The Kevin Sheehan Show - Rivera Calls Out Young & Sweat

Episode Date: November 5, 2021

Ron Rivera went public with some frustration about Chase Young and Montez Sweat's play through 8 games...Kevin solo on that to start the show. He's got 14 "Smell Test" picks including a pick that he says represents the perfect "Smell Test" selection. Also, Kevin on MD-Penn State and College "Dead Money".   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

You don't want it. You don't need it. But you're going to get it anyway. The Kevin Chean Show. Here's Kevin. All right, I'm solo today. Did have a guest booked. And unfortunately, we're going to have to reschedule that for a later date.

It is the Friday during bye week. You know, I was thinking about this. Remember, before the season started, the 17 games was always going to be a part of it. But there were negotiations for a potential. second buy week with the 17-game schedule. It didn't come to fruition. I do think when they eventually get to 18 games, which I would guess is going to happen in the next three to five years,

that we will be in an 18-game regular season schedule, two by-weeks for sure with an 18-game schedule, two pre-season games, hopefully no more than that, and maybe even a President's Day weekend Super Bowl, which would give all of you the day off following the season. Super Bowl. But only one by week. It's the Friday during by week, which typically means less Washington football team talk. But we do have Washington football team talk today because Ron Rivera spoke with Mike Silver for a story for the team's website. And he expressed some dismay,

some disappointment with two of his young defensive, I was about to say defensive stars, defensive players. I will get to that here momentarily. By the way, if you're curious about the bye week? I don't know that you are, but I am. I'm going to tell you about something. Did you know that in 1993, the NFL scheduled two by weeks? It's the only time in NFL history that you had planned two by weeks. Now, after 9-11, the week two of the 9-11 season created essentially a second buy week for everybody because they called off football for that weekend. But in 1993, which was the first year free agency, the first year here in Washington without Joe Gibbs, Richie Pettibone coached that team. Every team had two bye weeks. It was the weirdest thing in the world because the actual

buy week itself had only been introduced a few years earlier. 1990 was the first season in the NFL with a scheduled buy week. And they did one by week in 1990, 91, 92. And then in 93, and I think it was an attempt to increase television dollars because the more weeks, this was an 18-game, you know, NFL season playing 16 games, each team playing 16 games. The more you spread it out over more weekends meant more television dollars. Washington in that 1993 season had a buy-week in week in week four and also had a buy-week in week eight. I mean, they played six games and the first eight weeks of the season. That was the year, by the way, Richie Pettibone's year, that they opened with the Cowboys on Monday Night Football and beat the snot out of the Cowboys

35 to 16. Brian Mitchell, by the way, was the starting running back in that game, went over 100 yards, had a couple of touchdowns. Rippin was really good in the game, and it was like, okay, here we go, nothing's changed since Joe's gone. I mean, no one thought that anything was going a change after that Monday night season opening win over the Cowboys, who by the way, keep in mind, the Cowboys were the defending Super Bowl champions. Washington had opened the 92 season in Dallas as the defending Super Bowl champions and lost on Monday night 23 to 10. And then Washington returned the favor against the Cowboys who were the defending Super Bowl champions in the 93 opener. and I think that would have been the year that Emmett Smith was holding out.

Remember Emmett Smith held out after the Super Bowl for a few games? I think that was the year that Emmett Smith held out. Cowboy fans can correct me if I'm wrong. But Washington smoked Dallas in the opener. Then they had a game in week two against the Phoenix Cardinals, coached, by the way, by one Joseph Buegel. And Washington lost that game 17 to 10, but more importantly, they lost Mark Rippin early in the game to an injury,

and Kerry Conklin came in as the backup quarterback. And that, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, that was the beginning of what we are still in the midst of. An unbelievable near 30-year run of futility. It really started in that 93 season, week two, against the Phoenix Cardinals at home. Rippin got hurt. They lost the game 17 to 10.

They eventually, during that two-by-week season, went 4 and 12. Richie got fired. Norv Turner got hired. Came in the next year. And remember, Norff Turner came in the next year. No Mark Rippin.

Rippin was gone. All the remnants are much of the remnants of the Super Bowl team in 91 were gone, and we started with the Norv Turner seven-year plus run of not very much, and it's just continued since. Anyway, I got sidetracked. I just wanted to tell you about the two-by week. There were some scheduling weird things back then, too. You know, Washington was a bad team, and if you were a bad team and a last place team,

you would end up playing another team in the NFC twice in a season. So in addition, in 94, Washington finished in dead last place, fifth place in the NFC East in 1993. In 1994, with a fifth place schedule, they played the Tampa Bay Buccaneers twice in addition to their division opponents twice. I think they did that twice, too. I think they played Tampa twice in two different seasons. I might be wrong about that part.

But anyway, just one by week, just one by weekend, but plenty of football to talk about. The game last night, by the way, man, can the Indianapolis Colts run the football with Taylor and Heinz when they want to and when they can? And the Jets were a willing recipient last night to the Indianapolis ground game, which included an incredible night from Jonathan Taylor. who now will likely win the rushing title with Derek Henry gone. Taylor last night, 19 carries 172 yards. Heinz, 6 carries 74 yards.

