REShow: Bruce Feldman - Hour 2

This is the Rich Eisen Show. Our number two of the Rich Eisen Show is on the air.

8442 for Rich is the number two dial right here on the show. On Fox in about an hour is going to be USA versus Iran. USA wins. They move on to the knockout round and of course when Matt Rule of Nebraska is on our program calling it an hour number three and Chris McDonald, the man famously known obviously as Shooter McGavin, who's now in two terrific shows, Hacks on HBO Max and The Watcher available on Netflix when he's here in studio hour number three. We'll update you his conditions warrant on all of that. But we turn to our in studio guest sitting here from Fox and the athletic fresh back from the horseshoe getting set to go to the Pac-12 championship game. A man who's so inside college football. We love having him on this program. We have our friend Bruce Feldman back here in studio. How you doing, sir?

I'm doing great. Thanks for having me. What was that like in the horseshoe this weekend? Probably the most will be the most memorable regular season game I think I may have ever covered. No kidding. It was just shocking to sit there and be on the sideline and watch the reaction of the Ohio State fans seeing this in disbelief in the second half. I mean, they got outscored 28 to three. I think when you saw the beginning of the game at one point it's 10 to three and you feel like Ohio State should be up like 20 to three and then they give up a big play and like, OK, this maybe will be respectable a little bit. Then they give him another big play. Third quarter, where I was pretty sure at that point, Ohio State's going to roar back and win this game because they have C.J.

Stroud and can't stop the receivers and everything, where one of the Michigan linebackers in a timeout rallied the defense, got everybody around him. And then Mike Sander still, who's their terrific little Nickelback, probably the smallest guy in the field, by the way, stands up on the bench and is pointing at the Ohio State side. And he's like, we know who they are. We know who they are.

And they're showing you who they are basically saying we can see them. I'm quitting right now. And I'm like, OK. And then he's getting more and more impassioned and fired up. You want to win the Natty?

It starts right here. And man, if he wasn't at that point, it was like the whole team was around, not just the defense. From that point on, they dominated the game. Like they it was like and you know, the thing that having talked to him a little bit after was like shark smell blood. And they felt like Ohio State had just been, you know, it was kind of I don't want to get too much of the boxing analogy, but it was a little like the buster Douglas Mike Tyson thing where it was like, oh, wait, you know, it bleeds. Now we're going to take over. And I feel like the 2021 game was kind of it bleeds. We can beat them.

Yes. And now all of a sudden it's like, here we are. This is the team. You know, I wrote a lot about this on the athletic in the last couple weeks about how Michigan was like, we probably can't out personnel them, but we can out culture them and we can out physical them.

And that's how you beat them. And Jim Harbaugh has worked towards it and the staff and everybody bought in. And it was really impressive to see the out physical didn't really happen, at least on the offensive side of the ball from Michigan towards Ohio State's defense. I mean, I was I'm not an all 22 guy. So I wasn't seeing how physical it might have been outside the numbers would say Marvin Harrison Jr, who is a complete beast. Yeah.

And I know he's going to be a tremendous pro when he does get there. But the out physical didn't really occur until that fourth until they broke right until they broke. But the other thing I would say is, you know, knowing the Ohio State side, they were doing everything they could to stop the run. And by the way, obviously, as you know, Blake Korm was was limited. And on top of that, you have Donovan Edwards. I mean, if you watch the runs, because he comes out and warm ups, he's got a hard cast on his hand.

Yeah. And it's like, okay, he's probably not going to be a factor as a receiver today, which is a big difference. But then even he's carrying that ball in essentially what you would think is the wrong hand on those plays. To do that, I think it was the team that just not more, just the tougher mentally team. And I don't think it's just like, hey, nine on seven drill.

And it's, you know, all this other stuff. I just think it's the mentality more than, you know, they're going to try to stop us. But we saw this defense at Ohio State, which under Jim Knowles had not given up big plays. It looked like the ones from a few years ago where they were getting gas for big plays. So, you know, I was talking yesterday or, you know, or ranting is the phrase that people are using that that Ohio State fans are melting down.

Chernobyl like meltdown. I mean, on to see on the Fox Post game show fans behind Urban Meyer chanting for him to come back. I mean, I understand that losses are tough and hard. And this one in particular is tough and hard to take.

I've been on the wrong side myself, as we frequently all too frequently for my taste. But is there like, what what what are they thinking in Ohio State about Ryan Day? Is there any question about his future there?

I think the fans are crying. I mean, this guy's record is 31 and two in Big Ten play 31 and two in the Big Ten. It's not like he's in Conference USA. Right. But the two are the are the biggest games and it's Michigan. And you and people, I think, in their heads, kind of looked at last year was Oh, it's kind of flukey.

