Speaker 1: You are listening to the Dan Patrick Show on Fox
Speaker 1: Sports Radio.
Speaker 2: He's Brady Quinn, Fox College Football Analyst, Big Noon Kickoff
Speaker 2: and Two Pros and a Cup of Joe, the radio
Speaker 2: show that precedes hours on Fox Sports Radio and Brady
Speaker 2: Quinn joining us on the program. How nervous are you
Speaker 2: for this game coming up tonight?
Speaker 3: Well, first off, let me answer that question by saying this,
Speaker 3: Fritzie sounds very much like Bill Belichick when he calls
Speaker 3: in for these radio hits. So I just want you
Speaker 3: to know it's a very similar demeanor for Fritzie and
Speaker 3: Bill Belichick. You almost sound like the same person. But
Speaker 3: in regards to tonight's game, there's some nerves there. I mean, look,
Speaker 3: this is a really good Penn Stage football team, you know,
Speaker 3: Notre Dame's banged up. I think if you look at
Speaker 3: the matchup of these two teams, you know it's gonna
Speaker 3: come down to the effectiveness of running the football and
Speaker 3: stopping to run. And I think if you look at
Speaker 3: Penn State, they've got a couple backs and k troon
Speaker 3: Allen Nick Singleton who's been phenomenal. Their tight end Tyler
Speaker 3: One will be a part of that rushing attack. And
Speaker 3: for Notre Name, you know Riley Leonard and Jeremiah Love.
Speaker 3: His health and status is obviously of some concern. He's
Speaker 3: an incredible player to Darien Price can kind of take
Speaker 3: over that load along with Williams as well the freshman.
Speaker 3: But that's you know, and this is gonna be a
Speaker 3: good game. The spread tight for a reason, and I
Speaker 3: think it's gonna see potentially a really ugly game to watch, though, Dan,
Speaker 3: when it's all said and done, meaning defensive football, you know,
Speaker 3: I think you're going to see a lot of back
Speaker 3: and forth punting. Special teams will play a role. I'll
Speaker 3: be shocked if they give Notre Names returners opportunity to
Speaker 3: actually return the football given that. If there's one distinct
Speaker 3: advantage for Notre Dame this game, it is their special
Speaker 3: teams play, especially the way it's been throughout the course
Speaker 3: of the year. Still will kicking hasn't necessarily been as
Speaker 3: good consistently, but Jeter was great obviously in the most
Speaker 3: recent game.
Speaker 2: So Brady will be on the field tonight, Urban Meyer,
Speaker 2: Matt Lioner, Vince Wilfork. That'll be a pre game. You know,
Speaker 2: I was wondering about or how you thought being a
Speaker 2: former Notre Dame athlete, James Franklin, was at the press
Speaker 2: conference with Marcus Freeman and he says, Hey, no offense
Speaker 2: to you, but you know, everybody should be in a conference.
Speaker 2: So there's only one school that you're talking about when
Speaker 2: you say everybody should be in a conference. Here. Do
Speaker 2: you see a scenario at any point in the next
Speaker 2: five years where Notre Dame is in a conference.
Speaker 3: I don't, and I think there's only two ways that
Speaker 3: hand would be forced.
Speaker 4: You know.
Speaker 3: The first would be if they weren't able to play
Speaker 3: for a national championship in football, if they weren't a
Speaker 3: part of a conference. So if that ended up being
Speaker 3: the case, that would force under Dame to have to
Speaker 3: make that decision. I think the next thing would be
Speaker 3: the economics of it. You know, if Notre Dame didn't
Speaker 3: have a television partner like NBC that is able to,
Speaker 3: you know, single handedly help you know, promote their brand,
Speaker 3: their school and the university, that would be Probably the
Speaker 3: other thing is if the economics become so big in
Speaker 3: favor of joining a conference that you'd be playing at
Speaker 3: a huge disadvantage because with the NBC contract, the parcelal
Speaker 3: affiliation with the ACC that's just not the case as
Speaker 3: of now, you know, and in fact, if you look
Speaker 3: at their advancement through the College Football playoffs, while all
Speaker 3: these other teams are you know, making money, but they
Speaker 3: have to share with the rest of the conference their
Speaker 3: day in pockets, all of it. And that's a huge
Speaker 3: advantage for them in particular, even you know, not having
Speaker 3: to play a conference championship game, but and then having
Speaker 3: to play a first round game, because they're going to
Speaker 3: be making money off that, not only hosting one if
Speaker 3: they are good enough to host a game like this season,
Speaker 3: but also if you're looking at you know, the subsequent
Speaker 3: rounds and all the money they'll be keeping it in
Speaker 3: their pockets.
Speaker 2: This whole thing about and I've railed on this for
Speaker 2: a while about conference championship games. I know it's a
Speaker 2: money grab, but every conference either has to have a
Speaker 2: conference championship game or not. And I wonder if we
Speaker 2: get to the point where can these conference championship games
Speaker 2: be a first round bowl game? Can we add more
Speaker 2: importance to it as opposed to what they're trying to
Speaker 2: diminish the outcome. Hey, Penn State to Oregon, no big deal.
Speaker 2: You get to still, you know, be a top seed. Here,
Speaker 2: I'm wondering the future of these conference title games.
Speaker 3: Now to your point, it does feel like it's a
Speaker 3: money grab, you know, in reality, and I think if
Speaker 3: you look at the attendance too, in some cases, I mean,
Speaker 3: it's a lot on the fans. It's hard to get
Speaker 3: probably the environment that you want, knowing that we now
Speaker 3: have an expanded playoff and there's going to be a
Speaker 3: good indicial home game or they're going to be traveling
Speaker 3: to you know, one of the New Year six games
Speaker 3: at some point, the quarterfinals and the semi finals and
Speaker 3: then the national championship if you're so lucky to get there.
Speaker 3: So there's a lot of economics that it's hitting the
Speaker 3: pockets of fans and some of the teams that are
Speaker 3: a part of it. But there's also the television portion
Speaker 3: of it. And I do think you bring up a
Speaker 3: good point. You know, how necessary are these conference championship
Speaker 3: games because they felt exclusive to college football? You know,
Speaker 3: as this model looks closer and closer to the NFL
Speaker 3: playoff system, you sit there and go, well, they have
Speaker 3: a regular season where they just determine who wins the division.
Speaker 3: They don't need to play off with the top two
Speaker 3: teams at the end of the season to determine that
Speaker 3: they've already got that figure out. You could do the
Speaker 3: same thing with the conferences. The only tough part about
Speaker 3: saying that is you only have four teams in a vision,
Speaker 3: and these conferences now are so big that it's almost
Speaker 3: an apples to Orange. It's comparison and looking at, for example,
Speaker 3: the schedule Ohio State played versus for example, the schedule
Speaker 3: Indiana played within the same conference. So because of that,
Speaker 3: you start to look at those things and go, all right,
Speaker 3: you know, maybe it's the harder that we thought. Just
Speaker 3: determined who the conference champion is and there's gonna be
Speaker 3: a lot of area years where you have a tie.
Speaker 3: I mean the Big Twelve one dude, this back when
Speaker 3: they didn't have their conference championship game. Then it was
Speaker 3: the slogan was the one true champion. And then you
Speaker 3: had Baylor and PCU tie the first year of the playoffs,
Speaker 3: and then neither made it in the playoff because the
Speaker 3: Big Twelve couldn't even decide who their conference chanion was.
