REShow: Bruce Feldman - Hour 2

This is the Rich Eisen Show. Get ready now.

And the 2023 Arizona Diamondbacks are headed to the World Series. Live from the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles. The Rich Eisen Show with guest host Susie Schuster. So what do you think is going on with Raider Nation now? We got the wrong guy at the helm.

Josh McDaniels is not a good football coach. Today's guest, Fox Sports college football insider Bruce Feldman, CBS Sports NFL analyst Amy Trask. And now, sitting in for Rich, it's Susie Schuster. Our number two of the Rich Eisen Show underway. Susie Schuster in for Rich Eisen who will join us momentarily from New York because he's scared to leave me alone in front of a microphone and I don't blame him. Welcome back everybody. Happy to be with you.

844204 Rich. Call in. You've got Amy Trask coming up in the next hour.

You can ask her questions. The highest ranking woman in the history of the National Football League. Also my compadre on What the Football. And if you missed downloading What the Football wherever you find your podcasts, now is a good time to do it.

As we had Warren Sapp on yesterday and Chris Brockman. He referred to the end of the Bill Belichick era of football. It is getting traction around. It's getting picked up or aggregated.

Aggregated is the word the kids use. I like to think that I was out in front of this Belichick hot seat. I was saying it at the start of last year.

And you know, it's nice for everyone else to come around. Yeah, only you're not Warren Sapp. Only you're not QB Killa with a little bit of a platform. And we'll bring in Rich at this. I'm not fishing. I'm not fishing. Rich is also not Warren Sapp.

Hi. But he didn't see. He said that the Patriot way is dead. Yeah, that's what he said. I don't think he said that Belichick is done, but he said that the Patriot way of winning football games is dead. And Warren's always been saying that defense wins championships is a dead phrase.

He goes, it'll give you a chance. He said offense wins championships. He was saying that when you were, you know, a segment producer for Marshall Falk on on game day morning.

That's how long ago Warren was saying that. And I don't know if that's a connective tissue to what he told you, Suze and Amy, that that the Patriot way is dead and that even Belichick knows it is what he's saying. And and how McDaniel's is just the latest offshoot of a team trying to bring the Patriot way into their house and it not working out. And that is definitely something that has been said for a long time. And the only one who could pull it off is Belichick because he has the rings and the trophies to have the standing to go in front of a room of men and say, this is the way we're going to do it.

So that's what I found fascinating about his conversation with you, Suze and Amy yesterday. And Warren just has a very unique way of of saying things and boiling things down to some very simple talk where he basically said McDaniel's is not the guy, which is the subtext of all Raider fans concerns about this team coming in and send Derek Carr away and give a number four to Aidan O'Connell. He doesn't start over Brian Hoyer in Chicago, but finally does put into the game in Chicago after Brian Hoyer throws a pick six. And Devante Adams is getting targets and they're all empty calories in terms of wins in so many different ways. And Max Crosby is out there, which is what you need to win games in this league is somebody to put pressure on the quarterback. And he's an eight plus plus version of that.

And and right now they're they're under five hundred because Tyson and Bajant out of Division two, Shepard went ahead and played a better game at quarterback than anybody that McDaniel's put out there on Sunday and put it all together. And when he said that to you and Amy Suess, it it resonated. It left a mark. That's for sure.

Yeah. And I think we could extrapolate it even further, though, Rich. I think that what he was saying is and this is why I said the era is that it's these offshoots, these these coaches across the league who think that they can win with the Bill Belichick playbook.

And we haven't seen that many coaches be that successful. So either Bill's either it's only Bill's special sauce, a lot of conversation about whether he can win without Brady at all. But I think Warren, you know, Warren doesn't. Warren comes in through the front door always. Yes, he does.

And was outstanding, I thought yesterday on what the football. And I can't wait to have you talk about it, expand on it a little bit more with Amy and in the third hour, you know, and before Bruce Feldman joins the show, I wanted to pop on with you guys and talk a little bit more about my alma mater in Michigan. And it's kind of you know, it's a drip, drip, drip every day. Something's coming out of ESPN and ESPN dot com with Pete Famel following the Michigan staffers pension for buying tickets around the country. Like soon we're going to find out maybe today that Connor Stallion's bought tickets to cats to start scouting the family pet for Harbaugh. You know, like we're trying to see what else is he buying tickets to go see around the country. And all of them appear to be set up to make sure that Michigan knew things that they shouldn't.

And and I can't wait to hear what Bruce Feldman has to say. And I've said over and over and over again that if Michigan did something that it shouldn't, it should pay the piper with whatever is the appropriate, the appropriate punishment to fit the crime based on whatever has happened before, even though the scale of this appears to be unprecedented, again, appears to be. In the meantime, though, shots are going to get sent in Michigan's direction in quite a way. And yesterday I was saying, you know, because we hadn't known yet if this staffer was trying to give a peep to to potential national championship or national playoff semifinalist opponents for Michigan. And then we heard from ESPN yesterday that that is, in fact, was the case, that he started looking at some nonconference teams or at least bought tickets to those games. And I said it just didn't matter, you know, if they scouted Georgia or not two years ago, as soon as you were there, when we were all on vacation together and I was on New Year's Eve watching Georgia beat the crap out of our out of my Wolverines.

