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Now, on with the show. The Giants, they sent a jet for John Harbaugh. This is The Rich Eisen Show. If you're flying your candidate by a PJ, you want his. The Rich Eisen Show.
Jay Hancock on a piece of paper. Today's guests: ESPN college football analyst Josh Pate, actor Rob Lowe, senior writer for the MMQB. Albert Breer. And now, it's Rich Eye Center. Hey, everybody.
Welcome to this edition of The Rich Eisen Show here on a Thursday on Disney Plus, the ESPN app, ESPN Radio Series XM Channel 80. We say hello to all of you, every single person watching us or listening to us, you're very important to us. 844-204-Rich is the number to dial. We've got phone lines open for you right now. We already.
Love looking down and seeing phone lines lit. As soon as I say a word, that's all good in our hood. And Rob Lowe's back here on the program right in the middle of the show. It's going to be a lot of fun. He is here to support On location, which is the uh The spot that leads to Um I guess a stadium experiences Sports experiences.
He's here because he's going to the Super Bowl. Oh, along with on location.
So the man. Known for wearing a shield on his hat, is representing the shield on the hat in a way. Do you have to wear the shield on the hat? I don't know. I can't wait to see Robbie.
Can't wait to maybe talk with him about what was up with the shield on the hat. And I shouldn't say anything because I've been wearing a shield on my figurative hat for about 24 years now. Yeah, you get accused of that, yeah, of course.
Okay. At any rate, he is on location's first ever brand ambassador.
So we're going to talk Super Bowl with Rob Friggin' Lowe. Love it.
Now we're number two. Josh Pate is going to join us to talk a little college football with Dante Moore saying he's staying put and. Um You know, Timo Mahomes is saying, Well, I'm here. Come on. He has a name.
Dylan Real.
Okay, good.
Okay, thank you. It's amazing. Every single time I see her, I'm like, he is trying to be Patrick Mahomes. Yeah. And in our number three, Albert Breer is going to make heads or tails of this crazy football world in which we live.
Good to see you, Chris Brockman. Hey, Rich, how are you, man? Good to see you, Jason Feller. Are you kidding? This is a dream.
Good to see you over there, TJ Jefferson. How are you? You know, me and Adam had a conversation about Rayola the other day, Rich. Adam Chudwin, our call screener. Adam, our call screen, and he thought it was weird like you did.
But I'm like, if you're growing up in this generation, like our generation, everyone wanted to be like Mike. Sure. The next generation was Kobe and AI.
So, yeah, if you want to make it as a quarterback in this generation, why wouldn't you emulate Colin? Of course. That makes complete sense. But when you're saying like Mike, are you saying Dylan Rayola's only good because he's wearing Patrick Mahomes' shoes? You know what you're saying?
Wow, it may be. That's a deep pop culture reference, right there. Easy as that, Thomas. Was it in a movie Rich was in? Oh, good.
Yes. As Stuart Scott, by the way. That was my. That's my. My IMDB.
Look it up. Rich Eisen is Stuart Scott and like Mike. Anyway, 844204 Rich. Number to dial here on the show. Let's get to it.
Yes. We start today's show. I love doing this sort of stuff. We start today's program here on the uh The uh second Thursday of of this new year or What set third Thursday of this new year? We start today's program.
In the middle of January, On November 18th, 2007. That was the day the New York Giants went into Detroit. And beat the Detroit Lions thanks to Elon Manning's arm. Manning, you know, 16-10. Oh.
Reason why I bring this up, it was on this day. Tom Coughlin, who had joined the Giants organization just only a couple of years ago with 68 career wins from his Jacksonville Jaguars tenure, he won his thirty-second game as head coach of the New York Giants. Giving him We'll do the math for you. 100. Career regular season wins.
And at the time That was a rarity because No other coach. has stood on a giant sideline since. with 100 career Coaching wins. Last time the Giants had somebody stand on their sideline. with 100 career regular season coaching wins It wasn't Bill Parcels, who won only seventy seven games.
Starting his career as a Hall of Fame head coach with the Giants. Steve Owen. Who holds the record? For most career wins by any Giants head coach with 153. And here he is on the sideline.
Talking to his New York football giant as they were known back in those days. That's Yankee Stadium. Behind him? He's talking to Tom Landry. Right there on the screen.
Looking at that, like, is that? That is Tom Landry. who played for the Giants before he became, as we know, an all-time great Yeah. That's it. That's it.
