The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Colin Cowherd Podcast Prime Cuts - College Football Playoff Quarterfinals, Can’t Pay Purdy, The Bottom Of The NFL Is BAD!

Episode Date: January 4, 2025

He begins by doubling down on his take that Brock Purdy is a “good, not great” quarterback after throwing two crucial interceptions to sink the 49ers against the Lions, (4:00) and credits his huge stat line to Kyle Shanahan scheming guys open (7:45). He examines the NFC playoff picture and explains why the playoffs are WIDE open and warns that the Lions could be in real trouble if they can’t secure the #1 seed in their upcoming game against the Vikings (10:30). He pivots to the NBA and the lack of criticism of the league by the media. He argues that the league DESERVES criticism, needs major changes and has been coddled by friendly media for too long (13:30).  Then, Colin’s joined by John Middlekauff, host of “3 and Out” to break down the College Football Playoff and the top storylines from the NFL!  They agree that the Vikings CAN’T move on from Sam Darnold under any circumstances (23:00), that Bills head coach Sean McDermott is under huge pressure and could be on the hot seat if they don’t reach the conference championship (29:30) and examine the rash of really BAD teams at the bottom of the NFL standings (35:00) They pivot to the College Football Playoff with the Oregon Ducks being absolutely cooked by Ohio State in the Rose Bowl and why Ohio State looks to be in a class of their own compared to the rest of the field (45:30).  They laud the Arizona State coaching staff for taking a much more talented Texas team down to the wire, and attempt to dissect why Steve Sarkisian’s teams look “loose” (55:45). Finally, they debate whether Penn State can win the national championship (1:04:00) and what to make of Ashton Jeanty and Drew Aller as NFL prospects (1:07:00).  (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements.) Follow Colin and The Volume on Twitter for the latest content and updates!  #Volume #Herd  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human. Hey guys, it's us. The Jonas Brothers. I'm Joe. I'm Kevin. And I'm Nick. And guess what? We created our own podcast called, Hey Jonas.

We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to it. We're the first people to do podcasts. We get to ask other people questions because we're sick and tired of being asked questions. Well, sick and tired is a strong way to put it. But, you know, tired and sick. Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you.

you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. 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 ice. Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where SportsSlice comes in. I'm Timbo, and every episode, we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the biggest moments in sports and giving you the real story behind the headline. And we're going straight to the source, the athletes themselves, their locker room stories, their reactions in the moment, and the stuff nobody gets to hear. Listen to Sports Slice on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

And for more, follow Timbo Sliced Life 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. 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. I'm Michelle McPhee, and I've been unraveling the strangest criminal alliance I've ever reported on, a Mormon polygamist and an Armenian businessman. Multi-million dollar house, Ferraris and Lamborghinis, private jets,

a billion dollar fraud. But how long can this alliance last? Tell me what you're. you know. Is somebody coming after me? Listen to Kingdom of Fraud on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. The Volume. Our week 17 reaction is presented by Uber Eats. Get game day deals all season long on Uber Eats. 40 to 34, the Lions roar back in the second half, thanks to two Brock Purdy intercept. and, you know, I just, it really cracks me up. If you're listening to this, you have a team and you're a fan. Many of you are Niners fans. Some of you are Lion fans. You have to be an adult if you're a general manager. You're watching John Lynch on TV tonight. How did he react with those Brock Purdy picks? Baker Mayfield's making 33 million this year. Brock Pretty is not nearly as talented as Baker Mayfield. One's a first round pick. You know, one's number one pick. One's the last guy picked.

Baker's got a better arm. I think Baker's a better athlete. Baker leads the NFL in touchdown passes. The entire NFL, including Josh Allen and Joe Burrow, since he started in Tampa. Well, he's got Mike Evans. Everybody's got a receiver. Everybody's got at least one decent receiver. So here's a prime example. So defensive players in the NFL get hurt more than offensive players statistically. And Detroit's down like seven or eight starters. So this was a moment to really seize an opportunity to beat Detroit. I thought Detroit would win, and my takeaway was because I trusted golf on the road more than Brock Purdy at home. I thought it would be a high-scoring game, just because the Lions, that's all they can play now. They have so many players down. And listen, it doesn't help that Jake Moody missed a 51-yarder and a 58-yarder and a P-A-T. But, folks, there's a reason they were settling. for 51-yarders and 58-yarders. Because there was, for instance, a key third down pass by Brock Purdy in the second half,

the Joanne Jennings that was behind him. I just don't understand how you can watch Brock Purdy. In fact, I'd argue when he got hurt, he'll be fine, but when he got dinged up, they put in Josh Dobbs, who ran for a touchdown that athletically Brock Purdy would not have raced to the corner and got into the end zone. He could have scrambled, but he's not as faster as athletic as Josh Dobbs, who's a pretty remarkable player who just bounces around the,

league and he's always pretty effective. But people get so cut up on statistics. Well, he had 377 yards. First of all, Shanahan is one of the great play scriptors in the league. Andy Reed and Shanahan are probably one and two in the league. Sean Payton's probably third. Those three guys, Bo Necks played Justin Herbert a week ago. Bo Necks looked way better in the first half than Justin Herbert. Why? Because the first half is scripted. In the second half against the Chargers defense, Bo Nix didn't look as good. That's about talent. In the first half, Brock Purdy on Kyle Shanahan's script is remarkable. In the second half, two picks, behind Joanne Jennings on a key third down throw.

Here are the numbers for Brock Purdy in the second half this year. And again, the first half, especially when you have elite offensive coordinators or elite play designers like Andy Reid, Sean Payton, Shanahan. McVeigh, by the way, is not an elite play designer. The Rams have been an average offense all first half. half. Nick Seriani's an offensive coach. He's not an elite play designer. Not all offensive coaches are. Dan Campbell's more offensive side. He's not an elite play designer. Um, Purdy in the second half. First half, off and on script. Second half is talent. Purdy second half this year, eight touchdowns, ten picks. That's bad. Jaden Daniels is remarkable in the fourth quarter.

Brooke Purdy's awful. This is not his first year in the league. He's got Kyle Shanahan. Um, and the other thing is Shanahan, you get so many open Ricky Pearsall and George Kittle opportunities. And this is what Andy Reid does. I mean, Andy Reid in a Super Bowl a couple of years ago in their first Super Bowl win without Tyreek Hill. He's getting Sky Moore wide open looks in the red zone, that congested area. That's what great play designers do. By the way, Ben Johnson's very good. Tonight in the red zone down near the goal line.

You know, Jared Gough had open receivers. That's what clever coaches do. So, you know, and I'm not saying Jared Goff isn't benefiting from a good old line and an excellent play designer, but this is the second team Goff has done that with. And McVeigh's not known as a brilliant play designer. He is a culture guy. He's got a great eye for personnel. He's a motivator. He designs excellent run games.

