Thanks for listening to the Best of Herd podcast. Be 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. It is a Thursday Night, Thursday Day live in LA. It's the Herd wherever you may be, however you may be listening. Thursday night will be big tonight, Packers, Titans, Packers season essentially, if you look at their record, you look at their schedule, their season comes down tonight. We have the Warriors story as well. That will be our second story to start to show today. Warriors are really struggling. They are old and eight on the road. I watched the first half last night, went to bed early last night. Watch the first half. They're not playing a ton of defense. There's a lot of different issues there. So are defending NFL champs are in the tank, are defending NBA chank champs, are reeling completely And that's kind of where we are today. Yeah, there's one easy solution for the Warriors. His initials are Kevin Durant. That's the solution, Yes, sir, I think it's getting close to KD Time. Back to Golden State, Colin young guys, Clay Thompson. Wow, that's inpicy to start the show, huh? Is all right? So let's start with tonight the green Bay Packers. So for the last twenty something years, they've been in that Super Bowl bubble. I mean, that was that last Aaron Rodgers McCarthy year. You know, Aaron got hurt. Record was kind of bad. But green Bay has been in the top of this league, hovering around the top. A super Bowl team kind of around there right for like feels like forever they go far to Aaron Rodgers. I mean, Aaron's first year isn't great, last year with McCarthy not great. And here we are now and this morning they're four and six, And let's look at the Green Bay Packers schedule. They are not gonna win at Philadelphia and they are not gonna win at Miami. I know, cheeseheads, you also thought they were gonna win the division this year. They're not winning those games. So they have to win tonight, and if they win tonight, beat the Bears at Chicago won't be easy. Beat the Rams, beat Minnesota, even though at home not easy, better team this year, better roster, and beat Detroit at home. Detroit just won't Chicago and one they can score points. So I'm saying, basically, if they win tonight and win the games, that won't be easy, but should could With Aaron Rodgers, they are at best nine and eight. But in the NFC, you may we talked about this yesterday, you may be able to sneak into the wild card with that. Maybe. So tonight is everything for the Packers. Oh, by the way, the Titans have announced multiple starters are not playing, just like last week, multiple starters not playing at in the fact that's at Lambeau at in the fact it is a short week and they have to go on the road. Green Bay needs to win. Green Bay should win. And if green Bay doesn't win, I know what you're saying, Oh, you're gonna blame Aaron Rodgers. Nope, Tonight is absolutely on Matt Lafloor because Mike Vrabel, in my opinion, is a top three or four coach in this league. The fact that he got his team on the road at Arrowhead to overtime without getting a first down. Was one of the most remarkable things I've seen. The fact that last week Denver off of bye goes in never gets into the red zone. Wow, Tennessee is spectaculary coached. Green Bay's got some really good players, including a first ballot Hall of Fame quarterback. Let's go back to that five game losing streak for the Packers. There were three OH moments in that, all on Matt Lafleur the Giants game in London. Green Bay came out, scripted plays, took a lead, and then Brian dayball and that's when we really started talking about Brian Dable out schemed, out, maneuver, out clevered Matt Lafleur, and the Giants dominate the last quarter and beat the Packers. Daniel Jones and that roster beat the Packers. That was the first OH. The second the Jets Robert Slow was Zach Wilson going to Lambeau and completely shut down Matt Lafleur, and Aaron Rodgers the third OH blowing a lead against Taylor Heineke Washington. Now think about this with Aaron Rodgers and a better roster than all three teams. The Packers are not rebuilding. Matt Lafleur lost to Daniel Jones, Zach Wilson, and Taylor Heineke with a better roster and Aaron Rodgers, oh oh tonight at home, short week, better quarterback, healthier roster. If Matt la Floor can't beat Rabel here, he's not beating him. I mean, this is really built for you. There's been I've been on this Matt Lafloor thing for several years. You guys have annointed him a great coach, show me where beating the Bears and Lions doesn't qualify. And now Minnesota loaded offensive coach humiliated green Bay first matchup tonight, Green Bay loses. Playoffs are done twenty years, mostly great tonight. It's on the floor. It's not on Aaron Rodgers, not on the rest of the rogerer. It's not on Aaron Jones, it's not on the rookie receiver. So I'm at la flour You look on paper, got to win this game. One coach is great in this game. Is the other good enough with all these advantages to win? We shall see. So the Warriors, defending champs are six and nine. There's a lot of good young teams in this league. Golden State's an older team and they're oh and eight in the road. They're not playing good defense. Steph Curry has been unbelievable, a plus plus plus plus. He's been unbelievable. So Steve Kerr talked about the current plight after losing to the Suns last night. So there's no collective grit. We lack grit right now. We're playing We're playing a Drew League game right now. If you really compete together, shots go win, calls go your way, breaks fall your way, and we're not earning any of that stuff. That's why we're winless on the road. There's no execution at either end, no sort of commitment to the group to get three stops in a road to execute on offense. And it obviously starts with me, all right. So I made a call yesterday afternoon to a friend of mine who covers the Warrior, smart guy, and I said, what's the issue? And there are several for Golden State. Number one is the bench is a little too young. The starters are a little too old and getting older. And Steve Kerr is trying to bridge it. So Clay Thompson, so many injuries, will probably never be the old Clay Thompson. Draymond Green eleven years dude plays incredibly physical basketball. It's hard, hard to stay in your prime playing that style of basketball. Jordan Poole just got haid. Let's be honest about him. He's a streaky, inconsistent player. He's not a starter on a good team. He was a late first rounder in the G League. He is streaky, he can get really hot, but he's not a star player in this league. They paid him sort of like one. So right now Steve Kerr is trying to bridge the gap. And Steve Kerr, like his protege Phil Jackson, really smart and deals with veteran players. But if you ask Phil Jackson or Steve Kerr, hey, you want to teach these young guys how to play, it's hard. And they have a sort of a react offense, you know, move react, it's quick, it's nimble. It's hard for younger players. And Steve kers a great coach. But on our read and react offense, you've got act nimbly, be twitchy, be quick, cominga moody wiseman. They're just not there. Yet that's why some of the better war Your teams have had old guys like andre Iguadala on the bench. So the good news for the Warriors, They've got assets. Jamac just talked about it. If they had to, you know, make a big move, they have assets, young old Number two is excellent front office, great GM and number three is here's the guy you're not moving, Steph Curry. Gotta have a start win championships in this league. And Curry is just crushing it. He is absolutely unbelievable. But if you watch him play, they're trying to do what's very very difficult in the NBA bridge old players getting older fast, young players not quite there yet. And here is the solution, making a big, big move. You know, Kevin Durant's not terribly happy in Brooklyn. The Warriors aren't terribly happy with a slow development of their really talented young guys. Crazier things have happened. Steve Kerr smart, but he maybe maybe a guy that isn't a perfect fit trying to teach guys how to play basketball. And the truth is Andrew Wiggins, Draymond Green, Steph Curry. Their timeline is now know how to win now know how to play. Now We'll keep you posted very interesting oh and eight in the road, six and nine overall, be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays in noon Easter nine am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio FS one and the iHeartRadio app. So I'm looking at PF. PF's been around for a while and they