JR Interview with Emory Hunt

It is the JR Sport Reshow here with you on CBS Sports Radio. I was telling you about the disappointing Golden State Warriors. Well, they are beating up on these Knicks early. Only about four minutes through the game, a little less than that, and they already lead 14 to 4.

But it's the Knicks. They should beat them up, right? This is their job.

This is what they do. It's the JR Sport Reshow here on CBS Sports Radio. I'm going to get back to your phone calls. We're going to talk more about the Warriors. I told you we'll get into Derrick Henry, but it's Friday. College football has already taken place.

We saw Tulane hand out an ass-whooping last night. We got plenty of games coming through over the weekend, starting tomorrow, and the season is winding down. So joining us, as he does every single Friday, we're here with Emery Hunt of CBS Sports HQ and Football Gameplay. Emery, how are you, man? I'm doing fine, JR. Always a pleasure being on the show.

No problem. Have you been keeping up with these Golden State Warriors? Have you seen them? No, I've been too busy fanboying out for my New Orleans Pelicans. I've been out here riding hard for the Pelicans out here. When is Zion Williamson going to actually play, I don't know, like 10 consecutive games? In the NBA Finals. That's when he's going to play 10 consecutive games. Let's talk to Emery about some football then. He got the Pelicans in the Finals. Let's see what they can do.

I hope Zion can play healthy enough for them to get to the Finals. Listen, Emery, we know that as the season in college football is winding down, we see the same four teams in the playoff. Georgia, Ohio State, Michigan, TCU is still hanging in there. But then, you know, the West Coast and the Pac-12 isn't getting so much love. We got USC right in there, not too far behind Tennessee and LSU and even in front of Alabama. We're going to take on UCLA tomorrow. What's the deal with USC?

Tell us about Caleb Williams. Does USC stand any type of chance for the playoffs? It's a little bit distant of a chance, isn't it? It is distant, but it's definitely catchable because they have a lot of things going for them. Number one, they have a brand name. So when you say USC to a layperson, everyone's heard of USC. And I've said this before, that people still view TCU as probably a Conference USA team or a Mountain West Conference team. They tend to forget they are in the Big 12, and I still feel like that kind of cloud is surrounding TCU. And you mentioned they're playing tomorrow against USC. And the underlying story, they're playing in front of a packed house in Pasadena against USC.

This is a huge game for both programs. And so now when you got that type of cachet surrounding a USC team with a Caleb Williams, who's outstanding in box office at quarterback, it makes it must-see TV. And that's the type of thing, even though the College Football Committee will never admit this, if there is a brand name box office team, they will always look to try to get that team through to the college football playoffs.

Oh, it's always all about the money, all about the eyeballs, and that makes all the sense in the world. When you take a look at Lincoln Riley, would you say he's ahead of schedule knowing that he's basically just starting off? Yeah, definitely ahead of schedule, because a lot of people looked at him, how they looked at Brian Kelly at LSU. They thought that, well, USC first year transition new coach, the USC team wasn't good last year.

But, yeah, they attacked the transfer portal, got some big-time heavyweights to come in. We talked about Jordan Addison, the receiver from Pitt. Caleb Williams came with him from Oklahoma. Now, granted, they just lost Travis Dye two weekends ago, so they bring him in, too, from Oregon. So they were able to bring in some guys, and we know he can recruit. And this goes for the NFL as well. If you have a great quarterback, you're going to win a lot of games. And Caleb Williams is great, so that keeps them in and helps them win a lot of these games. So, yeah, he's ahead of schedule, and you can only imagine when he gets that pipeline going, because it's a lot easier to recruit kids to USC, to Los Angeles, than it is to Norman, Oklahoma.

No doubt about it. Emory Hunt is here with us of CBS Sports HQ. When you talk about Caleb Williams, there's going to be a lot of people tuning in to this USC and UCLA matchup for the first time, because it's box office, you've got two LA teams going at it. What do people need to know about Caleb if they haven't seen him play?

How about this, JR? How about we throw in a little historical reference? He may be the first starting quarterback at USC, black starting quarterback, since Rodney Peete.