They rushed for 260. They rushed for an average of 8.7 yards per carry. Carson Wentz was outstanding, too, going 22 of 30 for 272 yards and three touchdowns, as the Colts rolled to a 45 to 30 win over the Jets. welcome for giving you out the under for that game last night, not as a smell test pick as a lean. I did say I kind of like the under. That was just a little bit off. Josh Johnson was the quarterback for the Jets last night after Mike White, the hero of last week, got hurt. Yeah, that Josh Johnson. In fact, Josh Johnson came in last week briefly, and when he came in last week

for Mike White when Mike White got hurt during the Cincinnati game and then White came back and led him back, led the comeback over Cincinnati. That was Josh Johnson's first action since the 2018 season when he finished up quarterbacking for Washington, remember, and not doing that bad of a job. You know, there was some discussion, do you remember this? Because it was already becoming apparent that Alex Smith was injured much more seriously. We didn't know about death as a possibility or amputation as a possibility. But we were starting to hear some things about, you know, the contraption that they were putting around his leg

and, you know, certain doctors were weighing in on like, this isn't good. He's not playing. He may never play football again. And some people were actually talking about Josh Johnson being re-signed. That was a real conversation among many people entering the 2019 season, bringing Josh Johnson back. Josh Johnson didn't take another NFL snap until last week after quarterbacking Washington in those final four games of 2018.

Remember, he had a very good game against Jacksonville. I shouldn't say very good game. I thought he played really effectively in those back-to-back games against Jacksonville in Tennessee, although he had the back-breaking interception at the end of the Tennessee game. last night off the bench in three quarters, Josh Johnson, who's now 35 years old, 27 of 41 for 317 yards, three touchdowns, and one interception. A lot of it came in garbage time, but, you know, kind of happy that he is hung in there and hung around, is now, at least for now, the backup behind Mike White, the starter who wasn't hurt seriously.

they also traded for Joe Flacco two weeks ago, and Flacco may be available starting next week. So that may be the end for Josh Johnson. All right, I want to get to this Ron Rivera stuff. So Ron Rivera did an interview with Mike Silver. Mike Silver, the longtime NFL reporter with various outlets, who took the gig in the offseason with Washington as a contributor, an independent contractor. I don't think he's an employee.

You know, a 1099 independent contractor for the organization, an old friend of Ron Rivera's. They both went to Cal. They've known each other for years. And Mike Silver was hired as an independent contractor to write occasionally for the website. We were talking about him earlier in the week, I think, and I said, I don't even know if he's doing anything for the team anymore.

Somebody did tweet me or text me and say that he's been a participant on the radio pregame show each week. So I guess he has had more of a formal and regular role with this gig that he has with the team. But anyway, he had not written anything for the website, as far as I know, since that story back in early September where he described the off-season search for the quarterback. You know, there was a lot of information in that story.

We found out definitively what Washington had offered for Matt Stafford, a first and a third, and how close they thought they were to landing Stafford, the other quarterbacks that they were either interested in or even pursued, and then eventually how they landed on Ryan Fitzpatrick. So this story yesterday does reveal a few things, and it also reveals Ron's frustration with the defense, two players in particular, which I will get to here momentarily. But I did want to mention that there was some discussion about the quarterback situation. And Silver writes, the obvious place to begin to assess jump-starting this team. I'm paraphrasing now, is the quarterback position.

And he writes, quote, Taylor Heineke, a relative unknown before last December, has been the guy since Ryan Fitzpatrick went down with a hip injury in the second quarter of Washington's season opening defeat to the Los Angeles Chargers. And then he writes parenthetically, a setback that may well prove to be season ending pending an MRI next week. I've suggested over the last several weeks that this Ryan Fitzpatrick injury might be worse than we thought. That was just based on nothing other than hip subluxation.

And the report, remember, from Schefter, that there's going to be an MRI. during the buy week. And even before that, Ron Rivera had, I thought, laid down a couple of hints that it wasn't going to be anytime soon on Ryan Fitzpatrick. Well, now it would appear as if it's not going to be Ryan Fitzpatrick at all. He will end up being three for six for 13 yards for the Washington football team. And I think that will be his career numbers with the Washington football team. You don't think they're going to re-sign him in the offseason, do you, at 38 years old? That somehow they're going to say, hey, will you come back for one year for $5 million or whatever it is? I don't think so.

I think the plan is to solve the quarterback problem for not only now, but the future. And that's not going to be the solution, not off of a serious injury. So Ryan Fitzpatrick, God, I was looking forward to seeing you, but it looks like we won't. He also writes about the quarterback situation. a couple of things. He talks, first of all, Silver does, about Heineke's moments, you know, in the giant game and in the Atlanta game, but also that Washington offensively is pretty much in the middle of the pack production-wise, lower end in terms of the points, scored, and they've struggled in the red zone. Rivera said in this story, quote, I love what he does. The problem with Taylor

is when he overthinks it and tries to be too perfect. Look at the touchdown. He threw a touchdown throw made to D'Andre Carter against Denver, and then the ball he threw to Adam Humphreys against Green Bay that got picked off in the end zone. It's basically the same route. He's working it to the corner, and if he throws that ball to Adam the same way as the one he throws to D'Andre, it's a touchdown. But he was trying to make the perfect throw instead of just laying it out there where it's supposed to be, closed quote. I went back and looked at the throw to Humphreys. It's not really the same kind of play. It didn't seem like Carter matched up in the slot with a step or two on the defender. That really wasn't necessarily the case with Humphreys. It was a terrible throw. I'm not saying,

but I don't think a great throw scores like it did with Carter. Anyway, nitpicking there. There's more, though, from Silver in writing about the conversation that he had with Ron Rivera. Now, this is not a Rivera a quote, this is Mike Silver writing that if the offense seems stale at any point during the second half of the season, it stands to reason that Rivera might be tempted to insert Allen as a change of pace. What Washington would lose in terms of mobility and anticipation might be offset by Allen's superior arm strength. Conversely, if Allen were to take over at quarterback and struggle, Heineke could be called upon in relief, would theoretically keep opponents off balance.

