REShow: Hour 3

What's Right with Nick Wright is a rapidly growing podcast from the Fox Sports Podcast Network. You may know Nick Wright from co-hosting FS1's First Things First. This podcast gives Nick a chance to develop, deep dive, and defend his sharpest opinions. During the show, Nick faces off against a ticking clock, a team of producers, and even his own family to try and get his points across. New episodes drop Monday, Thursday, and Friday wherever you get your podcasts.

The program still plenty of chances for you to get involved. 1-844-204-RICH, 1-844-204-7424. Twitter is your best opportunity to have an opinion expressed. B.W. Weber, Weber with two B's, but you got to do it with a little bit of urgency because coming up in 40 minutes we wrap up the program with gusto, just our second guest. However you view me, if you do it all, probably who is this loud guy? Let me turn down the radio. You can't say I don't maximize opportunities for you to get involved because two guests in three hours is a Spartan, hello John Spartan, rundown. I'd say a skinny rundown, but if you click on my Twitter profile you can see the steam room is my friend.

That's my destination after the program. We'll get you set for the bowls that matter. Not today's lineup. Toa is about to meet leather in the Bronx. Bad boy, mowers, pinstripe bowl. There'll be a crowd there despite the awful weather on the east coast because Syracuse is playing inside the state of New York.

Alumni throughout New York tri-state area and the students can either take advantage of being home on break or schlep down from upstate New York. It's the orange against Minnesota, cheesy bowl coming up later today, Oklahoma, Florida state. Alamo bowl, Texas and Washington. When we're joined by PFU Tech from collegefootballnews.com in 40 minutes we're going to spend our time on the national semifinals coming up on Saturday. Rich's alma mater, his beloved Wolverines taking on TCU and Georgia trying to go back to back and defend their national title facing Ohio state in 20 minutes. We'll get back to Thursday Night Football not breaking the game down.

That was never the intent but using it as a catalyst to have a conversation about the Cowboys and where would we slot them amongst the premier teams with a realistic opportunity to win it all. Tennessee has fallen apart. They've lost five straight.

We knew momentum was gathering over the last handful of days that Mike Grable was going to go into operation shutdown. Tonight's game is meaningless. Tennessee has to defeat Jacksonville to win the division next week so that game likely to be flexed out to Sunday Night Football. Game number 256 with a playoff spot and division title on the line so understanding that Tennessee has literally nothing to play for they're not putting real players on the field and we got the latest confirmation of that about an hour and 15 minutes ago Malik Willis has struggled in his rookie year remember he was taken to the third round so if you're taking second third fourth round team believes in you it's not a throwaway pick although Brock Purdie's done pretty well with the final pick of last year's draft. Willis the numbers have been pretty gruesome three starts a total of 234 yards no touchdowns three picks taking on a very good and assertive Dallas defense especially with their ability to get to the quarterback.

