REShow: Zac Taylor & Bruce Feldman - Hour 2

This is The Rich Eisen Show.

Ladies and gentlemen, may I present for your intellectual and philosophical pleasure. The Rich Eisen Show. Dion pressing all the right buttons. Harry Blackburn, he made a tremendous hit on Trappers on the Sideline.

Whatever it was, it does not constitute that he should be receiving death threats. Love, you, Dion Sanders. Earlier on the show, NFL Network insider Tom Pelissero. Coming up, Bengals head coach Zach Taylor, Fox Sports college football analyst Bruce Feldman, comedian Gary Coleman. And now, it's Rich Eisen. Hour number three of The Rich Eisen Show is on the air.

We had a great chat with Tom Pelissero in hour number one of the show. And I'm looking up right now and I'm seeing him on NFL Network on the NFL insider show. He's wearing a leather, a black leather jacket with a black t-shirt underneath like he's a greaser. You know, honestly, like he's hanging out with Pinky Tuscadero, you know, after he chatted with us. He was just in his regular casual, I guess, hanging around the house, Tom Pelissero clothes. He changed up.

I mean, should I take offense? Like he's dressing up. I know it's his show, but I mean. Tom looks good. You know, honestly. I feel like Tom is comfortable with us. Are they going to start singing doo-wop? Well, Ian's wearing a t-shirt.

Ian was dressed much nicer for What the Football with Suzy and Amy. Which, by the way, you should go get where all your podcasts are acquired. At any rate, that's the latest from here. Bruce Feldman is going to join us in studio in about 20 minutes time. He's fresh back from yet another trip to see Dion in Boulder, Colorado.

You can ask him if he knows the flight attendant's names on the LAX to Denver flights. But joining us right now in advance of a big game on Monday Night Football. They're all big games in the National Football League. Is the head coach of the Cincinnati Bengals. Kind enough to zoom in right now on the Rich Eisen Show. For the first time ever, good to see the coach Zach Taylor here on. How are you, coach? Good to see you.

I'm doing great, Rich. Appreciate you having me on. Thanks for coming on.

I've been trying to get you on for a while. Because, you know, first of all, you're clearly a smart enough guy to lean on someone from my hometown of Staten Island, New York. As you do for your defensive coordinator and Lou Annaromo, Zach. You know, so.

Yeah, that's one of my biggest faults right now. Really? Oh, OK. Just a full disclosure. My older brother went to high school with Lou at Susan Wagner High School. I went to school with his sister, Elena. So, you know, say hi to Lou for me. That's basically what I'm saying. I will.

I will. Does he? But unlike me, he's got his New York accent from time to time, right? All the time? Yeah, he's got all the New York to him, you can imagine. So I feel that on a daily basis.

I love it. He's a great guy to interact with. But he's proud to be from Staten Island, that's for sure. Oh, he definitely is.

Yeah, you have to cut me off in traffic to realize my New York accent. That comes out then, Zach. That's for darn sure. And plus, I'm glad that you're on so we can kind of work through this, Zach. And I don't know if you thought I was concerned with you coming on this program, trying to make up for those three touchdowns you threw against my Wolverines in the 2005 Alamo Bowl, Zach.

You know, those are facts, right? One of my favorite games. Yeah, came from behind.

I hit a two pointer version to go up 32-28. And then we held off on the miraculous finish, which is one of the almost one of the all time great finishes that nobody ever really knows about. That was laterals all over the place, right? All over the place.

And Zach Bowman was standing in the end zone for some reason and saved the day on about the nine yard line. And it's a game I show often because nobody knows the ending because we stopped them. So what do you mean you show often?

What do you mean you show that often? Well, when people talk about last plays of the game, and it's one that never makes news because no one scores. No one knows how close to what bowl team's on the field, thinking the game's over, celebrating.

I'm at midfield and I'm on offense. And so he was almost one of the Cal Stanford-ish type of finishes. But was not. So not many people know about it. So you show this to your team on occasion just to prove, hey, you got to always have your head on a swivel, be situationally smart, is what you're saying? I don't know that it's come up in a team meeting.

But just with other co-workers in a quarterback room occasionally, it comes to mind. Well, Burrow being an Ohio State guy may be deep down at heart if you scratch away the LSU Tiger and him. He might appreciate you having beaten Michigan. Zach, he might actually get into that.

You never know. So, again, you having played the position, tell me the first time you realized when you got a chance to meet him that Joe Burrow was the special quarterback that we know him to be. Zach? I heard a lot about him before. I knew his dad. I knew of his brothers before I ever knew Joe Burrow existed. His two older brothers played in Nebraska before I got there. I used to cross paths with his dad in the recruiting halls of Coleraine High School here in Cincinnati when I was at UC. And so I heard a lot about this kid, Joe Burrow. And so I started to follow his career when he transferred to LSU.

You could just watch the games and know. It's one of the few players I really felt confident that you had a true understanding of the person before you actually met him. And then to meet him in the 17-minute combine interview that we did, verified the things that we'd heard about him, and felt really good about selecting him with the first pick, and it's worked out really well for us. So that 17-minute interview you had in the hotel in Indianapolis, that when he walked out, everybody looked at each other and said, this is it? Or did you continue grinding, Zach? I think we knew before that. Certainly he was just icing on the cake. And I say 17 minutes, we may have encouraged him to come three or four minutes early, so it might have been more 20, 21 minutes.

