The Herd with Colin Cowherd - HOUR 3 - NFL, Steelers

Episode Date: September 22, 2022

Some coaches have trouble evolving and it shows When will the Steelers make a change at QB?   Guests: Mark Kaboly, Bruce FeldmanSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. 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. 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. For 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. 84 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 4th. You might have seen the skits, my basketball and college football journey, or my career in sports media. Well, now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifers Show.

This is a place for raw, unfilled conversations with athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. So let's get to it. Listen to the Clifford show on the IHeard 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. Thanks for listening to The Heard podcast.

Be sure to catch us live every weekday from 12 to 3 Eastern, 9 to noon Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and FS1. Find your local station for the herd at Fox SportsRadio.com or stream us live every day on the iHeartRadio app by searching Hurd. You're listening to Foxxport's. Sports Radio. Fox Bet Super 6 is upping the ante this week and increasing the jackpot to $1 million. Last weekend, one player from New York missed the jackpot in heartbreaking fashion when Jimmy G.

Snuck in the end zone late in the fourth quarter. If Jimmy had run out the clock, instead of scoring that person would have won 100 grand. Download the app and enter your six picks for a chance to win Terry Bradshaw's million dollars. Crushing. Imagine that, Colin. Jimmy G scores and you lose out on big bucks. Oh. That's got to hurt.

Cambling is fun, but man, it's, it is. That one o'clock window, I'm just screaming at the TV. Mark Cabali has been covering the Steelers for 20 years. He's going to get in his car and make that two-hour drive here right after our hit. He covers him for the athletic. Last time we talked to you, you were concerned about the O line. You were concerned about the offensive coordinator. I was concerned about Mitch Trubisky.

It's all been realized. It's all come true. So in your city in which you live and cover, how much patience do they have? If they lose tonight and they sputter offensively, what's the reaction in Pittsburgh tonight, Mark? Well, the reaction would be probably the same as it was the past two weeks or the past month.

Get Mitch out there and put Kenny Pickett in because that's who they wanted in the first place. That's been called for for a while now by the fans and the people that, I don't want to say cover the team, but the people who call themselves fans of this team. Now, Mike Tomlin might be a little bit different right there. He's exercising his patience, which means he wants to stay with Ms. Trubisky until the absolute bitter end.

If you know anything about Tomlin, he's a pretty stubborn individual. He made this decision to go with Trubisky months ago, and it's going to take more than a couple games of poorly played offense for him to yank him. So unless they somehow find their offense in one night here, I think it's going to be the much of the same. We wake up tomorrow morning and everybody in Pittsburgh's going to want to fire

Matt Canada and replace Ms. Trubisky with Kenny Pickett. Here's what would worry me. Tomlin's got control of the locker room, but you have a lot of gifted young wide receivers. They're kids. And he's not getting the ball to those kids. They bail. They grumble.

they talk and you can split locker rooms up really quickly Mark you've been covering this for 20 years you can lose games you can also lose a locker room and those young receivers are stars and they're not getting the ball down field how concerned are you that that is going to become a fissure in the locker room you know it happened right after the game against the patriots but the interesting part is they weren't coming after mike tomlin more than they were coming off coming at matt canada in the play conga I haven't seen anything like this in my 20 years of covering a team, and you're eight quarters into the game, and you're having these young guys saying, throw me the ball, get me the ball, I'm open, run your own plays in the huddle to Miss Trubisky, and Trubisky is basically saying, hey, let's stick to the plan here. I'm basically the voice of reason. So I don't think it's too much to worry about Tomlin.

I think there might be a coup against Matt Canada. This continues to happen because the offense is just poor. the poor planning, the poor execution. And you have to wonder if the Matt Canada offense, the college style of offense, the jet sweeps, the motions, the gadgetty of the plays really transcends to the NFL. Because as of right now, it hasn't.

And these receivers and these offensive weapons are certainly kind of questioning. Yeah, George Pickens said this week, I'm open 90% of the time. You can see he's already in page. He's probably right, by the way. The kid probably is open. Now, here's my takeaway, and I've had this for two years. I don't think I'm wrong, but it certainly could be.