This is silver, surmising, projecting, you know, giving his opinion, but it's based on having a conversation with Ron Rivera. So I think there's an indication there that, you know, Kyle Allen's in play. And maybe Tommy's right. Maybe it's the Carolina game, not the Tampa game. Maybe it's Ron and Scott and Kyle's return to Charlotte. where they roll Kyle Allen out. Kyle Allen does have superior arm strength to Taylor Heineke,

but it's not like he's got great arm strength. But I'll be candid. While I don't really care that much either way, if he does use Allen, I'll sort of understand it, and I'll sort of look forward to it. I think I know what Taylor Heineke is. I think we all do. You know, I think Rivera and Turner like a lot about Heineke,

He probably the same things we like. But I have to think that they've come to the conclusion as well, that he's not a full-time starting quarterback in the NFL. He's a backup. All right, let me get to the stuff that many people have been talking about since yesterday, since this story appeared on the team's website. Silver writes, as for the defense, well, there's a lot of room for improvement. Expected to be among the NFL's top units heading into 2021,

Washington currently ranks 27th in both yards and points allowed, and its biggest stars have been struggling. One of them, defensive end Montez-Swett, suffered a jaw fracture against the Broncos that will keep him out several weeks. His fellow edge rusher, 2020 NFL defensive rookie of the year, Chase Young, has just one and a half sacks and three tackles for loss, you know, through these first eight games. And here come the money bites, if you will, from Riverboat Ron.

Quote, we would like to see a little bit more from those guys. They need to stop pressing and trust their teammates. Sometimes when a guy tries to chip them instead of running through the chip and blowing that guy up, you'll see them duck underneath or slip around and miss a chance to make a play. Sometimes Chase starts outside and plants his leg and cuts inside because he's trying to make a play and the quarterback gets flush to the outside. If Chase stays outside, he has an easy sack, but instead he dives underneath. Closed quote.

There's more. In talking about the forced fumble that Chase Young had on Denver's final ridiculous, by the way, possession in the game up 1710, when they could have taken three knees and punted it and basically won the game. Instead, they fumbled twice and threw an incompletion. But the last fumble was. recovered by Washington and it was forced by Chase Young. When asked about that specific play, about Chase Young forcing that fumble on Melvin Gordon, Rivera said, quote, that's great, but where were those plays earlier in the game? When they know you've got to be able to take the ball

away from them and you still take it away from them, that's impressive, but where was that earlier? Why do we have to always put ourselves behind the eight ball to play that hard? We should always be at that level. Closed quote. Whoa. Whoa. Okay. Look, many of you have reached out during the course of the year and been a little bit critical of my criticism of Chase Young in particular. My implications at times during the season that Ron Rivera, when he expressed frustration about some defensive players being immature and undisciplined and not doing what they're supposed to do, that I said, I am 100% convinced that Chase Young is at least one of those players that he's referring to. He might not be the only player, but he's one of those players that he's referring to. Well, he just told you,

Chase Young's been one of those players. But there's more to him just pointing out that Chase Young has played, you know, at times undisciplined. That last line about Chase Young Why do we always have to put ourselves behind the eight ball to play that hard? We should always be at that level. Wow, that is real criticism about effort. And there have certainly been some moments this year where you watch Chase Young and the play goes away from him and it's not as relentless or energetic as it was last year.

Ron Rivera called out his two young defense events, one of whom is not going to play very much moving forward. The other of whom was the rookie of the year last year on defense and has not had a good season. I've already said this many times. I don't give a shit about PFF numbers, about hurries and pressures and quarterback hits and whatever. I'm not beholden to the sack stat.

I understand that there's a lot more to playing the position. But we've all watched 99 a lot. You know, when the defense came out in game one, who were we watching? We watched them all last year, mesmerized at times at how good he was last year, watched him a hell of a lot this year, gone back and watched games a second and third time sometimes just to watch what he has been doing. He has not been a good player for this team this year. Again, let me emphasize, he's been far from their worst player. They've had much worse performances on defense than Chase Young's performance. but Chase Young has not had a good season.

And anybody's suggesting otherwise, like, don't look at his sack stats, watch him play. He's impacting the game, man. They're doubling him the whole time. They're chipping him the whole time. There's definitely been an increase I've noticed in chipping and doubling, especially starting with the Kansas City game, and I saw much of it in the Green Bay and the Denver games too.

But there are a couple of games where not a lot of chipping or doubling. But by the way, who gives a crap about chipping or doubling? I mean, he's supposed to be a star player. Miles Garrett and T.J. Watt and Nick Bosa and Joey Bosa get doubled and chipped all game long. You know, he's not having a good season. It's okay to say. It's okay to say he's 23 years old and he's not having a good season. and he, you know, perhaps may have gotten a little bit full of himself after last year.