It was snowy. It was there. You know, then they had, you know, Aiden Hutchinson and three first round picks on defense. It was like, okay, they're just gonna get a mulligan.

It's gonna be a payback game. I think everybody except for the people on the Michigan sideline thought it wasn't just going to be a win, it was going to be a route and we're going to put them back in their place. You know, look, Urban Meyer lost games that you would think, how would they lose to Purdue and get blown out? How would they lose to Iowa and get blown out? I mean, even when they lost to Michigan State, that was a better team. But they, you know, it wasn't like, but it was that game, right? But I think so much of it is like Jim Harbaugh and Michigan has adjusted how they prepare for, for really this, you know, they built everything around, around the Ohio State matchup.

But to think that you're going to get somebody in there, who's going to do a better job than Ryan Day. I mean, that's, to me, that's nuts. But I get it, the fans like my my just observation of seeing it were people were angry, but they were more in shock.

They were more in shock. And the reaction is, how do we fix this? Does that mean we throw a ton of money at, at Mike Vrabel?

Or, you know, what do we do? Luke Fickle, by the way, just left, you know, we know that was a dream job of his, just left Cincinnati to go to Wisconsin. You know, I think, again, and I don't, I don't want to say I don't, I'm not an Ohio State, you know, fan who's paying money for tickets and anything like that. But like, you have a really excellent coach who knows what he's doing offensively. You know, you're talking about 18, 19, 20 year olds, you're going to not win every game, right?

Nick Saban, as great as he is, has lost games. And I think you got to, you know, you got to, I don't know, so they're not going to entertain this. This is not even the fans, my, you know, if Gene Smith, and they decided to run out, like, I mean, run out, Ryan Day. I mean, I think, you know, to me, that would be like a lunacy at this point, Bruce Feldman here on the Rich Eisen show, what do you think is going to come out from the committee tonight?

What's your best guess? You know, I think we will see some version of Ohio State will be the next one in Alabama. Yeah, because I mean, to me, the committee doesn't love blowout losses. But at the same time, Ohio State has one loss, Alabama has two losses. It's not like Alabama has a great resume, right? They lost to Tennessee, which by the way, they got a blowout loss, they got smashed by South Carolina a few weeks ago, right? They lost to an LSU team that just lost to a horrific Texas A&M team, right?

So this isn't, you know, this is maybe blasphemous for some people to hear. This is not a great year for the SEC, especially in the SEC West, when you look at that division. So Alabama sitting there, their best win, actually is over eight and four Texas. That's their best win. Ohio State, you know, yeah, they got smashed at home by Michigan last week. Ohio State has one better win than anything Alabama has. They went to Penn State, and Penn State is going to be a top 10 team, they may be as high as eight, and they beat them.

They blow them off the field, but they beat them and ended up being by double digits. The rest of their wins aren't going to carry much weight. But I think if you're looking at it saying, okay, it's not like both teams have two losses, or both teams have one loss. Alabama has two losses. And by the way, Alabama came within a play of losing to Texas A&M. They were very lucky to win at Texas in that game. Whereas Ohio State only has one loss. And the reality is they played a bad half. They played one really bad half where they got outscored 28 to three. But I think it's harder to justify Alabama being and being above them than Ohio State. So it truly is the amount of losses is the only metric that they're going to be paying attention to. Well, again, Penn State, that win over Penn State is better than anything Alabama has. This is a top 10 win on the road. What does Alabama have that matches up with that?

Nothing from this year. It's all from from stuff Nick Saban did previously. So what, where do you think they they ranked Georgia and Michigan then? I think Georgia's one.

I think Michigan is two. I think the interesting part, and to me, I think USC will win the way they're playing. I think they will avenge their one loss against Utah.

The thing that will I'm more curious about is what happens in the Big 12 title game. TCU is a good team, and they have had a terrific year. The team they're playing is a really dangerous team because, you know, having done a couple of Big 12 games this year, the people, the coaches in that league think the best coach team is K State. They're a very dangerous team.

They're hard to, you know, they constantly adjust in game. You know, they beat them once before. It's hard to beat a team twice. If K State knocks them off. Now, if K State blows them out, that's probably another story. But if K State knocks them off, I still think TCU ends up in the playoff because they would have one loss. So TCU loses to Kansas State, they tell Ohio State that just lost to Michigan.

Sorry. That's interesting. I think that would be the case. I'm not positive, but I think that would be the case.