It's happened more than once. Is that defensive coaches do not have the sensibility for offense. They don't have as many friends on the offensive side as coaches. I mean, Belichick's now using a defensive coordinator to call plays. Pete Carroll can never seemingly get the offensive coordinator right. Vic Fangio couldn't, is that offensive courts often played offense. They quarterback. They get the sensibility of it.

Their friends are on the offensive side. And that Tomlin, as much as I like him, will go spend a fortune on Minka Fitzpatrick instead of a great, you know, sinner. And so my criticism is I love Mike, but I don't know if this organization now has the feel for offense. Is that fair? That's tough because, you know, you look back five or six years. ago, they spent a lot of money on that offense.

It almost like it's flit now to the defensive side of the ball because they're rebuilding on an offense. You got a lot of guys on their first year contracts. Right. Right now. Tire offensive line, the quarterback's under his, you know, he's making $7 million a year, probably the least of any starting quarterback. All their wide receivers were one-year guys.

I would imagine eventually that will all flip around a little bit. I agree with you of being friends with somebody like, you know, maybe a man. Matt Canada and thinking he might be better off for the job than he may be. He had an opportunity he as in Tomlin to move on from Canada last year after the season. And he pretty much went to bat with him and said, you're getting one more chance without saying those words in, you know, absolute those words there. He could have moved on and went to this new, you know, the new style of offenses, which is not the style that Matt Canada is able to run right here.

It gets all cyclical, though eventually these guys are going to have to get paid, and they're going to have to start getting some more talent on the offensive line. And that goes by drafting guys. You're not going to go out and sign free agent tackles. That happens very, very infrequently that have a tackle to come in and be. There's not many Orlando Browns out there. Right. So, you know, I have this theory that Tomlin knows what gets you in trouble as a coach,

Matt Nagy in Chicago is when you go back and forth. Brian Flores, back and forth with the quarterback. You look disorganized. The aesthetic is this team doesn't know what they're doing. They don't have a plan. The Tomlin knows I'm going to pick it. And he's looking at that buy week, but he doesn't want Kenny facing Buffalo and Buffalo in that pass rush.

He doesn't want him facing Brady is that he's going to make sure when he moves off Trubesky that everybody in the locker room knows we can't win with Mitch. and he is stable enough in his job, he's not going to get fired. He knows by week, Saints, Bengals, Colts. Once I go to Kenny, it gives him the best chance, and I'm not going back on Trubisky. I believe Mike knows he's moving off Trubisky, and I think in his mind he's looked at that schedule. Does that seem crazy? Well, he would never tell you that.

He's one game at a time, Mike, right? But you look, there's not many places among that schedule where you can slide Kenny Picket in and assure him to have a pretty easy run of it, especially over these next five or six weeks. But I understand what you're saying. When you put Kenny Pickett in there, there is no coming back. That's right. There's definitely in the back of his mind. That's what he will want.

What he definitely wants is if he had his choice to have Ms. Trubisky just play out the entire year. That's been from day one. and just start it all over next year with pickets, have Trubisky start the whole season here I'm talking about. But I don't know if you can get to that point. If you get to the point in late in the season and you're, you know, four and ten, why not give him a shot right there?

But once again, this organization is built on stability. Mike Tonlin's built on stability. And that's all they're pounding into anybody's head. So something really, really has to go wrong for him to make that change at a whim. It's going to have to be weeks upon. on weeks of Ms. Trubisky just

failing and they come to the conclusion that he cannot be a professional number one, the QB1 in this league for him to make that move. And remember, Tomlis never had to dealt with this. For 18 straight years, or him, 16 straight years, it was put seven in there and, okay, let's

go. That's right. So we don't really know how he's going to react to this after all, because he's never done it. All right, I like Cleveland close tonight, although Tomlin's great as an underdog. What your gut feeling on tonight? Well, I always keep saying this every time the Steelers play, the first one to seven wins, right?

I mean, I don't know. I don't know where the offense is going to come from unless they're able to hit some big plays down the field. I just don't see it. I think this is going to be one of those ugly games, one of those Patriot games we saw last week, one of those 17, 14 games, giving the home team, but it's not going to be a pretty game to watch. Mark, great seeing you again.