And I think I've been talked about on the show that Taylor are then, I guess, eight, seven year old came up and gave me these beads to put around my neck because she was wishing me Happy New Year. And I looked very sad because it was just a total blowout. As I said yesterday, Kirby Smart could have been holding up a sign that said, we're about to run the ball. We're about to pass the ball. And Michigan couldn't stop it. And obviously, you know, as Todd Blackledge said yesterday, this scheme, if it did exist, is something that would help the defense know what the offense is doing.

That defensively, is it how it would help you and not so much on offense that you'd still have to see it and try and be stopped or try to stop it, even if you know that it's coming. So long story short is then those words were out of my mouth and it's entirely possible. As I was saying that on the set, Kirby Smart was being asked this question about Michigan maybe having Georgia's signs in that very game. And his response was notable, to say the least.

I guess the necessary follow-up. That's obviously coming about Michigan. You played Michigan. You aware in retrospect or at the time of anything unusual? No, I didn't notice anything or know anything.

Nobody we talked to warned us or any of that. I think everybody we played, they say, they steal your signals. When you play somebody, they're great at stealing your signals. But what they're referencing is different than stealing them.

They're talking about people coming to film them. That's completely different. But we've tried to hide the signals, hold the calls, put signs up, do all that. But there's nothing I remember about the Michigan game that makes me think that. Yeah, it's called play better than that. That's what they did. They played better than that. And of course, nothing would stand out because we got our asses beat by them. And it's kind of funny, the reaction that a lot of folks were saying is like, that's savage, that's ice cold.

It's the truth. They kicked Michigan's ass up and down the block. And it's just, you know, this is part and parcel and it's tough for Wolverine fans to handle this because it has put Michigan in the crosshairs of everything that's happened the last two years is all because of this. And I will always push back to say these kids are incredibly talented and that their talent is something that rules the day and that it's only going to have to be up to Michigan from here on out after its bye week to go and beat the crap out of Purdue.

And then Penn State and then Maryland and then the Ohio State with them all being supposedly on notice, even though everybody in the last two years had already been on notice and should have known what was coming in to say we should change our signs and things of that nature. And, you know, still, still, still somebody shoot it with a phone that is beyond the rules and it should be again punished. But I found it fascinating to me, Deion Sanders's response when it was brought up to Prime yesterday.

This very subject placed in front of Prime and what he thought about it. Everyone's trying to get an edge. I mean, everyone's trying to get whatever edge they can. You could have someone whole game plan.

They can mail it to you. You still got to stop it. You still got to stop it. So in football is not as pronounced as baseball. If I know a curveball is coming, I got you. You know, football.

I don't give a darn if you know a sweep is coming. You still got to stop it physically. You is a physical game. You got to stop it. So that that's a little tough. I don't buy into a lot of that stuff that someone stealing is still in that.

I don't I don't buy into a lot of stuff. You still got to play the game back in our glory days with San Francisco as well as the Cowboys. You know, during well, Emmett Smith is getting the ball, you know, during well, Mike Irvin is running the comeback. You know, during well, Jay Novacek is going to do what he's going to do and you can stop it. Is what it is. Stop it.

I love man. And obviously, you know that to me, I'll say it sounds like a guy without an axe to grind on Jim Harbaugh like everybody else does. So he's spitting you what he believes is the truth. And obviously it is something that I'm going to hang my hat on because I don't like the sense that the last two years has been rendered completely moots because of all of this. And it's tough to swallow. And I can't wait to see what the next four games looks like because there's a lot at stake, not just for this year, but for the last two years.

And that's the way this thing is growing because each passing day drip, drip, drip, something's coming out. And I can't wait to see when this thing is going to come to a head. When will the NCAA say something? When will the Big Ten say something? Because until then, this drip, drip, drip is going to lead to all of this stuff.

And then Jim was on a podcast apparently in Michigan earlier this week talking about how he's going to get a tattoo if he's 15-0 this year. So he seems unbothered and unconcerned by it, which is great because there's still football to be played. But those are my two cents, my straight up honest, in my heart, in my gut opinion on all this. And I can't wait to hear what Bruce Feldman is going to say with you, Sue, is about what is happening in this investigation. What is fact? What is not? What is against the rules? What is not?

What has happened? And when are we going to hear about it? And who rules first? Is it the Big Ten? Is it the NCAA? Because I think it's the Big Ten that can basically do more first. Because it would be within the conference and it would be up to them to decide whether this is sportsman-like or unsportsmanlike. I want to ask Bruce, but it does remind me, as I said in the first hour, of when things started to go south at USC with the Reggie Bush issues. And then suddenly it started pilfering around and suddenly Pete Carroll got a one-way ticket out of Los Angeles. And I would feel awful for you and for the Michigan nation if this is the end of the Harbaugh era.

Well, again, I don't know. I have no idea because there's so much going on behind the scenes of how he might be feeling, how the administration of the school is handling it with him behind the scenes, in front of the scenes. And I think really it's the NCAA that's going to have to act because, you know, at this point in time Michigan can't respond because it's under investigation. But somebody keeps talking to Pete Famil of ESPN and telling him about this school has tickets, that school has tickets, this guy's doing this, this guy's doing that. And the question is, was this guy doing it at the direction of the school or was this guy saying, you know, I'm in charge of stealing signs or I'm in charge of knowing the signs?

