The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Colin Cowherd Podcast - College Football Playoff Reaction: Indiana Rolls The Tide, Oregon Throttles Texas Tech, Miami Upsets Ohio State

Episode Date: January 2, 2026

Colin is joined by John Middlekauff, host of “3 and Out” to break down the college football playoff. They start with Indiana’s blowout of Alabama and Colin explains why Curt Cignetti’s coaching has produced a Hoosier team that’s great in every facet of the game (2:00). They also break down what makes Fernando Mendoza such a great quarterback (9:45). They move to Oregon dominating Texas Tech and Colin highlights the talent discrepancy between the two teams and they agree that this young Oregon roster is going to be even better next year (18:15). They recap Miami’s thumping of Ohio State and Colin predicts the Hurricanes will meet Indiana in the championship game. They credit Mario Cristobal’s recruiting prowess for building a physically imposing roster full of NFL talent (25:45). They preview the semifinal round and make their predictions for those games (37:00). Finally, they discuss USC’s  loss to TCU and Colin argues Lincoln Riley should be on the hot seat next season for failing to develop a defense during his tenure (38:00).  (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements.) Follow Colin and The Volume on Twitter for the latest content and updates!  #VolumeSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Gambling problem. Call 1-800 gambler, Arizona, Colorado, Illinois, New Jersey, Ohio, Tennessee, Virginia. John Middlakov and I are going to do some college football stuff tonight. Everything from Ohio State losing, Lincoln Riley's current situation at USC, the Oregon win, the Indiana route of Alabama. There's a lot to talk about. Let's start with Indiana.

It's, you know, I had two strong feelings going into today. I didn't have a strong feeling on Oregon, Texas Tech. I thought it would be ugly and low scoring, and it was for Texas. tech. I thought nine and a half to Miami was the side, and I thought Indiana was going to blow out Alabama. I've watched Alabama play. This is probably the sixth time. I've yet to watch him play a complete game. Even the games in which I love their game plan, John, they can't run the football. And Ty Simpson, to me, if you pressure him, I just thought Indiana was going to get a big, relentless pass rush, and I was going to have, I think Mendoza's great. I think he's really good

college quarterback. Are you shocked Indiana? We're doing this now when they lead 24-0. It's not competitive. Are you shocked by the ease of it? Well, I'm not once you watch it, but going into it, you have these long breaks between, this isn't the NFL, right, where you play every week. So you kind of forget. And then I go, oh, yeah, they were the team that just beat Ohio State and have as good of a defense. They hit Colin like they're the University of Miami. And the brand, let's face it, Once you don't watch them for a couple weeks, it kind of seeps back in. And then you realize, no, this is the best coach team in the country. Right.

And I'm sure we'll get into USC. They would die to have a coach this physical. I mean, one thing you watch Signetti, he runs an NFL operation. They bring an offensive lineman in the back field. They have a physical presence in their run game. They run. You know, Fernando Mendoza is an extremely talented player. But he excels because they have a great defense, a great running game, a physical, you know, just operation.

and then he dominates within that. And to me, they're coordinators and their head coaches mentality. You might as well just take Indiana away and throw a blue blood brand on it for those of us that have been watching college football forever because we're thrown off by Indiana, but they're as good as any team we've seen in the last several years. They just have a different brand. Yeah, and I think if you watch their tackling, they're the best tackling team I've seen in college football.

I mean, I keep thinking over the last 24 hours, Miami. and Indiana are the two most physically capable teams in the country. I think Georgia's good, but I've seen Georgia struggle offensively for long stretches. Indiana runs the ball on everybody in Indiana. They're receivers. I don't know how great they are. They make tough catches. I mean, they just, that team catches the ball. They tackle exceedingly well. They've run on everybody to some degree. And I was sitting there. I was talking to an NFL GM today. about Kurt Signetti, and he knew him. And he said, you know, his dad is coaching. He said, what he basically is done. He's the opposite of Lane Kiffin, where, you know, he had, you know,

a dad that coached. But he wasn't this like high flying, hot candidate. He just did everything. He's run recruiting. He's a CEO that's been in every department of the company until he gets the company. And he's so well versed in recruiting and O line play. and like, I mean, just everything of, they're so buttoned up. I told a buddy today they'll remind me, you would remember this kind of, the Don James Huskies when Washington was a national power. They had very good talent, not always the best, but very good talent and NFL quarterback, but they always won special teams.

They were great tackling. They ran on everybody, and they'd hit on an occasional big plays, and it didn't matter who they were playing. It could be USC, but you always felt you had the best coach. and when I watch Signetti's team, I'm like, it's like Sabin without the yelling, without the volume. Like he just sits on that sideline. He's almost a mad scientist.