Have a nice drive. Be safe. And thanks. All right, we'll see you, Carl. Yeah. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific on Fox Sports Radio, FS1, and the IHeart Radio app. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal but encouraged.

It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast'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, 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 imagine.

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 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. 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. 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 tontons 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.

It's, uh, listen, Belichick, Tomlin, and Pete Carroll are good coaches. They're defensive coaches. Right now, they can't get the offense right. Is that a coincidence? By the way, Vic Fangio couldn't get the offense right. Mike Zimmer couldn't get the offense right. So is that a coincidence? We know Pete can coach. We know Zimmer can coach. We know Belichick can coach.

We know Tomlin can coach. Vic Fangio's wildly respected around the league. What side of the ball did they all struggle with? You want me to believe that's a coincidence. Doug Peterson was a quarterback in the NFL. All his friends are on the offensive side. Andy Reed, all his friends. He goes to Jacksonville.

Boom. Trevor Lawrence, his stride is shortened, getting rid of the ball sooner. It's like if you work in tech for 20, my son's into tech. And I always tell him, don't worry about getting a job. There's a lot of jobs. You'll get one. You know it. You feel. Sensibility. Everybody in our family goes to my son to fix their computer, fix their phone. It doesn't matter. That's just his sense. His friends know tech. He knows tech. The groups he hangs out with are good with tech. So these offensive coat, McVeigh was a quarterback.

and Doug Peterson was a quarterback. You know, for a lot of these quarterbacks, they were on the offensive side of the ball, and they've spent 30 years, 20 years, 15 years, 40 years, they're friends. They sit around and draw up plays. So I don't think it's a coincidence that Belichick, Tomlin, Pete Carroll, Mike Zimmer, Vic Fangio.

By the way, I think Brandon Staley's a really good coach for the Chargers. Really smart. I don't know if he's a good coach. Smart guy. He's got Justin Herbert. And the defense looks better already. but when I watch the Chargers offense, I don't think it's clever enough. I don't think it makes me think.

I don't think it's multiple enough. That's what I worry about. He's smart enough. You listen to him in a microphone. He's a bright guy. But I do think as the league has moved, if you worked in the industry and the industry shifted to a position and it wasn't your strength, you can be smarter than everybody in the room, but it's not how you grew up.

It's not what you know. And so, like, our society has shifted to tech. there's a lot of smart doctors out there and lawyers out there that they don't do tech. So when I grew up as a kid, doctors and lawyers are the rich people. They can't afford to live in the home areas of where tech moguls live, right? Because society changed. Not that we don't need lawyers and doctors, but explosion of tech money has made Silicon Valley the richest zip code in the world, right? So sometimes the world changes and you're just not equipped or, or, uh,

as schooled, as proficient, as interested, as to where your industry's moving. We know Tomlin's a great coach. We know Pete Carroll. We know Belichick. But you watch Belichick's clunky handling of the offense since Brady left. He doesn't have a feel for it. How about Matt Patricia in Detroit? No clue with the offense with Matt Stafford.

Stafford couldn't stand him. Stafford goes to the Rams, wins the Super Bowl. Boom. Yeah, Matt Patricia has no feel for it. Belichick has a very little feel for it. because Belichick not only lost Brady a year later or so he loses McDaniels. And so I just don't think the Patriots without Brady and Josh McDaniels, they're not equipped as the league exit stage right into offense.

I just don't think the Patriots feel like to me equipped with their current staff and their current quarterback limitations to handle these big changes. I don't. I really don't. I don't think they get Pete Carroll in Seattle. They couldn't get the offensive line right forever. Can I toss out Mr. Salah and Mr. Zach Wilson in New York? I don't know. But I'm watching Pete and I'm watching Mike and I'm watching Bill and I'm watching Mike Zimmer.