Grable is not putting Willis out there. Josh Dobbs who's bounced around the league after a standout career playing for the Tennessee Vols. He'll be back in the state of Tennessee tonight. Titans hosting the Cowboys so I think it comes down to the standpoint and we'll talk about this more come up in 20 minutes protect Malik Willis not physically emotionally mentally his psyche you don't want him getting beat up on a variety of levels by the Cowboys and then you're going to need him presumably next week even though he's been wobbly at the outset of his NFL career because Ryan Tannehill I'm amazed he was even able to get back in that game against the Chargers a couple weeks ago when he was carted off the field with the ankle injury. More NFL coming up some sad news to pass along although we as sports fans were given a sense this was coming the biggest name in the history of the biggest sport in the world Pele has passed away at the age of 82 the Brazilian soccer legend had been in poor health over the last week you heard that family and friends were gathering to be by his side so we've lost Pele at the age of 82 and I want to spend a few minutes on this because I was not being hyperbolic if we're talking about the most the most recognizable figures not sports luminaries people on the face of the earth Pele is on the short list with whomever the pope may be and Muhammad Ali before he passed away Pele is one of the most important names in sports history and given the global popularity of soccer wherever he went he was mobbed a gentleman an ambassador of the sport I've been in the room with Pele twice now one room was big giant stadium 1977 I was being metaphoric there but like Rich I'm from the New York tri-state area Rich is from Staten Island I grew up just outside of the Bronx went to high school in the city so I think we have a similar sensibility about a lot of things when I was a kid I think Rich and I are in fact the very same age when I was a kid late 70s early 1980s we were the generation that fully embraced soccer more so than our parents my old man couldn't believe that I wanted to play soccer and it was all the stereotypes oh yeah that's riveting one nothing while a lot of scoring but our generation came to it pretty naturally youth soccer leads proliferated believe it or not I know it's going to be stunning so as I give you the admission let me let you know again who I am I'm Brian Weber who am I why am I here I'm in for Rich Eisen it's a Rich Eisen show breaking news a broadcaster with no athletic talent I was not much of a player not player but I crush a lot I couldn't play sports well so I knew along the way if I wanted to be involved with this probably it would be something journalistic either writing or talking and talking is easier than writing but I love sports profoundly you play them all until you're no longer allowed to play and for me that was eighth grade that was the last time I was cut after I did play eighth grade football yes well I didn't get on the field much but I was on the roster I played soccer all the way until high school I didn't try to play competitively but soccer was the easiest sport to play and think about why it transcends socioeconomic differences borders soccer literally in the slums of Brazil that the great panel they grew up in they didn't have enough money for soccer equipment they would play with tin cans because that's all you need you need something approximating a ball and you need two sides and you go back and forth so I love soccer as a kid it also helped that when I was young the old North American soccer league was a phenomena there was real soccer craze in this country late 70s early 80s the cosmos worm because they're from New York the New York Yankees of that league and ownership they were owned by what used to be Time Warner which has now morphed into Warner Discovery but a guy named Steve Ross who had a love for stars and they looked around the world and said let's get the biggest names so you have Georgia Canalia, Franz Beckenbauer and nobody bigger than Pele so Pele came to the states to wrap up his career he was older he was not vintage Pele but he was still Pele the greatest soccer player of all time and the cosmos routinely drew better than 60,000 people a giant stadium I dragged my old man out to some game and there was 71,000 there it was a sensation so maybe I'm mourning my youth or maybe I just remember what Pele meant to the embryonic rise of soccer in the states and obviously well not obviously we all have different nuances and different things that we embrace I love sports history as much as I love what's going on on a daily basis Pele has such a significance on so many different plateaus remember won three world cups and then spent the rest of his life as an ambassador of the sport so the second time I was in the room with Pele I was older 1994 world cup here in the united states coming back to north america next cycle thankfully after the quality of play was outstanding in cutter I just had major issues with the ability for cutter to bribe the right people to get the world cup but we're trying to stay upbeat it is the holiday season after all when the world cup came to the united states 1994 one of the venues was the san francisco bay area brazil played at old stanford stadium before it was renovated my alma mater used to seat 82,000 every seat was filled because brazil was there they took over a town about 45 minutes south of san francisco los gatos closer to san jose and that became