Because again, if they get embarrassed in the game, but they've already beaten Kansas State, you know, they would be a 12-1 team as opposed to an 11-1 team. I think, I think, I'm not sure of that, Joe. No, I know. You never know.

I've got Bruce Feldman here from Fox as well as the Athletic here on the Rich Eisen Show. I'm just going to ask this question. I know it sounds infused when I ask it, but how does Hugh Freeze get a job in the SEC again? You know, the SEC and especially Auburn, it's really all about can you win there or not?

They're not, you know, it has nothing to do with whether you're a graduating player or anything like this. He has a lot of scandalous baggage. Can you run through it for people here? We don't even have enough time. I know because the reason why I ask is if you had told me, okay, on the set of the NFL Draft in Chicago, when the video of Laramie Tunsell comes through and everything else that came out after that, from social media DMs and things of that nature, that showed that the coaching staff was a million percent involved with giving Laramie Tunsell benefits that were beyond illegal.

And then walk me through the rest of it here. So I think that this stuff with the NCAA violations, I think that is less problematic in this day and age. Because honestly, people inside the sport know a lot of that stuff has been going on and people are just paying electric bills and things like that.

Better at getting around it than Ole Miss was. I think the thing that is more problematic is the ethical stuff of, you know, when you go through his phone records, as the school did, and you find out that he is calling escort services and that kind of involvement. And I think where it goes even worse, you know, just from an optics standpoint is he has been very public about his faith and talking about certain things. And it was like, you know, there's a lot of coaches who don't profess to be the greatest human being.

They just, you know, whatever they are, they are. I think, whereas Fries talks so much about faith, there was a gotcha moment to that when it was like, you know, you really stepped in it here. I think going forward where it's been, where it's also problematic for him was the, you know, the involvement of he's in direct messages to a woman, is a survivor of some also horrific stuff that had gone on, you know, over at Liberty that wasn't directly related to him. But he's, he went in to defend his athletic director, Ian McCaw. By the way, Ian McCaw is a very Liberty thing, was the AD who got, who was involved at Baylor, where quite honestly, some even worse stuff than what happened at Ole Miss.

And so he's defending Ian McCaw. And, you know, to go forward on this, I think the biggest problem Fries has, you know, with this stuff is he cannot get out of his own way. And so sometimes I think he can, like he, through insecurity or whatever, he feels like he needs to win over and people who are skeptics of him or people question him or question the people around him rather than just, there's, there's a bunch of coaches who just, you know, they're not, they don't care.

They don't care. Whereas I think he cares about that perception. He fights it.

He ends up getting tied, trapped into it and like quicksand. And at the end of the day, you know, if you're Auburn, they just want a guy who can win in the SEC and they know he can, they know he can beat Nick Saban. He's a really good play caller. He is a really... Yeah, but the guys that he had, he had because he... No, look at what he had at, wait, let's, let's, I mean, in his defense, when he got to Liberty, like nobody was talking about Malik Willis.

And I understand that. And we had, we had, we had Hugh Fries on this program and I didn't ask him about anything of what we've just discussed. He couldn't have been nicer and kinder because we had him on to talk about Malik Willis before the draft.

Cause I was curious about the kid and, and what he was doing there. And he came on and like I said, he couldn't have been more personable and whatever, but we're now talking about an SEC program. And I also have a little bit of an axe to grind to your, your colleague, our colleague, I guess, Brett, Brett McMurphy put out a tweet saying that Deion Sanders, um, some programs we're not going to touch him because of whatever might have been alleged to have happened with his truth Academy. And you know, when he was, uh, uh, in, in, in youth athletics and in Texas, Texas, and I'm thinking to myself, really, you're saying that about Deion who is as above board as I think clearly I am biased. I love the guy, but I would, I would hitch my wagon to Deion Sanders a million times out of a million and not be concerned about anything that's below board. And this guy gets a gig at Auburn.

Are you serious? I think Auburn's calculus here is if you free there's coaches who, if it doesn't work out for them, you're kind of stuck with them because you know, their character is such where you're not gonna be able to fire them for cause you're gonna have to, you're gonna have to, you know, bite the contract. I think there's probably people looking and go, you know, if this goes bad, we can probably fire him for cause I don't, you know, I don't know if they would ever admit to anything like that, but it's like, can he win here?

Can he not? I think that is, you know, there is Deion couldn't win in Auburn. Did they offer him? Did Deion get Auburn? No, I don't think so because I think if they did, I think Deion's there. Could you imagine, we were talking about this, Chris, could you imagine if you want to beat Nick Saban, sending Deion Sanders into the living rooms in the state of Alabama saying, come here.