have their highest graded quarterbacks so far in the NFL this year. Some names you'd expect, some names you would not. Tua is number one, followed by Mahomes, Josh Allen, Geno Smith, and Jalen Hurts. So Tua is the one that everybody's going WHOA, WHOA? Colin Well, we had predicted they'll make the playoffs and two would have a very very good season. Who is Miami? What is Miami? Let me throw this one at you. They're the forty nine ers of the AFC. Think about this, Where the coach come from? What's the offense they run? It's the forty nine Ers. Like the forty nine ers, Miami has a quarterback with an injury history and some physical limitations. But like the Niners, the Miami quarterback is super accurate and with a little protection, very productive. The Miami quarterback, like the Niner quarterback, has lots of playmakers and a world class left tackle to protect him. And eventually that San Francisco quarterback gets into the playoffs and you realize, against Mahomes and the Super Bowl Stafford and the NFC champion and Chip, we have the second best guy at the most important position. And I think that's what Miami will eventually see. It'll be Burrow or Mahomes or Lamar, Jackson or Josh Allen, and you'll be saying, boy, we need to play and we don't. We don't quite have the guy Miami. I've seen it before. It's called San Francisco. The difference, of course, is San Francisco's got a much much better defense, Pro bowlers everywhere, Hall of famers on that defense. I had both the Niners and Miami making the playoffs. I had neither winning the Super Bowl. Unfortunately for Tua in Miami. The road to the Super Bowl it is a litany of world class quarterbacks. Burrow and Alan and Mahomes and Lamar. What if Herbert sneaks in in the NFC, Garoppolo mayface Gino Smith, Jay Hurts could be good. Never won a playoff game. Kirk Cousins tends to shrink in big games. But if you're wondering who Miami is, it's San Francisco without the defense. Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays and noon Eastern a Empacific. Mac Jones plays Zach Wilson, and it's not going to be the sexiest game. But I went this morning and I looked at some numbers. Mac Jones has regressed badly. He is no better now than Zack Wilson, who it feels like the JAF. I mean, Zach Wilson's a kid. They're managing around him. And I was just looking at some numbers adjusted yards per attempt success rate QBAR touchdowns. It's mac Jones is struggling. And I've said this before. I'm not sure Belichick is ideally built for twenty twenty two football. Nobody's saying he's less intelligent, but twenty twenty two football is a back that can move, drafting and developing weapons offensively, and just a general feel for offense. For safety reasons, the NFL has pivoted to make the game safer. The middle of the field is now not for safeties. It's for tight ends and wide receivers. Brady saw it coming and left town. Mac Jones, a kid, has already complained about it. Nick Saban is Belichick's best friend in coaching, but Saban did pivot. Saban was willing to hire some coaches that he was uncomfortable with and had some baggage. Lane Kiffin and at the time Sark. Bama is now more about quarterbacks, wide receivers, running backs, an offensive lineman. Eight years ago, Bama was about corners, defensive linemen, and linebackers. Belichick, I don't know if it's stubborn, but he's not pivoting. Look at the most improved team in the league this year. Who is it? It's the Vikings. Really good, smart defensive coach to a kid offensive coach turn the season around last year. Last year Bengals. Bengals get to a Super Bowl offensive coach final four teams in the playoffs last year all had offensive coaches. Philly the number one seed, a coach we thought was over his head. Butcher is opening press conference, number one seed NFC offensive coach. It's listen to flip phone still works, but it's not a smart phone, and you start looking at a team we think is great. Buffalo defensive coach starting unravel, not refined, don't feel like they're well coached, can't develop a run game four years in. Sometimes you're a real smart guy. You're in an industry. In the industry changes, Saban saw it and quickly pivoted. Now it is college football, so you know, that's obviously a lower level of coaching. The coaching at the NFL level is very, very good. Doesn't mean Belichick is less smart, but you know, it's it's funny. For a while, I live near Hartford, Connecticut, on the East Coast, and you know, in the fifties and sixties, it was the insurance capital of America, and that's where people put their money in the fifties and sixties insurance. And then the sixties and seventies it was about banking, and they didn't really pivot to that. And then the eighties and nineties was about Wall Street, and Hartford didn't really pivot to that. Now it's about tech, and Hartford kind of one of the one of those world they call kind of dead American cities. The fifties and sixties when insurances where you put your money, pooh, Hartford rocked, and then I went into banking, and then all street and now it's into tech and they just don't feel very vibrant. Still a beautiful, beautiful part of the country. You gotta adapt. And I look at New England. They don't have an offensive coordinator on the staff. They may have the weakest wide receiving corps in the league. Their quarterback Young has already verbalized it he's regressing badly. And welcome the Jets with one of the best pass rushes in the National Football League. You know, I said this, I think about a year ago, and I got some pushback. You know how some people they say some business ideas, you just came up with the idea too early, Like my Space. We weren't ready for my Space, and a few years later Facebook, we were ready for Facebook. Right Like my Facebook was basically my Space, I think, with more privacy, if I've read it right. But sometimes somebody comes up with an idea and in the market's just not ready for it. And sometimes there are people, you know, Bill Gates is born in nineteen oh eight's he's not gonna that brain maybe not function with the nineteen o eight economy. And I look at Andy Reid. Andy Reid was able to get to Super Bowls, not win one, but dominate big chunks of the NFC for years when all the rules or most leaned defense. Now they lean offense, and Belichick struggling to win. What if Andy Reid in his career that you couldn't have hit upstairs years ago the rules safety, if the league was more aware of it twenty five years ago was more of an offensive league, it would be Andy Reid with the Super Bowls and Belichick without them. If Annie Reid can coach another ten eleven years in this league, and he's an older guy, but if he did and win several Super Bowls, which I think is very possible, they should be favored to win this year. And he's already got one, and Annie Reid ends up with four Super Bowls and Belichick struggles. I think the debate of greatest coach in this era it won't be as lobsided as it feels today. And he was ahead of his time. Andy Reid on third down when he was in Philadelphia, third and four, third and three, and he was the first coach in this league that said that's a passing down, that's a short passing down. He was one of the first coaches really used, really used the tight end, really saw a third and two. It could be a passing down. So it's I just think sometimes the world changes and doesn't make you less smart, but you're just not You're not built for it. You're not going to adapt to it. You're older, stuck in your ways. I'll give Pete Carroll crudit. At seventy years old, he went and got a little uncomfortable with Shane Waldron and a lot of those draft picks this year were offensive lineman, offensive guys. Pete loves his defense. It's paying off. So I Belichick's a great coach. But man, they don't even have an oc Their weapons are terrible, they can't draft them. They're not developing a cornerback. Mike Zimmer is a great coach. Vikings are significantly better without him. Not that Mike Zimmer got dumb. Mike Zimmer did not a coach, but it's you know again, the flip phone is still a phone, but it's not a smartphone. Polly Fusco here with Tony Fusco. Of course, you know us as the host of the number one rated Polly and Tony Fusco Show the world right now. We all know you sick and tired of these stupid sports shows where a host say stupid things like Tom Brady's the goat or Lebron James is good at basketball, which he is clearly not. See. We give you smart takes, and we also bring on so called famous guests from across the sports world and show them why