REShow: Hour 2

Oh my God, you guys are my favorites. This is The Rich Eisen Show. The one and only Rich Eisen. I know what I'm talking about.

That's the headline. The Rich Eisen Show with guest host Dan Schwartzman. OMG. Live from the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles. Oh my gosh. And now sitting in for Rich, it's Dan Schwartzman. All right, it is hour number two of The Rich Eisen Show.

Dan Schwartzman in for Rich on this Black Friday. All you shoppers out there. Fending out there in the parking lots. I actually went to Costco a couple days ago and the parking lot was an absolute nightmare. But I do have to say they're very efficient inside. I like efficiency. I'm like, you know, like German cars are very efficient, right? Like to me, the inside of Costco is efficient.

I like to see stores that run well despite like high volume. They don't make you feel like you're there forever. That's just me.

Maybe I have no patience, whatever it may be. We got a lot to get into. We're going to talk about college football this hour.

Matt Fortuna, founder of the Inside Zone, is going to join us a bit later on this hour. A lot to get into with college football. You know, the whole Jim Harbaugh situation.

Also, who really is the best team right now? Seem to be a lot of parody right now in college football. Does Jimbo Fisher have a career as a college head coach moving forward at a decent school? Or if you're Jimbo, you're still collecting what, 75 million bucks over the next like seven years or something? Why would you work? Call me lazy, but if I had that kind of money coming my way to do literally nothing, would I work? Does Jimbo Fisher have anything to prove? Maybe, but do you care about proving yourself? Or do you care about making that money?

I don't know. I mean, it kind of feels nice to be retired with that kind of money still remaining on the deal that they have to pay out. I would travel. I'd sleep in.

I'd do whatever the heck I want. It's like getting social security, but a much higher number every couple of weeks, right? That social security check every month for Jimbo Fisher.

It doesn't compare to what he's getting from Texas A&M to not coach. So we'll get into all that with Matt Fortuna. But I want to get into the Jets real quick, all right? They're playing here two hours from kickoff. Tim Boyle is quarterbacking the Jets today.

Exactly. Who the hell is Tim Boyle? I don't know. Eastern Kentucky guy? Some team seem to like him.

Big guy, by the way. I don't think any Jet fan thought that Tim Boyle would start for them, especially when they went out and got Trevor Simeon. Unless Trevor Simeon has some sort of illness, it makes absolutely no sense why he's not the starting quarterback. He has actually started in the NFL more so than a handful of games, which is exactly what Tim Boyle has done. He started, what, three games in Detroit.

Didn't win one, I believe. Didn't exactly play well. He's been playing for a long time. Didn't exactly play well.

Came in, what, last week and did nothing. In garbage time against the Bills when Zach Wilson was mercifully benched. But that all has to come down to Robert Salah and Joe Douglas. Now, I'm a Jet fan, right? So is Rich. And I've been a Joe Douglas fan.

And maybe I shouldn't be. But he's made some nice moves. And maybe I'm comparing him to previous general managers like Mike McKagnan and John Idzik, who were complete disasters, running this organization into the ground. Tannenbaum did a fairly good job, had the Vernon-Goldston draft, but overall did a fairly good job. And then it went downhill. And, you know, Douglas drafted Zach Wilson, who's going to go down in history as a monumental bust. And maybe you could say, well, it was during COVID and they couldn't do in-person scouting as much.

OK, maybe. And it's not like the quarterback's taken after him or any good. Trey Lance is also a monumental bust. Maybe even more than Zach Wilson because the 49ers gave up so much to get him, to move up to get him. And he literally has never really played. Zach Wilson at least has played, right?

That's got to win you something. OK, he hasn't played well, but he's at least played. You know, Justin Fields. I'm not a fan of Justin Fields. And if the Bears have a top two pick, they're going to draft May from North Carolina, or they are going to go out there and they are going to draft Caleb Williams, OK? They're going to draft somebody. So the reality is, I think the Justin Fields error may be coming to an end in Chicago at some point because the current head coach and GM didn't draft him.

And then who else, right? Mac Jones. I think, you know, reports say what? That the Patriots could go after Kirk Cousins this offseason? It's because Mac Jones hasn't done much for them. So maybe there is some truth to the fact that due to COVID and the lack of in-person scouting, whatever it may be, teams missed on quarterbacks.

They didn't have as much an opportunity to look at him. But whatever, that's on Joe Douglas's resume that he drafted Zach Wilson. Mackay Becton, when healthy, has been fairly good, but he's never healthy. So is that a good draft pick?

No. The second round picks, Denzel Mims, Elijah Moore, two wide receivers, he whiffed on both of them. Now, last year's draft was really good.

Let's not kid ourselves. And that's like a legendary first four picks, right? Sauce Gardner, one of the top defensive players in the NFL. Garrett Wilson, one of the top wide receivers in the NFL. Jermaine Johnson had a rough rookie year.