But so many of the completions for Brock Purdy are to wide open play. players. But the difference between good and great in this league is squeezing the ball in these little holes. Darnal did that yesterday multiple times. Jaden Daniels did that. Hell, Michael Penix had a throw like that yesterday for a touchdown for Atlanta. The opening was the size of a football, and Pennix has real velocity. I mean, he can really cut it loose. So Brock Pretty isn't big, isn't super athletic, doesn't have a big arm, and benefits greatly from Shanahan's play calling. He's good. He's functional. But the idea I'm going to pay him 40 and 50 million. Baker's making 33 million. You've got to be kidding me. Yeah, it's just eight touchdowns, 10 picks in the second

half this year. And he was the difference in the game tonight. Don't blame the kicker. Those two second half picks, that was the difference. So, yeah, when you, and you know, listen, Detroit is one of those teams like Minnesota right now where they've got spectacular offensive players and excellent coaching. Kevin O'Connell and Brian Flores. Well, Aaron Glenn, defensive coordinator for Detroit, Ben Johnson. So a lot of this stuff is coaching. A lot of this stuff, when you look at the teams in this league, Spags and Andy Reed. I mean, look at San Francisco when they had D'Amico Ryan's and Shanahan. That was their best staff, in my opinion. Look at the results. You're getting the Super Bowls. You're getting the conference championships.

So I think with Purdy, you just have to be totally honest. I would just play it out. I'm not going to pay him. You want to sit out and go ahead, but I need to see another year. There's no way I'm paying him early, no shot. Don't care what he does. Don't care if he sits. If Sam Darnold's available, go pay for him.

And this is not hate. Second half numbers, abysmal. Second half is off script. That's when the true talent comes out. That's when you see Mahomes win Super Bowls. Second half ad-libbing. That's when Justin Herbert has been. been pretty spectacular. That's when Josh Allen takes over games. The other thing about Detroit

that's fascinating, there's this sense that the AFC, because it's got the Bills and the Ravens and the Chiefs, is much better than the NFC, but the NFC is wide open. I mean, the Bucks are 3 and against NFC playoff teams. They beat Washington, Detroit, and Philly. And the Lions could potentially, they've been media darlings all year. There are one loss on. Sunday night against Minnesota from being the number five seed going to Tampa or L.A. And they beat L.A., remember earlier this year in overtime, L.A. was all beat up. L.A. is now the healthiest team in the league. The Rams are the healthiest team in the league. All their starters are back. And they gave Detroit pushback when they were all banged up. Now Detroit's all banged up. So Detroit's been

this media darling all year long. Can you imagine going to Tampa and facing that defensive line, doesn't allow you to run. And, you know, Montgomery comes back. Maybe that's the difference. But if Montgomery's not ready for a playoff game, yikes. I mean, the NFC, I mean, you got the commanders at the bottom of the NFC. I mean, Houston won a division in the AFC. Houston's a mess right now. Washington is sneaking in. I would want no part of Jaden Daniels, Terry McLaurin, Cliff Kingsbury, and Washington. I would want no part. part of that. So the NFC is deeper. Their bottom is much stronger than the AFC, whereas the AFC's tops probably better. But, you know, it's funny. We've been watching all year. Just the NFC

north is fascinating. So all year we're like Detroit's the team, Green Bay is second, little young, and Minnesota is a great story. If Minnesota beats Detroit, they're the best team. Green Bay is still a little young. And Detroit goes to L.A. or Tampa? All beat up? Defensively. And I want to go back to that. You got to win this game tonight if you're San Francisco. I don't want excuses. I mean, how many backups are playing for Detroit on the defensive side? They were there for the taking.

Detroit was there for the taking tonight. I know you guys think I'm not a Brock Purdy guy. I am for $32 million after next season. But if you want me to pay him big boy money now a year early, not remotely interested. Not going to happen. Let them sit out. I mean, I've been saying this for eight weeks. I think the Niners were in a rebuild. They just don't know it yet. I mean, if you can't beat Detroit at home the week before their game of the year when they were there for the taking, you're not that

close. Forty-34, Detroit. How good is football? I want to add one NBA topic. So Adam Silver, I was told the NBA got a hold of me and said, Adam Silver is going to be in L.A. He'd like to come on my show. I'd love to have him. He's the guest I've been asking to get for about a year. And J. Mack got people riled up when he said, one of the problems that the NBA has been having is their most popular show

with Barclay and Chad, Kenny Smith, and Ernie Johnson. They're very, very critical of the NBA. And every time you tune in, you know, they're super critical of the NBA. And to that, I would say, time out. because the top reporters in the NBA do not want to lose access to the top agents and they break all these stories, that by and large, NBA coverage is can border on pandering. It's, it's really, really pretty tame. I mean, NFL coverage, NFL reporters and a talk show host crush NFL players, crush them. I think the Barkley Shack show works because it's the only coverage of the NBA that is critical. NBA TV is not. I think ESPN feels like they are the network of the NBA and it feels like it very complimentary. So Shaq and Barkley and Kenny are the one critical place for NBA coverage. And and there should be. The league's got issues. There's too many three-point shots. The domestic players, the young players, don't feel like they're as skilled or as focused as many of the international players. That's not negative criticism.

That's forthright up front and completely honest to me. I like the NBA, especially the playoffs. But for instance, baseball is a very tough sport for a reporter to be critical because 162 games, spring training, you're with these players around the clock. They'll shut you out. I've had friends. I wrote a couple books with a guy named Tim Kuhn, who used to cover the San Francisco Giants. And he's like, listen, man, you get in the bad side of players. And like, you're a virus. They will just stay away from you. They'll shut you out for the season. NBA is different. There's half as many games. There's also a lot of times, even on your own team, the stars have their separate agents and separate camps and there's more divisions. But NBA coverage by and large is very favorable.

Home announcing teams aren't critical. The big, your shams, woege when he worked in it, you know, they're not beating guys over the head. It's a pretty tame media landscape in the NBA. The one show that's critical is that one and the audience likes it. Fans like it. It's also, it's not all critical. I mean, I watch inside the NBA in a regular basis. There have been nights I watch that more than the game. I'll literally tune in. It's on TV.

I'll watch the halftime show or the pregame show. I'll watch 15 minutes of the game, get bored, and leave. I watch more of the pregame show and the halftime show than the game, especially in like, you know, October, November, December, January. I don't think it's all negative. It's probably 50-50 split, but you remember the negative stuff more than the positive stuff. But leagues are covered differently. You know, like international soccer, I've read some of the coverage of international soccer.