How about that? I'm in charge of decoding the signs. And he goes ahead and does all this stuff on his own and then Michigan just thinks he's as great at it as he is. I honestly I don't know what to make of any of this.

And I can't wait for it to be over so we could close the book and move on if it's necessary and serve whatever penalty that's coming or not. Because there's not much to it because the rules say one thing and he did another or anything of that nature. I just don't know. You know as well as I do that the history of college football is littered with people who said that they were operating on their own without the coach knowing what they were doing. And it's going to be really tricky to be able to prove a connection between the head coach and Sed Stallion, our friend from the Valley. And so it will be really hard to tell.

I mean you're going to need, they're going to have to, I would imagine, seize a computer, look at emails. And also the NCAA takes forever to do anything. So the question is how fast they'll turn this around. And it's a good thing the coach is coming on next. So I can ask him. Seems like you've got something to say, Chris. I can see that look on your face. You can go ahead. Go ahead and say what you want. Well, two things. It's really not the point as if it worked.

It's the point that you knew it was against the rules and they did it anyway. And then I'm just wondering if, will the tattoo have an asterisk? I'm just confused. Nice.

All right. Well, I think again, Ohio State fans, or pardon me, the Ohio State fans would have a good time hearing about the word tattoo. Since obviously that's what cost Jim Trestle his gig back in the day. Which seems insane now.

Well, exactly. Under the current construct of the world in college football, it seems insane that somebody that got tattoos instead of cash or whatever for, you know, their name, image and likeness back in the day, that it would cost a guy a gig. Someone who you liked a lot, Suze, when you were covering Jim Trestle. I think there's even a Jim Trestle signed Ohio State hat to me that he gave to you to give to me somewhere in our studio. You mean Cousin Jim?

Cousin Jim. That's right. I know, right? No, you know what I mean? So I totally understand what you're saying and I can't wait to hear what Bruce Feldman has to say on the subject matter. Like you said, Rich, it's just been a slow drip of news kind of since last weekend. So you're just kind of wondering what's next. And Kirby's smart, man.

He's got every reason to say, yeah, I don't, I have no idea. I didn't see anything of that because they just absolutely dismantled. So lack them. It was just you don't have to keep adding adjectives. They pounded them. They brutalized them.

They look like a bunch of babies out there. OK, so why don't you get to Bruce? He's probably waiting. I look forward to hear what you got. I'm not going to lie.

You look good, honey. Thanks, Suze. You have to say it. So surprised. Yeah. OK. Very good. You look good. Oh my God.

She went higher register. Very good. OK.

Thank you. Backdrops. I haven't seen an airplane. It does look like a fake backdrop. It looks like it could be a blind that you just pulled down.

What are you talking about? I haven't seen a plane or a boat move in the back or anything. Are you green screen right now? Are you green screening? It's kind of awesome. I'm watching a boat move. Yeah. I'm watching a helicopter fly.

It's a gorgeous damn city. What do you think? Yeah. Do you know what I'm doing when I fake the moon landing so I got out of doing the show today? No, I'm going tonight.

I'm hosting this thing for Del Tufo. So it'll be great. Yeah. I see. OK. Come back with some hardware, will you please? Get it, Mike. I'll do that. All right.

Some pasta and some hardware. All right, kids. See you later, Suze. Oh, wait. Coopie's going to be on after Bruce? Yeah. Yeah. We're going to have him on. Fantastic.

And I'm going to advise him not to do anything with Chris Brockman, who is totally untrustworthy. So there we go. That's how this is going to go. No, that'll be fine. So hold on a minute before you go. What is the trade?

What do you got? You don't know. You don't want to reveal it. He's not listening.

I want you to text him and then tell him a heads up. I'm not. I'm out. By the way.

You wouldn't want me to protect my child in advance from a predator? I'm just curious. That is so harsh.

What do you got? I'm not going to tell you. Salty Schuster. I'm definitely not going to tell you. All right. See you later, guys. Bye, Rich. All right. Bye, honey. Bye, honey. Thanks for dropping by the rich eyes. Fantasy predator.

Jeez. In case you were wondering, you can get that logo that Rich is wearing in case you want a beacon in the night or you're walking your dog at night and you want to like, you know, stand out. I mean, Batman's about to pop up. It's just getting blasted into the sky. Guys.

That was one of the rejected logos. I'm just saying. All right. Can I tell you about game time? Please?

Please do. I was the one who was to get the tickets most of the time, except for not this weekend, because Rich is taking Coop and his buddies, Ryan and Owen to the buffs, UCLA Bruins, clap. And that's going to be so much fun. I actually sat out just for this reason so that he could take one of his buddies. But game time helped us out.

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I can get into the game time app. I can go there and I can make sure that I can see the seating. I can make sure that she can see the stage and not be sitting on my lap the whole time, which has happened so many times. There are great way to find your tickets to the also you can buy tickets up until an hour after wherever you're going. And so say you have like no plans at the last minute. You just like, you know, I want to go see the show.

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Bruce Feldman when we come back, we're going to ask him what the heck is happening in Michigan. With Sotik 2 for moderate to severe plaque psoriasis, you could show off your skin again. And you know what that means. Peach Day. As a Tic 2 inhibitor, Sotik 2 is the only once daily pill of its kind for adults with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis. Ask your dermatologist about Sotik 2 today and learn more at soclearlyu.com.