we know much more than they build the show. Listen to the Folly and Tony Fusco Show on the IHOT Radio app, Apple podcast or wherever you get your podcasts. I do think the Packers, I do you like? They've been a very good Thursday night team. They're at Lambeau. Aaron Rodgers, though, is currently tenth in passer rating in the league and twenty fifth in QBR quarterback rating. He's still very talented, still throws a really pretty ball, but let's be honest, he lacks the horsepower of Josh Allen. He's not the playmaker of Lamar Jackson. He's not as coachable or talented as Patrick Mahomes. I don't think he's as accurate anymore as Tua or Burrow, and certainly doesn't play with the guts of Herbert or Burrow, willing to throw it down the field at any time anywhere. I wonder is Aaron a little bit? And hear me out here becoming the antique store. You've gone to an antique store before with your wife, your girlfriend, and you're like, oh, look at that. That is awesome, that is so historic. Should we buy it? And your wife says, well, it doesn't really fit where we're gonna put it. It's awesome like looking at it. But Aaron Rodgers now is really expensive and is not really totally committed in the off season and keeps talking about retirement. And we all know this, this isn't even a shot. I'd tell him if he was here. Can be a little prickly. The last three years, the NFL has given us some really talented quarterbacks. Burrow looks like Trevor Lawrence and Justin Fields are just too good not to work. We've got Jalen Hurts, Herbert, Joe Burrow. A lot of these guys are coming in and what do they all have in common. They're cheap, they're completely committed in the off season, They're not prickily. You can surround him with a lot of talent Aaron's paid fifty large a year, fifty millions, like one of the top cap hits in the league. Tom Brady a void becoming the antique store because he's always been incredibly committed in the offseason and connected to young teammates, and because he doesn't want to be the highest paid player at any time in the league. But we've all gone to that antique store. They're fun. You hang around him for an hour, You're like, man, that is cool, that is awesome, that is great, that is historic. And they don't really fit. Think he wins tonight, should win tonight. But you start looking around at this league and you start looking around what's happening. I said this the other day for crappy NFL teams. Here is the good news is that college football now looks more like the NFL than ever before. You go back on YouTube and look up nineteen sixties, seventies and early eighties college football and some of those goofy offenses they ran. But now college football in the NFL, the coaching, the schemes, they look very similar. And two years ago we got we got we got four or five, six, seven quarterbacks in the last two years that have gone college to pro and they're gonna make it and they're gonna be stars very quickly. History of the NFL, it averages about one quarterback a year goes college to pro and is a star. Franchise quarterback Fields looks like he could be Burrow Is two of this year is Herbert Is Trevor Lawrence looks like he will be a lot of talent out there. But once you say give me the most money, and once you're not committed totally in the off season, once you start bringing up retirement, it's fun to go to the antique store. How much of that stuff actually fits in your house? I know the history is cool. I know it's awesome. Would you want it in your house? Would you want it on your team? One more Herd. The Herd streams twenty four hours a day, seven days a week within the iHeartRadio app. Search Herd to listen live on demand whenever you like. Well, I said, I didn't see how it was possible that USC, I said, I think they're gonna lose three games. I don't know who they're too, but you're you're asking too. I watch Pete Carroll go six and six in his first year. It's hard to turn around a program. Well, Lincoln Riley's done it. They're nine and one. They're a play on the road in not the greatest officiated game, just my opinion, from being undefeated. They play UCLA in what will be one of the smartest offensive games of the year between Chip and Lincoln. Let me just start with this Caleb. Before the season started, I asked somebody who I trust dearly NFL background, I said, what do you think of Caleb Williams? I said, I just watch a little bit at Oklahoma. He goes, you are gonna just not believe it, And I said, what do you mean? He said, I'm not gonna give it away. So if somebody had never seen Caleb Williams and you had to describe him in a minute about what makes him special, go for it. A really really unique skill set. Um you know, talks about the the athletic guys and what they can do, and he has a cool athletic skill set. The way that he can move brake tackles his threat as a runner. But then but you combine that with an arm that is and a vision for the game that's that's really really unique, especially for a guy his age. You know, you see touch throws, you see the bombs down the field, you see um, you know, kind of layered passes in the middle of the middle of the defense. I mean, he really can from a skill set wise do it all change arm angles, um, And then you know he's got a cool and tangible side to him too. He's a good leader, he's a competitor. He's done a good job here early on our time here at sc helping bring this this roster together and really being a leader that way. So now it's fun. It's been fun to see the guy's progress. I mean, he obviously did a really nice job for us in year one there at Oklahoma in the back half of the year, but he's certainly playing at a much higher level right now. Well, Baker, Kyler, Jalen Hurt, you all got him in the Heisman race. Caleb, in my opinion, is as talented as any of those. Now. Travis Die a little bit of the heart and soul, I think just a grown up had been around the conference players like he got hurt in his backup running back is like crying, like it's like they loved him. Are you concerned? I think you'll be productive in the run game. But are you concerned his spirit, his pass blocking. He did a lot of little things you see, but a lot of fans may not know how concern are you about that loss? Yeah, Travis still is in a lot of ways the heartbeat of this team. I mean, so much of our energy and competitiveness, you know, came from him, and it will still come from him, just in a different way. He brought him mentality to the practice field, the way he competed every day, that really had a big impact on this program, especially here in year one and being so early. So you're right, We've got some other good players that we think we'll be ready to go produce. We certainly expect them too, but you don't replace Travis die all he brought to the team, all he did on the field, off the field, I mean, he was certainly one of our most valuable players and obviously wished m a speed recovery. And our guys they want to they want to honor him, they want to you know, show him their their respect and love. Then they need to go play the game the way he did. And if we do that, we'll be okay. Yeah, I was. I think with the last time I talked to you. I said, you know, this transfer portal is going to be fine, but You're like, you brought on a third of another team. I'm like, personalities, different cultures, and I'm like, this is a lot of moving parts, and yet this is the closest team I've ever seen at USC that. I mean, when a kid drops a ball, he'll go to the sideline, kids rally around him. Is it um? It's been a very rewarding season. Has it been one of the more challenging seasons because you have different players, schemes, programs. Some of these kids are from the East, the South, the north. Has it been challenging the portal and bringing it all together? Honestly, Colin, it was challenging to to bring it all together, to get all the people here, to get them settled, to make those choices on who you were going to bring in, and then in the beginning to kind of implement it all and put everybody on the same page. But this season, I think a lot of good teams, like you don't have those headaches, right the players, they handle a lot of the things internally. There's not a lot of dissension in the locker room. There's not a lot of selfish guys in the locker room. It's very team first, and I've felt that the whole way. In some ways, the season's been easier than a few that I've been through through the years, just because of how well this team has got along in the camaraderie, and I think how much they all