The Herd with Colin CowherdColin gives the Bears credit for landing Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson to be their next head coach
Thoughts on Ohio State winning the first 12 team College Football Playoff
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Here we go live in Los Angeles. It's the Herd wherever you may be and however you may be listening. Thanks for making us part of your day. On a Tuesday, We've got a new national champion in college football. It's more than just Ohio State. It's the Big Ten. We'll get to that in about five minutes.
In jmac.
All right, Rabel was the best candidate in my opinion. He goes to New England, the place he knows well. The Chicago Bears, this big iconic brand, have interviewed seventy people, and so I mean they were interviewing Barista's local chefs. They settled on Ben Johnson. But is it a settler or not. So here's my take is, there were two coaches I thought needed to be considered in Chicago. Mike McCarthy, who's had no owner and a medaling owner. I thought he was uniquely qualified for it. Or Ben Johnson, is he going to be Sean McVay or Matt Lafleur or is he going to be Adam Gase and Brandon Stally.
I don't know.
Like young quarterbacks, a lot of it is where do you land. Jane Daniels got a really good OC and a veteran coach. Caleb Williams got the Bears. It is a pay I'm gonna tell you it to gravel road in Chicago, full of potholes. Throw in some politics, and I thought vrabel and Mike McCarthy were qualified for it. They have dealt with that nonsense before. They've gone off road before. Ben Johnson, well, he knows offense. He's not taking that Lion's a line with him, or that incredible Lions running back room with him, or the great culture builder Dan Campbell with him. Chicago is going to be tough to navigate. Matt Nagy got to the playoffs twice with Mitch Trubisky, and they ran him out of town. It's a noisy city. They run managers out of town, they go after players. It's it's Boston it's Philly, it's Chicago. Maybe they're Midwest nice, but they're noisy. Now there's two real positives here. Number one is Caleb Williams wanted an offensive coach, and I think generationally, age wise, Caleb Williams was saying, without saying it out loud, I kind of like this Ben Johnson guy. Here's Caleb Williams a week ago. Selfishly, I want an offensive minding guy so I can bill with.
Him and you know, be with be with that coach for the next nineteen fteen years.
Yeah, So there you go.
Ben Johnson is smart, he's clever, he takes risks. He just watched an organization get built up and smart people by proximity. He looked around and okay, I'm gonna steal some of the things Dan Campbell did. So Caleb got an offensive guy. And the other thing to think about is you definitely weakened Detroit, is that Dan Campbell's not known as a scheme guru or a scheme wizard. He's a walk around guy. He's a culture creator. And Ben Johnson was the scheme to that stacked offensive building. Now Detroit, because the O line goff in the running backs they're gonna score. It's gonna be a good offense for years. Like Philadelphia, there's just too many good players, too good of an offensive line. Even Sirianni can't screw it up. But in the end, they won't be as clever or creative. And Ben Johnson is the reason for that. So the question becomes, is he gonna be Brandon Staley? Is it gonna be Adam Gaze. He's got a little bit of a quirky personality. He doesn't feel like he's got that culture thing, that gravitas of McVeigh. But when Matt Lafleuur got to Green Bay, he was kind of quiet, kind of reticent. Wasn't a big, you know, big alpha guy. And he's developed. I think Matt Lafleuur is developed into a great coach. So I don't know exactly what you get. I always root. I always root for great athletes to find their Svengali, their Guru, their wizard Chicago. I'm not only hoping it happens. I think we could all say a little prayer that it happens. This is an organization that cannot get quarterback right now. I mean, he can't get it right at all. They've never had a quarterback throw for over thirty touchdowns. And even if Ben Johnson works, even if he works, because Matt Nagy by and large work, he left.
For the winning record.