He's been tremendous this year. He's going to be a really, really good defensive end for years to come, slash outside linebacker. And Breece Hall, who's a top running back in the NFL, first running back taken that year, and clearly a stud. So he had a really nice 2022 draft, and that's added a good influx of talent to the Jets, to where a guy like Aaron Rodgers looks at the roster and says, I want to go there. He's had some really good free agent signings. Bryce Huff was a undrafted rookie free agent out of Memphis.

Great signing. He's a really, really disruptive pass rusher. In fact, he is going to be a hot commodity as a free agent this offseason. The Jets may franchise tag him and trade him, and they can probably get a fairly decent draft pick or player. Maybe he's packaged in a Devante Adams deal.

Who knows? Quincy Williams, Quinnen's brother, was picked up off the scrap heap after he was released by the Jacksonville Jaguars. This might be a third round pick, and Quincy Williams should be a probable middle linebacker this year.

He's unbelievably great. DJ Reed was a fantastic free agent signing as a cornerback, a guy that played for, what, the 49ers and Seattle. He has been an all-pro caliber player. If you watch a Jets-Bills game last week and they had the Pro Football Focus rankings, he was ranked the number one quarterback in football. So a lot of positives for Joe Douglas. But when you continuously miss on the quarterback, that's a big knock on your resume.

Because ultimately, without a decent quarterback, you're not going to win a Super Bowl, and that's what everybody should be striving for in the NFL. And Zach Wilson is a huge whiff. And the fact is, he didn't go out there and get a Joshua Dobbs, who Minnesota gave a sixth round pick.

Wasn't it? They traded a sixth for Dobbs and a seventh. The guy walks in there that week, doesn't know the playbook, doesn't even know, have his teammates, and he's won two games since, right?

So you're telling me that the Jets couldn't give up a sixth round pick for Joshua Dobbs and he's not an improvement over Zach Wilson slash Tim Boyle slash Trevor Simeon? That's a whiff. To not go out there and get yourself a veteran quarterback that has some substance this offseason, especially when Aaron Rodgers went down four plays in and you stick with Zach Wilson, you don't sign a Carson Wentz, you don't go out there and bring in anybody?

That's a whiff. So while, yes, Aaron Rodgers going down, buys Robert Sala at least another year, and probably Joe Douglas gets another year, that's it. It's hot seat time. Come on, guys.

It's hot seat time. You can't be losing all kinds of games. I mean, Joe Douglas' record as a Jets GM is atrocious. Robert Sala's record as the head coach of the Jets is atrocious. Robert Sala's record as the head coach of the Jets is atrocious. And he looks like a nice guy and I actually think he's actually a fairly good head coach. But the Nathaniel Hackett hiring, I understand that's more Aaron Rodgers, but still that's on your resume.

That's a big blotch. He's a terrible offensive coordinator. And if it wasn't for Aaron Rodgers, he probably would have been fired already and should be fired. So overall, I mean, look, the Jets defense has been pretty good this year to the point where if they had a half-decent offense, they're making the playoffs. And I only mean a half-decent offense. I don't even mean great or even good, just adequate, an adequate offense.

And they probably win 11 games, 10 games. They've had injuries on the offensive line, but there's another aspect of this when it comes to Joe Douglas. OK, he did what? He signed Roger Saffold out of retirement? That's the move to make when your offensive line is as porous as it's been with guys going down with season-ending injuries like Elijah Veron-Tucker?

OK, how'd that work out? Terrible, your quarterbacks are running for their lives. Zach Wilson was pressured on 40% of his dropbacks last week.

No one's winning with that. And the most telling thing for Robert Salah is the Jets defense against Buffalo last week flat out quit. Flat out quit. Flat out quit. They stopped playing.

There was no discipline. Stupid penalties, which you've seen for the last month. Sauce Gardner, uncharacteristic stupid penalty when he body-slammed Stephon Diggs.

Body-slammed him. Come on, you're a first-team-all pro. You're a top player and you're in the second year of your NFL career.

You can't be losing your cool like that. That's how the coach is. So if Robert Salah loses the defense, and that's his calling card, and he's considered a player's coach, right?

He is considered a player's coach. If the defense truly quit, we're going to find out in a couple hours if they've quit or not, because this is a really good offense they're facing. Tyree kills a stud.

Two attack of Ai Loa is pretty darn good. If they play the way they did against Buffalo last week, they're losing this game and they're going to give up a bunch of points. And then you know that defense is quit because they just can't put up with the fact that regardless of what they do, they're not winning games because they're getting no help from the offense. Robert Salah has got to show that he can keep this team together. And if he can't do that, how has he deserved another year?