essentially Sao Paulo north thousands of brazilian spectators and fans were there it was a good time and I was at a press conference in the same room as Pele so I'm not in any way saying you know when I have my in-depth conversation but even just watching him move from room to room there was an aura surrounding Pele there was a grace I'll go back to Muhammad Ali I was lucky to be in a room with Muhammad and he was in poor health obviously towards the end of his life this is Pele circa 1994 still in great shape a charisma always Natalie attired an elegance a regal approach so sad news we were prepared for it we've lost a giant in Pele one of the most important figures in sports history he's passed away at the age of 82. I'm brian weber and for Rich Eisen will make the challenging transition back to things on the field so over the course of our first two hours spent a lot of time understandably under center the issues of trying to jump start Russell Wilson's sagging career endeavor whomever is hired as the next head coach after Nathaniel Hackett was let go on Monday Derek Carr's time with the Raiders is over Chua Tonga Violoa not going to play I think for the rest of this year even if the dolphins make it to the postseason now they'll do it game by game that means Teddy Bridgewater will be the quarterback in a hugely significant game a significant game against the Patriots and the Chua injury now creates more of an opportunity if you think there's a drop-off that's pretty sizable and I don't I think Teddy B is a adequate backup in fact I don't even want to besmirch him that much on a big word Thursday Teddy Bridgewater went healthy and obviously the knee injury remember he went down in a practice setting back in Minnesota changed everything but Teddy Bridgewater is a capable quarterback you got Miami New England the Jets in the Steelers all vying for that final wild card I want to expand our focus and talk more about teams that we really believe in because I think I've been spending too much time with the Dregs even though a lot of those clubs are still in playoff contention but not really in the conversation to win the Super Bowl so it's not going to talk NFC straight ahead let's spend a little more time on the AFC and we already examined some of this when we had our conversation in the last hour of the program with Mike Jones of the athletic in whatever order you want to slot them and don't overlook the fact that the top seed and with that home field advantage is still up for grabs in the AFC here are the teams we know are going to the postseason Ravens I spent a lot of time talking about Lamar Jackson as well I realize the audience is always changing but I'm not asking much just asking for three hours of your undivided attention every day but if you missed any of the program remember you can always pick up the podcast and that is giving you the ability to listen to any portion of any program anytime you want you're in total control Ravens have locked up a wild card the Chargers are going to the postseason for the first time since 2018 and think about that hierarchy of quarterbacks in the AFC Josh Allen and the Bills Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs Joe Burrow making the Super Bowl last year in the Bengals and now Justin Herbert has advanced the playoffs for the first time in his outstanding young career if you're a Charger fan here's the dilemma now that Brandon Staley has made the playoffs you're stuck with him not forever but for the foreseeable future and my issue there is Herbert is a outstanding talent but how much better would he be how much more creativity could we see on the field if the Chargers had an offensive minded head coach and beyond that I don't want to pin it too much on on Staley who's a decent person it would seem I've heard a mom with rich nice guy affable makes himself available to the media you don't get a lot of head coaches only 32 of them in the league only a handful will join marquee hosts like rich during the regular season so that says a lot about who Brandon Staley is as a person that he's willing to have a conversation like that my issue is scheme related play calling and I think the person that Brandon Staley hasn't trusted to run that offense and Jolan Barty is not a great fit for Herbert and Herbert would benefit from a much much more inventive play caller who had a different philosophical slant problem is much like Mark Davis and that's the motivation for Josh McDaniel surviving and Derek Carr being pushed out Mark Davis does not have a lot of liquidity cash poor I think most of us can identify with that come the end of the year and the holidays with those credit card bills already on the way Mark Davis is not going to pay another coach not to work he's already doing that with Gruden some McDaniels was surviving one way or the other and the way forward is getting divorced from Derek Carr so you got Herbert going to the postseason and the Chargers for all my issues with the Spanos family who like Mark Davis use the team as an ATM there's a lot to like about that Charger roster and they're finally healthy we'll get more of an update on where Joey Bosa is getting closer to both season remember brother Nick is balling out with the Niners big reason why they're the number one unit in all of defense Mike Williams feeling better Keaton Allen healthy it was a healthy it was a defense that put up some atrocious numbers early in the year last handful of games including the victory on Monday night over the Colts solidifying