Maybe a little bit overconfident coming into this year. Maybe it didn't work as much. I'm not suggesting that that's true or not. We do know that he did not show up for OTAs. And OTAs don't mean anything except when you are the team captain and you're the only, only player out of 90 that didn't post once during OTAs. Not once. And it wasn't because he was doing family feud.

That was done back in March. There was a commercial and a shoot with underarmor, but that took a day. There was more in Florida training with other people, instead of being the captain that he was elected to be and being at OTAs. I told you guys during the spring, I am 100% sure that no one was pleased with him not posting. They were not happy at all. They weren't going to publicly criticize him because these are voluntary activities. But they were not happy that 90 players were on the roster and 89 of them showed up for OTAs and only one didn't. And that was Chase Young.

He's had a poor season based on expectations. He's had a slightly below average season for just a normal player. and Ron Rivera called him out yesterday. He called out Montez Sweat also, but he really called out Chase Young. And he basically told you that one of the guys that he's been talking about when he has said over and over again,

immaturity, lack of discipline, we've got guys that aren't doing their job, and essentially it is effing it up for everybody else, that Chase Young's been one of those guys. Now, I'm not giving up on Chase Young. He's too much of a talent. and there are nine games left this season. And there have been moments, you know, in games where you watch him and you're like,

I need to see that every single play that you're in the game. Montez sweats out for the next four to six weeks. James Smith Williams will likely get a significant percentage of those snaps. He's actually a guy they really like. I really do believe they love James Smith Williams, a seventh rounder a few years ago out of NC State. He had a sack last week. I think he's got two for the year.

Maybe it's only one. You're going to see a lot of 96. So you're not going to see like teams really concerned about 96 like they might be about sweat. John Allen's been their best player defensively. He's been debatably the best player on the team this year. Anyway, really interesting comments from Ron Rivera, for sure, publicly in this story with Mike Silver,

calling out Chase Young and Montez Sweat. It was not a Jay Gruden on RG3 under the bus slang like Gruden did in 2014. That's the all-timer. It'll never be topped. The Albert Breer story from NFL.com late in that season in 2014 when Gruden just eviscerated Robert Griffin III. He couldn't take it anymore. He was so frustrated, he was so emotional, and he let loose publicly. I'll never forget, by the way, never forget Coach Thompson. Coach Thompson saying about what Jay Gruden had done, saying you do not do that.

That is a young coach and inexperienced coached. You never publicly do what Jay Gruden did. And even Coach Thompson said, I can't remember ever reading these kinds of comments about a coach, about a player that's still on his roster. That's not what Ron Rivera did in this story, obviously. I mean, it's a tiny fraction of it. But still, it is revealing, and it is a confirmation for sure, that Chase Young is one of the players and maybe the primary player that Rivera's been referring to over and over again this year when he's talked about lack of discipline and playing the scheme. By the way, there was one other thing that he said in this story in talking about the rest of

season. He said, Silver writes, Rivera is hopeful that a run of a run of post-by success during Washington's next four games against Tampa Bay, Carolina, Seattle, and Vegas, the Raiders, can keep hope alive heading into a five-game stretch against NFC East rivals, including a pair of clashes with the Cowboys to close the regular season. Quote from Riverboat Ron, if we can win three or more of those four, meaning the next four, well, then those last five games become real, and we can control our own destiny, closed quote. He also says, and let me climb into the head of the head coach here. My resolve hasn't waned because this is something I've been through. I've seen the process play out, and I know that it works. It's unfortunate right now because we still kind of hold ourselves back more than anything else.

not paying enough attention to the details. But I do see improvement. We're getting there, closed quote. So I do think, like, the last three games, he has seen something, you know? And I think, you know, we've talked about this, that, I mean, it's weird. They lost all three games, and in two of them they had really no chance. And they are still a terrible third down team. But I have seen, I think we've all seen, you know, just glimpses of maybe the defense improving a little bit,

although I think Sunday actually was a step back. And I know they only allowed 17 points, but I think it was a step back considering the opponent. But he still is, and remember, he's got a history of teams improving towards the end of a season. He still sees a team that's hanging in there, that's fighting, that's starting to get it, that's starting to get there. And he's like, you know, if somehow we could win three of the next four

against Tampa, Carolina, Seattle, and Vegas. Then we're five and seven, right? That would be five and seven, with all those division games left. Well, yeah, if they can win three of the next four, we can have that conversation about having something to play for. Does anybody really think they're going to win three of the next four? I don't. I think they're a bad team.

I think they're just a bad team this year. It doesn't mean that, you know, They can't play better. They can't be more competitive. They can't continue to fight. He can't continue to develop players. They're not beaten Tampa Bay. The Panthers and the Seahawks and the Raiders, three of those four.

He'll be an underdog in all four. All four of them. He'll be an underdog. Oh, yeah, they'll be an underdog against Caroline on the road. There's no doubt about that. Okay. That's it. O'Dell Beckham Jr. is a no for here, people.

