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The Volume.

Colin Cowherd (1:18)

What is going on everybody? How are we doing? I'm excited because we're going to do a little mailbag today. Just watched the Rose Bowl. Obviously Ohio State dominated and I went out with Colin. We recorded actually a halftime of that game. That's what you do when they're down 34 to nothing. So we had a little look back at some of the college games. I was going to do something today with Jackson but they moved back the other game. Hopefully they still play it. We'll find out the next 24 hours. Notre Dame, Georgia, so we'll do that tomorrow. React to that game. So today I thought let's just do a mail because I wanted to get something up. So let's do a mailbag. Your boy was really hurting yesterday during the day I've had back to back. My IV lady has come over twice and honestly it might have saved my life because I was not literally, but I was in pretty bad shape and gotten back to back IVs. I've never done that before and it's worked and it's worked wonders. And now I feel like I'm on the mend. Just still head's a little stuffy but my body, I couldn't keep my eyes open. I was sleeping like 20 hours a day. It's like a dog or a cat. But now I'm alive and need to talk a little football and 2025. So happy new Year and yeah, let's talk some ball. But before we do, you know I got to tell you about my friends, my partners in the official ticketing app of this podcast Game Time. Here's the thing. It's 2025. So do you want to do something? Get out of the house, go do something fun. There were so many ASU fans today at that game and I was like, that's awesome. Hopefully they use Game Time because if you want to go to a game, college or pro, a concert, a comedy show, you guys know the drill. Take the guesswork out of buying tickets with Game time. Download the GameTime app, create an account, use the code John, that's me for $20 off your first purchase terms apply again, create an account, redeem the code Johan. For $20 off. Download the game Time app today. Last minute tickets, lowest price is guaranteed. Okay, let's dive into the mailbag. We'll start with Kellen. John, what are your thoughts on the potential Chargers vs Chiefs divisional round game? Assuming the Chargers get the 5 seed and beat the Texans? As a Chargers fan, I am hungry for another shot at KC and we have a better chance of winning in Kansas City then we would be going on the road to Buffalo or Baltimore because the style of teams, we always play them close but have lost seven times in a row. We got to get them eventually. I do think Kansas City would much rather play like the Texans at home or the Steelers at home. Then not just the Chargers, but Denver as well. Because those two teams, if you look at their potential opponents, right, they can't play Buffalo and they can't play Baltimore, but they could play basically Kansas or Houston Texans on down, they could play any of those teams. And if somehow Pittsburgh were to upset Baltimore and Denver, let's say upsets, I guess they probably wouldn't upset Buffalo. But the Chargers, yeah, I mean, I think it's just going to be tough. I think more than likely, especially the way the Chiefs have played these last couple of weeks, it looked like they flipped a switch. But sometimes when you flip a switch, you get the momentum rolling, then you just stop playing. Because this week they're going with Carson Wentz, which obviously I don't, I don't blame them at all for going through, you know, the backup quarterback. But then you're not going to play another week, so which they're a veteran team. It's. It's the right move. But whoever they would be to play, especially if it is the Chargers, which I guess now I talk it out, it's much more likely than the Broncos, but I do think that the Chargers would have moment. You know, they've just been playing, right? They won last week, they'll win again this week. And then they'll. If they beat the Texans, they've just been playing a lot of football now, like there'll be a seven point underdog. I don't think the Chiefs are thinking too long and hard about it. It's the playoffs. They got to play hard teams. I mean, last year they went on the road and they beat Buffalo in the second round. But I do think they would just be more susceptible to the two divisional teams than they would be the Steelers or the Texans. I would, I would be much more nervous if I was a Chiefs fan playing the Broncos or playing the Chargers, especially now with Harbaugh and Sean Payton, than I would playing Mike Tomlin or the Texans team. Like I would expect to beat the shit out of those two. But the other two, I could just see where it could get weird. Why is it so rare for GMs to be rehired after losing their first job? Especially if I'm a bad organization, I'd much rather go with a guy like Rick Spielman, Thomas Dimitrov or John Dorsey that has shown they can put together a good roster rather than taking a chance on an unproven gm. Curious to hear your thoughts. I don't know. I mean, I was told a long time ago by, by a buddy