1.5.24 - JR SportBrief Hour 3

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Get six times longer lasting freshness plus odor protection with Downy Unstoppable's in wash scent beads. It is the JR Sportbreeze show on CBS Sports Radio. Happy Friday to everybody listening all over North America. I hope you had a tremendous start to your week, a tremendous start to your year. We know this is the end of the NFL regular season as we move into the weekend. Got a pair of games tomorrow.

Got a full slate on Sunday. We know this is the end of the college football season on Monday night down in Houston, Texas. NRG Stadium. Washington Huskies. Michigan Wolverines. Somebody's going to walk away with a national championship.

Michigan, they hope that a few years from now it's not vacated, but we'll get there when we get there. Thank you to everybody locked in. You can always listen to the show on the free Odyssey app. Thank you to everybody tuned in on your local CBS Sports Radio affiliate. We got people listening on Sirius XM Channel 158. And if you got a smart speaker, you can ask it to play CBS Sports Radio. Me, I'm in Atlanta, Georgia, super producer and host Ryan Hickey.

He is in New York City. You, you could be anywhere. I'm glad that you're listening and I hope you're cool.

You're well, you're safe. All of that good stuff as we head into the first weekend of twenty twenty four. We've had a cool show so far over the past two hours. I want to thank Brandon Scott for joining us from Sports Radio 610 down in Houston as we took a look at one of the games that's going to take place tomorrow night. As the Texans will go out against the Colts and try to make their case for the postseason.

We talked about Josh Allen and Tua Tonga Valoa. They are the nightcap. They are the end cap. They are the final game of the regular season. We get that game. Miami Dolphins hosting the Buffalo Bills on Sunday night.

The winner of that game can secure the AFC East and obviously secure a spot in the postseason. We learned earlier today that Trevor Lawrence, there is no guarantee that Trevor Lawrence is going to be healthy enough to go out there and play against Tennessee, which is just kind of nutty. If you ask me, I think he's going to give it a go.

And so he cannot give it a go. We talked about Mike Tomlin. We took an opportunity to take a whole look through everything that's happened through the course of this past NFL season. All of the quarterback injuries, whether it's to an Aaron Rodgers or Cousins or Justin Herbert. We took a look at the return of Damar Hamlin, the return of a Joe Flacco. We talked about Lamar Jackson.

I think the MVP for him is pretty much already in the bag. And as we continue on here with the show, I want to spend some time talking about Monday night's national championship between Michigan and Washington. And so, a matter of fact, in about 20 minutes from now, we're going to have a conversation with Yogi Roth, who's an analyst for the Pac-12 Network, which we know is pretty much no longer the Pac-12. I want to get into what Nikola Jokic has been able to do, Wenbin Yama. And so we got more football. We're going to get into Belichick. We'll talk about Jokic.

Aaron Rodgers received an award for the New York Jets. So we got a lot to do here over the next two hours. If you, yeah, you listening, want to participate in the show, it's simple. 855-212-4CBS. That's 855-212-4CBS. You can also find me online. I am at JR Sportbrief.

All of my people like to waste their time arguing with strangers. I need to let you know that this portion of the show is brought to you by Wesley Financial. Stuck in a timeshare and want out?

Contact Wesley Financial Group now and get a free timeshare exit information kit at WesleyFinancialGroup.com. Let's go ahead and hit those phone lines up before we get into some college football. Let's start off with John from Rochester. You're on CBS Sports Radio, the JR Sportbrief Show. What's up, John?

Hey, JR. Hey. How are you? Great hearing you, man. I'm getting used to your new slot and I think you're doing great, man.

You haven't skipped a beat, man. And I'm glad you can get food now. I remember a lot of the shows people were calling in telling you what places we're opening.

So I think it's great, man. You can get your food now and afterwards. Yeah, well, you know, there's a lot of the places that I can get food in Atlanta after hours. They involve things besides food.

So I know where to get the food. I don't know if I want what it comes with. You know what I'm saying? Right. Yeah. Okay.