Speaker 2: I'm talking Brady Quinn, Fox Sports college football analyst. He
Speaker 2: is part of the Orange Bowl Hall of Fame Committee
Speaker 2: joining us on the program. Yeah, handed prestigious.
Speaker 3: Dan, It's very prestigious. I share it. Actually, you have
Speaker 3: a big part, along with the rest of the committee
Speaker 3: and getting our three selected Hall of Fame inductees in
Speaker 3: there today. So if it just so happens that even
Speaker 3: though it's an ESPN broadcast, uh, you know, they're gonna
Speaker 3: have to maybe put a couple of Fox Sports Big
Speaker 3: New Kickoff guys on TV at some point I may
Speaker 3: or may not have played a role.
Speaker 2: Okay. So Urban and Matt Lioner and Vince will Fork
Speaker 2: are going into the Orange Bowl Hall of Fame. Yes,
Speaker 2: that's correct, Okay, And you're hoping that you get some
Speaker 2: kind of acknowledgment on ESPN with the Fox Big Noon
Speaker 2: kick on.
Speaker 3: I'm not saying I'm hoping anything. I'm just saying it
Speaker 3: might be hard to cover a game than not cover,
Speaker 3: you know, three historic figures in this you know tradition,
Speaker 3: the history of the Orange Bowl could not include acknowledging
Speaker 3: that at some point, like hey, Urban Meyer and Matt
Speaker 3: Leaner and Vince Wolfwerk are here because they're being inducted
Speaker 3: into the Hall of Fame. Like it just it seems
Speaker 3: like if you're ESPN grant, they make some mistakes, but
Speaker 3: if you're ESPN, you probably want to include that at
Speaker 3: some point the broadcast. Maybe I'm wrong, maybe.
Speaker 2: I'm handicap Ohio State Texas.
Speaker 3: I would say the Lion's sitting right now at six
Speaker 3: at this point, I think, you know, again, it comes
Speaker 3: down to, like both these teams playing to their potential.
Speaker 3: We've seen Ohio State do that the past two weeks
Speaker 3: and everyone goes, my goodness, that's the best team in
Speaker 3: the country and it's not even close. And the flip side,
Speaker 3: we watched Texas and it feels like at times not
Speaker 3: that they get disinterested. You know, I'm not going to
Speaker 3: play on that narrative, but it doesn't feel like they
Speaker 3: ever play up to their potential. So I don't know
Speaker 3: if they can find that, if Quinn yours and this
Speaker 3: offense can can find more of that, consistently, find more
Speaker 3: of that, like big play ability to break off, you know,
Speaker 3: versus Ohio State like they did and have so far
Speaker 3: in this playoff. I mean, it's like between Oregon and
Speaker 3: Tennessee and they put their foot on the gas. It's
Speaker 3: like it's not even close. And I obviously have a
Speaker 3: ton of respect for Dan Lanning the job he did
Speaker 3: at Orgon this year. So that to me that Ohio
Speaker 3: State team that it's more about can they continue the momentum?
Speaker 3: Can they continue to keep playing at the level which
Speaker 3: they have now the past two games? If they have
Speaker 3: no one can touch them like this spread, in my opinion,
Speaker 3: should be like nine and a half. Ohio State's going
Speaker 3: to be the team we saw the first two games
Speaker 3: so far in the playoff.
Speaker 2: What if Quinn Ewers wins the national championship and then
Speaker 2: has to leave Texas.
Speaker 3: It's a great hypothetical to throw out there, But if
Speaker 3: he's leaving Texas after winning the National championship, he's going
Speaker 3: to be going to the draft. Like everyone wants to
Speaker 3: make this like some big conversation about you know, the
Speaker 3: arch Manning and he's going to be the guy next year,
Speaker 3: and then that's that's all, you know, true. But if
Speaker 3: I'm Quinn yours and in that scenario plays itself out,
Speaker 3: I'm looking at this quarterback draft class and going hold
Speaker 3: on a second, Like Chador looks to be the number
Speaker 3: one guy based on the tape film and all that,
Speaker 3: but like why can't Quinn be the next guy based
Speaker 3: on these evaluations. You know, he's played really well through
Speaker 3: his career in big games. He's got the arm strength,
Speaker 3: he's got the abilities. He's been tough this year playing
Speaker 3: through injury. I'm just I'm not sure in a year
Speaker 3: where with the tape that Cars and Deck put out there,
Speaker 3: he's coming off injury. You know, cam Ord was special
Speaker 3: and dynamic, but people are gonna have concerns about, you know,
Speaker 3: offering an NFL offense. All those things that come up
Speaker 3: that people try to you know, draw and take away
Speaker 3: from what they see on tape. And so why not
Speaker 3: if your quinn Ewers try to be a part of
Speaker 3: this quarterback draft class playing on all that momentum that
Speaker 3: you would be getting off a national championship.
Speaker 2: Is Riley Leonard an NFL quarterback?
Speaker 3: I think so, you know, and look, I think there's
Speaker 3: still parts of his game that are developing. He reminds
Speaker 3: me a lot of Ryan Tannado. You know, when you
Speaker 3: go back to Ryan, who played wide receiver at his
Speaker 3: time of Texas A and M then transition to a quarterback. Now,
Speaker 3: I think Ryan had you know, in his final time
Speaker 3: at Texas and M displayed himself as much more of
Speaker 3: a passer at that point. But if you look at Riley,
Speaker 3: I mean, he's getting to a team in his you know,
Speaker 3: final year of play, and he's got to learn a
Speaker 3: new offense. He's got to develop comistry at these guys,
Speaker 3: and there's a lot of moving parts to all that.
Speaker 3: And so I think there's gonna be people who are
Speaker 3: going to be able to watch the tape and say,
Speaker 3: an incredible athlete. He is a good leader. He it's
Speaker 3: obviously tough. He has all these entangles we're looking for
Speaker 3: off to the size, and he has the arm strength.
Speaker 3: It's just there's things they got to hone in on
Speaker 3: in regards to how he sees the field, how he processes,
Speaker 3: and in particular throwing down the field. You know, that's
Speaker 3: one of the things that I think stands out to
Speaker 3: me is they haven't been able to be a successful
Speaker 3: over ten yards downfield consistently within the offense. And again
Speaker 3: there's a lot of reasons to that, but I think
Speaker 3: he's got the capability of playing at the next level.
Speaker 2: If Bill Belichick asked for advice, what would you tell him?
Speaker 3: Oh man, I would tell him, why the hell are
Speaker 3: you asking me for I'd be like, you already got problems.
Speaker 3: If you're like, let's just start with this, like like
Speaker 3: where did you go wrong? Like I'd probably throw back
Speaker 3: around him, But who's who gave you got advice or what?
Speaker 3: Who told you to ask me something? I guess The
Speaker 3: first thing I would say is it's it's so hard
Speaker 3: because we're assuming he's the head coach in North Carolina, right,
Speaker 3: We're not assuming he's going to potentially leave for an
Speaker 3: NFL job, which still baffles me that you know someone
Speaker 3: assen't hired him in the past two years. If that's
Speaker 3: the case, I would say the number one thing is
Speaker 3: he has to go find a quarterback, like evaluate the
Speaker 3: roster and you can, you know, construct the roster through
Speaker 3: nil and high school recruit and all that, but he
Speaker 3: needs to find a veteran guy he can get to
Speaker 3: the portal the best guy possible, and he needs to
Speaker 3: go attack and get one of these scud guys coming
Speaker 3: out from high school. And you need to have at
Speaker 3: least a couple of guys there to provide you depth
Speaker 3: of ability but also for stability. So that would be
Speaker 3: the number one thing that I'd say. If you look
Speaker 3: at a college game, like I would actually say the
Speaker 3: college quarterback is more paramount then even an NFL quarterback
Speaker 3: to a degree, And people might take issue with that,
Speaker 3: but I just think the way the game is played
Speaker 3: nowadays and the way the advantage that the elite quarterback
Speaker 3: at college gives you over even at the NFL. We
Speaker 3: got to go up against good defenses and offensive line
Speaker 3: matters even more. There's all these other parts play a factor.