If he can't do that, it's time for a coaching change. And that's a desirable job because look, you have Aaron Rodgers for another year or two, right? I think Aaron Rodgers getting traded after Green Bay gave up on him, motivated him. I think Aaron Rodgers would have had a big year this year, if not for the injury.

And I think now coming back from the injury where he's working unbelievably hard, where apparently he could be back practicing in two weeks or a week and a half from now, will motivate him even further to prove the doubters who say he's too old and at this point, he just can't come back from this injury. So if you're somebody that is looking to get, you know, if you're a fairly hot name out there as a coach and the Jets job opens up on Black Monday because Robert Salah gets fired, it's not a bad job. A marquee defense, a tremendous running back. You have a heck of a wide receiver in Garrett Wilson. There's a good possibility they go after Devante Adams. The Aaron Rodgers connection there probably could get him if the Jets are willing to meet some sort of a price. Maybe it's a second round pick, maybe it's Bryce Huff in a second round pick. If you're the Raiders and you get offered Bryce Huff in a second round pick, you probably take that. Because I mean, you know, in today's NFL, people just don't give up a lot for veteran wide receivers with big salaries, regardless of how good they still are.

So ultimately, it's just, you know, it's time to put these guys on a hot seat. You got to win games in the NFL. This isn't a feel-good league. This isn't a league you look around and you say, hey, you know, they got talent and they've gotten banged up and because of that, let's give them another year.

At some point, you got to stop giving people another year. At some point, you have to say, this isn't the place that's going to win us a Super Bowl and it's time to find that person who is. Or it's, you know, this guy's done a decent job drafting players and bringing them in and our talent level has certainly increased. And look, if Joe Douglas took over the Jets, that was a ridiculously bad roster. You know, I've looked at that roster when Jameson Crowder is your top receiver, your secondary is led by a guy named Javelin Guidry.

When that's the case, look, it's tough to win games. I get it and you have to revamp an entire roster. He traded Jamal Adams, which is a brilliant move. He's done nothing with Seattle. He can't stay on, he can't stay off the, you know, he can't stay on the field. And Garrett Wilson to Jet because they traded Jamal Adams.

Elijah Vera-Tucker is a Jet because they traded him. They gave up on Sam Darnold and rightfully so. I think Sam Darnold ran his course and look, he's just not good.

He wasn't good his final year at USC, always a turnover machine. That continues to be a big deal. That continued into the NFL. And they got a second round pick, which they then packaged with a fifth round pick. They moved up in a trade with the Giants and they drafted Breece Hall.

And that's been a home run pick because he's a home run hitter. So overall, look, there's been some good things and Joe Douglas can definitely look at his resume and say, I did this, this and that. But if you can't settle a quarterback position that has not been settled for the Jets since really Joe Namath, that's a problem. Because that's also the problem with the Bears. The Bears haven't had a really a top quarterback since Sid Luckman.

And you're talking the 1940s and 50s, right? Jim McMahon was decent. He was a good game manager.

He had one of the greatest, if not the greatest defense in history on the other side. And a guy named Walter Payton, you're gonna win games with that. That's like the Trent Dilfer Syndrome, right? Dilfer had a legendary defense and they won a Super Bowl in Baltimore because of that. So overall, the Jets job would be a little bit different.

A good job if it does open up. And again, I think Robert Salah does get himself that gets that one more year because the Aaron Rodgers situation, I think Joe Douglas as well, but they go into next year on the hottest seat potentially in the NFL, really. That's gotta be the hottest seat in the NFL.

It has to be, no question about it. All right, college football, the season rolls on. Some top 25 action going on today. Has it been a tougher year to get interested in college football this year? Do you feel yourself as interested this year as in previous years? I'll tell you why to me, it's been a bit harder to get into the college football season this year than in previous years. There actually is one good reason for it.

It's a little biased, but I think it's a valid reason. I'll tell you what that is coming up next. It is of course, Black Friday, Dan Schwartzman in for Rich Eisen here on the Rich Eisen Show. On the Rich Eisen Show. Let's talk Audible people. Audible lets you enjoy all of your audio entertainment all in one app. Titles in every kind in all categories. Wellness, bestsellers and new releases as well as podcasts and originals. And Audible members can keep one title a month from the entire catalog.

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It's so easy to just listen. New members can try Audible now free for 30 days. Visit audible.com slash Eisen or text Eisen to 500-500. That's audible.com slash E-I-S-E-N or text E-I-S-E-N to 500-500 to try Audible free for 30 days. Back on the Rich Eisen Show. It's of course the radio network. I'm Dan Schwartzman 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 clickrainger.com or just stop by. Dan Schwartzman in for Rich on this Black Friday. College football season rolling along. A couple of top 25 teams in action. And I'm a huge college football fan. I would always talk to guys I've worked with in the past, ex-NFL players, and I tell them Saturdays are better than Sundays.

