Bruce Feldman Says Signing Day Has Lost Some Significance

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Learn more at discover.com slash credit card. Limitations apply. You know, I think a mutual parting is possible in Pittsburgh. This is The Rich Eisen Show.

Identify for me coaches that you believe are coaching for their jobs. Live from The Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles. Washington, Carolina, Chargers. You got the Raiders too.

And again, it sounds weird, Pittsburgh, New England, Seattle, that those would be would be changes. Earlier on the show, NFL Executive Vice President of Football Operations, Troy Vincent. Coming up, Colorado head coach Deion Sanders, Fox Sports College football insider Bruce Feldman, actress Shelly Hennig. And now, Rich Eisen. That's a fact.

And here's proof. Hi, our number two of The Rich Eisen Show is on the air. We've never had the actress Shelly Hennig here before, but she's automatically going to be one of our favorites because she's clearly a friend coming down here in the ring. And if we're going to apply that standard to Andrew Whitworth yesterday. Absolutely. And even though we've had him multiple times before and I am actual friends with him, we've got to apply that to anybody in Los Angeles.

Anybody. Again, that might actually be accurate. Yesterday was not.

No, I played this morning. It was it's like. And so basically, we're telling people out there around the rest of the country, think of us. So we're here. Thoughts and prayers on this program.

Peace and peace. Deion Sanders, our three as well on this show. Bruce Feldman's about to join us here. There's a new Oregon Duck receiver, right? Correct?

Yeah, I saw that. I don't know his name. He's my new favorite receiver in Big Ten because he told Ohio State, no, thanks. Welcome to Big Ten. Phil Knight, right? I imagine.

Jeremiah McClennan. Yeah. Flips from Ohio State to the Ducks. Wow.

You don't tell Ohio State is a wide receiver. I'm not coming, right? See you unless you do. We'll see. We'll see. We'll see what happens in their Cotton Bowl.

Fun. You're getting ready for the the Rose Bowl. Interestingly enough, Bruce Feldman wrote a piece.

He spoke to every coach that's played Michigan in every last one of them thinks Alabama is going to win the Rose Bowl. Very strange. There's more to that. You're just what's your what's more to your bare bones in it. OK, so very simple. What is it? Well, I'll let Bruce do it when he comes out.

He did write the piece. But, you know, guys are watching film. They're seeing the difference between the beginning of the season where your schedule was.

How do I put this cupcake? And then the end of the season where it was backloaded and you play a little bit tougher competition sees a different Michigan team. Got it off in the beginning of the year to the end of the year. OK, interesting. End of the year where they didn't have their coach for three times three games because he was running it. No, he wasn't ready. He was he was running it. He was running it.

I know about it. Oh, you're the head coach. So are you in charge or you're not in charge?

He did know about it. Are you in charge or you're not in charge? Could you send me that article that that that the evidence is that he or are you not in charge? Do me this favor, accept the suspension. Then if he do me, do me this favor. Send me that article that says he was running it and knew about it. Give me that favor.

Unless he accept the suspension or not. Did he stand out or did he fight it to the bitter end? Let me ask you this question.

Because if I'm correct, if I remember correctly, he accepted because he knew it was going to be way worse if he fought it. Let me ask you this question. Did you receive the report of the fully baked investigation that somehow magically got dropped on the doorstep of the NCAA by somebody? We still don't know who.

The NCAA hasn't come out. How does it matter? Absolutely matters. Why? Why? Because it matters to me.

You can't even do it with a straight face. No, because it matters to me. I just want to know if that if they dust for DNA on that CSI, the CSI, NCAA. If we dust for prints on the dossier that got dropped off or the IP addresses, are any of them based in Columbus, Ohio? That's what we all in Michigan want to know. We want to know that it's in the past. Well, you already think it.

So what does it matter if it's true? It's in the past for this year in terms of Harbaugh has been suspended for it. He served it and and Michigan didn't lose. And and and that he was there literally every waking second except the three hours of game time. Well, yeah, or or the hour before or or or however long it took him to get into the locker room after it. Sure.

I mean, if you really want to boil it down for so honestly. And so that's done. And what's also put to bed is that Michigan had such a remarkable competitive advantage that they would lose without it didn't happen. So that's gone now to even Nick Saban is saying, yeah, that's that was no big deal anyway. We switched stuff up all the time and he just he just used that as a speed bump. He's already moved on and hired somebody from the staff of Michigan to basically tell him what the plays are and match him up to the tendencies and the signals. But other than that, which is legal, totally legal to do so. Other than all of that, the only thing that's left is what's going to happen with Harbaugh once the season is over, whether it is January 1st or January 8th, and whether they do have a trophy or not.

Or if he stays, the NCAA just keeps knocking on the door with the dossier that clearly you must have that's in front of them, that they see a fully baked investigation conducted initially by who knows? We don't know. I have no idea.