Those guys are rock stars. There's really strong opinions in international soccer from the people who cover it. The NFL, college football, very strong opinions on coaches. Maybe that's just a football culture in America. We're more critical. But usually basketball, you know, it's a long season. Not a lot of reporters have fangs and much of a bite. It's not a criticism. It's just the reality of my entire life of watching NBA basketball and the media that covers it. So if inside the NBA is the one guys that occasionally bring out the anvil, eh, but I mean, just do you watch, listen to, listen to NFL reporters and former players of the NFL, highly critical on a regular basis of the NFL. Any show, anytime I bring somebody on my show. And I don't think they're negative people. They'll be critical.

Regularly, be critical of players and coaches. It comes with a territory. It's so infrequent in the NBA, you notice it when you hear it from Berkeley. Well, it's the most wonderful time of the year for getting in all the basketball, football, hockey action at Draft King Sportsbook. It's the season of giving, so we're being gifted college football and basketball, pro football, basketball, pro football, pro hockey to almost 24-7. It's an absolutely great time of the year. So a lot of games every day, so many opportunities to place your first bet. Now, if you're going to bet for the first time, Just make it simple. Pick a team to win. Any team. Go to Draft King Sportsbook. They have an app. Download it 90 seconds. Here's the gift for all new customers.

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We have some big news. What's the news, name? Huge news. We created our own podcast called, Hey Jonas. We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to us. We're the first people to do podcasts.

Pretty, yeah, pretty wide range of podcasts throughout there. But this one's extra special. So how do we actually come up with a name, Hey Jonas, guys? I honestly don't remember. I think it was on a call about what we should call it. And we were thinking I'm originally calling it one of the early names of our band before Jonas Brothers. This is how you guys remember it going down? Yes.

I have a very different memory of this. We were talking about a thing, a bit for the podcast, where people could call in and say, hey, Jonas. And then I wrote down on my little notepad, Hey Jonas, and offered it up as a potential title for the podcast. But thanks for remembering that, guys. Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. Another podcast from some SNL late night comedy guy. Not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you

funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer Streeter Seidel help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and Friends on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo. Every episode, we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the plays, the controversies, and the stories behind the headlines. We go straight to the source,

the athletes themselves, their locker room stories, their reactions, the stuff nobody gets to hear. The laughs, the drama, the triumphs, the moments that never make the highlight real. From viral moments to historic games, from buzzer beaters to controversial calls, we break it down, give you context, and ask the questions everybody wants answered. Sports Slice brings you closer to the action with stories told by the people who live them. Listen to Sports Slice on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Sliced Life 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. 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 IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Jacob Kingston grew up in an isolated polygamous sect. We were God's chosen kingdom on earth. He felt destined for greatness. So when a swaggering Armenian businessman catapults Jacob into an extraordinary world, he doesn't look back. Ferraris and Lamborghinis, private jets, meeting the president of Turkey. I'm Michelle McPhee, and this is one of the most shocking criminal conspiracies I've ever come across.

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Former NFL scout, John Midlakov. He has a podcast, Three and Out, Minnesota 27, Green Bay 25. So I had a conversation yesterday with a general manager in the league who said, yeah, you can forget, you can forget Sam Darnold at 40 million. He said, you're not getting Sam Darnold at 40 million. Sam's moved into the five, 50, 5. and I watched him today, even after his pick, five for five, 55 yards touchdown. Final drive, you know, he got a little bit lucky. Some play calling, you know, let's just be honest here.

Kevin O'Connell's development and play calling is substantial. And between Jefferson, Addison and Naylor, the Michigan State kid, they have incredible wide receiving group. So I'm not taking anything away. But Sam, here's the thing I take away, John, and you as a former scout, they're asking him to make big boy throws. Some of this shit, these are hard. Even when they were leading late in the fourth, I'm like, guys, screen passes, lighten up. They're asking Sam, this is not dink and dunk. These are tough throws. Yeah, I mean, he's treating this guy like Mahomes meets Joe Montana in terms of

his play calling, complete trust. I mean, honestly, you removed two throws, the interception, where he got greedy, and the throw toward the end of the game that he airmailed at, in that could have been a disaster. Yeah. He was as good as the Josh Allen, Mahomes, Lamar. I mean, that's a dominant, dominant performance. I thought, given the hype in this game and the pressure, and we know Minnesota's got to be one of the better home field advantages,

how loud it is. Maybe the best. You know, sometimes you can be overjuced. To go 17 of 22 in the first half and just slice and dice this team, you know what I had to do immediately? I had to Google Jordan Love's contract because I'm thinking, and listen, Jordan Love for whatever reason, for a good place, He is a slow starter in these games.

Yeah. But I Googled he got a $75 million signing bonus and $160 million guaranteed. And if I'm Sam Donald and we beat Detroit next week and we're the number one seed, I don't see how you could take anything less than that. It's like because Jordan Love got paid really off eight games. Remember the first half of the season, he was atrocious. And obviously he had been there longer and they liked him and they know him. But every time I hear Kevin O'Connell talk about Sam Donald,

it's like the way I hear Andy talk about Mahomes. I mean, they love the guy. And listen, they didn't, this is not a clunky Atlanta Falcon situation. This was good business. They paid a guy $10 million and they drafted a guy who essentially fell into their lap that they liked as well, J.J. McCarthy. Things changed throughout the course of the year. This is not a 35-year-old strike and oil late in his career, right?

This is not a Gino Smith situation. 27 years old. He was one of the younger players to come in the league, right, when he was drafted. Today was, and they've been doing this all season. I was like, this is not, it's not like they've peaking. They were blowing out teams immediately. The Giants, they destroyed, they destroyed the 49ers, they destroyed the Texans. And in their fourth game, they were up 28 to nothing on this Packer team in Green Bay.

And the Green Bay came back, but they've been dominating start to finish with him at quarterback. Look at the 2018 draft class. Baker, Darnold, Josh Allen Lamar, all having their best years. And it's funny. Like, we used to always talk about the Marino and Elway class. we've had two classes now that have been like four star quarterbacks out of it. You know, and it's funny, John, because in baseball, we understand even if you're Bryce Harper, you go to the minors and it takes a while to get it going.

In the NBA, even if you're Janus, it takes three to four years to build into something. But in the NFL, we figure, well, you know, you're 22. You went to college, but it's very similar. If you don't get a good fit, I mean, Mahomes didn't play his first year. You know, Josh Allen was rough his first year. And if you go to a bad organization, I mean, so it's like you look at Sam now, you're like, Sam has four to five more minimum peak years. Here's the other thing.

