Thanks for listening to the Best of Herd podcast. Are you sure to catch us live every weekday from twelve to three eastern, nine to noon Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and FS one. Find your local station for The Herd at Fox Sports Radio dot com, or stream us live every day on the iHeartRadio app by searching Herd. This is the Best of the Herd with Colin Cowhern on Fox Sports Radio. Here we go on a Wednesday, live in Los Angeles. It's the Herd wherever you may be and however you may be listening iHeartRadio, Fox Sports Radio FS one. One hour from now, Joel Klatt stops by. We have a huge college football weekend, a gigantic Saturday, a lot of potential upset. Topsy Turvy can't wait. Jamack is joining us. I was watching the Little NB. I was watching G League basketball last night. You too, huh wow wow. Good night in sports, Aaron Judge, you got Chee lead basketball and now he got Thursday, Friday Saturday football. Colin. It's good to do what we do, isn't it It is. It's a good game. Very fortunate. Yeah, so do Why you know I've been critical over the years of Aaron Rodgers, but there are some things that he is also tolerated. I mean, let's be honest about Aaron Rodgers. They don't have an owner, so he has nobody he can really go to and say, hey, can you get me this? Could we do this? He doesn't have an owner. It's a Midwestern conservative team. It's got a very much a cults field to it. The Packers, it's very conservative, not a lot of big swings. You build those offensive lines, you draft linebackers. Here's an opportunity for green Bay to get uncomfortable, and that's where growth comes from. Odell Beckham and Aaron Rodgers communicate regularly. Yesterday, OBJ on Twitter praising Aaron Rodgers. Aaron Rodgers talking about their relationship. Go get him number one. It's a position of need. You're not a super Bowl team if Romeo Dobbs is your go to number one, because he's not a number one right now. He's a talented three, maybe a two. Odell Beckham's a veteran receiver. Aaron doesn't have to teach him how to run routes. He didn't have to teach him how to be big in big games. Number three. It's not a long term deal, you know, getting bet here for like four years. It's one or a two year deal. It makes Aaron happy. Number four. That matters, keep your quarterback happy. That's why Tom left New England. They didn't make Tom happy. It's why Russell left Seattle. And finally, the NFC is wide open. I mean, the only con here, the only thing that doesn't work is you look at you think to yourself, OBJ and green Bay doesn't matter. This is not a long term acquisition, one two years tops. Growth and greatness comes from Get uncomfortable, same old, same old, five one super Bowl, that's it. Aaron Rodgers one super Bowl, that's it. I mean New England had Brady. They got a pickup truck full of rings, right like when you have an Elway, when you have a when you have a Brady, when you have one of these all time great quarterbacks, you don't have him forever. I mean, the fact that you went from Far to Aaron Rodgers is like going from Peyton Manning to Locke. It just doesn't happen, and so make it happen. Get uncomfortable. Green bayzol is conservative, careful when it comes to trades and acquisitions. They've hit a lot of singles and doubles. AJ Dillon's second round. That's a good double. Take a big swings. Wisconsin. There's an old saying Minnesota nice and Wisconsin is right next door. They're nice out there. Paul Chris was nice Wisconsin football coach. He got fired because nice doesn't beat Ryan Day and Jim Harbaugh, Jannis and the Bucks. They're nice, gonna win more than one. Ring Warriors have like an eight year dynasty. Let's hope it's more than one. Ring Green bas front office, nice, Packers, Nice, built for the future. Draft Jordan Love. How about taking a big swing and a wide receiver. You do realize you're not gonna go from Farve to Aaron Rodgers to another legend. Miami's still trying to find Marino. Denver had to go get Russell Wilson and Peyton Manning because they can't draft an Elway. You're not going to go from far to Rogers to you know, Trevor Lawrence at a college that's almost guaranteed to succeed. It's not gonna happen. So over the next two to three years, appease arand go get a big swing. He made an immediate impact. Again, I wouldn't sign ob J to a four year deal or a three year deal, but I'd bite on a second year if I could get him this year. And all of a sudden, you had Obj to Romeo Dobbs to Christian Watson to Randall Cobb to that tight end to Aaron Jones. Okay, now you move up a tier. Just go back to the Rams. By his second game with the Rams, he made an impact. He was on his way to be an MVP at the Super Bowl. He was. He had a great first half and got hurt. So like you know, when when there's certain things that are sustainable for a long period of time, but when you have an old quarterback that has hinted multiple times about retirement, it's very very possible Aaron plays two more years. Could you could you take one big swing for him? One? Speaking of big swings, Aaron Judge set the new American League single season home run record last night, surpassing Roger Marris. And here it is, here's the one one high. There goes keep bluff in his high hit us far hut us come number sixty two to set the new American records. Aaron Judge hits a sixty second. All the Yankees out of the dugout to greet him. This is Judgment Day, Taste clothes. Good call by John Sterling, who, by the way, is eighty three years old and still doing play by play at a pretty high level. Tom Verducci to me, Peter Gammon's Tom Verduci are probably the best baseball writers that I've over the last twenty years, maybe Roger Angel before that. Verducci had a great line last night, he said, but here again, Judge stands alone. Bonds is the official home run champ. Judge is the authentic champion. One has the official designation Judge. The other is unofficial, but has the prestige of authenticity, which would you rather have. Disappointingly, over half the people generally choose Bonds. I'm not going to preach here. I'm a pretty optimistic guy about America. I don't really live in fear see that all the time. I'm not in the get cliques for business in the political era, you know business. I'm not in that business of scaring people and getting clicks for my business. But my concern about America is actually the growing acceptance of lies and lack of integrity, like from like important people like politicians and CEOs, and sometimes like major newspapers like like hurtful lies and lies of oas in my entire life, there are people that have lied and made a lot of money or gotten acceptance. But when we discovered they were lying, it was over. We the people labeled them as disgraced, infamous, out of the club. But now you the public accept them, you do. I hear it all the time, everybody was doing it. I see it from our politicians. They lie, people still vote for him. I see it from our CEOs. People lie, and you still support the company. I got nothing against Barry Bonds, Mark McGuire and Sammy Sosa taking cattle steroids, all right, But if you're giving me a choice between Aaron Judge who's clean, and those three, yes, it's not even close, right, Like, integrity matters, truth matters, values matter. I know, I'm square, I'm a dad, I'm corny. But sometimes it's on the people too, Not just the sketchy politicians and the sketchy baseball players and the sketchy CEOs. I mean people with real influence changing lives. Lie. I saw some political commentator yesterday, Hey, I just wouldn't. I want to win the Senate. I don't care if this politicians lying. I just want to win. Wow? Is that where we're at? Like like white lies? There's a there's a term for like stuff. You know if your wife asked you a question and you just don't want to get in trouble, or you know, yeah, you want to get out of an appointment at workers. I'm talking big stuff and you know, home run king in sports, it's like big stuff in our little, tiny world. It does matter that Aaron Judge is clean. It does absolutely and it will forever, or at least should. Here's Aaron after getting a chance to do this. You know, with the team, we got the guys surrounding me, you know, the constant support you know from my family who's been with me there, you know through this whole thing is um It's been a it's been a great honor, you know, getting a chance to you know, have my name next to you know, someone as great as Roger, Mary's babe, Ruth those guys is incredible. All right. We got a lot of stuff today. Way to go, Aaron Judge. Uh all time American League home run King six seven, two sixty and that's what a home run hitter should look like. That's what they should look like. I don't know if the Yankees can win it. Do they have the pitching, the Metzer circle in the drain Baseball playoffs got them all set now, But I would love to see Aaron Judge on Fox in the World Series. I think he's great for the sport. Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays and noon Easter nine am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio FS one and the iHeartRadio app. Dak Prescott is not going to lose his job regardless of how well Cooper Rush plays. You're not gonna bench a forty million dollars quarterback. And I think you think most of us think Dak's better than Cooper Rush. But Jerry Jones is poking and stoking things talking about how well unbeaten Cooper Rush has played lately. I just can't say enough about how his play, what it possibly has done for this team this season. Then to give us a chance to sit here after the last three ball games and maybe have the opportunity we've got for the rest of the year, it's amazing and it's far more than I could have ever expected. Yeah, we know, Jerry, you can't say enough. You keep saying it over and over. But announced yesterday was the fact the Rams lost another offensive lineman for the game against the Cowboys. If you take last year's offensive line in the Super Bowl, one guy remains the right tackle. He's really good. Everything else's musical chairs. Andrew Whitworth retired. They're a mess up front, and frankly, the Cowboys are pretty darn good up front. And here comes Cooper Rush as an underdog, and I think a real chance to win. The Rams are last in the NFL and Big plays dead last with McBay and Stafford and Cooper Cup their last below the Bears, and I don't think for about four more weeks it's solvable until they're very good. Center comes back, Brian Allen and Van Jefferson a wide receiver and Alan Robinson gets you know, used to the offense. Right now, it's not solvable. So Dallas has a real chance. Another offensive lineman for the Rams are out. But what this does do, because Dak's not gonna lose his job to Cooper Rush. If you look at the schedule, if Dallas hangs with the Rams and beats them. Dak comes back at Philadelphia Detroit's high powered offense at Green Band Aaron Rodgers at the Vikings, the most brutal stretch of the year. Dad got a bad scheduling break, he opened against Brady and lost, gets hurt, and comes back in the toughest stretch of the season. So he got da This is bad and Dak's not gonna lose his job. But what it will do for sort of the diehard, delusional, overly optimistic Dak fans for the Cowboys, it will prove that Dak has largely been a product of his environment. Early in his career when they had the best Stolne and Zeke in the first two years, the team did not rely on him. It went through Zeke in that online and they won a bunch of games, not a bunch of playoff games. Won won games. Is the O line deteriorated and Zeke deteriorated, Priamari Cooper they weren't as good. So it's nothing against Dak, but there is not a gigantic gap between Dak and Cooper Rush. There's a gap, but the gap between Lamar and Burrow and Herbert and Brady and Mahomes and Alan and their backup. It's the kind of back It's the kind of gap where you literally would have to eliminate twenty five percent of the plays in the playbook. The backup to Mahomes or Alan just can't do what they can do. You can do everything Dac does here with Cooper Rush, ninety five percent of the playbook is in. I'm not anti Dack, but there's been this delusion that somehow he carries the Cowboys when you're backup is unbeaten, and I think they have a real shot to beat the Rams. You are officially a product of your environment. You're better than the backup. But do you think now they're running a completely different offense, it's gonna look pretty much the same when Dak gets back with a slightly more capable and certainly more mobile quarterback. And that's fine, and that's a franchise quarterback, but it's a product of the environment. Dak cannot carry this roster to a super Bowl, either can Cooper Rush. Josh Allen can carry no run game to a super Bowl and a conference championship. His backup case Keenum, probably can't get them to win the division. That's the way it should work. When you have a star franchise quarterback, be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays and non Easter nine a Empacific. So the Athletic, which is a newspaper subscription thing, the New York Time bottom a lot of good riders on that thing. So they had the best regular season records for starting quarterbacks against the single opponent. Brady is nine and oh all time regular season against Atlanta, Patrick Mahomes great player, nine to o against Denver, Brady seven and oh against Alice. Oh, oh, what do we have here? Garoppolo is seven to o against Sean mcvah in the Rams. Oh it must be all Kyle Shanahan. Oh okay, how is this explains a lot with Garoppolo? How anybody enters any industry will largely shape for a long time. How you're viewed. So jamis Winston number one pick? Baker Mayfield number one pick. It was very obvious early there were limitations to both. Winston's got bad judgment is a turnover machine and Baker was just small and not that athletic. Yet media and fans made excuses for Winston and Baker Mayfield for years number one picks it's the culture, it's the owner of the GM, the online, the coach that it's Obj's fault in Cleveland, Oh Brother. Now, conversely, Derek Carr and Garoppolo, the two most disrespected quarterbacks in the league. Both went to small schools Fresno State like wherever Garoppolo went Eastern Illinois. Both were second round picks. Okay, they are fighting for respect and every turn. Derek Carr, in what was one of the most chaotic seasons for any team in twenty years in the better AFC, pulled the Raiders into the playoffs. None of you think he's a top ten quarterback. So let's go back to the forty nine ers, and I think people forget this. So John Lynch and Kyle Shanahan GM coach come together, right, they both get like ten year deals or long deals. John Lynch was here at Fox. He joins Kyle Shannon hand so it's GM coach together. Do you They were taking over a mess attire fire in San Francisco. Do you remember what kind of start they got off to. Garoppolo wasn't there yet and eight same coach GM O line d line, offense, receivers, running back, Garoppolo gets traded before the deadline, has to learn the offense comes in week thirteen and eight. What did Garoppolo do? Five and oo? Nothing changed? The offense didn't change, the left tackle, didn't change, the receivers, the back and eight five and zero, one guy changed. That's it. So Baker Mayfield still has fanboys. It's the second team that unless he gets perfect protection, he's overwhelmed as a losing record. Jameis Winston before this season, he's gonna carry the Saints to the playoffs. Come on, he can't carry on a big drive. Forget a season. So Garoppolo is thirty four and fifteen with two different coaches. By the way, Belichick can't win consistently without Brady. It's acknowledged the quarterback's really important. And I'm not saying Garoppolo's Brady, but Shanahan can't win without Garoppolo, and we give Garoppolo no credit. So never forget this. For the first fifteen years of Tom Brady's career, because the coach was a genius, we called him a system quarterback. And then there was a Seahawk game in the Atlanta game, and then we're like, all right, I guess he's pretty good. Jimmy Garoppolo is pretty good. And this is happening. We're seeing it live again to Jalen Hurts, second round quarterback, a little small replaced at Bama. Have you looked at Jalen Hurts outside of Jalen Hurts against the blitz where as a young quarterback, he is struggling against the blitz. They all do. Mahomes did in his first two year. They all do. It's like year four, year five. Now Mahomes don't blitz him. But the first couple of years one of the ways to get him was put pressure on him. Was one of the first ways to get Aaron Rodgers put heat on him. Now you don't want a blitz. You don't want to blitz Brady Rogers, Mahomes. So Jalen Hurts is going through the same thing. He enters the league as a second round guy viewed small. He's tearing the league up. He is right now, is talking about this to a friend the other day. He's better than Russell Wilson this morning, He's say what you want this morning. He's playing better football. He's harder to defend than Russell Wilson. By the way, Kyler Murray's not running as much. Kyler throws a pretty year ball, but he's harder to defend this morning than Kyler Murray. But Kyler is a number one pick, right, And so it doesn't matter however you enter a company. You could be the best salesperson at a company. But if you start out as some low level executive account executive and you don't have any accounts, but you're just for what you have, you're crushing. It'll take like four years for anybody to pay attention, and they may never view you as a number number one salesperson because they went and hired a guy from across the street or a woman as a number one salesperson. They're the star. Derek Carr, Garoppolo, Jalen Hurt. Russell Wilson, I think after Brady, Russell Wilson is the quintessential example. Got respect in Seattle. It was always the legion of Boom, Richard Sherman. Everybody knocking Russell Wilson. He's like the Rodney Dangerfield of the NFL. Can't get an MVP vote. Russell Wilson, who has been incredible for a decade. I know he's not been great this year, but I mean put some respect on Russell Wilson's name. Oh, by the way, Greg Olson his thoughts on Garoppolo. Here's Greg. This current team that they have, if it stays healthy, I think Jimmy g is the quarterback that they need. I think he distributes the ball, gets it the debot they gotta get killed a little bit more involved. They have a really dynamic and really fun game, which I'm not a huge run game guy, but for them, the way they do it, it's really effective. I think with their defense, if they can stay healthy, with the combination of their run game, the play caller in Shanahan, and the weapons he has at his disposal, I think he's perfect. Now. Is he the Decks quarterback for the next decade? No, for this year? Is he a playoff winning quarterback? He had them in the NFC Championship not too long ago and arguably should have beat the Rams who won the Super Bowl. So I think, for whatever reason, this Shanahan Garoppolo marriage works for this team. And it doesn't mean it would work everywhere. It doesn't mean every quarterback is perfect for every system, but Garoppolo fits this system. All he does is win by the way bad news for the rest of the NFC. Really good safety Jimmy Ward is practicing again, their number two corner is practicing again, and Trent Williams at left tackle will come back eventually again. So they have three high end starters, two on defense that are coming back to the Niners. This is a really I think it's the I think it's the best overall roster when hell, Elijah Mitchell's not back yet. So they've been doing this without their starback, their left tackle, their safety Jimmy Ward, and their number two corners. Jimmy G's go into another Super Bowl. I can't wait for the forty nine him and he goes somewhere old. I can't wait for the forty nine ers to screw this up. All right, this is Jay Glazer, and you may know me for the world of football or fighting or even shows like HBO's Ballers. Well you don't know is for my entire life. I have lived in something I refer to as the gray depression anxiety. So now I'm coming out with a new podcast, Unbreakable, a mental health podcast with Jay Glazer where each week, well we talk about mental health. I hope to describe it give it words. Listen to Unbreakable with Jay Glazer on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. So I told