Even if he works, will he be as good as Matt Lafleur, a top five coach? Will he as creative as Kevin O'Connell in Minnesota? Will he be able to build a culture like Dan Campbell even if he's successful and Matt Naggi had a winning record this division, the brain power, the cultures in this division are something else. So I'm hoping it works. All these young quarterbacks where you land matters, and this is a gravel road with politics and potholes, it can work. I'm just not sure if it will. All right, So you watched the game last night. Notre Dame dignified, fighting to the end, but Ohio State clearly the better team. And you know, I was thinking about this. I've been talking about this last couple of weeks with my buddy John Middlekoff who's on my podcast, and college football not only has a new champion in Ohio State, and they were absolutely the best version of Ohio State I've seen it along time but college football also has a new king, and it's called the Big Ten. Michigan, Ohio State, Penn State, Oregon USC are wealthy, well healed programs. And the Big Ten is in the footprint of LA New York, and Chicago, our three biggest cities. In Philadelphia. Philadelphia is full of Penn State grads. The SEC is big in Atlanta. But the game has changed now. The game now in college football is all about nil and collectives. Alabama, their athletic director, came out three weeks ago. Nick Saban saw this coming years ago. He got out of there. Saban's a smart guy. He got out of there. He saw the Texas money, he saw the Michigan money. Brian Kelly lost a five star quarterback recruit to Northern Michigan, and Brian Kelly said, I'll give some of my salary. You don't have to do that at Penn State, Ohio State, USC, Oregon with Phil Knight money. This is not just a one off Michigan one last year. Ohio State won this year, and I'd put big money that Ohio State's gonna repeat next year. Texas will be good. But Texas wasn't even part of the SEC year ago. Remember all the SEC fans, oh Texas, they are now your life preserver in the NIL. They got big boy money. Texas may in fact have more than anybody except Phil Knight in Oregon. And so this year it changed. We have a new king of college football and it's the Big Ten. They were five and one against the SEC this year. Notre Dame is not part of the SEC, but they were clearly better. I watched when they played Georgia. So you start looking around. College football has never looked and felt more like the NFL. And we know what the NFL is about billionaires, and the money historically in the South stays in the South. SEC grads they may go to New York, but a lot of them stay in the South. Big Ten grads from these enormous schools. Ohio State has sixty six thousand students. They leave, they go to the West coast San Francisco, LA. They go to the East coast DC, Boston, New York. And then they come back and they got money and they spend it on the teams they love. I mean, you go look at Michigan State. I have not in the Big Ten. They're two biggest boosters. One owns the Phoenix Suns. One owns the Cleveland Cavaliers. So I think it's changed. I think the SEC looks a little more boutique and the Big ten now feels a little more bougie. I think the SEC has gone from intimidating to kind of charming. There is a new king in college football and it's not going away. Michigan last year, Ohio State this year. Massive universities with massive enrollments. Students flee to the coasts for high paying jobs and then they come back and give to their schools. And this is not to say that the SEC didn't have talent and didn't have good coaches and doesn't have that parochial tribal passion that all of us love. But it's different now. The biggest challenges for Ohio State this year were Penn State, Oregon, and Michigan.
The steamroll Tennessee.
Steamrolled them in Texas the big dog now in the SEC, they weren't.
They didn't look they didn't look as good as Ohio State.
And Ohio State's two best players are coming back and they will be the two best players in my opinion. Jeremiah Smith and Caleb Downs will be the two best players easily in college football next year. And I mean, and I talked to it NFLGM this week. He said, if those guys were eligible for the draft today and one's a freshman, Jeremiah Smith, he goes, they may go one and two. This is not just about Ohio State. The Big Ten officially is the big dog in college football. Hey, the SEC, it was a nice run. I mean, you still go beat up on the mountain west of the Big twelve. Okay, I'm just being obnoxious there. I admit I was being a little obnoxious. And the SEC is still great. I'm not saying that. But the last two years you've watched the same games I've watched. Ohio State has better players. Michigan last year had better players Penn State. Now they lose a defensive end and a tight end. They're bringing almost everybody back, including a guy that will be a quarterback that gets drafted high next year. Washington in a rebuild, USC in a rebuilt Michigan not gonna look like Michigan this year, much better. It's all changed. It's a collective. It's the nil. It's more like the NFL. Here's Ryan Day after the big win.