a real improvement small sample size over the last three or four weeks another issue with the Chargers is they don't run the ball so as much as if I was just doing fantasy football and looking at the individual profiles of the talent on that Charger team my pushback would be you gotta run in the postseason even just to keep the defense honest Chargers don't run at all uh paltry sub four yards per carry and even against a terrible cult team on both sides of the ball they didn't run it that effectively at all on Monday night so the Chargers are dangerous I just don't buy into them as much as a lot of observers so if we're just going through the teams that really could win it all coming out of the AFC I think it's a short list understanding that wildcards get hot and how many people raise your hand I can see through the radio in any way forecast the Bengals making that Super Bowl run in probably last year but if I have to give you a firm summation of the AFC I guess three teams and three teams only and I would have put the Dolphins on a tier just below those three teams but now with the two uh uncertainty and I don't think it's a real question we're not going to see him again even in the playoffs I don't think he can be allowed to play now with another head injury for the AFC it comes down to three teams and just three teams the reigning AFC champs the Bengals remember they played the Bills in a juicy Monday night game coming up the Bills and the Chiefs that's it now how about the NFC I might be even a little bit more economical there I'm being stingy when it comes to the grades no grade inflation so we'll talk about the real contenders in the NFC coming up and then in 20 minutes we get you set for the ball games you care about when we say hello to P. Futak from collegefootballnews.com since we're talking Super Bowl contenders in the NFC also dovetail that straight ahead into more thoughts on Thursday night football with Tennessee resting just about everybody that matters trying to be as healthy as possible heading into the winner take all game next week against Jacksonville with the division title on the line here's the question against third string quarterback Josh Dobbs tonight for the Cowboys in prime time will they play down to the level of competition what's more that's coming up I'm Brian Weber in for rich here on the Rich Eisen show this is it the pot to win the tournament if you sink it the championship is yours but on your backswing your hat falls over your eyes is this how you're running your business poor visibility because you're still relying on spreadsheets and outdated finance software to see the full picture you need to upgrade to net suite by oracle net suite by oracle is the number one cloud financial system to power your growth with visibility and control of your financials inventory hr planning budgeting and more net suite is everything you need to grow all in one place with net suite you can automate your processes and close your books in no time while staying well ahead of the competition 93 percent of surveyed businesses increase their visibility and control after upgrading to net suite over 32 000 businesses have already made the decision to use net suite for the new year net suite has a new financing program for those ready to upgrade at netsweet.com rich radio head to netsweet.com rich radio for the special one-of-a-kind financing offer on the number one financial system for growing businesses netsweet.com rich radio did you know that driving high is considered driving under the influence that's right driving under the influence of marijuana is against the law in every state even in states where marijuana is legal that means driving high could get you a dui and if you think law enforcement officers can't tell when you're driving high you're wrong your friends can tell your co-workers can tell even your parents can tell everyone can tell so what makes you think that law enforcement officers don't know when you're driving high driving under the influence of marijuana can slow your response time and change how you perceive time and speed so even if you think you're fine at drive when you're high you're not because the bottom line is if you feel different you drive different and driving high is driving under the influence so remember drive high get a dui paid for by nitsa brian webber back with you in for rich thursday edition of the program home stretch and then we'll do it again tomorrow all football getting you fully lined up beyond what we have achieved together today we'll go game by game pointing out the games that matter coming up on sunday arguably the best matchup of the weekend in the nfl on monday buffalo in cincinnati and we'll spend more time on college football we're gonna handle that as well in 15 minutes so i'll be concise here looking forward to our latest conversation talking bowl games of significance with beef you tag from college football news.com i am a hypocrite although are you fully a hypocrite if you admit to being a hypocrite i think that makes you sanctimonious look that word up so i have been ripping the meaningless bowl games and i've been having some fun now unless they are a sponsor then i will completely moonwalk because you know when i need a mower i go to bad boy mowers but they're not a sponsor so i don't have to get into that frame of mind let's just call it the pinstripe bowl yankee stadium i mentioned the weather has been terrible on the east coast but we've seen this and it's been problematic at