you this weekend upset weekend, keep your eye on Michigan. Emotional, Iowa game, Penn State around the corner, very scary. Let's bring on the Voice of college Football, Jewel Klatt, Fox Sports. So you're doing Michigan Indiana before before we get there. Now, be honest, you don't have to be nice. How did the Iowa fans respond to me? Amazing? And uh they kept saying like, hey, you know, like keep giving it to your daddy. And I was like, I'm sorry, who and and then I was like, no, no, I'm his dad. And They're like, yeah, that's right, that's right, that's right. Yeah. It was good though. I tell you, the Iowa fans they love you, deep down, they love you. Of course I'm very huggable. Okay, So I'm just gonna say it, Fox, we only air Michigan games, so it is a little seriously State next week. I oh, well that's week yeah, and here comes a little Indiana upset alert from Michigan. You know, the issue that Indiana has is that they're just so banged up, you know, and their offense has has really struggled. But when you just look at it in that sense about you go on to go on the road, and this is an Indiana team that under Tom Allen has been pesky and and that's the type of team that could play you close in any given sense. And the one also, the one thing that we haven't really seen what happens if and when J. J. McCarthy throws out a four turnover game. You know, he's a young quarterback. Still, like, if that happens, then you're all of a sudden in a fight like Kayleb Williams had at Oregon State. You know, just kind of all of a sudden, you're like, man, this is way tougher than we expected. That certainly could happen this week. But you and I took a lot of shots from the lamestream media. Let's be honest, it's true about Harbaugh about defending Harba. I think they're the third or fourth best team in the count. I have them third right now. I think they're let's look at your let's get class top ten. Okay, so my top tens are gonna look a little bit different than most. And let me explain why, because I think right off the top people would be like, oh, of course, you've got Ohio State at number one, and why is Georgia number five? Because Georgia can't throw the football. Well, let me explain to you what happened, okay, As I first of all, my rankings are weekly snapshots. What is happening right now. That's the way it should right now. Okay. So in that weekly snapshot, there were only two teams that I considered for the number one team in the country, because you can't consider Georgia the way that they played against Kent State and then the way that they played against Missouri. Hey, I watched the entire Georgia Missouri second half. They should have lost that game. They were on the ropes, on the ropes. They only had their first lead of the game at the four minute mark of the fourth quarter, So they were not in consideration for my top spot. And the way I landed at Ohio State over Alabama is because while I think Alabama is a better overall team, Bryce Young's injured, I don't know the status of their best player, and so from that, I'm like, Okay, so this week in this snapshot, I've got CJ. Stroud in the best offense in the country that I'm just gonna go with him at number one, and Alabama was two. In the second tier of the premium brands, Michigan, Clemson, and Georgia. Here's why Georgia landed at five and not three, And it's very simple for me, because in a weekly snapshot, you were up by only ten points early in the fourth quarter against Kent State at home, and then you went on the road against Missouri, a Missouri team that got beat by twenty eight against Kansas State, and you didn't have your first lead until the four minute mark of the fourth quarter. I'm sorry, but this week you did not earn yourself a spot higher than that. Not when Michigan wins at Iowa, not when Clemson wins in back to back weeks at Wake fours and then home against North Carolina State. Georgia was number five this week, even though I think they're a great team and likely might be in the National Championship game. But you can't play like that in back to back weeks and think that you're going to still be at the top of the ring. I don't want to bring this next story up. I'm being pressured by producer pressure, and you're succumbing to that pressure. I am, oh team player. I don't want to bring this up. Oklahoma is terrible. Oh my god, are terrible. So here's my thing. They're in trouble. This is my Nathaniel Hackett Denver Bronco thing. Oh, in't that bad. I'm a I'm a Bronco Okay Wolf. When you hire a coach, the legitimate coach, Nick Saban solved Alabama's defense by year two. They didn't get the offense pretty until you know, they didn't really get great receivers. McVeigh Rams offense, Lincoln Riley offense, Sean McDermott defense. When you your side of the ball regresses, you got a coordinator. Their defense. I don't want to hear about having to play with my guys they're tackling is terrible. There are blown assignments everywhere. This is a mess. They're one hundred and ninth right now. I'm passing defense. Oklahoma is and and the reason I'm concerned for them because of what you're talking about. This is supposed to be Brent Vinible's identity as the defensive side. And if you look at a nine possession picture from the end of the Kansas State game through the first let's call it, you know, seven possessions of the TCU game, they gave up seven touchdowns, not scores touchdowns in a nine possessions. So something's wrong, right, Like that's their missed assignments and blown coverages are not just small, they are why they are big. And there is a big issue right now for OU. And this is what it comes down to. And the off season and before the year, I said, listen, this might be a tough year for Oklahoma. They might have three or four losses and OU fans were incense. They could not they could not fathom is good now Kansas is good. That's a tough league, Colin, Do you realize what they are missing from their previous run. They lost their head coach who was their play college. They lost two quarterbacks that were five star quarterbacks on um there they're goun They lost a running back that was a three time three years different years, thousand yard Russia and Kennedy Brooks he graduated, and Mario Williams. They lost four of their top five wide receivers. They lost their top defender and tackler, tackles, sacks, TFLs, and interceptions, and you can't just replace that because of the logo on the side of your helmet. It's a great place. Oh you, I've defended you and I will continue to defend you. There is only one Oklahoma but right now, that is not a good football team, and Brent Vnables knows it and has said as such. And with that schedule ahead of them, I think that they probably lose this week in the Red River game against Texas stop in Texas, and I think that they're gonna lose at least one, maybe two more times down the strip Oklahoma State both beat them. Probably, yeah, probably. I mean, there's no chance they get to the Big Twelve championship game. They're basically three games down to Kansas State. Hey, who's two in the Conference GATORA Bowl called not interested already? Wow? Okay, I don't even know if that exists anymore. Okay, So okay, now I see this. I am a man of compassion. Yeah, I mean that last take just that was compassionate. But the OU fans think you're very compassionate. But you know, a lot of times in the Midwest you people are nice in your wave to you know you dry. I remember one time I went jog and in the Midwest. Are you taking a shot at people that wave nicely? No, but it's it's interesting. I went for a jog in South Dakota. I just random guy and I was like doing like five minute miles. So the point is people random people were like waving to me, hey, and I was like, these people are too nice. So my point is Paul Chris got fired, should have and everybody's up in arms. Time out. Here's the momentum, number one, the momentum if you flip his record like Charlie wiss He remember Charlie whis starts here, goes down. You have to make a call. The recruiting's not very good. They've got a great assistant and Jim Leonard, you're not there too, Paul Chris, he doesn't have a persona. There's no buzz. You're not beating these massive personalities. James Franklin, Ryan Dave mel Tucker Harbor on the recruiting trail. You gotta make this move, Okay. So I want to unpack this because I think you bring up an interesting point about Paul Chris in Wisconsin, and I think this was I think this was more mutual than one sided in terms of a decision. I think that even Paul was growing frustrated with the current state of the sport and what he really loves about it and what he was having to be responsible for. The current state of the sport is something where you you really do need more of a CEO and less a football coach at the home of your organization because of having to deal with transfer portal in IL, in IL collectives, all the donors. Coaches are now more in front of donors than they have been in a long time because of these in IL collectives, and then the owners are nitpicking how the coach is spending the money. So it's just different now. And I don't think Paul liked it all that much, And I think that this was mutual. You can tell it was mutual because he agreed to a much lower buyout. If you just get fired and you don't want to be fired, you say pay me my money, you know, And he would have taken all of his sixteen and a half million, But he agreed to a much lower buyout, not just because he's Midwest nice waving at you as you're doing your eight minute miles, not five eight minute miles. But it's not just because he's nice. I think that there was somewhat mutual respect there and he wanted to step away. And I think everybody up there and you brought him up. Jim Leonard, their defensive courses star. Everybody up around Wisconsin wants to see Jim Leonard and how he operates. Let's give this guy a chance here in the last seventy's. I think he'll be good. I do too. I've liked Jim Leonard for a long time. I will say this though, one last thing. Be careful what you wish for. You can say that Church actory wasn't there, that it's stale, and this or that, and guess who else used to say that Nebraska when they fired Frank Solich and when