Those are the coaches in the Giants' history who have stood on the sidelines with 100 career wins. Until Week one of next season. Because John Harbaugh is going to be the next head coach of the New York Giants. 21st full-time head coach in Giants history, the New York Bioti. Ghost.
They're headlined this very day. Harbos. All signs point to championship coach taking charge of Big Blue. And this is a rarity. For the Giants, not just because of what I just said, but John Harbaugh, will be the first head coach.
In the history of this franchise. To stand on the sidelines for the first time to coach them. with a Super Bowl ring in his back pocket. Or in his Home closet or championship figuratively. Inside his playbook.
Nobody's ever taken the reins of the Giants. who's either already won a Super Bowl or an NFL championship. As you know, we're going way back here.
So John Harbaugh's comin'. And it's After eighteen seasons with the Ravens, Second most seasons with one franchise entering a new job with another franchise. The only guy with more seasons with one franchise before joining another. Curly Lambeau twenty nine seasons with the Packers before he moved on to the Cardinals. Whoa.
That's it. Some historic stuff. Curly Lambeau, John Harbaugh. This is the sort of stuff we so rarely see. And this.
For the Giants fans. They have got to be out of their skulls. Can't imagine. that when they fired Brian Dayball in the middle of the season, After Dayball didn't work out, and after they kicked the tires on Pat Shermer, right? Kicked the tires on Ben, don't call me Bob McAdoo.
After doing all of that. With Joe Judge in between. That's the bridge Daybowl Judge Shermer McAdoo to Coughlin. And in the middle of all that, An unfortunate boat trip prior to a Wild card weekend contest from which the Giants have not recovered. Since that time Okay.
This is exactly what the Giants fans wanted and needed. Which is somebody saying You've had some issues around these parts. Let me bring what I do for a living to you, which is why they sent him a private jet and apparently offered him five years, $100 million. And he was like, sold.
Sold. Thank you.
Sold. Now let's not dive into the fact that The Giants. Just had five losses in 2025 on what Chey held at 10 and larger point lead In the game, and part of the reason why Harbaugh is available is because the head coach there. Um In Baltimore.
Okay. Why he's not there anymore is because the owner essentially said in his press conference, we've. We've lost too many fourth-quarter leads. Let's not go there. Even though I kind of just did.
Because John Harbaugh will tell you. things didn't work out. in the long run. in Baltimore. But The eighteen seasons are exactly What the Giants fans want and say.
What, 10 with this guy? It's in these early 60s, you want to get Another 10 years out of John Harbaugh. Go on the sideline and just stop the carousel and searching for the next. John Harbaugh. Honestly.
The guy also knows the division. He went to Baltimore from the Eagles. He knows Andy Reid. He knows the whole business. He knows what it takes to win in this division.
He knows what it takes to win in any division. He knows what it takes to win with a quarterback who can run it and throw it. He knows what it takes to win a division where you want to run the ball downhill. with somebody Who knows how to run downhill because that's all he knows how to do, because he figures the defense is like a brick wall. The guy who's going to be coaching the tango and cash of the National Football League, Jackson Dartin.
Cam Scatterboot. And then you throw in Malik neighbors on top of it. And a defense that can rush the passer with just four sets of hands in the dirt, that's what the Giants want to do. And John Harbaugh will know how to do it, and he'll step up there with his Harbaugh demeanor and his Harbaugh smile, and he will charm the pants off of the New York media market. Certainly those who've been covering the giants with a bunch of coaches.
that are trying to get their bones. trying to just even match what Tom Coughlin could do. In his tenure there. Grand slam, home run, touch 'em all. That's it.
And they can't believe that John Harbaugh is available for them to fill this void. And uh Fill it, he shall. Let's go. Apparently, Todd Monkin's coming too. This is OC.
Say what you will. Ravens fans will just fill your ears about what they didn't like, how things went crazy, and Giants fans will be like, So did you make the playoffs that year? Yeah, we did. Did you win your division that year? Yeah, we did.
Guess what we don't do around here? Guess what hasn't happened around here? And the fact that the owners like Joe Shane and he apparently is fine, like, fine, let's do it. Check boxes, man. And the Giants haven't had a box checked like this in the head coaching department in a long time.
So I will say this. Sure. I will ask this question. John Arbaugh's coming. To the Giants.