But anyway, what's up? Well, the Bills game on, you know, it's going to be big, you know, and I know you're locked in on the MVP, but I think you got to think about Josh Allen. What? I think Josh Allen, I mean, if he has a great game come from behind victory and he gets three, four touchdowns. I mean, how do you overlook him for MVP? I mean, he's got over 40 touchdowns. He's I mean, I don't know. Funny things happen to these guys who vote on it.

Well, I don't know. Well, MVP is typically I don't want to call it a storybook, but it's a ride throughout the course of the season. Josh Allen was expected to be the MVP last year and it didn't happen. We know that that went to Mr. Mahomes. If we have to think about Josh Allen this year, I don't think it helps his case or his cause that one of the big issues that people discuss for a good part of the year were his turnovers.

I don't think it helps his case that the Buffalo Bills ended up hitting a skid. I mean, when you think about what's taking place with the Ravens, they have just steamrolled everybody all season long without a shadow of a doubt, without seemingly any types of bumps or bruises or adversity outside of injuries to start the early portion of the season. And so I don't think Josh Allen, especially based on what people expected last year and for how this season has gone for Buffalo. I don't find it realistic at all for Josh Allen to walk away with an MVP. I don't I would bet money, a lot of money that that wouldn't happen. Well, you know, we'll see what happens Sunday night.

You know, that could change minds. You never know how many how many touchdowns does he have to go out? You got to throw six. You have to have six touchdowns or something.

What's he got, like 43 right now? What combined on what rushing and passing he has? Yeah, but still, that's how Lamar got his first MVP because he rushed for half.

Yeah, but I'm telling you, it's not just about stats. It's about the course of the season. If you have to think about the season as a story, it doesn't help that he was just beat up about his turnovers. It doesn't help that Buffalo at one point was five and five through the year. And the other guy, quote unquote, the other guy, Lamar Jackson, has just been they had them type of bumps.

And that's what you have to consider. I mean, if Josh Allen was running the race by himself, then knock yourself out. Go ahead and say so. But that's that's not the case, John. I wouldn't put money on on on Josh when an MVP. OK. Oh, I, I never put money on the bills and I've been a fan for 35 years. A smart man.

Well, when you started off being a Bills fan, unfortunately, you saw them go to the Super Bowl and lose a bunch. So, hey, good luck, OK? All right.

I'm going to go to the Genesee Brewhouse right now. Oh, look, it's early. Wait, wait, wait.

Why are you rubbing that in? I can't go. It's Friday night, too.

It's crowded in there, ain't it? Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.

Get one of those get one of those red hoodies for me, OK? Well, you got them. We'll see what happens. OK. Enjoy the weekend. OK. Good luck to your bills. All right, brother.

All the best. Thank you, John, for calling from Rochester. Hey, Ryan, you have no idea what he was talking about with the Brewhouse, right? No idea. So have you been up in Rochester, New York? Not yet.

No. Why do you say yet? You're going to go? Well, I mean, who knows where life will take me? Maybe one weekend I'll end up in Rochester.

So up to this point in my life, no, but I'm not going to rule out the possibility going forward. It's right down the road from Buffalo. So, you know, there might be a reason for you to go one day. And so Rochester is is scenic. Downtown is pretty scenic. Parts of downtown.

Let me be clear. They got this big old waterfall that kind of cuts and runs through the city. It's pretty beautiful. Pretty beautiful.

It's very beautiful. And so they have a brew house. I'm probably going to mispronounce it, as he just said, but I think it's the Genesee Brewery. And this is a classic brew house.

It's multiple levels. You can get food, you get free. Not free beer, but you got a lot of beer on tap. They have a store on the lower level. This place is famous. And so what John from Rochester was trying to do, he was trying to rub it in my face that I could not participate in the wonderful beer at the Genesee Brewery in Rochester. So if you ever go, Ryan, make sure you make a stop by there, OK? And I have to guess pick up a red sweatshirt as well.

Noted. Yeah, they have a nice there's a nice store downstairs. It's a it's a cool place. He's making me jealous as now he came over here telling me that now I can get food and he's telling me about beer. I could I could have some beer and food right here in the station, but I'd probably get fired.

So I won't do it. Eight, five, five, two, one, two, four, CBS. It's eight, five, five, two, one, two, four, CBS. Eddie is here from New York. Hey, Eddie. CBS Sports Radio, the JR sport ratio, how you doing, Eddie? Hey, JR, what's happening, man?