I just can't say enough about our guys, and you know what they've overcome to get to this point, and now I have something to show for it.
The number one goal is to win.
You know, that's where it started for on offense, defensive, special teams, find a way to win the game. And then that's what we did here in the playoffs. And now the stories of these guys will be told because they've cemented themselves in Ohio State history.
And you know what I love, once you come to terms with sports isn't perfect. What I love about college football this year is that Ohio State was allowed to make mistakes, just like the NFL was allowed to lose a late season home game. Is that not everybody grows at the same speed. This Ohio State team had to get punched in the forehead by Michigan at home to really galvanize the locker room and become a force that looked like they were somewhere between college and pro. I mean, Notre Dame is a really good defense, and there were times they felt helpless last night. So listen, everybody has their run. Lebron used to dominate the NBA, so did Michael so did the SEC. This idea though, Hey, this is just a couple list, is just a blip on the radar. No, it's not, No, it is not jmc Well, the good news is our network's got a relationship with a big ten. So like if we're in the winning.
Camp, doling out jabs early in the show, just prodding.
I mean, right, you're not wrong.
We're watching the same games I watched. I watched the last couple of years. I've watched these games, and Michigan last year had more good NFL players. And look at the top of the draft this year. You could argue Mason Graham and Will Johnson are two of the four best players. And then there's two Colorado guys. I mean, look at the top players in college football this year. It's two Colorado guys. It's two Michigan guys. I mean, there'll be a lot of Alabama Georgia guys taken. But you have to be honest about this. The Northern universities are massive and incredibly well healed, well capitalized organizations. And now you bring the La market in, you bring the Seattle market in, you already have Philadelphia, you already have Chicago. It feels like it is the tide has turned.
Yes, stuff is cyclical. It's all report that there could be like.
Fifteen Buckeyes drafted, which could rival the number that Georgia set the record, like Ohio State's rosters in see.
Listen, here's what you should be worried about. Ohio State suffered multiple o line injuries this year. They were to the very end, you know, they were moving pieces all up and down that old line. And Will Howard's a good quarterback, but he's not like transformational. I mean, they their perimeter players are frighteningly good. But this was not an Ohio State team that didn't have some holes. And they still dismantled everybody.
It's funny.
I'm curious this Will Howard's stuff. A lot of people excited about him in the draft. Suddenly you watch a couple of playoff games as they roll people, Oh is your first round pick?
No no, no, no, no, no no.
Yeah, let's slow down.
He can get drafted.
Yeah, yeah, hope me drafted.
Riley Leonard. Keep your eye on old Riley Leonard.
That's a good stats at garbage time last night, down thirty.
Yeah, listen, sometimes that's the only time you can move the ball in Ohio state's garbage time.
How about him vomiting after one drive on the sideline.
Yeah, that's what the buck.
Guys do to you. Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays and Noone Eastern, non am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio FS one and the iHeartRadio app.
You know, I was perusing the internet today and I saw this. For the radio audience, it won't land as well. Basically, they put Peyton Manning and Lamar Jackson after Lamar had a disappointing weekend, and they compared them through seven years in the playoffs, and what you have is identical quarterbacks. They'd played eight games, both were three and five. They both completed sixty percent of their throws passer rating, Peyton's a little higher, touchdown interceptions, very similar. It's a very fair comparison. But we just and it's maybe it's the iPhone, it's our society, the volume of media. We don't let anything marinate or bake anymore. Tom Brady did not beat just beat Tom Brady. Peyton Manning did not beat Tom Brady in the playoffs until he was in his thirties. Peyton Manning didn't win a Super Bowl until he was in his thirties. Lamar Jackson just turned twenty eight. John Elway did not win a Super Bowl. The legend of John Elway did not win a Super Bowl. Think about this until he was thirty seven. Matt Stafford did not win a playoff game until you're thirteen. Lebron the best overall basketball player of all time, Lebron James, in a sport driven by one or two stars, did not win a title for nine years.