Rich, I think the challenge, I think from what I've heard, there's basically two Deions. There is the Deion who you will see on social media. There is the Deion who will have a big presence. And then there's the Deion behind the scenes that you worked with at NFL Network. I think for some of the power brokers at the sport, not necessarily saying the athletic directors, but the power brokers at certain schools, and this is what I had heard on the Auburn side, specifically was there were some people who are uncomfortable with, you know, when you get some of these people who almost act like they're GMs of college programs, they feel like they want to have some control and some influence. And with a lot of these coaches who they can go golf with, or kind of get on the phone when they need to, I think they feel like they have a little bit of a control. Deion Sanders doesn't need to kiss their ring.

Deion Sanders probably won't kiss their ring. And I think because of that, and also because quite honestly, Hugh Freeze has coached in the SEC. They know he can win. By the way, you can talk about the players he got. He won with Bo Wallace too. It wasn't like he was winning with...

So I hear you. I'm not saying that he can't do it. I'm just saying here, I guess just to sum it up, and then we'll move on to a couple more subjects here with Bruce Feldman. Deion may not kiss your ring, but what about him putting a ring on your finger?

That's the ring we should be talking about. If I was one of these schools, I would have gone after Deion Sanders and made a bigger pitch for him. But there's a lot of... I don't know if it's fair to use the term ignorance. There's just a lot of stupidity out there when people look and say, hey, this is what we want or however we're gonna operate.

And I think that's the stuff that they get twisted up in. Look, it'd be much different, I think, if Deion was at... If he was already at USF and he was doing what he's doing now, I think Deion is an SEC head coach this winter. I think it's crazy. It shouldn't matter where he's doing it.

He's doing it and he's showing how he can do it. So what is going on with Colorado? They offered him? Yeah, I mean, they offered him. We reported on Saturday on our big noon kickoff show that, yes, he has been offered. I was told he's given a legit consideration. Part of it, I think, is because maybe Colorado is the one power five school that's really willing to buy in and say, hey, we're gonna give you the keys and let's see what you can do. Now, the part that I'm curious about is...

He also likes to go fishing. Colorado is a tough, tough job. It's the worst roster probably among all the power five schools right now. They're gonna have to do a lot of gymnastics to get kids into school as transfers, which is something they have not been able to do of late.

You have an AD who has interviewed from some other things and I think has tried to get out of there. And you also don't know how stable Colorado's position is conference-wise. Are they gonna be in the Pac-12? What's a Pac-12 gonna look like going forward without USC and UCLA?

I think there's just a lot of question marks. If you told me USF, which is not that far from where he grew up, was going to give him everything he needs, I think Deion Sanders would be capable of winning that conference in probably two years. I don't think Deion Sanders is winning the Pac-12 coming from Colorado in two years. I know he's not winning the next year because we know what USC is bringing back. And we know that some of these other programs, Oregon, UCLA, Utah, they're much further along than certainly where Colorado is. To me, Colorado, it's like the rebuild. Jed Fish has done an excellent job at Arizona. They were horrific when he got there. They were pretty bad last year, but they've become respectable. With the portal, you can make some big gains, but man, this is a lot further to go. And maybe his son's really talented, but we saw what Caleb and Lincoln Riley have done, but they added a lot of transfers at USC.

And USC, as bad as it was last year, was nowhere near as bad as Colorado is now. Last one for you, Bruce Feldman here on the Rich Eisen show from the Fox, from the Athletic and Fox Sports right here. So much intrigue involving Drake May right now, right?

And we know the transfer portal exists and we know the NIL world exists. And I know David Pollack kind of threw something out there that's of interest to me. It kind of rattled me a little bit. Are we going to see potentially like the first free agent? Caleb Williams kind of did it. Well, Jordan Addison was that. Jordan Addison, who won the bullet in the cough award last year at Pitt, they had a really good year and obviously had a first round quarterback to throw to. But, you know, he became essentially that.

But I mean, you know, in a quarterback driven world, this is the different ball of wax. I imagine no matter how much he might've gotten to transfer or what have you. And isn't this potentially illegal to like you? You can't use NIL money to induce somebody, but it's been going on all year. So what is this possible that that that may becomes a the first true like big time quarterback free agent? I think that has already happened. It's just he might he would become the most high profile. OK. Is that possible? Is he going to do it?

I don't know. I mean, you know, honestly, it's only something I think he and his family really would know. I mean, it's there's a lot of variables in this one, too. Certainly, you know, his offensive coordinator, Phil Longo, you know, I know he's up for some jobs. You know, if he leaves, what kind of offense is there going forward? He's obviously got deep ties in Chapel Hill to the to the place. So, you know, we'll see. I mean, but this is not like this is not the first one.

