete. But you have those guys that can't lay their head down on the pillow when it's said and done, when you're 85 years old and you're wrinkled and you're sick and you're sitting there telling all your great, grandkids, the stories, they want to be able to look in the mirror and said, you know what, I went toe to toe with Nick Saban because I had to know. I went toe to toe with Kirby Smart because I had to know. Then you have another train of thought of guys like you were talking about. They're like, what is the easiest path for me to have stability, security, and success? And I think when you look at

both sides, there's logical, rational explanations for taking each. But I think it really depends on the ego and the type person that you have. And that doesn't just stay in college football. That's in business. You have guys that when they, you know, their salesmen, they want to go against the best salesman. They want to know. Like when you brought me up here, I was so excited to come up here because I wanted to be in the waters that you guys are swimming in. I want to see at the end of the day, I made this decision on my life. How do I stack up against the best? Because I couldn't not know. And I don't think Lincoln's wrong for making the decision. I mean, you look at some of the contract details that are starting to bleed out. You start talking about that type of money. But when I look at having a situation where your team at Oklahoma is going to the SEC, you're getting smoke from LSU, got an offer from LSU. Had that been indicated today by Mike Scarborough from Tiger Bay. At the end of the day, it does look like you were ducking the SEC, but that doesn't mean you're dumb. That doesn't mean you're weak.

That doesn't mean you're not smart. You're just trying to go about it a different way. You think you can have security, stability, and success out there. You made the point. What do you worry about Oregon with Christobal? Yeah, they got a blank check for him. Utah, Kyle Winningham, always got to worry about them, especially on special teams.

Shout out to the special teams. But in the SEC, Ole Miss, Arkansas with Sam Pittman, A&M with Jimbo Fisher, who's starting to catch Bama and Georgia in recruiting. I just think it's two different archetypes of people. And I think it's a good fit for Lincoln. I don't think it's a bad fit because USC's a sleeping giant, just like there's some other sleeping giants that are starting to wake up a little bit, Michigan this past week. At the end of the day, though, Colin, I'm the type guy. And if I'm an LSU fan or a fan of the school that's going to, I want a guy that wants to know. Good, bad, or indifferent.

I'm 85 years old. I can look in the mayor. I either succeeded or I failed, but I'd rather say woe than go. And that's just kind of where I stand on. Yeah, I mean, you know, when I left ESPN to Fox, I didn't feel it was a weakness. I felt it was ESPN was highly political. And it was easy regardless of how talented you were to get lost in the politics if you didn't play the game. So I was a West Coast guy that went to Connecticut.

And it's just a labyrinth of politics and who you know. and what bosses like you. I have flourished coming back west. And the reality is, I think Lincoln, this is what I've heard. What USC sold him on was this. It's Nick Saban's conference. Oklahoma is not born of the, of the SEC. You were in the Southwestern Conference,

but you will never be Alabama as a brand in the South. He'll never be the state school of Florida. You'll never be Baton Rouge. Oklahoma feels as much Texas and Southwest America as it does Louisiana. You'll never, ever have the South is about tradition. Herschel Walker, Bear Bryant is still disgust in the South. The West is all about tomorrow. The West is all about L.A. is all about creating marketing stars and superstars.

And what USC said is, you're not going to go. to the South and recreate the South. You're never going to be Southern. You're never going to be bigger than Sabin or Alabama. You're never going to matter in the South as much as Georgia. Southerners are about tradition. West Coast people have all moved from somewhere. They'll embrace the progressive new offensive coach.

They everybody, L.A., 42% of the people or 48% aren't from California. Everybody's a visitor. So come to the state where we make super, stars out of gifted visitors. And that was the sales pitch to them is that the SEC is better than us, but it's tradition and the way it's sensibility. You could win six out of ten conference championships. You're still not Southern.

You're still never going to be bigger than Alabama. And there's nothing wrong with that. In fact, you'll never be as big probably as Auburn in terms of how SEC fans view the conference. you'll always be an outsider, whereas the PAC 12 has always welcomed outsiders. They wanted Texas in this conference eight years ago. Pac 12 was dying to get Mac Brown into the conference. So I'm not necessarily defending Lincoln. What I'm saying is the SEC, the statement always been it matters more here.

