The Herd with Colin Cowherd - The Herd - Hour 3 - The problems with the NCAA

Episode Date: August 22, 2023

Fox Sports college football analyst Joel Klatt joins the show to discuss Jim Harbaugh's suspension and expectations for USC in Lincoln Riley's second seasonSee 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, S&L'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 I-Hard 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 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 Bole Your Mind on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Thanks for listening to The Heard podcast. Be sure to catch us live every weekday on Fox Sports Radio in noon to 3 Eastern, 9 a.m. to noon Pacific. Find your local station for the herd at Fox Sports Radio.com or stream us live every day on the IHeart Radio app by searching Fox Sports Radio or FSR. Now let's get this party started. You're listening to

Fox Sports Radio. By the way, the utterly inspired all-electric EQE sedan from Mercedes-Benz. Their electric vehicles, new line. All-electric. The feelings all Mercedes. Learn more at MBUSA.com

slash EQE. Been a rambunctious show today. Very rambunctious. Let's continue that. J-Mack with the news. No, no, no, no. Turn on the news. This is a great.

the herd line news. Rambunctious. I don't even know that I could spell that. I'm really good at spelling, but I don't know that I can spell rambunctious. I thought your son won some spelling bee. Chess, he's good at chess. I want a spelling bee in fourth grade, but, you know, it was a long time ago. I remember the win. Too bad you don't need to spell now. Correct. Just talk. That's the best thing about talking for a living.

Well, as long as, you know, your vocal cords are holding up. All right, let's start with Mack Jones. He's looking to bounce back after last year's rough. Yeah, he was bad. He didn't look great in his first preseason action, but he broke down his ultimate goal this season. Are you ready for this? I think that's a big thing for me, keeping it loose and going out there and slinging it. Going back to Alabama Mac. When I'm in the right headspace and I can go out there and let it fly and not think too much and go play football. That's what it's all about for me. Play football with my teammates and enjoy one another. It's going to be tough times too. You have to understand how do we bounce back

How do we play the next play as a unit? That starts with the quarterback. I don't know, man. Referring to himself as Alabama Mac. It's a bit much, but that's okay. A bit much? Well, we got Waddle and, what's it, Devante Smith? You don't have that here, buddy.

And a lot of self-referential stuff here. It's all about for me, my teammates. No one will mention of Belichick. I don't think he and Belichick are close. They're not biving. Well, Brady and Belichick never had dinner, which I thought was profoundly shocking. Really? No, that's what it said.

Wasn't it Tom versus Time? Maybe it was another, maybe it was, oh, was it, was it Ian O'Connor's book or Jeff Benedict's book? Even you and I have a dinner. Seth Wickersham's book. One of those books said Brady and Belichick never had dinner. I thought that was unbelievable. One time. By the way, they didn't live that far apart.

Now, Brady lived next to crap, but Belichick wasn't that far down the road. Yeah. Not one beer? They were together like two decades. That seems odd. I, that's what I've said. It's odd. That's just weird. I mean, we've had dinner, you and I twice in like the last eight months. Now, I would assume... We had beers. No, we had food that one time. You paid.

Yeah. I would say you're Belichick. I'm more Brady. You're, you're, uh, yeah, Alabama Mac. Okay. Alabama Mac is bad. All right, moving on, um, oh gosh, I guess, listen, we talked a little bit of, about Sam Howell in Washington. Boy, he was pretty good. You got all giddy and excited.

19 of 25. Look at that pocket presence. Slinging it. You know, he was a four-star recruit and had two great years of college. Then he lost his great running back, came back to Earth, and everybody crushed him. He was a really highly coveted player. Hey, that Baltimore defense looking very fierce. I mean, goodness.

Let me see. Hold on. Let me see this rope. I don't know. John Dotson getting loose in the second year. He reminds me a little bit of Baker Mayfield. There's something there. That's a good thing.

Well, no, I mean, Baker has talent. I think McClorn out for a little bit. I think he'll be, they're hoping week one. Let me taste that. Do you, I don't know. I think Sam Hal's got talent. He was a four-star recruit. If you go to his first two years in college that he started,

he was on the track to be. He was like a 30 touchdown eight interception guy, and then he lost that running back. Javante. Yeah. Was it Williams? Yeah, he's on the Broncos. Okay, he lost him, and he stepped back.