Do they make the playoffs next year? Let's do it. That's a sports talk radio conversation. I threw it in. You love this sort of stuff.
It's the middle of January. I do. We haven't seen a damn thing. John Harbaugh hasn't said a syllable yet. There's not even ink drying.
We're jumping the gun here. I threw this out on Overreaction Monday this week. John Harbaugh, no matter where he goes, is going to win more games than the Ravens this year. Yes, the Giants make the playoffs.
Okay, so the Giants make the playoffs. T.J. Jefferson. No.
Okay, and why is that? Why is that? Because the Dallas California, why can't they have to have three teams come from that division?
Well, I'm saying, I truly believe the Washington football team is going to be better next year with Jaden Daniels hopefully staying healthy. Even though I don't like them, I don't like to see a young man hurt. Oldest roster in the NFL. Uh true, but I I don't know. I I think that This is going to be a competitive division next year, so I can't say for sure.
That's going to happen. I would argue they're the best team. In the NFC East. This year? No, going into next year, they're the best team.
Eagles, dysfunction. They're going to look really different. New OC, A.J. Brown, probably gone. They've had new OCs every year, though, and they still do well.
You aren't a serious franchise. Washington, the Giants are still better at nearly every position. We don't know what Jaden Danes is going to look like next year. Yeah, the Giants went from 4 and 13 to what? What are we going to say next year?
Your team completely reversed this. We went 10 plus. I'm going to say 11-6 Giants next year. There you go. Win the division.
TJ Jefferson, yes or no? That they're you winning the division or going going to the playoffs. No.
Okay. What am I going to answer this question? We know what you're going to answer. Which is what? You love the Harbaws.
So you're of course I do.
So you feel like the Giants are going to be better. Like, I mean, there's nothing wrong with that. I'm not saying it as a diss. Let's see what they do in the draft, too. They got a heck of a draft choice at the top of this draft.
And that also goes back to my Cowboy thing, something no one's talking about. Did they draft well? Not only that, the reason I was kind of rooting for the Bears so hard is we get that Packers pick at 20.
Now the Cowboys have two first-round picks within the first 20.
So I, and we do draft well.
So. I'm hoping we don't mess it up. Who in the playoffs now doesn't make it? Because the Giants make it. Chris.
Oh, the Eagles. The Eagles are out. Yeah. Well, it's every other year they find their proper offensive coordinator, they reset. After an OC goes and takes another job.
Everybody's wondering if Siriani knows what the hell he's doing. Everyone wonders what the hell happened to the offense. Are the Eagles now done? Is the window now closed? Then they find another offensive coordinator who gets it right.
Then he leaves for a new head coaching job. Then they spend another year wondering what the hell's happening around here. Does Siriani know what he's doing?
Next year's getting the offensive coordinator right. Mike Tomlin is going to be a bad person. And then that person's going to leave for a new job. That person's going to leave for a new job. Mike Tomlin, Eagles, Collision Course, 2027.
Later on in the program, you're going to hear somebody who knows Mike Tomlin very well thinks Tomlin's never coaching again. We'll hit that later on in the program. But I will say this: I'll just say. Things look really good for the Giants. Because all you have to say is Five losses if they protect four of them.
They got eight wins this year. Good point.
Okay. And Tango and Cash are coming back healthy. Right. I think I think Monken is going to love using Cam Scataboo. In his offense.
And they got Tyrone Tracy still. They're going to end up drafting well on top of it. I think you're forgetting, though. I mentioned Dart and Scatterboo a lot, but Malik Neighbor. Neighbors coming back, too.
Okay. Matt. Yeah, I'm with you. I'll say yes. Thank you, Rich Eyes.
I'm not going to say who's out. Why? Because I need to see other pieces. I need to see other people. That's not what we're doing here.
Sure, it is what we're doing. I'm not saying the Eagles are out. That's crazy talk. I think that's crazy talking.
Someone's got to go. Hmm. You know, we got to go to break.
Okay. Josh Pate coming up next. We'll talk some college football. Dante Moore says, I will take. Phil Knight's money was Rather than Woody Johnson's.
Am I getting right? Am I getting warmer? Look, I like this one. What the hell? How many kids are in the portal?
I want to know the answer to that. That's an excellent question. I've seen something like 10,000. I'm going to look that up. Look it up.
I don't know if we actually know. It's probably half that. Josh Pate will join us next. The Ball Brotherhood's about to expand on this program. Rich Eisen here.
