The Josh Innes Show - CFP and Saquon

Episode Date: January 2, 2025

We finally got a fantastic game in the CFP. That was followed by a massive dud. I do enjoy watching these big time programs struggle. I'm also enjoying teams like Bama and South Carolina losing bowl games after whining about being left out. Is it the right move for Saquon to not go for the rushing record? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hello, friends. What's going on? It's Josh. Hello. Big football day coming up today. I say a big day. Boy, how great is it? I mean, obviously the circumstances are terrible, but how great is it that Ole Miss was supposed to have the game of today, right? After all the Lane Kiffin bitching about not being in the playoff and everything else. How great is it that now there's a college football playoff game on the day that Ole Miss plays their bowl game? I find that to be enjoyable and fun and awesome and wonderful. I also enjoy that the SEC has been losing some bowl games. I get that Texas won. And I started the game indifferent. I didn't care who won because we all assumed that Texas would beat the shit out of Arizona State. And you get Lane Kiffin tweets about how Arizona State shouldn't

have been in anyway and blah blah blah blah blah but as the game went on in the fourth quarter and it went from 24 to 8 to tied and then to overtime and then in overtime you had the lead and before that you had halfback passes and you had great plays from this Cam Scadaboo all this shit and it was awesome as it went on I wanted Texas to lose. I wanted them to lose because it would be fucking fantastic. It would just throw a wrench in this whole thing. And all these people that bitch about all the crappy teams that get in, you'd say, oh, well, guess what now, motherfucker? It would be spectacular. But as it turned out, it didn't work out that way because Texas pulled off a miracle on the fourth down and then and you know obviously the the run ended for Arizona State but my god again I have

no I don't really give a shit about Texas one way or the other I don't particularly like them I'm an LSU guy it's not my job to like Texas it's not my job to like Texas A&M I think Texas A&M is worse than Texas because they're just a sad sack group of of people that are wannabes, and just everything about them is lame. All the way down to their apparel. I was watching the A&M bowl game the other day, and just all their apparel looks like it came from a truck stop, but not even a good truck stop. It's not like you walked into Buc-ee's and got a Texas A&M hat or shirt. It's like you went into Stuc-ee's. You walked into Stuc-ee's and got yourself a Texas A&M shirt and that's what all of their gear looks like just everything about Texas A&M is lame and boring and terrible

and uninteresting so I enjoyed watching them lose but um as far as Texas goes I've never really hated Texas I just think they have an overinflated sense of self see you later Ross see you in a little bit they have an overinflated sense of self and that's that like if you thought about texas football you'd assume texas football has won like 20 national championships when in reality they've been largely a throwaway program in terms of winning championships for most of their existence right so that's kind of one of those situations where they're like the world thinks they're much bigger than they actually are that's why it was amusing to me to watch someone like arkansas state now that'd be something watching arizona state go out and and if they would have wanted it would have been a thing of

beauty i would have enjoyed it i would have laughed but it didn't start out that way it like if that were a and m i would have been rooting from the jump for them to lose for whatever reason a and m bothers me more than Texas. But Texas, I'm watching them and I'm like, all right, they're like a 13-point favorite. They're going to win this shit. Cool. It's going to happen. It's inevitable. And then it's 24-8 and Arizona State had missed all these opportunities. They got stopped at the goal line. They had a field goal blocked. They've turned it over on downs a couple of times. It was just like, all right, they're going to lose. Let's go. But once the halfback pass happened and leading up to that it was very methodical like

it almost seemed like Arizona State wasn't aware there was only seven minutes to go in a game that they needed two scores and two two-point conversions but then the halfback pass happens on fourth down and you're like holy shit let's see what happens then the interception happens and you're like holy shit let's see what happens then another long catch from Scataboo happens and you're like holy shit let's see what happens in the two-point conversion then they take the fucking lead in overtime the thing that i most and then the targeting thing happened which i mean look at look by the definition to be targeting i saw aj posted something about whether or not if it's a tip ball if it could still be targeting like in the same way that like it's not pass interference if a pass is tipped i don't know if that's the case or not but it sure as hell looked like targeting and if that were targeting

after the missed kick that would have set them up for a chance to go win the game obviously they didn't do that and that whiffed but fine then the kid with the hair missed another field goal and it is what it is look Texas advanced I hope Texas gets the dick knocked off of them by Ohio State, who was fun to watch. Well, you're talking about hitting some bets. First of all, I pulled off some miracle bet hits on some prop bets yesterday, like the tight end from Texas who did nothing all game but had big plays in the fourth quarter in overtime. Thank you very much, Gunner. Thank you very much, Matthew Golden. Thank you very much much passing yards from Sam Leavitt who I've bet on a couple times quarterback at Arizona State he came through for me large I had a couple of