How you feeling? I'm going to put you on the spot. The Giants and the Jets have the number one pick overall. You know, one and two or two and one, whatever. And what would you do?

I was going to say you making things up because the last time I looked, the the Bears, they were the ones that had the pick. So it's like you bet that it's going to be there's going to be a negotiation, right? Because they got they got fields and if they keep fields. So there's an opportunity. There's an opportunity for someone to move up, right? So that you will. There's always an opportunity to move up.

I'll tell you this. If I so I'll go I'll answer you about the Giants and the Jets. But if I were the Bears and I said this last hour, I would not move on. I would go ahead and select the quarterback. And then with my other pick, the Chicago Bears have, then I would go ahead and get someone to help out on the line.

That's if I'm Ryan Paul's, I'm looking to reset my own clock and my own timeline by selecting my own QB. Now, having said that, if I were the New York Jets, the New York Jets are pretty much run by some guy named Aaron Rodgers right now. So I don't find it realistic that the New York Jets would go out and select another quarterback, even if they wanted one. If you get a quarterback, you probably won't be until later in the draft. I think the New York Jets will go with some offensive help, likely on the offensive line. If you're the New York Giants, that's a whole hell of a lot more complicated. The New York Giants, depending on who's available and how much they love them, maybe they decide to get a QB. The Giants are in the process and last year was fool's gold going into the playoffs and beating the Vikings.

Daniel Jones ain't the dude. Saquon Barkley is probably going to be moving on. I would expect them maybe probably to get a QB.

Right, but I want you to place the player. Who's the best player for the Giants? Giants got the first pick. Who are they taking? Which quarterback?

If I were the New York Giants, I'd go ahead and say Caleb Williams over May, because I think he's a lot more mobile and built for what the NFL currently is. And the same for the Jets. If the Jets had the first pick, you would take... Say, forget about the Rodgers situation. Say they were the first pick.

You say taking the same kind of player, the same player? I think Caleb Williams is the best quarterback in the draft. And I think, as we all know, the quarterback is the most important dude to a team. If you don't got a quarterback, then you ain't got squat. I don't know too much about him. I watched the three quarterbacks. I don't know how much better they average him better than the next guy and then the next guy. People...

So here's the thing. Drake May played at North Carolina. Obviously, he wasn't out there slinging a rock around in the SEC or playing in one of these big games. But people look at him and his size and what he can do physically and go, okay, he is the prototypical quarterback. Caleb Williams can just light up the scoreboard.

He can also run around and move. If people want to look at any negative about Caleb Williams, it would probably be his attitude. People would look at Caleb Williams and go, well, he was crying in his mother's arms.

People would look and say, oh, well, he pouted at the press conference. And so, yeah, if you want, I don't know, maybe Cam Newton, part two, then maybe that's a possibility if he's going to be pouting after games. But he probably is the most talented QB.

Now, having said that, and thank you, Eddie, for calling from New York. There's some other quarterbacks that are going to be looking to, quote unquote, make their names this upcoming Monday night, like the field for quarterback is not just set at Caleb Williams or Jayden Daniels, your Heisman Award winner or Drake May. We got some dudes on Monday night between the Washington Huskies and then even the Michigan Wolverines.

They're going to try to make their voices heard. They're going to try to improve their own draft stock. And that's J.J. McCarthy from Michigan. And then we can go ahead and look at Michael Penix Jr. from the Huskies. Two different quarterbacks, two different paths. You know, nobody's looking at J.J. McCarthy as someone who's just going to go out there and light it up. Most people would look at him and just say, hey, there's another skinny quarterback from Michigan. What could he possibly what could he potentially do in the NFL? I mean, everybody's not going to be some skinny dude named Tom Brady and have his success. I look at J.J. McCarthy and I go and maybe he could be a nice backup. And then you have another quarterback.

I think he can really, really improve his draft stock. And that's Michael Penix Jr.. This is the dude who is playing for the Hoosiers, who, when he was a Hoosier, actually helped them have a couple of winning seasons until his body betrayed him at the end of multiple seasons. That's why Michael Penix here with his busted up knees and shoulder has been in college playing sports, playing QB for six years. Michael Penix Jr.. That's like a running joke, right?