He's always got a scowl. I'm just, I think Signetti's teams are so tight and so smart. John, when Alabama tried that fake punt early in the game, and they were going to punt, then they moved Ty Simpson up to the line, and Hoosier players were all like, and it was almost they were so prepared for it. And then they didn't bite on like three fakes. And I was like, okay, a lot of colleagues.

teams would bite on this. This team is coached almost professionally at Indiana. To me, two things always stand out for physical football teams because, you know, any team with good defensive linemen can look like a physical team. Do your defensive backs hit? Their's due. And can you

run the ball in any situation? They can. And obviously, their quarterback factors into the run game as well because he can take off at any moment. But they had the offensive linemen in the Big Ten of the year. You know, when you think, who has best offensive linemen in the Big Ten? What do you think? Iowa, Michigan. You know, historically,

Pete's teams would have had a bunch of them back in the day, right? Oregon's had a ton of offensive linemen. No, it's the Indiana left tackle. And you know, what's funny is I start texting around. I'm like, is this guy a blue chip, you know, high round pick? They're like, well, we don't know if he's going to come out, but he's probably going to be a guard. So it's not like he's doing this with a guy that's going to go, number, you know, this isn't Joe Alt playing left tackle. So there is, listen, I work for Pat Hill, who used to employ Kurt Signetti's brother Frank, and my cousin was on those teams in the mid-2000s. He's like, you know, what's funny is hearing Kurt talk, Frank was a lot. They have a little arrogance about him. They've been around football

their entire life. That's right. And like you said, this guy wasn't handed, like even when he got to work for Nick Sabin, he had already kind of worked his way up. I saw Philip Rivers. Did you see the clip? He was Philip Rivers quarterback coach and offensive coordinator. And Philip, that's right. About 20 years ago, that was before Nick Saban. But then he took, you know, Nick Saban said, you know, I remember on game day earlier this year. He said, I used to present my coaches sometimes, you know, these jobs. Hey, Jimmy came to me, so-and-so jobs open and everyone in the room would laugh. You know, like I UPI.

And the one guy that used to always rate, Kurt Signetti was always interested in like, I'm ready. I want to be a head coach. And you and I talk a lot about this with the coordinators. The thing in the NFL, you know, Fangio, Flores about to get a con. These coordinators are now making $5, $6 million. Like, you can be a coordinator for a long time and make millions of dollars. You know, in college historically, like, sometimes if you weren't getting a call, you might have to take a lower tier job and it could shoot you right up.

And it took him a long time. Like when he said Google me, everyone laughed, rightfully so because it was funny. But when you did Google him, it's got a little Kalin-Dubour. Like, all he did was win at a lower level. That usually translates. So Mendoza is so interesting to me against the blitz today. at the time we're doing this, he was six for six. And the two things that jumped out about this game, coming into this game, every team

with a buy was 0 and 6. And what you had noticed, and you saw this with Ohio State, they weren't physically ready. They got pushed around for the first quarter because when you have two or three weeks off, you don't tackle a lot. And you watch the first two series, Indiana, Alabama, Indiana was tackling. You could tell Kurt Signetti, their time off, they hit. They did hitting. And that's what's really the difference is you just don't tackle much when you have time off.

You're given 19, 20-year-old kids three, four weeks off. They may be a little undisciplined, right? They're with their buddies. They're hanging out. They're not hitting as much in practice. So that's the first thing. The second thing with Mendoza, I know he doesn't, he reminds me a lot of Andrew Luck. Now, luck, I think, was a better scrambler.

But Mendoza, and I'm watching this here live, Mendoza on two or three times today, decided I'm going to run. John, he's big. He is a big. And when you're 6'5 and you run and you just lean forward, you see this with Josh Allen or Banner, Cam Newton. It's an extra three yards. These guys are big. Mendoza has a way of running. He doesn't blow you away, but he leans into it.

And all of a sudden you look up and you're like, he got seven yards running. And the other thing that jumps out to me about him, he doesn't miss on the bubble screens, on the stuff out of the flat. Like, it's a little the opposite of Kayla Williams. We love the high side. You don't know about the layups. This kid gives me, he's like Herbert. He doesn't miss the layups.

All the stuff underneath, the drag routes, the flats, the, you know, all your bubble stuff, he's 100 for 100. He just hits on all of that stuff. I don't know. I know a lot of people say they have questions about him, but 68% career completion percentage. He's unbelievable against the Blitz. That's a little Drake May, by the way. Drake May is very good against the Blitz, which usually year two in the NFL, you're not.

I can't believe he would not be the number one pick. Yeah, I mean, I haven't talked to anyone with questions anymore. I mean, I think he's cemented as the number one guy. I think after today, again, I'm not trying to overreact to one game. But I think most people are kind of universally rooting for Dante Moore to go back to school. He doesn't have to go to the Jets. Because at the end of the day, when you're coming out as a quarterback, these guys are making millions of dollars in college. And you get a raise when you're a top pick.

But ultimately, you're trying to play in the NFL for a decade plus and make hundreds of millions of dollars. And we now have a couple of recent examples, Trey Lance, Anthony Richardson. Dante Moore's better than those guys. But like their career's done ever making money. Like that rookie contract. So you see Fernando Mendoza, like, you know, this game against the Raiders is. the Chiefs. I mean, the Chiefs right now have the ninth pick. They are incentivized to lose.

