REShow: Bruce Feldman - Hour 2

This is the Rich Eisen Show. Live from the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles. Do you even stop talking at some point when you're beating somebody like the way you were beating them, Raheem? I just tell them to check the scoreboard.

I think that's enough that needs to be said. Earlier on the show, NFL Network reporter Steve Weiss, still to come. Fox Sports college football analyst, Bruce Feldman.

Plus, your phone calls, latest news, and more. And now, it's Rich Eisen. Ah, yes. Our number two of the Rich Eisen Show is on the air. Bruce Feldman of Fox Sports and the Athletic is going to join us in about 20 minutes time in studio.

It's College Football Wednesday right here on our show. 844-204-RICHES. The number to dial if you're on hold. Stay on hold. I promise you we will take your phone calls.

Our third hour is wide open. I've got my power rankings to bring to you. Robert Sala has spoken about Joe Namath speaking about his quarterback. And we'll see if he thinks he's not helping the cause. As Aaron Rodgers told Pat McAfee on Tuesday, every day is a new drama. It's a narrative generating machine, this National Football League of ours. Steve Weitch, my colleague from the NFL Network. And you can check out at the NFL Report Mondays and Thursdays.

715 Eastern Time. Steve with my colleague James Palmer on the NFL App and the NFL Fast Channel right here on Roku. If you have Roku, Fast Channel is all over, including Channel 210. That's the channel that we're on every single day from 12 to 3 Eastern. And repeat as soon as we're done if you missed any of our show. Check it out on Sundays as well. Andrew Siciliano is going to be sitting in this chair while I'm in London calling a couple games.

And I'll be zooming in from across the pond as well. He hosts that show with Steve Weitch, NFL Preview on the NFL App and the NFL Fast Channel right here on Roku on Sundays. So Steve was just here.

A lot of great chatter with him. I told you that Chiefs defense, that's the one. That's the one. That's the side of the ball that has them 2-1 right now. And also interesting comments about, you know, Devontae Adams doesn't think there's anything personal with Josh McDaniels. He's just sick of the losing. Not used to the losing. That's what happens when you're in Green Bay with Aaron Rodgers, right? Right. And you leave to go play with your college quarterback.

Always dreamt of playing with him. And then the coach that's new there sends him home for Christmas. I mean, that's what's at stake.

Read the rune. Devontae Adams and the Raiders are here in Los Angeles taking on a Chargers team equally 1-2. You want to talk about stakes. The loser goes to 1-3. And falls a game and a half behind the winner of this game with the Chiefs, we're assuming, getting ready to boat race the Jets in front of the whole country and maybe Taylor Swift on Sunday night on NBC. What a big game this is. And then for the Raiders after that, a Monday nighter at home against Jordan Love, the Packers.

Devontae Adams' old team. Next two weeks, the Crucible in Vegas where the whole shooting match will be decided. The final table of the NFL will be in Las Vegas. It's getting hot there. 844-204 Rich, number to dial here on the show. Let's go to a phone call right here and take Mike in New Jersey. You're here on the Rich Eisen Show. What's up, Mike?

Hey, guys. Thanks for taking my call. You got it. Where in Jersey are you? What exit are you from, Mike?

My Mike in New Jersey wants to know. What exit are you from? What exit? I live off of exit 129 on the Parkway. Where's that, Mike? Del Tufo? I don't think so.

You are 129. Sayerville? That's a little south. Perth Amboy.

There you go, everybody. I'll be right across the street from my home town. Hey, stay tuned on the next episode of the Rich Eisen Show. How well does Mike Del Tufo know as Garden State Parkway? I mean, I was close. Mike, what do you want?

I was close. The Mike on the phone in New Jersey. What's on your mind?

What do you got? Well, first off, I'd like to shout out to my coworkers at Meridian Management Group. Oh, okay. But I have two questions for you guys. Well, first of all, I called a couple of weeks ago about who would be the last undefeated team, so thank you for carrying that along. Well, who'd you say? Well, no, I asked you guys, and I love the debate that you guys had.

I didn't have an opinion. Okay, we're still there. Oh, yeah. But my two questions are, who's the most surprising undefeated team, and who's the most surprising winless team to you guys? Most surprising winless team to me would be, where'd you go, the Vikings?

I didn't think they'd be winless through three. Yeah. Thanks for the call, Mike. I appreciate that.

Thank you. Yeah, Vikings. Wouldn't they be 0-3? I'm not surprised about the Panthers or the Bears. Right.

Right? Broncos. That's surprising. You think the Broncos would be 0-3, too? With the Vikes, too. But the Vikings? I thought the Broncos would beat the Raiders, so yeah. Yeah.

You want to split that one 50-50? And the most surprising 3-0 team, obviously. I'm not surprised at the Eagles and the Niners. I thought that they'd face each other in the NFC championship game again.

You'd have to go to the Dolphins? Yeah. Oh, yeah.

For sure. But the way that the 3-0, they're not a soft 3-0. No, I mean, they should have lost week one, really.