Like how many years are you going to be able to run around and play at a high level? I mean, we talked about this earlier this week. Where is the upside?

Well, I mean, damn it. If you're accurate and you're throwing bombs away passes and you complete thirty five touchdowns, you're going to get some looks. And if he walks away with the national championship, then obviously he's going to go out there and he's going to climb some draft boards. I don't know what his medicals are going to look, but people are going to pay attention and he might jump ahead of some of these other draft prospects that I just mentioned. And so this game on Monday night has major implications, not just for the championship with Michigan and Washington, but also on draft status. Are we going to see Washington air the ball up and out or are we going to see Michigan dominate on the ground?

A matter of fact, we're going to take a break when we come back on the other side. We're going to have a conversation with Yogi Roth. He's a Pac-12 analyst on their network.

And we're going to find out because he's spoken to a lot of these dudes at Washington. He's talked to Michael Penix Jr.. We're going to get some special insight from someone who's right there on the field. It's the JR Sport Brief Show here on CBS Sports Radio.

Yogi Roth on the other side. You're listening to the JR Sport Brief on CBS Sports Radio. It's the JR Sport Brief Show here with you on CBS Sports Radio. We know the NFL is going to dominate Saturday. We know the NFL is going to dominate on Sunday.

But Monday night, Houston, Texas, national championship game college football between the Washington Huskies and the Michigan Wolverines. To talk about it is someone who is very familiar with all things college football, whether it's playing or coaching, moving on to writing and producing. And right now, being an analyst on the Pac-12 network, joining us right now is Yogi Roth.

Yogi, thank you for taking the time to hop on. Appreciate it. Yeah, perfect timing. I just literally walked into the hotel in Houston that is decked out in CFP posters and imagery.

All your key card is a CFP logo. It's awesome. And it's exciting. And it's kind of surreal that there's only one more game. There's not like what happens next week? It's just Monday. And then it's next year. It's Monday and it's next year.

Well, let me ask you this. Being on the ground, Yogi, what's the vibe like already? I've been to the championship games, Super Bowls, Final Fours, etc. There's always that vibe and that energy. Do you feel it in Houston already? Yeah.

Oh, yeah. I mean, you feel it on the West Coast. You feel it on the plane. You feel it at the airport. Whether it's people rocking their Michigan swag or Washington gear, you can just sense it. So, yeah, when I landed, to your point, if you've been to events, as you referenced, there's signage everywhere. The buses are wrapped. There's this great shot of a building downtown that has the CFP trophy that has the windows of it.

So at night, it just illuminated just driving into the hotel here in Houston. So, yeah, man, you can feel it. And I think there's a real cool excitement around this one because it's a little different. You know, we felt that last year when TCU made it to the finale, but Georgia was still there. Of course, a friendly face in terms of being a defending national champion at the time. I think having two first timers in the title game for the first time since the first year of the CFP is really cool. And I think that the fan bases, I think college football, everybody's kind of embracing that. And there's, of course, tremendous storylines for both programs positively, I'm sure critically that everybody is going to be getting into over the course of the next couple of days.

Pac-12 analyst Yogi Roth is joining us here at the JR Sportbreeze show on CBS Sports Radio. You talk about the newness of what we have here between Washington and Michigan. The majority of the country very familiar with Michigan, the Wolverines, Harbaugh, all of the storylines. People are finding out now nationwide more about Michael Penix Jr. and what the Huskies bring to the table, the aerial attack and what have you. What would you say is the best overview of what people are going to find out about more so when they watch on Monday night from Washington?

Yeah, you know, I'll be honest, like part of that is I think frustrating for all of us on the West Coast. The guy led the nation in passing a year ago. God votes to win the Heisman Trophy.

It's not like he came out of nowhere and had this miraculous season. Same thing for Washington and Michael Penix Jr. and their program, Kayla DeBoer. But just to remind you, like there is there is a bias and that's not me calling out people. That's just reality, right?