This would be the biggest one. But, you know, again, Jordan Addison leaving when he left, you know, Caleb was essentially a free agent. We just, you know, I know from having talked to him that he seriously looked at UCLA. Part of it, he told me, was because he was very attracted to the idea plan for Chip Kelly. Part of it was like, maybe I could go up against Lincoln and how would that go kind of thing? But ultimately he went to, you know, what he felt like was the best fit for him.

And I worked out he's going to win the Heisman. Right. Right. So give me a year off the top of your head, just let's have some fun before I send you out the door. What year will we see a quarterback get drafted and take a pay cut?

Oh, for a first overall drafted quarterback making what's that kid make 20 million? Yeah. Guaranteed.

What year do we? I don't think that's happening. You know, what's going to happen here is there are kids and there are kids still who are getting paid a lot of money before they get to school as part of NIL deals. And I would expect some of them are going to go are going to turn out to be big busts. And that I think will give people a lot more pause about how much money they're going to spend before anybody's proven anything. But if there are no rules technically that are have teeth or anybody is going to be afraid of flouting, just name any big time program that's losing their quarterback this year and would rent Drake May for a year or two. Like, you don't think there'll be boosters that will fill this kid's bucket up?

I mean, use it this way. And that's the conversation that it's being had. I think there's as much of a conversation where, remember Jamar Chase, I was in the pandemic a couple of years ago, sat out. People were like, was he going to get to turn out to be a great, you know, hit the ground running, right? Right. Plays in a Super Bowl. I think the question will be, and I'm not saying this is going on with Caleb Williams, but let's use this as an example.

Caleb Williams is going to win the Heisman Trophy. And then he can't come out because he's still got another year before he's draft eligible. You know, is the question somebody going to say, and it's a little different as a quarterback, you're supposed to like a running back. But because we see this with Blake Coram, obviously, you know, where it's an injury and all of a sudden you're not going to be the same for a little bit. But if it's a quarterback, how much would it take for somebody to go, I don't know if I want to, you know, risk injury or whatever, because I know I'm going to make that money. Like, Caleb Williams does not, I would think, does not need to do anything from this point forward. And he will not be like he will still be a top two pick when he comes out. Right. So if that's the case, the challenge is all the deals he has done with his dad on this, you know, already, I don't know how much you can collect if you're on the sideline and just using your social media presence now as a Heisman Trophy winner.

I would think you are still a very big marketing presence for those companies. You know how scouts are, too, in the pros. A lot of kids sit down. Oh, they're wrong. Come on. I know. I know.

I love scouts more than anybody. But like that, if that kid doesn't play another down, he's going first or second in the twenty twenty four NFL draft. What's his comp? Because he's only six one.

Yeah. His comp is he's a little I think he's a little shorter and a little and a little faster than Patrick Mahomes. I don't even know if he's a little faster. He's quite a bit faster than Patrick Mahomes. Yeah, Mahomes runs.

It looks like in slow motion, but he also glides to like three first downs in one. And obviously, but he is definitely shorter. He's about six one, but he's pretty thick. You know, he's two hundred twenty, twenty five pounds, but his arm is fantastic. He can do some amazing things off platform. And I think, you know, I was a little skeptical.

The more you watch of him, the more wowed you are by him. And, you know, like you take Caleb Williams off that team that is now eleven and one. I think they're seven and five. Have a great time at the Pac-12 championship game. If you're around next week, let's let's do this again when we're on the other side. If you're up for it, I really love when you come in here. Bruce, you make me smarter. I love our chats.

Bruce Feldman, follow him on social media. I do as well enjoy that Pac-12 championship game. We are back with more of your phone calls and getting you set for our three on the Rich Eisen Show in a moment. 2000, 2008, 2022. When it comes to the economy, those are some scary years.

Dotcom crash, housing crash and the roller coaster we're kind of going through right now. One thing is certain. It's a dangerous time to not know your numbers, but over thirty one thousand businesses have the confidence and clarity they need because they rely on NetSuite by Oracle, the number one cloud financial system. NetSuite gives you visibility and control of your financials, inventory, HR, planning and budgeting so you can manage risk, get reliable forecasts and improve margins. Everything you need all in one place. So how do you prepare for uncertain times?

The answer is simple. NetSuite. It's why ninety three percent of customers say they improve their visibility and control when they upgrade it to NetSuite.

So what are you waiting for? Right now, NetSuite is offering a one of a kind, flexible financing program. Head to NetSuite dot com slash rich pod right now. NetSuite dot com slash rich pod.