things really come through big for your boy in that then last night I almost had a massive mega night if not for the fact that Ohio State was up so much that they stopped throwing the ball if they would have kept throwing to my man uh Ibuka who I keep telling you to bet on if you can I love this dude if he would have caught like 20 more yards of pass in the second half I wouldn't want a shitload of money but as is I mean I was all over Jeremiah Smith's yards Ibuka's yards passing yards for Dylan Gabriel and if Tez um if Tez Johnson the receiver from Oregon would have done anything in that game last night too I would have have had a couple massive hits, but as is, it was a blowout. I did enjoy though, that the game that everybody in the world thought was going to be the game ended up being the game that sucked. And the game that everybody viewed

as like an example of why the college football playoff system is broken turned out to be a classic. And thank Christ it didn't come down to a two point conversion fest. That was the only thing I didn't want to see. Like I didn't want to see an Epic game like't come down to a two-point conversion fest. That was the only thing I didn't want to see. Like, I didn't want to see an epic game like that come down to teams lining up at the fucking two or three-yard line and running two-point conversions. No thank you. I'm glad it didn't happen that way. It was exciting. It was great.

But it was great because for the last month, all we've heard of is, like, these teams like South Carolina, they haven't done as much bitching. It's been mostly Lane Kiffin bitching about the system and how, you know, and Bama fans bitching about the system. But what was beautiful is all the teams that bitched about not being in that felt they should have been over the Arizona States and other teams got walloped. I like Bama sucked ass against Michigan. Good for them. And I enjoy, like, I'm an SEC guy, like I root for LSU, but I'm not one of these guys that's like SEC, SEC chant guy at every event because like, it's a conference. You happen to be in that conference and that conference happens to be good, but like, let's not act like other good football teams don't exist everywhere. So I'm not some lunatic SEC honk guy that believes it's SEC and everybody else. Because if that's the case, just declare the SEC champion the national champion and don't play in the college football playoff. But I enjoy the fact that all of these teams, like all the shit that's been talked, I felt like there was some validation for this playoff system watching Arizona State give us a good game. Then on the flip side, the game that the whole world thought was going to be amazing, number one team versus

Ohio State, probably going to beat Ohio State because Ryan Day sucks in these big games, and then sure as shit, it's a blowout. So the game that everybody wanted to be this epic matchup between two teams that truly deserve to be there, because basically everybody circles the Big Ten now in the SEC, and they say these are where the champions should come from. you're not in the sec or the big 10 you're worthless you're a piece of shit you're garbage and you don't belong right that's what they all tell you about all these teams you don't belong unless you're in the big 10 in the sec and maybe one day they'll just hold their own fucking tournament but as of now and look i don't think the system's perfect i think they should fix some things about it but i don't think it's wrong to have a tournament that includes

12 teams maybe i'd take fewer teams i don't know if there's 12 teams that are deserving of the national title, but hey, rock on, right? But all these teams, the people in the SEC bitch about how Alabama got left out despite the teams they played and how South Carolina got left out and how Bama got left out and how Ole Miss got left out of the SEC. We're the best. We're the SEC. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And then a little team from Arizona that was left for dead last year on probation comes in and shoulda, coulda, woulda late in the game defeated Texas. That's fun to me. Again, there's some things that need to change about it.

Like, for instance, and Oregon didn't bitch about it, but Oregon gets the buy, right? They're the number one seed. And who do they face in their first game? Fucking Ohio State. So just keep that in mind. But all that said, I'm not against the concept of the playoff. I like the concept of the playoff. It's fun, but you got to find a way to guarantee that you're going to get better games because most of these games have sucked outside of that one last night boise was whatever i mean that game was sort of close kind of close for a while but nothing really interesting happening in that game it pretty much sucked um so anyway all right let's uh play some commercials here all right if you're ready to win some real cash during the basketball playoffs,

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interestingly enough the first part of this segment of the podcast was recorded like an hour plus ago then uh ross went wild and i had to take him for a walk so we went for a couple mile walk then we came home and this lunatic when he gets running as they call it the zoomies when he gets going bro this dude is insane like to the point that he's scary because our yard is small like I'm afraid he's gonna take my ass out like I really am like he gets going and I'm like if he catches me in the right spot I'm getting getting taken right the fuck out. So, uh, but we're back now. I've also now been watching some coach cause there's a coach marathon on IFC, which is a blessing. And, uh, Luther Van Dam's dog Quincy, his Basset hound, uh, just ate Jimmy Johnson's Superbowl ring.

