← The Herd with Colin Cowherd
The Herd with Colin Cowherd
Colin Cowherd Podcast - Penn State’s Best Isn’t Good Enough, Alabama’s Monumental Win Over Georgia, USC Can’t Play Smash Mouth Football
00:35:36
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- [00:00]
Josh Pate
This is an iHeart podcast.
- [00:05]
Matt Jones
Hey, this is Matt Jones and I'm Drew Franklin, and this is NFL Cover Zero. We're just here to try to give you an NFL perspective a little bit different. Did you see the Colts pretzel? That was my other big takeaway from that game. What was that? Oh, my. We think NFL coverage should be informative and entertaining. And twice a week, that is exactly what you're going to get. Listen to NFL Cover Zero with Matt Jones and Drew Franklin on the iHeartRadio app, podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.
- [00:38]
Dan Rubenstein
I'm Dan. He's Ty.
- [00:39]
Josh Pate
Hello.
- [00:40]
Dan Rubenstein
And we're the solid verbal college football podcast.
- [00:43]
Tyler Lockett
Tune in for previews, recaps, bits you won't hear anywhere else, and all the emotional support you need as a college football fan.
- [00:51]
Dan Rubenstein
Join us all season long as we ride the roller coaster of this ridiculous sport.
- [00:56]
Tyler Lockett
Listen to the solid verbal college football podcast on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
- [01:04]
Dan Rubenstein
We don't just love college football, Ty. We live it.
- [01:08]
Manny
Why are TSA rules so confusing?
- [01:11]
Matt Jones
You got a hoodie on. Take it all.
- [01:13]
Manny
I'm Manny.
- [01:14]
Noah
I'm Noah.
- [01:14]
Josh Pate
This is Devin.
- [01:15]
Manny
And we're best friends and journalists with a new podcast called no Such Thing, where we get to the bottom of questions like that. Why are you screaming? Well, I can't expect what to do now if the rule was the same, go off on me.
- [01:27]
Josh Pate
I deserve it, you know. Lock him up.
- [01:29]
Manny
Listen to no Such thing on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. No Such Thing.
- [01:38]
Greg Rosenthal
The NFL is rolling. That's right. And you should be listening to NFL Daily as we march along to Super Bowl 60. It's in the name NFL Daily, so you'll have fresh content in your feed all season long. Join me, Greg Rosenthal, in an all star cast of co hosts for previews and recaps of every single game. NFL Daily will keep you up to date with everything you need to know so you can sound smart. Smarter than all your friends. Listen to NFL daily on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
- [02:08]
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- [02:24]
Noah
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- [05:12]
Josh Pate
I don't think any differently of him, but I treated the Oregon game way, way bigger than I've ever treated a football game. And so I got to tell you, a little backstory and I have apparently been singing out of the same hymnal as Meemaw would say about James Franklin, because he is very, very good. Never used the word elite, never used the word great. Just very, very good. An eighth runger, what we would call him an eighth runger on a 10 rung ladder.
- [05:35]
Noah
Yeah.
- [05:35]
Josh Pate
So I, I remember even in the spring, I. I've been up there a couple of times over the past few months. They never shied away from this concept that this year we're all in. Kind of what Ohio State sounded like last year when I visited them this spring. We're all in. We're making no excuses or apologies about it. We're all in. All right. So every, every external, dynamic edge imaginable you have on that Oregon game. They got to travel cross country. You got the buy, you got the experience roster. They got newness everywhere you should. You got a way more experienced and veteran coaching staff. So all of that white out, you finally got it in prime time. I just felt like it was such a referendum moment. It's such an inflection point in time in the James Franklin, Penn State era. And I know coming out of it, if you really want to just, you know, shred the arguments, you could say it's just game. It's just one conference game. They went to overtime. It's so much more than that. Anyone pretending otherwise is just ignorant of Penn State football and ignorant of the situation. So I think a whole new timeline started the other night. I said this on the following night show. It may sound hyperbolic, but I'm dead serious about it. I think a whole new timeline got started. Now, here's what we cannot know yet. We can't know which flavor of timeline it is, because you could sell me on either of these things being the case in 2029, and I could believe you. You could sell Franklin's no longer at Penn State because that Oregon game precipitated this really ugly slip down this slope where eventually neither wanted anything to do with the other. Maybe they just cut ties. Maybe it got really contentious. But he's not there in a couple of years. I could see that. I could also see him believing everything that I'm saying and you're saying about that game. That was the Referendum game. This is where it's going to be the ultimate test of my way of doing things the way I've built Penn State. And I think it was such a reminder that your best, given your current modus operandi, is not going to be good enough. All right, that's the absolute peak of this version of Penn State football. And it got taken down by probably Oregon, not even close to ascending to what they will become. So I could see him driving home that night, I could see him waking up the next morning, just. It's just you and you in the bathroom mirror and saying to yourself, this is it. Several degrees of change are needed here, here, there, just rigid principles you've never bent on, you're willing to bend on. Now there's a third rail where he doesn't know to do any of that. And it just is what it is. I don't know where we're going with it, but I sense the same thing you did. Even the portion of the fan base, like, I've got some Penn State folks on my staff who were the last holdouts, who always sort of shouted down the radical portion of the fan base when they would criticize him, fire James Franklin after a loss. And they, they didn't get overly emotional, which is what I noticed. They were almost, I don't know, they were apathetic afterwards. And it was kind of a shrug. And, well, we know he's never going to be bad enough to fire, but we were also resigned to the fact that this is confirmation we're never going to see the mountaintop.