NetSuite dot com slash rich pod. The world tournament of soccer happening in Qatar is finally here, and with all the weird kickoff times and all the other sports happening simultaneously, it could be kind of hard to keep up. So to make sure you're up to speed, be sure to listen to Qatar Kickaround for the daily wrap up of all the action from the tournament from the group stage all the way to the final. Andy, Lars and Peter are here for you with recaps and opinions of what happened that day in Qatar.

Everything can be found at the kickaround dot com, the Cumulus podcast channel on YouTube or wherever you listen. All right, you got me for twenty seven more minutes. What do you want to talk about? Stop it. Not even.

It's going to twenty six. Stop it. They don't start right at eleven anyway. No, they don't. No, they don't. It's kind of like Ohio State, Michigan. Let's talk for thirteen and a half more minutes.

I don't think they start right at two eastern. All right. We'll see.

We'll see. So just real quick, following up on one of the many things that Bruce Feldman said, I feel for North Carolina that the conversation that David Pollock started at ESPN is like, why wouldn't Drake may enter the transfer portal and say who wants to pay me millions of dollars to try and win you a championship and become a free agent like that? If I was that kid, that's what I would. But that's not legal, right? Like that's you're not supposed to basically say come here and we'll pay you all this money.

That is exactly what you just say. Hey, I'm in the transfer portal. It's like the people will come. Ray, the money will come.

Like, feel the dreams. You know, I heard that I'm like, but that's not supposed to be the way it works. Like, let's just figure this whole damn thing out. There's enough smart people, there's enough school presidents and there's enough to I guess there's too much money for this to to not be figured out.

But would you rather have it be the old way where the, you know, the duffel bag of cash shows up on your door? Of course not. So let's figure it out.

You know what I mean? Let's figure it out. The problem with figuring it out is you got to tell the NCAA, you're the out. Install some commissioner of the college football playoff system and come up with, yeah, well, sure.

And that person, you know, the committee decides whoever, I don't know who the committee is, but whoever this person is decides who's in and who's out. And it becomes like an 80 member system. And that's how you decide what your rules are and the contracts of the players are, the letter of intent. And you figure out how much that player gets when they get to school, what the NIL is allowed to give them. Is it the same for everybody? Yes, all member schools.

And then if you're out, unfortunately, you're not in the system. At least you just have to, you have to tighten the rotation like a head coach tightens the rotation in a basketball playoff. So do you want all these kids on one year deals? Do you want $500,000 maxes? That's what I mean.

I haven't thought about that yet. But what you need to do is make the pool of schools so much smaller so there can be an agreement reached. When you're dealing with thousands of schools, hundreds of hundreds of schools, close to four figures of schools, not everybody's in the same economic boat, not as in the same conference boat.

And if there's going to be haves and haves nots, figure out who the haves are and then go have at it. Well, I mean, is it every school that's in the Big Ten? Is it every school in the SEC? Is it every school that's currently in the Pac-12? Is it every school?

Okay, so then that's what I'm saying, because this whole concept of Drake May hits the transfer portal. Name schools that could use him. UCLA is using DTR, right? I think so.

He's out, right? Right. So name me a school of somebody who's been there a while, their quarterback's going to be gone. And that this kid might be better than.

The problem is you're telling a bunch of other kids that have already signed with your school in the pipeline, sorry, we're getting this other person off, they can enter the portal to. But it's always been like this. It's like expanding the playoff. The two best teams always played for the National Championship. The BCS always got it right. And now we just made it four. We made it a little more of a wild card and now we're doing it again. Like we already know who the haves are and we know who the have nots are. That's not going to change if there's, you know, an 80, 80 team conference or a 50 team conference.

There's still going to be the top end, the middle and the teams that have no shot. I know Clemson was a kid that that came in and beat you guys in Syracuse, right? He's supposed to be highly touted, right?

The backup that comes, right? Yeah. OK, again, I'm not I'm not an evaluator. I don't know. I'm not a I'm not one of the ad lads from our lads, right? Like, I don't I don't know who's five star, this five star that. But I'm just wondering if this kid is so good at Drake, may up Ohio State losing C.J.

Stroud. You don't think they'll tell this kid come here? Yeah. And if you're that kid, you they told yours take a hike, right? We would do that. Yeah. Or he's like, I read the writing on the wall.

I'm going to Texas. You read the writing and now yours has to deal with Arch coming in. Right. This is happening, man. Yeah. Used to be you come you come here, you sit behind, you know, it's like Haskins sat behind J.T. Barrett.

When that happened, Burrow hit the road. Yeah. Justin Fields. Justin Fields is a Georgia number one player in the nation from Georgia. Right. And he could work out for Ohio States and the other one take the kid from North Carolina. I'm out.

