The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Hour 3 - Aaron Rodgers and the Jets

Episode Date: August 30, 2024

Is Aaron Rodgers a "team guy" and do the Jets have any kind of structure? Gottlieb saves the "Best For Last"   Guest: Petros Papadakis   #douggottliebshowSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Thanks so much. I'm Doug Gottlieb in for Colin Cowherd. And for the next hour, I want to talk sports with you. from Poway to Escondido I gotta be honest with you I really enjoyed last night watching below average college football

that's one of the things that I always I always find interesting as we get ready get closer and closer to once it's the college football season whatever is just this idea that college football is so great. I love college football. The problem is the juxtaposition of college football versus professional football is, it's

really hard because, heck, it's a much lower level, right? That's just it's. It's a lower level of football. And the, you know, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, and because of it, you know, you're going to have some, you're, you're going to have some, you're, you know, plays like last night where you just miss guys that are wide open that they don't have in the pros. But I think there's a balance there because I'm not a huge fan. There's parts of the Dion thing I am a fan of. There's parts of it that I'm not a fan of. Obviously, look, I got my first head coaching job.

I had no collegiate experience. There are going to be lots of people that draw parallel there to Deon. Sanders who had no collegiate experience. He got the Jackson State job. Then he took them and they were incredible. So if I could get to that place, that would be amazing. I love the attention that he's brought to his program. I'm trying to do that myself.

Try and do it in smart ways. I'm not copying, but I am emulating in many ways some of the things that he's done. I don't I don't love the BS I don't love being told that Shador Sanders was just trying to get his buddy a touchdown

throwing a ball late which should never be thrown ever ever ever you know I don't like the showing off a watch I don't like the taunting I don't you know I don't like all I just go win the game

go win the game but what I do understand and appreciate and what I do think is is really, really something that we should all kind of learn from is, well, I mean, if we're just kind of honest about it,

how hard it is to do what he's trying to do. Because if we're just, again, totally honest about Colorado football, you take his son off that team and you take Travis Hunter off that team. That's a below average football team. they're going to struggle to win many games at all. They just are. You know, you tell me how they're going to, how they're going to win without those two.

Those guys are everything. And you're trying to build a program. And look, this is something that I run into as well, which is like, hey, I'm trying to build a program. So if I try and skip steps and get guys, because, like, we haven't started school yet. Technically, I have a player who's supposed to be here from Israel. He's supposed to be here Tuesday, but I can tell him like, hey, can't come.

You know, I can make up the, it's a war-torn country. We can't get you over here when everybody's supposed to be here. And then I technically have one more scholarship. There are a thousand guys available. But if we've passed on you, we've passed on you for a reason. What could that reason be? You might have a case. against you right now.

You just might. You might have academic issues. You might be tough to get along with. I could skip steps and try and be more competitive, try and win every game this year. But I'm not going to build a program if I do that. I'm just not. And to me, that's not what it's supposed to be about.

You're supposed to build a whole program. But again, if you're trying to be in and out in just a year or two, you get as many portal guys, it's not easy. Lincoln Riley, it was as widely been regarded as an elite, elite coach. Elite coach.

I have friends for, they work for Lincoln Riley. Like, that dude, he's the best that I've ever worked for, and they've worked for some of the best in the absolute business. And you're like, man, the bottom kind of fell out there,

didn't it? Yeah, it did. Do you know why? Because winning is really, really, really hard. Really hard. Winning is hard and winning consistently. Everybody's trying to win.

Again, think of Lincoln Riley. He brings the best quarterback in America with him who had started for a year at Oklahoma. So it's not like he's inexperienced. Okay, he started him for a year, comes over, knows the system, they go out, spend a bunch of money, get some skill position players, and they were good the first year.

And then all of a sudden, a lot like Dion, like, hey, not having an offensive line, not having a defensive front, trying to get a defense, like, that is really hard. It's really hard. I'm telling you in basketball. I have no doubt my team's going to be able to score.

Don't know if we'll be able to stop anybody. And the hard part and the guys that you want to get for that, for those spots, like those are the hardest ones to come by. And I probably should have known when I took the job. But part of when you get the job, you're like, I'm just trying to get as many guys to stay as possible and then just trying to get a competitive team.