Are you really surprised? The Chargers, the Pats, and the Broncos, those are all winnable games. I don't... Well, I'm just saying, the way the Chargers game played out, they should have lost that. I thought a million percent they were losing the first game here in Los Angeles, that the Chargers would come out looking the way that they did, and the number of times the Chargers had them.

They just couldn't cover Tyreek Hill, which, by the way, might be a season-long problem in the National Football League. As a matter of fact, the Chargers have come the closest. I know New England kept it somewhat of a game in terms of... That just never felt... It was closer than the score, or not as close as the score indicated. Well, and you know what's kind of crazy?

70-20 wasn't as close as the score indicated either. Yeah, you're probably right. So, Justin Fields is talking today. We'll get that soundbite for you, because the last time he spoke on a Wednesday, kind of made news. So, we'll see what he has to say.

That'll be in hour number three. Let's talk Deon a little bit here, because we've got our friend Bruce Feldman coming in here, and obviously it's been a very Deon-centric world in college football. The same way that the Dolphins have taken the NFL by storm, Colorado started 3-0 as well.

And then we saw what we saw in Oregon, and that's kind of not a surprise. Because I think Colorado will struggle and struggle mightily when they're taking on teams that can whip them physically in the trenches. And I believe Deon already knows he's light in those regards, that no matter how many new kids he could bring in, no matter how many of the transfer portal turnstiles were turning in his favor, no matter how many guys who didn't get Louis Vuitton put in their hands and stayed, that you couldn't remake the entire roster into a national championship favorite winning team right off the bat, and you got to win in the trenches in the NFL and in college football, and Deon knows that. And USC might be a big problem in that regard as well, coming up this very weekend.

And it's entirely possible the 3-2, because they also know they're going to have problems if they're injured at crucial positions like, say, Travis Hunter not being there. So the question is, how does Deon handle the losing? That's the question. And I think he's handling it so far in the same way that you would expect. Pitch perfectly.

And what do I mean by that? Him saying, you know, I heard, I was told, you know, that I'm fighting for clicks over here, and I hear that I'm taking receipts, but hey, we just got our butts whipped, we played like hot garbage, but get me now because this is as bad as I'm going to be. Now USC might show up today and say, well, on this weekend and say, well, hold my beer. But the whole part about the doing things for clicks, I keep saying to you, as I said last week when I heard it from anybody in Colorado State saying about the way that he comports himself, and then now the clicks, whatever he's doing with cameras on the kids and cameras on himself, and all of that is he's selling himself because the best way to sell the program is to sell himself. And then the winning will come because he's going to get the kids.

And that, sure, it's confusing to people. It's completely anathema to people to see a coach talk openly of Heisman trophies for his kids because they're filling the kids' heads with things they shouldn't be filled with. And it's entirely possible that some kids that are in his program are also thinking it's about the clicks, and it's not about the hard work and the preparation to get to the winning. How will Dion handle that, right? I mean, wouldn't you think if there's a kid who sees a camera on him all the time, maybe that's why they go out there and stomp on the Oregon O.

Maybe that's why they're maybe not taking their gig too seriously. How will Dion handle that? And I'm not assuming that this is what has befallen one of his many five-star recruits that have gotten people's attention. Apparently, there's a couple more five-star recruits that he is bringing into Colorado this weekend to see everything. You know, he's in full recruiting mode all the time.

Always be closing, always be recruiting. Cormani McClain, a five-star cornerback who joined the program in January. Apparently not getting a lot of playing time these days.

As much as you'd expect. Why? This is how Dion answered that question this week. You mentioned last week that Cormani seeing the field was up to Cormani. I wonder if you could elaborate on what you want to see him do, one.

And two, did he help his case? Study, prepare. Study, prepare. Be on time for meetings.

Show up to the during meetings. Understand what we're doing as a scheme. Want to play this game. Desire to play this game. Desire to be the best in this game at practice, in the film room, and on your own free time. You do know that I check film time for each player upon the week. Thursday I need film time from the whole staff so I can see who's been preparing. And that's just not about Cormani.

That's about a multitude of them. So I don't see that, that you would be a fool to put somebody out there unprepared. Can't do it. Won't do it. Can't do it. I'm old school.

I'm sorry. Did Oregon help in that regard because he got out there late? What a scorer. Shoot. I started to put you out there at one point. You see that Broncos game?

It wouldn't look like that. Hey, hey, leave my guy alone. Leave my guy alone. I love the Broncos. You know I love their coaches. Sean Payne's my guy. He's going to get it right. I promise you that.

I believe in Sean Payne. Wow. That's classic prime. That's hilarious. That sounds like the guy that was in our production meetings on the planes and you know in the van on the way to the stadium. That's not an act folks.

He turns into Mike Singletary there. And I did. He went, won't do it. Can't do it. I'm old school.

Can't do it. Yes. TJ. Went with him.

This is old school. And he had his answer Rich before the question was even. He was like show up for meetings. Study.

Prepare. He cut off the question. And he said show up to the Dern meetings which means I don't know if this kid is. So I'm telling you, note to the Buffalo players who might think it's maybe themselves about clicks or about hey look at my press. Look at this.