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Call 1-800-GRANGER, clickgranger.com, or just stop by. The Rich Eisen Show Podcast. From ESPN, making his maiden voyage here on the Rich Island Show, Josh Pate, ESPN college football analyst galore. Good to see you, Josh. How are you?
Good to see you guys. I feel strangely, almost suspiciously at home. Yes. You should be, Chris. That's Chris Brockman right there.
There you go. Jason Feller took off his hat just to be involved in this moment. This is my welcoming. Good for you. There you go.
TJ, you want to say hello to Josh Paige? Josh, sorry, I can't. I can't. Oh, gosh. Let's go.
I understand. We were all there. For me, it was third grade. But yeah, we've all been there one time. Good to see you, Josh.
Pleasure to have you on here right now. We were just talking about the ticket prices and the ability to get tickets to the national championship. Are people even hitting you up? Just say what's up for this. Yeah.
By the way, I was at the semifinal game. I was talking to some of the Miami dignitaries and what have you. And their big conundrum that they already saw on the horizon was not just the ticket situation. Every other play in a Miami game, you get a shot of the play, and then you get a shot of Michael Irvin.
Now, Ray Lewis has been on the sideline. And so every other former player is out there watching that.
Okay. So every other former player has it in their mind that, wait a second, national championship game. In our building, certainly we have unlimited sideline passes. Certainly, I could just get myself down there. And they were already preparing different methodology to break the news that no, in fact, we do not control who's on the sideline.
No, this is not like if we're playing FIU in week three, we can't just flood the sideline. It's not like a homecoming down here.
So it is a tough, tough time. It's a little, it's a tight little situation they have themselves down in there right now.
So we're going to see who's in atop the pecking order of the you here, right? I mean. Do you have to have a gold jacket? That's what Irv would say. I'm sorry, Ed Reid would say that.
Obviously Edwin James, Andre Johnson, Ray. Right? Sat. Sap. These are the these are the you these guys probably have to be Up here.
I just got to start something. And then, of course, there's the Clinton Porters contingent who could say, who else was Uncle Spanky Janky? You know what I mean? From back in the day. Sheriff going to get him.
Sheriff going to get him. Coach Spanky Janky. Josh, this is the intrigue. This is the grits for the millwork. We appreciate very much.
This is why I think you pull up at some point in the game. You just pull up the spider cam and you don't even focus on the game so much, but you focus on who made the cut? Like who got down there? Whose feelings are hurt? You know, who's permanently got friction with their own university?
Because we thought it was a cane sting and no one else understands. And it turns out. We did not understand ourselves. And then the publish football playoff the whole time is really the bad guy. Of course, this could all be a Kurt Signetti Palooza at the end of the day.
Josh, can you explain to me why Indiana has been able to do what it has done so quickly with Kurt Signetti and how the current landscape of college football? Uh might have leveled the playing field for this to happen. Yeah, you're going to see a lot of people doing that whole: how good is this team relative to 2020 Alabama, 2019 LSU? People always do that. I never liked doing that.
But if you look at those teams, those sorts of teams don't exist anymore. The teams that are knee-deep in future NFL talent, you go to practice, and the twos, and in some cases, the threes are going to end up being first and second-round draft picks a couple years down the road. No one's roster looks like that anymore. And as a result, When you add in the factor of injury throughout the year, When it comes to the big-time programs, the tops of the tallest trees, Rich, just don't look like they used to. They're not as insurmountable as they used to be.
So then you got that. You know, the elite teams aren't quite as elite. And then you got this other concept of this guy coming in from James Madison, importing some 22, 23, 24-year-old guys with him, bringing his coaching staff. He's got an environment that guys want to stick around in. And everybody's searching for the secret formulas, secret ingredients.
And he keeps telling people. And people don't believe it because they think it's got to be more complicated than just defining your process. And then people yawn. And then, oh, it's got to adhere to the process. He's really, really good at player evals.
Saban had him doing it once upon a time in Alabama.
So he's really good at evaluating. They're obviously really good at developing, but it's just a bunch of old guys who know how to play football really good against teams that in the aggregate aren't as elite as teams would have been five years ago at this stage in the playoff.
Well, what about the fact that their average age mirrors a National Football League team that's on the younger scale. Um and that there's grown ass men. with um you know Extra eligibility due to what? I guess we're on the back end of the COVID year, even still for some. The transfer portal and things of that nature that they.