That's what I want to know. So you ask me, why do I want to know? Why does it matter? Why does it matter? Because it matters.

It matters to me. It does either broke all the rules and thumbed your nose in the face of what if somebody broke the authority? What if somebody what if somebody broke the rules in in handing that investigation to the NCAA with information that they had no business having?

Would you be interested in that business? What do you mean they had no business having what if there was something that is in this investigation? So if I see bad things happening and I maybe go out of my way to find out and report that information to authorities, I'm wrong. What if you're blaming the people who reported the wrongdoing?

No, I'm not blaming them. What if there's information in there that they broke a law getting? What if that's it? Would you be interested in that?

Would you be interested in that? So what's worse, breaking the law to find the worst, the bad information of people cheating or the people breaking the law to get the information? So you're saying there are no longer and you're not interested in how this got on the doorstep of the NCAA. Why does it matter? Because it matters to you because you feel aggrieved.

So you're now the victims, even though you committed the crime. Three words, Chris. I've explained it to you.

And I still don't understand why you are not with me being a patient and not with you on Michigan versus everybody. I have not with I don't think it's all that everybody, everybody. It's great. It's great. It's great. And I'm wearing it. I'm wearing it like I've always had it.

Super rich. It's great. And I don't understand why you're not with me on that. You forfeited you forfeited draft choices.

How are you not with me? We did not forfeit draft. Yes, you did. They were they were they were stolen. Do you want to know how they were stolen? I do know how they were stolen. The NFL did not understand science.

That's how they were stolen. Good enough. But at least you had a whole report on that report. You got a report. I want one. The first report never came out. I want one.

So pay five million dollars for your own report, which is what the league did. Did they? OK, you guys are the best. It's time. I'm exhausted.

I'm not. It's like my cardio every day now. Honestly, I'm used to I'm used to it now. It's great.

Defending freedom is exhausting. That's what it's time. It's time. It's a Wednesday.

It's the NFL season. It's time for my power rankings. Hit it. Hit it.

Power rankings. All right. Here we go. It's week 16.

Oh, yeah. And it's time. It's time to start really spitting facts like the last 15 weeks.

I was dancing around, dancing around the facts, dancing around with facts. That was a good. I'm just I'm just going to start. I'm just going to really lay it on the line. It's not that I wasn't before. I'm just telling you, it's time. There's a new team on my power rankings list. Oh, and it's quarterbacked by Jake Browning. Oh, bangles are tense.

Wow. The bangles are tense. I'm concerned about Jamar Chase's health, but the way two weeks, maybe this kid is playing right now. And T Higgins. How about that play the T Higgins made taking that 50 50 ball and saying it's not a 50 50 ball.

It's a 100 percent ball. And I'm reaching for the pylon at the same time. Unbelievable. I think he was mad. I said he wasn't him last week. He definitely consumes this program.

He also wants to be paid. Let me just say something. The defense, the defense coordinated by Staten Island's own Lou Annaromo. It's similar to the last year's team. It's similar to the teams that we've seen make the playoffs. And as long as Jake Browning is doing the Jake Browning stuff and, you know, remembering times where the Minnesota Vikings used to make him feel bad and you're going to take it out on the Vikings. Now here comes the Pittsburgh Steelers, the only team to have beaten him.

I'm right about that, I think. The Bengals are 10th on my power rankings list. New to the list. Number nine. No change.

Zero change at all. The Browns are there. Joe Flacco. The Flacco-sans.

Love that. My coach of the year candidate, Kevin Stefanski. They're going to go to Houston this week. That's a big eight and six team hosting a nine and five game. Joe Flacco and Case Keaton. Let's go buckle up. Two guys, two guys are all too familiar with their couches.

This is it, man. Although Case has been around all year. But bottom line is the Browns are ninth. No change. Lions are eight. I'm keeping the Lions at eight.

Now it's time for a bunch of changes. You might think the Lions should be a little bit higher, but that one game against the Broncos made me feel like it's still in there. I need to see more consistency to start moving them up because those are inconsistent or been moved down. I think this is the lowest they've been ranked on my power rankings all year. Down three spots are the Philadelphia Eagles at seven. I'm putting them at seven right here.

That's fair. And I am seeing a three game losing streak, ill timed to say the least. And I am seeing a defense that is not taking the ball away enough. And, you know, with with those guys up front, I mean, Jalen Carter, let's see more game altering plays from him. Let's see some sacks. Let's see some takeaways.

That's been missing just as much as consistency on offense. So there's seven down four spots. I'm putting the Cowboys here and I couldn't have been more disappointed by that. I put them at two and I'm like, this is the year it's going to be different. And then they go out and put on on on tape and in front of the whole world to see on live TV, just the same old, same old.