Look at the NIL deals. If you don't do the hard work, your ass is out of there. And he will find somebody who can figure out how to play for Dion and play in this system to win. And he will.

Yes. And he will. Trust me. He will. They're coming man.

Get him now because this is as bad as you're going to get. And I actually responded to someone on Twitter who basically, because I saw this video and somebody's like yeah, Dion saying it, a guy who never went to meetings and never was always about himself. And it's just like Dion was one of the most prepared and studied players in the history of the National Football League. And I tell all of these stories that he told me that he used to, back when he was with the Niners, he would get like an old VCR and set it up and place it on the commode in his hotel room so the night before when he's prepping in a bath, he's just chilling out, calming himself for the game the next day, and he's watching film that he would have the Niners prepare on a VHS tape for him to put in and keep going. Up to the last second he knows exactly. Like you can't just cover Jerry Rice with your own physical attributes and instincts.

Like you best come prepared to go against these guys. Michael Irvin. Irv, next week is all about Cowboys 49ers week and the famous moment where Dion and Irv are marking each other, Dion's marking prime, Irv and the NFC Championship game.

To this day, Irv thinks that it was an arm bar and Dion barks back at him about it not being past interference. These are guys who have hearts of lions and physical attributes but also the brains, they know exactly what you're going to do and he's trying to instill this in his kids and if they're not going to meetings, he doesn't care if they're five star recruits, he'll get another one. But, everybody thinks it's about, honestly, this man is in his fourth decade of national fame being misunderstood and misrepresented.

That's the real guy. He's old school but he's also putting a camera on for his documentary and he's putting a camera on for his Instagram feed and his son's in charge, one of his sons, ranked number one, I believe Bucky is because he's in charge of the social media which is just as important right now as what's going on on the field and if there's any kids in that program that mixes the two up, that one is more important than the other and the one is the clicks in the Instagram and all that stuff, their asses are going to be out of there, he doesn't care who they are. I saw that sound bite on mic, first of all, sounds like the guy I know and two, I want to talk about this because it's the latest example of what's happening there in Colorado. Let's take a break. Our friend, Bruce Feldman of Fox Sports and the Athletic coming out, talking about everything else that went down last week and, you know, where's that 11th Irishman? Where is that 11th Irishman?

Where is he, it's right here, on October 5th, Loki is back in a brand new season, reunite it, that's right, the countdown is on, I've been waiting, don't miss the return of Marvel's most watched Disney Plus show, his time is running out, Marvel Studios Loki season 2, new episode streaming October 5th, only on Disney Plus. Hey, it's Rich Eisen, you want an exciting and fast paced podcast based on one of the most popular segments in the history of the Rich Eisen show, well, you got it, Over Reaction Monday hosted by me, Rich Eisen and my compadre, Chris Brockman and every Monday we're going to dive into the headlines from pro and college football and overreact, 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. Back here on the Roku channel, our radio audience rejoins in two minutes time, first of two times I say hello to you, Bruce Feldman, Fox Sports and the Athletic, good to see you.

Great to be seen. You said you saw me jump in someone's mentions, is that what you said? I did, it was like I did a double take because you always wonder if it's an authentic Rich Eisen, not an imposter, but yeah, it was like somebody took a shot at Deion in the comments. Who are you to say a kid should show up at meetings and practice when you didn't do either of those things as a pro, it's just like, look, I know you might dislike it, but you don't know and you never will to go full Jim Morris senior on people, but I very rarely will do that, but sometimes I take a look at whether the comments are part of a well-trafficked video and then some comments just can't go without a correction, you know what I mean?

We all have experiences with certain people and that's the expertise and the insight and I think sometimes people wade into it and other times they go, I'm not going to push back on this, but when it's like, it's an ignorant comment on the truth, unbelievable. So it's all right. So when the radio audience returns, there's lots to talk about. I mean, that was a wild, it was a wild Saturday. It was a wild Saturday. You got Lou Holtz getting in the middle of things. We're going to get on that. We're going to get on that. We got to get on that. Obviously Alabama did take care of Ole Miss.

They did. You know, look, now it's another big game for Lane Kiffin, he's got LSU. It was just a crazy Saturday. I think it was one of the better Saturdays we've had. I agree. Oh, that was great.

It was awesome. I mean, start to finish, from the noon games to obviously watching what Oregon did, Dan Lanning's comments I think are going to echo for a while. Yeah. And you'll see a little bit of the scare.

And then there's also, we'll get into it, Florida State seemingly knocking off Clemson for the year. We'll talk about that. The Rich Eisen Show radio network back on the air. I'm sitting at the Rich Eisen Show desk furnished by Grainger with supplies and solutions for every industry. Grainger has the right product for you.

Call clickgrainger.com or just stop by. If you're on hold, stay on hold, enjoy this conversation. We hope, as always, great to have from the athletic and Fox Sports, the man whose residency in Boulder, Colorado only rivals that of, I guess, what would you say, ushers in Las Vegas? Is that what it is right now?