And then people are like, no, you're crazy. Listen, I was born and raised on the East Coast and college football, especially Northeast, is not as big, right? If you're in the New York-Boston area, you've never witnessed top-notch college football on a consistent basis. Penn State's kind of far away.

So who are you rooting for? Maybe Syracuse for a time period, Boston College in the Glen Foley years. Overall though, you're not talking, Rutgers had a nice run with Greg Schano years ago where they were what, a top five team for a couple of weeks, right?

Great. But overall, there's nothing that you look at and say it's Alabama or Georgia or USC or one of these blue blood top schools. And this year, again, I'm a bigger college football fan than NFL fan. I've actually found myself more enjoying the NFL than college football.

And I kind of racked my brain for a while and thought to myself, why is that? Like, why am I, as a guy who's loved college football so much, at 25, I moved down South to Alabama for a radio job. And the 2005 Alabama football season, I went to every home and away game except for the trip to Hawaii. It wasn't a great Alabama team. I think Brody Croyle was a quarterback. Mike Shula was the head coach. Wasn't a great team, but still, when you do that SEC circuit and you travel around in an RV, which is what we did, you become a passionate college football lover, which I did. I became a passionate college football fan. But this year I've kind of been like, eh, ho hum.

And I racked my brain and I think I have figured out why that is, okay? I'm looking at the top 10. Let's go with the college football playoff rankings. Georgia, eh, they're always there. Ohio State, eh, they're always there.

Michigan, they're always there. All right, Washington's up there, number four. Florida State's number five. Oregon's number six. Texas, seven. Alabama's eight, always there. Missouri, okay, they're number nine.

Who cares? Louisville's number 10, okay. It's good to see Texas back, but it's not like, hey, great to see you.

It's like, where have you been, right? You're Texas. You are located in one of the most fertile recruiting grounds in all of America of high school football talent. Like it's been an embarrassment with guys like Charlie Strong and others that Texas could not succeed for years. Texas should always be in the conversation for a national championship, just because of the money that school has, the resources. It's one of the richest schools in America.

Plenty of oil money. And again, they recruit in some incredible, incredibly talented high school football areas. Tremendous facilities. Come on, Texas should always be in that conversation the way Alabama is. Georgia's been ridiculous under Kirby Smart.

He's incredible. Ohio State's Ohio State. Michigan, okay, Jim Harbaugh's brought him back.

Awesome. It's good to see Florida State back in contention, right? I mean, they were a disaster after Bobby Bowden. They just weren't the same. And they went from being a blue blood to really not being one for a while. And now they're back. Maybe they're not a blue blood because they don't have the 100-year tradition, but they certainly are college football royalty over the last 30, 40 years, right?

Absolutely. Every year under Bobby Bowden, they're a top five team, and they're now back. Although losing Jordan Travis to injury is going to potentially hurt him. But to see Washington and Oregon there at number four and six, that to me is the problem. Besides just the familiarity with the other schools here, like Georgia, Ohio State, Michigan is the top three, which kind of gets boring after a while, right? Every year it's the same schools.

But while Washington and Oregon deserve a ton of credit, and they have unbelievable talent at quarterback, and they're playing great football, and it's nice to see there's two factors against them. One is they're playing in a Pac-12 that's literally going away. The Pac-12 Conference is kaput. It's no more.

Goodbye. And two, they're playing on the West Coast. Now, before you jump all over me and say, well, what is that? Are you saying there's a West Coast bias? Yeah, there is a West Coast bias.

I'll tell you exactly why. There's a West Coast bias because of the fact that the majority of the population of America lives on the East Coast. That's just a fact. And most people on the East Coast are not watching Washington and Oregon play football.

They're not. But people on the West Coast have access to watch Georgia, Ohio State, Michigan, Florida State, Alabama, Texas, right? Because for the West Coasters living in the Pacific Time Zone, East Coast games are kind of convenient. You wake up at 9 a.m., boom, turn on noon kickoff. There you go. Alabama plays at 3 for you. You sit down for lunch, you watch Alabama football. Awesome. But on the East Coast, if Washington and Oregon are playing a night game, guess what? That's a 10, 10, 30 p.m. kickoff. Ain't happening.

Kids are sleeping. I'm dozing on the couch. Possibly a beer in hand, maybe not. But you get my drift? It's like when Ichiro was playing baseball in Seattle or Otani's playing baseball for the Angels. People on the East Coast can't watch it. We don't see the greatness. We hear about it. We look at the stats. We watch the highlights.

But if I had the opportunity to watch Otani every night, I would. Why? It's baseball history.

But I can't. Same with Washington and Oregon football. Being out West hurts. Because people on the East Coast just don't care. And there is a bias. Absolutely there is a bias. And it's perfectly fine. There's a geographic bias and it's understandable. It is absolutely understandable. There's nothing you can do about it unless you want kickoffs earlier.