want to win for each other. We certainly have a lot of guys with individual goals and we want them to have that. But I do think this team very much believes in the team concept. You can see it with the way we've played and the way we have come together on such short notice. Listen, you can't solve all your issues in one offseason. You and Brian Kelly at LSU have gotten darned close, but it's you know, it's a competitive battlefield out there recruiting, so teams have been able to run against you. Now you face UCLA, and as clever as you are offensively, Chip is really smart and his run games are just a pain to defend. And that's been a little bit of a liability for you. Do you have to take more chances defensively? How do you get him off the field? I mean, the way to beat USC to me would be get Caleb Williams off the field, Like, are you concerned about that? That that run game and some limitations defensively you could accomplish. Yeah, that'll be a big part of the game. I mean, Chip has always done a tremendous job offensively, and he's got several guys obviously that have played a lot of ball for him. You know, clearly, you know Charbonnet and dtr have have played a lot of ball. They're both very productive players. They've got a good offensive line, good skill around them, and so that's a challenge, and I think the thing you gotta do is you've got to make sure and be very disciplined in the way you play, because they're gonna throw a lot of different looks at you and get you off your game, and then you gotta and then you gotta finish the plays, right. That's the one thing that shows up with these guys are good enough players that a lot of times people are there and they still don't get them down. So we've got to be able to get guys on the ground. We've got to be able to finish plays. And then the flip side is when we get a chance to make those big plays defensively of our own. We got to go make them and put that back on them. You've been in a lot of big games. Red rivers, shootout, bedlam. Those are big games, rivalry games, you know. I was talking one time Peyton Manning said this. He said, you have an NFL regular season game, then you have division games, and then you have playoff games. He goes, they all feel different. So, I mean the battle for Los Angeles. You've been in some of these games. As a coach, you know, I can see a young coach over coaching overthinking do you enter a rivalry game? Is there anything is do you have to, like, for instance, young players, A lot of these guys played against each other in high school. Is it a different approach playing UCLA this week. I don't know if it's a different approach, but I think you have to like identify with the guys and like everybody's understanding, it is going to feel different. You're right, like these games they are different. There is and then when you add in, obviously all the opportunities on the back end of this game. Sure, I mean it's it's the atmosphere is going to feel different, the excitement's going to feel different. Is there games? Especially for guys who on the West Coast, they've been watching, you know, all their lives and now that they get a chance to participate in it. So I think we certainly realize that and understand that. But then it goes back to, okay, it's going to feel different. Now, what do we have to do to go play well in this game? And you and that comes down to the plan that you lay out for them as coaches and then players. They have to take that plan, believe in it, go into an environment and an atmosphere like that, and go put it on display the entire game for four or full quarters and longer if needed. And that is that's mentality. So this will be the first one of these that we've been in together. We're going to lay out a plan for our guys and hopefully they approach it as well as they have most of the other challenges this season. You know, the one part that you inherited, it's pretty interesting. I always thought last couple of years USC's old line was a little underrated, and you said very early when you took the program over, you said, we don't really have to rebuild that part. There's players here I just saw something yesterday. It's the number one rated offensive line in the country or one or two? Is that? If I said to you, is there a pleasant surprise in this job because you had to rebuild it? Would it be the old line? Right? That's fair to say. It's definitely one of them. I had. You had guys you could tell when we got in here, even early on on that old line, that wanted to win, that wanted to do it throughout way. You could tell that would be building blocks, not just like for the old line, but like the entire team, right, Like, these are the kind of guys from a cultural standpoint that we want to have, and it was cool to have that from the beginning. Yeah, we can build it around these guys. And obviously that position being so critical really worked out in our favor. So it's a great group. We've got some guys that played a lot of ball that this place means the world too. Josh Hinson, our line coach, has done a tremendous job with them, and they've they've played at a high level really the entire year. Okay, so you basically put together a recruiting class on hope and optimism. Now you've got a lot of wins. I mean, you've had over five hundred yards I think in four streak. Let me see, look at the line here, forty plus points in five hundred plus totally yards in the last month every game. So now when you go recruit, it's and we told you what was going to look like, here's what it looks like. Are you noticing Lincoln in roads nationally regionally? Are you sensing the ascension of what your game plan was for that? We absolutely are. It's you're right. It's the guys that jumped on here early had to do it with kind of the idea of USC being good. Obviously, obviously USC has been good for a long time, but here in recent years they hadn't seen that, and so they had to believe in, you know, what we were bringing in the staff, this kind of new era. And I'm glad now that all those recruits out there are able to see the trajectory of this, because I think it is real and it's very real what this place has been and what it can be again, and we think it's well on its way to doing that. And so it is it's being able to recruit once you have some of that proof and once you have that proof of concept, it's so much easier because you can say, look, all right, here's what happened, here's a trajectory, put yourself in that position, what does that look like? And how far can we take this? It's fun to think about. Obviously, there's a lot a lot going on right now, a lot of great opportunities for this team. But when you look at the future, it's hard not to be pretty excited. Yeah, you know, it's interesting when I watch your teams. You really not just to suck up here. But I was telling a friend, is that I can see your coaching. I can see your coaching. I'll be like, Oh, that's really clever. Oh that's I like what he's doing here. There was a couple of things you did at the Arizona game, and I was like, with a buddy, I'm like that. They know. It's funny the feeling out process to football. I sometimes watch you and I can sense your game plan, but you do a lot of stuff half to half. I see an impact in that. What's your favorite part from whistle to whistle? What is your favorite part on Saturday? That's a good question. Uh, probably the close games, like the type moments, especially like the fourth quarter when teams are teams are tired. You've played a lot of reps, it's been a it's been a battle, and like now it's going to all be decided, you know, right here in this moment, and there's there's no where to hide. And I think that that competition, both the players on the field the coach is making the best decisions they can, you know, getting in those you know, late game two minutes scenarios. I think that's the best. I mean, I love all parts of it. I've always loved the competition that the great college football provides, and but the end of games and having to really rally and finish as a team, especially on the road, there's nothing better. Yeah, I'm glad you enjoy those. I don't like the close games, to be honest with you, I don't like them at all, And I really don't at all. I'm glad you're having the time of your life because I'm on the couch not having the time of my life watching those things. Lincoln, Congratulations nine and one UCLA the game of the day in college football. So much fun to watch and what a pleasure. Thanks for stopping by. Coaching anytime. I don't