These are all really smart guys. They know football. But sometimes you're sitting there in life. Like I know, my wife and I've had conversations about this is that like we have to be on tech to just watch and monitor our kids. It's not like we love tech. I don't love being on my phone. I don't love being on tech, but it's like,

I got kids. They're all on tech. I better figure out how to monitor Instagram and Snapchat and tick. I thought you liked TikTok. What are you talking about? No, somebody else runs my account. So I just think,

and this happens all the time. The world shifts. And, you know, it's like have to just pretend you had an NBA roster with a bunch of, like Philadelphia. The world moved away from Biggs in the NBA. And everybody loved,

was it Sam Hanky? Oh, he's a genius. genius genius and Philadelphia just kept drafting big after big after big after big and the culture moved away and they had no shooters. Nerlins, Noel. Yes, I mean it was Okafore

and the process, Colin and Embed who's great. But it's like all of a sudden the world changed and they had a roster full of really good bigs or really yeah, Ben Simmons. He can't shoot. And so it's just nobody's to blame. Nobody's saying that Pete Carroll can't

coach. But is he in the new world is Pete equipped to quickly pivot to this new world and understand. You know, Ron Rivera, I like Ron very much. They just sat around on their thumbs sitting around. It's like, could you go get a quarterback? Didn't they go get last year Ryan Fitzpatrick? It's like Jimmy Garoppolo's out there somebody. Go get him.

They didn't sense the urgency for it. Right? But by the way, the minute Denver got an offensive coach, Nathaniel Hackett, right? Like they were like, let's go get Russell Wilson. Whether you love Russell Wilson or not, by the way, Cliff Kingsbury. He walked into Eric, I don't know, was Cliff there first or Kyler there first? I think Cliff was hired first. And so Cliff Kingsbury, offensive guy, former quarterback, talked Arizona into go get Kyler.

They had just drafted Josh Rosen. He understood it. The offensive coach totally in Arizona understood the urgency of it. He's like, hey, you can't win in this league without a quarterback. I watched that kid in high school. They moved off one year, Josh Rosen. They moved off. But the defensive coach, by the way, Big Ben, we were saying this three years ago, move off him.

The defensive coach is a little less, you know, he's more reticent, a little more reluctant to do that quick. Ron Rivera kind of sat in his hands with getting a quarterback. And, you know, I mean, I still contend that Sean Payton retired because Drew Brees did and he looked up, but he went, you can't win in this league without a star quarterback. Sean's like, I'm going to take a year or two off golf and wait for an opening. So this is not a criticism of any individual coach. It's just, man, if you have a roster full of bigs that can't shoot, you could be Phil Jackson or Greg Popovich.

You can't win in that league anymore. You've got to have shooters. J. Mack with the news. No, no, no, no. Turn on the news. This is the herd line news. Speaking of a clueless offense, Justin Fields in Chicago found himself in some hot water this week, Colin. He made some comments after the Bears lost to the Packers.

about how the loss hurts more in the locker room than for fans because, well, they're not putting in any work. Of course, a couple of meatballs in Chicago got upset, and Justin Fields wanted to clarify his comments. When I admit by that was I'm talking about work, you know, regarding the game on Sunday, winning the game. You know, I don't know any fans. I don't know what they're doing in their personal lives. And I respect every fan that we have. I'm, you know, glad that we have fans. So, you know, I would never just, respect, you know, anybody on what they do or what they love to do. And, you know, that was, you know, it came off like that.

And, of course, you know, some social media outlets, they, you know, quoted my quote, and, you know, they got a big buzz on it. So, of course, they did a great job doing that. And, of course, social media is going to do that. But, yeah, I just wanted to clear that up. The fact is, we all knew what he meant. Obviously, but you've got to get those clicks, right? You know, there's a lot of social media accounts.

We wanted to get the clicks from Justin Fields. Next up, the Colts. Oh, brutal game against the Jags Sunday. lost 24-0-0. Matt Ryan is now 0-1-1 with the Colts season. It feels like 0-2, the tie against the Texans. But Matt Ryan expects him to be much better this weekend against Andy Reed and Patrick Mahomes.