His numbers weren't terrible. but he did you know his numbers went backwards so and everybody just bailed on him last night um he went 19 or 25 for a buck 88 two touchdowns looks pretty whopping 123.4 passer rating he looks solid to me you could stay he's a starter in this league it looks like to me am i nuts he looks like a starter i'm not saying he's great but he looks like a starter to me got taylor heineke from old dominion running around and they want seven games with taylor he last year he gave brady in a playoff game a battle sam house is a starter in the NFL? You don't think so? Bold. He was a great high school and a high-end car. I watched

him. When I heard a couple years ago, he was going to get drafted. I watched him twice. And my initial comp was, he reminds me of he plays a little like Baker Mayfield, his footwork, his throwing, he looks a slight bit taller than Baker. I'm not saying I'm out on him. I'm just like, that's excessive for one preseason primetime game. No, I think he's had a couple good ones. I think he's been good in both games, hasn't he? Well, maybe the credit goes to Eric B. Enemy. The new OC. I'm not picking sides here. I'm just saying he looks competent to me.

He looks like a franchise. He looks like a guy you could say, you know what, go sling it 29 times and complete 20, and he could do it. That's what he looked. Now, am I overreacting? Somebody fed me an interesting. So Washington could be in the quarterback market if this doesn't pan out,

but may not draft high enough. Would they reboot with Kyler Murray, assuming Arizona trades him and drafts Caleb Williams first? Boy, if I was in the first. Boy, if I was a new owner, that's not a relationship. You instantly get a quarterback, so you're going to be better. Kyler Maria, full, we'll see how much time he had on. Tyler's got to rehab his image.

All right, final story. James Hardin was fined $100,000 today for calling his GM, Darry a liar. An NBA probe revealed that Hardin made the comments because Mori had promised Hardin, he would be traded quickly this offseason after opting into his player option. Hardin was also under the impression that the conversation would lead to a trade with the Clippers. $100,000 seems significant. That is. Is that pocket change for James Hardin?

Give me a break. He's made $400 million. He laughed at that fine. Yeah. You want to fine him $10 million, but he laughed at that fine. That's, that's embarrassing. That's like what he spends on a birthday present for something. I guarantee you he spent that a night out in his life.

He spent that. Oh, he's dropping that in a strip club in a weekend. Well, let's not make accusations. No, his jersey's hanging in the rafters. could have just said... Jiggle joints. I'm not making this up, man. Shiggo joints.

Can you just stop at he spent money on a birthday? Do you have to get personal? Spent money. Some of those establishments have very good food. I've heard the wings are delicious at the gentleman's clubs in Houston. Listen, I tell my wife all the time. There's a lot of nice people in those. They're naked, but nonetheless, there's a lot of...

You're warming up for our next guest, aren't you? J-Mack with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The Herd Lie News. Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific on Fox Sports Radio, FS1, and the IHeard 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 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 Jay 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's 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. That was just a couple minutes late. The private jet and town car had to refuel. So he is now joining us here on the set. It is good to see Joel Clatt. he was so personal. I was just like he spent a lot of money, and this guy's going over there.

Like, gaming clubs and man. Holy. You know, Jemak. I will say this. Did he say jiggles joints? I don't even know what that is.

What are we doing? Was that mean jello shooters? I don't even know what that means. I have no idea. I'm in my 50s. This stuff's over my head. Let's just talk about cheeseburgers and Harbaugh, shall we? Okay, so Harbaugh, and I like him.

Mm-hmm. That's been established. He says, okay. he didn't apologize at Big Ten Media Day. He's nothing to apologize for. He imposes a three-game ban. So, first of all, during COVID, our epidemiologists couldn't figure out exactly what to do.

So a college football coach, they were all just trying to pay bills and figure it out. Well, and this incident that this all stems from is kind of, I mean, there's a bit of nuance to it. There's no doubt. But can I just say that the incident, for me, doesn't matter at all. The subsequent, like, quote-unquote, lie if he misinformed or wasn't completely honest with the NCAA doesn't matter to me. If you're focused on that,

if you're focused on the suspension, whether it was self-imposed or what the NCAA is going to do in the future, whether you think it's fair or not, you're looking in the wrong spot. It's a diversion. It's a diversion. You're probably a Michigan fan or Ohio. state fan. And the reason I say that is because this is essentially a picture of why the NCAA is so bad. So bad. A lack of consistency, a lack of rule enforcement, total ineptitude across so many levels, including the COVID schedule and what was permissible and what wasn't permissible during that time. It was a mess. How were they enforcing that? Like, it was a mess. Right. Every school had to come up with their own COVID philosophy and what the rules were as far as masking and how many students were going to be back on campus or how many fans were going to be allowed.