Because depending on how it shakes out, they could be as high as 8. Well, it's not just drafting 8. Well, they only would have to give a second round pick maybe to move up three or four slots to get the best defensive player on the board. Or they go back. That's a prime position. I mean, the Chiefs have been drafted in 32. So 80

Reed is incentivized to lose his game against the Raiders. Now, potentially, if the Giants loses the Cowboys, I think the Raiders can still keep it, win or lose the game. But, like, that's a guy. And then obviously, the character, how smart the kid is. I mean, he's just a high-level guy. When they told the story about him getting all the guys in the Heisman,

everyone who was going to attend their background information, do you know what that sounded like? A guy that if he didn't play football and had gone to Calor, Indiana, would be taking over for Jamie Diamond in like 15, 20 years. And it would be one of those. He would crush it in life. He just happens to be 6'5, athletic, big arm, likes football. Same thing with Andrew Luck.

Andrew Luck could easily just never played football, ran an architecture firm. not ran Stanford football but ran Stanford the university and that's what to me people like he's kind of goofy you know who kind of likes goofy coaches they don't want to have to worry about you

you know you know the cousins thing the knock on cousins wasn't that he was like goofy and religious it was he wasn't good enough that that was enough that people love the guy from the jump it was he wasn't talented enough that's not the case here

he's playing with NFL wide receivers too the Sarat kid definitely is I mean Becker the little white guys making plays left and right. That goes, okay, because Indiana looks like an NFL team. They like to run the ball. They have a couple wide receivers. They run NFL schemes with Signetti.

It immediately translates. To me, the question is, like, if I'm him, hey, SpyTech, Tom Brady, can we clean up the organization a little bit before I just sign up to come here? Because I'm not signing up for everything that's going on there right now. Yeah, I talked to an NFL head coach three weeks ago, and he told me that Mendoza is one of the easiest quarterback. to profile going into a draft because Indiana runs so much NFL stuff. He goes, it's so easy.

He goes, you can watch 25, 35 plays of Indiana, and you know what throws he can make and what he can and can't do. He goes, so he's going to be. I mean, he made every throw today that you would see on an NFL game Saturday or Sunday, don't you? And by the way, everybody loves a Ty Simpson. I talked to a general manager two weeks ago. I said, I don't get it. I think he's just a guy.

And the GM said, he is just a guy. Bamma's got great, great wide receivers. Kalan DeBore is an excellent offensive coach. He couldn't do anything today. And when you juxtapose him with Mendoza, it's a different looking player. They're not close. I would say I would put Sane there too. I mean, Mendoza looks physically different than saying.

He looks much more poised under pressure. That's the other thing. He moves forward. You watch Ty Simpson and saying they kind of go backwards or sideways. Mendoza's looking to go forward. And that is a big deal for sacks. I mean, yesterday's sand was sacked like five times for like almost 50 yards. You know, you can't take seven, eight yard sacks in college, let alone in the NFL.

They're driving, I think 95% of drives end on a punt when you take a sack. So when you see Mendoza, like there were plays where Bama was close to him. He moved away. He moved forward. Isn't he a good example, too, of we've seen this now with Burrow, you know, Baker years ago, guys did you just stay in college, get better, work on their craft. And now with the transfer portal, you can really line yourself up. Kind of a unique situation.

People go, why weren't all these other teams interested? His brother was on the team. So there was obviously a connection with the family. But he definitely made the right decision if other people were calling. Yeah, he played at Cal for two years. So you can't just look at him at Indiana and go, well, he's got NFL guys. Cal is, you know, Cal had Jared Gough, Cal had Aaron Rogers. These places like Cal or NC State, which don't have five-star guys, right?

You have to play with average guys, college football players. Kurt Signetti has done a lot of high-end recruiting. I mean, if you go, but he worked with Sabin, did a lot of recruiting. He spotted him. And he's easy to root for. I've always said one of the things that turns me off with quarterbacks is trying to be cool. The Johnny Mansell, the Cam Newton. You know, I want to be cool.

Baker had a little bit of that, but not as much. Baker was, I think, pretty a smart kid. He just, he had a chip on his shoulder. It wasn't a cool thing. It was a chip on his shoulder thing. But Jay Cutler had a little bit of that, a little loof, a little too cool for school. I like dorky guys. I liked luck.

Tom Brady, his first 10 years was dorky. I mean, he was his first 10 years. I mean, Peyton Manning, I don't think is like Mr. Cool guy walking in the room. He's like a football nerd. Yeah, I mean, like, like Kirk Cousins, say what you want. That dude should get an extension. He's still slinging it.

So, I don't know. I just, I find Mendoza, you know, a remarkable. young man and I think he's going to crush in the NFL. You know all that matters, Colin? And I think you saw this in the Ohio State game when his teammates, the entire team on that stage, gravitated toward him. You know, whether you're 6'5 or whether you're like Brock Purdy, who's in your corner as a quarterback.