Uh also now have got the money. For the the portal. Thanks to Mark Cuban and others. And what about that? That they're coming in as a highly experienced team.
And obviously the The um the Kanes winning this game with somebody like Malachi Tony, Would be sort of the antidote in a way for that. It's just an interesting. aspect of the Indiana Hoosiers that that is an outlier as well. Right. But if you also think about who would be theoretically throwing Malachi Tony the ball, he's a seventh-year guy.
That's right. Carson Beck, I saw a headline the other day that when Carson Beck committed to Georgia, Tony was 11. I think he was 10 or 11 years old. Josh, we had two wildcard weekend starters in the National Football League who were in the same. Um same class as Carson Beck being uh being recruited in Bryce Young and C.J.
Stroud. I mean, it's crazy. Yeah, when they made the eligibility rule post-COVID the way it was, you could look out over the horizon. None of us obviously knew to Pinpoint, Indiana, but you could look out over the horizon and you knew for the next half decade you were going to be dealing with the after effects of that. And you were going to have some 23, 24, 25-year-old guys in some cases playing college football, and then it's going to move past.
Like, I don't want to get way in the weeds here, but now you're starting to look at these conventions, like the coaches' convention that just happened in Charlotte. One of the big topics of conversation was redshirt rules. Because one of the sicknesses in college football right now is they got a four-game where you could play and still redshirt if you don't play more than four games.
Well, you understand the intent of that rule, but people had started to abuse it. Guys play four games, feel themselves out, and then they just say, I'm done for the year. Not a coach's decision, a player's decision. And so the coaches are looking at it saying, can we just have five years for guys to play for? And just be done with it, not worry about this.
And then the lawyers said, uh, that may run afoul in the courtroom.
So then they arrive at this ridiculous conclusion yesterday, which is: all right, instead of four games, let's make it nine games you can play and still red shirt. No, no one knows. I have no idea. My hands have been up for 24 hours. I have no idea where they're going with that.
I also was just on the phone with someone before I came on your show, and I finally asked the question: maybe not enough people are asking: hey, everyone says legally this won't hold up. Does anyone actually have evidence of that? Like, does anyone really know the legal ramifications if you just institute changes to the red shirt rule? Or does one person just say it and it echoes throughout the college football halls? Because most of us don't have legal degrees.
Well, I can answer that question for you, Josh. It's our colleague and fellow. Yeah. Ball Brotherhood individuals and Jay Billis. Jay probably would know the answer to that in two seconds flat.
And, you know, that just puts in my mind's eye, I gotta have him on the program as well in short order. Josh Pate here on the Rich Eisen Show. How many kids are in the portal? Okay. In all of college football, all levels, we got over 10,000 right now.
We could sell out most home basketball arenas easily with the amount of players who are in the portal. Just FBS right now. We have 3,800. eight hundred and twenty four players in the portal and it closes in like two days.
So what happens to the kids who don't Move? Do they just go back and just go to their coaches and say, Sorry, my bad. Can I come back? You can attempt that. In a lot of cases, it's just over.
I've watched this happen every cycle. Like, guys just disappear. They have no idea when they enter the portal that they just ended their college football career until the door closes in their face and they've got nowhere to land. And it's over. Their college career is just over.
Look, I understand that everyone in this equation is over 18 years old and they're being paid money now.
So like everyone wants to treat them like 40-year-old adults. I understand the sentiment there. I have not crossed that Rubicon mentally myself to where I look at a college football player no different than I do an NFL player. Like there's still a part of me in my mind that thinks those are still kind of sort of kids. And I still kind of sort of think it's garbage that the entire representation slash agency model.
or lack thereof is in college athletics what it is. Because to become an accredited agent in college football, all you got to do is go to your Twitter bio and put agent in it. That's it. There is no other process, not like the NFL. And you can give the worst, most horrific advice possible and you can leverage the system.
I mean, in a lot of cases, Rich, especially this past cycle. I've been made aware of programs Just passing cash to the agent to keep information from the player they represent when it comes to other offers on the table.
Now, you may think to yourself, that's crooked. That should be illegal. Yes, in a sane world, it would be crooked.
Well, it's crooked no matter what. Yes, in a sane world, it would be legal. That would never happen in the NFL because you have guardrails. We don't have that here.