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Don't start if you have one. With serious infections, cancers including lymphoma, muscle problems, and changes in certain labs have occurred. Tell your doctor if you have a history of these events, or if you have an infection or symptoms like fever, sweats, chills, muscle aches, or cough, or if you have history of hepatitis B or C, liver or kidney problems, high triglycerides, or had a vaccine or plan to. Sotik 2 inhibits Tic 2, which is part of the JAK family. People 50 and older with heart disease risk factors who use a JAK inhibitor are at increased risk for certain side effects, sometimes fatal.

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To learn more, go to safeplacetosleep.org today. First one up, Herm Edwards on October 30th, 2002, after a week 8 loss to the Cleveland Browns. Here is Play to Win the Game, as told by Victor Newmany.

Well done. That's number one. Next up, on October 16th, 2006, after the Cardinals blew a 20 point lead against the Bears on Monday Night Football, Dennis Green, they are who we thought they were, as portrayed by Victor Newmany. Bears are who we thought they were, you know? That's why we took the damn field. Now, if you want to crown them, then crown their ass. But they are who we thought they were.

And we let them off the damn hook. Very good. Very well done. All right, last one for you. I can feel it. I can feel it.

I'm glad that we got it rolling, because here's the last one. I can feel it. On May 7th, 2002, the famed practice press conference of one Allen Iverson, as recounted by the man who plays Victor Newman, Eric Braden, hit it. I mean, listen, man. You're doing my practice, okay? Not a game. It's not a game. Not a game, all right?

Not a game that I go out there and die for and play every game like it's my last. I know it's important. Yeah, I do. I do. I do.

I honestly do. But we're talking about practice, man. What are we talking about? Practice.

We're talking about practice, man. Welcome back to the Rich Eisen Show. I'm sitting at the Rich Eisen Show desk, furnished by Grainger, with supplies and solutions for every industry. Grainger's got the right product for you.

Call clickgrainger.com or just stop by and clean my husband's office for me so I don't lock him out of the house. Hi, Bruce. How are you? Hello. How are you?

How are you? I have my own sign. You have your own sign? I mean, I put Rich's over here. I take off the best dad ever because, let's face it, who was the one at 3 a.m. dealing with the kids last night? Oh, my God. Yeah, he doesn't get credit for that.

I will say this, and you're not surprised, Rich is a great dad and incredibly hands-on, but I'm just saying, like, you know... Needs to keep it kept on track. Yeah.

Get out the whips. How are you, Bruce? What's going on? I'm doing good. I'm doing good. I'm doing good.

Best dad ever is alma mater is going on. It's like constantly. It's crazy. Bruce, I mean, it sounds so simple to say this. What the heck is going on?

I mean, because every day we're getting little, little bits of information as opposed to one collective release so we actually know. So all we are left to do is surmise, in your opinion, what is really happening at the University of Michigan? I think there's a lot of angst right now inside Michigan because you have this team that is a great team with all these veteran leaders who've come back.

They have dominated everybody they played, and yet this is now going to hang over the rest of the season because there's a lot of what seems to be damning evidence that is mounting about signal stealing that goes into the category of advanced scouting, which is different than the signal stealing that is normally kind of accepted as part of college football and football in general, which is the in-game stuff. Connor Stallions, he's a 28-year-old Naval Academy grad who was on staff. He wasn't a position coach. He has since been suspended, but this was a guy who had a reputation inside the program as being very, very good at cracking another team's signals, and it's something he took pride in.

As somebody who knows him a little bit, that wasn't a secret. Now the part that's different here is that there seems to be documentation that is piled up showing him buying tickets to, it seems like, have people or himself film a team's signals ahead of time, and that is definitely against the rules, especially if he's doing it. How much of an advantage does it give Michigan? I think it depends on who you talk to among the coaching world, because there's a lot of coaches who feel like, okay, this is wrong, but also some of this has gone on in pockets. We've just never seen as high profile of a situation where it seems to have come to light, and how quickly will the NCAA be able to... I don't want to get out in front of it, but my sense, and we've talked about this on the show with Rich, is that Jim Harbaugh, who's obviously danced with the NFL a couple of times the last two years, and he has a really good record as an NFL head coach in the past, will bounce after this season, and the stuff that he's already in the middle of the NCAA hot water with in terms of COVID violations during the COVID dead period from a few years ago, that they won't be able to do anything to him, and they may be able to add sanctions to his alma mater, Michigan, but what happens with this?

Will he get out in front of him, or if Michigan wins the national title, is that something that could be taken away? I don't think anybody has any answers to this right now. I mean, I have so many questions to follow up. I want to ask you about sloppy forensics, but when you say that, I said this earlier, it just makes me think of the years at USC when they went on with the Reggie Bush, Carson Palmer years, and Pete Carroll bounced for Seattle, and left behind a whole hot mess behind him.