All right. Let's have a team that is coming out, hitting you in the mouth in a very difficult environment to focus and execute. And it just steamrolls downhill and they just get blown out and see later. So I had to win that game, dude. I know what they had to do. The Cowboys had to also, if they want to be the one seed in this this conference, they had to win that. Every game is half do now.

I don't want to see who needs it more conversation. So they got the Cowboys. I've got the Cowboys for a down four spots. The Miami Dolphins are up two spots at five. I think the Dolphins are going to win this game this weekend.

Personally, and I think that they are. What a move, man. Tyreek, sit. We need you for the final three. We got this taken care of without you with the Jets coming to town. I know they just put up 30 on the Texans, but you said we've got it.

And they just totally crushed it and remove the taste of that loss to the Titans directly out of their mouths. Up two spots, because I still think this team has a shot at the two seed. I still think that this team winds up with 12 wins when it's all said and done. I like the Kansas City Chiefs still. That's still a championship defense. I think they went out.

I think they're 12 and five. I think they win this division. I think they still have a shot at the two seed. And I think that they still might just wind up when it's all said and done, hosting the AFC championship game. Anyway, that's still in the ether. And Karma is still a friggin boy on the Chiefs.

All right. So everybody back off. And I love that she's working blue. She's acting like every fan is.

She's the most famous woman in the world. I'm just concerned at some point. Brittany Mahomes is one more Caderia Scissorhands game away from pulling a full on Giselle. Say my husband cannot throw and catch it.

So let's catch it and remove that pressure from Brittany, please. On behalf of all the Mahomes is number three on this list up two spots. I put the Buffalo Bills third on my power.

I am putting an eight and six team. Number three. I love it was that because I love what they are doing. They are playing some of the best football in the NFL right now. And I will keep saying it.

Number four, it's not 17 and it's not number one for because that's what it's all been about. Alan, can he can he put on the Superman cape? Can he do it himself? And then where is Stefan Diggs and all this? Where is Gabe Davis and all this?

You know who takes the pressure off of that? James Cook. He did it against the Cowboys. He's done it against the Eagles.

And it didn't wind up with a win. He is amazing. And I'll say it again. He's playing like Christian McCaffrey. For the Bills. And if he is that type of talent, week in, week out, look out, look out.

You better keep them out of the tournament. He did not practice today with an illness. Let's get let's get some fluids in him, everybody. But and then again, I mean, the Bills are taking on Easton Stick and the Chargers and Giff, right? It's not Coach Giff. It's Coach Giff. I think it's Coach Giff. So let's let's let's just everybody understand how good this team is.

There are three. Number two on my power rankings list up. One spot is the current one seed in the AFC. By the way, Lamar Jackson is playing better this year than he did in his MVP year of 2019.

That's a fact. I'm concerned about Keaton Mitchell going down. But this defense is championship quality.

Lamar is MVP quality. John Harbaugh is coaching out of his out of his skull right now. And Kyle Hamilton, I spoke it into existence. He's on Friday show. Hey, we're excited about that. Son number seven. That's right. He has no idea.

And you have so many kids now. He has no idea that someone from Notre Dame could be the son of a Jew. He's coming from until no commodity. I mean, I don't know about that. I mean, you could see the touchdown, right? I mean, that's technically all right. Number one touchdown.

I should stay out of that lane. Wow. And get back to the power rankings. The forty niners are the best team in the NFL. Who do you think you needed to say that they were number one? I think we knew, right?

So here are my power. I'm not even backing it up. I'm even telling you.

It's just like, hey, they're one. Let's move on. You can see it. You know what?

You see it. And now the Jaguars are out. The Bengals are in and everybody else has just been reconfigured with the exception. But the exception, the only one that stayed put, I'm all over the map, is the forty niners, the Lions and the Browns. Everybody else moved around. That's a good list, Richard.

Thanks. I mean, it's like you might do. Don't blame the list. Play your team. Blame your team from laying an egg.

Hey, look up in Buffalo. Apparently we can't beat good teams, right? That's the narrative about there can't be good teams. So what happened on the road and we lost to a good team that was your narrative. So you didn't lose been you shouldn't have been surprised. Also, Buffalo had to win that game in first place. The sun was in your eyes, too. It was marvelous. It was marvelous. So we're in first place again. Like I said, an overreaction Monday podcast.

Get it now where you get your podcast or on YouTube. Cowboys are fine. And I pointed out to you, how was it fine that the Dallas Cowboys are the only team in the NFL where the overreaction is a reasonable statement? Just you going reasonable, zagging. Cowboys are fine.

Well, everyone else is zigging or zigging while everyone else is zagging by being reasonable. That's the overreaction. With all due respect. My state done. I drop.

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Last minute tickets, lowest price guaranteed. Bruce Feldman's coming out here, everybody. It's signing day. Feldman's entering the Rich Eisen Show portal. Finally, no matter who you are or where you are in life, you'll feel special with discover.