I think we've been a little bit of pretty good preparation, but just not the results that we want. And so when you're in situations like that, I think you have to have the mental toughness to stay with it and to really evaluate, hey what are the two three things individually that I can do better you know that's going to help us improve across the board and I think guys have had you know a good mindset you know for that this week I also think we've got you know a tough group of guys you know a proud group of guys

by the way they are all one and one yeah I called them oh and two earlier feels like oh I had no seriously they were so outplayed in that game for big chunks of it I put him down as oh and two they are oh one and one they've had one good quarter this season the fourth quarter against the Texans when they came back from being down 20 to 3. Colin, this will come down to Michael Pittman, right? If they have him, they'll have a chance against the Chiefs. If not, forget about it. All right, finally, all eyes on Aaron Judge tonight.

Very excited at Fox. Yankees host, the Red Sox. Judge was 60 dingers on the season, one away from tying Roger Maris's AL single season record. The game is at 6.30 Eastern on Fox Yankees. Red Sox, Aaron Judge. It's going to be a big night in sports. I know you're going to be planted to the sofa.

My wife's making a boulanese sauce, pasta boulanets, sitting home, Yankees, Steelers losing close to Cleveland. Yeah. Big night. It's sports night, for sure. And then you've got to have a clear head for the NFL picks this weekend tomorrow. This is a tough week, Colin. It is. But you know what?

Great moments are born of great opportunity, as Herb Brooks, the late Herb Brooks once said. Oh, that the U.S. hockey coach? I am going to seize this. weekend of picks and crush it. J. Mack with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The Herd Law. Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd, weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific. He's by Carmen. I'm Dan Byrd. We have a brand new fantasy football podcast called I Want Your Flex. Twice a week, every Tuesday and Friday, we come up with new episodes

to not only look back at what happened, what you need to do at that minute, and also look ahead of what's coming up in the fantasy football. football world. That's right, Dan. Every week we're going to scour the waiver wire to find the pickups to turbo boost your fantasy lineup. Sit, starts. Fantasy football players' rankings to get you ready to dominate the competition. Listen to I Want Your Flex

with Mike Harmon and me, Dan Byer, on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you be 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, 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'll say it. 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 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 a little kill? 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 is big to me, not just because of crack. I'm down to talk about crack on day, but just so you all know.

I mean, at this point, Mark, this is the second episode where we've discussed crack. starting to see there's a through line. We also have AIDS on the table right now. 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 podcasts. 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 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 tontons 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 I-Hart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your

podcasts. Over 31,000 businesses, confidence they need because of NetSuite, netsuite.com slash H-E-R-D. Bruce Feldman covers college football for a long time. Over 25 years, New York Times bestselling offer, author, Fox Sports, recent articles all over college football. So let's start with Marcus Freeman. I said this earlier. I didn't think Harbaugh had a great roster until last year. He won 10 games early in his career, but I mean a roster I felt could go toe-to-to-toe

with maybe anybody but Georgia. I thought Brian Kelly, three years ago, finally had a roster. Ten years in that could go toe to toe with Georgia. Didn't beat them, but they had a lot of NFL guys. You know, this is hard. Marcus Freeman's never been a head coach. What are realistic expectations with this roster, in your opinion, Bruce? Well, you got to remember, Colin, you're starting quarterback, Tyler Buckner.

He's out for the season. It's a team without a lot of firepower. I mean, they are really thin at wide receiver. They have a good tight end, but, Beyond that, they don't have great receivers. They don't have great running backs. Remember Kyron Williams, who was a really good back for them the last few years, great all around back.

He's in the NFL now. So you're talking about a backup quarterback, limited firepower. I think it's going to be a stretch for them to get to eight wins. Wow. I mean, it's not like they were playing in the SEC, but I still think this is right now, maybe a seven and five, maybe even a six and six team. He's got to upgrade the roster.

I mean, they've had some good athletes on defense in this run under Brian Kelly. It was better than what it was before. but I don't think they just do not have enough big-time athletes. They certainly have had a good run of tight ends and great offensive linemen, but the offense has been too limited. You're not going to compete and win national titles if you don't have the firepower on offense. Listen, I'll tell you, a teen, that's interesting. There's a believe a consensus among a lot of people that, hey, Michigan beat Ohio State last year,

but Ohio State will come back in Columbus, thump them, and we'll get the order back in. And I watch Michigan and I'm like, I don't know, Bruce. They got a lot of NFL bodies. They finally have a quarterback with an arm that can spin it. You're going to see them this weekend. I don't know. Michigan looks like they can go toe to toe.