- [08:42]
Noah
Yeah, it's. You know, it's funny. Anytime Dan Lanning wins a big game, everybody's like, you know, he's going back to the sec. And I'm like, folks, Oregon has the richest, most committed booster in the sport. Their facilities are insane. Unbelievable home field advantage. And now they're in the first to the second best conference. It didn't validate like when Oregon, remember when they finished number two in the country, they beat Colorado and, and, but I cover that team. They were small defensively, they had a couple good corners defensively, they didn't have NFL bodies. They've always had good quarterbacks and clever offenses. It was sort of like Harbaugh's first team at Michigan that won 10 games. And you're like, yeah, but they don't look like Georgia. They don't even look like Georgia. Eight years later, you're like, that looks a little bit like Georgia. Notre Dame, Brian Kelly, remember that? They get to a national championship game and you're like, well, at halftime, he was laughing. He's like, yeah, we're not. We gotta do better than that.
- [09:49]
Josh Pate
We tried. We tried, guys. We tried.
- [09:52]
Noah
Oregon's not that Oregon's a great job. You don't leave Oregon. Like, there's seven or eight jobs. You don't leave if you're winning at usc, lsu, Alabama, Georgia, Ohio State, Notre Dame, Michigan just stay. I think Oregon is in that class. But it's remarkable how often, every time Dan landing, like, he beats Ohio State, you know he's going to get job offers in the sec. Would you leave if you were Lanning and Auburn, Clemson offered you a job?
- [10:25]
Josh Pate
No. My answer would have been different 10 years ago. No. I think I can accomplish everything there that I can accomplish elsewhere. I don't really think people know this. Look, here's what anyone needs to understand. Dan's not leaving Oregon. He's not leaving Oregon because at Oregon, it's the only place where you have a deal with the school and you've got a separate deal with Phil Knight, basically. I mean, we talk about buyouts all the time. And typically you're talking about, oh, it's going to cost 8 million, 10 million, 12 million. When you really understand Dan Lanning's life there, you're talking about a 40 to $50 million buyout. No one's willing to. No one's willing to hit that, nor should they. And even if it wasn't that. So let's pretend that wasn't the case. Let's just pretend all the rest of the dynamics were in place at Oregon. You mentioned facilities. Another thing people need to know is when you go up there right now, you sit in his office, you look out, it's cranes everywhere, it's earth moving everywhere, because they're overhauling it again. So this time next year, they'll be ahead of the pack again on that front. But I just want. I just want you, I, everyone else, go back to that game against Penn State the other night and understand what. You watched Oregon, they recruited a very high level. Already. They've mastered evaluation in the portal. You can't have one of those things without the other, okay? Otherwise, you're just lighting money on fire. Nebraska spent over a million dollars on a right tackle that hasn't seen the field. So you got to be able to evaluate as well. Marshall Malcol is a really good dude, running point for Dan Lanning up there. But Lanning himself and that staff, they are. They are really, really good at eval. So you turn on the Penn State game the other night. They've got 11 guys they took out of the portal. I think I counted 10 of them are contributing big time. They got three starting offensive linemen. They've got multiple DBs.