NCAA had nothing to say about. They never take a tough stance, but boy, they'll get involved. It's like, hey, wasn't there a recruit when he wasn't supposed to be there and didn't you feed him? Aren't there coaches that are coaching a practice when they shouldn't have been? I don't care about any of that. This is a picture of NCAA. ineptitude. This is a picture of why this organization, the NCAA, needs to go away. Yeah. Needs to go away. And I will say, I believe that it will. And that's actually somewhat exciting for me. Just to give you a quick analogy, remember when I told you that the demise of the

Pact 12 was over the course of a decade. Right. Decisions made a decade ago, and some of them even further, were the first dominoes in a long line of dominoes that we saw ultimately collapse a couple of weeks ago. Okay? Yeah. We are in the middle of the string of dominoes of the NCAA. That's why I'm excited, because there's an end in sight. Yeah.

They have been so inept when it came to getting in front of NIL. They only move when it's litigation and they lose litigation and they spend millions of dollars on litigation. They had a 10-year head start on NIL and then we're shocked when it happened. I spoke specifically with people at. at the NCAA, seven years ago, six years ago. And I told them, this is what I said verbatim to. They would ask me about name image and likeness.

And I said, you take two steps that you don't want to right now, or you're going to be forced to take 10 in four years that you can't. And you won't be ready for. And it'll all collapse. And that's exactly what's happened. So in so many ways, Colin, we are in this chaotic environment because of the ineptitude of the organization that we all think that we're still under. And what I'm not even proposing, but seeing in the future is that what we're going to see at this end of the line of dominoes is that the SEC and the Big Ten are going to garner enough power through their size, through their revenue, where they're just going to say like, you know what, thanks but no thanks.

We don't need you. And college football will be better for it. They're not involved when it comes to crowning a champion. and quite frankly, they're not really involved when it comes to governance because they govern in some areas and not others. Their penalties across schools, ask USC fans are totally inconsistent on basically similar infractions. They're a PR disaster.

And this is all I can think about when this Harbaugh issue comes up. So do I think that they should suspend Harbaugh or the self-imposed three game ban? I don't know. And I don't care. I really don't. because I know that whatever he did or allegedly did or didn't do at Michigan pales in comparison to the tampering that coaches are doing, and I know for a fact,

are doing with players on other rosters right now in the NIL and transfer portal. So that's my take. All right. Good take. All right. So this sounds on the surface ridiculous. But college football fans can be ridiculous. Oh, I love it.

Harbaugh beats Ryan Day a third time. hammers him, and Ryan Day's in trouble. Oh. Sounds crazy. Three straight wins. By the way, they ground and pound it. Ohio State gets bulldoze. Still doesn't have an offensive identity beyond really good receivers.

Three straight losses. It's convincing. It's as if Ohio State can't find their footing. And Ryan Day is suddenly in trouble. Yeah, I mean, listen, he would fall under a lot of heat. he's fallen under a lot of heat, even last year, losing, you know, the second time in a row. But was he under a lot of heat, you think? No, because he had his AD.

Gene Smith. Yeah, had his back. And had his back. And so it was noise, yes. And so this is where it gets interesting. Gene Smith announced that he's going to retire. And you know what? Congratulations, Gene.

Gene's been one of the best athletic directors in the country for a long time. I know Gene. Great guy. And any coach will tell you, the last place that they want to be is, working for someone that didn't hire them. Because inevitably, and in particular at a post like Ohio State, ADs want their fingerprints on the biggest programs. No question.

In the athletic department, namely the football program. Now, I'll give you an example of a guy that had to come in as an athletic director and just be totally hands off. Greg Byrne went from Arizona to Alabama. Well, Nick Saban was already there. Guess how much say Greg Byrne has over... Not much. Not much.

I've talked to Greg about this, and I'm not taking a shot, right? Like, that's just Nick Saban was Nick Saban. The problem for Ryan would be working for a new AD with the heat of the fan base as the AD is trying to fundraise in the midst of a challenging environment with NIL when he still has to go fundraise for things like facilities and scholarships and so on and so forth. When the fan base isn't happy, then the AD would feel that. And if the AD doesn't have the equity that Gene Smith had, then it becomes. comes a little bit more tumultuous, right? So Ryan knows that. I've talked to him about this.