I bet. Well, I mean, coming off a 60 touchdown season like that, you know, and then again, I imagine, because you had a decision to make, and I know I'm hitting the wayback machine before we get to the present here, to give him his old college receiver, or one of them, back, was that something that you decided to lean on when it was Jamar Chase time in the draft a couple of years ago, Zach? Yeah, you know, I think the only question I asked Joe was, scale of one to ten, how badly would you want Jamar on the team if he said ten?

And there's really not much more need for conversation there. You know, we'd seen all the tape, and we knew how special Jamar was, and so it became a pretty easy selection for us. Well, I'm sure, but, you know, you also could have been, if you will, sorry for the analogy, the parent in the room, because your choice was to protect Burrow up front, too, Zach, which, as we know, has been a conversation over his professional career.

That wasn't a consideration as soon as you... No, it was. I mean, we had all the dialogue you got to have, you know, in the draft room, and everybody voiced their opinion on all sides of the matter, and we went to Penay Sewell's pro day, loved Penay Sewell, went to Kyle Pitt's pro day, loved Kyle Pitt's, that's the one. I went to both of those.

I didn't even go to Jamar's. But at the end of the day, you want to be explosive and attack people and give the quarterback weapons, and we felt like we could get the linemen that we needed to help him, and so it's worked out in our favor, I would say. Zach Taylor here on the Rich Eisen Show.

Okay, so let's get to the here and now. What has been off, do you think, over the last two weeks for your team, Zach? Well, we played two really good divisional teams, and so, again, as part of the early part of the season is finding your identity and finding different ways to win and just steal some wins early in the year before you get into your groove. And unfortunately, we're 0-2 right now, same as we were last year.

But this team is made of the right stuff. We've got confidence in what we can do going forward in these next 15 weeks, and we feel good about where we're going to be at. Okay, and offensively, have things been off because Joe is not 100%?

Zach? We felt pretty good last week. We had seven possessions, scored on three of them, and throw a pick in the end zone on the fourth one.

So when you play Baltimore, it comes down to turnover battle, and you're going to have limited possessions, and so we weren't able to maximize everything we did. But I feel like we're moving in the right direction. Okay, that was also my sneaky way of trying to get into and have you talk about your quarterback's health, Zach. I'm pretty well schooled in this question. It's been an encouraging early part of the week.

I've learned enough in my five years here to not assume anything. We'll just take it day to day with him. He's been a little sore earlier in the week, but we'll see how it goes.

I'm fortunate to get an extra day here. Well, is there a conversation being had about seeing the bye week imminent? I mean, imminent might be too tough of a word, but it is closer than it appears, right, and that you might have a conversation to try and give him the same amount of time off that you were afforded because of how early in the summer that Joe got hurt. Any thoughts about that on the table right now? I think the number one thing is Joe's health and making sure he's healthy in the short term and the long term.

So that's the focus point of any decision we'll make going forward and talking to him and seeing how he feels over the course of the week, and then we'll get to where we need to get to. Okay, and then just him in general, have you seen him ever bothered by anything? Serious, Zach? I mean, other than the obvious from last year's Monday Nighter, but just other than that, have you ever seen him flappable, Zach? No, because his preparation is so intense and so detailed that gets him prepared that he's unwavered by any situation he encounters. And again, that's his edge. That's what makes him so different. That's what makes him so rare. It's unexplainable at times because you're rarely around a person like this who operates like he does, and so that's just Joe.

That's the best way to describe it. You've got to be around him to understand him, and we're happy that he's a Cincinnati Bengal. Well, can you give me a little bit more meat on that, Bones?

I think fans would love to know. What do you mean by his preparation? I'm sure, again, you've been around some tremendous professionals, and you have played the position yourself.

What do you mean by what he does and prepares that makes him special, Zach? Well, I'd say he's still, you know, career-wise, relatively young. He's in his fourth year, but there's a confidence about him that's unusual. You know, sometimes you get guys early in the league where they're going to yester you to death and say, yeah, I got it, I got it, when they don't really got it. And he's got enough confidence himself to say, I don't understand what you're saying. You know, I don't understand this play.

I don't want to run this play. And most guys are just yester you to death early in the career, and he doesn't do that. And so, again, his preparation leads him to the confidence and the things that he knows and the things that he doesn't know, he's going to ask myself or Dan Pitcher or Brian Callahan and get some clarification.

And, you know, he's unfiltered, and that's what you want. You don't want people just to tell you what you want to hear, especially at the quarterback position. And so it's comforting to know that he's the quarterback and he's going to tell you how he feels. So you've obviously ripped plays out of the playbook when he says no.

No, thanks. I mean, you've done that. Yeah, that's a lesson I've learned as a young quarterback coach. You know, Matt Moore, the all-time great backup quarterback, Matt Moore, told me, quarterback, ask for something, you know, call it, because you've empowered him and he's asked for it, he's going to make it work.

And if a quarterback says, I don't like it, even though you like it, don't call it, because then, you know, the game's in the balance and he's a little unsure, undecided, doesn't get it, doesn't pull the trigger when you wanted him to. And so I've taken those lessons over my ten years coaching quarterbacks and applied them to Joe, and we've got really good dialogue going into games. Who do you lean on?