So it's just a bunch of uncles and a bunch of cousins and a bunch of dudes who call themselves agents who have given advice to every player. Go in the portal, man. At worst, you'll just be able to go back to where you were. And in some cases, that happens. In other cases, once you go in the portal, I'm your head coach, I'm your GM, I'm looking and saying, no, you said goodbye to us.
You're not coming back here just because you didn't find a better offer, just because you didn't find a better landing spot. And if you tell me that you got bad advice, We tried to warn you, so we're moving on without you. How is this good for the kids?
Well, I mean, if it hits, if you hit and you're, you know, and you're getting 5 million bucks to play quarterback somewhere. or you're getting three million bucks to play running back somewhere. I guess so. And I understand. I want.
the players to get their taste. Because they're the ones uh who are serving up the Full course menu. in terms of revenue to the conferences and to the coaches. And to everyone else.
So I understand that they're getting a taste, but if this is the way they can get their taste, And thousands of them wind up.
now wondering what the hell just hit them, That's not good either. That's terrible, as a matter of fact.
So, who are the adults? in the room here To fix this, because no one can really like this. No one wants to have a situation where they have to re- Recruit their own team every year. And it happens just in the middle of the college football playoffs because people are scheduling this thing in the worst possible way. No one can like this, Josh.
So who are the adults here? To say you gotta do something. You got one group of people who like it. I just described them. Just jackals masquerading as agents.
That's it. That is the only group of people that this current system serves. It does not serve the players. You had Greg Sankey on this show a couple of weeks ago. Yes, sir.
Greg's really good. Like I saw him a couple of days later at the AM game. I told him, you are really good at when someone presents the problem, reminding them, you just started on chapter three of the book. Let me tell you what chapter one and chapter two includes. But I thought, I think people should go back and listen to it because I thought he articulated the current state of affairs on your show about as well as anyone has.
And so it's like, it's not that he's stupid or that he's blind to the issues. He's just trying to say, hey, there are layers and layers and layers of nuance to this. But you asked me who the adults have to be in the room. Ultimately, it's going to be the conference commissioners. I really think that's the case.
And I think like Ross Dellinger, for example, just did good reporting on this in the last 24 hours. Yeah. when he talked about, you know, more so than ever right now. College football administrators, college football leaders, that just means presidents, ADs, coaches, et cetera, they are looking and they're saying, if we're not going to get help from the NCAA, If it looks like it's a failed attempt to get antitrust exemption from Congress where we can enforce our own rules, well, then it looks like the conferences have no recourse but to take matters into their own hands.
Now, full disclosure, I've always thought that was the direction the funnel was ultimately headed, unless Congress did something. Here's the question. When the rubber meets the road on that, What's possible? And does that include the necessity to like break away from the NCAA? Because that's sort of been the unicorn that people whisper about.
But I think over the past year, that's become a little more tangible. Like the Jell-O's been put in the fridge. I think it's congealing a little bit more, whereas it just used to slosh around the bowl in the past. Josh Pate here on The Rich Eisen Show. What happened in Oregon with their quarterbacks?
What's what's uh What's this now going to shake out now that Dante Moore went on ESPN and said, I'm staying day after Dylan Rayola says I'm coming? What is this? What's happening? Yeah, I just think it's It's Dylan looking at the situation and saying Dante Moore once upon a time went to Oregon. knowing Dylan Gabriel was there.
And he committed there anyway. And he was happy sitting behind a guy for a year and marinating in a new system because he thought it would serve his best interest. And lo and behold, now Dante Moore has been the starting quarterback at Oregon and he shined. And so Dylan Riola's looking at that, saying, I'm leaving Nebraska. I want to go to Oregon.
Now, scenario A: Dante Moore goes to the draft. I'm the starting quarterback up there. Scenario B, I'm okay with too. And that is what happened: which is Dante Moore comes back. Worst of worst case, I sit behind him for a year.
Maybe it ends up being the best thing that's ever happened to me because, I mean, you watched him. You watched Dylan Riola just like I did and the rest of America did this year. You saw flashes. You saw glimpses. You didn't see anything close to a finished product.
You didn't see anything close to consistency wire to wire like you would need from a top-flight quarterback, a guy that's going to be a playoff caliber guy, a guy that's being mentioned one day in mock drafts in his own right.