Uh, Jimmy Johnson is staying at Hayden's cabin because he's in town. So now they're going to have to follow Quincy around and try to get Jimmy Johnson's Super Bowl ring back. It is hijinks to the max. I don't understand how anybody could not think that Coach is the greatest television program ever, or certainly one of them. It's amazing, it's incredible, it's spectacular, and I love it.

But that's the latest on what's going on there. I was going to look ahead to the game this afternoon, but I mean, really, by the time you listen to this, that game might have already happened. I do think Georgia's going to win, even with the backup quarterback, because I don't think their starting quarterback's all that good either, and they still find ways to win, so I think Georgia is going to win, but I also thought Oregon was going to win, and Oregon got the doors blown off. So maybe I'll be wrong on that, but I did take Arizona State to cover, and they came through for me. So thank you very much, Arizona State Sun Devils.

You did it, and I appreciate it. But other stuff. so I was reading the story about how um Saquon Barkley isn't going to go for the all-time rushing yards record this week and he's sitting and everything tells you that he shouldn't play there's no reason to play the game means absolutely nothing you've got the playoffs coming up you could argue that it's selfish to play he needs to rush for 101 yards to be the all-time rushing leader but like there's a big part of me that feels that teammates should understand that like in this era you're not going to have too many guys competing to be the all-time leading rusher right that like that's just not going to happen because they don't run the ball enough

anymore like guys aren't putting up 150 something yards game. They're not doing what Saquon Barkley is doing. You're not going to have too many opportunities to see history as it relates to running the football. You just don't get that anymore. So if you're only 101 yards away, you're playing the lowly Giants. It's his former team. It would be the ultimate F-U, crotch, grab, D-X, crotch, chop, suck it move to not only destroy the Giants, but to set the all-time rushing yards record, single season rushing yards record, against the team that didn't want you. It would be poetic. You don't get too many moments like that, right? They don't come up that often. Those kind of things don't happen. So why not give him the opportunity? I get the argument. If he goes out there and he blows out his knee, then what? He's the most important part of the offense. What if he goes out and gets hurt? I understand that, but you could argue that that

could happen in any game, any time. It's like people only assume dudes are going to get hurt in games that don't matter. There's 15, 16 other games that matter. The guy didn't get hurt. Why do you just assume that now the guy's going to get hurt because it's a game that doesn't matter? I don't know. Like, are the Eagles going to win the Super Bowl? They could. And that makes you an all-time great. And that gives you a legacy and you're forever a Super Bowl champ and that's cool. But you're 101 yards away from being the all-time best at something that is significant, by the way, as well. It's not like we're talking about something inconsequential like, you're the all-time completions percentage leader. Who gives a shit? You're the all-time yards per carry leader like this is a big number this

is rushing yards this is all-time rushing leader yes you've done it in more games than eric dickerson but eric dickerson did it in more games than oj so who cares i don't know man now and i don't think the giants have any desire to go and try to hurt the guy trying to think he's showing them up nothing like that man i'd go out there and give him a chance i at least give him a half hell he can get 101 yards and a quarter against those guys. He's one or two runs. He's popping one or two runs away from maybe making that happen. And that's something that lives with you forever. Like, yes, being a Super Bowl champ lives with you forever. And maybe he'll go to the Super Bowl

and rush for 250 yards in the Super Bowl and they'll win it. And he'll have an all-time great performance in the Super Bowl but why not give the guy an opportunity to go out and do something that will have him signing autographs forever until someone breaks that which nobody will because nobody runs the football enough and for enough yards to come close that's why what we're seeing is like a unicorn this is a unicorn season we don't get these like the fact that we've seen two dudes looking like they're running the football in 2001 is pretty remarkable. Back in the early 2000s, this was commonplace. Every team had some guy that was going to carry the ball 30 times a game and was going to rush for a shit ton of yards. You might get guys rush for 17, 18, 19 hundred yards. get your Sean Alexanders and you'll get your priest Holmes and you'll get your, just go down the list of dudes that played in that era, like big time, your LaDainian Tomlinson's and your Adrian Peterson's every team had that guy that was going to go out and run and run all goddamn day.

That didn't happen anymore. You're lucky to see a guy get 15 carries a game in today's NFL, right? It's a vertical game. So to see what we're seeing is pretty remarkable. And for a guy to be 101 yards away from that, and again, the argument would be, well, it's selfish. The main goal is for the team to win. And he's handling that situation right. Like out publicly, everything he said is, well, first I didn't really care to do it, but then I kind of wanted to do it, but it's about what the team needs. That's being handled correctly. And yes, he could blow out his Achilles in that game but he could also blow out his Achilles in week one in a game that matters he could blow it as Achilles in a playoff game that matters you

