Colin Cowherd (40:58)
So I saw this morning a Bleacher Report had a story where they they gave every NFL team's best slash most dangerous new addition to their football team. Some are obvious, like Joey Bosa for the Bills, obviously that he's going to make a difference. He's going to make some big plays. George Pickens to the Cowboys. I mean they need another receiver. He may implode by week six, but whatever. I thought it was funny that Jackson Dart was listed as the Giants most dangerous addition. I'm not sure he's going to play. That shows you how bad the Giants are. I'm not sure Jackson Dart's going to play much next year, but to me it's all about changing outcomes. You can say, oh this guy will be. You don't know. There's four people. This is a head coach quarterback league. There's four people and only four in my opinion that will change outcomes. Number one is Cam Ward. Tennessee. They led the NFL last year in turnovers. They were so hard to watch offensively where even games they outplayed teams. Tennessee was so bad at quarterback with Will Levis and Mason Rudolph that they they lost games where they out physical, out schemed and outplayed teams. That's why Brian Callahan was often so frustrated with Will Levis. He knew he out schemed and they out toughed and out physical and outplayed and out called teams and lost. Cam Ward is accurate moves, coachable. I mean Miami's had some good quarterbacks. He broke all the Miami records. He's a 67% completion percentage guy. I think he's a really special player. I thought he was easily the best quarterback in this class. And again, he's humble. He was a zero star recruit. There's a history of this league when guys come in without a lot of stars and without a lot of pats on the back. Nobody's pandering to them. That's jet fuel. So I think Cam Ward changes outcomes. I think Tennessee is going to be a playoff team. I think number two is Mike Vrabel. He never had a star quarterback in the afc, had a winning record, three playoff appearances, ended up one year with Ryan Tannehill being a number one seed. And listen, New England has eight wins over the last two seasons. What he did in terms of shoring up the lines through the draft and through free agency. This is going to be a much more physical team. It will be in the footprint of his image. Drake may now goes to year two and we know from watching Denver the last couple years when you go from a coach who's more of a coordinator, Gerard Mayo, Nat Hackett to Sean Payton or Vrabel, you can argue that's a six to a seven point difference. And if the Patriots had six points a game more last year that have won nine or ten games. So I think he's going to change outcomes. I think Geno Smith. Listen, we can say what we want about Geno Smith. The Raiders were a tire fire offensively and he ranked top five in the NFL in passing yards and completions. When you give Geno a run game when Walker was healthy for Seattle, Geno play action passing big, strong, good arm and accurate. Now again, if you speed him up like a Sam Darnold, he can be prone to mistakes and playing a little fast and frenetic. Geno Smith is going to make this a real offense, especially when you add Ashton Genty. They've already got Brock Bowers. I like their old line Chip Kelly. Geno Smith will change losses to wins. And number four, maybe I'm being a homer, but I think it's Ben Johnson. This team lost 10 of its last 11 games. It was a circus last year. And in the three years as coordinator of the Lions, we know that Dan Campbell's not a scheme guy, he's a culture guy. And we watched Detroit the last three years and what did we all think? This offense is clever. This offense is creative. That's not Campbell. Campbell's the barker. He's the volume, he's the gravitas bends, the brains of the operations. So just giving Caleb Williams upgrade o line, a competent offensive coach with vision and an offensive sensibility from a defensive staff that fell apart. You're talking about a difference of winning and losing games. So to me, put them up. These are the four people in the NFL and a head coach in a quarterback league. These are the four that will change outcomes. Cam Ward, Mike Vrabel, Geno Smith and Ben Johnson. Okay, so this happened. Listen, there are certain once people get over like 50 years old, you start creeping up to 50 years old. And you know, psychologically as people get older, they like less change, they become creep. We all become sort of creatures of habit over time. And college football has an older average fan base than pro football or the NBA or soccer or UFC one of the older fan bases. Baseball's got an older fan base. That's why they always, they're screaming about changes. And