Where do you land?
What help do you have?
You know? I was thinking two things. Lamar Jackson and Peyton Manning. Obviously they're both transformational players. But here's the second thing. Is Lamar's never really given credit for this. The Ravens don't do receivers particularly well. They do everything else well. They're own their run, the quarterbacks, the O line, the D line, the pass rushers, the linebackers, the running backs. They don't do receivers well. Even this weekend, Mark Andrews worst game as a pro, Zay Flowers not available. He was using Bateman and his go to guy and a tight end. He never has great weapons, but I've always felt this. Eventually, the Lways and the Farves and the Aaron Rodgers and the Peyton Mannings and the Lamar Jacksons, and I would even throw in Matt Stafford. They're just too damn talented not to break through. The one quarterback I worry about is Joe Burrow because Joe Burrow has one of the porest owners, if not the porest owner. They had to sell the naming rights to the stadium to pay for his contract. The general manager in Cincinnati, it's run by the Brown family. He's virtually powerless. They're the opposite of the Eagles. They take no big swings, no big risks. It's like the Eagles and and Bengals are using two separate salary caps and banks. Joe Burrows the guy I worry about. I mean because every great quarterback outside of Dan Marino and Dan got to one. But outside of Dan, they all break through. They all get one. So I don't worry about I don't worry about him. And I also think is there's too many boxes that he checks commitment, passion, leadership, work, ethic. Maybe I'm a Lamar Jackson apologist, but the kid is an all time talent. Joe Burrows the one I worry about because it does take let's be honest. As great as Matt Stafford is, you don't have the right owner, the right coach, you will eventually hit your head on that low ceiling. And here's one of Lamar's teammates, Patrick Ricard on Lamar. He thinks he'll eventually break through.
It's inevitable. He's going to win a Super Bowl and I want to be a part of it. And it just sucks asn't happened yet, you know, But you know, I feel I personally feel bad for him because she deserves it, just because of how great of a player he is, Like he deserves to be considered one of the best quarterbacks he already is. But I know everyone considers championships as the standard, and you know he'll he'll get it one day.
He will.
For some Jaden Daniels, everything falls in place really early. For some Joe Flacco, you gotta for some Lamar Jackson, you wait for Joe Flacco and you're in your prime. As Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen are not only in their prime, they're in your conference. Where do you land? Who is your coach, who's the ownership group, who's your primary rival. I've argued for years Phil Mickelson has another six Majors without Tiger Woods. But he won a lot of tournaments, and Lamar wins a lot of games, and he'll eventually break through. Jmack with news, No, no, this is the headline news.
You know.
Who may not break through is the Detroit Lions, Colin they lose Ben Johnson to Chicago, and multiple reports this morning claimed that Aaron Glenn, the defensive coordinator who could not stop Jayden Daniels on Saturday night, maybe on his way to my New York jets. Uh, and a lot of people, including myself, were wondering, is Detroit super Bowl window closing?
Don't tell that to Dan Campbell.
That core group is still intact and some of these guys are now you know, we've signed some back, some are up on contracts and that'll be ongoing.
Uh.
But yeah, we absolutely do, you know, And I think the most important thing is you want to know you got your you've got your culture, you've got your identity, and you got players and that fit into that. And we've got that, like we we've got we got players in every pivotal position you can ask for to have success. And those guys are made the right way. So absolutely our windows open now.
I have a belief that the Rams and the Chiefs are doing it the right way. Spend your money on offense, keep drafting defense, and keep it cheap.
As the league is pivoted.
