THE HERD with Colin Cowherd

Hour 1: Thank God for the Expanded Expanded Playoff
Host: Jonas Knox (in for Colin Cowherd)
Date: September 1, 2025
Podcast: iHeartPodcasts and The Volume

Episode Overview

In this episode, Jonas Knox sits in for Colin Cowherd to break down the first explosive weekend of the college football season under the expanded College Football Playoff format. He explores how the new playoff rules are transforming the stakes for top programs, lets rip on the overreaction to Arch Manning’s tough opener, and delivers a fiery takedown of the Dallas Cowboys’ logic in their shocking Micah Parsons trade. Sprinkled throughout are signature Herd takes, relatable sports-life analogies, and lively banter with producer Lee—just in time for the kickoff of a new football season.

Main Theme

The impact and necessity of the expanded College Football Playoff
Jonas argues the new playoff format saves college football teams from being unfairly punished by a single loss, encourages tougher non-conference scheduling, and increases overall excitement for fans and teams alike.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Expanded Playoff: Why College Football Needed It

• The Labor Day weekend extravaganza kicks off an intense college football season, with top teams facing challenging openers.
• Jonas celebrates the playoff expansion, explaining it gives teams real chances to recover from early losses, making the season less “boxing” and more “MMA”—where a defeat is “not the end of the world” (06:30).
• He spotlights last season’s Ohio State, who, after losing to Michigan, still went on to win the title—a scenario once unimaginable.
• Broader playoff means “teams can take risks” in their schedules, mirroring legendary fighters who earned respect by accepting tough bouts rather than protecting perfect records (05:45).

Memorable Quote:

“A loss isn’t the end of the world... It’s why people loved Manny Pacquiao over Floyd Mayweather. Mayweather was undefeated, but Pacquiao had balls—he took dangerous fights!”
—Jonas Knox (06:30)

2. Atmosphere vs. Execution: Early Season Messiness

• Despite “sloppy games—turnovers, weather, first-game jitters,” Jonas says the atmosphere and passion of college ball makes up for it.
• Points out that college teams don’t get a preseason, which leads to opening-week chaos but also creates opportunities for redemption through the expanded playoff (09:50).

3. Media Overreaction: The Arch Manning Circus

• Interviews and commentary surrounding Arch Manning’s tough start at Ohio State are roundly mocked.
• Jonas plays Arch’s post-game humility clip (14:00), notes he’s only in his third-ever start, and slams the “unrealistic” hype machine that prematurely tagged Manning as a Heisman favorite.
• Compares this to Johnny Manziel and RG3, who weren’t early season darlings but emerged as stars unexpectedly.
• Jonas blames media, not Manning, for setting up impossible standards and demands patience:

“We’re two pages into the book and everyone’s calling it the greatest novel ever written!” (17:12)

4. The Micah Parsons Trade: Cowboys' Discord or Dysfunction?

• Jonas ridicules attempts to blame the Parsons trade on locker room personality issues, referencing a report from Albert Breer that Micah Parsons is “seen as egotistical and self-centered” (23:50).
• Contrasts this explanation with the Cowboys’ long history of tolerating eccentric or troubled stars as long as they could play.
• Argues that sometimes “crazy can’t be fixed”—it’s just a bad, nonsensical move by the franchise, and Green Bay simply capitalized.

Notable Moment:

“It was a crazy decision to trade Micah Parsons. Sometimes you just can’t explain away crazy.”
—Jonas Knox (26:35)

5. Lively Banter: Sports Life Lessons and Herdline News

• Producer Lee and Jonas spar over a viral US Open autograph controversy (Fastest hands wins, life isn’t fair!) and the logic behind the 49ers wearing white uniforms to combat heat at Levi’s Stadium.
• Jonas rails against the NFL fining Shilo Sanders, makes fun of kids’ obsession with autographs, and draws humorous analogies to real-life lessons:

“There’s no losing. You win or you learn. And hopefully that kid learned.” (31:49)

6. NFL Preseason Ratings Surge: The NFL's Growing Gap

• Jonas highlights new data showing NFL preseason ratings are up 17% over last year, averaging 2.2 million viewers (40:26).
• Asserts this proves the NFL's “gap is widening” over other sports—star-driven leagues can’t match the league’s built-in demand.
• The NFL’s dominance isn’t star-dependent; it’s about fan investment in teams and the relentless football calendar.

Key Quote:

“The NFL had the foresight to be like, ‘You know what, we could really take this thing over… We’d be doing better ratings in our preseason than other sports in their regular season.’ And that’s what’s happening.”
—Jonas Knox (43:30)

Noteworthy Quotes & Moments (with Timestamps)

• On College Football Playoff Expansion:
  “Thank God for the expanded College Football Playoff, because man… a lot of teams out there now know a loss isn’t the end.”
  —Jonas Knox (04:30)

• Atmosphere over Execution:
  “You want to know how good of a game Ohio State–Texas was? People were trying to figure out if Ryan Day had a nipple piercing!”
  —Jonas Knox (08:35)

• On Media Hype Machine (Arch Manning):
  “Who pushed this notion out there? It was unrealistic—the entire idea that Arch Manning would be the next big thing after two starts.”
  —Jonas Knox (15:50)

• On Cowboys’ Micah Parsons Trade:
  “If somebody can play, you’re willing to overlook whatever issues they have off the field… You can’t make sense of any of this.”
  —Jonas Knox (26:40)

• On NFL’s Growing Dominance:
  “The NFL’s got a big lead over everybody else and it’s not changing anytime soon.”
  —Jonas Knox (44:50)

Timestamps for Important Segments

• 03:45 – Jonas Knox introduces the expanded playoff theme
• 05:00–09:30 – College football excitement & impact of expanded playoffs
• 13:30–19:00 – Arch Manning opening struggles, media reaction, Manning’s post-game comments
• 23:44–28:40 – Micah Parsons trade, locker room dynamics, Cowboys dysfunction
• 28:55–34:31 – Herdline News with Lee: US Open incident, NFL fines, stadium heat insights
• 40:30–45:00 – NFL preseason ratings up, football’s dominance over other sports

Episode Takeaways

• The expanded playoff is a net positive: mistakes and tough early matchups won’t doom a college football season, increasing suspense and rewarding risk-takers.
• Media and fan hype around young athletes (like Arch Manning) can be radically premature and even unfair.
• Attempts to rationalize the Cowboys’ baffling Micah Parsons trade are insufficient—sometimes, organizations just make crazy decisions.
• The NFL continues to separate itself from every other sport in America, with even preseason games drawing massive interest.

For Further Discussion

• Is the expanded playoff ultimately good for parity—or does it risk diminishing the regular season’s meaning?
• How should media and fans recalibrate their expectations for freshman (or third-start) college QBs?
• Will the NFL’s strategy of year-round engagement (draft hype, preseason, expanding playoff, etc.) ever reach a saturation point?

For more from Jonas (and Colin), follow @TheHerd or @TheJonasKnox on X and tune in daily for candid, unflinching sports talk.