So that's the issue as to why for me, college football is just not as exciting right now. And I have buddies out West. I do. When you're in this business, you meet people from all over.

Good buddy of mine does a radio show in Seattle and I follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter and Instagram. And he's all stoked for this year. And it's tons of excitement and yada, yada, yada. I get it. It's awesome for them. But he's out in Seattle, which feels like it's another country to me.

All right. If you're on the East Coast, Seattle feels like another country. Not another city in another state. It feels like another country. And that hurts.

It does. Penn State at number 11. I want to get into them for a second here. You know, Penn State's interesting. They really are. Okay.

We have to talk about James Franklin. We do. There's no ifs, ands, or buts. They're nine and two. They're third in the Big Ten. Awesome.

But you know what? That's what they always are. They're always that. Last year, they lose two games, right? Okay, great. In 2021, they did not have a good year. They lost a bunch of games. Okay. 2020, they were not very good.

So what point does James Franklin get left, let go? 2019, they lost two games. Okay. Ohio State, they lost.

Okay. I get it. They have a tough time. They lost Ohio State in 2020. They just don't seem to have that ability to beat Ohio State. They lost Ohio State in 2021. And they lost to Ohio State in 2022. And they lost to Ohio State in 2023. My point is, there comes a point for James Franklin when you aren't going to beat the good teams on your schedule, right? The last three years, at least, he has not beaten Michigan. The last time he beat Michigan was 2020.

At some point, you have to say to yourself, all right, James Franklin, you've done a good job, but it's not good enough. You cannot beat the good teams. You're beating the West Virginias and the Illinois and the Iowas and the Northwesterns of the world and the Indianas and Maryland's and Rutgers, and you'll probably beat Michigan State today, right? Okay, awesome.

Great. But we don't want to be in that class of beating those teams. We want to be in the class of beating Ohio State and beating Michigan every year, and they're not doing it. Penn State is a marquee football program that plays in front of 100,000 plus every week at Beaver Stadium.

So maybe it's time for Penn State to think a bit outside the box and say, James Franklin's not getting it done, let's go in a different direction. Or are they so afraid to make a move because they're happy with a two-loss season every year, competing for that top four, but really never quite getting in, are they happy with that? I have to think they're not. I have to think boosters and alumni are not happy with being a two-loss team. Being a two-loss team every year, looking up at the standings at Michigan and Ohio State. I have to believe they're not satisfied with that, right? Because why should they be?

It's not good enough. And I understand that old adage, the grass is not greener on the other side, right? It's not always greener on the other side.

I get that. And sometimes it's true. But sometimes you have to walk around and over that cliff to see the other side and take that risk. Sometimes you have to take a risk and say, maybe the next guy is going to do a better job. Maybe that next guy is going to bring us back to the prominence of pre-Jerry Sandoz. I mean, listen, I don't even know how to couch this, but you know, the success under Joe Paterno before the scandals. At some point, that's where a Penn State Nittany Lion fan wants to get back to, right? Truly every year vying for a national championship. But it's like clockwork.

You know they're going to lose to Michigan and you know they're going to lose to Ohio State and they're going to lose recruiting battles to those two schools and they're going to finish third in the Big Ten East every year. Whoop-de-doo. Awesome.

Wow. And we'll make a good bowl game. We'll make a nice New Year's bowl game. We're not playing in the playoffs and we're not playing for a national championship. At some point, that's not good enough.

And if you're a Penn State fan, you got to tell me right now. Come on, that's not good enough. You can't be sitting there telling me you're satisfied with this. So you're beating the teams on the schedule you're supposed to beat. Awesome. I get it. That's lovely.

That's wonderful. But it's about beating the teams that you have to beat to truly be an elite team. They're not doing that, okay? So if I am Penn State, goodbye James Franklin. And don't ask me who else to bring in. My point is, he hasn't done enough to stay there.

It's somebody else's job to go out and find the next person that's going to take you over the hump. Mark Richt did a nice job at Georgia, but it wasn't good enough. So they went out and got the hottest coordinator out there, a guy named Kirby Smart, who turned down job opportunity after job opportunity to stay on Nick Saban's staff at Alabama's defensive coordinator. And by the way, he was highly paid to do so. But he waited and waited and when that great job opened up, he took it and he has run with it. And he's won back-to-back national championships and they're number one again this year.

And he is a recruiting ace. But Mark Richt did a nice job and you could have been satisfied with that. My whole point is, you have to look at it very similar with Penn State.

James Franklin has done a nice job and his overall record is impressive, but it's not good enough. And I'm not one to sit there and say, I am pleased with mediocrity, right? I'm not pleased with just being good enough.