What are the similarities to you? In the case of that, Reggie Bush's case... USC really kind of thumbed its nose at the NCAA, and a lot of times schools are very, or seemingly cooperative with the investigation. That was not the case with USC, and the NCAA hammered USC after that, and it was really about the case with Reggie, and what was weird there was you had an NFL agent who was trying to get Reggie, and there were benefits involved, and the curious part of that, or I don't know if it's ironic, but they were really trying to do something to get Reggie to leave, and when he left, it wasn't like, hey, these are benefits to come to USC, and that's where it kind of blew up in their face, and they hammered them.

This... I personally do not feel like, okay, Reggie lost his Heisman. I don't feel like that is... People are looking at it going, oh, yeah, USC didn't win those games or whatnot. In this case, I think you will have some people argue, hey, they're winning some of these games because they have the answers to the test ahead of time, and that's the part that falls into the competitive balance. I think it depends on how many coaches you talk to and who you talk to, certain coaches feel a lot more strongly about that than others, but that's the benefit of the doubt that Michigan is going to lose in a lot of people's eyes. And you saw that Deion Sanders said it doesn't really matter, you have to be better.

He talked about his Cowboys, everybody knew what they were going to do, Emmitt Smith was going to run the ball, Michael was going to go ball out, but Michigan's in a position in which they have really talented guys who could go on to win the championship. Number one, how fast will the NCAA work? Number two, will it be the NCAA or will it be the Big Ten? And number three, what does it say for this season? I mean, I never like to ask three questions in a row, but my head's exploding.

So let me get to the... I would be surprised, it could be the Big Ten, I would be surprised if it was the Big Ten. Because from what I'd heard, I don't know how much the Big Ten has everything, whereas the NCAA may be out in front of this a little more. I just would be surprised if the Big Ten was going to shut down a flagship program like that at this point.

Yeah, they don't want to have... They want Michigan to be in the championship. They want the conference.

They do, and it benefits them, it benefits their brand, it just adds so much. I get it, they're going to get a lot of pushback from some of the schools in their conference. Now the other layers to this that I think are really interesting is if you're Michigan, and right now they've smashed schools, it hasn't been closed to anybody, but now pretty much their schedule falls into two games the regular season. It's Penn State, which is on the road, and Ohio State comes to play them. You have to think those schools are going to be so buttoned up, whether they're going to use wristbands or they're going to change all their signals, whatever intel that Michigan has or may have, it's probably not going to be applicable.

It's all changed now. Yeah. I think if you're a Michigan person, you're going to go, look, it's going to come down to that. I will say this, I talked to a coach on one of the Big Ten teams they've already beaten, and this coach was like, if they had anything on us, nothing out of the ordinary, they didn't have any calls or anything that was like... They just whipped us because they were a lot better than us. Now, last year, going into the Ohio State-Michigan game, I did a story where I talked to a lot of coaches who played both teams. One of the coaches I talked to who was a running back coach said this, and I didn't even think about this when this story broke last Wednesday, but a colleague of mine pointed this out in the story that I had where this coach said, Michigan had our stuff early. They had both sides of the ball.

They had all our signals. It kind of supports to some degree that there was advanced intel that they would have had. I just think it's just a fascinating story on a lot of levels, including the part which you said, which you were talking about before we came on, which is like, man, some of this stuff is really sloppy. You talked about the forensics piece of this.

That's the part where I'm like, okay, we've got a Naval Academy grad. It doesn't add up. This is not like the Galuli world of the Tonya Harding days of these are really sloppy characters and bad actors in here.

You just wouldn't think they would have it so traceable. That's exactly what we were saying, again, Bruce Feldman here on The Rich Eisen Show, Suzy Schuster in For Rich. That's what we were saying is that it's one thing to be cavalier and cocky.

It's another thing in 2023 to be using your personal credit cards to be a staff member of the Michigan football team and to be that lazy, that sloppy, which leads me to believe in some strange way. Was he just trying to boost his self-worth? Did he actually connect it to hardball?

Was he actually putting this into play? It feels way too Keystone cops and stupid, frankly. It does. Part of me is sitting there thinking about this just as like, I would guess I'm not great with technology. I am of that age where I'm just not. Your kids are probably more adept at certain things than Rich is, right?

No doubt. But he's not... Me and Del Tufo's age where it's like he's a 28-year-old who is trained in the military. You just think it defies a little logic on that part.

It almost feels like a strange plant. It's so insane, and I know it's not, let me make that clear, but it's so insane and so lazy for a military guy who's very bright, you would know. That part doesn't add up to me, right? I think there is a part of this where, from talking to people who know Conor pretty well, that this was something he took pride in. I know he took pride in this, and this was like the idea of, hey, here's a military guy. People can find stuff that he's written online or had written online in the past that kind of reflects this, something he took pride in. If this is something you're really, really good at and people know you're really, really good at and people you really respect, because obviously everything I've heard is he was a diehard Michigan fan long before he ever was on their sidelines, that, okay, what can I do to sharpen my skills?

What else can I do? Because if this is what you think about, coaches go to clinics, coaches do all these things to try to get better at their craft. Did he brainstorm? And again, I think there's plenty of people, you don't need to be an Ohio State fan to go like, okay, this definitely feels like Jim Harbaugh had to know. Head coaches have to know where the information is coming from.

This strains credibility to think that they would have no knowledge of what this guy, because at the end of the day, you have to trust this person who's giving you information going, yeah, you should call this or this is what they're doing here. Because why would you believe that person if they didn't have a track record of being extremely prescient? You have to wonder, you said the words which really set me up, diehard fan. It's very dangerous to put diehard fans on your staff, because that means they'll be desperate to have a win come. So they want to make themselves feel more relevant or more valuable or what have you.