That was in 88. So, if you think about all the success USC has had at all positions, and he hasn't had a black quarterback since Rodney Peete, that's just mind-blowing. So, when you factor that in, that brings a different demographic to come in and watch USC. Let's be honest, blacks want to watch other blacks play that position at that high-profile program. That brings another demo, and you have the fact that he's a dual-threat guy. He's going to make the wild plays. He's going to make the consistent plays. He's going to keep you on the plus side of the sticks.

He's going to help you put the ball in the paint. So, he's a legit stud at the position, and you add the fact that now you have him throwing to another, to keep using the term, box office receiver Jordan Addison, who's coming back from injury. It makes it fun to watch. It starts to remind people what they had when they had the Matt Leinart's and the Reggie Bushes and the Dwayne Jarretts, all those guys out there, the Lindell Whites. So, it harkens back to that era of USC, and we know LA, like any major city, is a bandwagon city. So, if USC is good, the fans are going to come out, and UCLA just happens to be good this year as well. So, we know all of LA is going to be out and be in the Rose Bowl to watch this take off. Wow, Emory, it's tough to think about some of the names that you just mentioned and go, man, this was 20 years ago almost.

That's a hell of a situation. You know, earlier on, we talked about TCU and their level of competition. They're going to take on Baylor. When you look at the teams in the top four, Ohio State and Michigan are going to take each other on after Thanksgiving. Depending on what that game looks like, both of them will probably still make it, I believe.

You have Georgia. They are not going anywhere. TCU is obviously still the most likely to fall out. What do you think about the odds of them sticking in, and who's most likely to take the spot if they do?

Here's the thing. They have to win out if they want to stand. And when I say win out, win the rest of these games in the regular season, win the Big 12 championship game, and that'll get them in because it's hard to get a power five champion that's also undefeated. However, LSU to me at six is the fly in the ointment because if they can take care of business against UAB and a three and eight Texas A&M team and then get into the SEC title game as a, what, ten and two squad in a deep Georgia, now, to your point, Georgia's not going anywhere. They'll move from one to probably three. LSU jumps in at probably four because you will never keep out an SEC champion out of the playoffs, no matter how many losses they have. And so now you look at, OK, Ohio State plays Michigan. One of those guys will have to lose a game. And so they will probably be on the outside looking in. The winner would get that two spot or that one spot, and that puts TCU as the odd team looking out because if you have a USC competing as a Pac-12 champion against an undefeated TCU team or a team in TCU that loses the game but still wins the Big 12, TCU is to me the shakiest team out of the group of squads that I've named because they don't play in a high-profile conference.

They're not a brand name, so to speak. And LSU really holds the cards. If LSU wins out and beats Georgia, then that knocks out Tennessee. It's going to knock out the second Big 10 team, Ohio State or Michigan, whoever loses that game. And it's definitely going to knock out TCU because you're going to have the Pac-12 champs if and only if it's USC knock them out as well. Yeah, I look at TCU every week and I'm just like, when are they going to fall out?

And I think it's going to take place later in the season. Emory, as we wrap things up here, anything else that we need to pay attention to or be cognizant of over the weekend? Well, I always love to bring up schools from the lower level. We're in the midst of the Division 2 and Division 3 playoffs. They kick off this weekend. Keep an eye on the University of Indianapolis tailback Toriano Clinton.

Fantastic NFL prospect. He plays this weekend, but I always want to give props to the HBCUs as well. There's a Soul Bowl that takes place this weekend between Alcorn State and Jackson State. Big time rivalry in the state of Mississippi. Jackson State is looking to go undefeated in the regular season.

And they have to go through their hated in-state rival, Alcorn, to do so. So the Soul Bowl, big part of rivalry weekend. And that's going to be a fun game to watch down there in Mississippi.

I'm sure we'll get some some comments and in sound bites from Dion after that game win, lose or draw. Emory, where can people keep up with you, my man? Follow me on Twitter at football game plan, YouTube dot com slash football game plan. And as always, you can catch me on CBS Sports HQ all throughout the day, all throughout the weekend and the week talking football at all levels. Thank you so much to Emory Hunt for joining us here another Friday, getting us all set and ready for college football. Like he said, you can tune in and watch Emory at all times of the day on CBS Sports HQ.