That's how it's working? Celine Dion in Vegas? It's Bruce Feldman. It's the only time I've ever been compared to Usher or Celine Dion. Congratulations. That's why you're here.

I've seen Usher in concert. That's a huge compliment. You're going back to Boulder, right? Again? I am not. You're not?

My colleagues are no. I am actually in studio this weekend for Fox. We have a really good game on our air Friday night. Tune in for Oregon State and Utah.

And then I'm with Chris Peterson and Mike Hill. But the rest of our guys will be back in Boulder. USC is going to be there with Caleb and company, and we're going to see how Collin responds to getting smashed in Oregon. When's Travis Hunter coming back?

Any idea? I mean, we had heard that it was Dion that said it wasn't going to be for like three weeks. And then obviously he's out one. Honestly now, it'll help him to have him back if he's close to 100%. I just think this is just a brutal matchup for them. I don't think right now, if USC wanted to, Marshawn Lloyd I think could run for 250 yards on CU because I think they have so many issues to deal with in terms of just slowing down the run. I think last week was the first week we saw Chidor, who'd been near flawless in the first three games, look like he was in, I don't want to say in over his head, but it was coming at him in waves. And that's a really talented front seven that Oregon has. Oh, yes.

It's a road environment. It was just a lot. This was a big step up in class compared to, they beat TCU and that was a good win on the road. In Nebraska, they turned the ball over, Jeff Sims had given them basically two turnovers to get the momentum in the first half.

And then Colorado State, they had their hands full. Now they have Caleb and USC, and by the way, USC did not look very impressive last week. It was not a great game for the Trojans against a really, really mediocre Arizona State team on the road. So is Oregon the best team in the Pac-12? I wouldn't be ready to say that just because Washington has been just lighting people up with Kalen DeBoer's system and what Michael Penix has got going there. I think this is a fun time to look at the Pac-12 because even if USC wins 55 to 21, people are going to go, yeah, that's the same team that Oregon just blew out. I think we're still on a, okay, how much better is USC's defense because it was really awful last year. I think it's quite a bit better, but they haven't played anybody yet. And they've had moments where they've had coverage mistakes and they've just looked like they're a big work in progress.

Chidor is better than what they've seen before, and he still has some good skill guys, but I don't know if they can protect them. And I just feel like people have a better feel for what to do against that offense that Dion's running there. But then you have, look, you have not just Washington. Washington State quietly has been, people need to be talking more about what they've done. Cameron Ward has been fantastic. The new offensive coordinator is a 27-year-old guy who used to be an Uber Eats driver, and he's going to be a hot name.

And fair, unfair. The only way they've gotten much attention after beating a really good Oregon State team last week was because Jake Dickert, their coach, had kind of poked at Lee Corso in his postgame comments, and that got a lot of ears and eyeballs. But they're the program that got left behind. And then there's Utah.

Utah, without cameraizing, really nasty defense. I feel like every week when you've been on in the last month, and again, we love having you here, Bruce Feldman on Wednesdays right here on the Rich Eisen Show, that we talk about Dion, and then we talk about, man, I can't believe, like of all the years for the Pac-12 to break up, they're as good as they've ever been, and the attention on them is white hottest. And you say this is the most attention paid to this conference since Pete Carroll, right? Wouldn't you say that?

Yeah. And in that regard, back in those days when it was the Pac-10, you had Cal was really rolling. Obviously- Aaron Rodgers was beating him.

Aaron Rodgers. I mean, 23 completions in a row, almost beat them at the Coliseum. You had Marshawn Lynch, then later you had Deshaun Jackson. Oregon was good, and then Chip Kelly got there, they went to great. UCLA had that one terrific year with our buddy Maurice Jones, now Maurice Jones Drew was phenomenal.

But it wasn't this deep, right? There were times when the Washington schools were atrocious. They were awful. They went from New Heisel, and then eventually they just backslid off the radar. But now, I feel like there's legit seven big time teams, and that doesn't even include, I think Colorado's probably going to come back to being a six and six kind of team, which is still way better than what anybody was expecting, and certainly what they were last year. But they gobbled up all the oxygen for the first month of the season, and it was great for everybody's business.

I'm glad Dan Lanning pointed this out. Deion Sanders has been great for TV ratings, Deion Sanders in Colorado, have been great for TV ratings. They've been great for all sorts of anybody whose business is around it, and they carried the ball for the first month of the season. I mean, they're still going to be interesting, but now I think you're going to get, you know, Pennix, Caleb, Camwort, Bonex, and all these guys in that league. And we haven't even talked about much other than Ohio State, Notre Dame last week, really about the Big Ten, because your school hasn't played anybody of note yet.

And we'll see. Georgia's not played anybody of note. Those are the powerhouse programs that we expect to be there, but it's been an interesting kind of, I don't want to say subplot, but it's been fun. And Dan Lanning, I think, gave voice to what a lot of other programs around the country are saying. It's like, hey, we're winning programs here too. You know, you can pay attention to how we're doing it as well. It's just not as interesting or flashy or unique or whatever you want to say to the media because, yeah, you know, it's quite simple. You're not Deion Sanders, one of the most famous people on the sports scene of four decades, you know.