And the minute you add a fan into the mix, you're playing with somebody who's willing to do almost anything that they can possibly do to be relevant. And people are saying now, well, what are you going to do? It's always been around, sign stealing, whether you're going to go. You can't obviously go on the road like he did in lineup tickets to steal these signs, but it's been around forever. So what's the answer? You cannot move, I don't think, to the NFL with having the in helmet, because not every campus can afford that.

I think that's a question. I've talked to coaches this week who are like, this is a five minute fix in terms of if they did go to the NFL model. And some teams use that in spring football.

It's just not cleared for in game. I think on the point you just made about the diehard fan and just thinking about this, like this years ago, but I remember talking, got some anonymous tips from some fan about some other schools cheating. And he was like, well, this school, this school would never cheat. I was like, any place where they have obsessed fans, they have the potential to have some kind of scandal, because all it takes is a couple of boosters with some money who want to show how important they are, feel that much more connected, that they can do some really shady stuff because players and their families are pretty accessible now.

Everybody knows who's getting recruited and who people think are valued recruits. So that part is not a stretch to think that that's the parallel that could happen. But in terms of a fix, I think it is a case of, look, if the NFL can make it happen, colleges, there's tons of money. Does that mean Division III schools can go to the NFL model or even FCS programs? Maybe not. But that's ultimately where the money is. So it's like if they can fix it, they probably need to fix it. It's just from what I've heard, there are some coaches out there who are like, they lean on that, that's stealing signals and that works to their benefit.

So maybe they do not want their ADs or their presidents at the end of the day to vote for those things to go through. Cruz Feldman joining us here on the Rich Eisen Show, you said follow the money and that takes me to USC. Unfortunately, that's a segue that just comes into my head. Obviously we know what's happening there, but what's your opinion on where you're seeing USC going with losses and the surprises? Do you think there's anything to the idea that Caleb Williams getting money in advance means he's just not as hungry as you would have been in the past to win because you already have a huge bankroll?

I don't think that that's it. I think what you have right now is you have a team that had a terrible defense last year. It's not much better now. You see like last week, they had a chance to finish off Utah. One of their talented former five-star recruits who came from Georgia has two really bad plays that end up costing them and give Utah more opportunity. I think you also see a team that's like, Caleb covered up a lot of flaws, not just on the defense, but on the offensive line, their offensive line is worse this year than it was last year. Going to see them play Notre Dame and South Bend a couple weeks ago, you could see physically they did not look like what an SE offensive line should look like. I think what happens is you can keep it on track for a while and Caleb's a phenomenal talent, but I think there's some flaws that eventually got exposed. I think you see a team that still is struggling with its identity because it's like for so long I think they can lean on, hey, we got the best player in college football. He's going to cover it up.

He's going to fix it. Well, against Notre Dame, they had five turnovers. He threw three picks in the first half and now all of a sudden that facade, if you want to call it that, was kind of punctured or fell apart and now like they played a Utah team that's a tough, physically and mentally tough team and they were not intimidated by USC at all because they beat them twice last year and then they ended up coming back to get them. Like, they'll play Cal this weekend, I think they'll win that game and then they have Washington next week.

Washington's loaded and Washington to me is a bad matchup for them because not only they have Michael Penix Jr. and a good system, but they have really good receivers and USC to me their biggest issue, micro, is that their defensive backs are not very good. They're not playing with much confidence. They don't tackle well. They just seem like they're not playing with a lot of confidence and I wonder if it's this, it's that they go up against Caleb Williams and some, you know, a lot of firepower every day at practice and maybe it's hard to build confidence that way. And yet you think that if you're spending this much money for a head coach, these are little, these are not, these are not little errors. These are obvious.

If you're spending this much money and putting this much money into a program, how do these flaws, how do these errors keep getting exposed? I think that it was, they went from whatever, they were four and eight to like an 11 wing team last year. They got a lot better. Certainly a lot of that was Caleb and a lot of that was Lincoln Riley bringing an identity on offense, but they, you know, like the schedule is a little harder this year than it was last year. I do think they're better on defense, but even it's not that much. And also like last year they would fall apart in the fourth quarter of games. That's just, it happened as the year went on.

I think that could happen now. Like, I mean, if they go nine and three, like they're better. It's just like they, I, I think in my own read, I thought they were going to be a playoff team cause I thought Caleb was that much better than everybody else. And I still think he is the best quarterback in the country, but you know, they, they're not good enough in a lot of places. They don't have that much of a margin for error, you know?

And so ultimately you're going to get got two or three times and I think that's what they are. And they just haven't, they just don't have enough good players. They do not have a good enough offensive line.

They don't have enough quality on defense. They're kind of undisciplined. They are undisciplined. I don't think they're kind of undisciplined. They are undisciplined cause that showed last week at late in the game and it shows at times. And those things, I think, you know, Lincoln Riley, those are the things he has to get right. That they, they, they need to be a more disciplined team. They need to recruit better on the offensive line.

The portal can help, but it couldn't do everything for them. Last question. At the end of the season, finish the sentence. Michigan football is going to.