Speaker 3: I mean, if you have an elite quarterback, like you
Speaker 3: really can go far. And I think cam Ward's an
Speaker 3: example of that. Like how many of those other players
Speaker 3: in Miami this year you look at and saying, well,
Speaker 3: those guys are draft the board. Those guys are going
Speaker 3: to be, you know, top picks, and I think without
Speaker 3: him this year, they're probably a five win team. And
Speaker 3: then it's traumatically different conversation when Cambore gets there. So
Speaker 3: I would say he's got to go address that position
Speaker 3: first and foremost with an older, experienced guy if you can,
Speaker 3: if you have to do through the portal, and then
Speaker 3: obviously a high school guy.
Speaker 2: Have fun tonight and don't be like, you know, somebody's
Speaker 2: on the field a ESPN are you going to be
Speaker 2: like jumping behind them and jumping up and you're not
Speaker 2: going to be way okay.
Speaker 3: No, I'll be hard to miss. I'll be wearing my
Speaker 3: orange jacket down there, so so if you look down,
Speaker 3: there's like, why why is he wearing orange? Like what?
Speaker 3: Like not a lot of people know that I'm on
Speaker 3: the Orange Bowl committee. So it's it's always funny to
Speaker 3: see the response from people when you wear the orange jacket,
Speaker 3: because they do stand out. It's tremendous marketing. But then
Speaker 3: it always comes with who are you rooting for if
Speaker 3: drawing orange? So like, well, I've got my end the
Speaker 3: stuff on underneath, but I'll be wearing an orange shacket
Speaker 3: during the presentation.
Speaker 1: Thank you, Brady, Thank you. That's Brady Quinn. Fox Sports
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Speaker 2: That's Covino and Rich. We spoke with Kyle Hamilton yesterday
Speaker 2: after practice and he is a two time Pro Bowl
Speaker 2: safety for the Ravens and a Notre Dame grad as well,
Speaker 2: played under Marcus Freeman is his defensive coordinator, and I
Speaker 2: started out by asking Kyle Hamilton, which game does he
Speaker 2: feel more confident about the Ravens against the Steelers or
Speaker 2: is fighting irish playing tonight against Penn State?
Speaker 7: You know, taking one step at a time.
Speaker 9: So Notre Dame is tomorrow, So I'm worried about that
Speaker 9: Notre Dame game tomorrow. I got a few Penn State
Speaker 9: people talking to a little trash. But you know, I said,
Speaker 9: it's they had a good season. They it's kind of
Speaker 9: a cool story that came this far. Get the program, sorry,
Speaker 9: but we got bigger things to do.
Speaker 2: Okay, do you have I think three teammates who went
Speaker 2: to Penn State? Are there any side bets on this game?
Speaker 9: A ton of bragging rights, because that's all anybody does
Speaker 9: is about their college. But you know, come Friday morning,
Speaker 9: I'm gonna be really loud.
Speaker 2: Marcus Freeman looks like he could still play Kyle.
Speaker 9: I think he's only about thirty five something like that?
Speaker 2: Is he but that up? But around there I think
Speaker 2: he was pretty intend. Was he he was what defensive
Speaker 2: coordinator when you were there?
Speaker 7: Yeah, he was not DC.
Speaker 9: He was It was cool to have a DC that
Speaker 9: was closer in age to us than our head coach
Speaker 9: and can kind of relate, been in it and can
Speaker 9: relay the messages very well.
Speaker 2: Does do you get to tackle Lamar Jackson or Derrick Henry?
Speaker 7: No? I mean I wish I could, more so than Derek.
Speaker 2: But you don't want to tackle Derrick Henry.
Speaker 9: Yeah, that's you know, when he has to do so
Speaker 9: you know, you gotta do what you gotta do. But
Speaker 9: I'm glad he's on the Ravens.
Speaker 2: Okay, But that's where you make a business decision. If
Speaker 2: he was playing on the Titans, have you made business
Speaker 2: decisions when you're tackling somebody.
Speaker 9: I feel like you can't really do that because if
Speaker 9: you try to do that, then you know you're just
Speaker 9: gonna get embarrassed.
Speaker 2: Well, you can't admit it, but in your mind it's like, God,
Speaker 2: this is gonna hurt.
Speaker 7: Yeah.
Speaker 9: Yeah, But most of the time you get up next
Speaker 9: play and then you forget about it.
Speaker 2: But trying to corral Lamar, I mean, how tough is that?
Speaker 2: And he's your teammate.
Speaker 9: Yeah, obviously I can't speak from experience other than fall Camp,
Speaker 9: but even then, when he's going fifty percent Lamar, it's
Speaker 9: still tough.
Speaker 7: To stop him.
Speaker 9: And you see it every single game day. It's just like,
Speaker 9: I know, the defense has to be frustrated being out
Speaker 9: there and you feel like you have the perfect play
Speaker 9: out up and you do, and then you get to
Speaker 9: him and he squirms out and runs for fifty yards.
Speaker 9: It throws a sixty yard touchdown. It's just it's I
Speaker 9: would be demoralizing.
Speaker 2: Okay, if we ran a forty yard dash, who's winning
Speaker 2: on the team out of everybody?
Speaker 7: Yeah, definitely not me.
Speaker 9: Uh as I showcased at the combine.
Speaker 2: What was your time at the combine?
Speaker 7: Four or five? Nine?
Speaker 2: All right? Yeah, yeah, but you're tall, you're rangy. You
Speaker 2: make up for it.
Speaker 7: Yeah, that seems any care. They thought I was slow,
Speaker 7: but you know.
Speaker 2: Did they call you slow?
Speaker 7: Yeah? It it uh some of them did. But you
Speaker 7: know it worked out and I'm I'm where I need
Speaker 7: to be.
Speaker 2: At your Your speed challenged is what you are. You're
Speaker 2: not slow, You're just speed challenge. And your forty was
Speaker 2: faster than Jerry Rice's.
Speaker 9: Oh I can, all right, that's something the standing I can.
Speaker 9: Somebody tries to make fun of me, but forty our
Speaker 9: dash winner on the team probably probably Keaton uh No.
Speaker 7: Nate Wiggins, Nate Wiggins, Nate Wiggins and Keith Mitch would
Speaker 7: be a good race.
Speaker 2: Where's Lamar in this? If we did a forty or
Speaker 2: one hundred yard.
Speaker 9: I don't think anybody's ever really seen Lamar run full speed.
Speaker 9: When he does, he's super fast, so I probably put
Speaker 9: it I say that Lamar runs around high four to three.
Speaker 2: He's Kyle Hamilton, the Ravens safety, two time pro bowler
Speaker 2: and a former Notre Dame fighting irishman. The difference between
Speaker 2: a playoff practice and a regular season practice is.
Speaker 7: What, honestly not much at least for us.