they fired Bo Polini. And look where they're at now. This is a team that's no longer going to have the benefit in the future when they get rid of divisions in the Big Ten, they will no longer have the benefit of beating up on the weaker side of the division and defining themselves as successful by playing in the conference championship game. They will have to elevate their game to get to a point where they can go and still compete in that champion Alvas. Still the ad is Barry Still No, he's not. Okay, I mean he's still involved, but he's not. The takeaway, what's really happening. You got big personalities in the conference. Here comes USC and Lincoln Riley in the LA Schools and Chris Fields like small and it's some plas you might takeaway, I'm a bad guy. I don't waive. It's strangers when you're jogging. Well, I mean listen, that goes without being said. I think we all understand that if we listen daily. Having said that, though, I do think that there was more of a mutual I don't think Paul was in love with being a head coach at this moment. And again the Jim Leonard face. You're on that rock star. They want to see what he can do here down the stretch. Okay, one more Herd. The Herd streams twenty four hours a day, seven days a week within the iHeartRadio app Search Herd to listen live or on demand whenever you like. And there's another story. Producers very are they They're forcing you into this one. So USC is five and oh they force you to talk USC. I know it's painful, okay, but there there is something to be said. Is that because of safety? You know this, both college and pro football are moving to offense. Sure, I mean college guy saw a hit this weekend in the TCO Oklahoma game. I'm not sure it was helmet to helmet. They threw the kid out of here, right right, and I'm like it was shoulder to helmet that you can't throw that TCU kid out of the game. Be that as it may. That's the sport, Okay, So you could be the best newspaper writer in America. Newspapers we get our information on phones now, right, it's the industry the platform that hurts a newspaper writer, not a talent. There's never been more brilliant writers. So sometimes the sport moves away from you, Sheilichick. Sure. So I look at Lincoln Riley and there's real limitations. Defensively, they got one NFL guy in the front seven. They're not close to Ohio State, Georgiabama, Michigan. I don't think right now they're Clemson. They're not. But when I watched that offense, there is a reason that at thirty four his name came up with the Cowboys. They're his ability cable of Williams can be a little moody, that's his reputation. He is young. He is literally brought in four new five new receivers, two new running backs, a left tackle. They are so slick offensively. I think we're looking at Lincoln Riley to me is McVeagh or Shanahan of college football. You know, I think that the most brilliant offensive minds any level, right that just sport sport in general. You can you can say this about the NFL guys, you can say this about college guys. The most brilliant minds and most effective coaches are the ones that don't get bored with the simplicity of success, and that's important. Let me give you a quick story about Lincoln Riley, and keep in mind this is when he cut his teeth right though, So this is one of the most impressionable stories that he's ever told me about learning how to be a coach, and an offensive coach at that he said when when he was an assistant with Texas Tech back in two thousand and eight. So this is the Michael Crabtree Blitt Niccough team that went and beat Texas. That's a great game. And team right, that was an eleven and one team, that Texas Tech team. Well, he said that that team with a bullet niccof receiver, Mike Leach would would have whole practices where the receivers only ran go routes individual period seven on seven and team one play one route the entire practice. And he used to think to himself, this is crazy, this is crazy, like, what are we doing. Michael Crabtree just ran fifteen miles on a Tuesday. What are we doing? And Mike Leach said, you watch, in the most important time of our season, We're going to throw a go route for a touchdown. And guess what the call was to Michael Crabtree in the Texas game. He was double covered. He should have never gotten that ball, but they had thrown a million go routes into double coverages and coverages that you would never throw that, And so they completed it, and he walks into the end zone and they win the game against Texas. And he tells me that story because it lasted with him. He understands that the biggest thing you can do for your players is make it simple for your players and tough on the defense. So they run a very few number of concepts and they do it out of a number of different sets and formations, Bill Walsh. So it looks very difficult and intricate, and oh how do they do All years ago? I talked to it was a former Raider defensive back, and I asked it, what's it like to face? Bill wallsh She said, they ran six plays out of forty looks. That's exactly right, he said it. They ran the same stuff every week, but it looked different every time. In the first forty snaps against Texas two years ago, Lincoln Riley ran thirty eight different sets out of the first forty snaps. Thirty eight different sets for college kids with seventeen hours a week practice, And I guarantee you there was only five or six concepts that they actually ran out of that. So they ran the same power play out of a number of different sets. They ran the same like call it z driver or they call it mesh. They say, all right, we're just gonna run mesh and they run it out of fifteen different sets. And guess what, for the quarterback, it's just always mesh okay. Finally, you know I've said this week one of my themes has been UFC is for tough guys, Basketball's for tall guys, and football is a big man sport. It is, and Kyler Murray is. Russell Wilson has made us believe that height doesn't matter. It does. Kyler Murray now doesn't want to run. Jalen Hurts put on twenty pounds. Lamar's put on and he's not small. And I the comp I use the other day was Aaron Rodgers is my height. He's thirty six pounds heavier than me, but hip shoulders. Aaron walks into a room in America. He is big right by NFL standards. He never looks big. So Tua is a small person. Bryce Young is smaller. He's six foot, one hundred and ninety four. He is hurt and I think he's great. I think he's released his quickness. He's a tremendous talent. But when you watch him, does that translate to the pros because I'm not sure it does. Well. It's a great question. I think it matters what style you are like. For instance, you know Russell Wilson and Kyler Murray and Lamar Jackson. They have to be thick because they're putting themselves in harm's way where styles that they play right, I mean, because they're gonna scramble, create with their with their legs, and not that they aren't great passers, because they are Drew bree He was small, yeah, I mean, I know, like I played with Drew like he's he's not a big guy, but he controlled the game from the pocket, in his mind, with his feet, with his release, with his accuracy. Bryce Young has to be Drew Brees. He cannot go out and be Kyler Murray or Russell Wilson or Lamar Jester. I think people said Tua was breezes Comp. I think he is. Yeah, I think Bryce is more breezes Cod. I think his release is insane and he's smart, yeah, I mean, you can tell he's just some He can see the whole field now, he's a kid, like a lot of guys in the NFL now are learning to see the whole field like he sees the field. Um. There are quarterbacks that use their ability to run as a weapon, and there are quarterbacks that run only when they have to. Bryce is one of the latter. Where he runs only when he has to. Now he can and in the college game, he can do it effectively. And I'm not saying he's a bad athlete, but his his m O and what he is foundationally as a quarterback is a pocket passer with great anticipation and accuracy, a great mind. And so for that reason, I actually think he's just more breeze than any of these shorter guys that have come out in the last couple of years. I just think I'm not betting against this guy. I know he's banged up right now, and he's got the shoulder injury. He's got a little bit of an ac joint in his shoulder. I just don't bet against Bryce Young. I think he's going to be really good, even at the next level. All right, let's go to class's top ten again. I'd probably move George up one spot, but I do get your argument. Stetson Bennett is solid, not great. I'd probably go Ohio State, Bama, whatever. I'd go Michigan three, Georgia four, Clemson five. I think Oklahoma State's a handful. I'd probably put you. I don't like USC at Utah I think is going to get exposed a little bit. I think USC might be in trouble this week. You talk about a look ahead game. You said Michigan might be looking ahead to Penn State. USC might be looking ahead to Utah and that Washington State team. They make a lot of mistake, Sure they do, but that's still a team that had a twelve point lead in the last four minutes against Oregon YEA, and they're four and one at home loss because they make too many mistakes. I get it. If if Cameron Ward does not throw interceptions, then Washington State is certainly going to cover this thing. Your almost list looks like a march madness. I got us CLA in there in Kansas. Way to go Kansas. I mean, how good of a coach is a guy at Kansas. Watch out for UCLA this against Utah because Utah's looking ahead too. They might be looking But here's the deal is that there's only one team really in the Pac twelve that can stand up and physically match up against Utah, and I think it's UCLA. Ucla is the second best rushing team in the Pack twelve, and they're the best running defense in the Pac twelve. They're pretty good up front. Watch out for the Bruins this week. All right, Clatt, go on the road. Now where's that at Indiana? Yeah, in Bloomington. About six connecting flights to get there. I mean, how do you get No, our President is from Indiana, so it's one flight. You live a life, I tell you, isn't it good? But don't worry. As we fly over the Midwest, I'll be waving. Joe Klatt, voice of Fox College Football,