He knows that there's pressure. He knows that they have been close and that they have fallen short in the worst times, namely against Michigan and in the playoff. And that has to change. And I think that they've done some things, and in particular in development of their defense, that they hope will change that. But I would be remiss if I didn't say with what Michigan is bringing back this year on the offensive line in the back. field at quarterback on the defensive side. Michigan's the favorite in the Big Ten. And rightly so. And they host Ohio State in Ann Arbor to end the year. Yeah, I think Michigan may be the best team in the country. I mean, I think that 15 NFL guys. Correct me if I'm wrong. We don't know that to me. I mean,

we just, are you just taking Harbaugh's word for it? Apparently, I lied to be in CIA. I was studying mock drafts all weekends. Were you very active? You mocks already in August. Yeah. That's impressive. Dealing with a professional here. I tell you what. your study habits second to none. All right, Clat, I see this. I see your preseason top 10. I'm okay with it. But you do have USC at 8 and Washington at 6.

I do. So Lincoln Riley basically gets first place he's accustomed to. What that's telling me, though, what that's telling me is you don't think they're going to solve their defensive issues and they're real issues. That's what you're telling me because Washington's defense has no NFL players. If you look at all the... They're better than USC.

They have one good rush end, my bad. They have a rush end that'll get taken maybe late first round. Yeah, they have one really good rush end, but it's mostly an offensive story. Okay. What you're telling me is... Oh, and USC is not?

No, they got some big old Sunday bodies. Okay. We'll see. We'll see this week. Week zero. We're going to see them play. I got alphabetical order up here. Light never goes off.

All right. So you're telling me USC, and by the way, I love Lincoln. But at some point, if people, If they have to win by shootout again, you got to make some changes. Okay. You are insane.

Do you know why I say that? So, specifically. No, no, no. Specifically, I say insane, insane. Because you know the definition of insanity. Yeah. Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. Well, that in skydiving, but go ahead.

True. True. Name the last defense, Lincoln Riley, put on the field that was even decent. Well, that's my point. And he's had Alex Grinch's been. Well, so then now all of a sudden, so what I'm trying to tell you is they were, they, in my rankings, they fell behind Washington because I trust Washington more defensively.

They were a better defense than USC. So my point is, I've got an 11, 9, and 6 year old. Okay. And they're all boys. But those of you that have elementary kids, you parents out there, you're going to know this analogy. You know there's always one kid in the classroom that has a peanut allergy? Oh man, it's a big deal these days. Yeah, big.

The allergy kid, right? So, and nothing against the allergy kid. We just all know that it exists. And so, like, if you try to bring a treat in on your kid's birthday, oh, my gosh, it's like a million hoops to go through. It's like, well, what is little Susie needs? Susie needs a Rice Krispy treat. And Jimmy needs a glazed donut and all this stuff. USC's defense was the peanut allergy kid.

They're allergic to tackling, which was like the last time I checked, it is pretty important to tackle. Did you see what Utah did to them? Did you see what Tulane did to them? Did you see what UCLA did to them? Let's be fair. Look what they inherited.

He's just trying to fix the roster. That's fine. No, I'll give you that. Yeah. My problem is this is not a track record. where you can point to what Alex Grinch or Lincoln Riley did at Oklahoma and say, oh, see, they've got a track record of a way to fix this. So that's why they fell at eight.

Prove it. Now, they've gotten some transfers that I think could really improve them defensively. I agree with that. I need to see it in order to come off of that stance. Like, it's, I know what Caleb can do. I'm interested to see what the run game is because Lincoln's offense is always better when they've got a really good run game. I don't generally either because it's always been there. They've got a track record of success.

There's no track record of success for them defensively whatsoever. So, like, to me, it's just another eighth-ranked team in the country with a great quarterback that's going to go to try to outscore people. I was allergic to math in seventh grade. That's the only thing I was allergic to. I tried to get it banned from school, and I couldn't. Oh, man. Good effort, though.

First controversy of the college football season, and you're not going to be able to duck it. You're going to have to talk about it. So I'm going to prep you. You better get ready for this. I'm ready. It's nothing like the peanut allergy. First controversy of the college football season is going to be in week two, and I'm going to address it with Joel Clatt next.