of mine who was a fire gm, he said, john, we don't get second chances, not like coaches. And I don't know how why to define that. But there's something with a retread coach, right? Like Mike Vrabel's technically a retread, but no one looks at him like a failure or someone that you wouldn't want to hire. If Pete Carroll and Bill Belichick were 65 instead of 72, they would have easily, easily been rehired. So I think part of it is sometimes you look for the next best thing. Sometimes you. Maybe that guy is more tied to your money. And when a guy gets fired, he makes financial decisions for the owner. So there's more of a stink that carries with them. I'm just speaking out. I don't know. I'm just trying to. I have no clue. Because every gm, the good ones and the bad ones make bad. You know, miss on picks. Right. Or sign bad free agents. I don't know. I can't. Not sure why that happens, but it clearly happens. By his performance in the Peach bowl, did Scatter Boo boost his draft stock to the first round? He reminds me of a 511, Peyton Hillis. I don't think Scatter Boo will be a first round pick. I think he will be a second day selection. One thing I think that's going to hurt him and I can see this coming is, and this is stupid because this is what happens when we get to draft season. He's going to go to the combine and I would imagine he's not going to run that fast. Let's just say he runs a 4 7. I hope he doesn't. But let's just say he runs a 47 0. That won't be ideal for his draft stock. You'd be like middle cuff. What are you talking about? I'm like, listen, I don't make the rules. These are just the rules, right? Anyone who's ever shopped for houses knows there are certain things in a house when it comes to square footage. The amount of bathrooms, the amount of bedrooms, size of the kitchen, the size of the backyard, how many car garage that factor into the market value of the home. No different than a car has ever been in a wreck. How many miles on it, what year is it, what model is it? Like these things factor in, well, runs great, you're going to love living there. It doesn't matter because this is a market value exercise of where you get drafted. So if he runs slow, that will knock him down a little bit. But anyone with a brain, if you watch him, that guy's a football player and a really good football player. And running back is one of those positions more than most where instincts and feel for the position are stuff that separates guys. And if you have elite physical attributes, like, you know, Adrian Peterson is one of the most physically gifted running backs of all time, it didn't really matter that he couldn't catch her. Ironically for a size and strength, wouldn't pass block. But he was such a good runner, it didn't matter. Most other guys, you get nitpicked. And to me Scatter Boo is just, I mean he's just a, he's just a ball player and to me he's got Jim Harbaugh written all over him. I feel like Jim Harbaugh is going to love that guy. If Jon Gruden was coaching, I feel like Jon Gruden would have loved that guy. I'll tell you who's going to like that guy. Andy Reid is going to like that guy. Why did early in the season Carson Steele get some reps? Because Andy Reid loved that guy from watching him play at the Mac two years ago. If you think Andy Reid is not going to like Scatter Boo, like I used to be crazy. Now they're not going to take him in the first round, but would they take him at the end of the second round? You know, pick 62? I just, it's. There are a lot of guys in this draft. They're going to be NFL starters and running back, which I think can hurt Scatter Boo a little bit. My guess is he goes somewhere between 50 and 70. Just based on not knowing anything, I'm assuming high character, you know, all that stuff checks off. Never heard anything bad but his 40 speed, which is stupid because as a running back, like how many 40 yard runs are you going to have? You know, Saquons and Derrick Henry are pretty rare. Guys that are long, you know, breakout guys that have 60, 70, 80 yard runs. If you're getting me 20, 30 yard runs, that's all I need. But I do wonder if that's going to hurt him a little bit. But today was fucking awesome. How much fun was watching Scatter Boo just carry his team in that game? I think same about Genty. I feel like I learned more watching Genty in Scatterboo play against Penn State in Texas than I did in a lot of their games when they went nuts against lesser opponents because they were facing NFL fronts and they just willed their way to yards and they just, it was like, this is awesome. This is football right here. Question for the podcast. Do you think Ohio State lost to Michigan on purpose? Like, was it a strategic loss to not have to play in the conference championship game? Watching them play Tennessee and now against Oregon seems like some sandbag playing calling might have been possible. Obviously, you're better off in a weird way not playing the conference championship game. If you lose, if you lose that conference championship game, it's just you got to play the extra game