What I want is excellence. What I want is a national title. And he's been there since 2014 and he's had three seasons and it's going to be four. He's got four years, excuse me, and this is going to be five of double digit wins. And he's won 87 games and he's lost 38 games. And he's won 23 games over.500 in the Big Ten.

But he has never led this team to a ranking higher than seventh, okay? How many more years are you giving James Franklin? This is year number ten. That's enough. That's enough. Ten years is enough to understand if a guy is capable of winning you a national title or not.

And if you haven't done it in ten years, it's time to say bye-bye. He's not in the same class as Harbaugh, Day, Saban, Smart, or any of those people. He's not. He's in the next echelon of coaches.

It's good. It's just not good enough. So excuse me for not being happy with a guy who's won 11 games four times and will probably do it again this year. Because, for me, success at the level of being a Penn State is winning a national championship. And that's it. That's what defines you. That's what defines your greatness, okay? So there you have it.

Tyler, I hate to burst your bubble, you being a West Coast guy born and raised in Southern Cali, but it's the West Coast bias that has hurt college football, having Washington and Oregon play well this year, and the entire East Coast doesn't know it because they're not watching. Hate the title, my friend. Yeah, I totally hear that, and I get it.

I've been doing that with them my whole life. And you know what's funny, though? But when USC was great and had marquee players, it was a little bit different, right? Do you know what? That is very true. That is true. But you know why? Because they were sexy. They were. You had Lynard, you had Reggie Bush, I mean, they were sexy. Pete Carroll, all of it. Right, Pete Carroll. You had Will Ferrell on the sideline and stuff. Yes. It was Hollywood, it was different.

Yes, correct. Washington ain't Hollywood, Oregon ain't Hollywood, USC is Hollywood. See, I'm a believer that you need a good USC in college football. I want a competitive USC in college football. It's good for the sport. It puts West Coast football on the map. USC is that one school out West that can put West Coast football on the map because they are sexy. And I love the fight song, I have to tell you, I love the fight song. Sounds a bit better than that when the band does it, my friend. Of course.

I hate to tell you. But I do love Saturdays more than Sundays, but I do love Sundays as well. And remember, you can stream the NFL on Westwood One for free. It's sponsored by AutoZone. All season long, you can listen to every Westwood One broadcast, the NFL Live on the NFL app by asking Alexa to open WWO Sports or just Westwood One Sports or on your Westwood One affiliate station's digital platform. And if you want to see more of Westwood One, you can go to Westwood One.com and click on or on your Westwood One affiliate station's digital platforms. That's right, stream Kevin Harlan, Kurt Warner or Rich Eisen all season long for free and get in the zone with AutoZone.

AutoZone's free battery testing and charging is available for free at your local AutoZone. Get in the zone, AutoZone restrictions apply. More college football talk coming up.

Matt Fortuna of the Inside Zone. Is he going to agree or disagree with me that the West Coast bias has kind of hurt a little bit when it comes to the success of Washington and Oregon and not many people caring? He may rip me for that.

We'll find out. Dan Schwartzman on Black Friday, Infra Rich here on the Rich Eisen Show. All right, folks, let's talk about game time and let's talk about buying tickets to big time events because it can be worrisome. It can be time consuming and it can be expensive. So game time is the fast and easy way to buy tickets for all the sports, music, comedy and theater events near you. You can see the view from your seat before you buy so you know exactly what to expect when you arrive. They have all-in prices that show you your total up front so you know you're getting a great deal without hidden fees.

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Search B-L-E-A-V podcasts wherever you listen. is not. Kind of takes the sheen and luster off of some of those match-ups. Matt Fortuna of the Inside Zone joining us here on the Rich Eisen Show. Matt, you got to love Ohio State Michigan. Really one of the great rivalries in all of sports. In your opinion, who's got the advantage in this one?

It sure is. I actually just pulled into Ann Arbor a few minutes ago and I'm as excited as anyone for this game. I think the defense has the advantage to cop out on your question. I think it's going to be a low scoring game. We've got the top two scoring defenses in the country. Both are given up less than 10 points per game and both have some fairly concerning questions on the offensive side of the ball. So I expect a very low scoring game that would make Woody and Bowe proud.

Woody and Bowe, proud. Woody, of course, wore out his welcome at Ohio State with an incident. Jim Harbaugh potentially may have wore out his welcome in Ann Arbor with an incident. As we watch this game tomorrow, is there a sense that this could be the last time we see him as part of this rivalry? Well, we won't see him, right?

Good point. He will not be there. But in terms of being, quote unquote, the head coach of the Wolverines. I think that's a real possibility and I don't say that with any kind of inside information other than the fact that, hey, this guy spent each of the last two years trying to get an NFL job. And I'm sure that would look like an appealing option for him again after this season, regardless of how this turns out. One, because he's going to be facing another suspension whenever either of these NCAA investigations conclude.