So I think he went up there, and then you saw the announcement happen in those announcements now. Like, look, you give all the credit in the world to Ty Simpson. Ty Simpson had a mega offer on the table from Miami the other day. And you're talking about north of $6 million to come back and play another year of college football as opposed to going and testing the NFL draft waters. It's not nearly the feast or famine proposition that it used to be when you're deciding: do I go to the draft?
Or do I come back and risk injury and leave myself totally broke and my family's future ruin? You're getting tons and tons and tons of money, just like Dante Moore just did, to come back to school for one more year.
So it's probably right for his development. It also makes the pockets a lot deeper in the process.
So then I guess at the end of the day, where does the rich alumni base that now out in the open can give money to players rank in terms of the most important aspect of building a winning program in college football? Where does it rank with Who's the head coach? Where does it rank with best recruiting class coming out of high school? facilities School, where does it rank? Is it number one now?
Is it I think it's number two.
Okay. A lot of people are going to argue, number one. To those folks, I would direct their attention to several mega payroll teams that were sitting at home for the playoffs. And I would ask them if that's the most important factor. Obviously, you could throw Indiana in their face, but you could also say, What about these big spending teams that sat at home?
Obviously, it takes a little more than just having a bunch of cash and acquiring these commodities and tossing them all together. I thought that's what was so impressive about Texas Tech this year. Texas Tech spent a ton of money, they were never shy about admitting that. But from day one, just the team dynamic, like the mortar between the bricks, in other words, that it normally takes a lot of time to put in place was there. That's the key.
Like, it's not, can I go buy the best seeds? It's what kind of garden am I tossing these seeds in? Yeah, I want to toss the highest priced seeds in there, but am I tossing them in topsoil or am I tossing them in gravel? Because a lot of folks out there are just trying to toss the seeds in gravel and thinking, well, you know, we paid enough money. Just voila, it'll happen.
It's no different than when you go pay a coach a whole lot of money and you think that circumvents you around the process that it takes for that coach to develop. Like at Oregon right now, Dan gets paid a ton of money and yet they're still coming up in the playoffs and they're getting blown out a couple of times.
Well, he's 39 years old.
So you can either look at that and say, Yeah, but he gets paid a ton of money.
So he can't be losing like that. Or you can look at it and say, it doesn't matter if you pay him 10 million or 10 billion. You don't just get to pop coaches in the microwave and speed up development, just like with teams. You don't get to spend your way around the non-negotiables that it takes to win as a team. And that's why, like, with Indiana right now, no one's really going to pull off duplicating the Indiana blueprint because it's a kind of unique situation.
But if people want to chase that model, I will relish. In all these big spending programs, chasing how to cultivate that kind of dynamic in their building. Because those are the sorts of things that I would love college football programs to be chasing instead of what many of them are chasing.
Well, is it fair to say Indiana just used the right amount of money on the right players with the right system and the right coach, and got the right kid in Mendoza from Cal at the right time, and it's a lightning strike? Or is this something that? With the finances that Indiana has, they could just keep repeating over and over and over again, as long as they have the right. guy at the top in Signetti and his staff identifying that kid there is perfect for our system, and we don't have to spend as much money on that kid because he's not a five star. He's not coming from a program that just won twelve games or anything like that, right?
I mean, is that it? Is that it? I think the skill is in putting yourself in position to compete for the title every year. And then there's a little bit of luck that goes into it. But to answer your question, Yes, I think Kurt Signetti will have them in that picture every year.
I'm firmly convinced of that. And I think, like, think about this, though.
Okay, so. Two sides to this coin. When we were down in Atlanta last week, when they were playing Oregon, I think the entire state went down there, just totally took over Atlanta. And they kept on saying. Man, think about this.
Like, our story this year is great, but this will be the least talented team that Kurt Signetti ever has. And I'll grant you, that's probably true. Like, they're getting attention from a lot of guys that they never would have gotten attention from before. But I want to caution people, I don't think you'll ever have a better team. In the purest sense of what a team is, I don't think you'll ever have a better team anywhere than Indiana and Kurt Signeti were able to have this year.
Because, with all the talent that comes in, there are just different consequences to that. I remember listening to Sabin when he was first at Alabama, those first couple of years, they get that first round of recruits through, and they go up against Tebow and Urban Meyer, and they fall just short one year, then they beat them, and they win the title the next year. And people were saying, Man, and now imagine how much more talented Alabama is going to be under Sabin. They did go on to put many more talented teams than those early teams on the field. But if you listen to him talk about his time at Alabama, he always talks about the dynamics of that first team and how he was never really fully able to replicate that.