And then you start trying to add pieces and get kind of cute with it who's available. But like, you know, to win in college basketball, you need three, four, five-year guys that are junkyard dogs. The skill position guys, you'll need. They look good. They probably end up scoring the points, but you're not going to do anything unless you can be tough, unless you can rebound, unless you can defend, unless you can fight. And those guys are really, really hard to find because the guys that you can try and find that are good enough are already taken. and they're already valued. And the guys that are out there on the market,

it's hard to value them because you're sitting there going like, yeah, I don't know, the points, the rebounding, what does he do? You just need a guy who goes to the program. The same thing is true for Colorado football. They're not missing anything with anything other than they're just soft and they're not particularly good at tough defensively. How do you get tougher time? You have to have the ability to sit guys

when they're not performing, right? You have to have more guys you can throw in and play instead of them with the team that stuff doesn't fall out. You need time with players. So we've had a massive disruption to the entire system with COVID and with the transfer portal

and all of that. Then you have a disruptor himself in Dion Sanders who comes in and shakes things up to get a bunch of dudes, but it's not easy. This is not me being sympathetic towards Dion. Right? Because he he talked to talk.

Now he's got to walk to walk. This is us taking a snapshot going like, yeah, it's a little hard than you thought. And the thing about it is you could sit there and go, it should be easier now that it was when Bob Stoops took over to Oklahoma in his second year he won a national title. It should be easier now than when Jim, then when Urban Meyer takes over it at making sure that he has,

you know, it only took him two years for Irmaier to turn around Ohio State. Do you know why it's harder? Because what they're trying to do in the portal, everybody's doing. You're not zinging when they zagging. You're zagging when everybody's zagging. Oh, hey, you know what we're going to do? We're going to go in the portal. They're all doing it.

They're all doing it. It would be unheard of for Ohio State to have a transfer starting quarterback. But they have. LSU had a quarterback had the best season they've ever had He was a transfer They're all doing it It's way harder

Because at the end of the day Yeah you're Dion Sanders And what Dion Sanders does is he appeals In many ways to people like me People like you To parents to coaches But to kids Kids want to play

Kids want to win Kids want to get paid Kids want to compete And they want to And oh yeah by the way It's hard to recruit it's hard to recruit when you're recruiting against, when people are recruiting against Daddy Ball, you know?

Whether it's real or imagined people know that he's coached his son every year of football. He does he want to coach him next year. Will he even be there? It sets you back in the portal. It also sets you back when you're trying to recruit an offensive line and coaches, it's said they go, look, if his son screws up, it's going to be your fault. Same thing with the defense.

So this is not me excusing the fact. that Colorado is not nearly as good as the pomp and circumstance and the bravado would lead you to believe. But if we all think Lincoln Riley knows what the hell he's doing, which I do, I think he's big time. And year two was harder for him and the portal's been just a hard way to live, even at USC. Do we have any idea what this is going to look like at Colorado? You know, look, Coach Prime and Colorado held on for the win last night. but what does that mean for the buffs in a year two? And now they're in the Big 12, plus they got Nebraska coming up.

We'll ask the old P. We'll ask Petrus Papadakis. He joins us, plus a little USC talk, why not? That's next in the herd. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal, but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque.

Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast Superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the I-Hard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win.

A win is a win. I don't care what you're saying. Yep, that's me, Cliver Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagined.

And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. One week, I'll take you behind the scenes of the biggest moments in sports and entertainment, and the next we'll talk about life, mental health, purpose, and even music.

The Clifford Show isn't just a podcast. It's a space for honest conversations, stories that don't always get told, and for people who are chasing something bigger. So if you've ever supported me or you're just chasing down a dream, this is right where you need to be. Listen to The Clifford show on the IHeart Radio app,

Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. Do you remember when Diana Ross double-tap Little Kim's boobs at the VMAs? Or when Kanye said that George Bush didn't like black people. I know what you're thinking. What the hell does George Bush got to do with Little Kim?

Well, you can find out on the Look Back at it podcast. I'm Sam Jett. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick a here, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it. Including a recent episode with Mark Lamont Hill, waxing all about crack in the 80s. To be clear, 84 is big to me, not just because of crack.

I'm down to talk about crack on day but just so y'all know I mean at this point Mark this is the second episode where we've discussed crack so I'm starting to see that there's a through line We also have AIDS on the table right now

so Thank you finishing that sentence I don't think there's a more important year for black people Really? Yeah for me it's one of the most important years for black people in American history

Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcast Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hardway with me, your host, and your favorite therapist, Kear Games. And in recognition of Mental Health Awareness Month, I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience in the mental health field and conversations with so many incredible guests.

I'm talking, Tript Fontaine, Ryan Clark. Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing, we get so wrapped up in the chase that we don't realize that we are in possession of the thing. And we're still chasing it. And we don't know when we've done enough. Because people scoreboard watch. Life becomes about wins and losses. Steve Burns, Dustin Ross,

because you find it important to be a good person while you hear on earth? Are you a good person because you're afraid? Because that's two different intentions, bro. Absolutely. And that's two different levels of trust. I want you to just really be a good person. Join me, Kear Gaines, as we have real conversations about healing,

growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose on my new podcast, learn the hard way. Open your free, our heart radio app. Search learn the hard way and listen now. Hey, this is Robert from the Stuff to Blow Your Mind podcast. Joe and I are both lifelong Star Wars fan, so we're celebrating May the 4th with a brand new week of fun, thought-provoking Star Wars-related episodes.