I'm never going to talk about a guy's money, right? Like, but if you could take a little less to stay with Minnesota, even though they have Jay, Jay McCarthy in the offing, it's weird. Like, like, I mean, listen, again, if somebody offers you a 52 and, you know, I'm Minnesota, I don't let him go. I think you and I agree. I'm not letting him go. But if he goes to the, if he goes to the market and somebody offers 51, but it's like the Raiders, or you can go to a place that's got better players and better personnel, because I think what Sam has learned is, wow, coaching and weapons really matter, really matter. Because I think, I mean, we can talk about

Justin Jefferson, but hell, Nailer today, T.J. Hawkinson, the run game, Addison, Kevin O'Connor, you know, we haven't talked about this. Is Kevin O'Connell the coach of the year? You know, I'm sure we'll talk about Harbaugh a little bit later, but to me, it's Kevin O'Connell or Jim Harbaugh. I mean, Jim Harbaugh took over a five-win team. Kevin O'Connell, they started slow last year, but before Cousins' Tours Achilles, they were really coming on. Yeah. And two years ago, if memory serves me correct, I think, think they were the two seed. Now, they lost the Giants in the first round, but this team has been good for a couple years.

Yeah. This is the best version of it. But, you know, I always say about play callers, you know, certain people in any industry, obviously you get better at whatever you're doing with reps and experience, but certain people are just much, there's like an innate quality to them at what they're doing immediately. McVeigh, Kyle Shanhan, the floor, you could just see it. We see some of these guys become play callers and you're like, yeah, this is just not going work. Not because if you got him on a whiteboard, they would know any less than Kevin O'Connell,

but the flow of a game, maybe they freak out, maybe they get stressed, maybe they lose it, whatever it is. He today was, it was like, he would call the screen at the perfect time. He would call a perfect zone beating route in the perfect time. And obviously him and the quarterback, I don't see how you could ever pivot off when you're a play caller and you get a quarterback who's young and has these physical skills and it's working with your weapons who are all under contract. Why? you would want to mess with that just because you drafted a quarterback high. Who cares? Okay, Bill's 40, Jets 14. Jets had 16 penalties. It's over. So I will say this about Buffalo. I think these are the Sean McDermott playoffs. So Josh Allen, I looked it up today in 10 playoff

games, has a passer rating of 100, 21 touchdowns, four picks. This is not a Lamar Jackson situation. He has been a B plus to a minus quarterback in the playoffs. And again, I don't expect you to be as good as you are in the regular season because you're not playing Carolina and you're not playing shitty teams. So if you're a hundred passer rating quarterback in the playoffs, that's exceptional. And Lamar has gotten tight. Like you can see it. He's tight. That's not Josh.

Josh has been excellent. If they get bounced early in the playoffs, and I know this sounds crazy and I like Sean McDermott, John, if they lost, if they got, if Cincinnati got in and played Buffalo in the first round and Cincinnati won, I'm telling you, I think McDermott's in trouble. Because when I watch this team, I don't want to hear about Josh Allen. Okay, this is not a Josh Allen referendum. He lost a game because he scored a touchdown with 13 seconds left in Mahomes. He's been fine in the playoffs. This team, this coaching staff has real pressure on it.

I mean, think about this. Harbaugh's not going to get. get fired if they lose in the playoffs. Andy's not. I mean, think of a coach that would get Lafleur safe. You know, I mean, Siriani, real pressure, Sean McDermott, real pressure. I am fascinated to watch Buffalo. They have to at minimum get to the conference championship, at minimum, in my opinion.

Yeah, I mean, well, they're going to be more than likely. I think Denver's going to win next week. If Andy rests everybody, and it's a kitchen sink game for them, they would be a huge favorite in that game. I mean, we're talking touchdown plus, maybe eight, nine points. I'm pretty confident Buffalo wins that game. Same. The next game, though, it gets real.

I mean, you're playing Baltimore, who feels like they're really coming on. Right. I don't know what Baltimore did. Their defense looks better. That would be a maker breaker. Because then if you win that game, all of a sudden, you'd have a lot of momentum going into Kansas City, right? And you've beat them already this year.

So I think it'd go one or two ways. I think they're winning week one, or, you know, that, that first in Buffalo no matter what. I'd have a hard time. But that week two game against Baltimore is a massive massive game. That's going to be. Because I would say this. If they go to Kansas City and they have another one of those.

And listen, he's had some weird moments with clock management. If it feels like he blows the game, maybe. But if you get beats, like some people just couldn't be Michael Jordan. Some people just couldn't beat Tiger Woods. I don't think it,

I think losing to Baltimore, you already lost to him this season. You get them at home in the second round. I think you've got to be in the conference championship game. I think you can lose to the Chiefs and keep your head high. Yeah. Even though it would start to feel like, are we just always going to be second fiddle? Or us in Baltimore is always going to be second?

And the fact is, yeah, you might. You know, that was kind of like Pittsburgh and some of these other teams to Bill Belichick and Tom Brady. You just play for second in your conference. But I think they'd have to win that game or else it could be weird because, and listen, I think it's hard. I mean, what do you even make of the jet? The Jess are a joke. I mean, and I give the bills credit. It was a little weird early and then it was 40 to nothing.

And it was like, okay, you guys were just toying with them. Well, we learned this. Matt Eberflus and Robert Sala got fired and their teams got worse. So I always believe be very careful about firing a coach in season because if the interim coach wins, you get fan and player pressure to hire interim coach. And if he loses, then you lose the locker room. So they're two and nine since Robert Sala left. But I have always felt that Sala wasn't the problem.

there's an argument he was not the solution, but I never thought he was the problem. But really quick before the Jets, on the bills, if you and I own the team and we were sitting down, like going to the playoffs, like what are our different options if things go south? Our division is a disaster. The Jets couldn't be any more of a laughing stock. The Patriots are not even a year away from being a year away from winning nine games. And the dolphins, I mean, I just don't really take the franchise seriously, and we own them. So it's like, now, you know, trying to go from really good to great, totally admire anyone who's willing to do that.

But it is a pretty risky proposition. Now, if that job became open, everyone in their mother would be calling them. But I just think that like you do have a pretty good thing going. Yes. And to me, especially if you lose the Chiefs, you're going to keep winning 12, 13 games every year in this division. And you know you have a capable guy. I'm just saying it's pretty risky. Yes.

You know, do you ride the course a little bit? because the Jets could go backwards from here and the Patriots could be stuck here for a couple years. Yeah. No, I think it's something you've got to take into account. Yeah, I'm not saying I'd fire Sean McDermott, but I do believe the pressure is on Sean McDermott. Yeah, I agree. Whereas in Baltimore, the pressure's on Lamar. John Harbaugh's got a ring. The pressure with Joe Flacco, Lamar needs to play better. That's indisputable. He's got to play better. Josh has played very well in most spots. I would agree, but that organization, I think most people would choose the Ravens roster over the Bill's roster.

I think there's going to be a tough. That game, I mean, we have to play it out to look at all the different games. That's got to be one of the better playoff games of the entire tournament, right? If I tell you, Ravens at Bill's what's on the line for those two guys. It doesn't. I mean, that's Saturday or Sunday night, week two, right? That's as good as it gets. So I've been talking about this for two weeks.