- [12:11]
Noah
Yeah.
- [12:12]
Josh Pate
In fact, the guy that people were most crazy about, Makai Hughes, the tailback that came from Tulane. That's the only one that you would call, quote unquote, a bust. And he's not really a bust. He's just a depth provider.
- [12:23]
Noah
Right.
- [12:24]
Josh Pate
They. They're doing stuff, in other words, that you used to get told you couldn't do. It was a chore. You had to clear the hurdle 150 of what the Southern schools did to get talent there. You don't have to anymore. You don't have to. So. So what's the downside? As long as you don't mind a couple of extra hours on your plane rides every now and then, you. You've got it set up there. He's not lying when he says they're all in on. On living in Oregon. Like, he's not lying about that. They just happen to find the right guy from the south who is the closest removed to a Nick Saban, to Kirby Smart, to now Dan Lanning. He looks like a psychopath. His eyes are really like that. Even when he just talks to you on a normal Tuesday over lunch, it fits. It's taken everything that you think is a stereotype because it's kind of true about Southern football culture and what's won down there forever. And you just transplanted it up to Oregon at the best of times.
- [13:19]
Noah
So you and I were at the USC Illinois game and thank God I had cover because that stadium doesn't have much and it was hot as hell.
- [13:32]
Josh Pate
I went to the Georgia game later that night and they cooled off. I got cooler as I went down there.
- [13:38]
Noah
So we can argue about did they score too quickly. There's certainly an argument both sides, I think. I tend to think when you're on the road and you can get a touchdown, get it. But I. I could be wrong. But one thing that has been brought up, and I think it's fair, when he, Lincoln Roddy was at Oklahoma, they did run the football, but the defense didn't feel like it made big stops and big moments. That was kind of the knock. They were like Oklahoma under stoops was a little bit more physical. So when Brett Venables took over for Lincoln, that's what he talked about, a culture of toughness. We're going to get more physical. There was this and generally reputations can be somewhat generalizing or stereotypes, but there's some truth, grains of truth in everything. And so it was like, they're wide, it's four wide, they're a little soft. So Brett Venable's like, we're getting better, we're getting tougher. So he comes to usc. So Alex Grinch is a disaster, but he got on the plane and we've talked about this. When you take a new job, whoever gets on the plane, you, they moves or move their family, you got to keep them for two years. So he goes and hires Dant Lynn. UCLA's very, very smart defensive coordinator. Very good. And immediately without great personnel, you're like, oh, this is an upgrade. And then I watch him against Illinois and Illinois got gashed by Indiana. Illinois had struggled with offensive line protection. I watch usc and they're young in some spots. In the dark front seven, they got pushed around, they didn't, they didn't offer. There were, I mean, you were there. There were big running lanes. Like on every big third down, once or twice the quarterback was rushed. And my take is, and this was suggested, is, is it practice? Is there an element of this up tempo offense that over the course of time, even Lynn's defense, up tempo, it's getting softer and it's. And my take is we all know there's a certain style from about October 15th on, it gets cold, it gets windy. I mean, they couldn't close out games last year, Josh. Against Maryland, against Minnesota, they couldn't run the ball. Do you think there is truth in this, that oh my God, we got the right defensive coordinator and we can't go on the road and play smash mouth defensive in your face football already.