Those of you that have reached out, O'Dell Beckham Jr. is going to be given his release by Cleveland. By the way, on O'Dell Beckham Jr., one thought real quickly. I mean, here's a guy that literally has not had any legitimate success since Eli Manning was in New York. Why not have somebody reach out to E. Eli Manning to say, how do you get through to this guy? How do you coach this guy? How do you play with this guy? I'm looking at his stats right now. I guess last year, or in 2019, excuse me, in 16 games with

Cleveland in his first year, he had 74 catches for 1,035 yards. Still, well short of the 91, 96, and 101 receptions he had in his first three years in New York. So, you know, the 12, 13, I mean, he had 35 touchdowns in three years with the Giants, with Eli Manning as his quarterback. Deshawn Jackson's not going to be signed by this team. By the way, on Beckham Jr., I would think New Orleans. I would think the Saints make the most sense for Beckham Jr. Michael Thomas is out for the year.

That was made clear the other day. I guess certainly with the whole Henry Rugg's just tragic situation in Vegas, that it's possible that Vegas might be interested in either one of them. But the Saints make the most sense to me. But I don't know that he's going to succeed anywhere. That seems to be just dysfunction everywhere he lands. All right, I'll get to my smell test next right after these words from a few of our sponsors. The smell test is presented by MyBooky.

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promo code Kevin D.C. All right. The smell test went three and six last week. I don't know. I don't want to really dwell on last week. I had Michigan. I really felt good about Michigan. Felt good certainly about the dolphins until the very end.

It just seemed like there was one. It's gone that way this year. It's gone that way this year. It's a little bit frustrating because last week was one of those weeks where I had a bunch of games written down and I didn't give them out. And if I'd given them all out, I didn't give them out because they didn't fit exactly the way I wanted them to fit.

But if I'd given all of them out, because I played many of them, like I played the Texans on Sunday. That's one of the wildest covers ever, the Texans Rams game. They're down 38-0. They're getting 17. They scored 22 points unanswered over the final seven minutes of the game to cover and lose by 16. I had the Jets last week. I had the Steelers last week. whatever. It doesn't help you at all. And I'm still getting my ass kick this year. Now, these things

turn. And some of you would suggest being 14 games below 500 and having 14 games that I'm giving out right now, which I will, and I'll get to momentarily, that I'm chasing. I'm not chasing. I do like the board this week. And I'm giving you all of the games that I like. I'm not hesitating on any of these games this weekend. It'll turn eventually. I don't know if it'll turn enough between now and the end of the year, but it's going to turn. You're probably joining me at the right time. And if you haven't played the picks so far this year, you're probably getting them at the right time. Because I would imagine that the losing weekends or the 500 weekends can't continue. They can. Just so you know they can.

By the way, I spoke last night, or I was a guest last night with Tom and Marty Conway in the class they teach at Georgetown. We talked about it on the podcast yesterday. Tommy, I'm sure we'll tell you on Tuesday that he was very disappointed. But I had a good time. I enjoyed myself. We talked a lot of gambling with all of their young people in that class, eager young people to learn from one professor Laverro. All right, let's get to the games. tonight, Boston College.

They've lost four games in a row, and they've barely scored in any of those games. So that's the team I'm going to give you. Literally, they have lost four games in a row in which they have scored seven, scored 13, 7, 14, and 6 points. And they're only catching three tonight, three-point underdog at home, against a Virginia Tech team that can score and beat Georgia Tech last week. That line is too short. The public likes Virginia Tech.

There is sharp money on BC tonight at home too. I like Boston College tonight, getting the three. Tomorrow, Ohio State's a 15-point favorite in Lincoln against Nebraska, 11 a.m. local time start. Man, Scott Frost, I think he's the right guy. I shouldn't say I think he's the right guy. I don't think he's a bad coach. And I don't think that this Nebraska team is a bad team. They've lost three in a row.

They have lost five of their last six. Listen to the scores of these games. They lost a really tight game against Oklahoma 23 to 16. They lost to the number three team in America, 2320 in overtime, at Michigan State. They then beat Northwestern 50, 6 to 7. Then they had the lead in the fourth quarter against Michigan and lost 32 to 29. They lost last week, or two weeks ago, excuse me, at Minutes. Minnesota 30 to 23. And last week at home, they lost to Purdue 2823 as a seven and a half point favorite. And I gave them out last week because I thought they were laying too many. The odds makers really do like Nebraska. And most people think that Ohio State should be favored by more. Seven and one, the number five team and the playoff rankings in Lincoln against a team that's, you know, lost and lost a lot of close games, but they're three and six overall. Nebraska is definitely the anti-public.

play. There is some sharp money on Nebraska as well. Give me the corn huskers plus the 15 points. Auburn is a team that I actually think is pretty good, better than most people think. And I actually think we're headed towards an Iron Bowl at the end of the year that's going to be, it's going to be very interesting as it relates to the playoffs, to the college football playoff because Bama plays LSU tomorrow and this will be the game for Bama before the SEC title game, the expected SEC title match between Alabama and Georgia. Auburn is at Texas A&M tomorrow. Auburn last week beat an Ole Miss team that's rolling. Now Matt Crowell was injured for a little of that game, but Auburn's won right now four of their last five. Their lone loss coming to Georgia

34 to 10. I'm not suggesting that they've beaten anybody great. rate. They beat Georgia State. They beat a bad LSU team. They did go to Arkansas and win. And then last week, impressively at home over Ole Miss, A&M meantime, since beating Bama, handled Missouri and handled South Carolina, two pretty bad teams, two easy covers and their last two after upsetting Alabama. Jimbo's got it going well, although, God, how about the rumors about Jimbo to LSU? Is Texas A&M a worse job than LSU? A lot of money at Texas A&M, that's for sure. All those Texas schools, lots of money, lots of oil, gas, energy money at those schools,

much more so than there is at LSU. A&M's laying four at home against Auburn. Public really likes A&M. I like Auburn, and I think Auburn's a team to really watch the rest of the year. Bo Nix is playing his best football there. I like Auburn plus the four tomorrow. West Virginia tomorrow at home plus three and a half against a rolling Oklahoma State team. The Cowboys now, after that Iowa State loss, they beat Kansas last week.