Nine teams right now have four wins or fewer, less than half of that last year, four. This year, it's almost NBA-like. There is a lot of bad football. It is atrocious. We also have three 13-win teams. So the top is bigger and the bottom's huge. Is it a one-off or is it the reality now of two things? The league is now so quarterback-centric that, again, Burroughs the only good quarterback,

elite quarterback that's not going to make the playoffs. If you have one, you get in. And Cincinnati may still, but if you have it, when you get in. I mean, go look. I went, I'm going to go seven for eight, I think potentially in my division picks. Why? Because I took the best quarterbacks. It's never been easier. And because of every owner's a billionaire, there's more chaos and ownership. They're more impulsive. They fire people quicker, which creates more chaos. So the bad organizations are worse. You know, like the giants have been bad for six years. Now they're, I mean, it's despite today, it's like, oh, my God, this is embarrassing.

Chicago's embarrassing. I don't think it's a one-off. I think we're going to have a larger bottom because owners are getting wealthier, wealthier, writing $48 million to get coaches off the payroll as a rounding error. You used to just stick it out. What do you make of this massive bottom tier now? I feel like for the last couple decades, the quarterback thing has been pretty true. You know, I think you've been able to get away with it in the 80s and 90s if you built up your team.

but I think that's been a pretty consistent theme. Like the shitty teams don't have a quarterback. That's why they're drafting high. I think the money aspect of it and the ability to fire whoever. And I think on the flip side, you have coaches and executives doing everything humanly possible for power. And I would imagine the league has always been relatively political. But when there is this much money on the line to be a general manager and pay five, I mean, how many gigs in America pay W2 jobs pay for?

$5 million. An assistant coach as a coordinator makes $2, $3 million. They're not the decision maker. They're not near the top of the org chart. They're way down. They don't have any responsibility, really, besides calling the plays in terms of when shit hits the fan. So I think you have a lot of like,

I think it's much more difficult. We talk about this a lot with players, you know, building a team. I think young people naturally kind of gravitate toward each other and good teams, like everyone's kind of friends. I think coaching is just so corporate. everyone's trying to take out each other. You can't trust anybody.

I think the league, the amount of money that has come in for front office and coaching has made this completely separate from a lot of politicians in the, just because you work in the NFL. And I wasn't there long, but I always had this as, like, once you get there, everyone's such a high level guy. It's just not the case, right? And then the longer I've been around this, knowing a bunch of people with a bunch of teams, you hear these stories.

It's just like any industry, when there's a lot of money, the cream will always separate, but people can still make a lot of money being shitty. And how often do we see, I mean, the Atlanta Falcons are about to play, like McKay runs Arthur Blanks trust, you know, and he like runs the football, but you know,

it becomes like these family businesses, but these are billion dollar businesses. Most family, like I've had some family business, like close personal friends that run family businesses and got bought out for, let's say, $20, $30 million. Like, that's an American success story. They built this business. they sold it for $30, $40 million.

These people have businesses that are worth not a billion. We're talking like six, seven. If Mark Davis put the Raiders for sale. I mean, could he get eight? Could he get nine? I mean, how many companies in America are worth this much money? And the Raiders are a good example. They've always had these people that leaps their way in because it's just like a money

training. I think it's hard for some of these owners. And we look at all the bad teams. It's all these owners that are listening to the wrong people. Yeah. But you know who Steve Boshati listens to? De Costa, Ozzie, and Harbaugh. You know who the York's list to?

John and Kyle. It's like the, I think the chiefs, Andy and Veach are very simple. They operate like a small business. These others start operating like Fortune 500 companies where I want it on the board of directors. I got an idea for you. The kids are involved. And it just becomes Wackoville. And obviously because it's so public and it's a fun thing.

It's why Kevin Warren, Kevin Warren has a seven-figure job. Yeah. But you know what? His job, no one cares when he sells. PSLs or sells the naming rights deal for hundreds of millions of dollars. No one will give a shit. But you know what people care about? Your third round pick.

Yeah. The offensive coordinator. And so when you can start getting involved with that, and I think that has permeated all over the league or at least, you know, all these crappy teams. And I think they struggle with that. And these owners have money. Everyone's just trying to leach on because the money right now is, I mean, it's like outrageous.

I mean, it's crazy. If you could bring back Lamar, Hunt and Al Davis and Eddie DeBardo and I would have told these guys in the 80s what this would become. No one could have foreseen what it has become. I mean, we've seen it come in the last decade, but 40 years, when I was a kid, football,

I mean, the salary cap one point in time, I think when it first started, it wasn't like $30, $40 million? Yeah. That was 30 years ago. John Madden was being paid $8 million, making more than like all the players. Hey, it's us, the Jonas brothers, and guess what?

We have some big news. What's the news, huge news? We created our own podcast called Hey Jonas. We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to it. We're the first people to do podcasts.

Pretty, yeah, pretty wide range of podcasts throughout there. But this one's extra special. So how did we actually come up with a name, Hey Jonas, guys? I honestly don't remember. I think it was on a call about what we should call it. Well, we were thinking I'm originally calling it one of the early names of our band. Before Jonas Brothers was... This is how you guys remember it going down.

Yes. I have a very different memory of this. We were talking about a thing, a bit for the podcast, people could call in and say, hey, Jonas. And then I wrote down on my little notepad, Hey Jonas, and offered it up as a potential title for the podcast. But thanks for remembering that, guys. Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. Another podcast from some SNL, late-night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and friends, me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer Streeter Seidel help an a cappella band with their between songs banter.

Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and friends on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind.

Highlights are trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo. Every episode, we're cutting through the noise. Breaking down the plays, the controversies, and the stories behind the headlines. We go straight to the source, the athlete themselves. Their locker room stories, their reactions, the stuff nobody gets to hear. The laughs, the drama, the triumphs, the moments that never make the highlight real.

From viral moments to historic games, from buzzer beaters to controversial calls, we break it down, give you context and ask the questions everybody wants answered. Sports Slice brings you closer to the action with stories told by the people who live them. Listen to Sports Slice on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slices Life 12

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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. Jacob Kingston grew up in an isolated polygamous sect. We were God's chosen kingdom on earth. He felt destined for greatness. So when a swaggering Armenian businessman catapults Jacob into an extraordinary world, he doesn't look back. Ferraris and Lamborghinis, private jets, meeting the president of Turkey. I'm Michelle McPhee, and this is one of the most shocking criminal conspiracies I've ever come across.

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And this is what bureaucrats and, you know, people who are political create is that nobody thought SMU and Boise State. They didn't look the part in the regular season. You know, they play in weaker conferences. But the thing that really outraged me was Oregon's first game against the winner of Ohio State, Tennessee, which is a much tougher path than Penn State gets against SMU and Boise State. So the failing of the committee, and committees are created to innately fail. I mean, it's 13 different people with 13 different opinions. We know juries in this country have let the wrong people walk in my life.