several venues especially baseball stadiums hosting bowl games the field looks to be in lousy condition in new york so i will self-report moment ago i had the television on just to see what the field would look like at yankee stadium syracuse nnesota it did occur to me you know when you have a sponsor that's a mowing company you probably want to have the crappiest field out there now if they're smart they would say and i'm sure there's a marketing team right now handing whoever's calling this game on espn a note you know if you don't use a bad boy mower or insert your own mower there this is what your field is going to look like but player safety we talk about it a lot if that's really the concern you can't ask these young people and look i'm in my early 50s anybody who's in their early 20s is a young person from my perspective you shouldn't have them on this field but it's a tv show and if you have any questions as to why these games are played if you're flipping around you see what feels like 17 people in the stands it's a television show they generate real ratings we watch because we're addicted to football one quick footnote and i was doing it from memory but i want to be as precise as possible i mentioned the chargers dilemma running the football coming into the cults game they were number 31 reminder out of 32 teams in rush offense averaging 3.7 yards per carry they only put up 3.2 yards of pop against the cult so justin herbert has been transcended he's just being asked to do too much mike tilp if you had a real running back and i'm a big austin eckler fan he's not a bell cow as we used to say he's more of a versatile put him all over the field but for your fantasy team i'm sure you were smiling based on his ability to punch it in a few times against the colts that was the last prime time game got another one coming up tonight dallas against tennessee and what a fitting way it will be to wrap up the thursday night slate because we've had some really challenging games this year i won't go through all of them because i'm trying to stay upbeat it is the holiday season i just can look ahead al michaels at this point has nothing to lose he's been extremely candid this year so when al found out that he's not even going to be able to tell the malik willis story there's not much to say other than a rookie third round pick remember he started his career at auburn wound up at liberty trying to find his way year one instead it's josh dobbs tonight as tennessee's not playing virtually any one of repute that we know especially on defense because mike rable wisely is resting up trying to protect players from injuries heading into the last sunday of the regular season next week tennessee versus jacksonville the winner wraps up the division title as for dallas and i don't want to be as predictable as to say okay it's the same old cowboys they're just a time bomb waiting to blow up because i don't fully believe that still if i have to come up with a coherent summation a synopsis of the cowboys i still got major doubts about mike mccarthy because i never thought he should have been hired i think he hoodwinked bamboozled and conned jerry jones into some speech about no no no i'm into analytics i bought a computer i got these apps on my phone see that barn over there i put up a pythagorean theorem on the wall mike is for better for worse an old school coach and we saw it even when they won a super bowl in green bay although as aaron rogers plays deeper into his career isn't amazing he only made the one super bowl in which he won that lombardi trophy you would think that player i have viewed as the most skilled quarterback of my adult lifetime i think john ellway would be right there i'm not talking achievement i'm talking skill set rogers with a real chance to walk away from football with just one ring mike mccarthy had a lot of situations in green bay in which he butchered clock management and then we saw it last year playoff game hanging in the balance final seconds against san francisco and he called a play that was not the right play at all i'm being kind okay there are a lot of things i could say more forceful how about it was a catastrophe to have that situation with a running clock i have no idea what mike mccarthy was thinking and he continues to justify it because he knows it was an abomination so that's my issue with dallas because that defense is for real now i know they're dealing with a lot of injuries but i think we can have a high degree of confidence that when it matters not tonight but when it matters can play off time michael parsons is going to show up and digs in the secondary and demarcus lawrence pollard is injured tonight fine let's rest him up i love his versatility ezekiel elliott is doing just enough to have that semblance of a ground game i was talking about without dominating the pass run distribution i think the issue with zeke especially when he comes back from an injury is jerry jones gets in the ear of his coaching staff and says something along the lines of gotta feed zeke gotta give him the rock well when you do that i think it negatively impacts the flow and the situational play calling of the cowboys dak had a catastrophe i seem to love that word in a dallas context but he had a terrible sequence of events against philadelphia ball batted in the air taken back for a touchdown i give him credit it did not derail him he compartmentalized he moved on and against a very good eagle defense that was one of the best performances we've seen from