And I think that's true. I think it's more embedded. It's more rooted in history. I mean, you turn on Southern Radio. Now, you're not this way. but most Southern talk show hosts that do college football you can't go a week

without mentioning Bear Bryant he will end up on the show nobody has ever since I've been doing this show called up and mentioned Terry Donahue or Mike Pilate we just don't view the world that way

we don't we view we're a windshield conference our offenses are more you know I mean we've put a lot of coaches in the NFL so I guess my takeaway is Lincoln fits the West. Cliff Kingsbury actually fits the West better than he fits the South. Does that make any sense? No, no, it does. You know, when I look at it, I mean, you know, when I think of USC and being in the South my whole life, I mean, I don't think of USC as some, you know, little brother out West. I mean, I remember Pete Carroll. I remember, you know, 2004 watching the team that they had when Auburn went undefeating the SEC and Pete Carroll's got Dominique Bird and Matt Leinert and Reggie and all these guys out there. And he was a star. My question for Lincoln is, and Lincoln is, and Michael and I get it. Like, I get it 100%. There's a vacuum out there to be filled. There is. I mean, Oregon is Oregon and Mario Cristobal and Nike and all that. great, but there's really nobody in California right now that's taking the college football mantle

and said, all right, turn me into a star. And then the next step is the NFL. You know, deep in my mind, I wonder if this was a move to get him to a place in a more NFL market to get him, not more exposure, because you get a ton of exposure in the SEC with Oklahoma going in. But it's pretty easy to take that next step from USC to the NFL as well when you're out there doing your thing. And I get that. But to me, you're competitive. You're competitive. I'm competitive. Well, you've got to be competitive to survive here at least in a certain way. In the coaching world, you know as well as I do. It's a very small world. And I just think what Lincoln Riley said was, and kind of like what you're saying is, I can go out to USC. And if I win the conference, three out of four years, I'm going to be treated

as great as gold. Do you do it at LSU? Ed Orchran gets fired two years after win a national championship. So did Gene Chiziz. That's exactly right. That's exactly right. But it's just what race do you want to be in the rat race? Which one do you want? Do you want the one that you're at the highest level? you're in the best division, which depending on what they do with Oklahoma and Texas, do they have divisions, pods, whatever. I just think Lincoln made a very safe decision. He can go out there. They've struggled.

Clay Helton was not a media darling. It's not like Lincoln was and he needs to work on cooking his brisket. But I think you can get away with that out there a lot more than you can in the South. Maybe that was one of the reasons. But, you know, when I look at the fit overall, I think Lincoln will have success. I think his offense will translate. You're going to get a great play action game off the run. He's not just a guy that wants to throw the ball around 100 times.

He's somewhat balanced. You're always going to have a quarterback, especially being out there. You look at the way he's recruited California. I just think Lincoln Riley had a binary choice. Do I want to go into the Death Star and fight Darth Vader? Or do I want to hang out with the rebellion and try and become Luke Skywalker? And you know what? For that amount of money, good for him.

I'm excited to see where it goes. And to me, like Colin, you know, I'm from the South, SEC, all that stuff's great. But I'm also a college football purist. I want USC to be good. I want UCLA to be good. I want Michigan to beat Ohio State every once in a while. So to me, it's making the sport better because I think a guy can go into Oklahoma, whether it's Brent Venables, whether it's Mark Stoops, go down the list, it doesn't matter,

and have success. But a good USC is good for college football. They're one of the three to four schools, past Colorado, where I can say that, where it matters, where it makes college football better. I'll just go back to the binary choice. You know, I think it's an easier. And the 12 team playoff had a huge impact on this to me. For him to make this move, he had to have somebody tell him they're going to vote this thing

through pretty soon, believe it or not, to the 12th team playoff. I say the same thing about Lane Kiffin in a different thing, Colin. If that Miami job opens up, I think Lane Kiffin would take it because it's a whole hell of a lot easier to get into the 12 and compete in the ACC than it is trying to be the fourth or fifth team in the SEC and sneak in them. No, listen, I've said this. Lane fits Miami. He's got ego.

He's got edge. So does Miami. And now they don't pay the staff as much, operations, facilities. But, you know, I said this. I loved Michigan beating Ohio State because when USC played Texas in the national championship, it got a 22 and a half rating. That's insane. That's an NFL. That's an NFL playoff rating.

And now it gets a 15. Why? Because a big chunk of the country feels, well, we can't compete. And college football has never been able to get New York, Philadelphia, Boston to watch. Chicago watches, Atlanta watches, Dallas watches, and L.A. used to watch. You get L.A. back into it that they watch college football. I can tell you working at Fox, they're overjoyed because they want to put USC on TV. They want... Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashed. Others say it's unleashed. 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 I'm saying.

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I want you to just really be a good person. Join me, Kear Gaines, is we have real conversations about healing, growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose on my new podcast, learn the hard way. Open your free iHeartRadio app. Search Learn the Hardway and listen now. Michigan. You know, they want the Big Ten to matter because the Chicago viewing audience, when the Big Ten's viable, that you can charge more for ad dollars. So like, I'm like you. I love, I love what it does. It's the sound of another sale on Shopify, the all in one commerce platform I love to start run and grow your business. Shopify gives entrepreneurs the resources once reserved for. business. So upstarts, startups, and established businesses alike can sell everywhere. Synchronize online and in-person sales and effortlessly stay informed. I love Shopify.