Again, you know, obviously you've been around this sport for a while, head coach since 2019. Who is your, I guess, round table that you bounce things off of, Zach? Yeah, my father, number one, he was my coach growing up. He's the best man I know, and so I lean on him for all the advice. And my brothers, the OC at the Jaguars, we talk very often, you know, bounce things off of each other, know that we're going to get true answers from one another.

My father-in-law, Mike Sherman, coached for a long time this league. He sat in these seats before, and he can look right at me and know exactly what I'm feeling and what situation I'm going through. He was with me the other day after the Baltimore game, and he just kind of knew what I was going through.

So I've got a lot of really good resources around me and guys on staff as well, so I'm very fortunate that way. What does Mike tell you about 0-2 and how to handle that sort of thing, Zach? Just be true to your team, you know, don't start being somebody you're not, just because, you know, there's some sort of received adversity, which we all know this is an adversity. Two-game, losing streak is not adversity.

There's real adversity at some point every season that you're going to face, and so, again, just be consistent to who you are, and the team will respond the right way to that, and you'll be able to pull yourselves out of it. When did you first meet Sean McVay, Zach Taylor, who you were going to see on Monday? By the way, I'm sure you went through all of this at the Super Bowl a couple years ago, but this is the first time we're getting the chance to talk, so what do you got for me? Well, I like talking about Sean. Sean's been great to me and my family, and we met at Shula's. We have the same agent. Shula's at the combine.

I think it's here now. So we met. We were kind of on our way to different meetings with our agent, and then I think I met him one other time before we played the Redskins on opening day in 2014, Dolphins-Redskins, and then he called me out of the blue. I saw he got the job. I didn't even know I had his phone number, and I'm, you know, sitting at my house, and all of a sudden my phone rings that says Sean McVay, and he offered me the assistant receiver job and told me I had 48 hours to take the job. I said great. He called me back one hour later. He said, okay, what's your decision? He just got this energy about him that you're just, you know, man, I'm from Oklahoma. I've lived in Cincinnati. I got to move to L.A. I don't know anything about that.

That's a little scary for me and my three kids and my wife, but Sean just has his way where it's like I got to go take this assistant receiver job and move to the unknown of L.A. Best decision I ever made. And did you witness firsthand immediately apparently his ridiculous flashbulb memory recall where he would be able to tell you down a distance from something 19 million years ago? Zach, have you seen something like that? Oh, yeah, sure. I mean, he watches his own tape so much, you know, to learn from, you know, his own scheme and continue to evolve it.

What are people seeing? And he's just got that unbelievable memory. I can't do that. You know, that's unique to Sean. Again, just assemble that team right out the gate and put some magic on top of it.

And we had a great year and went to the playoffs that very first year. How much does that inform you for this coming week? Are you thinking this is what he's probably thinking? So you're going to go this way? You're zagging because you know he'll zig or anything like that?

Zach? That's the best way to put it. You know, you don't want to get – that was five years ago we worked together. Sure. And you can look at elements of their offense and our offense and it's very different. And so, again, you don't want to lead people down a road that, you know, you're not certain what he's thinking. And so, again, there's the little nuances you can help with.

But overall, I leave it up to Lew and his staff to put the best plan together. Okay. Last one for you. What do you say to Bengal's nation, to the Hudei nation that might be really nervous right now about Burrow?

No, I'm serious. Oh, and two, they saw Burrow limping around. I mean, and it just might feel different to them based on last year's 0-2. Yeah, it's okay. You know, we've got a really passionate fan base.

And so I understand why people would feel that way. There's a confidence in our locker room and our coaching staff that we know what we have and we know what's in store for this season. And so we're going to take it one game at a time and find a way to get some wins and start stacking them. And we've been here before and so we know the path to get out of this mess. Coach, thanks for the time.

Greatly appreciate it. Let's do this more often. You know, now that we've finally got past the 2005 Alamo Bowl together, you know.

I'll never get past it. I'll bring that up every time I see you. Take care of yourself, Zach Taylor.

Appreciate the time. You got it. That's the head coach of the Cincinnati Bengals, Zach Taylor. We'll always have the Alamo Bowl of 2005. Remember the Alamo Bowl. So, Burrow is a little sore.

You got to set it up. Me too. No. No?

Why? It go 0-3? Then what? I don't know.

What are the numbers of 0-3 teams to make the playoffs? It's not great. Probably 1%. I'm guessing.

It's not great. Oh, I should get him back to ask him how much Puka Nakua film is he unspooling. All of it. By the way, having a Staten Islander say the words Puka Nakua would be fantastic.

If you took, just store it on the street right now, go down Highland Boulevard in Staten Island and just show the name to somebody on Staten Island. Pronounce this. Fantastic. So, Lou Annarumo, you know, he's circling this kid right now. Why? We should have Lou Ann as a guest at some point. I'd love it. You'd hear it.

I should have my brother interview him. All right, I answered my own question. Since 1979, only six teams have made the playoffs after starting 0-3. The last team to do it, the 2018 Houston Texans. That's right. I remember that. I remember that one.

And they had a huge lead in the first half against the Chiefs in the playoffs. See ya. And what happened then? Yeah. 844-204 Rich, number to dial. Guess who's strolling into our studio? Our friend, Bruce Feldman, back from his residency in Boulder, Colorado. There he is. Look at him. Is that him smiling at my joke right now? No.