- [16:07]
Josh Pate
Yeah, there can be. Okay. I would counter with this. Josh Hyp just won with defense last year. Josh Ho went to the playoff at Tennessee. And you and I know good and well not only the offense he runs, but the tempo they're practicing at. A Tennessee offense is chaos or a Tennessee practice is chaos. And yet somehow Tim Banks and that defense not only fortified themselves last year, they built themselves to where when Nico Yamaliaba couldn't push the ball down the field when it was three and out, defense carried Tennessee. They didn't win a national title, they got to the playoff, which was further than anyone expected them to go. So the first thing I would do is I'd answer your question. Yes. And then I would say they ought to look at Tennessee. They ought to look at whatever Josh Hyple has figured out a way to do. The other part of that is though, you remember what was it like two years ago now after that, that season where they made the staff changes? I remember Lincoln is plain as day. He sat there and he just kind of reset the program and he was talking to the media and he was talking about how we are leaving no stone unturned. We're going to reinvent the way we do this and that. And one of the things he said was we're going to rethink the way we practice. This is going to be a top to bottom overhaul. Well, that's what he was talking about. Here's what you can't do overnight. You can't just overhaul the roster overnight with the kind of bodies they need. And so I still, there's a part of me that thinks there's a lot of validity what you're saying, but I, I still think to myself if they change nothing else but I give them another cycle portal in recruiting to go just bring in the bigger bodies, which I trust that they'll do. How different does it look? Just how different does, does better talent make it look? Because when we went to that game the other day, that's one of the games where I made it a point to stand in the end zone because I wanted to see that early on. I wanted to see that. It was so glaring. They got pushed around, they got put on skates. It was so glaring. And then I, you know, you work your way over to the USC sideline and they just, you can so clearly pick up on the fact that they know what's happening to them. They know there's not a whole lot they can do about it. They're going to, they're going to need picks, interceptions during his special teams. They're going to it. It's tough because you know, the juxtaposition to that is later that night you go down to Athens and you're talking Alabama, Georgia and it's just non negotiables for both of those teams. We're going to load up on big bodies. You know, the concept of us getting beaten because we're second best physically, it's not even in there. It's not even in their lingo. They don't even understand how to speak, that they don't win all the games. But it's not because of what happened to usc. So you're still sitting there waiting for it. I'm still sitting here waiting on it. They made front office changes. Okay. They've got a high rated recruiting class right now. I Don't doubt they'll try and attack the portal like no one's business this upcoming winter cycle. I just hope philosophically that's where it is. Like, I hope those changes have been made to where it's just better players. I'm skeptical. You can hear it in my voice. I'm a little bit skeptical, but I'm still hopeful, too, because I think they got good people in the building there.
- [19:09]
Noah
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- [20:34]
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- [21:05]
Matt Jones
Hey, this is Matt Jones and I'm Drew Franklin and this is NFL Cover Zero. We think NFL coverage should be informative and entertaining. And twice a week. That is exactly what you're gonna get. We're just here to try to give you an NFL perspective a little bit different. Did you see the Colts pretzel? That was my other big takeaway from that game. What was that? Looks like something that should not be sold. Oh my. So that was my other big Colts takeaway. Have you sold that?
- [21:31]
Josh Pate
Yes.
- [21:31]
Matt Jones
Might want to go back to the drawing board at the Colts stadium. Yeah, might want to go back to the drawing board on that. Yeah. I thought the shape we have with pretzels was working pretty well.
- [21:38]
Noah
It's worked for generations.
- [21:40]
Matt Jones
We're just here trying to enjoy it. We hope you all will join us throughout the year. And let's go. I hope I'm as youthful as Pete Carroll is at his age. He's a young 73. He is a young 73. He is spry. I would fight him. I would listen. NFL Cover Zero with Matt Jones and Drew Franklin on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcast.
- [22:07]
Dan Rubenstein
I'm Dan, he's Ty.
- [22:08]
Josh Pate
Hello.
- [22:09]
Dan Rubenstein
And we're the Solid Verbal college football podcast.
- [22:12]
Tyler Lockett
College football season is here and you know what that means.
- [22:18]
Dan Rubenstein
Your team is going to break your heart three times probably before Halloween.
- [22:23]
Noah
Uh huh.
- [22:24]
Tyler Lockett
But fear not, the solid verbal will be right there with you through every soul crushing loss and impossible comeback.
- [22:31]
Dan Rubenstein
Join us all season long, all year long, as we ride the rollercoaster of this ridiculous sport.
- [22:37]
Tyler Lockett
Whether you're a diehard fan or a casual observer, we'll help you make sense of all the chaos and of course, celebrate the madness. Tune in for previews, recaps, bits you won't hear anywhere else and all the emotional support you need as a college football fan.
- [22:53]
Dan Rubenstein
We don't just love college football, Ty. We live it.
- [22:58]
Tyler Lockett
Listen to the solid verbal college football podcast on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.
- [23:07]
Nicole Garcia
It may look different, but native culture is very alive. My name is Nicole Garcia, and on Burn Sage, Burn Bridges, we aim to explore that culture.
- [23:16]
Josh Pate
It was a huge honor to become a television writer because it does feel.
- [23:20]
Noah
Oddly like very traditional.
- [23:21]
Josh Pate
It feels like Bob Dylan going electric. That this is something we've been doing for like hundreds of. You carry with you a sense of purpose and confidence.