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 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 sits, 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 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 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 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-tapped 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. Thank you for finishing that sentence. Yes. 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. The average break in last 8 to 10 minutes. You need 24-7 live guard protection from SimplySafe 20% off the system. If you sign up today, Simplysafcollan.com. There's no safe like SimplySafe. All right. I, uh... You said there was controversy? I like to confront problems. A lot of people are passive aggressive. Not me and Harbaugh. No. Right at them. Yeah. Right at the orange cone and the freeway. Right at it. Drive over it. Or the pothole

in Manhattan Beach. There you go. I can make it. First problem. If you give Nick Sabot and offseason to get ready for a pocket quarterback problems. Mansell, Cam, they're guys that give him problems, right? The mobile quarterback. DeShone Watson. Quinn Ewers can be a little unrefined, bad historically against good teams, faces Bama and unravels, and Sark's got a quarterback controversy going into week three. Arch Manning's more talented, Ewers unravels, his number against top-ranked teams, he's not the same quarterback. Okay. Let me. me ask you a couple of questions. All right.

One is, when did Quinn yours look his best last year? Against bad teams? False. It was the first quarter against Alabama. Oh, the first quarter. Tell he got hurt. Got hurt in the middle of the second quarter. He was playing the best football he had ever played.

All right. Played really well against OU as well. But I know OU didn't turn out to be that great of a team. So I understand. And I get your premise. I really do. He eats pocket quarterbacks alive eventually. He does.

He generally does. Now, the game. The game plan that Texas used last year against Alabama was really good. And so Alabama is going to have to adjust to that game plan. Namely, what Sark was doing was using a lot of movement and aggressiveness downfield, you know, passing and play calling. They gave Alabama some fits. I think what is more intriguing to me about that game is not the Quinn Ewer's aspect. I actually expect Quinn Ewers to play well.

I expect Sark to have a great game plan. If you're asking me, like, who's one of the best game planners with some time in his back pocket? It would be Steve Sarkesian. So I think Texas is going to have a really good game plan. The question for me is about Alabama's quarterback. Who's it going to be? And is that a guy that Nick Saban is going to trust? Because Nick Saban inevitably falls back to his roots, you know, at times like this, which is,

I want a guy that I can trust. I want a guy that won't turn the ball over. Well, he's got basically a choice amongst three guys that are turnover prone. Milro played last year against Texas A&M. Turned it over three times. It's the only reason A&M was even close in that game. Got a sniff almost one in Tuscalo. Why?

Because the quarterback turned the ball over. Taylor Buckner, Tyler Buckner, excuse me, the transfer from Notre Dame, he has been turnover prone. I mean, ask a Notre Dame fan. He's thrown eight interceptions in just a little over 100 pass attempts in his career. Yeah. Four of them for pick six. Yeah. So Colin, like, who does Sabin go with? Because if Alabama turns the ball over three times, Texas will win. Yeah. They will beat them. And in that setting, Quinn doesn't lose his job. And I actually, this premise about like Arch breathing down his neck, I just don't, I don't think it's true. I think that the Manning family would like Arch to sit for a year. And they also don't want to be seen as meddlers. Correct. They don't like that. And candidly, Arch played at a really low-level high school, and he needs to develop some. I mean, he did not look great in the spring. Now, the talent is there.

The talent is there. And you can see that. But as far as the development, the development in terms of what you're seeing and the speed at which you're seeing it, that needed to pick up. So I don't think that the Arch Manning issue this year, I don't think is an issue. This is Quinn Ewer's team. And I think, you know, They'll go, I don't know how good Texas is going to be. Did you hear that I paused? I've got this, I don't want to talk about Texas. They got a top 10 roster. They should win the league, all these things.

You can't say that because they perpetually underachieve. They do. Don't knock small school quarterbacks. I went to one and look what happened. Look what happened to you. No, listen, Texas is a glamour program, and I live a very glamorous life. So I love Texas. I was going to say, you are like Texas and USC.

You're like, I have all the glamour, but none of the production. That's not true. I'm a little shy on the production. No, that's not true. I want them to win. I just, I'll say this. It'd be great if they want. I love when Texas is good.

I just do their fun. That day against Alabama last year in Austin was an amazing day. Here's another one. First thing I always look at when you hire a new coach, does he master his side of the ball? Okay. Second big controversy. Oh. Brent Venables, weak schedule.