Join us as we tackle science and culture topics from a galaxy far, far away, such as the biology of tauntons and wampas on the ice planet hot, or the practicality and corporate business sense of the Sith Rule of Two. Listen to Stuff to Blow Your Mind on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Doug Gottlieb in for Colin is the hurt, Fox Sports Radio, IHeart Radio app. You know, it's funny, there's when you take over a job, right?

Like, dream scenario is you take over a job and the coach leaves you like five, six seniors, you know, a well-oiled machine, hands it over. Those kids are super united. All they want to do is be coached. by somebody else and listen. It just never works that way. It never works that way. Because when you take over a program,

you may get it because a coach elevated to a better job. When he elevates to a better job, he takes the best players with him. Or a lot of those kids that are high-level kids that came to play for him, they're going to leave anyway. So if the program is not, doesn't have good enough talent,

well, then you've got to bring in all new players. And if it's not well-coached enough, well, then you've got to kind of coach them up. But the older players are going to struggle with their loyalty, as are your coaches to the old players. So you bring in all new guys, and every guy you bring in, they got an issue. That's why they left elsewhere.

Get more on that with Petrus Papadagos. He joins in a second. I just discovered J-Lab headphones. They're great. J-Bud's Lex, over-ear noise-canceling headphones are awesome, especially when you're traveling. Find the blue box at Walmart, Target, Best Buy, and more. Visit jelab.com.

Like, I took over a program that two years ago won four games. Wasn't great. And there wasn't anything two years ago that you're like, ooh, we just take this one thing we can be really good about. No, they got to be better academically, got to be better in skill development, got to be better overall players, size of players, skill set across the board. Last year, a guy named Sundance Wicks was now the head coach of Wyoming was the coach here. He did a very good job.

So now I'm replacing a guy that won 18 games. It's two biggest portal players he took with him. The best player on the team left is at TCU now. And yet, you know, it's a hard billing to live up to. You got to do it. My point is, it takes time. And if you're going to try and do it quick and compete right away, you run the risk of skipping steps. And it sets you back in terms of your timeline for actually building a really good program.

Now, if you're only going to be somewhere for, you know, a year or two years, then you do the best you can. You dial it up real quick. It's just like flipping a house. You paint everything white. You hope nobody opens up a cabinet and look inside. We'll get to Petros in a moment first. So let's get to Ryan Music. With the news.

Oh, sorry. I thought we had rhyme music with the news. That's why I asked. Okay. Well, we'll get Petros. That's fine. Look, college football is fascinating to me. It's like, can Texas, you know, Texas has got a huge one next weekend, right?

Can Texas against Michigan? Can Texas stand their own success? Right? Because as hard as it is to make it, it's really hard to sustain success. What does Alabama look like with the new head coach? What does Oklahoma look like in the SEC? We'll see about USC, where they are in getting that thing back together. What does Michigan look like?

Fresh off a national championship, new coach. And obviously, yes, when he's NC infractions, then Ohio State, they threw a bunch of money at the problem. But I don't think on anybody's bingo card for elite quarterbacks, they go like, hey, you know, Will Howard. Kansas State. That's going to be the guy at Ohio State. Petrus Papadakis is covered college football since he finished up at USC as a star. And of course, you also hear him on PMS, which is afternoons here on 570 a.m. in Los Angeles. He is a football savant. He works for Fox and he joins

us now in The Herd. Biggest takeaway watching CU survive North Dakota State last night. Well, I can't say I wasn't rooting for the bison. But I was, I a lot of respect for North Dakota State football, as we all do, but they are an FCS program. A couple years ago, Doug, I did a North Dakota State at Arizona game, and Arizona was just in the midst of starting their turnaround against North Dakota State with Jed Fish. And it was kind of a similar trajectory in the game. North Dakota State had trouble with the perimeter guys, and obviously they had trouble with Travis Hunter and Shadour, and it kind of played out from there.

A couple things happened here or there. Maybe they win that game, but it played out kind of like I thought it would, and beyond lives to fight another day without a loss. It was about last year around mid-October, I think, that we kind of detached from the Colorado story, at least as far as thinking that they were good. And it's kind of like the combine or that sort of stuff.