Again, maybe not Georgia. I think they can go toe to toe with Ohio State. That's the eye test I see. What do you see? I'm very curious to get them in person. They haven't played anybody so far. It's about as impressive as you can look when you played teens that are like a combined two and nine, Colin.

But as you said, a little different now. JJ McCarthy is a better runner than Caden and McNamara, bigger arm. He has been really sharp. He's completing well over 80% of his passes so far. The other thing that I think really helps him is they won the Big Ten championship last year without Ronnie Bell, who is their best receiver. He's back. The receiving core is much deeper.

They have speed in the back field with Blake Coram and Donovan Edwards. They're a dangerous team. especially if he keeps playing the way he's looked. Now defensively, they don't have, obviously, Aidan Hutchinson, they lost seven starters, but they do have a lot of athletes on that side of the ball. Mazzie Smith in the middle of the defensive line, six, four, about 340 was the number one guy on our freaks list this season. Junior Colson is a potential All-American at linebacker.

I think they got enough athletes over there. To me, what's really interesting, having spent some time around the Michigan players and the staff going into the fall camp was they really felt like, hey, everybody thought last year was a fluke that we beat the Buckeyes. It was snowy. They were down. It was just awkward. They feel like there was nothing fluky about it.

They have as big a chip on their shoulder now, having beaten them, as I think that group did last year because people said you couldn't beat them. Now it's like people are saying it was a fluke. I think this is a really, really interesting team to watch. Yeah. Yeah. And I think you hit it early. This quarterback can really throw it. This is a real offense now.

anybody surprised by Lincoln Riley how fast they have been viable. I still contend they've got one NFL guy on defense in the front seven. There'll be limitations down the road that you'll see. But offensively, Bruce, they do everything well. They block, they protect. Anybody that you talk to that's gone, that's better than I thought faster than I thought. I think they're trying to keep the hype in check a little bit. And it's already kind of out of the barn.

but the things that have stood out, and I heard this from the guys on the staff this summer was Caleb Williams has grown a lot from year one with Lincoln Riley. I mean, his feet are settled down. His eyes are more settled down. He's much more in command. Getting Jordan Addison late was a huge addition because they already had a good group of skill guys. Now, I don't want to say it's a great group, but it's really impressive. They are deep with a lot of playmakers outside.

He's getting the ball out. the part where I'm like hesitants going on any of the USC's back talk is what you said. They were horrible on defense last year. They didn't bring in, you know, Jordan Addison and Caleb Williams on the defensive side of the ball. And if you watch the game a couple of weeks ago against Stanford, if they don't have some turnovers in the red zone, I think that game is like a 6355 kind of game. It's Stanford. We're not talking about like they were going up against Ohio State.

So you look at the PAC 12. I think the PAC 12 is a little better. The defense is the part that gives me pause right now. So there is more than a few voices in college football have said Georgia has passed Alabama. You've got to be cautious about that, although I will say defensively, you know, the last couple years, you just look at who's getting drafted. They've looked a little faster to me. they've had a more consistent pass rush it feels like to me the last couple years. You know, Sabin, Sabin.

What do you make of that talk, though, about Georgia has just edged ahead of Bama? I would be careful to go too far on that front right now. I mean, Stetson Bennett's been terrific. He deserves some Heisman chatter. I still think Bryce Young is a better quarterback. And I would look at this and say a couple of years ago, and I remember it was literally the day of the national title game. did some radio shows and people were talking about Clemson was going to play LSU and people were

starting to say, you know, if Dabo wins this, he's probably the top guy in college football. Well, obviously, Dabo didn't win it. LSU beat them. And you look at it right now and I'm like, I'm hesitant to write anybody passing by Nick Sabin. You win one national title. That's great. I think Georgia looks really impressive. It's too early to say that. Let me see what happens in January before I'm talking about Georgia, Trump, you know, being on top of where Alabama's at. All right. So not all great brands last forever. I'm old enough to remember when Oregon State basketball had Ralph Miller,

and for 15 years, maybe they weren't UCLA and wouldn't, but they were a great program, and they no longer are. And I look at Nebraska and I think they're in the wrong conference. They've gone through a bunch of coaches. Scott Frost was great at Central Florida. Now I'm supposed to believe he forgot how to coach. How good of a coach can they get? I mean, how are they viewed in college football now?