- [23:30]
Nicole Garcia
That's Sierra Teller Ornelas, who with Rutherford Falls, became the first Native showrunner in television history. On the podcast Burn Sage, Burn Bridges, we explore her story along with other Native stories, such as the creation of the first Native Comic Con or the importance of reservation basketball. Every day, Native people are striving to keep dreaming traditions alive while navigating the modern world, influencing and bringing our culture into the mainstream. Listen to Burn Sage, Burn bridges on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
- [24:11]
Noah
So when Kaylen DeBoer got hired, Greg Byrne, text me after a tweet I sent, kind of to thank me, I think, a little bit for the perspective I had. Because after Kalin beat Georgia, I said, you know, the media, myself included, and fans, success is hard and it doesn't come as fast as we want. And so it's difficult and it gets. People get worked up. And I'm like, Calyn DeBoer was a hard hire. Dan Lanning's from the South, Dabo Sweeney was popular. I mean, they're Lane Kiffin. There were a lot of potential hires post Saban. You could. You could have argued they weren't going to get Sark because Texas money. But you could have gone after Elaine a Dabo. A Dan Lanning. And he didn't. He went and got a Midwest guy that was at Washington, 3,000 miles away, and it's easy to go. He's got a great resume. The south is different. The intensity is different. Some Midwest Western people, like Chip Kelly one time when they were. I think he was offered Florida, he's like, that's too much. I thought Philadelphia was raw play. It's too much for me. And Jim McElwain, who I knew from college, is like, yeah, this is different. I'm more West, Midwest guy. But I don't. People tend to think, Josh, everybody knows that if you're Jim Harbaugh and you go to the Chargers to replace Brandon Staley, you have to change the culture. It's a disaster. But people think it's easy when you go to Alabama and you replace Saban. Well, you don't have to change the culture. Well, yes, you do. You have to be authentic to yourself. You have to be off. It doesn't matter what. I replaced Tony Korneiser. He was great. I still didn't do the same show Tony did. Right. I did a different show, so I had to. There were elements of the show you have to change. You have to change certain things. And that's not a knock. It's just that's the reality is I think Alabama was a tougher job than you think. The pressure's enormous. They were struggling in the nil to play, to go to the top rung with some Ohio states and Georgias. And when they won that game, I found myself rooting for Alabama in that first half. I was like, God, this is good coaching. Jesus. This is good play calling. This is. This is as big a regular season win, including Saban in like five years. I thought it was so significant. And they've beaten Georgia plenty of times. Did you feel. It felt more like that a more of a. Beyond just a win at Georgia. It felt like, okay, this is the moment.
- [26:35]
Josh Pate
I think it's one of the biggest games for the program this decade. That goes back to when Saban was still there. Yes, I could not. You cannot overstate the impact. I mean, think about where we are. We were talking about inflection point with James Franklin. Okay, different standard at Alabama. They've won their championships, but it was under the previous guy, new guy, you don't know really. And go into the alternate universe where they lose that game and they're coming out of Athens already a two loss team and you still got the rest of your conference schedule to go. You probably have four minimum losses staring you in the face. And what do you do? You mentioned Greg Byrne, buddy. The only the. I wish you could have seen his face walking off that field Saturday night. Greg Byrne was the most relieved person in the entire building. That's the athletic director at Alabama for those unfamiliar like because. Because he. His reputation's on the line with this hire as well. And the thing is, Greg Burns never doubted for a second that Kaylin DeBoer is made of the right stuff. But you don't play 162 college football games. So it just comes down to these moments like these, these key third downs and you know, a sequence here and there that's going to determine whether you're a success or a failure that season. I got to tell you about DeBoer. When he got there, I used the word ignorant. Ignorant is not lack of intelligence. Ignorance is sometimes you haven't experienced something. And I think he was maybe a little bit ignorant to what you're talking about. The true southern football dynamic. Like, I think he looked at it and I know this because I talked to him about it. I mean he just talked about winning principles. And he's right. The same stuff wins everywhere. It's just the surroundings, the externals are way different in the south than they are anywhere. Not named Ohio State basically outside of the South.
- [28:18]
Noah
I've said that for years. Ohio State's and SEC team North. That's the only one.