With some programs, some players, some people, the further they get away from the field, the more interest is generated. But once the game start, the equity just really isn't there, which is wins and losses. The crazy thing about Colorado is they create all this equity for everybody without ever proven that they can win. So we'll see how it shakes out at the Rocky Mountain Showdown and the other games. But it was an entertaining game, no doubt about that. But I had to watch it on mute. I'm with you.

Yeah, what is the deal? Do they bring announcers in and said like, okay, this is going to be, like, we've all done games where we know who's watching. And we know to kind of play to that audience, right? But it takes a step to the, like, there's a lot more. more going on that we're talking about. I just, it's really interesting on how that thing is covered. Yeah, and it's, look, I started calling college football games where if you mention gambling, you get fired or at least yelled at.

You know what I mean? So a lot has changed over the years. And again, that's, that's, I'd never call a game like that guy ever. So, and that's been long before Dion Sanders even thought about. coaching. So I've never liked the announcer, and he really leaned into it, and I don't like it, but whatever. You know, I'm a 47-year-old white guy. I don't want to cares what I think. I agree, but I think there's a lot more guys like us that love college football that are watching that game that were like, what are we doing here? All right, Clemson, the grand experiment for Clemson

is we're not going to do the portal. Everybody else is doing the portal. We're not going to do the portal. They're the beautiful woman who everybody else is doing Botox. They're like, nope, we're going El Nautral. Does it work this year? Well, don't forget Air Force and Army. They don't work the portal either.

Which is interesting. You know, we talk about Colorado football all the time, and they don't win games. Air Force wins nine, ten games a year, right there in Colorado, with no NIL, no red shirts, no graduates, no transfers, no portal, no anything. And just a bunch of stocky dudes that I'd like to run the triple option. It's kind of funny.

You know, I'm kind of with dabbo when it comes to what he said to that guy in Spartanburg that called in and he got all mad at last year in the coach's call-in show. And now he's not going to take calls this year, if you heard that. what was Clemson football before Davos-Weney made it a kind of pseudo-SEC program that has the nation's attention year and year out and won a bunch of titles and has become relevant? I mean, what are they?

They're nothing. No, they were a, man, we were good that one year in the 80s. We'll do anything to get it back to be in the 80s. And they were a second to third to three. third-tier program, second-tier program. Well, they certainly weren't going to be asked about, you know, on a national radio show, you know, like, they just, they weren't that kind of program.

They were, they were regionally popular. They had a great rivalry every year with South Carolina, and that was kind of that. There was some really nice details about Clemson football and Pat Conroy's Prince of Tide, and we went on from there. Davos-Sweeney's made him relevant. And it kind of goes into that world where,

you know, LeBron has done whatever he wants, because he can. He's proven he can do whatever he wants. You know, Otani can do whatever he wants. Let him have his dog out on the field and pick up the baseball and run around and smile and dance and in the sun. You know, these guys are so relevant. They're so huge. They've proven so much and made so much money for so many people that if they say, hey, I'm not going to work the portal, no one can say anything.

You know, I think the best college football teams still, whether or not they have a few transfer guys are not. The best teams in college football are the ones that develop together and recruit at a high school, and that's kind of the base of their greatness. As we saw what Michigan did last year with Jim Harbaugh, that wasn't some crazy transfer-laden team or a bunch of five-star recruits. They were just people that grew together that were well-coached that had a great purpose and obviously talented, but they weren't the most talented team in the country. So I I don't know if it works perfectly, but I don't think it's the worst thing in the world to try.

I think it's a little bit short-sighted to say we're not going to do this at all. You know what I mean? But I still think the weight of victory is bringing in your own people and developing your own people. Oh, I don't think there's any question. I mean, look, if you look at Purdue last year, right, they had one guy out of the portal. I know it's basketball, but they did. You mentioned college football. And I think what we're seeing at SC and we're seeing at Colorado is the pitfalls of the portal.

Right? It just is. Because one, there's only so much money you can spend. It costs more money to go get guys outside of your locker room than inside. And there's, you do, you run out of money. So if you go in SC, you spend a much money in a quarterback and on a wide receiver, you don't have a defense. Right. Whereas if you build from inside, you can make up for a lack of talent with cohesion.

you can make players totally understand the system. You can make them play all as one. I think this is the best long-term play. My question is can they get to, whether it's this year with a ridiculously hard schedule or next year, where it actually plays out where they're back to being elite with homegrown players? Yeah, and you need patience and understanding. And as you know, any college football or basketball or anything program that works at any level as a university president and an AD and a head coach that all work together.