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I think Lincoln Roddy works at you. USC. By the way, there's a coach out here, Kaelin DeBores at Fresno State, who's really clever, really nice fit at Washington. So, you know, I root for all these schools. And I, by the way, I like, I like Big Ten coaches and SEC coaches staying in place. The LSU job's interesting. I've heard they want Jimbo Fisher. You're much more connected than I am. I mean, I imagine they'll go big game hunting. But it's really, it's really interesting. If you look at Ed Orgeron's record in Jimbo's, hell, it's the same. And I wonder, two years ago, he wins a national title.

Jake, are there coaches out there that think, listen, man, it's just bad shit. Like, I'll handle the SEC pressure. I'm not sure I trust the LSU administration the way they handled it with Ed. I mean, who do you think they'll end up with? do you think it scares off a few coaches who go, it's just too crazy there. They're just delusional. Yeah, well, you know, I think that may happen with Lincoln Riley a little bit, to be honest with you. No, but when I look at LSU, because here's the thing.

And, you know, we all put, a lot of people put a bunch of the southern schools and college football together and think they operate the same. Actually, they operate very differently when you get down into the nitty gritty and how they handle things. And at LSU and coaches that look into the purview of the SEC or are looking out saying, do I want to sign? sign up for a place where I can win a national championship and be gone two years later. Some of them, they won't want to do it. Again, it's a binary choice. But when I look at LSU and we talk about Jimbo Fisher, Texas A&M gave Jimbo Fisher about everything outside of oil reserves in West Texas. He's got more ranches than a hidden valley factory. The dude has security, you know, like he worked for ExpressVPN. It doesn't matter. The guy to me, when I look at

LSU, that would be a great fit, because LSU has swag, Colin. When I look at LSU and I think of LSU, You think of swag. You think of those uniforms. You think of Death Valley. You think of those guys running out there in the golds and the whites and the honey badgers and the Patrick Peterson's and guys like that. To me, a good fit is someone that can go in there and boost them not only from a recruiting standpoint, which, to be honest, we, Colin, the state of Louisiana is so good. And it's not like there's an Oklahoma state. It's not like there's an Auburn.

People aren't spurning LSU for McNeese State or Tulane. That's not how it works. You can recruit pretty easily. you got to go outside the state to find offensive line. That's where Sabin's been able to come in and steal Cam Robinson and steal guys like that that LSU really needed. But I think guys look at LSU, the coaches that want to meet the challenge and say this is a place that you can flip very quickly. And we've got to remember the transfer portal now, not having to sit out a year. NIL, there's a lot of ways to flip a program a lot faster than there was back in the day.

There was always the three-year personnel rule. You've got to give me three recruiting cycles to get my guys in here. have a fighting chance. That's starting to wane a little bit. The time's getting shorter and the money's getting higher. I think it's just what the market is bearing. But to me, the perfect fit at LSU. When I look now, when I can survey it now, not looking in the past or people that have already taken jobs, I think from a Lane Kiffin standpoint, it would be a grand slam home run, Solair home run against the Astros that hits the train tracks in the back. I think he brings cachet. You'll never have to worry about offense. You've got a quarterback in Arch Manning.

that just happens to be hanging around out there. He'll always have a staff around him that's good. And he's, you know, from a mind and recruiting standpoint, while he's not in love with recruiting like Kirby or in love with it like Nick or even Jimbo, he can do enough and his name carries enough weight to be able to bring guys in to win. LSU, there's a big argument at LSU right now, Colin.

Do they need a father figure or do they need an entourage? To me, I think LSU needs an entourage right now. People say, whoa, Ed O had all these off-the-field problems, this, that, and the other. Well, you know what? When he was winning, nobody cared. Nobody cared that he said he was going to put one of the reporters in a fishing hole down in the bayou when they were 10 and 0. But all of a sudden you go 7 and 5 and people start caring.

That's the gamble to me. You bring in a guy like Lane Kiffin, I'm not worried about the off-the-field stuff getting in trouble. What I'm worried about is if it starts going south, how do they react from a coach's standpoint. So to me, I love Lane Kiffin, but if you want a program builder, a guy like Mark Stoops, who in my opinion, Colin, is not the sexy name. He's not the splashy name. They're not going to just pause ESPN and go on a 30-minute diatribe about about it if it was Lincoln Riley, but he's a program builder. At the end of the day, LSU fans want it now. They let him sip it from

the cup in 2019. And once you let them take a sip, they're not going to be happy until they get their glass fill again. And I think Lane's got to do it. I don't know if they're going to hire him. You're hearing Brian Kelly lately lately, Colin, a lot of Brian Kelly. Yeah, Brian Kelly feels so Midwest. It feels so. But he's just not, he's not very, Brian Kelly's a good coach. He's a great offensive mind. But he's not exactly the guy you'd want to spend 20 minutes drinking a middle of light with at the bar.