So if you look at Kansas City, there is a theory in the league right now that you pay. I think the smart teams are doing this. You pay one defensive player huge money, and he has to be up front. The Rams will pay Jared Verse, they already know that guys are Lawrence Taylor, Chris Jones in Kansas City. Philadelphia will pay Jalen Carter. Then you pay your quarterback, you pay your left tackle, you pay a weapon. You may have to pay your center. Defense, you keep at Kansas City, you let go of good corners, you let go of an occasional pass rusher. You keep drafting defense, keep it young and cheap because defensive players get hurt more than offensive guys. So Detroit is paying Amaran Saint Brown, Jared Goff, Panay Suel. They're doing it the right way. They're gonna have to pay Hutch. But I think what Detroit has to realize you have to make choices in this league and I think if I was the Lions this draft, I would go all defense for depth and brugality.
Yeah, easier said than done. I mean, you know, Aaron Glenn's doing multiple job interviews. Nobody's interviewing Spagnolo right like he's not like in deband because he's.
An old guy.
And so, not only have the chiefs hit on everything, but they've retained much of their staff.
I know they lost the enemy, but many people didn't think.
Well, I mean, let's be honest.
Andy Reid has lost multiple offensive coordinators. McVeigh has run through coordinators, Shanahan some coaches, but he's offensive well. And also what is interesting is Andy Reid, Shanahan, and McVeigh are scheme guys. Jan Campbell. Dan Campbell's a culture guy, so he is. It's a little more beholden. So is Nick Sirianni. Sirianni's the face of the Eagles, He's not the scheme of it. Campbell's the face of the Lions, He's not the scheme of it. So losing a really clever offensive coordinator and a sharp defensive coordinator. Remember when Philadelphia with his stack roster, when Sirianni a walk around culture guy, lost his two best coordinators. They went into the tank. So these hires by the Lions are crucial.
Let's just start here. They're not winning fifteen games, that's exactly right.
Sniffing that, you know, the division just got tougher with Ben Johnson going plus Caleb Williams, like, they're gonna be tough. Packer's probably gonna be very good again, and I think the Vikings. If you have to ask me who's winning the division next year, I'd say JJ McCarthy and Kevin O'Connell gonna win that division next year. That would be my guest. I don't think the Lions pulled back that much. They're still ten eleven wins.
I think they're an eleven win team or not a fifteen win team.
Yeah.
I don't think you can lose arguably the two best coordinat in the sport. Philadelphia did and they were and Philadelphia's rush of.
The best court. Aaron Glenn's not the best defensive coordinator.
No, no, no, but I mean, young, hireable defensive coordinator, He's way up there.
Yeah, I mean it's not super inspiring for Jets fans.
But anyways, how about this stat that I saw so the NFC North was the best division of football this season. Right the three playoff teams, I saw some insane numbers. They steamrolled non division teams. They went oh to three in the playoffs comp That was a bit of a shocker. Love Golf and but Arnold all were kind of hooopy. But weren't those teams known for more offense? And who advanced Eagles defense? Chiefs defense?
I mean, I would say the NFC North was very clever and very offensive oriented, but no great defense. Bears have the best defense in my opinion in that division.
We Viking Vikings with Flores.
It's funny if if I told you, hey, the Lakers are gonna make twenty threes and the Clippers are gonna make ten, I'll tell you the Lakers are gonna win.
Whoever makes more threes in the NBA is gonna win. Whoever turned the ball over this weekend, Well they just lost the games. It's that easy. It's that easy to break down NFL games. Just tell me who's gonna turn the ball over more? Right?
Next up Colin is Aaron Glenn and you know multiple reports claim he's got his second interview with the Jets today and according to Ian Rappaport, they hope to not let Aaron Glenn leave the building.
Now.
I will say Aaron Glenn, for Jets fans, was a stud cornerback.
I believe in like the nineties with the Jets.
Now, who's his offensive coordinator?
TVD?
Now his GM allegedly is gonna be this fellow Newmark who was gonna go with Ben Johnson New York's been like twenty six years into or twenty six seasons in Detroit than he was with the Commanders. But it seems like he may be going to the Jets with Aaron Glenn. No word on the offensive coordinator yet, defensive guy another one for the Jets.
Well, let me spin it positively.
Please do please?