And if that's not the case, then you don't have cohesion and it's hard to have sustained success. You know, I think about Oklahoma and Bob Stoops and how those people work together for decades and created a really relevant thing. So, yeah, there's a lack of patience and these people feel like, look, I have to bring in as many ready players as I possibly can because if we're not ready and we get beat, I'm the one that's going to get fired. But I also will say this, doing games nowadays in the transfer era,

when you get some of these teams, you know, you talk to coaches, especially early in the season, and they say things like, well, we got this guy from this place and he's solid, he's going to be okay. We got this guy for this place and blah, blah, blah. And it's kind of like you plug in and play,

but then the game starts, and sometimes you really don't know who that player is until the bullets are real. and more often than not or a couple times you know three or four weeks into the season that guy that they said that they got from wherever who was going to be okay

is not even on the team anymore or not starting anymore so it certainly adds just this element of volatility that I think that we've never seen before in the sport more like a JC style yeah yeah no it's actually interestingly people ask me about me doing the job

it's like I've coached AAU basketball this is it's not that big a change for me because I haven't been coaching in it in 20 years. Guys have been doing it one year for 20, 30, 40 years, and now a sudden you have this style, it's very, very different and very off-putting to that. Yeah, and I can understand that too, because, you know, you're negotiating with people 24-7,

and that's not the college sports model that I come from for sure. No, no, it's, I mean, people who truly don't understand, like, we agreed, we're, that's what, that's what Gundy was getting at, you know, a week and a half ago. It's like, call me after the season. What do you call from her now? There's no money now. It's all budgeted out. It's all paid out. We're good.

You want more? That's why you go get more. More and more college football programs are hiring, you know, general manager types. You know, not just to deal with recruiting, but just to kind of shuffle out the money and figure out, you know, who's getting one and make sure they get paid because we really are truly in the Wild West. Petrus Papadigas join us. from AM 570.

The show is called PMS. Of course, you can watch him on weekends covering college football games for Fox Sports. You played at SC. What is the status? SC is in this place where Caleb Williams is gone,

but now maybe this is more of a team, but is that ensemble cast good enough to compete at the Big Ten? Well, let's not forget, you know, that Caleb Williams, you know, with or without the Big Ten coming, was seven and seven, and his last 14 starts at SC.

So they had a great performance in a bowl game that Caleb Williams didn't play in from the guy who's starting named Miller Moss. And there is a school of thought where people say Lincoln Riley is a great offensive mind, and maybe things just got a little too loose with all the improvisational play year and year out from Caleb Williams. And your offense doesn't really create an identity. Your identity is, my God, let's hope this guy runs around when the, the play breaks down and save us from ourselves. And after a while, you know, it's like going to the bars when you're 20. Year one is great.

Your two, you know, year three, it starts to get a little threadbare. So I'm looking forward to seeing Lincoln Riley call plays on time, you know, kind of like you did with guys like Baker and Mayfield a little bit more and structure the offense with a quarterback who's going to kind of do what he says, not that Kayla Williams wasn't spectacular, but I don't think it helped the overall. identity of the team. What USC needs to do is what Michigan did or anybody else who has success or whenever USC has had success. Recruit up front and develop and be great there. I don't know if they've done that, but they've certainly shored up their defensive staff. They made Lincoln

Rowley fire everybody, and he hired three really good defensive coaches. Doug Bell from Houston, who I like a lot. Matt Enst, who was the head coach at North Dakota State last year, his team just played last night, is just coaching linebackers. And then DeAnten Lynn, who was the great defensive coordinator for the country's best defense last year at UCLA, has come over to SC. So we'll see how that

changes their identity. I don't think they're going to get blown off the field by LSU. LSU's been given up thousands of rushing yards in the Brian Kelly era. So I think it'll be a good competitive thing, but I think the physical advantage and the identity advantages is with the tigers.

I would agree with you. Pete, you're the best. Where are you at this weekend? I got Wyoming, Arizona State. Interesting to see how Arizona State will turn around after a bad year last year. Wyoming is a great solid football program. I always love watching them. Yeah.

It's at Sun Devil Stadium that's always... Oh, yeah, 106 degrees, 7 o'clock kick. Yeah. All right. Well, I can't wait to see it. You're always great in the call. Phoenix is not about one easy, easy flight to get to, and not a great, not a bad place to get a beverage after the game.

Appreciate you doing us. You're doing great, Doug. You make what your, your social media makes Wisconsin look like paradise. Wisconsin is paradise in the summer. We just, we'll just have a lot of inside clips when we get to the winter, my man. Looking forward to it. Talk to you soon. That's Petrus Papadakis.