That's a good question. Michigan football is going to drive a lot of eyeballs no matter what. I think, I think it's going to be really hard for the NCAA to get out in front of this. I like, the only thing I can compare it to is like about a decade ago or a dozen years ago, Cam Newton took college football by storm when he came from junior college back to the SEC. He was the best college football player I've ever seen and there was all kinds of drama about the NCAA was going to get them or whatever and they won a national title and it was almost all Cam Newton, right?

He was the only, like they had one other big time guy, Nick Farrelly, who was a draft guy. And if I'm not mistaken, they still got all that, you know, and he still got his Heisman and people can believe what they're, you know, how they feel about it. You know, the question is, can Michigan, I think they are like, if you asked me eight days ago, I think Michigan was going to, was the team I picked to win a national title.

I think J.J. McCarthy's playing at a really high level. I'm sure they will do the us against the world thing that it's not just Ohio against the world with, with Ryan Day. I think it's us against the world thing. I think the question again is, can the NCAA may, you know, like, man, what does that look like? I don't know. You know, I just, it's so, I could be wrong on this and I probably will be, but like, it just doesn't seem like the NCAA ever moves this fast. That's what I thought too.

Yeah. So I think at some point, you know, I think Jim Harbaugh wins. Jim Harbaugh leaves.

I don't know where, you know, I don't know if he goes to the Bears, I don't know if he goes to the Chargers, I don't know where he goes, but I don't think he's going to be there next year. And Rich Eisen cries, oh, he's going to lose his mind. You know, will he be conflicted if he wins the national title and then they lose the national title?

How does that work? I think it's going to be a nightmare all around. How about that? Is it a bigger nightmare than, than being two and five and losing to Ohio? They didn't even play Ohio State, the pandemic year-round. But is it, which is the worst nightmare to the huge Michigan fan to get, get thumped? Going to Ohio State, period, period. End of story.

Yes. Bruce, thank you for your time. I'll see you in a couple of weeks when Rich is in Germany. Sounds good. I enjoyed it. Good to see you.

Thanks again. We'll close up the second hour with The Rich Eisen Show. When we come back, I'm going to Amy Trask to start the third hour. Rich Eisen here. If you love football as much as we do here and want to be in the game every day, there's something the guys on my show have been enjoying. Prize Picks Daily Fantasy Sports, the number one daily fantasy sports app. Brockman, tell us about Prize Picks and your strategy this season. Rich, it's so fun and so easy. You know I love this stuff. You pick two or more players based on their stats and place their entry.

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Visit prizepicks.com for restrictions and details. Suzy Schuster and Amy Trask present offbeat conversations and expert sports commentary as they ask, what the football? When my family found out how long it took me to figure out why Charles Woodson named his wine Intercept, they said, there's a reason that you had trouble in school. You know, not everyone knows, you know, when I think about a little intercept, they don't know that I play football.

Well, what I've learned is a smooth defensive back can make smooth wine. That's what it's all about. What the football with Suzy Schuster and Amy Trask.

The podcast is available Tuesdays, wherever you listen. We have something called celebrity true or false, if you wouldn't mind letting this know if some of these things are true or false, you spent seven years living in Greece as a teenager. Is that a true story? Uh, yeah, that's, that's true.

That is true. I went to high school. I graduated high school there. My dad was with the American embassy when I was a kid. We were actually in Beirut, Lebanon, uh, and the war got evacuated from, uh, from Beirut to Athens, Greece.

My dad got reassigned to the embassy there and was there for actually six years, not seven. No kidding. So are you fluent in Greek? Was that, what, what did you just say? I don't know. I couldn't tell you. No, I, I said I speak a little Greek, but, uh, you know, I, we, I, my wife and I took our kids over there a few years ago and, uh, I, I definitely got yelled at by a few people when I was in, you know, trying to overextend my command of the language, but I could get around.

Well, you know, if it doesn't matter, if it has nothing to do with Giannis these days as a sport at Tedecumpo, we have no idea as a sports about whether you were talking Greek or not, unless we don't hear that name. Can you, I don't know what you're talking about. You don't even know right now. What I'm talking about. What do you mean?

Giannis, the NBA player. Oh, okay. Yeah. Yeah.

Sure. Well, yeah. I mean, yeah. Giannis, Sid, that's John, as you know.

Actually, I did not know that. Yeah. Giannis is George. Giannis is John.

So he's John at Tedecumpo. That's right. That's right. I had no idea.

I don't think you're telling the truth. I swear I am. Yeah. For sure. Giannis. Absolutely. So should I just call him Johnny A from now on?

From now on, you can. Johnny A. My guy from the Bucks. Johnny A. I'm like a Wikipedia page for you. You are. How have you guys survived on the show all these years without me? Well, I just got to, we've got to get you on more. Sorry. I was busy texting to try to get Cooper on the horn here so that I can tell him not to listen to Chris Brockman.

This is going to be a dicey. I've never actually had a kid on. What are you talking about?

To interview on a show before. We've never had that. No. No. Because I always say you can't have one of the kids on when- He's not just a kid. He's your kid. Hey, Coopie, are you on, buddy? Yeah, I am. Oh, there he is. Hey, Coopie.

Cooper. What's up, brother? Hi, sweet guy. Come on. How's your flex day from school today?