I just look at Oregon season, and they were the best team on the field, and it's very hard to ask somebody to beat somebody for a second time. I picked Ohio State to win it. I didn't think it would look like this. but that's not not the inclusion of Boisey State or SMU this is what bothered me yeah i mean i clearly Oregon got a raw deal but let's face it the way Ohio State has played the first game and the way they look in the second game i don't think anyone would sniff them right now they would meet everyone in the country easily uh but i hear you i mean i think part of it is they were

so there's so much c y a not getting sued we had to include a non-power four program and boise showed out decently i think thought. Yeah. Right. And so today, As You, who plays in a Power 5 conference, but we all look at Big 12, like, are they any good? Right. I think you could argue also, Oregon, these teams, you're all tied in with the bowls, with this money, so many people with their hands in the cookie jar. How does Oregon not get a home game? How do these teams, Texas, I mean, it's a pretty big advantage to play in these neutral site games. What's the point of playing all season? Yeah, I mean, Oregon did not get a home game. That to me is just, you've got to be kidding me. I mean, Notre Dame

lost to a directional school and got one. It's like not even a good directional school. Let's talk about Ohio State. And listen, when you go to a movie, if you went to a movie that took a while to build up, but the ending was great, I always thought that was usual suspects. It's a good movie.

You go home feeling great. If a movie starts fast and dies out, you never feel satisfied. College football now has a bigger, more dynamic ending to the season, but it does, and we knew this. this was coming, John. It's not that the regular season doesn't matter, but Ohio State not only

lost a horrible game, they lost it late, and they looked like garbage against Michigan, and they still got in. Now, I don't have a problem with them getting in. I don't mind the regular season meaningless, because I'm still going to watch the games. I watch the NFL. I know that you can start off one and four and make the playoffs. I still watch the games. I think we put, I think the narrative that it's going to kill college football. College football ratings this year were good. It's just what it means is if you're a good team with lots of blowouts, you can even lose a really ugly game late and you get in. And my take is, yeah, the Kansas City Chiefs lost to the Raiders late in the season last year and won the Super Bowl. You shouldn't be punished severely

if you're excellent just because you lose in November and not in September. So that part of it has never bothered me that the regular season will mean less. I'm still watching the games. I think there's a magnifying glass. I was just thinking to listen to you talk. I don't think there's a game that actually means more, a non-playoff game in college football or the NFL than Ohio State versus Michigan. I think it's clearly separated as the game that means the most.

Saban recently went off. He can't comprehend because even in his mind, he was able to make every game the same, even though they had Auburn is one of the biggest rivalries in college football. Tennessee's a big rivalry. But it never felt any different than when they played Ole Miss than when they played LSU. He was Belichickie in that way. Every opponent meant a lot.

At Ohio State, it just doesn't. I mean, even Ryan Day said, like, this can never happen again. That was three days before they lost, you know. So the emphasis that has been put on that game, and I think Harbaugh helped take it to another level. And then Ryan Day starting to lose. And I just think that game feels like five games in one. and then the way they lost. And in fairness, you watch Michigan 24 hours ago against Alabama.

Now I understand Alabama had some opt-outs. They look pretty good. I mean, they're coming to play. They have a defensive coordinator that makes $2.5 million that was just coached at Baltimore a couple years ago and was viewed as one of the best defensive minds in football. So that's a real, real defense. And I just think you look at that game. It was hard not to overreact.

But it might have just been as simple as the coaching staff, specifically Ryan, the players that got a little tight because the way they've looked. now. It's like a looseness. We have been talking about their roster and the talent on their team. Like to me, the difference of them in Texas, Texas, man for man is loaded as well. They're quarterback. I'm sorry, I just don't trust on a play and play. Will Howard's playing pretty well right now. If the Will Howard, we have seen in the first playoff game and the second playoff game is going to look like this, they're just not going to lose. Right. And they have a wide receiver, an 18 year old kid. It looks like he weighs 230 pounds

that is unstoppable. It's because it's not like Oregon's not trying to cover him. They just can't. You're a former NFL scout because Travis Hunter wants to go both ways. If you told me today Caleb Downs and Jeremiah Smith of the Buckeyes were in this draft, I would take them one and two in any order because Travis Hunter, I do not like this high profile, want to play both sides of the ball. Eventually, you're going to have to pick a side. I think Caleb Downs is a better corner than Travis Hunter. I think he's one of the best college players I've seen in the backfield.

I'm not kidding when I say this. I was told by an NFL general manager that Caleb Downs will be the number one pick next year. He said, I don't care who improves. He goes, outside of a star quarterback, and we may have one, if Drew Aller at Penn State flourishes, he may come out this year, next year, whatever. But Jeremiah Smith and Caleb Downs, and they're not eligible for the draft, those guys are not college players. They're pros playing on Saturday. So my takeaway is Ohio State has two players, one on both sides. They're just not college players.

I felt this about Jamar Chase at LSU. It's like, okay, that's not a college player. It's a pro playing on Saturdays. If he was a basketball player, he'd be in the NBA. I think the problem with Travis Hunter, and I saw Dion say this within the last month, do not draft him if you don't embrace him playing both ways, because that's the game plan. And to me, Dion not only speaks as his coach, it feels like he speaks as his parent, feels like he speaks as his agent.

Like, that's his representation for Travis Hunter. And I do think that's going to be complicated because he is truly dead set on that. And based on what he's doing in college, I understand that mindset. I don't believe it can work because of the wear and tear. Same. You know, same. But like you say, those other two guys, like just have defined roles. It's very defined.

Because my thing with Travis Hunter is if you're my best corner, my best wide receiver, if you get injured, I lose two players. You know, where those other guys is you also get rest. So, yeah, I hear you. The Jeremiah Smith thing, I don't remember seeing a wide receiver this dominant this early, where his body type was that physically developed. Yeah, it reminds me. When I was a sportscaster in Las Vegas, I covered Larry Johnson,

the basketball player at UNLV. And that was before weightlifting was a part of sports in general. I mean, it was out there, but it wasn't like basketball players weren't spending a lot of time in the gym. Larry Johnson was so physically dominant that at the college level, you got 26 points, just on putbacks, just on second opportunities. He weighed 45 pounds more than other forwards and was stronger than all of them. So I just look, and here's the thing about Will Howard. I mean, to me, he's a big strong kid who's mobile, so he's a draftable player. You know, I saw him play at Kansas State. I thought, that's a big strong kid. Now you give him star players.

I don't know if he's an NFL starter, but I think right now, Ohio State has the best combination of coaching and talent. Whether they have better talent than Georgia or Texas, you know, who knows. But last year, Michigan only had like three, five-star guys. Alabama had like 18. Georgia has 15 over the last couple years. So talent's hard to, do you get the most out of your talent? But I don't think we're overreacting to say that the last two games, Ohio State's hitting harder. They're more explosive.