Join us here in the herd, Doug Otley bin for Colin. Let's get you to Ryan Music with the news. No Turn on the news This is the herd line news Oh man It doesn't get much better than having the old pee in the herd on a Friday Getting ready

I'm gonna say this because he's hung up and he's not listening I don't I like a lot of people Who call games I'm friends with a ton of people I struggle to be friends with people Who I don't think are good Or their job

This is like a personal thing You know like if you're bad whatever job you are, we're probably not friends. I don't know. And maybe people, if I'm bad at this job, maybe people stop being my friend as well. But I don't think, Petrus and I, like, we haven't hung out socially ever.

I just think he's great at calling games. Yeah, definitely. I think he's really, really good. I think he totally gets all the nuances of it, plus he does the work. He loves the sport. He loves high school football. He's really good.

100%. Always a big fan of a game when you know Petrus Papadakis is on the call. So thanks to P for coming into the herd. All right. Let's turn our attention from college to the NFL here. The Eagles and Jalen Hertz looking to turn things around after last year's late season collapse.

They're also going to have to do that without their six-time all-pro center, Jason Kelsey, who has, of course, retired. Hertz admits he had to take a back seat to Kelsey when it came to certain elements of the offense. Here he is talking about it on WIP in Philadelphia. You know, I think in the end, And I think when you look at this upcoming season

and what you may have seen from years past is just different autonomy in different places. We know we had a great player here just in Kelsey who took on a lot of responsibility and a result of that I was told not to worry about a lot of things. My eagerness to learn and all of that over the years kind of was halted because of who we had, but now times are different and I'm excited for that journey.

So basically talking about how, you know, obviously having an all-time grade at Center help facilitate, call the protections, call out some of the defensive signals there, helped him early on in his career. And, you know, I don't hold that against him, right? I mean, that's when you're a young quarterback and you have that at your disposal, I mean, leaning into that and allowing him to run the offense in that sense is the smart thing to do. Now, what I think is interesting is when you look at Jalen Hertz and his career,

started at Alabama, then went to Oklahoma, worked with Lincoln Riley, who, as you pointed out earlier, is just brilliant, offensive head coach. Then he gets Shane Steichen, and now, you know, things were rough last year, and, you know, they bring in Kellynne Moore. There's just a lot of things for them to figure out to try and get back into a true contender in the NFC

and not that sort of mess, if you will, the end of last season. I agree. I'm interested to see what it looks like. You know? You know, you think you know, but now when everything is different, let's check it out. What else you got? All right, so not Jason Kelsey, but Travis Kelsey, of course.

Everybody knows his long, not long, but his very public relationship with Taylor Swift. Well, with that comes Taylor Swift as a Chiefs fan, Patrick Mahomes. talking about Taylor Swift and her impact on Chiefs fans saying, you know, I love having her attend the games as a girl dad. I love seeing what he's doing to bring more girls into the sport of football. And I think it's been special because she's the most famous person in the world. She's super genuine and she's really interested in football. She asks a lot of great questions and she's even started drawing up plays.

We might have to put one in. So I guess keep an eye out on the Chief's offense this season. and maybe Andy Reid's going to put in a Taylor Swift drawn-up play. Come on. Oh, what? Did you just read that story? You're not buying that? How did you keep a straight face reading that story?

It was tough. It was tough. Like, there is about the same percentage chance of like, you know, like the little kid that goes, like, Travis, will you run that play for me? Like, okay. She's not a make-a-wish kid. She's his girlfriend. No, no, listen. Okay.

So let's look at their sketch. They're not running it. She's not drawing up a play. Week 18 against the Broncos, they've already locked up the number one seat in the AFC. Well, he shouldn't be playing. That's what I'm saying. It doesn't have to be Patrick Mahomes throwing a pass to Travis Kelsey, and they call it the Taylor Swift play. Wait, do you think she was, she thinks she's going to draw a play where Travis is the decoy? Maybe. You don't know what kind of chops she's got? Does anybody know if Taylor Swift's just a secretly great Madden player?

You don't know for sure. See, this is the difference. This is a real conversation to be had, okay? I had this conversation with Ali LaFource, who we used to do a show together at CBS, and she's obviously does sideline for TNT and NBA TV, and she's wonderful, right? And she's a former college hooper.

She played at Ohio U as well. But when we started talking about, like, what did you do when you do when you were a kid? You're like, what did you mean? I was like, well, when you weren't playing sports as a kid, what would you do? And she's like, I don't know, I hung on my friends.

It's like, did you play dolls? She was like probably when I was little I played dolls. It's like, did you play Madden? No, did you play NBA Jam? No. Right? Did you collect baseball cards? No. Like these are all, and like now they all play fantasy football as well.