Speaker 9: You know, we try to take that mindset in every
Speaker 9: single week so we don't get to the playoffs and
Speaker 9: then change what we're doing. It's something that I think
Speaker 9: the Ravens have done a great job of. Coach Harbor,
Speaker 9: everybody in the facility and everybody on the staff is
Speaker 9: just you know, we're kind of built for this at
Speaker 9: this point. It's just business as usual. So going on
Speaker 9: Saturday and do we need to do?
Speaker 2: Are you preparing for both quarterbacks? Yeah?
Speaker 9: Yeah, I think that's kind of something that you got
Speaker 9: to prepare for because they deploy justin fields when you know,
Speaker 9: keep driven run stuff.
Speaker 7: And obviously he's still a quarterback, can still.
Speaker 9: Throw the ball, so you know, you'd ever know how
Speaker 9: the game is gonna go, and so you got to
Speaker 9: prepared to be prepared for everything.
Speaker 2: Best wide receiver you faced this season was who, hmm,
Speaker 2: that's a good question.
Speaker 9: You know, CD's pretty good. I'm forgetting somebody. I will
Speaker 9: always say it wasn't this season, but last season. Pookin
Speaker 9: Nakua is probably one of the more underrated people in
Speaker 9: the league.
Speaker 7: Just playing against him.
Speaker 9: He's physical, he's tough, makes great catches, runs good routes,
Speaker 9: and you know, not a lot of people give him
Speaker 9: credit for what he does. And that's one person that
Speaker 9: really stuck out to me last year.
Speaker 2: But but Kyle, I watch him play and I'm like, Okay,
Speaker 2: how did everybody miss on Pookin na Koua being a
Speaker 2: great wide receiver, even a good wide receiver in the NFL?
Speaker 9: Yeah, I mean, I think he had somewhat of a
Speaker 9: subpar combine or something coming out maybe measurables, But I
Speaker 9: think people get stuck in the numbers a little too
Speaker 9: much and forget that. You know, you gotta play football
Speaker 9: at the other the day, and he's definitely a good
Speaker 9: football player.
Speaker 2: Jim Harball is quirky weird. Is John Harball quirky weird?
Speaker 9: Honestly, I don't think so. I think he was probably
Speaker 9: the cooler brother growing up. Even though Jim was the
Speaker 9: NFL quarterback. You know, John was still the older brother.
Speaker 7: And nah, I feel like I feel like he.
Speaker 9: Kind of has those older brother qualities and Jim has
Speaker 9: those younger brother qualities.
Speaker 2: Does John say goofy things though?
Speaker 9: Yeah, he does goofy, borderline corny. Yeah, he tries, and
Speaker 9: we appreciate him trying to have a little satirical side
Speaker 9: to him, but you know, sometimes he is.
Speaker 7: It's kind of a hit or miss with him.
Speaker 2: Well, congrats so far, good luck against the Steelers, and
Speaker 2: thanks for joining us.
Speaker 7: Thank you, Dad, appreciate it.
Speaker 2: That's Kyle Hamilton, the Ravens Safety.
Speaker 1: Be sure to catch the live edition of The Dan
Speaker 1: Patrick Show week days at nine am Eastern six am
Speaker 1: Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 2: Mike Breen ESPN, ABC, NBA play by play commentator on
Speaker 2: the call last night Cleveland against Oklahoma City? Did it
Speaker 2: feel like a finals preview to you?
Speaker 4: It did? Was a long way to go and there's
Speaker 4: a lot of teams that will have to say about that.
Speaker 4: But the buzz in the place, it just it just
Speaker 4: was different. I had to keep reminding myself, but it's
Speaker 4: January eighth, so easy does it? But it had a
Speaker 4: spectacular field. You could tell the players were so fired
Speaker 4: up and so into it. You know, they're all trying
Speaker 4: to say it's a regular game, but it wasn't. They
Speaker 4: knew it, The crowd knew it. It was. It was
Speaker 4: really wonderful for a game on January eighth.
Speaker 2: When you do a show, when you if it's on
Speaker 2: the Mothership or radio show, whatever you like, to play
Speaker 2: the hits and the Cavaliers aren't playing the hits. But
Speaker 2: they've gotten to that point, Mike, they're thirty two and four. Like,
Speaker 2: you can't ignore the topic. This is one of the
Speaker 2: great starts in the history of the NBA. Do you
Speaker 2: get that sense of people are really struggling to grab
Speaker 2: a hold of this. Certainly Cleveland, Oklahoma City, we expect
Speaker 2: them to be maybe there in the finals. Cleveland, they've
Speaker 2: been a really good team, but they just haven't been,
Speaker 2: you know, in the headlines because Lebron's gone.
Speaker 4: Couldn't agree more. It's like I even said in our open.
Speaker 4: I repeated the record to Richard Jefferson, not because he
Speaker 4: didn't he didn't know it. Obviously he knew it. But
Speaker 4: it just sounds crazy to say that the Cleveland Cabs
Speaker 4: are thirty two and four and they're they're that good.
Speaker 4: They're really that good. And I think the fact that
Speaker 4: the betting line now still has the Boston Celtics the
Speaker 4: clear favorite to come out of the East, despite the
Speaker 4: fact that the Caves are doing this, and it's you know,
Speaker 4: it's a credit to the whole organization from cold Altman
Speaker 4: who made the roster, the patience to keep the roster
Speaker 4: and not make, you know, sudden changes because they lost
Speaker 4: in the first round two years ago and got beaten
Speaker 4: pretty badly in the second round last year, although it
Speaker 4: was injuries. They just they play such fun basketball to
Speaker 4: watch because they play team basketball.
Speaker 2: I have a bet here with Marvin and I think
Speaker 2: there'll be two Cavaliers named to the All Star team.
Speaker 2: He says four.
Speaker 4: Won't be four. I think three is a really good bet.
Speaker 4: I think Mitchell Mobley and and Darius Garland. Although Jared
Speaker 4: Allen the last couple of weeks he's played as well
Speaker 4: as any of them, so it's it's gonna be interesting.
Speaker 4: It'll be interesting to see. I think four is a lot,
Speaker 4: because you know, you know, Boston has definitely two. New
Speaker 4: York has definitely two, although there was a couple of
Speaker 4: normal guys that get on that aren't gonna make it,
Speaker 4: so I wouldn't count it out. They certainly deserve it's
Speaker 4: it's you know, like you said, it's it's one of
Speaker 4: the greatest of any era, of any team, of any franchise.
Speaker 4: It's one of the greatest starts the league has ever seen.
Speaker 2: If you were going to describe Shay Gilgis Alexander to
Speaker 2: somebody who hadn't seen him play, how would you do it?
Speaker 4: A magical control of his body and no matter where
Speaker 4: he goes, no matter what he does, an incredible poise
Speaker 4: where nobody can speed him up and nobody can really
Speaker 4: stop him. Killer instinct and even though you know he's
Speaker 4: averaging so many points, he is such a team first guy.
Speaker 4: Everything about him he's he's it's hard to do it
Speaker 4: in just a quick sentence. He's got this supreme confidence
Speaker 4: but at the same time humility. He's just he's a
Speaker 4: perfect guy to to kind of take over the throne
Speaker 4: of of the for stars now with some of the
Speaker 4: some of our greats aging. Everything about him is is
Speaker 4: just wonderful from a from a league standpoint, in terms
Speaker 4: of being the guy that that you know, could lead
Speaker 4: the next generation.
Speaker 2: I kind of see some Kawhi Leonard comps with him,
Speaker 2: because Kawhi had an ability when he was healthy to
Speaker 2: control the tempo of a game. Not necessarily a three
Speaker 2: point shooter, but had that ability to if he wanted
Speaker 2: to take you inside or that mid range jumper. And
Speaker 2: you know, maybe similar size. I don't know if Shaye
Speaker 2: is a little bit taller, but do you see that comp.