That Iowa State lost, tough loss, maybe a very controversial, you know, spot at the end of that game. But this is an explosive Oklahoma State team. West Virginia last week impressive with their win over Iowa. state. The line is short. They're in Morgantown. I like West Virginia plus the three and a half. Gary Patterson's gone from TCU. Wow, we didn't talk about that. I don't think at all this week. Gary Patterson's run of 20 years in Fort Worth, the second longest current run to Kirk Forens at Iowa. Gary Patterson, one of the real defensive geniuses of, you know, this century as a college football coach. he's gone from TCU. It's a new day. They're playing Baylor. That's a rivalry game, really, for

anybody at TCU. Baylor's 7 and 1, ranked 12th in the country. I mean, they've got the, the, Baylor actually controls pretty much their own fate. If they run the table, if Baylor were to run the table, you know, beating Texas, beating TCU, and then beating Oklahoma next week and winning a big 12 title. They could actually make a run to the playoff, potentially. I don't know why Baylor is only laying seven in Fort Worth against TCU. TCU got blown out by Kansas State last week, blown out by West Virginia and Oklahoma in the weeks prior to that.

I'll take TCU. They're a major anti-public play. The biggest anti-public play of the weekend is the game that stuck out to me right from the jump. And this is to me, like for anybody, any of you that ever ask about, you know, I don't really understand the smell test. You know, like you'll say, you know, the line short and then you, you know, go against the line being short. Yeah, let me explain. This is the game that is the perfect game to explain it. Michigan State last week beat Michigan.

They came from 30 to 14 down to win 37 to 33 to run their record to 8 and 0. Sparty is number three in the college football initial rankings behind Georgia and Bama. Michigan State's playing at Purdue, West Lafayette, home of the Purdue Boilermakers. Purdue is an unranked five and three team. And Michigan State, as the number three team in America, is laying three. They're a three-point favorite at Purdue. Now, anybody that just kind of came in off the street and said, number three playing unranked, They're only a three-point favorite.

How does that work? Shouldn't they be like a 14-point favorite or a 10-point favorite or a 7-point favorite? Anything but like three. Three just seems like Vegas screwed up. So this is the perfect, you know, example of a smell test pick. The regular John Q public better, and so many of them exist now with the legalization of sports betting, they look at that and they'll actually say amongst themselves, Wow. Are there injuries in this game? Did they lose Kenneth Walker the third? They're running back. Their Heisman trophy candidate. Is the starting quarterback, Peyton Thornton out? They're healthy? Oh, well, then somebody messed up. Somebody messed up out in Vegas. This can't possibly be right. That's why the line is short. The line is perceived to be short. Michigan State,

Most people think perception-wise should be seven, eight, nine, ten-point favorite. They're only a three-point favorite at Purdue. They are begging you to take Michigan State and lay the short number. If I can't talk you out of betting Michigan State and into betting Purdue, allow me to at least talk you out of betting the game at all. Stay off the game. If you don't have the stones to bet Purdue plus the three at home this week because you're like that that line's wrong they should be getting 10 and I'm only

getting three if I can't talk you into to why Purdue is the sharp side this week at least allow me to talk you out of playing the game Michigan State is the dumb side that's where all the dummies will have their money now let me say as I've said for years the dummies win too okay if the public lost every bet, they wouldn't bet anymore. The public wins. They've won a lot this year. The public wins these games that even seems so obvious as trap games. So it's not, there's no guarantees in gambling, but this one represents the smell test as much as any game this year represents the smell test.

Michigan State off that dramatic comeback win, the perception is they are, the number three team in America. They're on a role. They beat Michigan, and they're playing lowly Purdue, and they're only laying three points. I know Purdue beat Iowa a couple of weeks ago, but Iowa has proven to be vastly overrated. Purdue's capable, though, which is why the odds makers have kept the line at three. That's the other thing to watch. That line's just been sitting there at three all week long. Even though all of the public bets, and And all of the public money has come in on Michigan State, and yet they've just kept the line at three.

That's another indication. God, if you can't tell that I love Purdue, I love Purdue. I also like Washington. They're getting seven at home against the number four team in the college football playoff ranking Oregon. They're laying just seven against Washington. That line is definitely short. The public pounding Oregon right now.

Oregon's been on a role since that crazy overtime loss to Stanford. Washington's won a couple of weeks in a row. They struggled to score a little bit. I gave them out, remember, a few weeks ago against UCLA, and they did not get it done. They lost that game. It was a close game. But that line just isn't high enough to get the public off Washington,

to get them off Oregon, excuse me. So give me Washington in that one. And then Arizona State minus eight and a half is the last college play against SC. Let's get to the NFL games and see if I can't shorten the discussion up here. I've liked the Giants a lot this year. I was on the Giants Monday night. I did not give them out as a smell test pick. I sort of leaned Giants in the game.