So that's that's a catch-22. But then on the other side of it, uh, Rich, they are going to be there because they are not a have-not. One of the big misnomers about Indiana is they're a have-not. They are not a have-not, they are a has-not. The trophy case is barren, so they have not done anything, but they.
They are not a have-not.
So, as much as Ohio State or Michigan or Penn State are able to have juice in the talent acquisition space, Indiana, from this point moving forward, is able to stand shoulder to shoulder with them. I love it. Josh, great first chat on this program. I already look forward to the next one. And everyone, check out Josh Pate's college football show on YouTube, and of course, everything else he does with ESPN and everything else he does outside of that.
Great to see you. Appreciate it. I don't know how much you shy away from people saying they grew up watching you. But you know, I did. And so I appreciate it.
I appreciate it a lot. And I appreciate you saying that, Josh. Let's chat some more. That's Josh Pate, everybody, right here on the Rich Eisen Show. We got to beat it because we spoke too long to Josh.
We're back in a sec. The Rich Eisen Show, the podcast. Hyundai Hope on Wheels. I care deeply about pediatric cancer research and awareness. Part of the reason why I love telling you about Hyundai Hope on Wheels, you may not know that for the last 27 years, every Hyundai sold has helped fund life-saving pediatric cancer research.
Together with over 850 dealers nationwide, they've raised more than $277 million, supporting over 25,000 kids in their fight against cancer. Visit HyundaiUSA.com and search Hyundai Hope on Wheels to learn more. At Hyundai, Hope isn't optional, it comes standard. All right. The number of texts I got.
Number of you know stuff I got in terms of online Engagement. Uh when Dante Moore went on ESPN And um and said this I've lost track. When it comes to me just making my decision, of course, I want to feel most prepared and, you know. It is best for my situation, especially as a quarterback. With my decision, it's been very tough.
I've prayed a lot about it, talked to many people, my mentors, and people I just look up to. And with that being said, of course, I would be coming back to Oregon for one more year and being able to play for the Oregon Ducks and, you know, of course, reach our goal and be national champions. There we go. Part and parcel of the 21st century. It's not a kid saying I'm coming out of high school and I'm choosing Oregon or choosing a hat or anything like that.
It's just like, hey, I'm not going in the portal and I'm not going in the draft. I'm staying put. And I'm going to take a lot of money from Phil Knight. And again, that's that's. Uh the reporting, $7.5 million.
That's what he's gonna make. He could have made more as the second overall pick in the draft. Or the first overall pick in the draft, had he decided to go in the draft and competed with Fernando Mendoza and at the Combine or wherever else, in Pro Days and what have you, but Dante Moore staying put. and that is being called a repudiation of the Jets. Don't wish to be a New York jet.
Don't want to be a New York jet. And to that I respond, good for you. Flat out. Good for you. Because guess what?
The jets aren't ready for you.
So, you may have looked over the steering wheel and said, I don't want to be the next Zach Wilson. I totally understand that. I totally understand that 100%. When you could stay put and make seven and a half million dollars for an Oregon Ducks team that will 100% be in the mix to win the Big Ten again. 100% be a playoff team again.
100% be in the mix for the the natty again. Makes total sense to do that. But it also is a Mariano Rivera type save. for the Jets, 'cause this kid's not ready for the pros. It doesn't appear.
Because a pro team was right in front of him in the national championship semifinal, and they absolutely treated him like Michael Irvin has been treating Gatorade Jugs on the sideline for the Miami Hurricane. Yes, okay, so. It was also a glimpse, I think, for the Jets to say, I don't think this kid's ready. I don't even know if they would have chosen him second overall. I have no idea.
But if they thought, uh-oh, we need a quarterback because when are we going to pick second overall again? We don't want to do that. Um That helped things out too. And on top of it, folks who were tweeting at me or posting at me or whatever you're saying or texting me this sort of thing too. I don't know if the Jets were interested in Dante more anyway.
It's not like they. It wasn't a given. Nope, because. When they had a choice, Of which draft to amass. Multiple draft choices in.
They chose the 2027 draft on purpose, ask a Dallas cowboy friend.
So, put it all together. Dante Moore looked over the steering wheel and saved himself some trouble. And he saved the Jets some trouble that they were potentially already avoiding. The Rich Eisen Show Podcast. Mm-hmm.