And we have a long now list of guys. We've seen a lot in the NFL over the last 20 plus years where it's like, I don't think they like this guy that much. And you watch Mendoza in that Ohio State game and those guys gravitated toward him. I went, whoa, this guy's. And it's not like he'd been there three years. He'd only been there nine months.

It's like these guys love this guy. By the way, now it's 31 to 3, Indiana. Okay, Oregon beats Texas Tech 23 to nothing. Listen, Texas Tech had 88 yards offense in the first half. Dante Moore was 26 to 33. No touchdowns, one pick. It was a really, really ugly game. I think Oregon should have blown him out 35-0.

Oh, dominated. But they had penalties. I'll tell you, that Finney kid, that Brandon Finney kid, that Brandon Finney kid had like three turnovers, two picks, three picks. He had a freshman. He's going to be a star in Oregon. But again, so here's what we know about the playoff. James Madison, automatic qualifier, blown out.

Tulane, automatic qualifier, right? They get that bid, blown out. Texas Tech, weakest schedule of the final eight, blown out, not competitive. You would hope this would be instructive going forward for the committee. let's stop this nonsense, that everybody, let's be fair. It's always one of my knocks on the college football media. And I understand newspaper guys tend to kind of lean left and inclusive and everybody. It's football.

Football's not inclusive. It's for big, strong, a lot of violent guys, size, force, speed, raw talent wins. You watch Texas Tech offensively. How many guys could start for Oregon? Now, they had Bailey, the rush ends, a stud, a former Stanford guy. Their defense was like an SEC paid for defense. Yeah, yeah, they're up front. They're the real deal.

But offensively, that's just an average and best college football program. And so what we saw today is Oregon, who's been recruiting five-star guys for a long time, buying them and recruiting him out of Southern Cal. Not just buying them. They've Cristobal recruited. Dan Lannin can recruit. Even the coaches that haven't been great. there could recruit. Oregon's had a pipeline to Southern California recruiting for 20 years,

and over the last 10 to 12, they beat USC on guys. And now they've got a richer booster than USC. So Oregon's had the elite West Coast talent for a long time. But I think my takeaway on this is Dante Moore, again, compare them to Mendoza today. It's a different class. It's not the same guy. Dante should, in my opinion, Dante's going to be 21 next year in college. He should, come back. I'm in agreement. I mean, listen, financially, historically, it's like, yeah, if you could be a top five pick, you make so much money in this day and age, he's going to get a raise if he returns.

I mean, you could be talking about like an $8 million quarterback. I see a guy that still, listen, a lot of people in the NFL are in agreement, like kind of rooting for him to go back. Yes. I text a couple people today, you know, the buzz. Yep. You know, I think within going into this month, people thought that he was leaning coming out. you watch today, like, there's a lot to improve on.

The other thing, just from like a tangible aspect to his game, he's not a great athlete. You know, you watch him move around. No. This ain't like Caleb Williams. You know, this wasn't Mendoza running around today. So he's a much more of a pocket quarterback than even I realized. And listen, they had, what they say on the broadcast,

they had 24 touchdowns by true freshmen this year. I mean, the youngest team in the country, they are, I mean, they got a chance to be way better next year, which is crazy to say, given that they're headed to the final four, and they just made the playoffs last year. I mean, this thing is rolling. I'm rooting for them to come back because I think it's fun to watch these teams kind of maintain, like watching Indiana for a couple years. But I think people are kind of torn. If he has more games like this, I think he could easily justify coming back. The other thing is like, do you want to go to the Jets? Do you want to go to the Jets and let's say you've made the last couple years $10 million

in Oregon? Okay, so you'll sign the contract for $35 million. If it goes really poorly, you're not going to make any more money, really. If it goes well and you're prepared, this is his first year starting. I know he started a little bit for Chip, but it was a disaster. Remember, it was like a true freshman. I think he goes back, hones his craft improves like some of these guys. He's much more ready to make the move next year because he's going to go to a bad team no matter what. And then he could have a long career being a multi-contract guy.

But the guy saw today, it's fine. Like he's an exciting young prospect, but, you know, his, like, I'm rooting for him to return. And financially now, it's like, they'll pay him a lot of money to stay. Hey, it's us, the Jonas Brothers. And guess what? We have some big news. What's the news, name? Huge news.

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Getting a new one put up in its place. As long as there's a politics of race in America, there's going to be a politics of remembering the civil war. To get to school, I had to go down Robert Ely Boulevard. Get to the grocery store, I had to go down Jefferson Davis Parkway. If you're an historian and you leave out half of what the history is, you're not doing your job. I'm Akila Hughes. In Rebel Spirit, Season 2 goes deep on both of those things. The fights, the politics, the people who won, and my personal campaign to add something to the Kentucky State House

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The story I've told myself about love or relationships can then shape my behavior, and that can lead me to sabotage the possibility of connection. This Mental Health Awareness Month, tune into the podcast, well with Debbie Brown and explore the journey of healing, self-discovery, and returning to yourself. We explore higher consciousness, emotional well-being, and the practices that help you find clarity, peace, and self-mastery in a world that can feel overwhelming. The world is becoming lonelier. We're not becoming more social and connected.