deck in his career so put it all together i can talk myself into dallas as a team that could win the super bowl that's not a hot take there's nothing i think over the top about that especially in the nfc because there are real question marks elsewhere and i don't even have to go as low how low can you go as to a couple teams that have no business making the playoffs that are going to because of the expanded wild card field so if you haven't looked recently don't worry about it's my job here's who's still in contention in the nfc seattle at seven and eight detroit was a great story till they woke up last week at carolina and remembered they're the lions and got punched in the mouth still at seven and eight lurking here come the packers at seven and eight with the last two games at home against the vikings who i believe are frauds and alliance and since i'm talking about not only wild card teams but division champs minnesota comes down to this do you think the 11-0 record in one score games that's the best mark in nfl history do you think that's a reflection of a good team or a lucky team did you watch the game against buffalo how many things had to go right for the vikings to win that game how about 33 to nothing at the half against the cults the vikings for the majority of this year have had a negative point differential that means they've been outscored and i know who kirk cousins is and jefferson is phenomenal but cousins has shown us repeatedly in big situations he comes up small so if i have to give you teams i fully believe in in the nfc can't believe i'm gonna say dallas but i say what i mean i mean what i say clearly philadelphia need more information on the shoulder injury of hurts does he play this weekend against the saints and put seating aside i think san francisco is the most complete team in that conference even if it's brock purdy mr irrelevant starting the rest of the way because of a number one defense because of christian mccaffrey and because of the healing abilities of debo samuel i'm brian weber in for rich i will check the twitter feed coming up that's bw weber weber with two b's straight ahead we wrap up the program with style points bowl bonanza continues i'm only going to focus on games that matter namely the national semifinals kicking off on saturday what's going to be the x factor when georgia faces ohio state looking forward to our conversation with pfu tech from college football news.com brian in for rich it's the rich eisen show brian weber back with you we are winding down that means we are warming up for tomorrow's program i got you covered tomorrow final show of the year and then mercifully rich is back from vacation and he'll take you the rest of the way into 2023 but we have a little business to attend to and it's always a pleasure to talk with an old friend pfu tech he is a one-man brand not one-man band a one-man brand at college football news.com pete i have efforted conversations with you recently i have been told you're booked up so thank you for making the time well busy man at this time of year what do you want no i'm glad i feel like you always say yes unless you have other commitments so i'm glad other people are being exposed to your deep insights i guess that's one way to be put it i'm exposing myself to the world yeah no it's it's it's fine it's this time of year is always kind of crazy with everything no i get it i get it it's hurry up hurry up hurry up and then all of a sudden no one loves me or cares about me anymore in about what was it 10 days from now no no no i love you and i keep telling you just do a little college basketball so it can have you on a february march okay i can do that that's coming up next that's what we do is we pivoted to pivot to in a little bit but uh for right now it's all bowl games whatever the heck these things are yes at the moment and all the time because uh uh we get we get real stuff very soon we get the the real games uh in a couple days with everyone sort of playing although not really uh but uh this has been a this has been a really interesting bowl year so far hey i'm gonna throw you a wild card but you can handle it before we talk about the national semifinals so about an hour and 15 minutes ago i was talking about well tennessee is resting everybody tonight thursday night game against dallas and then i saw the news it's josh dob starting tonight now just from a college context what do you remember about josh when he played well at tennessee and now he'll play for the tennessee titans smartest guy in the room and he's one of those players who's marginally talented but he was all he was one of those guys who actually went to class and was really good at school a rocket scientist isn't something aeronautics he's literal exactly i think he's literally a rocket scientist so uh figuring out this little football thing hasn't been too hard for him and look god bless me he's been around this has to be what 10 years or so as a backup quarterback you can make some serious uh you know you know serious rocket money doing all that so he's a he's a we'll see what happens you're right it's going to be an interesting all these things about i'd love when everyone kind of complains about oh well this bull these guys are opting out and these guys aren't playing and these guys are transferring well yeah like look at your like you said look at your tennessee titans tonight they're right they're basically they're not opting out they're just sort of like stopping for a little while and then going