Thanks for listening to the Best of Herd podcast. Be 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. It is a Thursday Night, Thursday Day live in LA. It's the Herd wherever you may be, however you may be listening. Thursday night will be big tonight, Packers, Titans, Packers season essentially, if you look at their record, you look at their schedule, their season comes down tonight. We have the Warriors story as well. That will be our second story to start to show today. Warriors are really struggling. They are old and eight on the road. I watched the first half last night, went to bed early last night. Watch the first half. They're not playing a ton of defense. There's a lot of different issues there. So are defending NFL champs are in the tank, are defending NBA chank champs, are reeling completely And that's kind of where we are today. Yeah, there's one easy solution for the Warriors. His initials are Kevin Durant. That's the solution, Yes, sir, I think it's getting close to KD Time. Back to Golden State, Colin young guys, Clay Thompson. Wow, that's inpicy to start the show, huh? Is all right? So let's start with tonight the green Bay Packers. So for the last twenty something years, they've been in that Super Bowl bubble. I mean, that was that last Aaron Rodgers McCarthy year. You know, Aaron got hurt. Record was kind of bad. But green Bay has been in the top of this league, hovering around the top. A super Bowl team kind of around there right for like feels like forever they go far to Aaron Rodgers. I mean, Aaron's first year isn't great, last year with McCarthy not great. And here we are now and this morning they're four and six, And let's look at the Green Bay Packers schedule. They are not gonna win at Philadelphia and they are not gonna win at Miami. I know, cheeseheads, you also thought they were gonna win the division this year. They're not winning those games. So they have to win tonight, and if they win tonight, beat the Bears at Chicago won't be easy. Beat the Rams, beat Minnesota, even though at home not easy, better team this year, better roster, and beat Detroit at home. Detroit just won't Chicago and one they can score points. So I'm saying, basically, if they win tonight and win the games, that won't be easy, but should could With Aaron Rodgers, they are at best nine and eight. But in the NFC, you may we talked about this yesterday, you may be able to sneak into the wild card with that. Maybe. So tonight is everything for the Packers. Oh, by the way, the Titans have announced multiple starters are not playing, just like last week, multiple starters not playing at in the fact that's at Lambeau at in the fact it is a short week and they have to go on the road. Green Bay needs to win. Green Bay should win. And if green Bay doesn't win, I know what you're saying, Oh, you're gonna blame Aaron Rodgers. Nope, Tonight is absolutely on Matt Lafloor because Mike Vrabel, in my opinion, is a top three or four coach in this league. The fact that he got his team on the road at Arrowhead to overtime without getting a first down. Was one of the most remarkable things I've seen. The fact that last week Denver off of bye goes in never gets into the red zone. Wow, Tennessee is spectaculary coached. Green Bay's got some really good players, including a first ballot Hall of Fame quarterback. Let's go back to that five game losing streak for the Packers. There were three OH moments in that, all on Matt Lafleur the Giants game in London. Green Bay came out, scripted plays, took a lead, and then Brian dayball and that's when we really started talking about Brian Dable out schemed, out, maneuver, out clevered Matt Lafleur, and the Giants dominate the last quarter and beat the Packers. Daniel Jones and that roster beat the Packers. That was the first OH. The second the Jets Robert Slow was Zach Wilson going to Lambeau and completely shut down Matt Lafleur, and Aaron Rodgers the third OH blowing a lead against Taylor Heineke Washington. Now think about this with Aaron Rodgers and a better roster than all three teams. The Packers are not rebuilding. Matt Lafleur lost to Daniel Jones, Zach Wilson, and Taylor Heineke with a better roster and Aaron Rodgers, oh oh tonight at home, short week, better quarterback, healthier roster. If Matt la Floor can't beat Rabel here, he's not beating him. I mean, this is really built for you. There's been I've been on this Matt Lafloor thing for several years. You guys have annointed him a great coach, show me where beating the Bears and Lions doesn't qualify. And now Minnesota loaded offensive coach humiliated green Bay first matchup tonight, Green Bay loses. Playoffs are done twenty years, mostly great tonight. It's on the floor. It's not on Aaron Rodgers, not on the rest of the rogerer. It's not on Aaron Jones, it's not on the rookie receiver. So I'm at la flour You look on paper, got to win this game. One coach is great in this game. Is the other good enough with all these advantages to win? We shall see. So the Warriors, defending champs are six and nine. There's a lot of good young teams in this league. Golden State's an older team and they're oh and eight in the road. They're not playing good defense. Steph Curry has been unbelievable, a plus plus plus plus. He's been unbelievable. So Steve Kerr talked about the current plight after losing to the Suns last night. So there's no collective grit. We lack grit right now. We're playing We're playing a Drew League game right now. If you really compete together, shots go win, calls go your way, breaks fall your way, and we're not earning any of that stuff. That's why we're winless on the road. There's no execution at either end, no sort of commitment to the group to get three stops in a road to execute on offense. And it obviously starts with me, all right. So I made a call yesterday afternoon to a friend of mine who covers the Warrior, smart guy, and I said, what's the issue? And there are several for Golden State. Number one is the bench is a little too young. The starters are a little too old and getting older. And Steve Kerr is trying to bridge it. So Clay Thompson, so many injuries, will probably never be the old Clay Thompson. Draymond Green eleven years dude plays incredibly physical basketball. It's hard, hard to stay in your prime playing that style of basketball. Jordan Poole just got haid. Let's be honest about him. He's a streaky, inconsistent player. He's not a starter on a good team. He was a late first rounder in the G League. He is streaky, he can get really hot, but he's not a star player in this league. They paid him sort of like one. So right now Steve Kerr is trying to bridge the gap. And Steve Kerr, like his protege Phil Jackson, really smart and deals with veteran players. But if you ask Phil Jackson or Steve Kerr, hey, you want to teach these young guys how to play, it's hard. And they have a sort of a react offense, you know, move react, it's quick, it's nimble. It's hard for younger players. And Steve kers a great coach. But on our read and react offense, you've got act nimbly, be twitchy, be quick, cominga moody wiseman. They're just not there. Yet that's why some of the better war Your teams have had old guys like andre Iguadala on the bench. So the good news for the Warriors, They've got assets. Jamac just talked about it. If they had to, you know, make a big move, they have assets, young old Number two is excellent front office, great GM and number three is here's the guy you're not moving, Steph Curry. Gotta have a start win championships in this league. And Curry is just crushing it. He is absolutely unbelievable. But if you watch him play, they're trying to do what's very very difficult in the NBA bridge old players getting older fast, young players not quite there yet. And here is the solution, making a big, big move. You know, Kevin Durant's not terribly happy in Brooklyn. The Warriors aren't terribly happy with a slow development of their really talented young guys. Crazier things have happened. Steve Kerr smart, but he maybe maybe a guy that isn't a perfect fit trying to teach guys how to play basketball. And the truth is Andrew Wiggins, Draymond Green, Steph Curry. Their timeline is now know how to win now know how to play. Now We'll keep you posted very interesting oh and eight in the road, six and nine overall, be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays in noon Easter nine am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio FS one and the iHeartRadio app. So I'm looking at PF. PF's been around for a while and they