But I didn't have a problem with what Dan Lanning had to say. I saw a lot of pushback about, you know, you have flash too with your uniforms or your concept of like you play for wins or fight for wins, not clicks, was captured on a camera you allowed into your locker room as well. You know, I've heard a lot about that, but it is just a great bunch of competition, smack talk that I don't recall from this conference. And it's pretty cool to see.

It is. I mean, I think, you know, good on Oregon, like he's a really good young coach and he's done a really good job building off what Mario Cristobal did there. And they're a physical team and they have done, you know, Bo Nix's, you know, transition from really struggling in the SEC at Auburn to, you know, just be in another level. Yeah.

In Eugene. And I think, again, I think what's really fun about how this team and that program is gone is like, there's no reason to think they can't like be a legit national title contender. And they have a bunch of elite athletes. The quarterback's playing at a really high level. You know, to some degree, you know, Caleb in USC against CU, the commonality there, in addition to obviously some celeb factor that around both programs and certainly around CU now is last year, I feel like Caleb took a lot of the oxygen away from some of the other star quarterbacks in the Pac-12, you know, he won the Heisman.

He was remarkable in that system. But I don't know how many fans outside of the Pacific Northwest know just how good Michael Penix Jr. and Bo Nix are and how good they're playing. And, you know, they, you know, Cam Ward wasn't, you know, he was fine last year in his first year in the conference, but he's taken it up to another level.

And so, you know, that expression like a rising tide lifts all boats. I do think that's what's going on in the Pac-12 now. And I love that this conference is finally going to get its due, albeit, you know, in the swan song era. Bruce Feldman of Fox Sports and the Athletic here and his usual Wednesday spot on the Rich Eisen Show. You mentioned moments ago Jake Dickert of Washington State calling out Lee Corso.

It was a rough weekend for octogenarian commentators on ESPN. Didn't expect, didn't have on my bingo card, Ryan Day using his first blush moments in victory to call out Lou Holtz for his comments, said to Pat McAfee, I guess what you call Ty Schmidt, a producer, former intern dressed as Lou Holtz phenomenal. The Lou Holtz post that game segment was hilarious. Brilliant. It was brilliant. Like with a Fogo de Chao reference and everything, it was really brilliant. It was hilarious.

If all night long. So why, why is Ryan Day on tilt, man, or like what walk me through? Why would he, why would he call out Lou Holtz? Because Lou Holtz became the face and the voice and he made it personal. He didn't just say Ohio State, it was his teams. And Ryan Day, let's not forget this, came within a last second field goal of probably winning the national title last year. I agree.

I hear you. You know, and I think, what is he like 32 and two since he's been there. Right, but don't speak for itself. Who cares what Lou Holtz is saying? Who cares?

I think there was a lot of people there who are tired of getting poked at. The fact that people think he's on the hot seat, that if he loses again for a third time in a row to Michigan, like all of a sudden he's got, they're going to have to fire him to me is insane. I mean, it is insane. This guy's record, what he's done there, you know, like it's remarkable. And I think people forget this, like, okay, he lost to Georgia. He lost to Georgia by a field goal, right? You know, he lost to, to the arch rival back to back times. Those are really good teams he lost to.

I get it. It's Michigan. But one thing he hasn't done, you know, my colleague, Urban Meyer, obviously he's won three national titles and won one, you know, early in his tenure at Ohio State, you know, Urban had the games where he would lose to the team that you're like, how did they get blown out by? How did they get blown out? Ron Delmore went all pew, pew, pew, pew on him, you know, like that happened.

Ryan Day hasn't had those, you know, so it's like, do you get more ticked off because your team loses to the arch rival? Yes. I mean, to make it out, like, again, I'm with you, but what's going on in his skull right now? I think he's a guy who's gotten poked at. Is he reading message boards?

No, I don't think so. But I think, I definitely think they feel the heat of all the chatter that has been around from the game last year at Columbus. Is Gene Smith putting the heat on? Gene Smith's about to leave.

I know that. So I just think it's all the fans, not all the fans, I think it's a big chunk of the fans, but I think it's also a big part of the media discussion, right, and the fact that Lou Holtz went on, you know, Pat McAfee has a huge platform and a huge microphone, and it's like Lou Holtz, you know, is like, I think it's a gag segment, like he was talking to a guy in an old man mask, like what are we doing here? How often do coaches, old coaches rip other coaches? But it's like Lou's gone from the scene, and it's Notre Dame, and he's the king of talking up Notre Dame.

Like, I mean, honestly, he's the king of that. I was there, you know, in the 80s when he had Rocket Ishmael ruin my senior year, Bowes last season. Does it matter if he's 78 or 88?