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Every parent said it. You don't even have to be a baseball fan to get that. So a lot of them are food. Some of them are, I mean, John tonight, let it be Lowenstein. I mean, there, I mean, there's Jose, can you see Cruz?

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No way, but Bad Moon rising, you know, there's tons of them. Ah, all of Chris Berman's appearances rest on our YouTube feed for sure. Welcome back to the Rich Eisen Show Radio Network, sitting at the Rich Eisen Show desk, furnished by Grange with supplies and solutions for every industry. Grange has the right product for you.

Call clickgrange.com or just stop by as Bruce Feldman has in his usual Wednesday spot from Fox Sports and the Athletic. Good to see you, sir. Good to see you. So you're not going to Boulder this week, right? No.

No game? No, they're not even there. They're going to be in Eugene, Oregon. Now that would be the ultimate Dion effect is that shows and people go there when they're not even playing.

Hanging homage just to kiss the ground. Where are you going this week? We are going to Cincinnati. We are going, the Bearcats are playing Oklahoma.

Oklahoma's very good this year. We'll see what kind of crowd we get. I think it'll be supportive of Urban. Yeah, I think it will be. And Cincinnati, you know? I would imagine that there will be, yeah, because Urban played there. There's a famous picture of Urban with the 80s mustache back after his minor league baseball career. Okay.

I did not know that. Very good. So you just came back from Boulder though, right? I mean, you were just there.

What was that day and night like, Bruce Feldman? Yeah, you know, again, this was not our game, the big noon game. So it wasn't like there was a game right after. There was no game right after. They played, you know, late that night.

Yes they did. Both our show and college game day were there. Now we were not like in the same location so you're not seeing the other crowd, but it was interesting because we had Gronk come in. Gronk obviously works at Fox now and he came in to have a pre-show party.

And it was funny. He flew in in the middle of the night from Florida and he rolls in like 10 minutes before. He's like, I mean, we were promoting the heck out of this. Him and Lil Wayne are going to be, you know, it's their party. And Gronk's like, you know, I've never started partying at 7am.

I've been partying at 7am, but I never started at 7am. And that distinction with the difference, he was awesome. The crowd was amazing.

Lil Wayne was phenomenal. It was a great atmosphere. Dion did both shows. And I remember when he came over, you know, he was Dion. Dion's fantastic on camera. It was funny because, you know, we don't get to see college game day.

It's on the opposite, you know, we're working or whatever. And I remember, so I have a hit in our show that was in the second hour and, you know, you're in the middle of the crowd and you feel good. And then somebody said to me, he goes, you know, Dion I think was with The Rock at the same time you were on. And I was like, how, I was about to say, how was he? But I was like, Dion's always good on camera.

He's great on camera, whatever. Of course. And so it was just a festival, right? It was a festival. And then a brawl kind of broke out that night, you know?

Yeah. So the game, you know, normally Colorado, Colorado State, and it's not that Colorado State is great this year or anything like that. So they get in and Jay Norvell, who's normally a pretty low key guy. He said, had some comments obviously about the hat and sunglasses. And unlike the previous weeks where Colorado players had brought up something Matt Ruhl had said in the off season, or maybe Kendall Brielle's the TCU coach and how it was personal. This actually was personal, I think, to Dion.

He had his mother deliver the speech to the team beforehand, you know, and yes, it was personal to him. So it was going to get nasty. And I remember, and obviously there was a bunch of stuff that happened in that game. There was a lot of penalties.

Obviously the hit on Travis Hunter that was late. I remember texting a couple of my buddies from big noon and be like, this is going to have a bench clearing brawl. You could just kind of feel it. Unfortunately, it didn't get to that point.

Right. But the emotions were swirling so bad. You know, part of this is what we love about college football and football in general.

And I think that, you know, there was elements where it felt a little like a big hockey game kind of thing where it was like avalanche red wings kind of thing. And it's like, okay, I know this is a rivalry, but there was so much hype around the game and that day. And then it's like festering from our show's end at noon Eastern, 10 o'clock local.

And then those like basically almost 12 hours later they're playing. So just that whole emotional swing, you know, it's just like, then the TV rating of the game comes in. It's almost 10 million viewers. 10 million viewers for like a Pac-12 after dark game when it doesn't even involve two Pac-12 schools. It's insane.

All this- This is why I told you and we've been having this conversation. It feels like it's a little bit of Groundhog Day but it is the story of sports right now. It truly is 100% even with the first two weeks in the NFL being underway. Cause it does mix so many pop culture aspects of the world together, along with professional and collegiate sports. And it's Dion, he's at the cross section of it that if this had happened two years ago the Pac-12 might've been able to look at UCLA and USC in the eyes and say, we got this.

And everyone would be falling, television networks would be falling all over themselves to have the Pac-12 contract. It's the tentacles of this are unreal to see. I mean, we talked about this the other day. I did a story on his business manager and it ran on the athletic. Today, it is the entire front page of the New York Times sports section. The entire front page is that. It's that.

It's Constance Schwartz. Yeah. Well, she deserves it. It's stray too. I mean, it's not just Dion for her.