Thanks for listening to the Best of Herd podcast. Are you sure to catch us live every weekday from twelve to three eastern, nine to noon Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and FS one. Find your local station for The Herd at Fox Sports Radio dot com, or stream us live every day on the iHeartRadio app by searching Herd. This is the Best of the Herd with Colin Cowhern on Fox Sports Radio. Here we go on a Wednesday, live in Los Angeles. It's the Herd wherever you may be and however you may be listening iHeartRadio, Fox Sports Radio FS one. One hour from now, Joel Klatt stops by. We have a huge college football weekend, a gigantic Saturday, a lot of potential upset. Topsy Turvy can't wait. Jamack is joining us. I was watching the Little NB. I was watching G League basketball last night. You too, huh wow wow. Good night in sports, Aaron Judge, you got Chee lead basketball and now he got Thursday, Friday Saturday football. Colin. It's good to do what we do, isn't it It is. It's a good game. Very fortunate. Yeah, so do Why you know I've been critical over the years of Aaron Rodgers, but there are some things that he is also tolerated. I mean, let's be honest about Aaron Rodgers. They don't have an owner, so he has nobody he can really go to and say, hey, can you get me this? Could we do this? He doesn't have an owner. It's a Midwestern conservative team. It's got a very much a cults field to it. The Packers, it's very conservative, not a lot of big swings. You build those offensive lines, you draft linebackers. Here's an opportunity for green Bay to get uncomfortable, and that's where growth comes from. Odell Beckham and Aaron Rodgers communicate regularly. Yesterday, OBJ on Twitter praising Aaron Rodgers. Aaron Rodgers talking about their relationship. Go get him number one. It's a position of need. You're not a super Bowl team if Romeo Dobbs is your go to number one, because he's not a number one right now. He's a talented three, maybe a two. Odell Beckham's a veteran receiver. Aaron doesn't have to teach him how to run routes. He didn't have to teach him how to be big in big games. Number three. It's not a long term deal, you know, getting bet here for like four years. It's one or a two year deal. It makes Aaron happy. Number four. That matters, keep your quarterback happy. That's why Tom left New England. They didn't make Tom happy. It's why Russell left Seattle. And finally, the NFC is wide open. I mean, the only con here, the only thing that doesn't work is you look at you think to yourself, OBJ and green Bay doesn't matter. This is not a long term acquisition, one two years tops. Growth and greatness comes from Get uncomfortable, same old, same old, five one super Bowl, that's it. Aaron Rodgers one super Bowl, that's it. I mean New England had Brady. They got a pickup truck full of rings, right like when you have an Elway, when you have a when you have a Brady, when you have one of these all time great quarterbacks, you don't have him forever. I mean, the fact that you went from Far to Aaron Rodgers is like going from Peyton Manning to Locke. It just doesn't happen, and so make it happen. Get uncomfortable. Green bayzol is conservative, careful when it comes to trades and acquisitions. They've hit a lot of singles and doubles. AJ Dillon's second round. That's a good double. Take a big swings. Wisconsin. There's an old saying Minnesota nice and Wisconsin is right next door. They're nice out there. Paul Chris was nice Wisconsin football coach. He got fired because nice doesn't beat Ryan Day and Jim Harbaugh, Jannis and the Bucks. They're nice, gonna win more than one. Ring Warriors have like an eight year dynasty. Let's hope it's more than one. Ring Green bas front office, nice, Packers, Nice, built for the future. Draft Jordan Love. How about taking a big swing and a wide receiver. You do realize you're not gonna go from Farve to Aaron Rodgers to another legend. Miami's still trying to find Marino. Denver had to go get Russell Wilson and Peyton Manning because they can't draft an Elway. You're not going to go from far to Rogers to you know, Trevor Lawrence at a college that's almost guaranteed to succeed. It's not gonna happen. So over the next two to three years, appease arand go get a big swing. He made an immediate impact. Again, I wouldn't sign ob J to a four year deal or a three year deal, but I'd bite on a second year if I could get him this year. And all of a sudden, you had Obj to Romeo Dobbs to Christian Watson to Randall Cobb to that tight end to Aaron Jones. Okay, now you move up a tier. Just go back to the Rams. By his second game with the Rams, he made an impact. He was on his way to be an MVP at the Super Bowl. He was. He had a great first half and got hurt. So like you know, when when there's certain things that are sustainable for a long period of time, but when you have an old quarterback that has hinted multiple times about retirement, it's very very possible Aaron plays two more years. Could you could you take one big swing for him? One? Speaking of big swings, Aaron Judge set the new American League single season home run record last night, surpassing Roger Marris. And here it is, here's the one one high. There goes keep bluff in his high hit us far hut us come number sixty two to set the new American records. Aaron Judge hits a sixty second. All the Yankees out of the dugout to greet him. This is Judgment Day, Taste clothes. Good call by John Sterling, who, by the way, is eighty three years old and still doing play by play at a pretty high level. Tom Verducci to me, Peter Gammon's Tom Verduci are probably the best baseball writers that I've over the last twenty years, maybe Roger Angel before that. Verducci had a great line last night, he said, but here again, Judge stands alone. Bonds is the official home run champ. Judge is the authentic champion. One has the official designation Judge. The other is unofficial, but has the prestige of authenticity, which would you rather have. Disappointingly, over half the people generally choose Bonds. I'm not going to preach here. I'm a pretty optimistic guy about America. I don't really live in fear see that all the time. I'm not in the get cliques for business in the political era, you know business. I'm not in that business of scaring people and getting clicks for my business. But my concern about America is actually the growing acceptance of lies and lack of integrity, like from like important people like politicians and CEOs, and sometimes like major newspapers like like hurtful lies and lies of oas in my entire life, there are people that have lied and made a lot of money or gotten acceptance. But when we discovered they were lying, it was over. We the people labeled them as disgraced, infamous, out of the club. But now you the public accept them, you do. I hear it all the time, everybody was doing it. I see it from our politicians. They lie, people still vote for him. I see it from our CEOs. People lie, and you still support the company. I got nothing against Barry Bonds, Mark McGuire and Sammy Sosa taking cattle steroids, all right, But if you're giving me a choice between Aaron Judge who's clean, and those three, yes, it's not even close, right, Like, integrity matters, truth matters, values matter. I know, I'm square, I'm a dad, I'm corny. But sometimes it's on the people too, Not just the sketchy politicians and the sketchy baseball players and the sketchy CEOs. I mean people with real influence changing lives. Lie. I saw some political commentator yesterday, Hey, I just wouldn't. I want to win the Senate. I don't care if this politicians lying. I just want to win. Wow? Is that where we're at? Like like white lies? There's a there's a term for like stuff. You know if your wife asked you a question and you just don't want to get in trouble, or you know, yeah, you want to get out of an appointment at workers. I'm talking big stuff and you know, home run king in sports, it's like big stuff in our little, tiny world. It does matter that Aaron Judge is clean. It does absolutely and it will forever, or at least should. Here's Aaron after getting a chance to do this. You know, with the team, we got the guys surrounding me, you know, the constant support you know from my family who's been with me there, you know through this whole thing is um It's been a it's been a great honor, you know, getting a chance to you know, have my name next to you know, someone as great as Roger, Mary's babe, Ruth those guys is incredible. All right. We got a lot of stuff today. Way to go, Aaron Judge. Uh all time American League home run King six seven, two sixty and that's what a home run hitter should look like. That's what they should look like. I don't know if the Yankees can win it. Do they have the pitching, the Metzer circle in the drain Baseball playoffs got them all set now, But I would love to see Aaron Judge on Fox in the World Series. I think he's great for the sport. Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays and noon Easter nine am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio FS one and the iHeartRadio app. Dak Prescott is not going to lose his job regardless of how well Cooper Rush plays. You're not gonna bench a forty million dollars quarterback. And I think you think most of us think Dak's better than Cooper Rush. But Jerry Jones is poking and stoking things talking about how well unbeaten Cooper Rush has played lately. I just can't say enough about how his play, what it possibly has done for this team this season. Then to give us a chance to sit here after the last three ball games and maybe have the opportunity we've got for the rest of the year, it's amazing and it's far more than I could have ever expected. Yeah, we know, Jerry, you can't say enough. You keep saying it over and over. But announced yesterday was the fact the Rams lost another offensive lineman for the game against the Cowboys. If you take last year's offensive line in the Super Bowl, one guy remains the right tackle. He's really good. Everything else's musical chairs. Andrew Whitworth retired. They're a mess up front, and frankly, the Cowboys are pretty darn good up front. And here comes Cooper Rush as an underdog, and I think a real chance to win. The Rams are last in the NFL and Big plays dead last with McBay and Stafford and Cooper Cup their last below the Bears, and I don't think for about four more weeks it's solvable until they're very good. Center comes back, Brian Allen and Van Jefferson a wide receiver and Alan Robinson gets you know, used to the offense. Right now, it's not solvable. So Dallas has a real chance. Another offensive lineman for the Rams are out. But what this does do, because Dak's not gonna lose his job to Cooper Rush. If you look at the schedule, if Dallas hangs with the Rams and beats them. Dak comes back at Philadelphia Detroit's high powered offense at Green Band Aaron Rodgers at the Vikings, the most brutal stretch of the year. Dad got a bad scheduling break, he opened against Brady and lost, gets hurt, and comes back in the toughest stretch of the season. So he got da This is bad and Dak's not gonna lose his job. But what it will do for sort of the diehard, delusional, overly optimistic Dak fans for the Cowboys, it will prove that Dak has largely been a product of his environment. Early in his career when they had the best Stolne and Zeke in the first two years, the team did not rely on him. It went through Zeke in that online and they won a bunch of games, not a bunch of playoff games. Won won games. Is the O line deteriorated and Zeke deteriorated, Priamari Cooper they weren't as good. So it's nothing against Dak, but there is not a gigantic gap between Dak and Cooper Rush. There's a gap, but the gap between Lamar and Burrow and Herbert and Brady and Mahomes and Alan and their backup. It's the kind of back It's the kind of gap where you literally would have to eliminate twenty five percent of the plays in the playbook. The backup to Mahomes or Alan just can't do what they can do. You can do everything Dac does here with Cooper Rush, ninety five percent of the playbook is in. I'm not anti Dack, but there's been this delusion that somehow he carries the Cowboys when you're backup is unbeaten, and I think they have a real shot to beat the Rams. You are officially a product of your environment. You're better than the backup. But do you think now they're running a completely different offense, it's gonna look pretty much the same when Dak gets back with a slightly more capable and certainly more mobile quarterback. And that's fine, and that's a franchise quarterback, but it's a product of the environment. Dak cannot carry this roster to a super Bowl, either can Cooper Rush. Josh Allen can carry no run game to a super Bowl and a conference championship. His backup case Keenum, probably can't get them to win the division. That's the way it should work. When you have a star franchise quarterback, be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays and non Easter nine a Empacific. So the Athletic, which is a newspaper subscription thing, the New York Time bottom a lot of good riders on that thing. So they had the best regular season records for starting quarterbacks against the single opponent. Brady is nine and oh all time regular season against Atlanta, Patrick Mahomes great player, nine to o against Denver, Brady seven and oh against Alice. Oh, oh, what do we have here? Garoppolo is seven to o against Sean mcvah in the Rams. Oh it must be all Kyle Shanahan. Oh okay, how is this explains a lot with Garoppolo? How anybody enters any industry will largely shape for a long time. How you're viewed. So jamis Winston number one pick? Baker Mayfield number one pick. It was very obvious early there were limitations to both. Winston's got bad judgment is a turnover machine and Baker was just small and not that athletic. Yet media and fans made excuses for Winston and Baker Mayfield for years number one picks it's the culture, it's the owner of the GM, the online, the coach that it's Obj's fault in Cleveland, Oh Brother. Now, conversely, Derek Carr and Garoppolo, the two most disrespected quarterbacks in the league. Both went to small schools Fresno State like wherever Garoppolo went Eastern Illinois. Both were second round picks. Okay, they are fighting for respect and every turn. Derek Carr, in what was one of the most chaotic seasons for any team in twenty years in the better AFC, pulled the Raiders into the playoffs. None of you think he's a top ten quarterback. So let's go back to the forty nine ers, and I think people forget this. So John Lynch and Kyle Shanahan GM coach come together, right, they both get like ten year deals or long deals. John Lynch was here at Fox. He joins Kyle Shannon hand so it's GM coach together. Do you They were taking over a mess attire fire in San Francisco. Do you remember what kind of start they got off to. Garoppolo wasn't there yet and eight same coach GM O line d line, offense, receivers, running back, Garoppolo gets traded before the deadline, has to learn the offense comes in week thirteen and eight. What did Garoppolo do? Five and oo? Nothing changed? The offense didn't change, the left tackle, didn't change, the receivers, the back and eight five and zero, one guy changed. That's it. So Baker Mayfield still has fanboys. It's the second team that unless he gets perfect protection, he's overwhelmed as a losing record. Jameis Winston before this season, he's gonna carry the Saints to the playoffs. Come on, he can't carry on a big drive. Forget a season. So Garoppolo is thirty four and fifteen with two different coaches. By the way, Belichick can't win consistently without Brady. It's acknowledged the quarterback's really important. And I'm not saying Garoppolo's Brady, but Shanahan can't win without Garoppolo, and we give Garoppolo no credit. So never forget this. For the first fifteen years of Tom Brady's career, because the coach was a genius, we called him a system quarterback. And then there was a Seahawk game in the Atlanta game, and then we're like, all right, I guess he's pretty good. Jimmy Garoppolo is pretty good. And this is happening. We're seeing it live again to Jalen Hurts, second round quarterback, a little small replaced at Bama. Have you looked at Jalen Hurts outside of Jalen Hurts against the blitz where as a young quarterback, he is struggling against the blitz. They all do. Mahomes did in his first two year. They all do. It's like year four, year five. Now Mahomes don't blitz him. But the first couple of years one of the ways to get him was put pressure on him. Was one of the first ways to get Aaron Rodgers put heat on him. Now you don't want a blitz. You don't want to blitz Brady Rogers, Mahomes. So Jalen Hurts is going through the same thing. He enters the league as a second round guy viewed small. He's tearing the league up. He is right now, is talking about this to a friend the other day. He's better than Russell Wilson this morning, He's say what you want this morning. He's playing better football. He's harder to defend than Russell Wilson. By the way, Kyler Murray's not running as much. Kyler throws a pretty year ball, but he's harder to defend this morning than Kyler Murray. But Kyler is a number one pick, right, And so it doesn't matter however you enter a company. You could be the best salesperson at a company. But if you start out as some low level executive account executive and you don't have any accounts, but you're just for what you have, you're crushing. It'll take like four years for anybody to pay attention, and they may never view you as a number number one salesperson because they went and hired a guy from across the street or a woman as a number one salesperson. They're the star. Derek Carr, Garoppolo, Jalen Hurt. Russell Wilson, I think after Brady, Russell Wilson is the quintessential example. Got respect in Seattle. It was always the legion of Boom, Richard Sherman. Everybody knocking Russell Wilson. He's like the Rodney Dangerfield of the NFL. Can't get an MVP vote. Russell Wilson, who has been incredible for a decade. I know he's not been great this year, but I mean put some respect on Russell Wilson's name. Oh, by the way, Greg Olson his thoughts on Garoppolo. Here's Greg. This current team that they have, if it stays healthy, I think Jimmy g is the quarterback that they need. I think he distributes the ball, gets it the debot they gotta get killed a little bit more involved. They have a really dynamic and really fun game, which I'm not a huge run game guy, but for them, the way they do it, it's really effective. I think with their defense, if they can stay healthy, with the combination of their run game, the play caller in Shanahan, and the weapons he has at his disposal, I think he's perfect. Now. Is he the Decks quarterback for the next decade? No, for this year? Is he a playoff winning quarterback? He had them in the NFC Championship not too long ago and arguably should have beat the Rams who won the Super Bowl. So I think, for whatever reason, this Shanahan Garoppolo marriage works for this team. And it doesn't mean it would work everywhere. It doesn't mean every quarterback is perfect for every system, but Garoppolo fits this system. All he does is win by the way bad news for the rest of the NFC. Really good safety Jimmy Ward is practicing again, their number two corner is practicing again, and Trent Williams at left tackle will come back eventually again. So they have three high end starters, two on defense that are coming back to the Niners. This is a really I think it's the I think it's the best overall roster when hell, Elijah Mitchell's not back yet. So they've been doing this without their starback, their left tackle, their safety Jimmy Ward, and their number two corners. Jimmy G's go into another Super Bowl. I can't wait for the forty nine him and he goes somewhere old. I can't wait for the forty nine ers to screw this up. All right, this is Jay Glazer, and you may know me for the world of football or fighting or even shows like HBO's Ballers. Well you don't know is for my entire life. I have lived in something I refer to as the gray depression anxiety. So now I'm coming out with a new podcast, Unbreakable, a mental health podcast with Jay Glazer where each week, well we talk about mental health. I hope to describe it give it words. Listen to Unbreakable with Jay Glazer on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. So I