Does it really matter? But it just doesn't, it just, you know, it just doesn't, it doesn't, it's, you're like, you're Ryan Day, you just won at Notre Dame. I don't, look, trust me, my text is filled on the weekends with Ohio State Buckeye friends of mine talking about his play calling his stinks, and this is just, you know, when they're struggling against Indiana in the first half, he's gotta go, I mean, that sort of stuff. But what's his contract? What's his contract there? I mean, it's not like he's up, right? I mean, he's- No, my guess is at some point, Ryan Day will go to the NFL.

You do? At some point, yes, because unlike the guy he followed, Ryan Day came from the NFL, right? He was worked with Chip Kelly at the Eagles. He has more of an NFL background. Quite honestly, I feel like he would be probably a good fit in the NFL. He's a really good offensive mind.

We see some of that. He's well thought of by his players. It's not a guy that people don't think, you know, the other thing, and again, I brought this up on the Audible, our own podcast a couple days ago, was Ryan Day, and I'm not saying what I'm about to say should excuse him from any criticism, but is one of the few coaches in college football who I feel like has opened himself up and jumped in on a really important cause of mental health and has put his money where his mouth is literally, and I know it's a personal issue to him, but he does some really impressive work off the side. It's not like you see his program has guys getting in trouble all the time or all these other issues. Again, I'm not saying that means he shouldn't be criticized if his team doesn't beat the arch rival, but if I'm an Ohio State fan, I'm like, man, this guy, I get it. He followed Urban. He took some of the best parts of Urban's program, the strength program, Mickey Marotti, the recruiting piece, some top assistants, but the transition's been really good. I think if there's somebody who's going to get you a national title, he's the guy.

He almost did last year. He's one of the ones that could have been in Los Angeles taking on TCU on that rainy night here and boat raced TCU. And by the way, how delicious would that have been for them? Michigan lost to this team, and then they're the ones who hoist the trophy against TCU. It still would have been a little bittersweet. It would have been a nightmare for me that Michigan actually beats Ohio State.

They still make it and then win it all against the team at boat racing. This name of the show is the Rich Eisen Show, Bruce. I get it. Hey, look, I remember you and your son there, and I remember everybody was very confident, maybe too confident. I wasn't strutting into the stadium, Bruce. I wasn't strutting around.

I was nervous as a cat because I'm always waiting for the trap door to open. Let's talk about one last program before I let you go on the day. What's happened in Clemson? What has happened with Dabo Swinney's program, would you say? I think the example there is they played Florida State, and they played them really well. I mean, Cade Klubnick looked really good.

It's a game they probably should have won. Obviously it's there at Clemson. But I think the biggest difference, and look, it's not to say that he doesn't have any playmakers because he does, but when you look at the team that beat them, this drills down totally into it in terms of one team went all in on the transfer portal and the other team has really not, the other program has not at all. And so when you look at the players who beat them, Jordan Travis came from the transfer portal. He was a guy who started his career at Louisville. The four top receivers in that game, you know, they all were guys who came from the portal. It was two receivers, a tight end and a Trey Benson, the running back, and two guys came from the Pac-12. One of the guys, Keon Coleman, came from Michigan State who made the game-winning big catch. Trust me, I'm glad I'm not seeing him in late October.

Yeah, you know what? You may be seeing him in whatever, it's late December or January though in the playoff. They're really good. And Braden Fisk, he's a guy from kind of your backyard, or at least your alma mater's backyard, came from the MAAC, and he is a disruptive, dominant inside defensive lineman, also portal guy.

Jared Vers, Albany, like SUNY Albany. He was another portal guy. Dabo Sweeney, I'm sorry, you can't tell me that any one of those skill guys, especially those three receivers, would be a massive upgrade to their offense.

At the end of the day, those guys, like Keon Coleman did, are going to make the difference maker play in a tight game. What's Dabo's rationale about no transfer portal in that regard? It's similar to, I think, what David Cutcliffe used to say. He was not going to be the guy who was going to take a transfer quarterback or feel like I'm going to be loyal to the guys who bought in, and it's noble, I don't want to be dismissive like that. But when everybody else is doing it, it's basically like we've all been on a golf course, and sometimes you toe hook one into the OB. You'd love to have a mulligan.

The transfer portal is the mulligan to get you out of, ooh, this didn't work out. We had a kid get medicaled who didn't turn out to be as good. This kid got homesick and left, or we missed on these three guys in that position room. It's not to say you have to do what Deion has done, or even what Mike Norvell has done, but you can upgrade parts of your roster that clearly need it. And I feel like, and it's not just something I'm saying, most of the college football world sees it. They have hamstrung themselves by not being more active in the transfer portal. Before I let you go, the games you're looking forward to this weekend are?

Which one are you on? I'm really looking forward to the game that's going to be awesome this weekend, where Kansas is going in there. These might be the two best teams in the Big 12. Texas obviously look really good against Alabama on the road, and look, Jalen Daniels is from right near here, by the way.

We could probably hit a golf ball to his house. Yeah, he's one of our glue guys from a couple years ago. Phenomenal player, super smart, makes great decisions. Kansas is 4-0. I mean, Lance Leipold's a guy who is, people now know who he is, he won 63 national titles at Wisconsin, Whitewater. Don't be shocked if they pull an upset there. But to me, this is a terrific matchup.