These are the differentiators doing guys and, you know, women and men. Even as somebody who's a hardcore hooper, she loves hoop, knows hoop as well. But she didn't play Madden. She didn't grow up playing Technobole or double dribble. none of that stuff. Wow, you're just a dream crusher, Doug. Dream crusher. Dream crusher.

That's Ryan, music, with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The Herd Lie News. I'll tell you what we're going to do. Coming up next and best for last. Give it our best college football picks of the weekend. See how they last.

Next in the Herd. One more Herd? The herd streams 24 hours a day, seven days a week, within the IHeart Radio app. Search Herd to listen live. or on demand whenever you'd like. Polly Fusco here with Tony Fusco. Yo, as everybody knows, we're the host of the award-winning Pauley and Tony Fusco show.

But instead of us telling you how great we are, here's how Dan Patrick described us when he came on our show. Quick, knowledgeable, and funny, opinionated. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. What are you doing? You're interrupting our promo. Yeah. He wasn't talking about you. You took those clips totally out of context.

Oh, yeah, well, after this promo, I'm going to take you out and beat you. Let me put this into context. Shut up! Yeah, anyway, just listen to the Folly and Tony Fusco show on iHeart radio, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Yeah. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal but encouraged. It's the enhanced games.

Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the I-Hard radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what I'm saying. Yep, that's me, Clipper Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football, or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way,

this platform became bigger than I ever imagined. And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. One week, I'll take you behind the scenes of the biggest moments in sports and entertainment, and the next we'll talk about life, mental health, purpose, and even music.

The Clifford Show isn't just a podcast. It's a space for honest conversations, stories that don't always get told, and for people who are chasing something bigger. So, if you've ever supported me, or you're just chasing down a dream, this is right where you need to be. Listen to the Clifford show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes,

follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. Do you remember when Diana Ross double-tap Little Kim's boobs at the VMAs? Or when Kanye said that George Bush didn't like black people. I know what you're thinking. What the hell does George Bush got to do with Little Kim? Well, you can find out on the Look Back at it podcast. I'm Sam J.

And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick it here, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it. Including a recent episode with Mark Lamont Hill waxing all about crack in the 80s. To be clear, 84 was big to me, not just because of crack. I'm down to talk about crack on day, but just so y'all know. I mean, at this point, Mark, this is the second episode where we've discussed crack. So I'm starting to see that there's a through line. We also have AIDS on the table right now.

Thank you for finishing that sentence. I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Really? Yeah. For me, it's one of the most important years for black people in American history. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hard Way with me, your host, and your favorite therapist, Kear Games. And in recognition of mental health awareness month, I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience in the mental health field and conversations with so many incredible guests.

I'm talking. Trip Fontaine, Ryan Clark. Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing, we get so wrapped up in the chase that we don't realize that we are in possession of the thing. And we're still chasing it. And we don't know when we've done enough. Because people scoreboard watch. Life becomes about wins and losses. Steve Burns, Dustin Ross, because you find it important to be a good person while you

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growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose on my new podcast, learn the hard way. Open your free, our heart radio app. Search, learn the hard way, and listen now. Hey, this is Robert from the Stuff to Blow Your Mind podcast. Joe and I are both lifelong Star Wars fan, so we're celebrating May the 4th with a brand new week of fun,

thought-provoking Star Wars-related episodes. Join us as we tackle science and culture topics from a galaxy far, far away, such as the biology of taun tons and wampas on the ice planet hot, or the practicality and corporate business sense of the Sith rule of two. Listen to stuff to blow your mind on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And it's the third. Fox Sports Radio, IHeart Radio app. First full weekend of college football.

So good. So good. For hot water that never runs out, go tankless with Navian. Right now, save hundreds on a new high-efficiency tankless water heater with local rebates. Find the name of, find the name of your local Navian contractor at tankless made simple.com. That's tankless made simple.com. Let's get to the best for last. It's almost the end of the show, but that doesn't mean we're phoning it in.

Nope, we grind to the very last segment. It's time for best for last. All right there, best for the last, kiddos. Here's what we got. Best for the last, we'll give you five college picks for the weekend. Five college picks for the weekend. And what I'm going to do is because the slate of games is so good, and frankly, Saturday's slate and Sunday slate gets even deeper.

I'm just going to give you one for today, one from today. Well, let's start with TCU taking on Stanford. Of course, a year and a half ago, TCU was the national championship game. Last year at this time, they lost a heartbreaker at home to Colorado to start this season. So, Sunny Dykes is going to travel to Palo Alto, take on Stanford. Stanford did not win a game at home last year. O and 7 at home. in case you're wondering, and I know most of you are,

Troy Taylor is Stanford's head coach. You're like, I have no idea. I didn't not know that. Ryan, did you know, if I would have said Troy Taylor, who's the head coach of in the ACC, would you have picked out Stanford at all? That entire sentence has got a lot happening there. A lot happening there.