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You never once saw yourself on Smallville. In the beginning, I used to look at myself all the time and love to. And then as I get older, I stopped.

Why is that? I don't know. Maybe because I'm older. I was going to talk to you about that because you're seventy nine. Yeah. How old do you feel?

Eleven. Inside of you with Michael Rosenbaum, wherever you listen. Back here on the Rich Eisen Show. Look who's here, everybody.

It's Bruce Feldman of The Athletic and Fox Sports. Ooh, sitting ovation, thank you. There you go.

Yes, sitting ovation. I just asked you what games you're going to and you're going to any bowl games? I'm going to the Rose Bowl and I'm going to the maybe the national title game.

Oh, really? OK, you got that going on. I'm not going to the Cotton Bowl. Not going to the Cotton Bowl. No, I might go to the Chargers-Bills game. Oh, that sounds nice. Going to go see Easton Stick. Yeah, right.

I was seeing more wheelchair. Who knows? That'd be wild.

Can't be any worse. So no Cotton Bowl because, you know, there's a big there's a there's a big 10 team. There's a big 10 team in the Commonwealth. It's a big game, the Cotton Bowl. It is a big game. There's a lot. There's a lot of good matchups. It's on December 29th, I think, right?

Yes. Some of the games are surprisingly bumped up earlier. You know why?

It's your fault. NFL takes over. So nobody wants to go up against the NFL window. Well, the NFL, excuse me. The NFL is just had its final Monday night game of the year.

Monday night football game of the year because, you know, this Christmas day and then after that, they're staying away from the the national championship semifinals. Well, it's the playoff is different than I think all those, you know. Right. The other bowls. So I don't think Georgia, Florida, especially with Florida, Georgia, Florida State. Right.

That would be into the NFL. OK. You know, Ohio State's taken on Mizzou. Oh, Mizzou. Mizzou had a great year this year. They did. They did a good job.

Didn't he call themselves America's team? While taking a shot at Michigan, I see it all. I see it all. It is everybody. It really is everybody. Bruce, it's everybody's taking their shots right now.

It's great. I don't understand why you're not with me hard, hard, hard. You're as a Patriot fan. You should be with me in this.

They want to be the only cheater. Wow. From all sides. Good one. Wow. Back on the Rich Ives and Show radio network. I'm sitting at the Rich Ives and Show desk furnished by Granger with supplies and solutions for every industry. Granger has the right product for you.

Call click Granger dot com or just stop by. Bruce Feldman, the athletic and the great Fox Sports College football team joining us here on the Rich Ives and Show and his usual Wednesday spot. It is signing day today, right? Yes.

Yes. What is the significance of is this is as significant as the transfer portal, do you think? Has it lost its significance? Lost some of its significance. I am going to say something that will probably make you unhappy.

OK, say it anyway. The number one recruit in the country, Jeremiah Smith, arguably the top receiver to come out of South Florida in a generation. OK, from people who are dialed into that sort of thing had been committed to Ohio State for a long time. People thought he might flip to Florida State or Miami this morning. He announced he's going to be a Buckeye.

He's got that's big for Ryan Day. They did lose another good receiver commit to Oregon. Yes. But you know, I think it's it's a sign of like, hey, people are still believing. Oh, I mean, they're all you got to do is see who just caught the game when he touched down pass on Monday Night Football. I know it looked like it looked like the Rose Bowl catch he made. I think they showed that they show that in the game. I don't know.

I thought I saw that on maybe some Instagram or something like that or something like that. But I mean, that's all you got to do is just turn on the, you know, the television set in the NFL. Brian Hartline and Ryan Day have cranked out elite receiver after elite receiver. Right. So hopefully, you know, we all have a great career and then go on and become an offensive rookie of the year in the NFL, just like Garrett Wilson and C.J. Stroud will be. And maybe Marvin Harrison will be next year. Share if it's, you know, the same thing that they lost their last games to Michigan.

Hopefully that'll just be part of of that young man's path. Yeah, it kind of blew my mind a little. I talked to Marvin in the summer and he was like, yeah, I got to beat Michigan.

I haven't beat them yet. And it's crazy that this guy is the most talented receiver they've had there. Yes. And but he's not he's going. I mean, I heard what he said. I heard he wants to win the Natty and he wants to Steve doesn't want to lose to Michigan. He's he's a Pro Bowl receiver right now, potentially.

But yeah, you can truly make that case. And he checks every box. I mean, he's like a delightful guy. He's very smart. He has great work ethic.

All of it. You know, he's I would say probably as good as has come out of college as a receiver in a long time. I know Joe Klatt, your colleague at Fox, has been he was talking about him being one of the top receivers in last year's class. He would have been a top receiver last year. Wasn't a great receiver, but he's he's got really good size. He is super athletic. And he's you know, he's super intelligent and have the work ethic and the competitiveness.