have their highest graded quarterbacks so far in the NFL this year. Some names you'd expect, some names you would not. Tua is number one, followed by Mahomes, Josh Allen, Geno Smith, and Jalen Hurts. So Tua is the one that everybody's going WHOA, WHOA? Colin Well, we had predicted they'll make the playoffs and two would have a very very good season. Who is Miami? What is Miami? Let me throw this one at you. They're the forty nine ers of the AFC. Think about this, Where the coach come from? What's the offense they run? It's the forty nine Ers. Like the forty nine ers, Miami has a quarterback with an injury history and some physical limitations. But like the Niners, the Miami quarterback is super accurate and with a little protection, very productive. The Miami quarterback, like the Niner quarterback, has lots of playmakers and a world class left tackle to protect him. And eventually that San Francisco quarterback gets into the playoffs and you realize, against Mahomes and the Super Bowl Stafford and the NFC champion and Chip, we have the second best guy at the most important position. And I think that's what Miami will eventually see. It'll be Burrow or Mahomes or Lamar, Jackson or Josh Allen, and you'll be saying, boy, we need to play and we don't. We don't quite have the guy Miami. I've seen it before. It's called San Francisco. The difference, of course, is San Francisco's got a much much better defense, Pro bowlers everywhere, Hall of famers on that defense. I had both the Niners and Miami making the playoffs. I had neither winning the Super Bowl. Unfortunately for Tua in Miami. The road to the Super Bowl it is a litany of world class quarterbacks. Burrow and Alan and Mahomes and Lamar. What if Herbert sneaks in in the NFC, Garoppolo mayface Gino Smith, Jay Hurts could be good. Never won a playoff game. Kirk Cousins tends to shrink in big games. But if you're wondering who Miami is, it's San Francisco without the defense. Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays and noon Eastern a Empacific. Mac Jones plays Zach Wilson, and it's not going to be the sexiest game. But I went this morning and I looked at some numbers. Mac Jones has regressed badly. He is no better now than Zack Wilson, who it feels like the JAF. I mean, Zach Wilson's a kid. They're managing around him. And I was just looking at some numbers adjusted yards per attempt success rate QBAR touchdowns. It's mac Jones is struggling. And I've said this before. I'm not sure Belichick is ideally built for twenty twenty two football. Nobody's saying he's less intelligent, but twenty twenty two football is a back that can move, drafting and developing weapons offensively, and just a general feel for offense. For safety reasons, the NFL has pivoted to make the game safer. The middle of the field is now not for safeties. It's for tight ends and wide receivers. Brady saw it coming and left town. Mac Jones, a kid, has already complained about it. Nick Saban is Belichick's best friend in coaching, but Saban did pivot. Saban was willing to hire some coaches that he was uncomfortable with and had some baggage. Lane Kiffin and at the time Sark. Bama is now more about quarterbacks, wide receivers, running backs, an offensive lineman. Eight years ago, Bama was about corners, defensive linemen, and linebackers. Belichick, I don't know if it's stubborn, but he's not pivoting. Look at the most improved team in the league this year. Who is it? It's the Vikings. Really good, smart defensive coach to a kid offensive coach turn the season around last year. Last year Bengals. Bengals get to a Super Bowl offensive coach final four teams in the playoffs last year all had offensive coaches. Philly the number one seed, a coach we thought was over his head. Butcher is opening press conference, number one seed NFC offensive coach. It's listen to flip phone still works, but it's not a smart phone, and you start looking at a team we think is great. Buffalo defensive coach starting unravel, not refined, don't feel like they're well coached, can't develop a run game four years in. Sometimes you're a real smart guy. You're in an industry. In the industry changes, Saban saw it and quickly pivoted. Now it is college football, so you know, that's obviously a lower level of coaching. The coaching at the NFL level is very, very good. Doesn't mean Belichick is less smart, but you know, it's it's funny. For a while, I live near Hartford, Connecticut, on the East Coast, and you know, in the fifties and sixties, it was the insurance capital of America, and that's where people put their money in the fifties and sixties insurance. And then the sixties and seventies it was about banking, and they didn't really pivot to that. And then the eighties and nineties was about Wall Street, and Hartford didn't really pivot to that. Now it's about tech, and Hartford kind of one of the one of those world they call kind of dead American cities. The fifties and sixties when insurances where you put your money, pooh, Hartford rocked, and then I went into banking, and then all street and now it's into tech and they just don't feel very vibrant. Still a beautiful, beautiful part of the country. You gotta adapt. And I look at New England. They don't have an offensive coordinator on the staff. They may have the weakest wide receiving corps in the league. Their quarterback Young has already verbalized it he's regressing badly. And welcome the Jets with one of the best pass rushes in the National Football League. You know, I said this, I think about a year ago, and I got some pushback. You know how some people they say some business ideas, you just came up with the idea too early, Like my Space. We weren't ready for my Space, and a few years later Facebook, we were ready for Facebook. Right Like my Facebook was basically my Space, I think, with more privacy, if I've read it right. But sometimes somebody comes up with an idea and in the market's just not ready for it. And sometimes there are people, you know, Bill Gates is born in nineteen oh eight's he's not gonna that brain maybe not function with the nineteen o eight economy. And I look at Andy Reid. Andy Reid was able to get to Super Bowls, not win one, but dominate big chunks of the NFC for years when all the rules or most leaned defense. Now they lean offense, and Belichick struggling to win. What if Andy Reid in his career that you couldn't have hit upstairs years ago the rules safety, if the league was more aware of it twenty five years ago was more of an offensive league, it would be Andy Reid with the Super Bowls and Belichick without them. If Annie Reid can coach another ten eleven years in this league, and he's an older guy, but if he did and win several Super Bowls, which I think is very possible, they should be favored to win this year. And he's already got one, and Annie Reid ends up with four Super Bowls and Belichick struggles. I think the debate of greatest coach in this era it won't be as lobsided as it feels today. And he was ahead of his time. Andy Reid on third down when he was in Philadelphia, third and four, third and three, and he was the first coach in this league that said that's a passing down, that's a short passing down. He was one of the first coaches really used, really used the tight end, really saw a third and two. It could be a passing down. So it's I just think sometimes the world changes and doesn't make you less smart, but you're just not You're not built for it. You're not going to adapt to it. You're older, stuck in your ways. I'll give Pete Carroll crudit. At seventy years old, he went and got a little uncomfortable with Shane Waldron and a lot of those draft picks this year were offensive lineman, offensive guys. Pete loves his defense. It's paying off. So I Belichick's a great coach. But man, they don't even have an oc Their weapons are terrible, they can't draft them. They're not developing a cornerback. Mike Zimmer is a great coach. Vikings are significantly better without him. Not that Mike Zimmer got dumb. Mike Zimmer did not a coach, but it's you know again, the flip phone is still a phone, but it's not a smartphone. Polly Fusco here with Tony Fusco. Of course, you know us as the host of the number one rated Polly and Tony Fusco Show the world right now. We all know you sick and tired of these stupid sports shows where a host say stupid things like Tom Brady's the goat or Lebron James is good at basketball, which he is clearly not. See. We give you smart takes, and we also bring on so called famous guests from across the sports world and show them why