If you're saying that and your listeners are saying that and viewers are clearly saying that, then it exists. And I think it's important to note that for for the media companies moving forward that have the rights of these teams that are not in the backyard of Alabama or Georgia or whatever it might be or Michigan or Ohio State that are constantly seemingly well known. But to answer your question, you're going to see the most dynamic offense in the country, point blank. You're going to see a quarterback play the position of quarterback versus playing catch.

By that I mean he's going to have to set and reset protections. And he was in touch last week against Texas, which got two first round draft picks on the defensive line. No sacks, no QB hits. It's all because of the style and scheme in which they play. You're going to see the best receiving corps in America. And I was trying to rack my mind. Like, there's a lot of duos that are really talented. Trios? It's hard to think about.

This is my 23rd year in major college football. I can't think of many that would rival this. Maybe when LSU and Joe Burrow were going. But these three are special. And there's other weapons. They've got tight ends, H-backs, running backs out of the backfield. And they deploy them in a way that's going to attack you. They're built from a philosophy of we want 20% of our plays to be chunk plays.

Well, to do that, you've got to take shots. They are throwing the ball 20 plus yards. It's not just catching and making guys miss tackles and things of that nature. So, this is an explosive offense. Best offensive line in the country according to the Joe Moore Award, which is a bunch of offensive linemen who evaluate the position. Michigan won that award the previous two seasons.

So, you're going to see a really physical game. A defense that, I don't know if they've got a boatload of first or second round picks, but Braylon Treister, edge rusher, is their best player on that side of the ball. And then they've got a bunch of experience. And I think that needs to be noted. They have nine sixth year seniors. Nine.

Think about that. Of course, the COVID year is why they're still playing. But that's of note because it's been a mature team from game one. And they've won now 10 games in a row by 10 points or less. If you're not mature, you don't have a chance to finish games like that and the style and the consistency in which they have. Yogi Roth is here with us.

CBS Sports Radio, the JR Sport Brief Show. You talk about that dynamic offense. And we know Michigan. Ain't nobody going to look at them and say the offense is dynamic. They're going to try to possess the ball and run with the rock and try to grind things out. When the rubber meets the road and we actually are on that field, what do you think this game is ultimately going to look like on Monday night?

I think it's a great game. I think we've got the two best teams in America. I thought that Washington should have been ranked number one. Not that it matters anymore because they're both here, but it does impact the fan bases in terms of travel and the amount of money you have to spend. And I still think this game is about the fans and the players versus media and money.

So I got empathy for what people in Seattle had to do in terms of getting to Vegas, getting to New Orleans, and now getting here. But with that said, what are we going to get? I think we've got the two best teams. And they are different styles.

They're different personalities. They're extremely well coached. When you look at Michigan, they don't hurt themselves. I think the lowest amount of penalties and penalty yards in the country.

Washington, they did that in their last game against Texas. It was very impressive in terms of not a lot of self-inflicted penalties or unforced errors. I think you'll see a well-coached game. I think you'll see two groups of leaders in terms of Blake Coram and JJ McCarthy that they can handle the stage.

I think the same thing for Michael Pennix Jr. and company that I just talked about a bunch. I think it'll come down to a turnover. There's a tip ball last week against Texas and Jalen Polk caught it for a touchdown. That tip pass become an interception? Does it become a touchdown?

Does it become a knockdown? I think that's what this game will be. I think if you're a fan of Washington, you want them to jump out early because to your point, Michigan isn't built dynamically.

They've proven that they can come back. They did that against Alabama. But if this becomes a two-score game, look out because UW can chew up some clock. And on the flip side for Michigan, I would imagine they're going to run the football a ton. Something that has gotten minimal dialogue, I think, is the amount of times both of these teams will shift in motion.

They're two of the most teams percentage-wise in the country. I say that because you want to shift motion, trade your tight ends, etc. to force defenses to communicate, especially when you can run the football a lot. Same thing defensively for Washington. They're going to want to stem their front, move different players around to force the offensive line of Michigan to communicate.

And that'll be, to me, if I was broadcasting this game, I'd be all over that element because you're right. It's a physical attack for Michigan. They want to run the football. If they can run it 50 times, they will. And UW is not going to stand static and say, okay, run it at us.