told you this weekend upset weekend, keep your eye on Michigan. Emotional, Iowa game, Penn State around the corner, very scary. Let's bring on the Voice of college Football, Jewel Klatt, Fox Sports. So you're doing Michigan Indiana before before we get there. Now, be honest, you don't have to be nice. How did the Iowa fans respond to me? Amazing? And uh they kept saying like, hey, you know, like keep giving it to your daddy. And I was like, I'm sorry, who and and then I was like, no, no, I'm his dad. And They're like, yeah, that's right, that's right, that's right. Yeah. It was good though. I tell you, the Iowa fans they love you, deep down, they love you. Of course I'm very huggable. Okay, So I'm just gonna say it, Fox, we only air Michigan games, so it is a little seriously State next week. I oh, well that's week yeah, and here comes a little Indiana upset alert from Michigan. You know, the issue that Indiana has is that they're just so banged up, you know, and their offense has has really struggled. But when you just look at it in that sense about you go on to go on the road, and this is an Indiana team that under Tom Allen has been pesky and and that's the type of team that could play you close in any given sense. And the one also, the one thing that we haven't really seen what happens if and when J. J. McCarthy throws out a four turnover game. You know, he's a young quarterback. Still, like, if that happens, then you're all of a sudden in a fight like Kayleb Williams had at Oregon State. You know, just kind of all of a sudden, you're like, man, this is way tougher than we expected. That certainly could happen this week. But you and I took a lot of shots from the lamestream media. Let's be honest, it's true about Harbaugh about defending Harba. I think they're the third or fourth best team in the count. I have them third right now. I think they're let's look at your let's get class top ten. Okay, so my top tens are gonna look a little bit different than most. And let me explain why, because I think right off the top people would be like, oh, of course, you've got Ohio State at number one, and why is Georgia number five? Because Georgia can't throw the football. Well, let me explain to you what happened, okay, As I first of all, my rankings are weekly snapshots. What is happening right now. That's the way it should right now. Okay. So in that weekly snapshot, there were only two teams that I considered for the number one team in the country, because you can't consider Georgia the way that they played against Kent State and then the way that they played against Missouri. Hey, I watched the entire Georgia Missouri second half. They should have lost that game. They were on the ropes, on the ropes. They only had their first lead of the game at the four minute mark of the fourth quarter, So they were not in consideration for my top spot. And the way I landed at Ohio State over Alabama is because while I think Alabama is a better overall team, Bryce Young's injured, I don't know the status of their best player, and so from that, I'm like, Okay, so this week in this snapshot, I've got CJ. Stroud in the best offense in the country that I'm just gonna go with him at number one, and Alabama was two. In the second tier of the premium brands, Michigan, Clemson, and Georgia. Here's why Georgia landed at five and not three, And it's very simple for me, because in a weekly snapshot, you were up by only ten points early in the fourth quarter against Kent State at home, and then you went on the road against Missouri, a Missouri team that got beat by twenty eight against Kansas State, and you didn't have your first lead until the four minute mark of the fourth quarter. I'm sorry, but this week you did not earn yourself a spot higher than that. Not when Michigan wins at Iowa, not when Clemson wins in back to back weeks at Wake fours and then home against North Carolina State. Georgia was number five this week, even though I think they're a great team and likely might be in the National Championship game. But you can't play like that in back to back weeks and think that you're going to still be at the top of the ring. I don't want to bring this next story up. I'm being pressured by producer pressure, and you're succumbing to that pressure. I am, oh team player. I don't want to bring this up. Oklahoma is terrible. Oh my god, are terrible. So here's my thing. They're in trouble. This is my Nathaniel Hackett Denver Bronco thing. Oh, in't that bad. I'm a I'm a Bronco Okay Wolf. When you hire a coach, the legitimate coach, Nick Saban solved Alabama's defense by year two. They didn't get the offense pretty until you know, they didn't really get great receivers. McVeigh Rams offense, Lincoln Riley offense, Sean McDermott defense. When you your side of the ball regresses, you got a coordinator. Their defense. I don't want to hear about having to play with my guys they're tackling is terrible. There are blown assignments everywhere. This is a mess. They're one hundred and ninth right now. I'm passing defense. Oklahoma is and and the reason I'm concerned for them because of what you're talking about. This is supposed to be Brent Vinible's identity as the defensive side. And if you look at a nine possession picture from the end of the Kansas State game through the first let's call it, you know, seven possessions of the TCU game, they gave up seven touchdowns, not scores touchdowns in a nine possessions. So something's wrong, right, Like that's their missed assignments and blown coverages are not just small, they are why they are big. And there is a big issue right now for OU. And this is what it comes down to. And the off season and before the year, I said, listen, this might be a tough year for Oklahoma. They might have three or four losses and OU fans were incense. They could not they could not fathom is good now Kansas is good. That's a tough league, Colin, Do you realize what they are missing from their previous run. They lost their head coach who was their play college. They lost two quarterbacks that were five star quarterbacks on um there they're goun They lost a running back that was a three time three years different years, thousand yard Russia and Kennedy Brooks he graduated, and Mario Williams. They lost four of their top five wide receivers. They lost their top defender and tackler, tackles, sacks, TFLs, and interceptions, and you can't just replace that because of the logo on the side of your helmet. It's a great place. Oh you, I've defended you and I will continue to defend you. There is only one Oklahoma but right now, that is not a good football team, and Brent Vnables knows it and has said as such. And with that schedule ahead of them, I think that they probably lose this week in the Red River game against Texas stop in Texas, and I think that they're gonna lose at least one, maybe two more times down the strip Oklahoma State both beat them. Probably, yeah, probably. I mean, there's no chance they get to the Big Twelve championship game. They're basically three games down to Kansas State. Hey, who's two in the Conference GATORA Bowl called not interested already? Wow? Okay, I don't even know if that exists anymore. Okay, So okay, now I see this. I am a man of compassion. Yeah, I mean that last take just that was compassionate. But the OU fans think you're very compassionate. But you know, a lot of times in the Midwest you people are nice in your wave to you know you dry. I remember one time I went jog and in the Midwest. Are you taking a shot at people that wave nicely? No, but it's it's interesting. I went for a jog in South Dakota. I just random guy and I was like doing like five minute miles. So the point is people random people were like waving to me, hey, and I was like, these people are too nice. So my point is Paul Chris got fired, should have and everybody's up in arms. Time out. Here's the momentum, number one, the momentum if you flip his record like Charlie wiss He remember Charlie whis starts here, goes down. You have to make a call. The recruiting's not very good. They've got a great assistant and Jim Leonard, you're not there too, Paul Chris, he doesn't have a persona. There's no buzz. You're not beating these massive personalities. James Franklin, Ryan Dave mel Tucker Harbor on the recruiting trail. You gotta make this move, Okay. So I want to unpack this because I think you bring up an interesting point about Paul Chris in Wisconsin, and I think this was I think this was more mutual than one sided in terms of a decision. I think that even Paul was growing frustrated with the current state of the sport and what he really loves about it and what he was having to be responsible for. The current state of the sport is something where you you really do need more of a CEO and less a football coach at the home of your organization because of having to deal with transfer portal in IL, in IL collectives, all the donors. Coaches are now more in front of donors than they have been in a long time because of these in IL collectives, and then the owners are nitpicking how the coach is spending the money. So it's just different now. And I don't think Paul liked it all that much, And I think that this was mutual. You can tell it was mutual because he agreed to a much lower buyout. If you just get fired and you don't want to be fired, you say pay me my money, you know, And he would have taken all of his sixteen and a half million, But he agreed to a much lower buyout, not just because he's Midwest nice waving at you as you're doing your eight minute miles, not five eight minute miles. But it's not just because he's nice. I think that there was somewhat mutual respect there and he wanted to step away. And I think everybody up there and you brought him up. Jim Leonard, their defensive courses star. Everybody up around Wisconsin wants to see Jim Leonard and how he operates. Let's give this guy a chance here in the last seventy's. I think he'll be good. I do too. I've liked Jim Leonard for a long time. I will say this though, one last thing. Be careful what you wish for. You can say that Church actory wasn't there, that it's stale, and this or that, and guess who else used to say that Nebraska when they fired Frank Solich and when