Yeah, he's to me, he's a campus. So again, just returning signing day is what is it devalued? It's devalued a little because what's happened is the portal has become such a big deal. And what a lot of coaches have figured out is, yeah, development is key, but we may lose those players two years from now. We need guys now who are proven players. And so it may be guys who are at smaller schools, that group of five schools, some even like FCS programs. I mean, Jared Vers, who you will talk about in the draft early, you know, in the spring, was at what was known to you and I were as as SUNY Albany.

It was a Great Dane in that week, you know, and then he you know, and then he got spotted. Florida State got him. He had a terrific year last year. And that normally, you know, years ago, that wouldn't have happened.

He would have probably ended up maybe making it into the Senior Bowl or the Blue Gray game or something and blew up in the draft process. But because he was able to, you know, Florida State found him. You know, this is the thing where we've seen lots of guys just have a second wind or get a second chance. And it's different. Everybody's looking for the everybody's looking for their Joe Burrow. And Joe Burrow was kind of buried on the Ohio State bench.

He goes to LSU and he becomes the greatest player in LSU history and leads him to a national championship. And obviously, everybody, as you want, wants one of those to change their fortunes around so quickly. But again, I'm maybe it's the cynic in me, but every single time I see any signing or any announcement about signing day like a day like today or the transfer portal, somebody I'm sitting here wondering how much money was involved in this. Well, it's yeah, that's because that is what's going on right now. But it's no secret.

I mean, what you don't know is often exactly how much. But that is absolutely what's going on. I mean, I've talked to a lot of coaches last offseason where they were like, guys are poaching, they're recruiting off your roster. And they're saying you need to get in the portal.

We'll pay you this. And even at games where they're they're competing against me. Yeah, I've definitely heard from coaches going. They're looking around the postgame handshake and they see the head coach talking to one of their players and they kind of get a sinking feeling.

You know, the schools with the best collectives, the programs with the best collectives. Certainly that is the Oregon Ducks. You know, Phil Knight, they have.

You saw what they did recently. They get Dylan Gabriel, who was the one quarterback who beat Texas this year at Oklahoma. He's going to be an Oregon Duck. He'll probably be a really good fit in that system.

And they'll probably, you know, when they go into the Big Ten next year, he'll make them a legit playoff contender. And and when I'm saying this about like how much money is involved and things of that nature, not to go full Greg Sankey here, but you know, how do we know the money that's offered actually winds up in the hands of the kids as part of the commitment that's been made verbally? Or is there any paperwork on this sort of thing? Like there's there's definitely some within an actual sum of money that's on a contract that a player and the college sign like this. We did a big story in the athletic about a year ago on a pretty high profile quarterback recruit out in northern California, who at one point and the money that was speculated and reported on how much he was supposedly getting to sign with the University of Florida was outlandish numbers. I mean, we're talking into the eight figures like 13 million dollars.

Wow. And that was essentially written on a bar napkin that wasn't going to hold up. He ended up, you know, not transferring. He ended up basically at at Arizona State. So that's the point I think Chip Kelly's making that I think resonated with so many people because it sounded his two minute soliloquy.

We played that last hour before you were coming here for our audience. His his concept of let's not wait for Notre Dame essentially to join a conference. Let's have all the conferences become Notre Dame under the construct of a commissionership and 64 teams that I guess are decided that are allowed into the football being removed from everybody else's athletic departments. Everybody else can go under the same old construct. Like the Pac-12 could technically still exist for the Olympic sports or the or even basketball, not football. But football is separate. And let's come up with rules that does handle the issues best that they can of NIL and transfer portal and scheduling and things of that nature and playoffs.

And let's go and do that. Why not is what I'm asking you. Why? Why? What?

That sounds too normal. It does. And it's it's he is he has had some of these ideas for a while. I've, you know, had these conversations offline, at least, you know, dating back the last four months. And there's you know, because he even talked about how because he's more familiar with the NFL model than most college coaches, because he coached in the NFL. He described it where you're going to be playing a certain other conference in a rotational basis, just like NFL divisional models.

Yeah. And the other things that, you know, he talked about was, you know, how the TV rights would work. Now, some of this, though, you know, if you're ESPN, you you basically own the playoff, you own a lot of college football.

Some of these TV deals are going to, you know, how are you going to get around some of them? So then make a commissioner consortium ship of, you know, your boss at Fox, the bosses at ESPN, just hand it off to them. I don't I think there's some honesty like I mean, you know, there are some logistical directors who have come from ESPN. You know what I mean? So one of the things that that Chip has been has talked about for a while, and it's something the head coach of your alma mater talks about is revenue sharing and you know, what percentage of that like he is been pretty bullish on the players need to get taken care of. And Harbaugh has talked about that publicly. I don't know.

You know, it's hard to get these people together on a lot of things. And I'll use this example. So a year from now, we're going to have a playoff.