I had them against Carolina two weeks ago. I also had them against the Rams when they got destroyed, and I had them against the Cowboys when they had all the injuries and got destroyed. But I also had them against the Saints when they won outright in the Superdome. I have had the Giants, I think, in the smell test, four out of the last five weeks, and it was almost five in a row against Kansas City. Vegas likes the Giants. There's no doubt that they have given them some respect. I was not overly impressed with them Monday night, but they got the cover. They're only getting three at home Sunday against the Raiders.

That's not a lot for a team that's five and two in the Raiders. And the Raiders obviously with just the tragedy of the rug situation, tragedy for the family and the woman who lost her life with the dog in the car as well. But the Raiders have dealt with a hell of a lot here. They're going to the Meadowlands. It's that one o'clock East Coast start for a West Coast team. I like the Giants plus the three. Baltimore is 13 and one straight up off of by weeks during the Harbaugh rain, I guess.

Or maybe it's just the last 14 years in particular. I guess that would be right, right? Harbaugh. Is Harbaugh been there for 14 years now? Is that right? I read this stat, and now that I'm saying it, I'm like, has Harbaa actually been in Baltimore for 14 years as the head coach? Yeah, he has been. 2008 was his first year as the head coach.

This is year 14. So he couldn't be 13 and 1 off of a by week. Maybe it's 12 in 1, whatever. Straight up, he's very good off of a buy week. That's the point. They are laying six, less than a touchdown, against a team who, when we last saw them, was horrendous in the Minnesota Vikings Sunday night

and they're lost to Cooper Rush and the Cowboys. Public loves Baltimore. I'll take the Vikings. The public loves the Chargers, laying a short number at Philly. I'll take the Eagles plus one and a half. The Panthers are getting a short number at home against the Patriots, who now are a bit of a public darling in terms of the betting. And yet, Carolina, I gave him out last week against the Falcons.

They're getting three and a half at home against the Patriots. I'll take the Panthers there. The 49ers, forget Kyler-Marie's situation. They shouldn't be a two-point favorite. over the Cardinals, even if Colt McCoy starts, and I don't think he will. The public's all over the 7-1 Arizona Cardinals. I'll take San Francisco and lay the two. And then Monday night game, I'm going to give you out right now.

I like the Bears plus the seven at Pittsburgh. So there you go. There's the smell test. BC tonight, Boston College tonight, plus three, Nebraska plus 15, Auburn plus four, West Virginia plus three and a half, TCU plus seven, Purdue plus three, Washington plus seven, Arizona State minus eight and a half, and then Sunday the Giants, Vikings, Eagles, 49ers, Panthers, and then Monday night, the Bears.

One last subject for you for the day when we come back. It's titled College Dead Money. I had never heard the term before, but I'll explain what it means right after these words from a few of our sponsors. Don't forget to subscribe to the podcast. If you haven't done it already, really helps us rate us and review us wherever you can.

two things to finish up with here in this final segment. I'll explain what college dead money means here momentarily. But I did not include Maryland football in the smell test, even though I kind of like the Terps chances tomorrow to keep it close against Penn State. Penn State got healthier last week after losing two games that they would have never lost had their starting quarterback Clifford not been hurt midway through the Iowa game and not been compromised really in that stupid nine overtime game against Illinois. They played very well last Saturday night in Columbus against Ohio State. And maybe, maybe, just maybe they sort of shot their best shot last week.

They come in as a 10-point favorite in College Park. Maryland beat Indiana last week 3835. The Terps need one more win for bowl eligibility. I kind of like their chances to keep it close. Penn State's so good on defense, though. God, they're good. Leah Tungaailoa just has to protect the football tomorrow. Has to do a good job of protecting the football tomorrow.

Penn State will probably try to run it, not really their typical way of going about it. They love run extension throws. They certainly threw a lot of screens and a lot of bubbles and a lot of quick game stuff at Ohio State last Saturday night. But I'd love to see the Terps play Penn State tough tomorrow and get a win. They're five and three. They still have Rutgers, but they also still, unfortunately, have games against Michigan State and Michigan before they get to Rutgers. So Terps tomorrow at home against Penn State in College Park 3.30 on my radio station, the team 980. Mark Schlebe is one of my favorite guests to talk college football on the radio show.

and he's been on the podcast as well before. He wrote a story with Paula Levine at ESPN. I had never heard this term as it relates to college sports. Dead money is always a common term when we're talking about NFL, and it's a guy who is not on your roster and yet is still counting against your cap. You know, we talk about dead cap money. Well, the boom of dead money in college sports is the top. title of this story. And it's an amazing story. According to an ESPN analysis of financial records

of athletic departments at public universities, a college division one program spent more than $533.6 million in dead money in an 11 year period from January 1, 2010 to January 31st, 2021. What is dead money? It's money those programs owe to coaches or owed to coaches in football and in men's and women's basketball, coaches who are fired without cause with still time left on their contracts. The severance payments were made over several years or in a few cases in one lump sum. Remarkably, the dead money total is actually much more than that. The financial records did not include payments for many of the coaches who were fired during or after the 2020-2020 season and the 2020-2020 basketball seasons. In football alone, FBS schools committed