and then you still make the playoffs like Penn State. So you're just playing extra games on your body. And you look at Penn State, I mean, their best player, Carter, and it's now banged up, hopefully he's healthy. But I do not think they tried to lose that game because the way Ryan Day talked about it, the way their players attack now, the way you're saying, you know, the players might not have to be involved in a sandbag, but the way they attacked everyone after the game, I think it's pretty fair to assume that they just had a bad game. Watching Michigan's defense against Alabama now these bowl games, I don't put that much stock into, partly because some of these games, I mean, you have 10, 15, 20 guys opting out some of them to the transfer portal some of them to the NFL draft. I mean A and M had a USC beat Texas A and M. Google how many guys from Texas A and M did not play in that game. So I think it's hard to put a value on a draft, on a bowl game, who won, who lost, who plays well, who doesn't. But I do think Ohio State clearly tried to win that game and they just played their worst game of the season. And one thing's pretty clear watching Ohio State these last couple of weeks is I just had a buddy that scouts in the NFL say he thinks Jeremiah Smith's the best college wide receiver he's ever seen. I mean that guy, when God made that guy, it's like this. That's what an NFL player looks like. Tell you that much. Mailbag there's been a lot of talk about the flaws of the college football this year, mainly focused on the fact that 12 teams that are in are not the true actual 12 best teams in the country and that it's not possible to get an accurate gauge of who the best 12 teams are because the schedule difficulty varies so much in college football. One fix I've thought of is this. They reduce both the number of conference games each team plays and put a set list of teams eligible for the college football playoffs. This list would include all power four teams, Notre Dame and maybe a few non P4 teams, but I'd be fine with leaving the non P4 teams out altogether. That's a problem. Let me stop you right there. The reason they had to include them is so like the Mountain west wouldn't sue. So you have to include them. That's the reason they're in now Boise show like they're they're clearly a top 15 team in the country but they have to include like to give them an invite to the dance or they would get sued. Each of these teams will only play four conference games and the other eight games would be played against other Power four teams outside of the conference. The primary goal for scheduling would be to even out the scheduling difficulty so the gap between the easiest and harder schedules is as small as possible, making a 102 Big 12 record worth the same as a 1012 record. Thoughts? One more thing. Each team could be given the right to pick two opponents each year so they can maintain certain rivalries. So Ohio State could be guaranteed to play Michigan and Penn each year and Bama could be guaranteed to play Auburn or Georgia or same for everyone else. Etc. I think the pushback would be the SEC says what we do Together is financially worth more than the other conferences. So when you get to play us, like our television deal on the sec, games are worth the most right now in the country. So meaning our properties, like when Ole Miss plays Georgia or Alabama plays lsu, those games are the most valuable throughout the course of the season and the Big Ten is second. So when we split up those matchups, we neutralize or not even. We diminish our earning power. So when we let Penn State play Utah, and this is not a shot at Utah, I love Utah's program, or we let Alabama play North Carolina, we are giving you free money. And that's where I think this is difficult is all these conferences are like independent entities. So it's just fucked up. I hear what you're doing and your heart's in the right place, but the SEC would never agree to that. The Big Ten would never agree to that. The big 12 might, but those two conferences would not. I think I heard McShay or someone say within the last couple weeks that what is going to happen is the College Football Playoff buys are going to turn out to be the Big Ten. Winner gets a buy, the SEC winner gets a buy, and then you just pick the other two teams to get a buy. Who you think are the best two teams. It's like, because the SEC and the Big Ten have all the power and they're going to start yielding their power. So the sec, what I think should happen is every conference should play nine conference games, even 10 conference games. And then your other two conference games are against other two big. You know. So if you're an SEC team, you play nine conference games and then your other three opponents are from the Big 12 or the ACC. And the Big Ten does the same thing. The Big Ten plays nine conference games and their other three opponents are from the ACC or the Big Ten or the Big 12. And it kind of rotates that way. That's how I think I would do it. But I wouldn't take away from Big Ten or SEC games.