It's the way of the world. It's happening. Let's take a break. Aaron Rodgers has spoken about his injury and his viability to play this weekend. Sounds painful as hell.

That's coming up next before Matt Ruhl joins us. 844-204-RICH also the number down. Influencer. It's a word that gets tossed around a lot these days. There is a woman who went the distance, who broke ground as the first true influencer by living a remarkable life. Her name, Elizabeth Taylor. I'm Katy Perry.

This is the story of the original influencer. This is Elizabeth the first. Elizabeth the first, the podcast wherever you listen. Let's go to Wieden, New Jersey. What's up, Wied? Been hanging on forever. What's going on?

Hey, Rich. Thanks for taking my call. What's up? I have a quick question. Oh, congrats on the big win in Michigan. Thank you. I had a lot to do with it. Thank you. I just had a quick question.

Do you think the NFL flexes the Christmas games out like much more in taste? This is wild. You have no idea, Wied. Were you listening to our conversation? We were talking about this before we were on the air.

Like 830. Literally, half an hour before we went on the air at 1130 Eastern your time. Yeah, the Christmas games, I'll tell you, it looked great when they were sending Tom Brady to Arizona and take on Kyler Murray and it was definitely great when they, I thought this would be the first game of the year. Russell Wilson's first game as a Bronco at the Rams when the Rams were hanging the banner against, you know, a guy that they used to play against twice a year in Russell Wilson and that game is just, I mean, that's currently three and four on the draft clock and neither of them, by the way, own their picks.

And then there's Green Bay taking on Miami. That's a good one. That's good. I don't think you can flex them out. I don't think you can do that.

You can't. I mean, those are three games and there's a whole host of games on Christmas Eve. All of the, by the way, thank you for the call, all the week 16 games are on Saturday, Christmas Eve leading up to the night game, which got a nice little boost this week. Raiders at Steelers.

Little boost, little bit. It's better than what's been happening. It's better than what's been happening. Raiders win four in a row. Raiders can go into that game and have a chance to go above 500 if they don't lose between now and then. That's what I'm saying. That's a big if. And how about the Steelers last night? Never say never, but never. Thank you very much.

They showed me something, man. Kenny Pickett can play. Kenny Pickett can play. I do like the way that he keeps his head up when he's moving out of the pocket. He's looking down the field. He's not giving up on the play. He's not just running for the first down marker. He's, he's, and I just like, you could see the team kind of feeds off it. Unfortunately, it looked like Najee Harris is hurt.

I mean, he's holding his stomach. That's not one of those things where, you know, five days of rest is going to get him back out there. Benny Snell can run the ball too, as we all know. Jalen Warren's coming back. I know. I kind of, I kind of liked what I saw out of the Steelers last night.

They're four and seven. Let's do it. Pittsburgh Steelers.

Oh, let's do it. They're at Atlanta. Excuse me.

Really? Steelers? Hold on a second.

That's why that was such a big win last night. The Pittsburgh Steelers are now four and seven. Let's talk it out. Okay.

Let's talk it out here. Their next game is at Atlanta. Can't say they can't win this one. No.

All right. Then they're home for Baltimore. We throw records out when that happens, right? Baltimore is, something's going on there. Always throw the record out, though.

Don't you? With those teams. I said that last week. Certain teams play each other.

Doesn't matter. They haven't played Baltimore yet at all, by the way, Pittsburgh. They're at Carolina. Then there's that Christmas game. I just need three wins in a row. That's all I need for that Christmas night game. To be seven and seven versus seven and seven on Christmas Eve.

Now that is juicy. Which is, by the way, it's going to be like a night at the museum that night. Immaculate reception. It's the annual, it's the 50th anniversary immaculate reception game. Anybody who's anybody who's a Pittsburgh Steeler or Raider is going to be in the building that night. Oh, most definitely.

TJ Jefferson, you going to be in the house? I don't know. I can get you tickets. I don't know. I can get you tickets.

It's an NFL Network game. You should definitely go to that, right? Maybe I should.

Oh, yeah. Come hang out with us in the booth. You're going to be home. I don't know if we'll have any room. There's four of us calling the game. We'll have you.

I might have to do that. Let's do it. Let's figure it out. All right. Don.

I'll call Ashton to get your number. Stupid. The idea that you have Ashton's number and not TJ's. That's the gag. That's the gag. That's the joke. You see where I went with that? What do you mean whatever? Just yell at the window. Just be like, hey yo. Yeah, so the Steelers did show you something last night.