another 107.6 million in severance pay before mitigation to fired coaches and their staffs in 2020. This is like one of those numbers that's kind of been kept quiet. If you've followed the whole discussion about paying players in college, it's been one of those conversations, to be honest, that's been pretty frustrating if you've ever really delved into the numbers, the athletic department numbers at most major Division I or FBS schools. There aren't many Division I programs that make money. Now, some of them make a lot of money, the Ohio states,

the Alabama's, that Texas is the USC's. You're talking about the big-time football schools that bring in so much revenue. You know, Texas has their own Longhorn network, that it far exceeds the expense associated with running, you know, a 27-team athletic department as an example. Most schools like Maryland either break even or lose money. Now, so the conversation is always about, you know, look at all of these TV deals, look at all the money they're raking in. Well, that's gross revenue.

That's top line revenue. Okay, that's not net. That's not profit. It costs a hell of a lot of money to run a college football team, to run a college basketball program. And so most universities, most athletic departments don't make money. I know it's hard for many of you to believe. sure you could eliminate all of the other sports and just keep the revenue generating sports of football and men's basketball. And then there would be more money to play with if you didn't have to

support all of those other sports. But you do. And by the way, even if you didn't have to support all of those other sports, it's not like there's such a huge profit margin in these places where you can start paying the athletes, the kind of money that many of you think that they deserve. Now, this amount of money is really interesting because it's kind of a hidden number. I'm sure maybe some of you have thought about it in the past. I've never really thought about the dead money in college sports. You read all the time about coaches getting fired before the end of their contracts and schools having to pay out those deals.

So it makes sense that there's a lot of money paid for people who aren't on your payroll anymore or aren't working for you. But I didn't realize it was this much. 116 coaches have received more than a million dollars in severance payments. 116 different coaches in men's football, men's basketball, and women's basketball have received severance packages because they were fired or they were let go without cause. of more than a million dollars. The significant percentage of the dead money comes from football, and the significant percentage of the football number of dead money comes from the SEC schools. There's $123.2 million in dead money payments, you know, severance payments for SEC coaches,

followed by the PAC 12 at 85.3, the Big Ten at 67.7 million, and then the non-power 5 at 47.4 is that takes into account a lot of different schools and a lot of the lesser conferences. And then the Big 12 and the ACC's dead last. The SEC, by the way, also is number one in men's basketball. So they've fired more coaches and have been on the hook for more money firing coaches without cause in SEC basketball. They probably feel the ability to do that at many of these SEC schools because of all of the money that SEC football brings in. Now, specific to actual schools themselves, this is where it gets interesting because I was actually curious if Maryland was even on the list of schools. You know, the top 10 of schools having payouts over the last 11 years,

Auburn's number one, 31.2 million in dead money payouts. More than 18 million's been paid to Gene Chiswick and Gus Malzahn. Nebraska, Bo Polini, Mike Riley, were fired within a year of contract extensions. And they have been on the hook for 25.8 million. Texas was next. Ole Miss, Kansas, because they fired Turner Gill, Charlie Weiss, David Beattie during that time frame. And by the way, never had a good team.

Arizona State, South Carolina, Oregon, Texas, A&M, and UCLA. The top 10 recipients of severance payments after they were fired without cause, Will Mustchamp got a $19.2 million payout. All right, he got $12.9 million from South Carolina alone. But earlier in the decade, he received $6.3 million to stop Coach Florida. Will Must Champ, working a lot less for the most. Charlie Strong was second on this list.

Todd Graham, Kevin Sumlin, Gus Malzahn, Bo Polini, Mark Helferich, Rich Rodriguez, Jim Mora, and Thad Mata is the one basketball coach. He picked up a $9 million payout, buyout from Ohio State in 2017. the only basketball coach to reach the top 10. Now, I mentioned the top 10 schools in an overall dead money. Where did Maryland come in on this list? Well, they didn't come in in the top 10, but they did come in in the top 15.

They came in at 14th overall with $13 million in dead money payouts, much of it going to DJ Durkin, who got 5.4 million when he was fired in October of 2018 after the Jordan McNair death, which related into the investigation of that tragedy. Randy Edsel, Ralph Freedgin, Matt Canada, and a couple of football assistant coaches and assistant strength coaches are on the list as well. So Maryland with football, and it hasn't had much success in football, the 14th most in the country in dead money severance payouts. It is really kind of a hidden number, or I shouldn't say hidden number because it's public. It's a public number with these public universities.

But it's an under-discussed number. I thought it was very interesting. That's a lot of money to pay. out for coaches that didn't work out. A half a billion dollars, more than a half a billion dollars over a 10-year period, an 11-year period, roughly. A lot of money for essentially not working. Wow. That was a really interesting story and reveal for me anyway. That's it for today. Just one quick recommendation. Dope sick. I've talked about it with Tommy. Thank you to Cowboy Clay. for recommending it, and others. Many of you continue to give me ideas and shows. I am really glad

I took all of you up on that one. Six episodes in on Hulu. It's totally worth it. It just sucks that you have to wait a week for each episode. I prefer the Netflix dropping a season at a time format. But anyway, that's it for the day. Back on Monday, big week next week, you know, we'll be building up to the big revenge game against the Buccaneers a week from Sunday. Enjoy your football weekend. We'll recap all the NFL and college football on Monday.