to gear it back up again so uh these are interesting football times but it makes sense but joshua dobbs is a very very uh again very smart very decent quarterback who's not going to make a whole lot of mistakes but he's going to have to put up a whole lot of yards against this cowboy team obviously yeah i'm now having a flashback so i used to work at a different audio platform we did nfl conversation every day i think i talked to him on the road up to the 2017 draft somewhere in there and you're right i remember doing the research just astronomical no pun intended gpa very smart guy and look we know what tennessee is doing the resting up to take on jacksonville next week with the division title on the line i'm brian webber in for rich we're talking bowl games that matter now with pfu tech check out his great work collegefootballnews.com so as we compare and contrast georgia this year to last year overall is this roster as deep and as talented no um but they've got that kind of fire in them that they can do something that last year that didn't and win this national championship going undefeated so uh there has been it's kind of a perfect storm of things happening with this program because you you'll be lost all that talent but years and years and years of great recruiting classes have built up the base and so i i'm not a big fan of recruiting so i'm definitely not a family say oh well this guy's going here okay fine but when you get all those five stars year after year after you know that a bunch of them are going to be just okay a bunch we're going to bust but for the most part you're you're setting a base for what's coming four or five years later and this is where it's going to come into fruition where they had all that depth waiting in the wings they have all that talent there and so again perfect storm you've got all these guys who are hungry to prove that they're as good if not better than last year's team which was obviously epic you've got a 44 year old who knows how to kind of bleed it all who's not going to make mistakes and it just has been all working so far but with all that said they get an ohio state team that look you let them in you know this could be you know 2019 alabama where it didn't really deserve to be in the college football playoff but you let them fast pass the bouncer and they ended up having a good old party there same thing like 2014 ohio state they got into the fourth seed and they said okay let's play here because there are three and a half teams in college football that have the same talent level alabama georgia ohio state and the usc offense everyone else is just sort of has to have a a style or a gimmick or something to to hang around some some fluke is going to have to happen for tcu to win to do here for michigan but ohio state you go even with their injuries and even with jackson smith the jig boy was coming down with a case of nflitis and you know some other things ohio state can hang guy for guy punch for punch with these georgia bulldogs if you check collegefootballnews.com getting you set for the national semifinals i know you dabble in conversations about sports wagering so how do you see the matchup between georgia and ohio state and let me throw on the follow-up give him what happened to ohio state being destroyed by michigan i'm not saying that ryan day has a lack of job security what happens if they get pounded again by georgia oh dear god you know what between yeah actually it's there's no way he can win i am not joking when i say that there is a segment of the ohio state fan base that they could beat georgia beat michigan in the national championships 45 to 3 and their ohio state fans are going to be like yeah but ryan day lost to michigan uh you know and kind of be like oh we should have had a perfect season this should have been a whole lot better than this and but you're right there is no there's no lack of job security but yeah you don't lose to michigan twice if you're that coach at that program especially when you spent the entire last year just going out of your mind bat spit crazy over oh my god we lost to michigan this isn't right there's a disturbance in the force and then you lose like that they can they should lose to georgia but i don't i full caveat here i'm bad at picking college football playoff games whatever reason i've been really off on this but my gut sense is georgia wins ohio state covers you know i i just think that they've got the ability to make this one of those games where they lose really close and then all of a sudden they feel aggrieved by a bad call or something like this that carries them into the off season we're getting you set for the final four of pfu tech from college football news.com because i am a lousy clock manager and i got a soundtrack with josh dobbs needs a little more succinct answers here what do you think michigan tcu comes down to i'll make this easy for you easy win seven of the first eight college football playoff undercards have been ugly blowouts by 17 or more just that rose bowl between georgia and oklahoma was close we know how michigan rolls tcu is going to play well might even be up at halftime and then somehow michigan will gain 400 yards on its first drive of the second half and then end up rolling in there man you didn't like to hurry up offense i got more time than that all right but this is more interesting to me philosophically what's the motivation for kevin warren to leave the big 10 i know he's a quote-unquote nfl guy to take the bearish job and