They don't look. These games, they're intimidating Oregon. They intimidated Tennessee. They looked like Tyson at 21 years old. Like other big men feared him in the ring. Ohio State looks, I think Oregon like surrendered about eight minutes in. It was like it was over. Well, the irony was when the other game ended and you came right to the game and it was 7-0.

And you're like, whoa, we're just a minute into the game. And then Fowler was like, yeah, it was a two-play 70-yard drive. You're like, oh, that's going to be a problem. But we had just seen the same thing with Texas and then they slowed down immediately. Ohio State, their foot never came off the pedal. I do wonder if after, because they tried to get into a heavyweight fight with Michigan instead of just slinging the rock around where Michigan wouldn't slow him down. And they lost and it bit them. and I think everyone called out their manhood and their toughness.

Like you think you're a tough program. We've seen you against this Harbaugh level operation. And I would say Michigan still has that soul in them the way they play. And you're not as tough as them. And they go, we are a tough team. We've paid a premium for all these guys. I mean, you see the physicality and the speed in which they have. And it's almost like they got to reset and take it personally because they've come out

with a violence that you just haven't seen in college football. I mean, I think- That's a perfect word is. violent. They look violent defensively. Two takeaways. First, Kenny Dillingham, who was an offensive coordinator briefly at three schools, is a sensational coach. They had 510 yards. They had 28 to 17 first down advantage, 97 to 60 play advantage, 28 to 17 first down edge, and I don't believe they have a five-star athlete. One, the level of coaching, and you know what I like? They don't. I mean, Cam, Scenabo is one division one offer.

Now, he's going to end up getting drafted, as you've talked about. This is the best running back draft in a long time. Jesus. I mean, good God, the Penn State has that Singleton kid. He didn't get talked about instead of Ashton Genty. If Singleton goes to the right team with a better offensive line, he could end up being the better running back in the NFL. So there's just running backs everywhere.

But, I mean, I like Sam Levitt a lot. a very young quarterback. He will be a pro. Six, two and a half, two ten, dual threat, mobile. You know, again, you can see him and think, oh, that's what a pro is going to look like in two years. I think he's like 20 years old and two years. And so the quarterback's good. But to have that kind of dominance, 37 to 22 minute time of advantage, when Texas has, I bet you at least 16, 14 to 16, five-star guys and 40, four-star guys, to me, I thought, if I would, Sark coming out of that game, I'd be a little embarrassed. I thought it was a coaching mismatch. Yeah, I thought he even kind of mentioned that. Like, that was, we got to play a lot

better. He was, in his postgame interview on the field, it looked like he was pretty shell-shocked. I mean, at one point in time, it was fourth and 13. I mean, it's basically fourth in Texas, or the game's over. And then they score that touchdown. On the deep ball. Yeah. Jeez, Louise. You know, one thing, you know, the Boise State team that we saw play Penn State is not as good as Chris Peterson's Boise's teams. But they just have an all-time great player. Yep. This ASU team, the more and more I watched them today reminded me a lot of those Chris Peterson

teams because probably has more guys that you realize that it probably end up going like six, seventh round. And they just had a grittiness and a toughness to them. The quarterback was really fantastic. I mean, he had to pull plays out of his you know what just to give them an opportunity. Yeah. And that running back, I mean, I thought, listen, the hype on them, this kind of, It's easy for everyone to latch on to this white guy, running guys over.

He might have had the flu or something today because he was clearly sucking some win and thrown up. He single-handedly gives them an edge. And obviously the double pass, but he was freaking fantastic. And breaking tackles against those guys. 30 carries, 143 yards. I watched him, and I thought he's the guy that played for Tampa years ago. Alstatt, Mike Allstott. Yeah, it's like he is a, there's a Mike Allstock component.

I think he's got a little better speed. Maybe he doesn't. But he's a kid. I think he's out of like Sacramento or something. He had like one scholarship offer. That is a pro. But I think Dillingham, you know, he grew up Chandler, Arizona. He always wanted to be Arizona State's coach.

This is his dream job. This is not a stepping stone. Like this is the job he always wanted. And it's cool because I think Arizona State always been one of those. programs, we think it's a little bit of a sleeping giant. Like, why aren't they better? And I think they found, they're Chris Peters. And I think they found a brilliant coach. But the Texas thing, and I wrote this down. And listen, Sark, Saban loved him. Washington had a good AD that loved him. USC hired him. Texas is AD. Chris DeCante is maybe the smartest AD in the country. Smart people

hire Sark. Okay, John, like three schools with big football brands have hired him. NFL teams liked him. Saban loved him. We know he's a good coach. But one of the things, and we know he can scheme plays. I mean, they have, I thought today, they had a couple of different crisis situations where they had good scheme plays.

But I will say his teams feel loose. So it's easy from a couch from somebody to say he's overrated. But if Sabin thinks you're a good coach, And he won assistant of the year in college under Saban. And he's had three different programs hire him. And again, he may end up in the national, you know, I mean, this guy is in the right spot, right? He's in the playoff.

How do you define him? My knock on him is that his teams always look loose, like they're just not buttoned up, which is interesting because he coached under Sabin, who's the opposite. That's my take. And I don't know. I don't know what his comp is. But I just feel like too many times on the passing game, it's a jump ball. Like he doesn't have defined reads.

Too often it's just like, let's just get better players and throw a ball at the sideline. Is that Uers or Sarp? Yeah, to me, I've been as critical on Sark as anyone over the years. I bet an astronomical amount of money when my guy DeBore played him last year. And I thought that was, it should have been easier. But I'm going to defend him here. I think you can look at UR's box. score. It doesn't look that bad. He's 20 or 30, 322. To me, he's a liability. And I just, I mean, for the talent that they have, because the one knock you've had on Sark, if you've just watched him coach over the years, like, kind of a soft operation, a little like Lincoln Riley. Well, he pivoted pretty well. Use that checkbook. Their defense is not soft. I mean, look today. I mean, the way they got back into the game was a freak double pass where the guy's covered and he comes back, Scataboo under throws him. You know, I, the kicker,

missed a couple kicks. I mean, it hadn't he been nails all season long. Yeah. So it's, it's a little freakish the way they came back. I mean, that game was one for the ages with the stuff. I think you look at Quinn Neuers, who again, if you just look at the box score, it doesn't look that terrible. This is a national championship roster without a national championship quarterback. I actually think Sark has grown a lot. I think he tries to call plays around this player sometimes. I think he gets into situations where he doesn't trust him. You know, that's the thing with Dillingham. Like they have full trust in that court. It doesn't have a choice.

You know, I think sometimes just like, hey, we can just run some bubble screens. Our athletes are better than your athletes, right? And sometimes, for whatever reason, how this team, 53 yards rushing, 53 yards rushing as ASU? Like, you would think with the amount of talent they have on their offensive line and the talent they have it running back, if you would have said, what did they rush for coming into this ASU game? I would have said easily 140 yards. And they just had, it wasn't working. They just abandoned it.