college football has a older fan base. Okay, so they don't like a lot of these changes. But I read it this morning. The 12 team college football Playoff they voted on this Thursday. The top four teams and the top four seeds will all get first round buys. Last year Notre Dame wasn't eligible for a first round bye. Now the vote has been changed. Notre Dame and they should be are eligible. This was all settled Thursday afternoon. The five highest ranked conference champs will still be guaranteed spots in the 12 team field. It is much more, in my opinion, an NFL model. That's what ESPN and Fox wanted and I'm okay with it because college football and I love it has always been like a great movie with a sloppy ending. For years sports writers voted on the national championship and then it was computers voting it. And now there's too much sentimentality. You've got to have Indiana in, you've got to have SMU in. Not really. No, we don't. Not really. They have no chance to win. And you've seen more of it recently. I've been on this now for about a month. About USC is willing to play Notre Dame, but USC is like, like it's going to be on our terms. And because they have a polarizing coach, Lincoln Riley, people are pushing back. Just think about what USC has gone through in the last couple years. Their conference basically died. And so the only three teams that remained were the three biggest rivals. Cold weather Washington, cold weather Oregon and rival ucla. The three teams they've historically struggled with with. Those are the only three that join them. The cupcakes are gone. No more Oregon State, Cal, Arizona. No more Washington State. No, those are all gone. Huskies, Ducks, and a team that's given them trouble even in lean years. The Bruins. Then they join the Big Ten. Penn State top ten team. Now Michigan. I think this year rebounds top ten program. Ohio State could be the best program now that Alabama slipped and you know, keep your eye on Nebraska. Keep your eye on, you know, there's always somebody surprising you in the Big Ten. Illinois this year will be good. So only their three toughest rivals survive. The Pac 12. They join them in the conference now that it's the biggest conference and they're all cold weather. Penn State's cold weather, Michigan's cold weather. Why does it matter? Ohio State's cold weather. Washington, cold weather, Oregon, cold weather. What's that matter? Even in the NFL, we've never had a dome dynasty. We've had New England, Green Bay, Kansas City, cooler temperatures, San Francisco. Why? It's hard for dome and warm weather teams in January. Go ask the Chargers and Dan Fouts to go into Cincinnati in 4 degrees or 4 below and win. We don't have dome dynasties. We don't have warm weather dynasties. Marino is one of the best quarterbacks ever. There was no dynasty. Got the one Super Bowl. We don't have dome and warm weather dynasties in this league. And so I think weather absolutely matters. Absolutely matters. And so go look at the Miami Dolphins with tua. You don't think weather matters. That's why the northern teams generally draft quarterbacks. Big Ben and Bradshaw and Farb and Aaron Rodgers and Joe Flacco, Brady, you want guys with big arms. And so USC's world now is Oregon, Washington, Michigan, Ohio State, Penn State. And if we go to the playoff, we're facing three more bullies. We just don't want to squeeze a Notre Dame game into our November schedule. Another cold weather team every other year. We'd rather have a home warm weather game. I get it. Usc, I've been told from inside the building, wouldn't mind playing Notre Dame, but on their terms. Of course Notre Dame wants the game. Notre Dame needs the game because they're not in a conference. That's why Notre Dame just signed a 12 year deal with Clemson. It guarantees them a great game. They want to sign the same thing with usc. Of course they want it because they don't have Oregon and Washington and their in state rival ucla, the city champion. And then Michigan and Ohio State and Penn State and Wisconsin, they don't have that on the schedule. So of course Notre Dame wants as an independent a guaranteed 1012 year contract. So my take is USC doesn't need it. Usc, probably quietly or not quietly, doesn't want it. And if they do it, they're going to do it on their terms. I totally support that. I've been told inside USC's building they're willing to do it, but they're going to control it, not the team. If Notre Dame wants to play them every year, come join the Big Ten, fine. But if you want to be austere and you're too good for a major conference, this is the downside. You lose leverage against usc. Here's Lincoln Riley talking about the changes in college football.