So how does Washington combat that? That'll be really fun to watch from an analytical standpoint. But I think we got a great game Monday night. I don't know if we'll come down to the last snap of the game, like the first semifinal weekend did, but how lucky would we all be as fans of this game and this craft if that's what we had on Monday night? If we go down to the wire, that'd be great. I'm actually going to go ahead and pick Washington here on the edge. I think you said it with the offense. If Michigan goes behind, I think they're going to be hard-pressed to get back into it. Yogi Roth is joining us from the Pac-12 Network as he works as an analyst, and we're going to get into some of the other things that you do as well.

I got to mention this. Right before you joined us the prior break, we had a caller who reached out and started to talk about some of the quarterback prospects in the upcoming draft. We know Michael Penix Jr., people have heard and learned about his story from the Hoosiers up until now, the injuries that he's overcome. How big of a showcase is this for him to also go out there and improve his draft stock despite the age and despite the injuries? I think any time you have an opportunity to play against a talented defense's quarterback, it's a great opportunity to get evaluated. Most quarterbacks aren't getting evaluated off of what they did in FCS non-conference group of five games.

But I think Michael Penix Jr.'s body of work, really over two years in terms of being healthy for the last two years, is dramatically documented. And then this year, he's gone up against multiple defenses that have been top 10 in the country. Utah, Oregon, Oregon State at the time of when they played. And he drew Oregon twice.

And then, of course, Texas, for better reference, earlier in the defensive front. So I think, yes, it's another opportunity. I don't think he's going to throw three picks and play the worst game of his career. I don't think he needs to complete 90% of his passes. I just think he needs to be who he is, which is an NFL quarterback playing in college. I remember using that line for him really since the beginning of the season. And that's, I think, who he is, how he studies, how he prepares, how he goes about his work, what his teammates say about him, what people say about him off the field, how he's in the community. And then, of course, how he is on game day. And you watch his subtle movements in the pocket, different arm angles that he has in the pocket. The location of the deep ball is so under-discussed. Anybody can chuck it down the field 42 and a half yards for a perfect go route, but can you put it over the outside shoulder and make that split decision based on how you saw the defensive backs leverage and make it six inches one way or the other? That's what he does.

And he, to me, completed more throws than a lot of quarterbacks would even attempt in college football. So he can hit the tight windows. He can anticipate. It'll get the buzz on social media chatter. It'll get the Mel Kiper juniors that chatter.

But to me, none of that matters. NFL scouts have seen it. They'll see it again. And I anticipate him being a very high draft pick come NFL draft time. Yeah, well, Yogi, I think if he puts on a T-shirt or a hoodie what you just said, an NFL QB playing in college, I think that'll improve its draft stock by itself. Well, I think, you know, Caleb Williams was that.

I think Bo Nix was that. I mean, you know, we've been, you know, really gifted this opportunity due to what happened in the pandemic to see guys play for another year. I think what I love most about he and Bo both is that they've never had more fun.

And not because they're like ripping it on a college campus. It's because they're really comfortable with who they are. You know, I did an interview with Michael Pennock, Jr., that has gotten a lot of play over the course of the last couple of months.

We did it in May. And what I've always admired about him and still do, even interviewing in postgame after the Sugar Bowl, is he's really vulnerable. He's really confident and comfortable in who he is. And I say that because I've been around the best quarterbacks in America.

I mean, I wrote the book Five Star QB around what is it like to be a huge recruit? And most of the time, they're not comfortable in the skin because everybody's telling them who they are. They're reminding them what the expectations for them are.

And I think for Mike, for Bo, those two guys in particular have been around college football for a long time now. They're just like, this is me. Like, I love the game.

I love the craft. I'm a hell of a teammate. I'll throw down in any game against any coverage. I'll lead my team like I'm a grown man and I get to play college football a couple extra years. But let's roll versus, oh, my God, I'm not living up to somebody standard. Somebody's expectation, whether it be a broadcaster, whether it be somebody DMing them on social. All these things really happen to elite quarterbacks.

I mean, they're human, too. And I think you have to go through some adverse times in your life, like Bo had at Auburn, like Michael had with his injuries in Indiana to basically get to be the best version of yourself. And that's where I think Michael Penix Jr. is right now. And that maturity is I mean, it's you just had more experience than Caleb or Drake May or some of these other guys. And I think that is that is evident just based on the amount of time he spent in college.