know what I'm saying like like why do we just assume injuries are going to be more likely to happen in a game that doesn't matter obviously they would be magnified and they would be blown up more obviously if they happen in a game that didn't matter. But you got a guy who could be the all-time leader in something, something significant, and you're kind of like, eh, no. Like, there are other things, and we'll talk about this maybe more tomorrow when we start looking at prop bets and you start looking at guys who are out there to collect incentives or hit certain milestones that will help them get a bonus and all that,

which these guys have stuff loaded in their contracts that's fucking awesome but like i keep hearing about how mike evans could have another thousand yard receiving season it would be x number of receiving seasons in a row it's like that's cool but that's not an all-time record and a thousand yards per season you know what that is that's what 60 something receiving yards a game that's nothing remarkable what you're seeing out of Saquon Barkley has been remarkable and so remarkable in fact that he was arguably number two in the MVP race up until a couple weeks ago so what we're seeing from him and to a lesser degree Derrick Henry is a throwback to what we saw all the time in early 2000s NFL and we're never going

to see this again because teams don't do it. So the idea that he's 101 yards away, 101 yards away, and we're like, I don't know. I don't think so. Kind of like, yeah, maybe, maybe give him a half, give him a chance. I don't know, man. I'd want to, I like odds of them winning the Superbowl are decent, but I don't know, man. Odds of them winning the Super Bowl are decent, but I don't think they're going to do it. People can shit on me all they want. They view the fact that they're not as good with Kenny Pickett as some sort of sign that Jalen Hurts is great.

I love that idea that this just truly shows the worth of Jalen Hurts. Not really, because any team that loses their starting quarterback more than likely is going to be fucked. If the Bengals lose Joe Burrow, they're fucked. sam darnold gets hurt the vikings are fucked that's why they're probably going to ride with sam darnold for the future and they're going to let jj mccarthy walk he's their guy now so if he gets hurt the vikings are fucked go down any play if josh allen gets hurt and the backup has to play they're're fucked. Even the bad teams starting quarterbacks get hurt. More than likely, they're going to be fucked.

So the idea that, well, this just proves how important Jalen Hurst is, not really. So the odds of them winning the Super Bowl are okay. They're probably going to have the second or third shortest odds, if I had to guess. You're probably going to look at the Chiefs ahead of them, the Bills, I haven't seen it, but the Chiefs are probably going to be ahead of them.

The Bills are going to be ahead of them. Maybe the Ravens are going to be ahead of them. Andills I haven't seen it but the Chiefs are probably going to be ahead of them the Bills are going to be ahead of them maybe the Ravens are going to be ahead of them and the Lions despite all their injuries the Lions are going to be ahead and maybe maybe the Vikings but outside of that I mean they're all going to be pretty damn close let me see if I can find this like I tell you all that to tell you this why does that matter right it matters because yes you could win the Super Bowl and yes you should be playing to win a Super Bowl. You're not some nine and eight team sneaking in. You're a good football team that's won a lot of games in the last two, three months of the season.

So you're fine and you should compete for the Super Bowl. But if you set the all-time rushing record, that's yours forever because no one's going to break it. The fact that someone's in position to break it right now is remarkable. Let's see what these uh super bowl odds are currently let's see where the eagles stand in the super bowl odds uh let's see um currently they are plus 700 to win the super bowl teams that are ahead of them currently are Kansas City. They're even with Baltimore. Buffalo's ahead of them. The Lions are ahead of them. And the Vikings are a notch below them. They're plus 900. So as of right now, the teams that currently have better odds to win the

Super Bowl than the Eagles are the Lions, the Bills, Ravens are even, Chiefs, and that's it. So there's about four teams ahead of them. So again, you have a legit chance to win the Super Bowl, and you want to do everything you can to win the Super Bowl, but you also find yourself in a position where you can do something that's all-time great that I feel pretty confident will never be broken because no one's ever going to run the ball like this again. We're seeing something remarkable, something spectacular.

I'd at least give them a half to do it and take the chance but they're not going to do that they're not going to run the risk I get it's one of those things that I understand both sides of I get why the coach would be like fuck no but if I'm the coach I go to the player and I say if you legitimately want to do this if I'm their teammate I'm on the I'm on his side too like I don't view it as a selfish thing like even though by definition you could argue it's selfish because it's me over us. Fine. I'd still in that position say, go do it, dude. Cause this is something that's going to be yours forever. If it was like a dude going out, just trying to hit like a bonus or something like, Hey, if I run for 10 more yards, I'll collect a million dollars. Like that feels more selfish than maybe being the all time

greatest rushing yardage season ever because it's not a money thing you're not driven by greed or something you're driven by the idea that you're going to be the all-time greatest at something and i think his teammates would understand i think his teammates would understand the idea of you know a million dollar bonus if he hit it too like players get it i'd still want to see him get the rock anyway all right more to come