They're also very well coached. Let's talk about Jeff Saturday a little bit here. Look, man, this is the problem. This is the problem with Jeff Saturday. He is so damn likable and he is such an amazing human. He truly is. Like if I had to name a top 10 favorite humans that I've met because of my job with NFL Network, he's on the list.

That's not counting us, right? I'm talking about football players who I covered and met. Gotcha. All right.

Yeah. Jeff Saturday and I hold a special place. He's I hold a special place for him because when I was selling my book back in 2000, and I don't even remember what the hell year it is, seven I guess it was, selling my book and and and I had my I held my first I held my first book signing here in Los Angeles the week the book came out. And the only people there were my where's Susie, my parents, my brother, I think my sister in law was there as well. Jeff and Jackie Schaefer showed up and like two other people. And it was humbling. Like 10 people showed up and I'm like oh no. I know that.

It was really really really humbling. And and so I said to myself I've got to now game the system for these future book signings. So hey Marshall uh you free to have a when I do a book signing at the Pro Bowl in Hawaii?

Sure. Line out the door. Indianapolis combine. Oh. Jeff Saturday reached out to him last minute. He said he said no problem. In his off season in a February in Indianapolis he went to the bookstore and he signed for everybody and the line was the longest out the door.

Wow. Couldn't have been so I have to front load what I'm saying especially since any head coach we don't come on here and walk through uh clock management mishap or bungling whatever you want to call it. I mean we did I did call out Todd Bowles for taking Tom Brady off the field yesterday uh you know on Sunday. I did that in yesterday's program fourth and two from a 37. Let's have Tom Brady go through a delay game penalty and he's getting roasted bowls for not calling time out with time ticking down at the end of regulation playing for overtime for fear that Brady might throw an interception. Guys two picks here. You know we we call coaches out but Saturday the problem with him is the way he's been hired and the lack of coaching experience above the high school level opens himself up to any and all criticism any and all criticism and last night the game ticking down they have a chance to tie this game and Matt Ryan gets sacked they have three timeouts left the clock is just north of a minute and they don't call timeout off a sack I mean the first thing you do off a sack when you have to drive a half the field you the first thing you I'm like screaming timeout I don't know and the clock ticks down and ticks down and ticks down and then Matt Ryan runs for his life up the middle and goes head first too quickly and yes it doesn't matter if you're sliding feet first or head first in the NFL they will for a quarterback say you're giving yourself up the minute that you slide down and he he was giving himself up yes and he was short and even Joe Buck at this point in time goes and when I say even Joe Buck I'm like just saying he doesn't usually call too many people out he's he's like they got to take a time out here and they don't there was 50 seconds on the clock now now it's just like what what are you doing you have three timeouts left and they quickly ran one to um Jonathan Taylor and Alex Highsmith stops it right on the button from the Pittsburgh Steelers and after the game the guy was coached up to know what the Colts were about to do this is what he said and I felt like they kind of hurried up to the ball and uh you know watched the film and kind of know when the position the tight end was in I could kind of tell that he was going to try to cut me off it's going to be a run play back depth and just seeing how quick they're getting up to the ball I knew they're going to do a run play so I'm you know just trusting my instincts just you know shot it and that's when that's when the Colts finally burned a timeout bringing up a fourth down that Ryan threw for and they were looking for a flag and didn't get it and I mean if you call a timeout even after Ryan is shy of the first down and the clock's ticking and it's a scramble play so you know guys are gonna have to hurry back you know guys are gonna have to if you call a timeout there then maybe you're not trying to hurry up and tip your hand so a well-coached defensive player knows what's coming burn your time out there and then you got your whole playbook on third down knowing you got two two snaps at it this is what happens when you hire somebody who doesn't have a long standing resume and skill set to do it that when this stuff happens and other coaches with the skill set and resume do it you're not opening yourself up to everybody pointing like it's that gif from once upon a time in Hollywood Leo pointing at the screen there it is that's exactly what we're talking about that's it Rick Dalton yeah the Rick Dalton gif that's it I've seen it I've seen it I know it I know what that looks like that looks like exactly what we've been talking about when you hired the guy and Saturday I just I hate pointing it out I hate Rick Dalton now making it a verb right I hate doing it yeah gotta be fair but they're now four seven and one again print the playoff tickets in Nashville that's happening they had a shot I mean five six and one is a totally different ball of wax than four seven and one and certainly we're talking about the Raiders and the Steelers at four and seven they've been having a shot of doing something here sniffing it sniffing it that's what they're no longer doing I don't think here I am saying two four and seven teams have a shot in four seven and one doesn't but that's the difference between winning and losing in the NFL Matt Ruhle knows all about that he's joining us from Nebraska next.