No, it's not. But it's just like, this shows you the scope and how hot Dion is. 60 Minutes does a piece on Dion. They, you know, coming off of the games, you know people cannot get enough of it. Now, college football fans diehards I think are like kind of over it. And I think a little to the same degree of like old Notre Dame and to somewhat, maybe even you know, nineties and eighties Miami where I think people are tuning in hoping to see them lose because I think they're just, you know, but there's an I think there is a big portion of those fans but they want to watch. They cannot not watch. That's what Dion's been about since the late eighties.

I've got Bruce Feldman here on the Rich Eisen show. And you just said, you know some people might be tuning in to watch Colorado lose. This may be the week where it happens more than any of the last three. Travis Hunter is out for how long? Three weeks we're hearing, yeah. Well, I mean, Warren Sapp came on the show yesterday talking about, by the way, that he would love to be part of Dion's staff in 2024, that there's an opportunity there that he's working hard to go and meet the requirements for and get ready for. Mentioned as a lacerated liver for Travis Hunter.

And so that's serious. And man, I would have loved to have seen him out there against Oregon. How do you think this matchup looks to you, Bruce? I think this is the most talented team. You know, Bo Nix is a much better quarterback than they've faced so far this year. Chandler Morris is good.

Bo Nix is next level. This is a more physical offensive line. This is a much faster team than what TCU had especially on defense. I mean, you know, the point spread is similar to what it was at TCU. I think, and also now there's a lot of film on what CU does. I still think CU is going to score a bunch of points because Chidor is that good of a quarterback.

They are one positive. They won't have Travis Hunter. They will get Alton McCaskill who was a big transfer running back. He was the rookie of the year in the AAC two years ago. It was coming off an injury.

He's finally been cleared. Now we don't know how much he's going to play but that should help their offense even if he can give them 15, 20 snaps. I suspect they will lose in a high scoring game just because I don't see them, you know you wonder how long that their limited depth can hold up as we get further into the season.

And this is a, like I said, this is a tough place to play. It is a much more talented team than they've faced so far. Nebraska did not have the firepower and the athletes that Oregon has. TCU had some of it, but not like this. And now my guess is, you know they will end up losing something like, you know a 45 to 31 kind of game but I didn't think they were going to win at TCU.

And they absolutely did that. But they had Travis Hunter for this and they had Travis Hunter making plays on both sides of the ball. I think they will miss him even more on defense than they do on offense just because of how good Bo Nix is at extending plays. And then, I mean, the rest of this is this is the first full weekend, I think where there's big time games all over the country, obviously but let's hit Ohio State, Notre Dame. How do you see that one playing out?

What's your preview of that one, Bruce Feldman? Yeah, this is a heavyweight fight right now. Last year, first real game for Marcus Freeman, you know he coached the bowl game, but when he got in there they, I thought did a really good job keeping it close. And I was against CJ Stroud in Ohio State. CJ Stroud was obviously in the NFL.

Now Comicord's had some good moments. There's still Marvin Harrison Jr. You know, Sam Hartman is a huge upgrade from anything Notre Dame's had playing quarterback probably since Brady Quinn and that's a long time ago. And so I think Notre Dame has a lot of speed. I think Notre Dame matches up pretty well. I feel like, you know, I'm, you said it, this weekend there's awesome matchups.

This is the headliner because you have, you know two top 10 teams, it's in a storied atmosphere. I would not at all be surprised if Notre Dame knocked off Ohio State. The thing is, as you well know, the team that's been able to get them is Michigan who has been really, really physical. Notre Dame has a good offensive line. I don't know if it's quite as good as what Michigan's had the last couple of years. You know, they run the ball well. Man, I can't wait to watch. I mean, my gut wants to pick Notre Dame in this game but my head's telling me, you know, at some point the Ohio State receivers are just too good and they will make big plays at the end of the game and that, and they'll pull it out.

But I can't wait to watch this game. You know, it's fascinating whatever you said over the last two minutes, it just turned into Charlie Brown's teacher. As soon as I heard you say, the team that beats Ohio State is Michigan and that Notre Dame might not have the same thing that Michigan has. As soon as you said that, everything else that just, it just, I just tuned out the rest of what you said. Not my intent. I'm just kidding. Jim Harbaugh comes back against Rutgers, 3-0 versus 3-0 right there. That's an interesting one.

But what else is up there for you to hit here? So let's get to the, like, Clemson, which got smashed by Duke in the opener, you know. But now they go to Florida State. Florida State look really good, same weekend against a talented LSU team, blew them off the field, right? So can, you know, were we wrong?

Were there overreactions of week one? You know, I don't think Clemson's gonna win this game. What I'm wondering is, does Clemson stay competitive in this game?

That would be unbelievable. And the fact that you are saying that just speaks volumes of how things have changed there at Clemson so fast. I'm with you. I think Florida State is more talented. I mean, I think it's just, it's that simple. I mean, the quarterback's been around for what?

10 years, number one. Number two, the team dismantled LSU for a reason. I think they're much more talented than Clemson, don't you think? I mean, just coming in. They are, and the area where the biggest upgrade for them is, and you do NFL, is there's a lot of old Clemson receivers in the NFL who've been really good in the NFL for a while.