I mean, literally double the amount of time than the other two guys in this reference. So, Yogi, you certainly know a good story when you see one. You had a have had a breath of life experiences. You talk about your book, five star quarterback. I know that you've done production work and documentaries via ESPN.

You do a lot of storytelling that doesn't even go into your career as a football player and then also a coach. When you look forward here for for for both programs, once we get past this game, what can we look forward to, especially as the football landscape on a college side continues to change? The Pac-12 is changing.

We got teams moving conferences. What are your thoughts there on what the landscape is going to look like next year? That's a great question. I think it's I don't know. I think it's hard to predict.

I'll say this. I think with these two teams on to that first, like the brand of Michigan's not going anywhere. I know there's a ton of dialogue around Jim Harbaugh and I have no idea what he will or will not do. If he stays, they'll keep rolling.

If he leaves, I'd imagine that he's rolling. That's Michigan. It's a blue blood.

Right. Every blue blood has a moment where they're down a little bit. Washington had a window where they were four and eight a couple of years ago. Michigan had their COVID season that was down. There's been moments, but those big brands, and I think Washington and Michigan are two of them, they can have sustained success.

I think being in the Big Ten for Michigan is going to be really interesting. They've been in the Pac-12 obviously for a long time. It's a league that's been around for 108 years. It's ludicrous to me that we are where we are, especially when you look at what that league did in this past calendar year. Again, I go back to the game as about the players and the fans and it's become about media rights and the money, which is sad.

But it's a reality. Now, I will say this around the CFP. Next year, I don't know if we're going to be talking about which leagues got in or which leagues got left out.

I think we'll be talking about which teams and which brands got in. I think we're going to see the juice of a conference. I think when you add more teams and they really don't play each other in the regular season, I'd be curious to see what that feels like in a couple of years. Does it feel more like the NFL? We don't ever reference the NFC West unless they're really down. Like they were a decade ago and then all of a sudden Coach Carroll came in and Sean McVay came in and the Niners came in and Shanahan and now it's one of the better divisions in the league. I don't think that in college football we're going to be talking about respective conferences as much as we do now.

Because A, there's less of them and then B, there's just so much air time. Think about the games. The games are going to be great. Penn State and Washington.

Penn State going out to SC. That'll just take a lot of the focus away from just being the conference. So that'll be kind of interesting to see how that shakes out. Overall, I'm trying to just ride with it. To be honest with you, it's frustrating for a guy who's lived in the West Coast for over 20 years now. My heart as a human goes out to the 200 people within our league that aren't going to have a job.

That's why I'm trying to promote and push them as much as possible because we have some really talented people that are going to be looking for work come the next couple months. I kind of empathize with it, but it'll be exciting again. The fans, they want games and they're going to have them. I think we'll all kind of find this new reality to be whatever it nets out at and then it'll probably change again in a couple years whenever somebody's media rights contracts are up.

College football is certainly at an inflection point. Yogi, I want to thank you for taking the time to hop on. Where can people follow you? Your work? Grab your book? Fill us in.

Yeah, yeah. I appreciate that. I think five-star QB is a really cool, insightful look into over 50 quarterbacks. If you're a fan of college football, one of them probably signed at your school that you forgot about.

Whether it's Ryan Paralu at LSU or J.J. McCarthy at Michigan. They're both in the book, for instance. You can check that out on Amazon. It's an easy get. For me, especially in the next couple days, we'll be all in here at the CFP. My YouTube channel is easy.

On any social platform, it's just at Yogi Roth. We'll be interviewing a bunch of Michigan guys tomorrow. Of course, Washington at Media Day is covered in practice. It's really fun because it's really a celebration. I know it's easy to pick sides and fan bases. Of course, you want your win.

I'd love to see Washington get this one for the West Coast. What a cool opportunity to be in a championship environment with really talented players and coaches that want to bring out the best in themselves and one another. I'm going to celebrate over the next four days or so. I can't wait for the sun to come up tomorrow morning and get to the stadium and see what this thing is all about. Enjoy it.