It's good. We were on the way to school and then Taylor said she had a sore throat, so we had to go back home. Oh, so you had to get up early to take Taylor to school only for her not to go to school? Exactly. This is a rough day.

Cooper, you're basically like Kawhi Leonard. You're getting load managed from school right now. You can handle a load management, right? A little day off is good for you, right, Coop? Yeah, totally. Get your work done, rest up.

Especially Ferris Bueller. Eat some protein. Coop, let me tell you this, and thank you for joining us, Cooper Eisen on The Rich Eisen Show. Cooper, be really careful of Chris Brockman because he has a trade suggestion for you, and I will throw this to Chris Brockman, but Coopie, do.

Yes. You don't have to take the trade, you hear me? He's adjacent to Tatum because he's a Celtics fan.

Cooper, you know, I've known you since you couldn't speak, okay? You're a Celtics fan just like me. You had the fifth pick in our fantasy draft. I knew you were taking Tatum. You took him last year.

I knew it was happening. However, I want to make you an offer. I want to acquire Tatum from you, okay? Anyone on my team is available. However, I am going to generously offer Kevin Durant and LeBron James for Jason Tatum.

What do you say to that offer? I'll think about that. I think that's kind of interesting, but everyone's saying LeBron James is too old. I don't know about that. He's had some good games, and also we saw Austin Reeves, he had a good game yesterday. Cool.

Kevin Durant does seem really interesting, but I am a Jason Tatum fan, but I will definitely think about that. Okay. So it's not a no. You sure, Cooper? Are you sure? You sure? Yeah.

Yeah. How would that help you, Cooper, though? Because Chris just thinks about himself, so how would that actually help you? I think it would help me because I think both Kevin Durant and LeBron James can really get like double doubles and stuff like that. They can both get like 30-point games. Tatum doesn't really get as much double doubles as both of them do, and I also need the problem. And he's offering me two forwards, four of four, and LeBron James can also play guard along with.

So he does make a good point. So hold on, TJ, really quickly, and then I'm going to throw it to TJ. Coop, if he's going to do this with you, you need to have cash or swag as part of the package. Wow. Yeah. Cash. Cash consideration. TJ, real quick for Cooper.

Coop, real quick. What Brockman is trying to do to you, buddy, is he's trying to subtract Celtics from you, right? That's what he's trying to do. You're a Celtics fan. But I've got Porzingis, so I may be willing to add Celtics to your squad. See, that's subtraction.

This is addition. So that's all I'm saying is Porzingis could be available if the price is right. I mean, I do have four centers, so maybe not. Oh, he has four centers. Cooper, I also have Derek White. I could throw him in the mix, and we can do a three for two. I don't think Derek White's going to get as much playing time with the new roster, especially like J. Roo Holiday's going to get more playing time as well.

Well, Derek White's starting tonight, Cooper. We open against the Knicks. Let's go. Just see how it goes first. Porzingis, Coop.

See how it goes. That's a soda coming to your team, not subtracting from your team. Coop, you don't have to do anything that you don't want to do. You hear me?

Mommy said you don't have to do that. I think the trade that I'm more leading to is Chris's trade, because it's two players for one, and especially because I have four centers. The reason why I got four centers is for block reasons. He has a better trade, because Tatum is my number one pick, but the Wren and LeBron James are both really solid players. All right, Coop. Don't rush into it. Don't commit anything with Chris Brockman. You hear me? Think about it and mull it over. Porzingis, Coop.

You don't have to go anywhere. Coopie, before we lose you, World Series prediction, Coop, because you love this one. I think really Rangers in six, because I think it's just a better matchup for them, especially with the pitching. The Diamondbacks also might have trouble against the Rolledge Chapman, because my dad gets super annoyed because they say, he throws strikes, he throws strikes, and he gets it so bad. But I thought you loved the Diamondbacks, Coop. I do really like this Diamondbacks team, but I think it's a better matchup leading for the Rangers. I felt like Rangers in six or Diamondbacks in seven. I really like watching these Diamondbacks. All right, so do you want to go with Rangers in six or Diamondbacks in seven?

You got to pick one. I think Rangers in six is going to be it. I agree with you, Coop.

Rangers in six. Let's go. Hey, listen, I'm teaching him early.

He's got to be decisive in his decisions here. Coop, you're awesome. You crushed it. Go to Vito's for lunch. Porzingis, Coop. I don't know if I'm going to Vito's for lunch. Where are you going to go for lunch, Coop? I don't know if I am.

I have no clue. All right, you get to pick. He's got his whole day. Great job. Flex, Coop.

Don't pressure him. All right, Coop, thanks for joining us here on The Rich Eisen Show. See you at home, honey. Later, buddy. Hey, buddy.

Hey, from Cooper to Amy Trask, what a show. Every Monday, Rich Eisen and Chris Brockman react to what's happening in the world of football on overreaction Monday. Dolphins, Final Four AFC team.

Oh, that is not an overreaction at all. I'm with you. You're in. I am in. The other three Final Four teams. If you ask me to call my shot, this is the overreaction Monday podcast. Call your shot. Entertainment purposes only.

Unless I'm right. Chiefs. Dolphins. Bills. Ravens. Ravens. Final Four. On overreaction Monday, the podcast, wherever you listen.