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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 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 skinny. Carrie. Cream of 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 Hypocrite as part of the Mike Coutura Podcast Network available on the IHartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Ohio State gets thumped by Miami 2414. You know, it's interesting. So Ohio State scored 14 points against Texas. against Indiana and 14 against Miami. Now, some of it is they lost Judkins and Trevion Henderson,

two great running backs. You have to go back to Sony, Michelle, and Nick Chubb at Georgia, where you've had a college team with two big-time backs. I think their offensive line in a couple of spots is not very good. I think Julian Sane is a kid. I mean, he's a kid. I mean, he needs two more years in college, and he's not hyper-athletic. He's a sit-in-the-pocket and throw guy. They have very good wide receivers. Everybody knows that. But I would say one of the things I like about this tournament, and I'm going to pat myself in the back, when the college football playoff came up, I said this is going to be better for

college football. Do you want Bama, Georgia, Clemson in three of the next four national champions? In college football until the last two years, you kind of knew in October who the best two teams were. I mean, Ohio State lost to Michigan last year as a 20-point favorite, reeled off multiple wins, wins the Natty. You didn't know until the national championship was over. Oh my God, Ohio State is the best team in the country? Right now today, is it Miami? Is it Indiana? Is it Georgia? We know what's not Bama. That's the NFL, John. You don't know and I don't know who the best team in the NFL is until usually late third quarter Super Bowl.

you're like, okay, all right. That's why, same with the World Series. We didn't know until game seven final out. The Dodgers were better than the Blue Jays. And so, you know, I have no problem saying. I kept saying, folks, what are you holding on to? The sports broken. The ratings were down. The attendance was down. Well, now the attendance is up. The ratings are up. This is why it's great, because college football never allowed you to grow. If you had an awful loss in October, like Miami loses to Louisville, it was over, John. wreck your season. You're festival tops.

And I'm watching Miami wreck Ohio State. And my takeaway today is Miami's going to face Indiana in the national championship. They, even more than Indiana, they almost intimidated Ohio State's offensive line. Well, let's use your NFL example. Take the Rams. If they played the Eagles in the first round, not crazy they lose. Also not crazy if I told you in three weeks, they're in the Super Bowl. And that is what the NFL brings to the take.

which college football never did. To me, the thing that stood out, I mean, the difference in the game were the two tackles for Ohio State won skates all night long. And that was the difference in the game. And Mario's a good example of, you know, a guy who's viewed a little bit like a meathead by the media and people just around college football, but there is no disputing his understanding of talent and building a team. Like, obviously where we sit today, Dan Lannning and Lincoln Riley, I think they were

hired the same cycle. it's not even close, right? But at the time they were hired, Dan Lanning's job at Oregon came equipped. Why? Because Mario was a, I mean, I think he's known as one of, if not the best recruiters in the country. Yeah. And the team

that he built, and he's a former lineman, on the trenches, they dominate. And I give him credit, like, Carson Beck was good last night. I think he was 50% on third down. He made some huge plays with his legs. Yep. You watch Sayin and Ty Simpson, they kind of look frazzled. He's very under

control, very poised. I don't know, been there before, right, with Georgia, his record against the top teams, Mario Cristobal built a team to make a run in the playoffs. Ohio State, in theory does, but when you have bad tackles, you got to play some of these teams. Indiana, same thing. Where could they take advantage of them? Line of scrimmage. And it's harder now because you can't stack. I bet historically it was like Orlando Pace and the backup was Orlando Pace 2.0. Well, those days are done. It's harder to keep those guys. And so if you get an injury, we saw last year, it's harder to piecemail it, even for the elites. And there's, like, I don't put that loss as much on Ryan Day.

I was like, bad play calling, because there's nothing you can do when you find yourself in a situation where they have NFL high-end pass rushers and your tackles are just completely, you can't call plays. Meanwhile, Mario, did you see the size of his two tackles? They both look like Trent Williams. They are massive. I had NFL scouting directors texting me. Did you see the right tackle shoved that guy?

I'm like, that guy has to weigh 350 pounds. And what did Mario talk about it after the game? He talked about it was Sabin this morning. The mass, the size, the toughness. And he kept using this term violence, violence. Mario's kind of like from the Harbaugh mold. And it's not as pretty. And he's lost some weird games blowing it late.

But in terms of the teams he built, like I would say even last year, they were excellent on offense. Their defense was terrible. Well, now their offense is getting better. and their defense is, it doesn't get any better. Like, I would say Indiana and them feel like near the top, but Miami's got a few more juice with some high-end NFL guys. Now, Indiana's well coached and they're tough.

But there's a little, like, yeah, Miami's well coached and tough too, but they got a guy that's going to go in the top six, rushing the faster. I had a pretty good source inside the Miami. I will just say I have a really good source inside of Miami. and their takeaway was going into the game, they felt they were going to bully Ohio State. And they also felt Indiana was the best coach team they've seen this year. So the Miami people, like they have respect for everybody, right?