It would be running right now and into the portal into signing day. And one of the coaches, a head coach I spoke to this week said we and this is a guy who's on the AFC board because we haven't even talked about that. Meaning like stuff just happens and they cannot get out in front of anything. You know, Chip, like a lot of coaches, their frustration was a lot of the rules that that college football, major college football has to deal with often come from places that are not major college, you know, presidents or or A.D.s. Their their orbit or their perspective or what they deal with is it's it's not even it's not apples and oranges.

It's like it's like apples and spam. You know, there's just it's a completely different thing. And so that's why I think he looks at, you know, independent status and all those other things. But I think it's you know, Chip might be a really good person to be the commissioner of this. He doesn't want to be. But I was like, I don't think anybody, you know, are old.

You know, I think you probably worked on them back in the day, too. Tim Brando, he's been talking about a conference commissioner since he was probably at ESPN. And he's you know, he's railed at it. I can't tell you how many conversations I've had over drinks with him where he would talk about that. But he is not wrong, at least about that. He's not wrong about that. I was about to say, Timmy B's conference commissioner meetings would be amazing.

Tim Brando. But he's been talking about that for a long, long time. The question is, is who's going to say this is madness? This is madness. We're smart people. There's a lot of money at stake. We all understand the revenues involved.

Let's figure it out because you just said something, Bruce Feldman, that totally blows my mind. So next year, coaches of programs that are now the first round of this college football playoffs will be getting ready for the games while they're figuring out who's coming in for National Signing Day and who is in the portal and who is not. Obviously, I know they have staffs for that. But get out of here. It's so stupid. It's dumb. And it's supposed to be higher education. Why are we doing that?

So figure out who is to do it. And I will just as I said to you before, to these guys here before, Chip Kelly saying what he's saying about, you know, paying players and whatever and doing that sort of thing. He needs to be careful because at least Harbaugh's got the NFL to fall back on when he's getting drummed out. Chip Kelly, I don't know if the NFL is going to be there.

No, I don't. But I don't think I don't think Chip cares about. Like, you know, he's going to say what he thinks. And I don't think he's worried about that kind of thing. He's giving his opinion on it.

It makes complete sense. So then I guess the last thing for you is like, so what will be the impetus that that next year? A bunch of like a bunch of blue blood programs will be like, this is nuts. We're getting ready for a college football playoff game. And I got to make sure this this kid is actually going to sign his letter of intent and I'm going to be texting in the middle of a film session or stepping off a podium to do my media availability for a college football playoff first round game. I'm on the road.

I got to figure out how to go on the road. And and and and I'm in the middle of all the recruiting. Like some who's going to step in and do this? Who's going to be?

I think one of the things in this particular coach I talked to made the point of like, look, everybody knows we're well compensated. Nobody's going to feel sorry for us. But logistically, like it can't hold up.

It can't. So so what I'm saying is who's going to be? Is it Sankey?

Is it? Is it one of the the it would have to be somebody like that, because if it can't be look, the ACC commissioner, Jim Phillips, who was a former AD at Northwestern is Notre Dame guy. I think he's one of the smarter guys in college athletics. Now he's ended up stepping in it from time to time because he's coming out of the ACC and you know, everybody's trying to speak to their constituents. Right. I don't.

That's the part where it gets where it gets kind of sticky. Is who are the people who are going to have the platform who are going to have the stomach to do that? I'm not saying they don't exist, but it'd be interesting to see who would get into that. There's been a bunch of stuff where I feel like Greg Sankey has has wanted to do the right thing for the big picture. But he also knows he's the one with the most clout because he's the one with the most resource programs, has a huge TV deal. Some of these other places like the Big Ten is similarly well resourced, but the Big Ten leadership has been so up and down, you know, from Kevin Warren, who is, you know, dealing with all sorts of stuff, and then he he jumps to the NFL.

You got Tony Petitti, who's at a rocky first year. He obviously knows the TV business. That's where it came from.

You know, the Pac-12. You know, was essentially rudderless. You have the like, everybody is so trying to do their own thing, because if they realize they don't, somebody's poaching them. It's it's a really it's a really strange dynamic. I'm not saying it's never going to get sorted out.

They have to they have to figure it out sooner than later. But I don't know who steps in the middle of it, because just knowing what I know about, like how the CFP operates, like there's stuff behind the scenes that would like kind of blow people's minds if they knew the level of dysfunction and and knives out that goes in with that stuff. Bruce Feldman here on the Rich Eisen show. You ever see Casablanca? You ever see that, Bruce? You ever see that movie Casablanca? I do not. OK, you need to see Casablanca. I know you haven't, right? Definitely not. Do you see Casablanca?

Of course, Rich. TJ, have you ever seen Casablanca? You know, bits and pieces. OK, the most memorable parts. Well, you know, the there's a famous scene in Casablanca where the police chief is shocked that there's gambling going on in Casablanca as he's taken, you know, some sort of.