And ASU selling out, like, make. Quinn Ewers beat us, which ironically kind of did in the overtime because you didn't cover anyone in the end zone. But for most part, the reason they got back into it, the interception. How many times this year have Texas been in a position where they can really put the nail in the coffin and Quinn Ewers turns the ball over? Or they're down in a game against George, they're coming back and he turns the ball over. There is just an element of, I mean, if he was an NFL player, he would be highly, highly criticized. And I would imagine the Texas Reddit community and the football community, he's a pretty polarizing guy. And everyone's

like we're going to Arch Manning next year, no, if fans or butts about it. If I was a Texas fan, I'd be like, why is he just playing right now? Because if he's as good as everyone says it's going to be and he's a Manning, I mean, the only team that I've seen that could even remotely play with us would be Ohio State. We can't beat Ohio State with this player. That's what I would be thinking. And there's a loyalty. And listen, I think this is where coaches sometimes are different than personnel people,

definitely different with fans. They're very loyal to a guy. Clearly him and Quinn have a longstanding relationship now. He's rode with him this long. They've had a lot of success, right? Last year they were in the playoffs. This year, they're now in the final four. But, man, I think you have this great.

I mean, they're defense. How many of those guys look like NFL players? I mean, they have freshmen that look like they're going to be top 10 picks. And what are they going to be against Ohio State? Would you guess it? Six point underdog? Oh, yeah. I would, that's a great question.

I would take Ohio State minus six. To me, I wouldn't take Texas until we got into like seven and a half. half. Penn State 31, Boise State 14. Boise State, for the record, had the ball in the red zone. I counted four times. It could have been five and didn't get any points. So Penn State gave them multiple opportunities to make that game much closer. Boise State had a touchdown that was called back because of a holding penalty. So it was 31 to 14, but it was, it didn't look like a blowout. I mean, there was multiple opportunities. It was a good game. It was a good game.

So it's really interesting. So first of all, Carter is a top five player. He got banged up. Great player. Nick Singleton, who was like a Gatorade player the year in high school. He's going to be a stud pro running back. Drew Aller is fascinating. Big guy, big arm.

There are stories out there that NFL scouts think he may still go pro. And many say he would go number. number one, simply on arm strength and size. Can I look at Penn State, and I have great respect for the program, but they remind me a little bit of a poor man's Ohio State. They're just never quite, they don't have quite as many NFL guys. They're just not quite as good. People criticize James Franklin, but the guy won at Vandy, so he's fine. He's a great recruiter. Can Penn State win the Natty? I think they need Carter to be healthy, because they're a little. in that game, he had one pass rush.

You're like, holy, that looks like Michael Parsons in number 11. And then when you go with the other guys, I told you, I think last week, I think they could win the whole thing. But he's, I mean, you lose a top five player. I don't care how good you're recruiting is. It's pretty damn good. That'd be a big blow. But how good does Warren look?

The running backs look fantastic. The quarterback's playing great is to you just trust James Franklin. I think the one thing we saw with ASU and Boise, there's a grittiness and a toughness that just even Ohio State. State's showing it now, but they go for a long period of time without it because they don't need it. Boise State for 25 years is built on that. And I think Kenny Dillingham has brought that to Arizona State.

And that's why they can go toe to toe with a team where they don't have one guy that would start for the other team. I mean, that's truly, if you remove Gentie, which, I mean, Gentie would technically start for Penn State, but they would rotate the other guys in. Yeah, Singleton's a great running back. Yeah. So I actually learn more about Gentie in that game than I do with some of his 250-yard games against New Mexico, running over Penn State. It was an impressive, just gritty effort by the guy running for every yard was contested, running his ass off.

He's a big-time player. Yeah, he doesn't fumble, but he did twice in this game. That was freaky. Yeah, he only averaged three and a half yards of carry. I think part of Genti's strength. I mean, I don't put him in the class of Zeke or Sequin, Adrian Peterson, or McCaffrey is an NFL first round running back. I don't. He'll go first round because it's a weak draft. He's 5'8. I mean, that's kind of a, you know, it's not ideal.

Yeah, I think his strength is that he is so small and so powerful, he is hard. You know, like we're running backs. You don't want a 6-2 running back. I think he's hard to get that pad level low enough to get him a shot. And so what you end up doing when you tackle him, it's almost always arm tackles because he's 5'8. So when he lowers, so when he runs and lowers his head, it's like tackling a five, five and a half guy. He always has the center of gravity and he always has sort of leverage on you, hips down. And so it's like Penn State guys held him to three and a half yards of carry, but he broke so many arm tackles. And so it's like I look at him as a first round running back in a week draft. I don't look at him as an Annabelle superstar.

I don't think he has the juice of Saquan. I don't think he has the strength or speed of Adrian Peterson. I don't think he's as talented as McCaffrey, who's also small. I think part of the package with him is you just can't get under him. And his size is, and I think in the NFL, he'll have success. But I don't know, as I watch him, my take is he'll need the right fit in the NFL to be a star, but he is a starter. Yeah, well, to me, he's going to get drafted really high. I think he's going to be a good player in the NFL.

I would struggle, you know, if let's say somewhere between 15 and 20, 25. I think a lot of people think that's the range he's going to get picked. Well, if I'm drafting 20th and then my next pick is 50th, why wouldn't I, if I could take a corner or an offensive lineman at 20th, I can get one of these other good running backs at 50th. So it's kind of supply demand. It's always why a lot of people, why did Jim Harbaugh take the tackle at 5 and then take Ladd-McConkie in the second round? Because there's a ton of wide receivers in every draft. So I'm going to get a guy that starts in the second round. We see it every. year with wide receivers. Like, you know, would you take a wide receiver in the top 10? Well, if I'm

drafting after you, I hope you do so I can take another position. I can take a wide receiver later. So, I mean, every game I watch, Henderson for Ohio State, he's an NFL player. All these teams have NFL players at running back. So why would I take a running back in the first round if I think I get 95% or 90% of that guy, maybe in the third round? What if I get Scataboo? Scataboo is going to run like a 4-7-5. What if I can get that guy in the third round? You don't think Jim Harbaugh's going to like Scataboo? Does that guy have Charger written all over him? Yeah. Well, I mean, it's, I think I told you this recently. Woody Marks for USC is their best back since Reggie Bush. He may be a fifth round back. Now, maybe Genties better than him. He's not that much better than him. Like,

it is a loaded, I mean, this, the Singleton kid at Penn State was the national Gatorade player of the year, was the Big Ten freshman of the year. He, Singleton is again, I mean, I don't know as measurables, but he's like six feet 227. It looks small to me. With a burst, it's like if anybody dropped in the first round, I could see Genti dropping, not because he's not good, but because

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