But they're like, they know how well Indiana's coached. They thought Indiana was going to thump Alabama. And Miami felt that game was exactly what Miami thought they were going to do. they didn't think Ohio State was going to be able to move the ball. So Miami's got great confidence on what they do. That game turned out like Miami people thought it was going to turn out. When they gave the stat last night that Ohio State hadn't been down 14 points in like three years, most of their games playing Iowa's and the Rutgers, they don't play Oregon every year.

They bully a lot of people. Listen, Chip Kelly left. Brian Hartline got that job left in the last couple of games. Ryan Day has done the play call. calling, and they've scored 10 and 14 points. And physically shoved around. And physically shoved around. In those two games, that's not a knock on Ryan Day.

But when you don't call plays all year, and then you're given play calling as a head coach, it's just different. You're asked to do a different responsibility. And so the two games in which Ryan Day took over the play calling, all that talent, 24 points total. By the way, the other thing I love about college football now that was never the case is is you have to watch all the games. And I was kind of one of those guys that thought maybe Notre Dame should get in over Miami, even though Miami had beaten him.

I was like on the fence on it. I think head-to-head matters. It can't be the only thing. And then I watched, I watched John, Miami thumped Pittsburgh 38 to 7, dominate time of possession. And I sat there and I wanted to watch that game. And I thought, shit, warm weather team, Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh's decent. And then I started going and looking at the Notre Dame Miami heads.

and I'm like, no, Miami is a better team. They beat them head to head when you look at similar opponents. But the truth was, you have to watch all the games. And so college football, you didn't have to watch them all. If Alabama beat LSU and Georgia near, you know, it felt like before the playoff, you kind of had a sense of who was the best team. You kind of knew it was baked in unless they were knocked off, right? And even if they lost close late, you're like, well,

Alabama, LSU, Clemson, they're still the team. This new college football is a little like the NFL. You have to watch all the games. I mean, four weeks ago, we both thought the Rams were easily the most complete team in the league. I mean, they're only a touchdown favor over the awful Arizona Cardinals Sunday. Like, I don't even know if they're the first or second best team in their division. They could be the third best team in their division. Miami week seven against Miami today, this Miami team would have beaten that Miami team by three touchdowns.

You got to watch the games now. I think two things can be true. One, and Miami played Notre Dame and beat them. They played a game and they beat them. Alabama had to get in because as we sit right now in these conference championships still exist in the manner in which they do, you couldn't knock a team for going because next year teams would bow out if they were in a situation. But if you and I were sitting here ranking the teams, because it turns out Oklahoma, the quarterback, I don't know what happened to him, but he fell off a cliff, they're not very good.

I mean, their defense is good, but their offenses, I mean, pretty low level, right? If you were ranking Miami, Notre Dame and Alabama, Alabama would be thermal. Because you would say the one thing Notre Dame brings that is translating to this tournament, which I say all the time, I bet that if we went and talked to Carson Palmer in Southern California, you've got to be good on defense. Obviously, you've got to score points. high level high school, high level college, high level pro. If you aren't a physical team on the line of scrimmage,

you're not, Alabama can't run the ball. I'm a Kalin-Dubour guy, but I can imagine Nick Saban looking going, guys, what is going on? We can't just this pass-happy offense. It's just not going to work out in this conference. And when you play the other best teams in the country from whatever conference, they're going to have NFL guys on both lines of scrimmage.

And you can't be a finesse team. Look at Oregon. I would say Oregon has really turned into a physical. I mean, that's the Dan Laning mindset that he's brought from Sabin and Kirby Smart. It's going to translate as they keep getting high-end players. Yeah. God, this is a beat down. 38 to 3 now, Alabama.

You know what's funny is my wife, I walked in as they were doing like the pregame warmups. I went on a coffee run. And she's like, it's really cool. You know, I've rooted for this little underdog. I'm like, well, historically they are, but they're a touchdown plus favorite. in this game. You know, you know, this is a team. I'm pretty sure they say,

I don't think they'd ever been to the Rose Bowl, right? And I mean, shit, Bama now has been to two of the last three. Now it's a little different with the playoffs. But you just see this little brand. It doesn't happen very often in college sports that, because, you know, Oregon slowly moved up right in the late 90s and the early 2000s. Indiana went from like zero to 100 overnight to all of a sudden be, I mean, for the last two years, I mean, you could argue they're like one of the premier

programs and this year if they want it all, you could argue they have the best two-year run of any team in the country, right there with Ohio State. So I like Indiana when they play Oregon. I like that. I like Indiana by they already beat them once. I think Indiana may be better today. So I take Indiana again to beat Oregon 10 points-ish. I think Miami will see how Georgia plays against Ole Miss tonight. I think Georgia is going to thump them 30-20. I think they're going to beat him. That's a great. That's a great final four. It's a great final four. I would take Miami to beat Georgia the way they're playing. I want to address the Lincoln Riley thing. So, you know, you just said two things can be true.