we know much more than they build the show. Listen to the Folly and Tony Fusco Show on the IHOT Radio app, Apple podcast or wherever you get your podcasts. I do think the Packers, I do you like? They've been a very good Thursday night team. They're at Lambeau. Aaron Rodgers, though, is currently tenth in passer rating in the league and twenty fifth in QBR quarterback rating. He's still very talented, still throws a really pretty ball, but let's be honest, he lacks the horsepower of Josh Allen. He's not the playmaker of Lamar Jackson. He's not as coachable or talented as Patrick Mahomes. I don't think he's as accurate anymore as Tua or Burrow, and certainly doesn't play with the guts of Herbert or Burrow, willing to throw it down the field at any time anywhere. I wonder is Aaron a little bit? And hear me out here becoming the antique store. You've gone to an antique store before with your wife, your girlfriend, and you're like, oh, look at that. That is awesome, that is so historic. Should we buy it? And your wife says, well, it doesn't really fit where we're gonna put it. It's awesome like looking at it. But Aaron Rodgers now is really expensive and is not really totally committed in the off season and keeps talking about retirement. And we all know this, this isn't even a shot. I'd tell him if he was here. Can be a little prickly. The last three years, the NFL has given us some really talented quarterbacks. Burrow looks like Trevor Lawrence and Justin Fields are just too good not to work. We've got Jalen Hurts, Herbert, Joe Burrow. A lot of these guys are coming in and what do they all have in common. They're cheap, they're completely committed in the off season, They're not prickily. You can surround him with a lot of talent Aaron's paid fifty large a year, fifty millions, like one of the top cap hits in the league. Tom Brady a void becoming the antique store because he's always been incredibly committed in the offseason and connected to young teammates, and because he doesn't want to be the highest paid player at any time in the league. But we've all gone to that antique store. They're fun. You hang around him for an hour, You're like, man, that is cool, that is awesome, that is great, that is historic. And they don't really fit. Think he wins tonight, should win tonight. But you start looking around at this league and you start looking around what's happening. I said this the other day for crappy NFL teams. Here is the good news is that college football now looks more like the NFL than ever before. You go back on YouTube and look up nineteen sixties, seventies and early eighties college football and some of those goofy offenses they ran. But now college football in the NFL, the coaching, the schemes, they look very similar. And two years ago we got we got we got four or five, six, seven quarterbacks in the last two years that have gone college to pro and they're gonna make it and they're gonna be stars very quickly. History of the NFL, it averages about one quarterback a year goes college to pro and is a star. Franchise quarterback Fields looks like he could be Burrow Is two of this year is Herbert Is Trevor Lawrence looks like he will be a lot of talent out there. But once you say give me the most money, and once you're not committed totally in the off season, once you start bringing up retirement, it's fun to go to the antique store. How much of that stuff actually fits in your house? I know the history is cool. I know it's awesome. Would you want it in your house? Would you want it on your team? One more Herd. The Herd streams twenty four hours a day, seven days a week within the iHeartRadio app. Search Herd to listen live on demand whenever you like. Well, I said, I didn't see how it was possible that USC, I said, I think they're gonna lose three games. I don't know who they're too, but you're you're asking too. I watch Pete Carroll go six and six in his first year. It's hard to turn around a program. Well, Lincoln Riley's done it. They're nine and one. They're a play on the road in not the greatest officiated game, just my opinion, from being undefeated. They play UCLA in what will be one of the smartest offensive games of the year between Chip and Lincoln. Let me just start with this Caleb. Before the season started, I asked somebody who I trust dearly NFL background, I said, what do you think of Caleb Williams? I said, I just watch a little bit at Oklahoma. He goes, you are gonna just not believe it, And I said, what do you mean? He said, I'm not gonna give it away. So if somebody had never seen Caleb Williams and you had to describe him in a minute about what makes him special, go for it. A really really unique skill set. Um you know, talks about the the athletic guys and what they can do, and he has a cool athletic skill set. The way that he can move brake tackles his threat as a runner. But then but you combine that with an arm that is and a vision for the game that's that's really really unique, especially for a guy his age. You know, you see touch throws, you see the bombs down the field, you see um, you know, kind of layered passes in the middle of the middle of the defense. I mean, he really can from a skill set wise do it all change arm angles, um, And then you know he's got a cool and tangible side to him too. He's a good leader, he's a competitor. He's done a good job here early on our time here at sc helping bring this this roster together and really being a leader that way. So now it's fun. It's been fun to see the guy's progress. I mean, he obviously did a really nice job for us in year one there at Oklahoma in the back half of the year, but he's certainly playing at a much higher level right now. Well, Baker, Kyler, Jalen Hurt, you all got him in the Heisman race. Caleb, in my opinion, is as talented as any of those. Now. Travis Die a little bit of the heart and soul, I think just a grown up had been around the conference players like he got hurt in his backup running back is like crying, like it's like they loved him. Are you concerned? I think you'll be productive in the run game. But are you concerned his spirit, his pass blocking. He did a lot of little things you see, but a lot of fans may not know how concern are you about that loss? Yeah, Travis still is in a lot of ways the heartbeat of this team. I mean, so much of our energy and competitiveness, you know, came from him, and it will still come from him, just in a different way. He brought him mentality to the practice field, the way he competed every day, that really had a big impact on this program, especially here in year one and being so early. So you're right, We've got some other good players that we think we'll be ready to go produce. We certainly expect them too, but you don't replace Travis die all he brought to the team, all he did on the field, off the field, I mean, he was certainly one of our most valuable players and obviously wished m a speed recovery. And our guys they want to they want to honor him, they want to you know, show him their their respect and love. Then they need to go play the game the way he did. And if we do that, we'll be okay. Yeah, I was. I think with the last time I talked to you. I said, you know, this transfer portal is going to be fine, but You're like, you brought on a third of another team. I'm like, personalities, different cultures, and I'm like, this is a lot of moving parts, and yet this is the closest team I've ever seen at USC that. I mean, when a kid drops a ball, he'll go to the sideline, kids rally around him. Is it um? It's been a very rewarding season. Has it been one of the more challenging seasons because you have different players, schemes, programs. Some of these kids are from the East, the South, the north. Has it been challenging the portal and bringing it all together? Honestly, Colin, it was challenging to to bring it all together, to get all the people here, to get them settled, to make those choices on who you were going to bring in, and then in the beginning to kind of implement it all and put everybody on the same page. But this season, I think a lot of good teams, like you don't have those headaches, right the players, they handle a lot of the things internally. There's not a lot of dissension in the locker room. There's not a lot of selfish guys in the locker room. It's very team first, and I've felt that the whole way. In some ways, the season's been easier than a few that I've been through through the years, just because of how well this team has got along in the camaraderie, and I think how much they all