Okay, great. And then Friday night on Fox, you'll be in the studio for Oregon State, Utah. Yeah, me and the great Chris Peterson, can't wait to see him, can't wait to watch.

And Mike Hill, who sits in this chair on occasion as well. And then your podcast, where all podcasts can be acquired. All podcasts, yeah. Check us out on the Audible. Okay. Thank you.

Thanks again. This is so much fun. I love that you're coming here every week. It's an easy drive. Excellent.

Is that why you're doing it? No, I come here. Plus you guys have good coffee mugs.

It's okay. He wants the mugs. Look, we're geographically sound and we got good mugs. Win-win. Very good.

Thanks for coming in. Bruce Feldman right here. Check him out on Fox Sports on Friday night. And then of course, the Athletic and the Audible podcasts, where all podcasts are acquired.

Your phone calls when we come back. 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 Zochman.

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. What is your best sports memorabilia that you have, that you're most proud of or something that you love? I've got a bunch of things that I love.

But the one that I would have to say is the coolest, simply because it's not... Because I was a baseball player, so baseball stuff means a lot to me. One year, a girlfriend of mine said, if you could have anything for Christmas this year, what would it be? And I said, an autographed baseball glove from Brooks Robinson, because Brooks was from Arkansas. He was from Little Rock, North Little Rock. I just loved him when he played with the Orioles.

I thought, that's never going to happen, but if I could have anything, that's what it would be. She chased him down. She got all the publicists and everybody else on the case. Christmas morning, I opened it up, and there was an autographed Brooks Robinson glove, and it said... Of course, the glove from him, that's the thing. Because of his fielding, and it said, from a huge fan, Brooks Robinson, I'm like, Brooks Robinson knows who I am. I'm done.

This is all fine. Did you ever put on the Brooks Robinson glove, like literally put your hand in it? Oh, I put it on, but boy, do I protect it. I finally put it in plexiglass, because the name might rub off.

Yeah, you don't want to do that. But boy, that's a real dandy thing. McGuire also gave me a bat right after he broke it. Right after he broke the Marist- No, no, after he broke his bat. He ground it out to third, but- No, you should say it was home run number 67, home run 62. But it was that year.

Okay. It was that year, and yeah, he ground it out to third against the Dodgers, and he gave me the bat, and his batting glove, which had dirt all over it and everything, so I've got that. And yeah, I got some good stuff over the years. Oh boy, does that video have different significance today? Back here on the Rich Eisen Show for our radio audience on the Roku side of things, we just showed a video of Billy Bob Thornton, the Academy Award winner here a few years ago talking about his most prized baseball memorabilia possession being an autographed glove from Brooks Robinson, and he got it, sent to him as a Christmas present, and it said, from a big fan is what Brooks Robinson said to him, and he said, wow, Brooks Robinson knows who I am. That is the end of it for me.

Very cool. Says Billy Bob Thornton, because Brooks Robinson meant so much to so many people, so it makes complete sense of the outpouring of grief and sorrow and love for Brooks Robinson when we found out last night that he passed away at the age of 88. And clearly, he's a Hall of Famer from not just his hitting and his winning, his fielding. I mean, I think you could basically say that anybody who plays third base, any kid who plays third base, mom and dad is showing that kid video on YouTube of Brooks Robinson.

That's it. He is, for third baseman, the name of the best fielder, the guy who would play the hot corner in a most cool fashion, the guy who would take the hot liner out of the air, or the most famous one where he's running full stride into foul territory to field a fair ball and leap and throw on one hop to get the runner in time for the out. That's the Brooks Robinson that we're showing on the screen with photographs for our radio audience on our Roku Channel feed. And that's the Brooks Robinson that so many Orioles fans, O's fans will remember as well. Johnny Bench, did you see what he tweeted out, Hall of Famer, fellow Hall of Famer? Johnny Bench just simply said, I went 0 for 4 and hits the third base in the 1970 World Series. Didn't mention Brooks by name.

The photograph we have on the screen, we just added to it. That's all Johnny Bench tweeted out. I went 0 for 4 and hits the third base in the 1970 World Series.

Sums it up. And then, of course, the stories about, most importantly, about Hall of Fame is he's a Hall of Fame human. Scott Van Pelt, friend of this program, Chris, you were telling a story early on of what you saw on Twitter. Yeah, Scott tweeted it out last night. It's really long post if you want to reach out, but basically, when Scott was a kid, he was a huge Orioles fan, obviously.

He's from that area. He went to the game with his dad, Brooks Robinson at bat, hits a foul ball. Scott's dad catches the ball. So now Scott has a Brooks Robinson foul ball.

What a prized possession. So of course, as any kid that age would do, you go home, you're playing catch with it. And Scott's like, I was playing catch with my friend, and at this point, I should add that we lived at the top of a hill. Well, my friend did not catch the ball, and the ball rode down the hill into the sewer and lost forever. Well, Scott worked on ESPN radio for a long time, told this story. It got back to Brooks Robinson, who sent him a ball, autographed, hope this replaces the one you lost.