And two, look, Michigan's Michigan. They will still be good. They should always be good. But everything that Jim Harbaugh and this program built toward was for this season.

They should not be as good, at least on paper, next year as they have been this year. So I think you put all those factors together, it's certainly a possibility that Jim Harbaugh would be off to the NFL next year. But also hasn't he kind of worn out the welcome? He seems to do that everywhere he goes, regardless of success, right? He takes the 49ers to a Super Bowl.

He's widely successful there. And yet it doesn't end well. And here Michigan seemingly it's a similar situation where when the NFL comes calling Michigan runs and says, let's keep him, let's keep him.

I'm not sure they're going to do that as heavily this offseason. I think maybe it's run its course. Is this maybe what it is where that relationship is kind of breaking?

I don't think the relationship is breaking. I mean, I think he's one of their own, right? And I think, frankly, that's the only reason he kept his job after 2020 when they went just two and four and he had to restructure his staff and he had to take a pay cut. So I think being a legendary player here, being a big part of the community, he gets the benefit of the doubt in a way an outsider maybe wouldn't. And look, let's face it. They're on the brink of winning their third straight big time championship. And while people outside of Ann Arbor may have some questions about how they achieved those accomplishments, it's a very noteworthy accomplishment here at University of Michigan. And if he can beat Ohio State, and I say he, Michigan can beat Ohio State for the third straight year, that's nothing to seize out of me. We'll be asking these questions about Ryan Day if he loses a third straight time to Michigan, more than we will about Jim Harbaugh.

Fair point there. Matt Fortuna of the Inside Zone joining us here on the Rich Eisen Show. Dan Schwartzman in for Rich on this Black Friday. What really kind of kills me about these games tomorrow is I'm a big Iron Bowl guy spending a year and a half down in Alabama, but Auburn's just not very good. And I think Florida, Florida State's always a fun rivalry. It's great to see Florida State back, but no Travis, and of course, Florida's just not good. Does both those games and the fact that two of the teams that usually are pretty good aren't very good hurt rivalry Saturday to a point?

A little bit. I think we might make up for it tonight with Oregon State, Oregon, especially for possibly the last time. The Auburn-Alabama one's interesting because Hugh Freeze historically did have Nick Saban's number, obviously that is at Ole Miss with better players than he has in year one in Auburn. But I do think, and you could speak to this better than I can, I do get a sense from the Alabama fans I know of, boy, these wounded Tigers are dangerous Tigers, right? Like they may have just lost to a group of five team, a bye game last week at home to New Mexico State, but that makes them that much scarier and that much more dangerous against an Alabama team that has everything to play for still with a chance to still win the SEC and make the playoff next week.

But certainly I'm expecting Alabama to win that one. And yeah, Florida, Florida State, I mean, both quarterbacks are out. You just feel for Florida State right now. I mean, this was a dream season for them with a guy who had a chance to get to New York at the Heisman Finals and Jordan Travis.

You hate to see him go down with a gruesome injury like that and really end his college career that way. But that certainly has taken off some of the luster of tomorrow night's game in the swamp. Let me tell you the mentality of the Alabama fans saying what you just said. I think it's to give themselves a little cover if the Crimson Tide somehow lose because there's no way in heck this team should lose, right? I mean, come on, they should not lose to Auburn and they give themselves that little bit of room with that wiggle room to say, well, you know, Auburn's not really that bad. So it was somewhat expected. It makes them feel a little better if it does, in fact, happen, but it won't.

All right, let's get that out of the way. They're not going to lose to Auburn. I just talked a bit ago and maybe you can yell at me and say I'm wrong, but I'm a huge college football fan.

I tell everybody Saturdays are better than Sundays, but I just haven't felt it as much this year. Maybe because at the top of the college football playoff rankings, it's the usual teams and then you have Washington and Oregon. As great as they are, they're both on the West Coast.

The majority of the population in America lives on the East Coast. They're not watching Washington. They're not watching Oregon. They're not seeing the brilliance of those two quarterbacks play. To me, that kind of hurts, right? To me, it kind of hurts college football that while you have these two teams playing great football and they're fun to watch, not a lot of people are watching them, unfortunately, because no one's watching them on the East Coast. Agreed?

Yeah, to a certain extent. I mean, I think, look, they're going to the Big Ten next year for a reason, right? And it's very bittersweet that the Pac-12 is having this great year on the field and has two probable Heisman candidates and maybe even the winner in what's going to be the last year of the Pac-12.

I mean, it's just a shame. I mean, there are names playing Stanford tomorrow night on the Pac-12 network. That will be the last football live broadcast as we know it on the Pac-12 network. And, you know, we saw this with USC to a lesser extent. Last year, Caleb Williams won the Heisman on the back of two primetime national TV performances against UCLA and Notre Dame. When in reality, he'd been doing that all season long.