want to win for each other. We certainly have a lot of guys with individual goals and we want them to have that. But I do think this team very much believes in the team concept. You can see it with the way we've played and the way we have come together on such short notice. Listen, you can't solve all your issues in one offseason. You and Brian Kelly at LSU have gotten darned close, but it's you know, it's a competitive battlefield out there recruiting, so teams have been able to run against you. Now you face UCLA, and as clever as you are offensively, Chip is really smart and his run games are just a pain to defend. And that's been a little bit of a liability for you. Do you have to take more chances defensively? How do you get him off the field? I mean, the way to beat USC to me would be get Caleb Williams off the field, Like, are you concerned about that? That that run game and some limitations defensively you could accomplish. Yeah, that'll be a big part of the game. I mean, Chip has always done a tremendous job offensively, and he's got several guys obviously that have played a lot of ball for him. You know, clearly, you know Charbonnet and dtr have have played a lot of ball. They're both very productive players. They've got a good offensive line, good skill around them, and so that's a challenge, and I think the thing you gotta do is you've got to make sure and be very disciplined in the way you play, because they're gonna throw a lot of different looks at you and get you off your game, and then you gotta and then you gotta finish the plays, right. That's the one thing that shows up with these guys are good enough players that a lot of times people are there and they still don't get them down. So we've got to be able to get guys on the ground. We've got to be able to finish plays. And then the flip side is when we get a chance to make those big plays defensively of our own. We got to go make them and put that back on them. You've been in a lot of big games. Red rivers, shootout, bedlam. Those are big games, rivalry games, you know. I was talking one time Peyton Manning said this. He said, you have an NFL regular season game, then you have division games, and then you have playoff games. He goes, they all feel different. So, I mean the battle for Los Angeles. You've been in some of these games. As a coach, you know, I can see a young coach over coaching overthinking do you enter a rivalry game? Is there anything is do you have to, like, for instance, young players, A lot of these guys played against each other in high school. Is it a different approach playing UCLA this week. I don't know if it's a different approach, but I think you have to like identify with the guys and like everybody's understanding, it is going to feel different. You're right, like these games they are different. There is and then when you add in, obviously all the opportunities on the back end of this game. Sure, I mean it's it's the atmosphere is going to feel different, the excitement's going to feel different. Is there games? Especially for guys who on the West Coast, they've been watching, you know, all their lives and now that they get a chance to participate in it. So I think we certainly realize that and understand that. But then it goes back to, okay, it's going to feel different. Now, what do we have to do to go play well in this game? And you and that comes down to the plan that you lay out for them as coaches and then players. They have to take that plan, believe in it, go into an environment and an atmosphere like that, and go put it on display the entire game for four or full quarters and longer if needed. And that is that's mentality. So this will be the first one of these that we've been in together. We're going to lay out a plan for our guys and hopefully they approach it as well as they have most of the other challenges this season. You know, the one part that you inherited, it's pretty interesting. I always thought last couple of years USC's old line was a little underrated, and you said very early when you took the program over, you said, we don't really have to rebuild that part. There's players here I just saw something yesterday. It's the number one rated offensive line in the country or one or two? Is that? If I said to you, is there a pleasant surprise in this job because you had to rebuild it? Would it be the old line? Right? That's fair to say. It's definitely one of them. I had. You had guys you could tell when we got in here, even early on on that old line, that wanted to win, that wanted to do it throughout way. You could tell that would be building blocks, not just like for the old line, but like the entire team, right, Like, these are the kind of guys from a cultural standpoint that we want to have, and it was cool to have that from the beginning. Yeah, we can build it around these guys. And obviously that position being so critical really worked out in our favor. So it's a great group. We've got some guys that played a lot of ball that this place means the world too. Josh Hinson, our line coach, has done a tremendous job with them, and they've they've played at a high level really the entire year. Okay, so you basically put together a recruiting class on hope and optimism. Now you've got a lot of wins. I mean, you've had over five hundred yards I think in four streak. Let me see, look at the line here, forty plus points in five hundred plus totally yards in the last month every game. So now when you go recruit, it's and we told you what was going to look like, here's what it looks like. Are you noticing Lincoln in roads nationally regionally? Are you sensing the ascension of what your game plan was for that? We absolutely are. It's you're right. It's the guys that jumped on here early had to do it with kind of the idea of USC being good. Obviously, obviously USC has been good for a long time, but here in recent years they hadn't seen that, and so they had to believe in, you know, what we were bringing in the staff, this kind of new era. And I'm glad now that all those recruits out there are able to see the trajectory of this, because I think it is real and it's very real what this place has been and what it can be again, and we think it's well on its way to doing that. And so it is it's being able to recruit once you have some of that proof and once you have that proof of concept, it's so much easier because you can say, look, all right, here's what happened, here's a trajectory, put yourself in that position, what does that look like? And how far can we take this? It's fun to think about. Obviously, there's a lot a lot going on right now, a lot of great opportunities for this team. But when you look at the future, it's hard not to be pretty excited. Yeah, you know, it's interesting when I watch your teams. You really not just to suck up here. But I was telling a friend, is that I can see your coaching. I can see your coaching. I'll be like, Oh, that's really clever. Oh that's I like what he's doing here. There was a couple of things you did at the Arizona game, and I was like, with a buddy, I'm like that. They know. It's funny the feeling out process to football. I sometimes watch you and I can sense your game plan, but you do a lot of stuff half to half. I see an impact in that. What's your favorite part from whistle to whistle? What is your favorite part on Saturday? That's a good question. Uh, probably the close games, like the type moments, especially like the fourth quarter when teams are teams are tired. You've played a lot of reps, it's been a it's been a battle, and like now it's going to all be decided, you know, right here in this moment, and there's there's no where to hide. And I think that that competition, both the players on the field the coach is making the best decisions they can, you know, getting in those you know, late game two minutes scenarios. I think that's the best. I mean, I love all parts of it. I've always loved the competition that the great college football provides, and but the end of games and having to really rally and finish as a team, especially on the road, there's nothing better. Yeah, I'm glad you enjoy those. I don't like the close games, to be honest with you, I don't like them at all, And I really don't at all. I'm glad you're having the time of your life because I'm on the couch not having the time of my life watching those things. Lincoln, Congratulations nine and one UCLA the game of the day in college football. So much fun to watch and what a pleasure. Thanks for stopping by. Coaching anytime. I don't