There aren't right now. They've missed on receivers, and Florida State, to their credit, their receivers, and we'll throw Jaheim Bell as a tight end in there who came from South Carolina, but Florida, here's the difference between the two programs right now. Keon Coleman started his career at Michigan State. He's a Louisiana kid, super athletic, big receiver.

Clemson doesn't have that. Johnny Wilson, six, seven, 240 pound guy who can really run and is a freaky athlete, tight end size, but receiver athleticism. Started out his career in the Pac-12. Came to Florida State, Jaheim Bell. Started out his career in the SEC, and now he's there, and he's the very versatile tight end, and they do a lot of stuff with him. Clemson doesn't have that. Jordan Travis can throw to those guys.

Those are match-up problems. I think those are the guys who blow the game open in the second half for Florida State, but I do want to see, is Clemson going to prove us wrong, and sit there and show us that, hey, a lot of these guys who were well-regarded coming out of high school don't give up on Clemson, but I mean, I'm not going to say if Clemson gets blown out that Dabo's run there is like, he's never going to see the playoff again, but this is a, to me, this is a, we're going to find out a lot more about Clemson than we probably will about FSU. So you, what's your concern level for Alabama right now? Mine's none, because Nick Saban's won six national titles, right?

So, like, his legacy is square, but like- No, I'm not talking about legacy. I'm literally talking about 2023. Your concern level for the Alabama Crimson Tide for this season is what? Are they seriously a top 10 team? And they looked terrible last week against USF, right? So I think that was the opportunity where Nick Saban and his new OC, Tommy Reese, gave Tyler Buckner and said, look, you followed Tommy Reese here for a reason. We're going to give you a shot. It didn't go great.

It didn't go good. And now what I am really curious about and intrigued is his old assistant, Lane Kiffin, whose team has played well early, you know, he put something out there. Lane Kiffin told his own Ole Miss beat writers, hey, the defensive coordinator's not the defensive coordinator. The secondary coach is now calling the defense. And for Lane Kiffin to put that out there, to basically troll his old boss and create a big distraction for Nick Saban on game week, to the point where he knows Nick Saban's going to get asked about it, and in Lane Kiffin fashion, he didn't not only bring it up, he then started retweeting people talking about it on Twitter, as if, hey, by the way, did you guys see what I said? And so Nick Saban gets asked about it.

Nick Saban said, no, Kevin Stiel is star defensive coordinator. You know, it was, by the way, it was after like one game of substance. It was the Texas game. And it wasn't just the defense that lost that game.

The offense looked really bad too. So that, you know, jousting between Lane Kiffin trolling his old boss, now it's in Tuscaloosa. And, you know, like I can only imagine what was going through Nick Saban's head when somebody told him, hey, Lane said Kevin's not the defense coordinator, that T Rob's now running the defense. You mean Nick's not on Reddit himself? He's not trolling the message boards page?

I think he has better things to do at this time than to be on Twitter. But the fact that Lane said it, and also these staffs are really close. Nick Saban's old defense coordinator, Pete Golding, he is now the defense coordinator for Lane Kiffin at Ole Miss. There's a lot of connections between the staff, same agent, they're both represented by Jimmy Sexton. I'm sure there's a lot of gossip that gets back to Oxford and I'm sure it gets back to Tuscaloosa. So that's the subplot in that game.

That's a good one, I like it. But the fact that Lane retweets this stuff. It means what? He thinks that Nick is vulnerable? He wants to be a pain in the butt. I mean, it's just it's game week.

Turn it up. Yeah, I just think he wants to be a pest. Yeah. And he wants to try to get under his skin and create distractions.

Like, why else would you do that? But what's the distraction for Nick? Like, Nick's going to answer a question that you know he's going to be pissed about answering? I mean- Agitation? Yeah. But do you think it filters down to the X's and O's and the kids and whatever? No, I don't think it does. I think it's to annoy my old boss.

I don't know how else- What else to ignore? Because if you have some kind of intel that you want to use, are you really going to broadcast it? But they also have a quarterback thing going on in Alabama. Yeah, sure, they do. But Mill Road, I mean, that's separate. This is like to pile on top of it.

Jeez, wow. Before I let you go, what else are you looking forward to this weekend? I just feel like there's so many- There's another good game in the Pac-12. UCLA goes to play Utah.

Yeah, there you go. Utah's really good. It's two of the most physical teams in the conference. We'll find out more this week, whether Cam Rising, who beat USC twice last year. He's coming off a knee injury that happened in the Rose Bowl. Is he going to be cleared and ready to go? He hasn't played yet.

He will definitely help them if he can go. So many good games. There's like seven really good games this week. Well, I look forward to it. Enjoy Cincinnati. Thank you. Greatly appreciate your time here.

And it's just, it's so much fun. And again, Deion leading the way. I sensed, I didn't see 3-0, I'll be honest with you. Who saw 3-0? He might've, but nobody else saw 3-0. I think so.

I mean, 3-0- 3-0-1 maybe? But just, it is remarkable. I see it in what people who consume this program are interested in when we talk about it. It's Deion. It is truly him and everything going on with him and how he is comporting himself and how people still misrepresent him or his intentions. It's wild, man. And I just love how he's playing into it. And I just love how smart his team is.

His team looks smart, you know? And they had, I don't think they expected, you know, the brass knuckles treatment from their opponent last week, but maybe that just makes him stronger going into Oregon. I don't know.