Speaker 4: Yeah, No, I like that because neither one of them,
Speaker 4: you would say, are fast. They're both athletic, but that's
Speaker 4: not what they They rely everything on. They're both super smart.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 4: I think that's a big part of it. Shay smiles
Speaker 4: a little bit more through Kawhi, but it's, you know
Speaker 4: what the two The other thing you could say about
Speaker 4: the two of them, and this is something he could
Speaker 4: play in any era. He could have played in the
Speaker 4: sixties his game because he kind of incorporates everything from
Speaker 4: from the way players scored in the sixties seventies, you know,
Speaker 4: the nineties. He can take the physical style of the nineties.
Speaker 4: You know, he's improved on his three point shooting of
Speaker 4: today's current game. He's one of those guys that he's
Speaker 4: just he's just a great basketball player that could play
Speaker 4: in any era.
Speaker 2: We're talking to Mike Breeney, you know, ESPN, ABC, NBA
Speaker 2: play by play commentator on the call last night, calves
Speaker 2: in the thunder. How often do you get somebody coming
Speaker 2: up to you and say, hey, Mike, can you give
Speaker 2: me a bang?
Speaker 4: You really want to know? When I go into an arenas,
Speaker 4: it's it's all the time, and I take it as
Speaker 4: a as a compliment, and I'm flattered, like you wouldn't
Speaker 4: believe that the people say that. But when they start,
Speaker 4: the kids start shoving the phone in your face and
Speaker 4: there yelling say bags. It's a Sometimes it gets a
Speaker 4: little much, but I'm again, I'm so flattered by it
Speaker 4: that this one word has been so good to me.
Speaker 2: Okay, but wait a minute, how do you do that
Speaker 2: when somebody says, hey, Mike, will you say bang? Do
Speaker 2: you just go bang?
Speaker 7: No?
Speaker 4: What? What? Sometimes I just go bang? And sometimes I'll
Speaker 4: say that I if it's after a game. I'll say
Speaker 4: I lost, I lost my boys. Wow.
Speaker 2: Uh, what constitutes or warrants a double bang?
Speaker 4: There there's no formula. Yeah, it's it's strictly off the
Speaker 4: flow of the game. What's going on? And wow, is
Speaker 4: this this stumble of it? It really just comes out.
Speaker 4: I wish I had a better answer. I'm sorry, you know,
Speaker 4: I'm Next time we're on, I'm going to come up
Speaker 4: with a better answer.
Speaker 2: I got to help you with your profile here. I mean,
Speaker 2: let's let's embrace it. Do we do we have a copyright?
Speaker 2: Do we got T shirt? And like, what are we doing? Mike?
Speaker 4: First off, you've always been helpful, so I appreciate any
Speaker 4: additional help. I don't have copyright. I have a T shirt,
Speaker 4: but that's just one. I never thought of selling it.
Speaker 4: And you know, here's the interesting thing. And I don't
Speaker 4: know if you and I have discussed this. I'm not
Speaker 4: the first one to use it. And I didn't know
Speaker 4: this until later. Johnny Most used to say bang when
Speaker 4: he did Celtics radio back in the day.
Speaker 2: You weren't aware of that.
Speaker 4: You just were not aware of it. And his son,
Speaker 4: his son who was in the business, Jamie his son
Speaker 4: alerted me to it, and I think right after I
Speaker 4: found that out, I did bang in a Celtic game
Speaker 4: and I said, that's dedicated to the great Johnny Most.
Speaker 4: But you know, back in the day, we didn't if
Speaker 4: you weren't in that town, you didn't know or listen
Speaker 4: really to the radio voices of other teams. Now you
Speaker 4: can listen to the entire broadcast of other teams no
Speaker 4: matter where you are. But I didn't know it at
Speaker 4: the time.
Speaker 2: I watched by Yama when Ben Yama the other night
Speaker 2: again joker, and I said the following day, he's going
Speaker 2: to win an MVP before he's twenty five. If you
Speaker 2: don't now, I didn't have a great scoring night. But
Speaker 2: he's got like a he can shoot the three. He
Speaker 2: you know, he's a force. At the other end, I'm
Speaker 2: trying to figure out what is going to be his weakness,
Speaker 2: Like Yiannis is not a great shooter. Uh, you know,
Speaker 2: these guys have weaknesses. But Lemby looks pretty polished, Mike.
Speaker 4: He does everything really well. And I agree with you,
Speaker 4: in a matter of a year or two, he's going
Speaker 4: to be great at everything. I mean, there's certain things
Speaker 4: he's great at now. But he doesn't really have a weakness.
Speaker 4: You know, he's going to get stronger every year. He's
Speaker 4: improved on his perimeter game every year. But his is
Speaker 4: just his instincts, his feel for the game, and his
Speaker 4: desire to keep working every single day to get better.
Speaker 4: When you talk to the Spurs people that they they're
Speaker 4: pinching themselves because not only is this kid such an
Speaker 4: unbelievable talent, but his makeup mentally and his desire to
Speaker 4: be the best who's ever played is just is off
Speaker 4: the charts. So I would not bet against you on that.
Speaker 4: Twenty five Now, he's going to win multiple MVPs, that's
Speaker 4: for sure. I don't know by what age, but he's
Speaker 4: going to win multiple.
Speaker 2: If I said to you, you have to pick one
Speaker 2: of the two teams most likely to be in the
Speaker 2: finals of the two teams last night.
Speaker 4: Not going to do it. Not going to do it
Speaker 4: to me, I'm sorry, Bang, there's so much you know
Speaker 4: what the cool thing is, there's so much time left,
Speaker 4: and because this year there's a possibility of a number
Speaker 4: of players, like really good players, who are going to
Speaker 4: change teams by the trading deadline. That could absolutely swing
Speaker 4: who's favorite so that's what I find fascinating. So there
Speaker 4: might be a team that we're thinking they'll make the playoffs,
Speaker 4: but they won't do much. All of a sudden, they
Speaker 4: pick up one or two guys and they're now their
Speaker 4: favorites to get to the finals. So it's it's really
Speaker 4: hard to do that right.
Speaker 2: Now, who retires first, Lebron, Steph or KDH.
Speaker 4: KD is going to keep playing for a long time.
Speaker 4: Steph is still loving and Lebron is still loving too.
Speaker 4: I think maybe Lebron because he's starting to drop hints.
Speaker 4: But then again, he also just said that he knows
Speaker 4: he could contribute until he's fifty, which he could. And
Speaker 4: that's the crazy thing, Like if he wanted to, he
Speaker 4: could be fifty years old and probably average fifteen six
Speaker 4: and four. I mean, he absolutely could do it.
Speaker 2: Could ever see him ranked higher than Jordan?
Speaker 4: I don't here's another cop out. Don't be mad at me,
Speaker 4: but I refuse to rank players from different eras. It's
Speaker 4: just it's impossible. I mean, whether you want to talk
Speaker 4: about Russell or Chamberlain or Alcindor or Kobe or Lebron
Speaker 4: or Michael, I mean, it's hard to ever argue against
Speaker 4: Michael Jordan. But my favorite saying is comparison is a
Speaker 4: thief of joy. And to start comparing one to the
Speaker 4: other all of a sudden, to make your point, you're
Speaker 4: starting to criticize the other. And how do you criticize
Speaker 4: the other?