- [28:22]
Josh Pate
Yeah. So he got thrown into that. And I just. As much as you try and wall yourself off from it, it's really impossible. You cannot wall yourself off from it. So I got to tell you now, people who have observed him from the outside may not see this. If you've been around Kalin or even if you're just like a fan of the program, you follow him closer. He, since that Florida State game earlier this year has been like the third verse of lose yourself. The part where it's just, it's no more games. I've been cut, I'm bleeding all over the place. But I kind of get it now. I kind of understand, like, you get thrown into the pot and it starts to boil and it either consumes you or you adjust and then you thrive in that environment. That's what I wondered about him because I knew this time was coming. It doesn't. Saban didn't avoid it at Alabama, and he may be the greatest of all time. Urban didn't avoid it at Florida. No one avoids it. It's. Do you adapt to it and thrive in it? Because that's the 1 or 2% that are cut out to coach in the SEC in major college football. And I'm telling you, it's like putting new keys in the ignition. And it's kind of turned in him. And there's a lot of what we would call dgafness dgafness that he kind of has about himself that is very indicative of someone who is now adjusted and who has acclimated to their surroundings and basically looked back and said, all right, game on. If this is how it works down here, game on. You mentioned the coaching job they did the other night, buddy. That's an NFL coaching staff. On that offensive side of the ball they got. I mean, Ryan Grubb literally came there when it didn't work out in Seattle, but they worked Georgia's defensive staff pretty thoroughly. And think about the sentence that just came out of my mouth, because you don't really say that about anyone. And so now their reward is they get to play Vandy this week. And what stood out to me the most, and I can't believe this is a sentence coming out of my mouth either, to just give you an idea of how that program's wired right now, they're walking off the field in Athens, huge whim, and they're no more Headed into the locker room than half the locker rooms talking about the Vandy game. Half of them are in the locker room. They're in Sanford Stadium. They're already looking ahead to the Vandy game because that was, that was the cattle prod to their neck last year that they never fully recovered from. So as much as the public circle at Georgia game, they were already well aware before they left the building of what's next week. Diego Pavia coming in there next week, their super bowl last year. All right, they come into our building. College game day is going to be there. So it was an eye opener to me because I hadn't, I hadn't been to a Bama game this year in person. So I hadn't been around them in person. Yeah, I think that FSU game did something to him. And it may end up being the biggest blessing they could ever suffer from, if that makes any sense.
- [31:08]
Noah
Yeah, when I worked in Tampa for two years, I really learned because I love college football, but I'd grown up around Oregon. Washington was a great program. And I. Kevin O' Connell was a photographer. He's still employee at WTVT. I think it is channel 13. And we went to do a story on like Tuesday or Wednesday. Spurrier was the coach of Florida. And we went down there and there were already fans parked in the parking lot, tailgating. It was Wednesday. And I'm like, I go to Husky games, like Friday night, maybe late Friday afternoon, you'd show up to Husky Stadium. They were there Wednesday and they'd been there. I mean, they had the, they had their, you know, their cooking utensils out. They were sitting in the chairs playing, you know, poker. And I'm like, wow, this is different. And then the funny thing is I, I remember listening to Southern Smaller market radio, and I'm like, bro, it is. Is March. And that's all they're talking about.
- [32:16]
Josh Pate
Like, yeah, you gotta, you gotta live it. You have to have experienced it. Because the first job I ever got on Air was 1580. It's a Wiol in Columbus, Georgia. And it's, it's in the heart. It's right there. Auburn, Alabama, Georgia, fsu, Florida, Clemson, South Carolina. The most underrated market in the South. It's like market 130 something in the country. But in the south, if you want to talk college football, it's great. And you could take a random Wednesday in, in June, NBA finals could be going on. It doesn't matter. We're talking about the right side of the offensive line. Not, not, not the one deep. Colin. We're talking about rotational pieces over there and we're talking about, do we really think this juco kid from Pearl River, Mississippi is really going to be able to shine there? And it's just so intense. You could back off. You could just shut up and let guys go for 10 minutes. And they're as versed on it as they would be their own children and their own family and their own financial situation. It's really amazing.