No, I don't think I would have been able to correctly pinpoint that. Now, of course, Dykes was at Cal. and Stanford was 4-0 against him when he's a cow, a different animal at TCU. Here's the way TCU rules. Like, oh, we screwed up with the portal last year, not screwing up this year. I like TCU big. Remember, it's not just that Stanford's not any good or that it's year two, and they're not really huge portal players.

But also remember, playing at Palo Alto, if you don't know anything, they don't draw well to begin with, and they're not even in school right now. give me TCU minus eight. TCU minus eight. There will be no home field advantage. Let's get to the Saturday slate of games. Miami is taking on Florida. This is a Miami team that we were told, hey, you go out and you hire a guy who look what he built at Oregon.

He's a Miami guy. They'll win right away. last year they did not. So they too went into the portal. And they went and got a quarterback who was killing it at Washington State. More of a runner than a thrower.

Taking on Florida in the swamp. Hmm. That's a crazy game where Miami is actually a road favorite. Mario Cristobal, of course, you look at what he did at Oregon.

And he builds from the inside out. an old line guy. He builds his lines and then he went and got Cam Ward. I'm also, I'm going to sit here and go like, yeah, but Florida is a different animal playing in the swamp. I think Florida wins. Two and a half point dog at home, home dog's covering. Give me the gators. The biggest game of the weekend is also on Saturday. It is Clemson, taking on Georgia. Yes, I know Notre Dame Michigan. I'll get to that one as well. Big thing with this game is that I just 11 and a half feels like too many points for

Georgia over Clemson not because Clemson is as talented as Georgia but we talked about the cohesiveness I think this is a close football game like Georgia will win but Georgia will win close give me Clemson but Georgia gets the points Notre Dame taking on Texas A&M Irish a three point dog at A&M

I'm going to take the Irish to go down and get an upset this one it's not the same problems as Stanford Kyle Field to have 100,000 people in attendance it'll be obscene

but A&M has a tendency and I know Mike Elko comes back there it's his first game as head coach I just like that hey first game at home we're opening with the Irish

like ooh that's a hard one but I do think I think Notre Dame comes in and gets a win is that crazy might be crazy they haven't played each other since 2001 anyway.

I'll take Notre Dame plus the three points. Let's go to the Sunday game since I've given you four picks so far. Sunday is LSU taking on USC. LSU obviously you're replacing a high-sman trophy winner at quarterback and USC replacing Caleb Williams at quarterback. But this game is in Vegas. Feels like a perfect game for USC to sneak up and win. and I know Garrett Newsmeier showed some signs last year he threw for

was it $3.95 against Wisconsin in the bowl game. Yeah, I like SC to win this game. SC straight up. So remember, of the dogs that I have, I have SC straight up. I got Notre Dame straight up. I have Florida Home Dog straight up. and then and then I have

Clemson to cover but not to win so that is not a straight up pick to cover but not to win and then tonight in the big game of just tonight I have TCU who is a favorite winning and covering on the road

those are the picks that's the best for last I love college football but I will tell you as much as yeah I'm kind of Jones for a good tailgate, this is a weekend where you're like, yeah, I'm not tailgating. Too many games on. And even if you have one of those really good tailgating setups where you can sit and watch a couple TVs, it just feels better on the couch.

So whether you're on the couch, you're at the tailgate, enjoy the weekend. We'll talk to you Monday in the Dan Patrick Show. I'm Doug Gottlieb, in for calling this is The Hurt. Another podcast from some SNL late-night comedy guy, not quite, unhumored 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 headwriter, 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. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal, but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque.

others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the IHard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. On the Look Back at it podcast.

From 1979, that was a big moment for me. 84 was big to me. I'm Sam J. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick a year, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it. With our friends, fellow comedians, and favorite authors. Like Mark Lamont Hill on the 80s. Before it was a wild year.

It was a wild year. I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what I'm saying. Yep, that's me. Clifford Taylor the Fourth.

You might have seen the skits, my basketball and college football journey, or my career in sports media. Well, now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfilts of conversations with athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. So let's get to it. Listen to The Clifford Show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. Hey, what's good, y'all? You're listening to Learn the Hardway

with your favorite therapist and host, Kear Games. This space is about black men's experiences, having honest conversations that it's really not safe to have anywhere, but you're having them with a licensed professional who knows what he's doing. How many men carry a suit or armor?

It signals to the world that you're not to be played with. And just because you have the capability that does not mean that you need to. Listen to learn the hard way on the AHA radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed human.