You and I, I think, would both agree. Lincoln Riley is a really smart guy, very good offensive coach. Next year, he'll have his best offensive line. They've run the ball since he got there. They ran the ball at Oklahoma. He's a great judge. Jaden Mayaba, a UNLV, didn't look anything close to this when he came to U.S. He develops quarterbacks. But what he doesn't do, and I think next year, he should be on the hot seat. What he doesn't do, they had 16 missed tackles against TCU. He has yet to develop a defense at Oklahoma or at USC. And the DeAant Lynn, the coordinator going to Penn State, was supposed to coach in the Alamo Bowl.

I mean, he addressed the media the day before. And then something weird happened. I don't know. I don't have it sourced. I tried to find out today. I don't know. And then he just, he didn't coach it. But my take is a lot of people will say this.

Well, he's got kind of the same record of Clay Hilton. Well, Clay Hilton took over Sark's roster. Sark could recruit. There was a lot of NFL guys on that roster. There was a lot of four-star Southern California kids. Riley inherited Clay Hilton's roster, which basically had 40 decent players. Very few great, 40 decent. So I do think it was different.

And I do think USC feels offensive. at least really well coached, especially when you watch the home games. But I do think next year should be the year. They had a number one recruiting class. They are capitalized. There's a lot of money in the program. They're spending it on NIL. And five years in, or four years in, and if you look at Oklahoma, John,

he has yet to build a really physically imposing defense. Signetti's done it. Ohio State's got it. Miami's got it. All these coat Dan Lannning. All these coaches have done. Texas Tech's not a great program. They had a great defense.

Alabama didn't, but maybe that's just Indiana routing Alabama. But my takeaway is Lincoln is one of those, maybe it's kind of this new kind of Lane Kiffin. We know he's exceptional on one side of the ball. Lane doesn't have a history of building a bunch of great defenses either. And I don't know if it's in the practice. I don't know if that's where it unravels. But I think next year is the year that if they don't become a playoff team, I think it's incredibly reasonable to just say it didn't work out. It was fun. It was better than previous coaches,

but considering the resources, it just didn't work out. I think there are a lot of variables here. I do think the Notre Dame thing, and I heard you and Pate talking about it, and obviously there's a lot of conversation. A lot of USC people are not happy, you know, of the tradition going away, which is very understandable. There is a whininess. There is a whininess. It feels like to his side a little bit. Yeah.

College coaches, wouldn't you say basketball and football, whether you're winning or losing it, they're always a little whiny. But when you win, no one cares. And I think once you start, I mean, they went nine and four. And like I said about Dan Lannning, okay, Dan got a much easier runway. Well, we're not in your two anymore. We're in your four. Why does his team stocked with.

California kids, especially from Southern California, and you're still struggling physically to sustain? Even if I throw Signetti out, he's a historic outlier, right? How about these other guys? Is it Mario in year four? Right? I mean, because he left when Dan Landing took over. Look what he's doing in Miami.

And your team is not even remotely competitive enough. I think this, I was texting with you, you know, the Lynn situation, him going to Penn State. Again, they're financial. Is he playing USC? trying to quadruple his salary or whatever. I kind of get it. But he's also going to a team that's weird to say Penn State's arrival, but technically they are now.

You're going to play them most years. They play them next year. So they're just stealing your defensive coordinator who you stole from USC, who was a huge upgrade for you based on your history as a defensive coordinator. Yeah, UCLA, yeah. So who are you going to hire as being your new defensive coordinator? I think we both agree if he gets it wrong, it could derail his career at USC. And two, I know the everyone talks about the class, right?

number one class. Someone forwarded me an article because California rules, a little different in a lot of states, they can pay these kids in high school. You know, California wants that revenue to start, they can start taxing that money when it exchanged hands. So these kids are getting bought in high school where they have to wait until they get on campus, unique rule. So it's not like these kids are signing up because they believe in the vision like Georgia or Texas. They're getting paid early. Right. So, but also they're 18. You know, what is, what has Rick Petito been saying? The high kid, and this parallels college football as well, not just basketball. How many kids are really from that class? They're not all going to show up and be Reggie Bush. So the transfer portal is

actually much more impactful for next year than the class, right? Yeah, I mean, I know the high school class. There's four guys in that class. There's a wide receiver. There's a tight end. Isn't there a pass rusher that's supposed to be like a Bosa brother or something? Yeah, they've got a pass rusher from New Jersey. They have a wide receiver. Then. have a tight end, those three guys, and they have one defensive tackle that'll be a rotational defensive tackle. They'll have three guys out of that class that will absolutely make an impact. Okay. There's also a line. There are 22 guys on a field and you're rotating 30 plus players. You know, it's not, and let's say their impact, let's say one of them rolls an ankle. And you're

assuming the best case, right? You just, you never know. Yes. Now. And look at their schedule. They play Ohio State. They play Oregon. They play Penn State. I mean, they play Washington. They play. Yeah, they're at Penn State, at Indiana. Do you think they're going to make the playoffs next year? Well, I think it's their, I will say this. They bring the quarterback back, and he will be on a short list of the best quarterbacks in the country. So that helps. He'll be one of the top seven, eight, nine quarterbacks in the country.