- [33:11]
Noah
So I say this often, 40% of America never leaves the area code they were born in. People don't like change. I did not grow up in a traditional family with religion, divorced parents. I had just a British mother and I just didn't have a traditional upbringing. Thank God I had good coaches. But so I tend to embrace change because my life has been. I've lived in seven states and so I understand people who aren't comfortable with it, that people that have lived in the same cul de sac forever. I'm kind of jealous of that. I understand my kids don't have like one set of friends and my wife and I have talked about that before, is that you sacrifice, everybody makes sacrifices. I've moved for commerce and opportunity, but it's probably hurt me in terms of long term friendships and relationships. My friends are all over the country. So when the transfer portal and the NIL came out in the College Football Playoff, I was so excited. It's like I've seen Cal, Arizona State enough. I want to see Oregon and Ohio State. I want to see Michigan and usc. Like I've seen the regional stuff. But the unintended benefits that I didn't consider, first of all, the playoffs, way better than those half empty stadium bowl games. That's a fact. Secondly, the NIL has not made the sport more lopsided. The good teams are still good. The bad teams are mostly still bad. But the transfer portal, I did not predict this. I figured just the rich would get richer. But the truth is kids want to play. And when I watch Georgia now and a cornerback gets hurt, they don't necessarily have a good backup. He's at Louisville, he's at Texas Tech. Are you surprised? I look at the sport now. You could change uniforms. I can't tell. Oregon from Bama, from Georgia, from Ole Miss, lsu, I can't tell. Three, four years ago, Josh, you could take uniforms off. That's Georgia, that's Alabama, that's Ohio State. I think the transfer portal, everybody freaked out about it. I think it's created a parody and an evenness that I haven't seen in college football.
- [35:25]
Josh Pate
My life, I've wrestled with this a lot. See, I used to listen to you a lot, talk about moving and I was the person you were talking about. I grew up in west central Georgia, never left there until into my 30s. And so I'm very rooted and therefore I like tradition, I like adhering to the stuff I've always known. All right, well then work or opportunity moves me to Nashville. First time I'd ever left home. First time I ever got out of my cul de sac, actually. So that my worldview and therefore my college football worldview kind of became rooted in that. So I was one that sort of was drug kicking and screaming across a lot of these lines. And there's, you know, there's always going to be stuff to complain about. So anecdotally, if you don't like something, you'll always be able to cherry pick. But I agree with you and I've, I've had to adjust my, my thinking slash perspective on a lot of this because it's undeniable. When you look, I mean, Texas Tech could, could compete literally this year. They could compete for a lot more than a Big 12. Like it could happen. And so I, what I, what I've picked up on is everybody knows the transfer portal is a big deal. That's a very 50,000 foot evergreen headline in college football. Drill down a little bit. When we talked about Oregon a little while ago, when we talked about Texas Tech, like I just did something on our show the other night where I looked at the hit rate and I'm telling you, the, the programs and the front offices in college football now that have really put a premium on putting good evaluators in those offices are, are lapping the field. Miami is killing it. Not only. Cause they have money. Money is the oxygen. Okay? You're not going to live without it anyway. It's a moot point. You got to have the money and then spend it properly. And everyone's spending. They're going after the same players. So there is still very much a recruiting element to it, but there's also a really, really big evaluation piece to it. So Miami, they just overhauled their entire secondary. Colin, there's one OJ Frederic. You'll see him Saturday against Florida State. He's the only holdover. They looked at it and said, this is not good enough. We just wasted Cam Ward last year. So they just imported a whole new secondary. They hit on all of them. Oregon. Oregon has three starting offensive linemen from the Portal. Not to mention they got Dante Moore back at quarterback. He's so good. By the way, the kid who is starting and shining at Cal right now had committed to Oregon, went to spring or went to winter playoff practices and realized more was so good he asked for his release. He said, I'm not going to be able to start here immediately, so I want to go somewhere else. And they hated it, but they let him go. But look at Texas Tech. Look at what they're doing. Lsu, you know, LSU is a wreck right now, but not because of what Austin Thomas, who's the GM there, and they did defensively because they, they've gone from in the 80s to the 50s to now the teens in national defensive rankings because of the portal and evaluation in the portal. They're not missing on guys is my point. They, what they did not do is they did not go get a tackle, a right tackle. They banked on the fact they could develop one in house and that has failed. And that's why offensively, that along with quarterback injury is what they look like right now. But yeah, it is. It's really amazing. And what it also does is, you know, I was at Tennessee last year the week of the Bama game and a lot of the staff was already talking about their concern about their offensive line the following year. Well, offensive line is not an issue for them because they were able to rectify it in the Portal. And, and so you, you used to have this hopelessness as a fan where if you knew you had a veteran laden unit, it was going to be minimum two years, maybe even three years down the road. And now it could just be, you wake up one morning and there's a headline. Oh, A and M just went and got Mario Craver and Casey Concepcion. We have an explosive downfield passing game now and we didn't two days ago. That's great. Dad. Was that like it was when you were growing up? No, it was not. No, it was not.