Yeah. Your transfer portal comment is interesting. So one of the things that happens is a lot of California kids have been on that bullet train out of the state in the last six years due to, you know, Clay Hilton. But I was told this by somebody who's close to Chip Kelly, they had real success in the transfer portal. UCLA did. Chip's not a great recruiter, but Chip's theory is treat the kids well, try to get them. If they don't, tell them you love them and you hope to see them again. And a lot of those kids go somewhere. They go to Alabama and they just either, they don't fit in the program. It's a little too intense or they miss mom and dad. And they circle back. The transfer portal is a big deal because Lincoln Riley, USC has some things.

What they don't have is a left tackle and defensive linemen. And it's what Oklahoma, I guess my point is, I could see Oklahoma five or six elite linemen just transferring, especially offensive linemen. There's also a very good left tackle, Jake Taylor out of Bishop Gorman High School in Nevada that USC was on and lost to Oklahoma. They haven't had a legitimate left tackle in three years. I don't think USC's a rebuild. Jake, I think it's a reboot. I think next year they went eight or nine. And like USC with Pete Carroll, the second year, five games in, you're going to go, okay, okay.

The transfer portal is a game changer. I call it a junior college without great issues. Because JC guys, you've always worried about, you know, they come with some major baggage. For sure. All you get is a kid who often just misses home. He's not a good fit at South Carolina. He just wants to go back to Michigan. Yeah.

Well, you know, too, and around here, USC is one of the schools where if I walk in a high school in Opelike, Alabama, and I say the word USC Trojans, they know who that is. They remember. They're just old enough to remember when USC was dominant. And I can remember back in the 60s and 70s wherever, but I'm with you. And in the college football world now, in the landscape now, we talked about the portal, and it's easier to flip it. Well, you know what's easier than flipping it with the portal, going to a brand name Blue Blood

and then flipping it in the portal. And that's the difference. The game's won and lost up front. I don't care if you run the air raid, the triple option, the fun and gun, fun in the sun, drinking capri sun, whatever you want. The games won up front. Always say on the show, if football was a tree, the trenches are the roots. And that's how it will always be.

And you've got to build it from the roots up. That's the only way it gets tall and wide enough for you to be able to compete. And you look at some of these teams, the Notre Dame's that get into the playoff. Some of these other teams outside of the SEC and all of a sudden they go up against Alabama or they go up against Georgia and they're getting it ran down their throat. And you're like, why can't they compete? Why can't they compete? Well, the SEC in the South has had a monopoly on the lineman.

Why is Mario Cristobal having success at Oregon? Well, he's changed the way they play out there. He can go get the offensive line. That's the difference because a lot of schemes work with it. USC to take one year. All they need is a spark. It's like working in a bomb factory during World War II. All they need is a spark and the whole place will go up.

And when USC is good, it's sexy. All of a sudden now kids will want to. go from Tennessee and Georgia to go out to USC. And it's funny you brought up the comment about Chip Kelly loving guys up when I was at South Alabama coach. And there was a kid at seven on seven that had committed to Alabama. His first name was Danny. I won't give his last name. I looked at our head coach. I was a young guy. I said, how much money would you give me? If I could get Danny, who was from Mobile to commit to South Alabama over Alabama, he said, I'd give you $5,000. I said, all right, went back down there, was talking to him, chopping it up.

Anyway, we kind of formed a relationship. Kept going for about the next year. He signed with Alabama. I didn't get the $5,000. But two years later, I get a text from Danny. Hey, I'm about to transfer from Alabama. Would you guys be interested? He ends up coming to South Alabama,

was all conference, was a heck of a player. So with the portal now, if you lose a kid in recruiting, and you know how the battles are come, they come down to the last second, who's going to leave the house last? And one thing goes wrong, or a couple things go wrong or maybe they're not ready like a lot of kids are as freshmen. You can recoup that with the way society is now.

And we got to remember, they change the intake rule. So every year in the past, you've only been able to sign 25 scholarship guys. Well, with the transfer portal, now it's up to 32. So you can really flip a roster very quickly. And look, when I look at USC, it's a gold mine. It's a ticking time bomb. But all they need is a spark. Clay Hilton couldn't give them the spark.

Lincoln Riley has a chance to give him the spark. And you know what? It'd be good for college football. And I'm for that. Jake Crane, Jayboy Show. Watch it live YouTube every day. Good seeing you, bro. Colin, appreciate it, man.

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