And Lincoln Riley is really good with quarterbacks. They're going to have to rely on a freshman tied end and two freshman receivers. The O line will be good, and they will be big defensively. But we know this team doesn't. travel well. That Penn State game ends up being late October. They're not going to win that game. They just don't win that game. They couldn't win it, Illinois. It is a program, and I think this is completely fair, that has not shown the ability to win when they're uncomfortable, being on the road, the weather's less than ideal. They don't get a call here or there. They haven't shown the ability

to do that. And so, I just, I look at this, I guess, I think Lincoln's really smart. I think he's a great offensive coach. But now you're going to be in year five. There's no more excuses. This team isn't. They don't tackle. They're not physical.

They don't play unless it's ideal conditions. I mean, they're actually at home really, really tough. Sorry, you can't play all your games at home. And next year or two of the home games are Oregon, Ohio State. I mean, they're going to be underdogs in both those games, I would assume. So, I mean, it's not weird at all if they lose them. I do think his comments I saw after the bowl game basically like headed into year five now we're ready. I think that rubbed a lot of people the wrong way.

And I get they've invested more money over the last year. The other thing is, you know, I think I've talked to some NFL people. He's not the biggest personality guy. And when you look at a lot of these coaches historically in college football, you go back to the 70s, let alone now kind of got some big personalities. Now with the money and GMs now run a lot of the recruiting your coaches. don't need to recruit. It's changed a little bit, but I still think it matters. I mean, you look at Dan Lannning, who I say has elevated immediately to one of the best and most respected coaches in the country, a lot of juice behind that guy. And you're telling me, you know, at the end of the day,

you don't quite have to recruit the same way because money trumps off. But if we're offering the same, Kirby's got personality, you know, Dan Lannning, Sark. I mean, Lane could be a little bit of a weird cat, but he's very energetic and into this stuff and learn from Nick. Mario Cristobal. That guy, he lives for, Mario Cristobal is like the more buttoned up Ed Ogeron. You know, Ed was one of the great recruiters in the history of college football. Mario feels a little more focused, more of a family guy, a little more dialed in from what I've heard, workaholic. And I don't know, man, I think USC, because I think there's so much hype behind this class, which I think would have mattered 10, 20 years ago. Pete had him forever.

I think they're a little less relevant now because all of a sudden you win nine, eight games again. those kids could leave, you know? So it's like you're not even guaranteed to have them for three years anymore. I think this transfer portal, which opens tomorrow, has clearly proven to be much more impact. I mean, look at Fernando Mendo. I mean, on a year-to-year basis, the transfer portal kind of has changed the playoffs for college football, I would say. Yeah, I, listen, I just. And USC is probably going to do well.

They should. I mean, they should have a lot of money to buy some of these guys. but they better get the whatever, whoever Texas Texan for the defensive line, I would just call those guys. You know, it used to be like the moment Alabama offered, you know, a kid could be have no, you know, couple low school offers. Saving would give an offer every SEC school would offer. I think Lincoln needs to draft a little bit more off like Oregon and Texas when it comes to their defense players. David Bailey was from Stanford.

USC passed on him. He goes to Texas Tech. You can't block him. So there you go. I'll tell you, I'll say it again. I know this is obnoxious. But when the college football playoff expanded and college football made all these changes, I said, folks, it's going to be way better.

It's going to feel like the NFL, the NIL, the transfer portal. We have a chance to have Indiana, Miami, an ACC team, a basketball school in the national championship. Listen, I'll like Oregon forever. And I do think it helps. they played Indiana, so they, at least they've seen them. I think it'll be a really good football game, a really fun. I think it'll be, that'll be a really fun football game to watch. But I'm watching these games, and I just love, God, it's 38 to 3 now, Indiana.

I think one big challenge, I was texting someone this, I think the transfer portal opens tomorrow, right, on Friday. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Both his coordinators, Tosh and Stein, are head coaches at other places. Yes. So we don't have a two-week break anymore. I think these games next week are like Thursday and Friday. This is a normal week now for these teams. Those guys, I mean, they're going to work great. I mean, do you read the article about Lane staff going back and forth? They're working like 30-hour days. I think they're going to be at a little disadvantage where Indiana's coordinators. I don't know why no one ever

interviews Indiana's coordinators, but the Shanahan and the defensive coordinator should feel like two of the best coordinators in the country, they're just staying in Indiana. So Tosh, and definitely the dude at Kentucky Stein, I'm sure they're going to be a heavy transfer portal teams. Their brains are going to be on a swivel just trying to do a game plan slash trying to work their staff from far away. Pretty big disadvantage. I know landing was big on my guys are good.

Well, yeah, it's a lot easier when you got two and a half weeks. It becomes a little tougher with six or seven days to manage both for first time head coaches. All right. Let's go watch Georgia Ole Miss. Have a good night. Happy New Year. The Volume. Hey, guys, it's us.

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