I think Aaron's very respected. Yes, I think their best personnel is on defense. I think when they had Robert Sala on defense, this team was in every game. When they lost Sala, they got blown out. So I think their defense will rebound and get like Sala like. I think it'll be a very forceful team defensively. I like, honestly, if they had a younger, cheaper quarterback, I'd like him. This is not a shot at Aaron, but there. You watch Jayden Daniels play. I mean, watch the quarterbacks this weekend, even c J.
Stroud.
You know it's a young quarterback league now mobiles. Yeah, and so I think. But I'm not gonna write this off as a bad higher.
I think you don't like it.
No, no, wait, hold on, it's just uninspiring. Let's see what it transpires next. Let's see what goes down next. Maybe he runs off Aaron Rodgers and I'm now the biggest Aaron Glenn fan in the world, be rooting for me.
I don't want I don't worry about Aaron Glenn. I worry about those surrounding Aaron Glenn. Because, for the record, Robert sala is now interviewing for several jobs around the league. The Niners are like, we'll take him back. The Jags might hire the smart people in the league. The Niners want him back. He's interviewed for two or three jobs. It won't a solid issue. As much as everybody on New York media wanted to preach with a Jets issue solo.
They were seven to ten with Zach Wilson two years ago.
Now, So I.
Think Aaron Glenn's interesting. I'm not gonna just label this is uninspiring. I think it's an interesting higher.
I like the Jets.
I'm said, of all the teams look at for a coach, the best rosters the Jets.
I like the roster. I really do.
We'll see how the offseason goes.
Final story, another Lions story, and that's kind of peg to this idea that Ben Johnson was going to the Raiders. A lot of people thought that, including me, and then he goes to the Bears, which is a surprise, leaving Las Vegas kind of Oh what are the Raiders going to do? And the Athletic is now reporting that Pete Carroll is the top option for the Las Vegas Raiders.
I don't have a problem with that.
I really don't have I do not have a problem with that Pete Carroll. I have talked to several players, including Greg Olsen, who say Pete is organizationally elite. He's an inspiring guy, he's got great energy, He's wanted college and pro. I mean, if you go look at the Patriots situation, it wasn't like he was a losing coach. He followed Parcels arguably a top three coach. He won a lot of games there. He's also done. If you look at his career, he's done very well with young quarterbacks. He did great with college quarterbacks. He did well with Russell Wilson. I have no problem Pete Carroll getting the Raiders job at all. He ran off Russell will And by the way you got it, you got a division full of offensive guys. Throw a defensive guy in there. I do think my knock on Pete, he tends to be loyal to average coaches, his staffs. He'll be really loyal, and I guess it's a good quality to have. He tends to be a little loyal to some coaches I haven't loved. But in terms of knowing what he's doing, building a culture, inspir hiring players, I think Pete's a good joy.
What if I told you that? And this is I'm just throwing a name out there. All of a sudden, the Raiders call up Kenny.
Dillingham from Arizona State and wanted to interview him. When that kind of WHOA Okay, Kenny, I don't know what he was good with Arizona State this year they were picked to finish low.
I think, Billy, they rise.
Up like that's the kind of inspiring stuff. I'm talking about new fresh face. No disrespecting Pete Carroll. There's seventy three. He's been around the world.
But year you're it's seventy three today, isn't seventy three fifteen years ago. It's just not people. I mean, I'm watching Nick Saban on TV. If I would guess, I'd say it's fifty eight years old.
On TV.
He's coming up with game plans.
Well, I mean, you don't think if Nick was in college football today tomorrow he just decided, you know, I want a big time job.
You don't think Nick Saban would win.
He would do what he did at Alabama, hire smart people around him and got twenty seven staff members.
I mean, Pete Carroll knows everybody. He'll hire a smart staff.
He he wants to hire the Rams tight end coach, and he may hire Scott Turner.
As his OC A tight end coach.
Well, he's already building his staff. He's already he's poaching McVay already.
That's what they need, a tight end coach for brock Bauers. I'm just telling you.
Man, you're very cymical.