Houston is a wonderful city. Enjoy the atmosphere. Enjoy the game. Yogi, thank you again for taking the time to hop on and talk about the championship game. Yeah, anytime. Thanks for the time and the conversation. I enjoyed it.

Visit Carvana.com or download the app to get an instant offer today. You're listening to the J.R. Sport Brief on CBS Sports Radio.

It's crazy. Right now, the New York Knicks are in Philadelphia taking on the Sixers. The Knicks are whooping that ass. It's halftime right now.

The New York Knicks lead 75 to 55 against the Sixers. Jalen Brunson is having an out of body experience. Twenty one points in the first half. He's knocked down eight of his 12 shot attempts.

He is four six from downtown. He has absolutely lost his mind. It is one half the way the NBA plays right about this time. Everybody just going up and down the court. And so let's see what the New York Knicks do in the second half or whether or not the 76ers go on a run. Jalen Bead, who's been dropping 30 point games like it's nothing. He has 16 points.

Tyrese Maxey has 20 and the 76ers. They got to learn how to play some defense if they want to get back into this game. Thank you so much prior to us going to break to Yogi Roth for joining us from the Pac 12 Network. And we went through a lot. He gave us a full education on what's going on with the Huskies and how they can expect to win against Michigan. And if you watch the Huskies, me late at night, you just see them airing at that ball up. And one thing that that he did mention pretty much early on, as we're all looking to see and learn more, is that that Washington has been doing this and that Michael Pennix, Jr. has been lighting it up.

And despite the fact that there's so many people who are finding out about him or finally seeing him, the reality is, I don't want to say they're tucked away. We got a huge, gigantic population on the West Coast. But there is a bias and a lot of people don't want to talk about it. Media bias, East Coast bias, so on and so forth.

But here's the reality. Washington games. They're starting late at night for a good portion of the country, folks, at least on the East Coast. I don't know if it's so much of people aren't paying attention or people aren't aware, but there's not the same opportunity for people to tune in and watch. I mean, watching some games from earlier on in the season when Colorado and Dion were still rolling, they had games starting on East Coast time at like 12 noon. I'm like, damn it, they making them kids in Colorado and get the plan out there.

Like, oh, 10 in the morning makes you go, whoa, what are we doing here? And so, yeah, there is a bias. But I think a lot of folks are going to watch on Monday night.

And they're going to be pleasantly surprised, I think, about what they're going to witness with Michael Pennix Jr. Hey, Ryan, I want to ask you this. Do you think and people, some people get up in arms about it. East Coast bias, East Coast media bias and what have you. Is it not a reality?

It's just it's just kind of factual, right? We have a huge population on the West, but we got a whole lot of people who miss out because they're asleep. Yeah, it is frustrating and it takes longer, I think, for the country, the rest of the country to gain respect. Like you see it, the Dodgers have it, the Warriors have it. It takes a while to gain that respect and usually winning a championship will do that.

But to your point, like regular season success, especially when not a lot of people are dialed in, it's usually those teams that are good do not get the enough or enough respect, I should say, there on the West Coast. Yeah, a simple Google search and we don't Google can be accurate most times. It says the population on the West Coast is about 53, 55 million people. The last time I looked, the population of the United States of America was at about, I don't know, what, 300 million.

And so it's simple math. It's like, hey, if we only got 50 million people living on one part of the country and then we got another one and now the population says 330. Like let's be real, 50 million, 330, the majority of people aren't on the West Coast.

And as we start moving further east where it's more densely populated, I mean, you start getting into Boston, to New York, to Pennsylvania and to Chicago, you know, we're all living on top of each other on this side of the country, even here in Atlanta where there ain't nothing but space. It's tough. You know, I bemoaned the fact this past Monday night just trying to stay up and watch Washington beat Texas. I said I fell asleep for 30 minutes.

I woke up at the end and I went, yeah, OK, Washington held on and beat him. But damn, it's tough. It really is. It's the J.R. Sport re-show here with you on CBS Sports Radio. We're going to take a break. On the other side of the break, I'm going to update you on some more of these NBA games. We are going to hear from Michael Penix Jr. because we're hyping him up. And then Bill Belichick, he might be done. Final coaching game for the Patriots. Don't move.