they fired Bo Polini. And look where they're at now. This is a team that's no longer going to have the benefit in the future when they get rid of divisions in the Big Ten, they will no longer have the benefit of beating up on the weaker side of the division and defining themselves as successful by playing in the conference championship game. They will have to elevate their game to get to a point where they can go and still compete in that champion Alvas. Still the ad is Barry Still No, he's not. Okay, I mean he's still involved, but he's not. The takeaway, what's really happening. You got big personalities in the conference. Here comes USC and Lincoln Riley in the LA Schools and Chris Fields like small and it's some plas you might takeaway, I'm a bad guy. I don't waive. It's strangers when you're jogging. Well, I mean listen, that goes without being said. I think we all understand that if we listen daily. Having said that, though, I do think that there was more of a mutual I don't think Paul was in love with being a head coach at this moment. And again the Jim Leonard face. You're on that rock star. They want to see what he can do here down the stretch. Okay, one more Herd. The Herd streams twenty four hours a day, seven days a week within the iHeartRadio app Search Herd to listen live or on demand whenever you like. And there's another story. Producers very are they They're forcing you into this one. So USC is five and oh they force you to talk USC. I know it's painful, okay, but there there is something to be said. Is that because of safety? You know this, both college and pro football are moving to offense. Sure, I mean college guy saw a hit this weekend in the TCO Oklahoma game. I'm not sure it was helmet to helmet. They threw the kid out of here, right right, and I'm like it was shoulder to helmet that you can't throw that TCU kid out of the game. Be that as it may. That's the sport, Okay, So you could be the best newspaper writer in America. Newspapers we get our information on phones now, right, it's the industry the platform that hurts a newspaper writer, not a talent. There's never been more brilliant writers. So sometimes the sport moves away from you, Sheilichick. Sure. So I look at Lincoln Riley and there's real limitations. Defensively, they got one NFL guy in the front seven. They're not close to Ohio State, Georgiabama, Michigan. I don't think right now they're Clemson. They're not. But when I watched that offense, there is a reason that at thirty four his name came up with the Cowboys. They're his ability cable of Williams can be a little moody, that's his reputation. He is young. He is literally brought in four new five new receivers, two new running backs, a left tackle. They are so slick offensively. I think we're looking at Lincoln Riley to me is McVeagh or Shanahan of college football. You know, I think that the most brilliant offensive minds any level, right that just sport sport in general. You can you can say this about the NFL guys, you can say this about college guys. The most brilliant minds and most effective coaches are the ones that don't get bored with the simplicity of success, and that's important. Let me give you a quick story about Lincoln Riley, and keep in mind this is when he cut his teeth right though, So this is one of the most impressionable stories that he's ever told me about learning how to be a coach, and an offensive coach at that he said when when he was an assistant with Texas Tech back in two thousand and eight. So this is the Michael Crabtree Blitt Niccough team that went and beat Texas. That's a great game. And team right, that was an eleven and one team, that Texas Tech team. Well, he said that that team with a bullet niccof receiver, Mike Leach would would have whole practices where the receivers only ran go routes individual period seven on seven and team one play one route the entire practice. And he used to think to himself, this is crazy, this is crazy, like, what are we doing. Michael Crabtree just ran fifteen miles on a Tuesday. What are we doing? And Mike Leach said, you watch, in the most important time of our season, We're going to throw a go route for a touchdown. And guess what the call was to Michael Crabtree in the Texas game. He was double covered. He should have never gotten that ball, but they had thrown a million go routes into double coverages and coverages that you would never throw that, And so they completed it, and he walks into the end zone and they win the game against Texas. And he tells me that story because it lasted with him. He understands that the biggest thing you can do for your players is make it simple for your players and tough on the defense. So they run a very few number of concepts and they do it out of a number of different sets and formations, Bill Walsh. So it looks very difficult and intricate, and oh how do they do All years ago? I talked to it was a former Raider defensive back, and I asked it, what's it like to face? Bill wallsh She said, they ran six plays out of forty looks. That's exactly right, he said it. They ran the same stuff every week, but it looked different every time. In the first forty snaps against Texas two years ago, Lincoln Riley ran thirty eight different sets out of the first forty snaps. Thirty eight different sets for college kids with seventeen hours a week practice, And I guarantee you there was only five or six concepts that they actually ran out of that. So they ran the same power play out of a number of different sets. They ran the same like call it z driver or they call it mesh. They say, all right, we're just gonna run mesh and they run it out of fifteen different sets. And guess what, for the quarterback, it's just always mesh okay. Finally, you know I've said this week one of my themes has been UFC is for tough guys, Basketball's for tall guys, and football is a big man sport. It is, and Kyler Murray is. Russell Wilson has made us believe that height doesn't matter. It does. Kyler Murray now doesn't want to run. Jalen Hurts put on twenty pounds. Lamar's put on and he's not small. And I the comp I use the other day was Aaron Rodgers is my height. He's thirty six pounds heavier than me, but hip shoulders. Aaron walks into a room in America. He is big right by NFL standards. He never looks big. So Tua is a small person. Bryce Young is smaller. He's six foot, one hundred and ninety four. He is hurt and I think he's great. I think he's released his quickness. He's a tremendous talent. But when you watch him, does that translate to the pros because I'm not sure it does. Well. It's a great question. I think it matters what style you are like. For instance, you know Russell Wilson and Kyler Murray and Lamar Jackson. They have to be thick because they're putting themselves in harm's way where styles that they play right, I mean, because they're gonna scramble, create with their with their legs, and not that they aren't great passers, because they are Drew bree He was small, yeah, I mean, I know, like I played with Drew like he's he's not a big guy, but he controlled the game from the pocket, in his mind, with his feet, with his release, with his accuracy. Bryce Young has to be Drew Brees. He cannot go out and be Kyler Murray or Russell Wilson or Lamar Jester. I think people said Tua was breezes Comp. I think he is. Yeah, I think Bryce is more breezes Cod. I think his release is insane and he's smart, yeah, I mean, you can tell he's just some He can see the whole field now, he's a kid, like a lot of guys in the NFL now are learning to see the whole field like he sees the field. Um. There are quarterbacks that use their ability to run as a weapon, and there are quarterbacks that run only when they have to. Bryce is one of the latter. Where he runs only when he has to. Now he can and in the college game, he can do it effectively. And I'm not saying he's a bad athlete, but his his m O and what he is foundationally as a quarterback is a pocket passer with great anticipation and accuracy, a great mind. And so for that reason, I actually think he's just more breeze than any of these shorter guys that have come out in the last couple of years. I just think I'm not betting against this guy. I know he's banged up right now, and he's got the shoulder injury. He's got a little bit of an ac joint in his shoulder. I just don't bet against Bryce Young. I think he's going to be really good, even at the next level. All right, let's go to class's top ten again. I'd probably move George up one spot, but I do get your argument. Stetson Bennett is solid, not great. I'd probably go Ohio State, Bama, whatever. I'd go Michigan three, Georgia four, Clemson five. I think Oklahoma State's a handful. I'd probably put you. I don't like USC at Utah I think is going to get exposed a little bit. I think USC might be in trouble this week. You talk about a look ahead game. You said Michigan might be looking ahead to Penn State. USC might be looking ahead to Utah and that Washington State team. They make a lot of mistake, Sure they do, but that's still a team that had a twelve point lead in the last four minutes against Oregon YEA, and they're four and one at home loss because they make too many mistakes. I get it. If if Cameron Ward does not throw interceptions, then Washington State is certainly going to cover this thing. Your almost list looks like a march madness. I got us CLA in there in Kansas. Way to go Kansas. I mean, how good of a coach is a guy at Kansas. Watch out for UCLA this against Utah because Utah's looking ahead too. They might be looking But here's the deal is that there's only one team really in the Pac twelve that can stand up and physically match up against Utah, and I think it's UCLA. Ucla is the second best rushing team in the Pack twelve, and they're the best running defense in the Pac twelve. They're pretty good up front. Watch out for the Bruins this week. All right, Clatt, go on the road. Now where's that at Indiana? Yeah, in Bloomington. About six connecting flights to get there. I mean, how do you get No, our President is from Indiana, so it's one flight. You live a life, I tell you, isn't it good? But don't worry. As we fly over the Midwest, I'll be waving. Joe Klatt, voice of Fox College Football,