Speaker 2: All right, I think I've used you. I've I've talked
Speaker 2: to you long enough. I can hear the voice. Maybe
Speaker 2: it's starting to waiver a little bit here?
Speaker 4: What's starting a waiver?
Speaker 2: It just sounds like you're kind of losing your voice.
Speaker 2: It's it's sound as like like, guys, I think we
Speaker 2: can all agree. It sounds like Breen's voice is going
Speaker 2: a little bit there, a little again little.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 2: You know, I'm not going to compare. I mean, you're
Speaker 2: not Doc Rivers because Doc Rivers sounds like this.
Speaker 7: You got to give me forty eight, guys, you gotta
Speaker 7: give me forty eight.
Speaker 2: That's frizzy.
Speaker 4: I tell I could tell it was him.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know Todd.
Speaker 4: Do you have any idea how important Todd was to
Speaker 4: my career? No? Well, when I worked on the Imis
Speaker 4: in the Morning Show, my whole stick was getting getting
Speaker 4: quality sound bites to play off of and have fun
Speaker 4: and he was the morning news and sports producer, and
Speaker 4: he was the one that would find the bites that
Speaker 4: he knew would work, and he knew I would like
Speaker 4: to try and work. He was I couldn't have done
Speaker 4: it without him.
Speaker 2: He was spectacular because I thought you were awesome with
Speaker 2: that when you had fun with these sound bikes. And
Speaker 2: now we're talking about Todd Fritz. Right, yes, okay, all right,
Speaker 2: fair enough. I didn't know. I'm a journalist, Todd. I
Speaker 2: got to ask these questions.
Speaker 1: So I started at w FN with Breen in the game.
Speaker 4: He was amazing. He was amazing him and another guy
Speaker 4: who did it was Craig Shamides. Those two guys were invaluable.
Speaker 2: Well that's that's great to know. And I know the
Speaker 2: voice is going. So I don't know your next game,
Speaker 2: so I'm gonna let you rest that, but thank you
Speaker 2: for sharing your thoughts. Quite well, that's Mike Breen.
Speaker 1: Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
Speaker 1: the nation. Catch all of our shows at Foxsports Radio
Speaker 1: dot com and within the iHeartRadio app search FSR to
Speaker 1: listen live.
Speaker 2: He is Greg McElroy ESPN College Football Analyst. He'll be
Speaker 2: on the call ABC ESPN tonight, it's Penn State, Notre Dame.
Speaker 2: How about we start there, Dion in the NFL or
Speaker 2: staying at Colorado?
Speaker 8: Well, are you suggesting which I would If I were
Speaker 8: giving Don some type of advice, which way would I go?
Speaker 8: I would probably stay at Colorado. You can write your
Speaker 8: ticket there. Man, He's become musty television. The Alamo Bowl
Speaker 8: game that he lost by twenty thirty points was the
Speaker 8: highest rateed game outside of the College Football Playoff in
Speaker 8: the bowl season. He's appointment television for many And I
Speaker 8: think now with the support that they're getting from an
Speaker 8: nil standpoint, Dan, I think it's easier to win on
Speaker 8: a consistent level in college. I think in the NFL
Speaker 8: you can be the greatest thing in the world and
Speaker 8: then fired the next year. Yeah, college, you got a
Speaker 8: little bit more runway if you can have a positive
Speaker 8: impact on the kids.
Speaker 2: All Right, The point spread tonight is Notre Dame by
Speaker 2: one and a half. Let's say the game comes down
Speaker 2: to that kind of point spread. Paint the picture for
Speaker 2: the audience of you being the analyst tonight of how
Speaker 2: you think that would play out in the final second.
Speaker 8: Well, it would be phenomenal you'd know, Sean McDonough. Something
Speaker 8: tells me we would have a voice crack, and we
Speaker 8: would have a lot of energy, and we would have
Speaker 8: one heck of a finish as long as a punter
Speaker 8: doesn't drop it and allow Jalen watch Jackson to return
Speaker 8: one to the house. That could elicit some stronger reaction.
Speaker 8: That would be two or three voice cracks potentially. But Dan,
Speaker 8: I don't know about you. You've been a college football
Speaker 8: fan for a long time and you've supported and helped
Speaker 8: promote our sport, and we're very grateful to you for that.
Speaker 8: But I think the College Football Playoff, while we haven't
Speaker 8: had the most compelling matchups from a competitive standpoint, it's
Speaker 8: been captivating television and I think if we could just
Speaker 8: get one that would go the distance. You look at
Speaker 8: the game between Arizona State and Texas, a game that
Speaker 8: went to overtime, multiple overtimes. That game had seventeen point
Speaker 8: three million viewers at noon or one o'clock Eastern time
Speaker 8: on New Year's Day, a window that had not performed
Speaker 8: well in the past, gets an all time high because
Speaker 8: of how compelling that game was, and it was between
Speaker 8: two programs, one Blue Blood and one that's kind of
Speaker 8: an upstart and airs on the state. That would be magnificent.
Speaker 8: But I think if Notre Dame and Penn State, two
Speaker 8: of the most storied programs, two of the top programs
Speaker 8: in the history of college football from a win standpoint,
Speaker 8: to win the top seven, if it comes down to
Speaker 8: the wire like that, it'd be pretty remarkable. And it's
Speaker 8: probably gonna be a defensive slugfest. It's gonna feel like
Speaker 8: a pitcher's duel. It's gonna feel like, you know, Verlander
Speaker 8: on the mound against Kershaw ten years ago, and whoever
Speaker 8: can somehow find a C and I singles got a
Speaker 8: chance to win the game.
Speaker 2: It's gonna be pretty remarkable. Best player on the field
Speaker 2: tonight will be.
Speaker 8: When Notre Dame's on offense. The best player on the
Speaker 8: field tonight could actually be two players on either side,
Speaker 8: depending on their health. Abdul Carter, in all likelihood will
Speaker 8: play for Penn State the defensive end. Pass rusher Kuiper's
Speaker 8: got him as the number two overall player behind Travis Hunter.
Speaker 8: Super dynamic player. I mean, but they move him around too.
Speaker 8: I mean, that's what's fun. I think he's not one
Speaker 8: of those guys, that's just stationary end of the line
Speaker 8: of scrimmage player. Like he can be over the center,
Speaker 8: he can be over the guard, he can blitz off
Speaker 8: the second level. Like he's a very versatile piece. He
Speaker 8: can move around. He is at less than one hundred
Speaker 8: percent because of a shoulder injury that he has suffered
Speaker 8: against Boise State. Played just seventeen snaps in that game,
Speaker 8: so we'll be monitoring his availability as a game time decision.
Speaker 8: Then on the other side of Jeremiah Love, who has
Speaker 8: a right knee injury, the running back for Notre Dame,
Speaker 8: he hasn't really been all that effective. He hurt his
Speaker 8: knee against USC in the final week of the regular
Speaker 8: season and has like thirteen touches in the two playoff
Speaker 8: games since. The problem is that one of those thirteen
Speaker 8: touches is a ninety eight yard touchdown run, So he's
Speaker 8: still got great top end speed. But those are the
Speaker 8: two players that I think are probably the most captivating
Speaker 8: television for tonight's game.
Speaker 2: Handicapped tomorrow night's game, Ohio State Texas. Everybody's on Ohio State,
Speaker 2: aren't they. Yeah, you know, it's I feel like you're
Speaker 2: getting Texas on sale. From a handicapping perspective, Texas on
Speaker 2: the heels of a two overtime win as a double
Speaker 2: digit favorite, two touchdown favorite against Arizona State, Texas Scott
Speaker 2: flaws when yours is flawed. Are you going to buy it?