Well, let's start with the Scott Frost part is to me interesting because he was great at UCF. But keep in mind, he took over for George O'Leary, who was a hard-edged, kind of kept people like it was almost wrapped too tight. Scott Frost went in there was a looser guy, the staff was looser. they responded to that. When he took over at Nebraska, it was a different dynamic. It was too loose then, two lax. They had organizational issues, and so they never reined it in. And they didn't recruit well enough to give them much of a margin for error.

Right now, I think there's some positives is you have a program with a ton of history and really good facilities. And they do have, you know, an NIL war chest to spend a lot of money on that part of it. The downside is the recruiting base is not very good. and it certainly hasn't gotten better since, you know, there's not going to be kids you're going to recruit who go, yeah, I remember when Tommy Frazier was the star. I remember, you know, it's too long ago, right? And so I think, you know, it could help them if they're not going to be in the easier side of the Big Ten. If they go just, you know, like that's going to, that was an easier thing to say, hey, you don't have Ohio State, Michigan, Penn State on our side. At some point soon, I think they're not going to be divisions there. So you will get the Big Ten TV money. but to me, from everything I've heard in the last two weeks as this search shapes up, Nebraska's really interested in three leading candidates.

One is Matt Campbell at Iowa State, done a terrific job in Ames, established a really winning culture, and he really knows how to develop players. Lance Leopold, who's a former Nebraska assistant, won a bunch of D3 national titles, and now has done a remarkable job at Kansas. I mean, Kansas is 3 and 0 for the first time in 13 years. The other one to watch is Bill O'Brien, the O.C. at Alabama, from what I'm hearing, Trevor Albers really likes him. They go way back, you know, some 20 years. And he was very impressed with what he did taking over in that dark, dark time at Penn State in the wake of the Jerry Sandusky scandal. And he, Trevor Albers knows there needs to be a major overhaul on Nebraska football. So I think that's something that he's really weighing in his head. But there's a long time now.

before they actually make a head coaching hire and see who really wants that job. I'm not sure Matt Campbell wants to make that move to Lincoln Nebraska. That'd be the guy I'd hire. I think he's done a great job. He's found two and three-star recruits and made him NFL players. I think that guy is. That's what you need in Nebraska. You're not beating Alabama, Ohio State for five-star guys that often.

Bruce Feldman, Fox Sports, college football reporter. He crushed it, as usual. Great seeing you, Bruce. Always a pleasure, Colin. Thanks for happening. By the way, Bruce also, when everybody else said Quinn Ewers, the quarterback at Texas would be out for a month and a half. Feldman said a couple of weeks, two, three weeks. Reportedly now, Sark says Quinn and Ewers will suit up against Texas Tech.

So Bruce was right. That kid's an interesting prospect. Five-star quarterback, big arm. Who do the Texans have on the sideline? Mr. Miyagi, healing guys, that quickly? What the heck is that? That's the way it worked? That quickly?

Well, I mean, all these guys. I just saw a story on Trey Lance. They're like broken ankle. he'll be throwing by November. Dak Prescott's now going to be back. He's barely going to be walking by November. Well, I think I just think young bodies, nutritional standards are up. Everybody now is getting healthy fast.

Whenever I see six weeks, I immediately think three to four. Well, Zach Wilson, we're still waiting. We're still waiting on Zach Wilson. What's the story on that? Well, I mean, if Flacco beats the Bengals this weekend, I don't think we're seeing Zach Wilson week four. I'll give me a break. You don't think they have any chance to beat the Bengals this weekend.

They beat him with Mike White last year, Colin. No, I'm saying. if Flacco wins and Zach Wilson was held we got to go. That's my lead story tomorrow. We're leading with that tomorrow. You don't think, I can't.

I'm not even going to go there. Quarterback controversy in New York. I'm not, yeah, I'm not taking the bait. We'll see you tomorrow. In L.A., it's the herd. Another podcast from some SNL late night comedy guy, not quite.

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