give me names that we should link because you're mr big 10 who could be the next commissioner of the big 10 conference how about me let's start with that i would make a great commissioner no it's a big job especially with what's coming forward with a billion dollar tv contract ucla usc and more expansion coming probably from other pac-12 schools it is you know it's not hyperbole to say it's the second best commissioner job in sports behind uh being the commissioner of the nfl considering the business practices here obviously the nba is part of that too but uh it's up there because you're talking about a multi-billion dollar gig at this point that you're going to be the ceo of so we would look what to the usual suspects people with media experience how important is it because mr warren didn't have a big background in college sports how important is it to have someone who's quote-unquote a college guy uh not at all it's just being a high-end business executive i'm i and i don't have the names in front just because you don't know who that guy is or woman behind the scenes who just knows the business aspect of this because this goes beyond pr it goes beyond you know a sports thing it's just who's the best ceo of a major corporation out there and that's that level of gig that this is at this point pete i got two words for you larry scott okay great so we'll have big 10 after dark and we're gonna put these games we're gonna put michigan ohio state on at 11 30 at nice eastern time and they will if amazon says so pete you're the best and i want you just throw college basketball somewhere in the headline so i can chat with you in february and march all right absolutely will have a good happy holidays pete's an old friend and i am lucky to fill in throughout the holiday season i think i even had pete on on labor day so pete's a go-to and then when i was talking to the staff pete suddenly was unavailable i thought wait it couldn't be me did i offend an old friend pete's terrific and i did mention in passing that is a very important strategic development according to reports kevin warren who just presided over the and i think i even had pete on on labor day so pete's a go-to and then when i was talking to the staff pete suddenly was unavailable i thought wait it could it couldn't be me did i offend an old friend pete's terrific and i did mention in passing that is a very important strategic development according to reports kevin warren who just presided over the billion dollar media de paramilitary policy to the national media that was going to happen i think you're right Billion-dollar media deal secured by the Big Ten who's got a background in the NFL Vikings Rams Lions according reports. He's going to take over the CEO job of the Bears so What about the linkage to? Jim Harbaugh, I keep mentioning that name in passing. We'll talk about it again tomorrow I remember Harbaugh had an official interview with the Vikings last year. I think if he wins it all this year gets a national title game Wouldn't that say I've done enough for my alma mater and this is Rich's alma mater as well So let me tread lightly but by his own admission Harbaugh said he has unfinished business in the NFL namely That he made it to the Super Bowl lost to his brother when the lights went out in New Orleans That'll be a decade removed coming up in February just a name to watch Denver and Harbaugh makes a lot of sense Think about how much he could extract in terms of a payday from the Walton family Because I'm gonna do this tomorrow in detail History tells us six or seven jobs open up in the NFL Three have already been opened up unless you think that Steve Wilkes is gonna hang on to the Carolina gig and I think he should I think he's demonstrated that he's in a marvelous job of holding that franchise together, but indeed Denver already open who else could have a Real problem with job security because nothing says the holidays Ho ho ho like who's getting fired across the National Football League Winding down now another big show on the way tomorrow. I've already mapped out a good chunk of the content I will tell you this. I'm not breaking down Dallas and Tennessee now maybe Josh Dobbs has the Brock Purdy performance and I'm forced to but that's not the game plan heading into tomorrow We're gonna spend our three hours together in the final show of the year going through the games that have significance We'll put the playoff picture into focus. I'll talk more about the national semifinals I did five minutes or so of NBA That's not going to be the case tomorrow. It's wall-to-wall football want to thank our guest Mike Jones of the athletic P Few Tech Alex football news.com as always thanks to rich for letting me sit in again all the fine people at Westwood one Led by Bruce Gilbert and outstanding work from our technical producer art Martinez I'm Brian Weber enjoyed the rest of your day and Thursday Night Football And we'll do it again tomorrow here on the rich eyes and show How wrestling really works and how you get the ratings Eric Bischoff and Conrad Thompson explain on 83 weeks you're either growing or you're dying I think it'd be hard to recreate the kind of growth at WCW Experience between 95 and 98 this audience should be growing the character should be coming Morgan They're not everybody's gradually losing audience. I think people will say well, but a ew So 50% ahead of where they were last year, but there's variables there Let's see where we're at year from now 83 weeks on YouTube or wherever you listen