Speaker 2: It sounds like you would buy Texas a home game,
Speaker 2: it feels well.
Speaker 8: Is Ohio State ever on the road? I guess the
Speaker 8: other question that I've starting to realize when it comes
Speaker 8: to neutral sites, man, Ohio State is going to be there,
Speaker 8: and they're going to be allowed, and they're going to
Speaker 8: make their presence felt. I do think, though, that Texas
Speaker 8: is a really They're a team that can absolutely match up. Again,
Speaker 8: I think they match up really well. I'm not saying
Speaker 8: they'll win the game. I actually think Ohio State will
Speaker 8: win the game. But if you're gonna tell me I
Speaker 8: can get nearly seven, if I get six, six and
Speaker 8: a half, five and a half, I kind of lean Longhorns.
Speaker 8: I look at where they're built in their strength. They're
Speaker 8: very similar to Michigan with what they have along the
Speaker 8: defensive front. And while I think Oregon is a good
Speaker 8: football team, I don't think Oregon is as equipped. I
Speaker 8: know they beat Ohio State earlier in the season. I
Speaker 8: also acknowledged though that that version of Ohio State very
Speaker 8: different than the Ohio State that they saw just this
Speaker 8: last weekend that the Rose Bowl. Ohio State at that
Speaker 8: time in that game lost their left tackle Will Howard
Speaker 8: was not yet as comfortable as he is right now.
Speaker 8: Their receiver Jeremiah Smith in that game was a good player,
Speaker 8: but not a take over the game as the best
Speaker 8: player in college football type of player at that point.
Speaker 8: So Ohio State's very different. So they beat Oregon badly
Speaker 8: because Oregon took the same plan that they used the
Speaker 8: first time around, and they don't match up as well.
Speaker 8: Texas will kind of keep things in front and their
Speaker 8: defensive line can win the game. That's Texas's strength, and
Speaker 8: that's where Ohio State lost the game against Michigan. So
Speaker 8: I do think that Texas matches up better than anyone
Speaker 8: else up to this point in the postseason against Ohio State.
Speaker 2: Greg McElroy, ESPN college football analyst. He'll be on the call.
Speaker 2: It's on ABC and ESPN. Sean McDonough will be there,
Speaker 2: Molly McGrath, Katie George and that starts at seven thirty Eastern.
Speaker 2: Also part of Omaha Production's Always College Football podcast, co
Speaker 2: host of Mac and Cube in the Morning on WJOX
Speaker 2: in Birmingham. How often do coaches get out coached?
Speaker 7: Oh?
Speaker 3: A lot?
Speaker 2: Because I'll go back to what what Notre Dame did
Speaker 2: against Kirby Smart, what Marcus Freeman did when they swapped
Speaker 2: out and then they were gonna punt they were not
Speaker 2: then you get you know, offsite. I mean, that's that's
Speaker 2: one moment. But to me, that helped change the game.
Speaker 2: So I don't know, like you played for Nick Saban,
Speaker 2: but the number of times, like Bill Belichick, how many
Speaker 2: times will he out coach somebody in the college in
Speaker 2: college games?
Speaker 8: You know what's funny is it? And I know that
Speaker 8: this is like the most obvious coach speak thing ever,
Speaker 8: so apologize in advance. But more games are lost than one,
Speaker 8: you know what I'm saying. Like, we'll go back to
Speaker 8: the game and the Sugar Bowl with Notre Dame against Georgia.
Speaker 8: Two moments stand out in the game. Okay, one was
Speaker 8: at the end of the half. They have a backup
Speaker 8: quarterback in the game. Notre Dame is thinking, hey, they're
Speaker 8: going to run the ball, take it to half. The
Speaker 8: game's going to be six ' three. Notre Dame's got
Speaker 8: a slight lead, but for the most part, you know,
Speaker 8: it's a low scoring game and it's lacked a lot
Speaker 8: of offense. Well, they put their run defense personnel in
Speaker 8: the game. Rj Oben is a guy that had that moment,
Speaker 8: had zero sacks on the season. Well, what does he do.
Speaker 8: He goes right around the left tackle, stripsack, fumble recovery
Speaker 8: Notre Dame on the next offensive snap, touchdown. Now it's
Speaker 8: a game that is feels like it's blown open at
Speaker 8: thirteen to three. That was one moment in the game,
Speaker 8: and that was Kirby being probably a little bit too
Speaker 8: aggressive there at the end of half Hindsight's twenty twenty, Like,
Speaker 8: do you really expect your left tackle to get killed
Speaker 8: by a run stopping defensive end. Probably not all right,
Speaker 8: So that was one moment. The other moment was, like
Speaker 8: you referenced late in the game, Marcus Freeman ops to
Speaker 8: run his punt team on on fourth and one, and
Speaker 8: then all of a sudden, run his punt team off
Speaker 8: put his offense on, which allows Kirby's team and defense
Speaker 8: to substitute. But they're thinking about getting lined up. The
Speaker 8: last thing they're thinking about in that scenario is the
Speaker 8: snap count. It was chaotic on the sideline, it was
Speaker 8: chaotic near the line of scrimmage. Their best player, a
Speaker 8: guy in Jalen Walker who's going to be a three
Speaker 8: or four time All Pro in his career, lean's just
Speaker 8: ever so slightly the neutral zone, free play first down.
Speaker 8: Next thing, you know, nine plays later, in six minutes
Speaker 8: off the clock, they've stolen a possession. So I think
Speaker 8: great coaches know how to just tweak and create that
Speaker 8: slight edge to steal a possession, whether it's a timely
Speaker 8: on sidekick, a fake punt, a surprise on sidekick, the
Speaker 8: you know thing, going for it on fourth down, maybe
Speaker 8: backed up and getting it somehow, great coaches know at
Speaker 8: that perfect time when to pull that card and play it.
Speaker 8: Marcus did it once and Kirby made a mistake at
Speaker 8: the end of half, and that's why the game ended
Speaker 8: up the way it ended up.
Speaker 2: How often have you had to or did you have
Speaker 2: to consciously say to Greg McElroy, former Alabama quarterback, don't
Speaker 2: be sec friend friendly because you're gonna get criticized no
Speaker 2: matter what, because we're going to read into what you
Speaker 2: say and how you say it. But I'm asking you
Speaker 2: understanding that have you had to remind yourself be as
Speaker 2: fair as possible, even though subconsciously it might still be
Speaker 2: in your DNA.
Speaker 8: I don't even know, And I think it's a great question.
Speaker 8: I think it's all from a matter of perspective. Like
Speaker 8: if you want to know who I am biased towards,
Speaker 8: it's great teams, you know what I mean, Like like
Speaker 8: I kind of just follow.
Speaker 2: I like to watch the.
Speaker 8: Teams that executed a really high level, like I really
Speaker 8: really and I've all and whether it was Michigan last
Speaker 8: year or whether it was TCU two years ago or
Speaker 8: whatever the teams it may be. I've always loved Utah
Speaker 8: like I just love how they you know, never maybe
Speaker 8: as far as getting off the bus, maybe not the
Speaker 8: best team, but even dating back to when urban Meyer
Speaker 8: was there in the early two thousands, it's long been
Speaker 8: a team I've just had a tremendous amount of admiration for.