He was just playing his games at odd hours or on odd networks. And USC, which is a pretty big brand that shouldn't need that much visibility help, needed visibility help because they were in the Pac-12 and they just did not have great broadcast windows. So it's a shame to see a great conference essentially die in real time. But it is nice to see those two teams in that part of the country with those two quarterbacks play as well as they have. And assuming they both win this weekend, it's going to be an awesome game. It'll be a playoff play-in game and probably a Heisman winner-take-all game next week in Vegas. You know, you mentioned the quarterbacks and Pennix in Washington and Bo Nix in Oregon. Caleb Williams with USC. Jayden Daniels has played great for LSU. I want to look at the Heisman Trophy here for a second. And look, I love to see great running backs. I love to see great wide receivers and great defensive players get some notoriety. But who as a non-quarterback could legitimately have a shot to win the Heisman?

Or is it literally the names I just mentioned? Those top four are vying for it. No one else is going to be in that conversation. I would give an outside shot to Marvin Harrison Jr. I don't think he's going to win it. I don't think he has the numbers to really make a dent. He went over voters compared to some of the quarterbacks you just mentioned. But he is playing in the biggest game in the country of the year tomorrow.

It wouldn't surprise me if 20 million people tuned into that game. And if Ohio State wins and if they win because of him. If he has the kind of game tomorrow against Michigan's defense when they're geared towards stopping him the way he did against Penn State a month ago, I think he'll get an invite to New York, assuming he has another good game next week in the Big Ten title game. I don't think it's likely because again it's a lot harder to kind of control your own destiny in the stats department when you're a wide receiver.

But if you look at the draft boards, if you talk to people in the NFL, this guy is the best player in the country. I was talking about James Franklin and it's yet another two loss season and losses to Ohio State and Michigan. They want to be an elite team. They're not quite there. They are running in place in my opinion. At what point does Penn State say maybe we need somebody to get us over the top here and Franklin's not that guy? I don't think that's imminent.

The finances wouldn't work in that regard because they signed him to a lengthy extension a couple years ago. And I say this as a Penn State graduate. I think he's been a great coach Sunday through Friday. I think the game day stuff has not always been great. Assuming they beat Michigan State tonight, this will be the second straight year they go 10-2 in the regular season with their only losses coming to Ohio State and Michigan.

And I know you need to get one of those one of those years and this year looks like the opportune time to do that. But the reality of the situation is you look at the pecking order of the Big Ten. If Michigan and Ohio State are operating at their peak, which they have been the last three years, Penn State's the number three team in the Big Ten. And if you're winning the games you're supposed to win and you're giving yourselves a chance in some of those ones you aren't supposed to, I'm not saying you can't do better. I'm not saying you're not within your right to demand better. But I think you got to be careful what you wish for here. The guy's still done a lot of good things in state college. He's really built that program back up to where he's won three different New Year's six bowl games in his time there. And again, he took it over in dark, dark circumstances and has really turned them into an East Coast machine.

Obviously, you want to be more than that and you need to be better, particularly on the offensive side of the ball. I'll be curious to see what he does with his offensive coordinator opening. Does he bring back Joe Moorhead? That was when Penn State looked like a playoff team, at least on the offensive side of the ball when Joe Moorhead was calling plays for Trace McSorley and Taequann Barkley. There's talent on that roster. They need to add to that receiver group and they need to become more dynamic offensively because I do think that was a championship level defense they had this year.

And unfortunately, they're not going to be ending it in a playoff game. Yeah, that'd be a good name to bring back. Moorhead very successful before he left to go to Mississippi State, I believe it was.

Matt Fortuna, inside zone. Awesome stuff as always. Enjoy Ann Arbor and the big matchup tomorrow and your Black Friday. Appreciate you hopping on. Happy Thanksgiving. I gotcha. Appreciate it. Thanks so much. Matt Fortuna of the inside zone.

Great stuff from him as always. Lucky man, got himself a press credential for Ohio State Michigan number two versus number three. If Michigan wins, does that seat heat up for Ryan Day? You cannot lose three straight years.

You can't. You cannot lose three straight years to your biggest rival. They had a guy named John Cooper who was a head coach at Ohio State years ago. He beat everybody else, but he couldn't beat Michigan. And in the end, that's what led to his ouster in Columbus, Ohio. Ryan Day loses a third straight time.

What does that mean for him? All right, a little NBA talk. The in-season playoff or tournament. Where the heck you want to call it? It's back today.

What is it? Do we like it? Do we continue to watch it? I'll tell you what. It is to me very confusing. Hour three coming up next, Dan Schwartzman in for Rich on the Rich Eisen Show.

Just drugs, although that was certainly a major factor. Rolling Stone music now, wherever you listen.