I feel like I've seen this in Caddyshack with Bushwood. Oh, yeah, right. Yeah. Keep it fair. Keep it fair. Keep it fair.

Keep it fair. It's a famous line like the cop that knows that there's gambling going on. He's shocked, shocked that there's gambling going on in Casablanca.

That's how I felt reading your piece, that every single coach that coached against Michigan thinks Alabama is going to win. Could you have just used the Bushwood example of a judge's males and not made me feel like we're so uneducated and so. Excuse me.

That's your problem. OK, Bruce, like I don't know how you haven't seen Casablanca. Let's see, when was that really? Oh, my God. Good reference.

OK, so while he while he's well, he's going up on the most famous films, 42 of all time. Go see it. I mean, you're over two. Yes, sir. All right. So the Michigan thing is fascinating to see the reaction. So I worked on four different stories that are all running this week at the athletic day. One was Michigan Day two, Alabama Day three, which is today is Texas Day four.

Tomorrow's Washington. OK. Talked to all these coaches who played them. Not all are the coaches from the conference.

Most are. But there's a handful that that I talked to or maybe played them in the non-conference. The Michigan one, as it turned out, was the the most where when I talked to these guys and it didn't hit me right away.

It actually hit me as towards the end of, you know, I was working on this. It's like, man, the way these guys are talking about, it's like Michigan's like a 10 point underdog. And they're actually at the time was like a two point favorite at one point.

They're a one point favorite now. But I think there's a couple of things that are at play here. And I'm glad we're talking about this because, you know, I got so much blowback from Michigan fans who are already, you know, kind of at wits end because of what's gone on.

Never mind you. Let's talk about the the the the the bulk of the Michigan fans because of all the stuff that has gone on with with the Connor Stallion story and how it's been reported and maybe the side comments and everything. Right. And also, you know, the the Big Ten's punishment. One thing that I think happened or, you know, towards this is, OK, they went three and oh without Jim Harbaugh, and that was the toughest games. Beat Penn State at Penn State, beat Maryland, trap game-ish and then obviously beat their arch rival again. And I think the schedule and then they play a really good defense, not a good offense, but a really good defense.

Number one, you know, defensive. Basically, they're going to see in Iowa in the in the Big Ten title game. So the schedule is super backloaded. Right. And I think with the biggest question marks that that coaches have is with J.J. McCarthy and the offense, because it was like, hey, he looks so good in the beginning of the year.

And then I'm watching him now. And he they're not explosive at all. Well, they handed it off twenty some odd straight times against Penn State to to win that game.

They did. Now, also, though, they you know, he got a lot of pressure in the first couple series of the game. The right tackle couldn't block. And look, Penn State has super twitchy edge rushers. Chop Robinson being one.

He's going to be a problem for anybody. And I'm sure Alabama does, too. Yeah. I mean, Dallas Turner is of that ilk. He might not be quite what Chop Robinson is, but he's close. And I think so. The word is, you know, J.J. McCarthy was banged up. And now will he be 100 percent after a month away from, you know, the end of the season to now could be a different guy.

He's really athletic when he's healthy. So there's that. Yeah, I saw the quote like what? He's got to play the game of his life in order to be in Alabama. Right.

To win it all. But you don't have to say that about Milro, too. You know what I mean? Like, yeah, maybe not really.

OK. I mean, again, I'm just if no plays like he did against against LSU, probably it has a bad defense, but he plays like he did against Georgia. And this is where I'm going with this. Most of the coaches did not see Alabama. I'm talking about the Big Ten coach did not see Alabama play Auburn because they were playing that weekend. What they did see was Alabama beat Georgia. So they're sitting there and you're seeing Alabama at their best. You know, their offensive line look way better than it did against Texas, against USF, you know, against Auburn. They gave up a lot of yards on the ground defensively.

You know, Hugh Freeze gave them a lot of problems with what he does. Georgia, Kirby Smart and Nick Saban come from the same place. I think it's what similar to what they practice against every day when they're practicing against themselves.

And then how do they attack it? And Nick Saban also knows what gives us problems probably gives them problems because it's the same defensive family, you know, tree. Whereas, you know, people have watched.

No, no lie. I mean, Michigan was, you know, J.J. McCarthy, I think, through one touchdown pass over the last five games. There's no question his body of work in the early parts of the season and in the last parts of the season are two separate pieces of tape. So you put that part together with the part where, well, all this other stuff comes out and you already had some of these coaches feeling like, all right, they're getting an unfair advantage. And now they're going to go, well, it does make you wonder, did he with him having the answers to the test? Yes. And now if he doesn't, is he is he throw is he operating with the same level of confidence when you say answers to the test?