Four losses. Thanksgiving. And Oklahoma has to make a decision going into the SEC. And that defense... That's interesting. By the way, don't tell me about recruiting. Defense was terrible last year.

Don't tell me about recruiting. Oklahoma recruited. They always recruit. False. Oh, come on. They recruit great. Brent Venables just signed a higher class than Lincoln Riley ever signed. Yeah.

Congrats. That doesn't mean anything to me. They've always got pros. They're Oklahoma. That defense was terrible. defensive side. They got this guy, Deson McCullough, a transfer from Indiana, who I think is a really good player on their defensive line. Can they coach him? I actually think Oklahoma is one of those sneaky, underrated loss, a bunch of close games last year, and they could pop this year. They've

got their quarterback back. Their defense can be improved just a little bit. I think six of their losses were by one score. What was the score in that Texas game? It was bad. I believe it was 45-0. In the games where Dylan Gabriel was healthy, the entire game, and he played the entire game, They never lost by more than a touchdown. And I think if those turn over, now, they may not. But if those turn over and they generally do, because the schedule's not tough. Oh, no, it's really soft. They were supposed to play Georgia, remember, this year in the non-conference.

And so Georgia, that fell off of both of those schedules because of the inevitable move to the SEC. And so both of those schedules are incredibly weak. I actually think Oklahoma is a team that could pop a little bit. But if they don't, in your premise, okay, let's say hypothetically, there would be a lot of conversation at OU. Because when Lincoln Riley left, you know, there's a certain circle the wagons. Oh, man. We're going to go get our

guy. There was some real vitriol. Yes, there was. So there was a circle of the wagons. Let's go get our guy, Brent Venables. So they're going to let, there's some tarmac here. They don't want to, they don't want to end up with egg on their face. And my takeaway is, if you're going to the SEC and you don't have the right coach,

be careful. That's serious football. I would agree with that. In particular, when you look at a year where Texas may, not saying they're a little, may be in line to potentially win the Big 12. And all of a sudden, you're OU, you've owned the Big 12 for 20 years. Owned it. Owned Texas for a better part of a decade.

And then you would be staring down the proposition of walking into the SEC with you trending down and Texas trending up, they wouldn't be able to. By the way, Kansas State is sneaky good. They're really good. Baylor's always competitive. I think Oklahoma State's down this year, but Texas will be really good. They lost all their players. Mason Cobb. They lost Mason Cobb.

You already talked about it. All right. Let's see what. Oh, you have the Joel Clatt show. Yeah. A college football podcast. You're doing Colorado T.C. I'll give you a minute.

I don't know about, I don't know about Dion. I think it's fun. Listen, we know what Colorado's known for. Beautiful views and cannabis. I think they can pivot to a six-win team. Maybe. Is that realistic? Not quite.

No, that would be a plus five in the win column. Plus fives just don't happen in college football. They don't? No, they don't. I believe Washington and USC got to plus four last year, which is really higher, maybe plus five. They're very rare. It's a tough schedule.

Good quarterback. However, I will say this. Colorado can compete with their starters with anybody out there. So watch out for those first couple of games when they don't have the attrition of injuries against TCU on the road and against Nebraska. home, I think they win one of those first two games. Wow. Yeah. Urban Meyer was on this show. Urban's like way better than I thought at practice. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. They're, they're legitimately a good football team this year. I know that's hard to believe because of all the players that left,

but all the players that left just went one and 11 and lost by an average of 29 points. They needed them to leave. When you were there in the 70s was this guy, was it was it a big party school then? Because now it's just... Number one, man. Was it really? Yes. Wow. Early 2000s, by the way, 70s.

I went to the harbor to the Poulouse, Eastern Washington. Bed by 9, baby, up early, making things happen. Is that the red turf team? It is the red turf team. Gosh. It figures you went to a school with a gimmick football field. No, no, no. They didn't. I paid for it, though.

Michael Roos paid for most of it. Hey. But you donated from the five-yard line in? The only problem with that is when it snowed, it became the pink field. Oh. Oh, that's terrible. We didn't think about Spokane weather. You live, you learn.

Yeah, it is what it is. We'll see you tomorrow. Joel Klatz joined us. It's The Herd. Another podcast from some SNL late-night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smigel 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

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