Well, also, one of our producers is a big Raiders guy, and he's just.
Like he's I mean, listen, I don't know. We'll see Pat Carrol, Aaron Glenn, I don't kid me. Where's Marcus Freeman?
Now?
I don't know why Marcus Freeman tried to kick a field goal last night?
Down sixteen? Got what are you doing?
Man?
You guys, you're down sixteen?
All this people that sitdn't watch these coaches. He may have been thinking, listen, I gotta have a good vibe in this game. My team's getting you know what kicked out of him. Let's just get points. Let our players walk off the fields producing points.
They walked about sixteen with like nine to ten minutes left. Maybe it's like ten minutes left.
You hat a thirteen.
Let's make a two score game, a two score game like Colin. That was the only knock on Marcus Freeman all the season. I love him.
If he's a Jets coach tomorrow, I'm doing cartwheels on this show.
He's not going anywhere.
He's gonna get a big extension.
Another one.
J Mack with a new Well, that's the news, and thanks for stopping by the herd line.
Right top of the hour, Nick Wright and our final Herd Hierarchy of the year coming up next, Folks, there's a story out there this morning, and I can't believe it's true. We have double and triple checked it. Things are worse for the Cowboys than people think. Holy Crow.
Talk about that coming up.
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So now that the formerly sad sacked Detroit Lions have risen from the ashes, now that the regrettable ownership of Dan Snyder has ended, and the Commanders are in the NFC Championship. When you look at the NFC now, it's the Dallas Cowboys that are getting sad. They have not made the NFC Championship since nineteen ninety five. That is a long time ago. I saw a story this morning and I thought it was a fake account. Ian Rapaport is reporting that Brian Schottenheimer is the lead candidate. Forget about the Cowboys window closing, it's getting boarded up. I got nothing against Brian Schottenheimer. He's never been a head coach. This is a hard job, it's not very talented, and his last two jobs, Seadlin Jacksonville got pushed out the door. So is this another case of Jerry Jones hiring somebody that needs him again? His dad was a great coach. I got nothing against him, but it feels deaf con one to me. I mean, you had Dan Quinn in the building, He's now crushing it in Washington. You had Kellen Moore in the building, He's now crushing it in Philadelphia. So the Chicago Bears, I don't believe, interviewed Brian Schottenheimer and again they were interviewing local movie critics and baristas. They interviewed everybody, So I the Dallas Cowboys, I'm serious, it's like an intervention, like somebody has to take away at the helicopter keys from Grandpa. This is weird, like like they messed up on the coaching search so they couldn't even weren't even allowed to interview Aaron Glenn and Ben Johnson. They didn't interview Mike Rabel. This is I mean, I'm looking at the Cowboy head coaching search right now. Wow, is all I can say. At the odds. This is crazy. I mean, you can say what you want about the Bears, but Haleb Williams and Ben Johnson and that defensive personnel is pretty promising. You start looking at the NFC, you know there's always two or three franchises at the bottom of the league. Like for years it was Carolina, and now you're watching Bryce Young with that good offensive coach, and you're like, oh, you're gonna be kind of interesting in that Wonky division next year. For years it was Houston Texans. Oh, Demiico and CJ. Stroud are pretty special. You say what you want about Cleveland, They're just Cleveland. They'll always be near the bottom, but at least they have the right head coach and GM. But right now with Dallas, honest question ownership, front office, head coach, quarterback, where they elite like even Cleveland. I love Stefanski and I think they draft really well. Carolina, Bryce Young still didn't cash anything, and that offensive head coach team to fix him. By the end of this year, there were sundays Bryce Young looked better than CJ.
Stroud.
He may not be, but he looked better in a couple sundays. So I mean, again, you can say what you want about Chicago, but Caleb and Ben Johnson and those DJ Moore, Keenan Allen, Roman, Dunze swift out of the backfield, like there's some dudes there. Chicago's got dude, It's start a great defensive division.
Wow.