Yeah, I don't know. I think there's going to be more doubters coming off this game. Maybe not than TCU, because nobody knew what to expect.

Right. But, you know, like if they somehow get out of this game 4-0, because this is a way bigger test. To have USC coming in? Well, just because they have film on what, you know, like, again, this is not to give TCU an excuse or whatever, but like there was no film. You look at Kent State stuff, but you don't, you're matching up with different players. Yeah. You look at Jackson State stuff to see the personnel.

This now that people have film on them and they don't have Travis Hunter. Tough assignment, to say the least. Bruce Feldman here on the Rich Isaac Show every single Wednesday from Fox Sports and The Athletic. Great to see you, sir. Good seeing you. Awesome. Gary 204 Rich, number to dial, still to come, my power rankings entering week three.

And the comedian, Gary Goldman, very funny in studio. Are you ready, Chris Brockman? Yay or nay?

Yes, Rich, no holding back, buddy. I'm coming for you. Absolutely what you need to hear. Over Reaction Monday, every single, wait for it, Monday, wherever you listen. It could be information to change your life forever or the Something You Should Know podcast could just be something interesting. My guest is Kim Zuckman.

She is author of the book, There's No Cream and Cream Soda. I don't think I've ever really known the story of why they're called hot dogs. There is so many legends about the name of the hot dog. When the Germans immigrants came over and they brought all their sausages, they also brought their dachshunds.

It really is because they kind of look like dachshunds. Something you should know wherever you listen. This is a letter, written in March of 1998, two Colts owner, Jim Irsay, who at the time, a month away in the draft, the decision between you and Peyton Manning.

It's from Hunter S. Thompson. Dear James. Dear James.

Dear James. In response to your addled request for a quick $30 million loan to secure the services of the Manning kid, I have to say no at this time. But the leaf boy is another matter. He looks strong and Manning doesn't, or at least not strong enough to handle that welcome to the NFL business for two years without a world-class offensive line.

How are you fixed at left OT for the next few years, James? Think about it. You don't want a China doll back there when that freak sap comes crashing in. Wow. Okay. Let me know if you need some money for leaf.

I expect to be very rich when this Depp movie comes out. Your faithful consultant, Hunter, and it's signed HST. The absurdity of the fact that, A, Hunter S. Thompson knew who I was, and B, that he was trying to persuade Mr. Irsay to draft me instead was just comical, and not to see it for 20 years. How does it, it's just nowhere to be found.

Nowhere to be found. Right. I call John Walsh of ESPN. It's a thousand percent real. Wow. And Hunter S. Thompson was a huge NFL fan, and obviously had an opinion on the 1998 draft.

Well, I think now that we know that a lot of people had an opinion on the 1998 NFL draft. This is amazing. I love that line, is that you don't want a China doll back there when that freak sap comes crashing in.

The irony of all this, the irony of this, he would go on and play, start the most consecutive games of anybody, and I would be injured going into year two and miss the entire season. So we're just, just reminding people. Strong, underlined.

Yeah, strong. YouTube.com slash Rich Eisen Show for all your viewing needs right here on this Wednesday show. Fun stuff back here on our program. Let's go to Todd in Scottsdale, Arizona.

What's up, Todd? Good morning, how are you guys? I owe you an apology.

I work nights at one of the biggest casinos in Scottsdale, Arizona. And so I literally fall asleep to reruns of your show until the live show comes on. So good morning, fellas.

That's awesome. So why do you have to apologize? What's the apology for?

Oh, it's just funny. But listen, let me run through a scenario because I am a huge Cardinals fan. And with all the Dion talk, last night at work, some of me and my buddies were trying to discuss what could possibly happen. And if you think about it, Caleb Williams' father already came out and said, I am not gonna let my son go to a bad franchise.

Well, that's us. I mean, if we're not a bad franchise, we've got the Steve Kine burner phone, we've got the Steve Wilkes lawsuit, we've got Bidwell charging people for sodas. Let's just say, for example, they decide, because if you look at their schedule, you look at Houston's schedule, our Super Bowl is November 19th when we play each other. If you break that down, and we end up with the one and the two pick, because what Austin Fort did was pretty brilliant in getting Houston's number one pick next year. If Caleb Williams' dad says, we're not going there, we're going back to school, or we're going somewhere else, and they move down two spots to the three, and let's just say the three, for example, is Belichick, who you think would probably love to move up to the one.

We get a couple number ones for the three, with Jeff Harrison with the two, and with the three, we end up taking Shadore Sanders. Okay, well, Todd, let me, first of all, let me just jump in here, let me just jump in here, Todd. First of all, I appreciate your fandom. Secondly, to use the parlance of maybe what you started this thing with, that sounds like splitting kings, Todd, you know what I mean? Like, honestly, like, you're- Never do that, by the way.

So, right, so- If you threw that in my pit, I would yell at you. I know, so here's the thing, so everything that you just said that might be- No, no, everything that you just- Let me finish one more part of that. If we do get Harrison, we move down to three, we get Sanders, we get a couple number of picks, and then his dad follows him here, Dan and coaches him for a year, they're still not that great. Now Dion says, I'm gonna go coach my son with the Cardinals, comes here, brings that, brings all his friends, drafts his other son Shiloh. I got you. What does that make Ben Wolfe's franchise worth?