Just amazing. I saw on Twitter as well a video of an elderly lady in bed. What was described was one of her final days, getting a call from Brooks Robinson. I mean, I get Misty thinking about just the beauty of humanity, that the stories that are countless, what he must have, I mean, how do you find the time in your day? I'm sure there must have been scores and scores of requests for this sort of reach out.

And the only time I met Brooks Robinson, I've told that story before, I'll tell it again here. I was at a charity golf event in South Florida when it was on ESPN, and it was in one of those hotels that were spread out, one of the resorts next door to Disney World. And I'm one of those guys, when I go in a hotel, I like going up, I like going vertical, I don't like going horizontal. Just give me a room, I'll go in a hotel and I'll get an elevator, I'll go up, that's what I want.

I don't want to get in a van or whatever to get to some spot, obviously, it's first class problems, but that's just the way I am. So it was a shotgun start in this golf tournament, 10 a.m., 1030 a.m., and I was told to be ready at like 630, and I'm like, why, what are we doing? Like you got to get to the course or whatever, and there'll be a van to come get you, like be out front at 630.

And I did what all single guys, as I was at the time, would do, is I had a fun night the night before, my head was pounding, pounding. So I was waiting for the van, 15 minutes, 20 minutes, 30 minutes, and I call the front desk and I'm like trying to remain calm. And there's a van coming to pick me up, and they're like, we don't know, we don't have any van coming to you from the front desk. I'm like, is there anybody there from the golf tournament that's there in the lobby? And then somebody says, is anybody here from such and such golf tournament? I could hear they ask, and somebody goes, yeah, I am. That person gets on the phone, and I'm like, yeah, he's like, hello, and I'm like, yeah, I'm waiting out here for this van, trying to remain calm, waiting for this van. And I've been told to be here at 630, even though there's a shotgun start at 1030, and again, my head is just throbbing.

But in 15, 20, 30 minutes, do you know when the van's coming? He goes, I don't know, but I can look into it. And I'm like, okay. I think to myself, I better get this person's name. I'm like, who is this speaking? And the person goes, this is Brooks Robinson. And I'm like, oh, Mr. Robinson.

I didn't know. I asked someone from the golf tournament, he goes, yeah, I'm playing in it. He's just like, I'll help.

Hey. He goes, yeah, I'll find someone. I'll tell them to send a van for you, Rich.

Sure enough, within two minutes, the van comes around. Brooks got it done, fielded it cleanly, picked it out of the air. Taking care of business. He fielded everything. And I felt like such an idiot. This is Brooks Robinson. This is Brooks Robinson. He's just like, yeah, he's like, anybody here from the golf tournament? Yeah, I'm playing.

What can I do? Did you have to like, pause? Like, I know I'm drunk. I wasn't drunk. I was hungover. It's a difference. You're still kind of drunk from the night before. Oh my goodness gracious.

But I was, you know, if you will, figuratively drunk having had an interaction with the man. Rest in peace, Brooks Robinson. What a sweetheart of a soul and a warrior of the hot corner. Meaning so much to so many people in the mid-Atlantic area.

A Baltimore oil of the first A-plus variety back in the old Memorial Stadium in Balmer, Maryland. Rest in peace. 16 gold gloves. That's insane. It's an absurd number.

It's an absurd number. We will take a break. That's it for hour number two. The phone lines are lit, which is great news because we love talking to folks. We love being interactive. That's why we're on the air here every day.

But hour three, it's just us. I got my power rankings. I got these phone calls.

I got the phone. We got everybody here. You got us. You got us. Four wide.

We're four wide. And Robert Sala has mentioned what's going on there and whether Joe Namath was a help or not. Joe with a, where are you?

I knew that drop was going to come in handy. That is phenomenal. I told you there's another version of it too. I don't want to do it. Where are you? I mean, I like the second one. Do the other one.

The other one might be, we got to figure it. Where are you? Where is A-Ron right now? That kind of like that one. I like the, I like this one. A-A-Ron.

Where are you? What a sketch that is, man. Who are the other ones? De-nice. De-nice. Timofe. Timofe. Timofe.

Oskov? No, the first one was Jacqueline, right, was, I forget how he pronounced her name. Oh my God. He's so funny.

I just watched this 10 times. He's subordinate and churlish. You mean Denise? O-Shag Hennessy?

And churlish. O-Shag Hennessy. You mean Principal O'Shaughnessy's office? O-Shag Hennessy.

That's what we named that storm. He told that story about the sketch of the Monday Night Football players that he said Jordan Peele came up with the idea and said, you know, I'll come, I'll go home, I'll write up some names. He said he had like four sheets of paper. Like four pages of names in 10 minutes. Yeah. Jacqueline. Jacqueline. You mean Jacqueline? Oh, you're going to feel my wrath.

Oh man, got to have a good laugh. Balake. Balake.

Balake. Hey guys, it's Suzy Schuster and I am so excited for my new podcast coming out this fall. It is called What the Football with Suzy 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 Suzy Schuster and Amy Trask wherever you listen.