So I was thinking about this, Nick. Right top of the hour heard hierarchy the college football. You know in the media we tend to be cynical and negative. It wasn't perfect, The playoff wasn't perfect, but it netted out what we really wanted. The top eight or nine teams Notre Dame, Georgia, Texas, Ohio State, Penn State, Oregon fought to the end, and then we got a couple really cool stories like smu Arizona State was awesome, almost beat Texas and Boise State, and then Ohio State was our perfect champion, the most talented team, crazy talented but had a horrible loss at home, was a three touchdown favorite to Michigan. So that added a layer of pressure and drama. And they also Ohio State. Let's be fair, they got the toughest draw Tennessee, Oregon right out then Texas, and yet they went on to clobber four teams in a row and last night. The or is not indicative of what it was. I mean, at one point, what was it like twenty four to seven or something like that. In the third it was they ran rough shot over Notre Dame. So here's the things we have to understand and be cool with. Sports isn't perfect. It's not perfect, So you got to get over that. And the playoff can be better and they'll tweak it. But right now in Major League Baseball, everybody's furious because Rob Manfred is allowing deferred payments by the Dodgers. By the way, your billionaire can afford those players too. It's not a cheat code. Anybody could use it right now. I mean that NHL fans have been complaining about Gary Bettman's lack of marketing ideas forever. In the NFL, this weekend, we complained about officiating, and the NBA has got a host of problems. The players are rich, but they don't often want to play in the biggest games. There are no perfect sports, okay. And I think Ryan Day put it perfectly on what this playoff now allows.
And I think that this playoff system allowed our team to learn and grow and build and there was a lot of pressure put on our players, and you know, but that's that's nothing new. At Ohio State. I think the difference is that you know, we finished, We finished the season the right way, and we grew, we built, and we responded to tough times. And man, isn't that what life's all about?
Yeah? And I also think in the history of college football, a team finishing third like Ohio State in their conference would have never been given a chance before. But in the NFL wild Card teams can win a Super Bowl, So why can't they in college I am one hundred percent for a sport that follows more closely the model of the NFL. You know, by far and away the most popular sport in America, and a great model that's always tweaking. College football is going to tweak the NFL's constantly tweaking. If you have to follow one model in America for sports, I'm gonna go with the NFL is a good one. And also next year in Columbus, Ohio, the opening game Texas Longhorns against the Ohio State Buckeyes, and the winner will be on top of the world and the loser will still have a chance to host a twelve or fourteen team playoff game at home. That's the way it should be. It shouldn't be about when on the calendar you lose. It won't be Texas and Ohio State. One of those teams could get blown out and they'll be disappointed, and like Notre Dame, they'll have to find their way, or like Ohio State that lost by three touchdowns, lost to Michigan three touchdown favorite, you'll have to find your way and navigate, and that'll create strength and resilience. But I don't want my calendar deciding my national champion.
I don't want that.
Great teams lose big games in December, it should not automatically disqualify them from playing for a national champion. And I also believe, and I said this for years, college football has always had one shortage, a great game shortage. On any given weekend, any given Saturday, there's like two big games because teams have always been terrified to schedule at Texas, Ohio State, Georgia, Alabama, LSU because if you get rolled, you're out Ohio State first year of the playoff, proving you can not only lose, you can lose as a three touchdown favorite at home at the very end of the year, and we'll still let you in. If you had marquee wins and they did, like Penn State throughout the season, so I'm all fired up. I thought Ohio State was the perfect first year of the playoff champion. Horrible loss, impressive team, stumbled, questioned, layered drama, but in the end, best players, great coaching staff. Yes, I said it, Ryan Day, chip Kelly, that's a really good coaching staff. I thought that game plan last night had Chip Kelly written all over it. Get the ball to the playmakers early, get confidence in Will Howard, some easy throws.
I thought it had Chip Kelly and Ryan Day all over it. Way to go, Buckeyes.
Nick Wright heard hierarchy, our final hierarchy of the year in hour two Live in La.
It's the Herd.