A billion dollars, we hear about Dion every day, all day, Colorado, he's a genius, everything you said earlier, everything he touches is gold. I got you, Todd, I hear you, and thank you. Appreciate the call, don't apologize ever for taking us in, even though you say you fall asleep to us, that's fine. That's a compliment, that's just comfortable. I do understand that, I do understand that, I want people to know that too, that that's a compliment, and the same way you don't wanna split things.

Also always in on 16. Here's where Todd's onto something, Todd's onto something that if there is a franchise that wants to do what Colorado just did, which is basically hand the keys over to Dion and say, it's your world, it's your facility, it's your business relationships, it's your everything, your mantra, your essence, everything, we will hand the keys over to you, and that also includes, we'll hire your kids too for you to coach in the pros. Now, then there's contract talks and things like that, then there's the money aspect of it that gets really dicey that Dion always says, as he said the other day, he doesn't want any part of anybody that's overpaid or whatever, but what he's saying right there is interesting. If an NFL team comes to Dion in the same way Colorado came to Dion and say, floor's yours, facility's yours, marketing's yours, everything, we follow your lead, would he be intrigued by that? I'm sure if the number also had a one and all the zeros after it too, he might be interested in that, and if he can bring his kid, he might be interested in that, I don't know, but he basically said, I don't wanna coach grown men who might not listen to me because they've got all these contracts that are insanely lucrative and they might not be as motivated or easy to motivate, and we have seen him suffer fools very difficultly when he watches NFL games, but if you think Caleb Williams' father is when he says he doesn't wanna go to a certain franchise for his kid, he might stay, and he's referencing the Arizona Cardinals in the same way that our caller Todd just referenced all the things going on in Arizona, those are all the things we know about. The things that we might not know about might be also whispered into Caleb Williams' ear by Cliff Kingsbury, who's currently in that locker room on that staff in the film rooms with Caleb Williams, no doubt talking to his father as well.

You know who also knows all that stuff? Dion Sanders. So if Caleb Williams' dad is saying this about his son, I'll tell you what, if Dion does ever endeavor the idea of going to the NFL, despite saying he won't, because there is somebody who shows up to him from ownership, like Rick George, the athletic director showed up in Colorado, he will vet that owner more than he vetted Colorado. He knows more than anybody else what ownership means, having played for DeBartolo, for Jones, for Snyder, okay? Just to name three off the top of my head, he knows more than anybody else who owns the team and how important that is. So if one dad is saying my Heisman Trophy already winning son, and maybe for a second straight year, might just sit back and hang out on the campus of USC, which I still don't believe, because the Arizona Cardinals are on the clock, which is everybody's pickup of an inference from the father, well then Dion might feel the same exact way, so.

But I also don't think an NFL team is just gonna come right off the bat a year or two from now and offer Dion the keys to the store. I just don't know, or if he'd be interested in it. He says he's not, right? He said he's not.

Said he's not at this moment, gotta believe him. But how many owners will just hand the keys to the store to the coach? I guess Mark Davis did that with Gruden before that blew up, right? Looks like Jacksonville did it with Urban Meyer.

How'd that work out? Does Sean Payton have the full keys maybe? Well, I mean, I think so. I mean, obviously Bill does in New England.

Well, and it seems like McDaniels does in Vegas right now where he's turning the team into a Patriots West, which I know they bristle at that notion. But what an interesting caller right there from start to finish, falling asleep to us. But honestly, sometimes you just take the hand that you're winning, right? Dion's got two kings in front of him. Stay, one hand beats you.

Right, splitting kings here to try and figure out where I'm going next with my kids. I don't think. No. Gary Goldman, the comedian in my power rankings coming up in hour three. Reminds me of another Dion story. On Thursday night football, the night where Schefter was called the monger.

Yeah. Just putting all these stories together over the past week. Because he broke the story that Art Shell was gonna be fired by the Raiders no matter what by the end of the year and Al Davison, all caps press release.

This is, he's a false rumor monger. So long story short, we are in Green Bay getting set to go to Oakland. All right, where we had our next game and we were waiting for the plane to take off and it was delayed. So we were all, I don't know if this was kosher that we were still early on in NFL network. We probably shouldn't have been in the casino in Wisconsin in Green Bay, but we were there playing blackjack waiting for the plane and Dion was at the table.

So he knows not to split Kings. And one of our producers who shall remain nameless because if this is something, I don't know, I'm imagining the statute of limitations is passed from the NFL human resources and all that. Was that like mid 2000s? He was great. He was great at being in the final position. Third base. Third base is the name. So you know what Dion nicknamed him? Terry Pendleton. Cause that was his favorite third baseman when he played baseball. Nicknamed him Terry Pendleton for the rest of the night. Cause he was playing a great third base.

So Dion knows how to play his hand. Hour two is done. Hour three coming up. Hey guys, it's Susie Schuster. And I am so excited for my new podcast coming out this fall. It is called What The Football with Susie Schuster and the princess of darkness, Amy Trask. If you're looking for a new podcast to listen to about jargon, heavy legged, waist benders, this is not for you. We're going to have big girl conversations and we're going super deep to bring you weekly guests that you won't find anywhere else. It is What The Football with Susie Schuster and Amy Trask, wherever you listen.