- [39:19]
Noah
No, no, listen, I grew up in the Northwest and you know, even Don James, you had these down three year cycles and Don was like the, I mean Nick Saban, you know, quoted him at his death, like, and Washington was great, but you'd have down cycles where you missed on a recruiting class and you missed on two tackles. Like, all right, we screw that up, let's go into the Portal. So I, I love what it's created, which is you could just interchange uniforms and you the top 12 teams. It just depends on the Saturday. It depends on who has the better game. I mean Good God. USC and Illinois. I'm like, Well, I like USC's quarterback and that Lemon kid more, but everything else, like, pretty even. So Quick Trip found this video from a few years ago where I swore off coffee shops because they kept increasing prices. But, Josh, you're telling me Quick Trip might change my mind?
- [40:17]
Josh Pate
I think so, man. They have. They have fueled my fall tours for a couple of years now. I had a relationship with him just because a bunch of the execs at QuikTrip watched the show. And then that morphs into, you guys want to do some business with the show. And they're all over the south. And so it's, you know, it's big red square QT on it, and you pull off and you got gas out front. But when you go in, they were the first place, and still, I think the only place I've ever seen with just the pure cold brew on tap. Entire station looks like. Looks like a bar, but instead you got all the different kinds of. Kinds of cold brews there. And you got to understand, man, when you drive as much as I have, when you drive all, it's long distances. We'll go storm chasing in the spring, we'll go college football in the fall. I have made it a habit to just look for the quip trip sign. They've been awesome to us. I mean, they have been a huge, huge staple on my show. So, yes. Look, if this is the recruitment that I'm following right now, five star, hot coffee prospect here, I just. You got to take a visit. It's all about the official visit. Once we can get you to visit, I think you'll be.
- [41:22]
Noah
Josh. Pay your money, brother. Thanks. The volume.
- [41:30]
Matt Jones
Hey, this is Matt Jones and I'm Drew Franklin, and this is NFL Cover Zero. We're just here to try to give you an NFL perspective a little bit different. Did you see the Colts pretzel? That was my other big takeaway from that game. What was that? Oh, my. We think NFL coverage should be in informative and entertaining. And twice a week, that is exactly what you're going to get. Listen NFL Cover Zero with Matt Jones and Drew Franklin on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.
- [42:02]
Dan Rubenstein
I'm Dan. He's Ty.
- [42:03]
Josh Pate
Hello.
- [42:04]
Dan Rubenstein
And we're the solid verbal college football podcast.
- [42:07]
Tyler Lockett
Tune in for previews, recaps, bits you won't hear anywhere else, and all the emotional support you need as a college football fan.
- [42:16]
Dan Rubenstein
Join us all season long as we ride the rollercoaster of this ridiculous sport.
- [42:21]
Tyler Lockett
Listen to the solid verbal college football podcasts on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
- [42:28]
Dan Rubenstein
We don't just love college football, Ty, we live it.
- [42:32]
Manny
Why are TSA rules so confusing?
- [42:35]
Matt Jones
You gotta hoodie on? Take it all.
- [42:37]
Manny
I'm Manny.
- [42:38]
Noah
I'm Noah.
- [42:39]
Manny
This is Devin, and we're best friends and journalists with a new podcast called no Such Thing where we get to the bottom of questions like that. Why are you screaming? I can't expect what to do now if the rule was the same, go off on me.
- [42:52]
Josh Pate
I deserve it, you know, Lock him up.
- [42:53]
Manny
Listen to no Such thing on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. No Such Thing.
- [43:02]
Greg Rosenthal
The NFL is rolling. That's right, and you should be listening to NFL Daily as we march along to see Super Bowl 60. It's in the name NFL Daily, so you'll have fresh content in your feed all season long. Join me, Greg Rosenthal, in an all star cast of co hosts for previews and recaps of every single game. NFL Daily will keep you up to date with everything you need to know so you can sound smarter than all your friends. Listen to NFL daily on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
- [43:32]
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