Speaker 8: So I've kind of found myself navigating towards the teams
Speaker 8: that play really high level football. As far as the
Speaker 8: SEC stuff, I do have more familiarity with the league.
Speaker 8: Let's be real, I called five Georgia games. This year,
Speaker 8: I called four Kentucky games. You know, I called four
Speaker 8: Ole Miss games. I called a couple of the Tennessee
Speaker 8: games a couple of Bama games. Like you just have
Speaker 8: maybe a deeper understanding of the depths of the roster.
Speaker 8: But there there's never really a point. If you do
Speaker 8: your work professionally, I could care less what patch they
Speaker 8: have on their jersey. I simply see numbers, names, coaches, records, statistics,
Speaker 8: and tendencies. What conference they align with is not one
Speaker 8: that I usually pay a lot of attention to. And
Speaker 8: I know people ask me all the time, how do
Speaker 8: you call Bama games and not get not allow your
Speaker 8: fandom to come out? Pretty easily because when I was
Speaker 8: in school, I was probably harder on Alabama as a player,
Speaker 8: and I could ever be in this line of work.
Speaker 8: So I think if you look at it through a
Speaker 8: not a critiquing lens, but a lens in which you're
Speaker 8: trying to offer constructive criticism and point out observations, then
Speaker 8: the conference affiliation should have no impact on how you
Speaker 8: call the game.
Speaker 2: But college football is about brands. You know, everybody was
Speaker 2: screaming for Alabama to be in the playoffs, and I go, no,
Speaker 2: they don't deserve to be in the playoffs.
Speaker 8: I think it's about brands to an extent. I do
Speaker 8: think there's there is this perception that you know this,
Speaker 8: you know, the big brands are going to get preferential treatment.
Speaker 8: I don't know if that, but.
Speaker 2: They do bring eyeballs. They do bring like Notre Dame
Speaker 2: brings eyeballs. Absolutely, people are going to watch absolutely, absolutely,
Speaker 2: And I think because of Alabama, they're like, well, god,
Speaker 2: do we want Boise State or Arizona State in there?
Speaker 2: We want Alabama in there. And we saw Alabama against
Speaker 2: Michigan in the bowl game. You know, they just weren't
Speaker 2: a great team a good team this year. And I
Speaker 2: think that's a problem for college football. We get top
Speaker 2: heavy with Georgia, Ohio State, Clemson used to be in there.
Speaker 2: It's like the same six or seven schools every year
Speaker 2: that we get programmed to think, oh, those are the
Speaker 2: best teams in the country. Arizona State was awesome. I
Speaker 2: mean that was so much fun. And Boise State did
Speaker 2: what Boise State was supposed to do. Indiana did what
Speaker 2: they were supposed to do. Now do I think Indiana
Speaker 2: was deserved to be in there, No from a talent perspective,
Speaker 2: or who they played, but they played who's on their schedule.
Speaker 2: So I until we come up with a better format
Speaker 2: with this greg or scenarios that make it fairer, you know,
Speaker 2: I don't want us to fall back on well, I
Speaker 2: don't know, just put Alabama in, put Clemson. Yeah, I
Speaker 2: don't like that.
Speaker 8: I worry about when in doubt, what in doubt? Give
Speaker 8: the teams with more stars, meaning like star ratings, their
Speaker 8: recruiting ratings, like GEN and DOW, give them the benefit
Speaker 8: of the doubt. I don't think that's the proper way
Speaker 8: to go about it, because while would Alabama potentially have
Speaker 8: been more competitive in a playoff setting, I have no idea,
Speaker 8: you know, And that's why I can't sit here and
Speaker 8: pound the drum.
Speaker 7: Oh.
Speaker 8: Clearly we need to reevaluate, you know, how we're seating
Speaker 8: teams or how we're putting teams in and who should
Speaker 8: get in and who should Now, I think there are
Speaker 8: things we can do to adjust our criteria by incentivizing
Speaker 8: improved and strengthened non conference schedules. I would like to
Speaker 8: see that because that benefits all of us if we
Speaker 8: see stronger non conference games. That's going to only create
Speaker 8: more intrigue and maybe add a little more context to
Speaker 8: the conference supremacy argument. I'd like to see it. We
Speaker 8: see it in basketball. If you play a murderer's row
Speaker 8: schedule in the non conference, than your likelihood of having
Speaker 8: a high RPI come tournament times really high. And if
Speaker 8: you're nineteen and fifteen from Syracuse, doesn't really matter because
Speaker 8: you make the tournament. Next thing, you know, in a
Speaker 8: play in game, you're eleven seed, you're playing the final four.
Speaker 8: So we've seen it in the past. I mean, it's definitely,
Speaker 8: it's definitely possible. I'd like to see stronger non conference
Speaker 8: because right now in beloaded conferences you can't. Not all
Speaker 8: SEC schedules are created equal, not all Big ten schedules
Speaker 8: are created equal. So I think non conference play is
Speaker 8: where we need to focus. And if we can incentivize
Speaker 8: teams that go out of their conference and play top
Speaker 8: tier competition, that should be rewarded, regardless of the outcome
Speaker 8: in some cases how they get blown out. No, absolutely, not,
Speaker 8: like that's a data point that needs to be considered.
Speaker 8: But it also if it's close, and if it was
Speaker 8: on the road and you tried to go play a
Speaker 8: top tier team and lost. That should be rewarded as
Speaker 8: opposed to playing an FCS team and winning by thirty five.
Speaker 2: You know what I'm saying, man, I think it should
Speaker 2: come down to Vegas should be relied on to rank
Speaker 2: the teams, your top twelve teams. It should be Vegas.
Speaker 2: Vegas has no opinion, no bias. They're they are looking
Speaker 2: at what is the best matchups, and I think Vegas
Speaker 2: would make more sense. I don't want these automatic berths.
Speaker 2: I don't want any of that. It should be here's
Speaker 2: the twelve best teams.
Speaker 10: I saw you cringing yes to an extent, yes, because
Speaker 10: if we did that, then USC from a power rating
Speaker 10: standpoint at the season's end at seven and five, is
Speaker 10: in the mix.
Speaker 8: If we went strictly off Vegas. Now, Vegas plays a
Speaker 8: little bit on psychology too, I mean, why do you
Speaker 8: think now power ratings are a factor, But there's also
Speaker 8: you know which team is playing better at the moment,
Speaker 8: Which team is going to garner more public interest? Which
Speaker 8: team is If I set the line maybe a shade
Speaker 8: the line, maybe a point point and a half higher,
Speaker 8: is that going to generate more buzz and to create
Speaker 8: balance on either side of the line. I just think
Speaker 8: Vegas Vegas has different incentives. While I understand and appreciate
Speaker 8: the thought process of that, then at that point, why
Speaker 8: do we play the game. Let's just have a sixty
Speaker 8: four team tournament and let's just let's just see how
Speaker 8: things go. That'll be a freak and let's go. I like,
Speaker 8: I like, I don't think it's broken. The one thing
Speaker 8: I would adjust is I think that Big ten and
Speaker 8: SEC conference champions should be rewarded with a home playoff game.
Speaker 8: And however we figure out the bull system after the fact,
Speaker 8: I think we'll probably get rid of buyas because it's proven,
Speaker 8: at least in this tournament that the buy does not
Speaker 8: benefit you. And how can we get the conference champions
Speaker 8: to get home games? That needs to be examined as well.
Speaker 2: Right, have fun to night, Okay, I appreciate it all right,
Speaker 2: And be nice to both sides, okay always Okay. Greg
Speaker 2: McElroy