You're referring to the Connor Stallion stuff where they're referring to, to know which the blitz is, which blitz is coming from, where to know? You know, it's oh, so his his lack of production in the last parts of the season is not to the similar part of the season, not similar to the earlier parts of the season, is not because of the scheduling. It's because he had answers to the tests removed. Well, no, I think we're actually seeing the results of Michigan having the sign stealing ripped out root and branch. Yes. One coach said he thought, OK, there is the the schedule is backloaded.

There were much better teams, but also conceded. It does make you wonder on that. A lot of other coaches I talked to also felt that was that was a red flag to them. So that one last thing, then and then we can. Yes.

You know, part ways and do this again very soon. And it's fine if the answer is not the one that clearly I'm digging for. Did you sense any sense of still resentment or anything? Anger, resentment from these folks that would color their remarks to you? It's entirely possible.

It's a human nature thing. And I saw, you know, look, and I think enough Michigan fans who read me know I picked Michigan to win the national title back. Don't worry about that sort of nonsense. One of the one of the one of the commenters made a point. He was like, this is the difference between the SEC and the Big Ten. And it's like the SEC is kind of on is on board with its SEC, SEC.

Yeah. And the Big Ten kind of eats its own. And look, Nick Saban, you know, like he is they they have I think this person used it and I don't disagree. There was a lot of reverence for Nick Saban. I mean, this team barely got into the playoff, right?

I mean, we talked about this before. It was like, whereas Michigan. As Michigan, I think there is still some leftover hostility with some of the coaches. I don't know if I wouldn't say it was all of the ones I talked to, because some of them haven't been in the league that long, don't have maybe as the personal animus, but there's a few I think did.

And I think there was also when they saw it, it was like, OK, they're gettable again. I think it really has as much to do with if J.J. McCarthy's 100 percent like the guy I saw last year in Columbus when they beat Ohio State. And to me, it was like they could have gotten blown out of that place, but they were hung around and then they took over in the second half. He did not have Blake Coram. He had Donovan Edwards who went off, but Donovan Edwards was hobbled in the game because he was playing with like a soft cast. Right. And so they were not 100 percent. And he had some big plays like he's he's I still think he needs to be at his best to beat Alabama.

And I think you could say that about every quarterback against every team in this in this football playoff. But I understand what you're saying. I get it. Bruce, thanks for coming in, man. Have a great bowl season and a happy new year. And we will chat after the college football playoff semifinal. I'm not going to see you at the Rose Bowl. I'll see you at the Rose Bowl. Fantastic. There you go. We've established that. Don't go anywhere. We're back with Deion Sanders coming top of the next hour. We're repairing neighborhoods, but then we're into nosy neighbors and build a career off of that. Find out more by searching the Stacking Benjamin's podcast wherever you listen. Like I'm happy with my head.

Zoom in on it. I'm happy with my head right now. I'm happy with life. My hats have been cutting down. They were up to five days a week.

Now I'm at two days a week now because I'm feeling good about prime right now. I look at myself on social media. It's taken at least nine years off of my life. Nine years. Yes. She's looking like a young prime right now. You know, I looked at a picture of me and my profile the other day. I didn't know if it was one of my sons or me.

That's the way I am right now. You know, you know, Suze, you know, my wife. She's like seeing you on the air. And she goes, huh? She's like, what? Is that Deion?

I'm like, yeah, that's Deion. You know what she's really saying? She's really saying it's almost like a guy. See, we can't do this. You know, if your girl starts to pick up a little weight, you really can't say it. You just, you know, like, hey, you want to work out day, baby?

Not not true, but we should work. You can't say it. So she's like, is that Deion? Yeah. And she's just waiting for you to jump in there.

It's like double dutch. And you just sitting out there, you know. And she has the ropes and she's just doing the ropes and she just keeps looking on you like, come on, baby. Jump in there. Come on. Rich, you can do this, man. No, I know I can, but I mean. See, you got a lot to work with on the outsides. This is your expert opinion having, okay. See, you have a lot of donor hair.

They call it donor hair. Should I do it? Do it, Rich. Rich, do it, do it, say don't do it. Rich, do it. You should do it.

All right. Love it. Love it, love it. Back here on the Rich Eisen Show radio network. So let's go to the phone lines. Terzo and I has been hanging on for a while. What's up, Terzo?

All rise. Hey, what's up, my dudes? Rich, I want to say thank you for shouting out to my grandma last week, man. I talked to her later in the week and it made her day, man. Thank you guys for doing that. We'll shout out your grandma any time, Terzo. We just did it again. Nice stuff to say about us, why wouldn't we? What's going on?

Well, dang right. Hey, so Rich, watching that John Marant return game last night, it's fun watching him. But listening to his post-game interview, I'm scared that he really didn't learn anything from this. And I know we've talked about it before at length. I just hope that he realizes kind of the impact that he has on the league. And I wanted to continue to grow and be the player that we saw last night.

I just hope that we don't have any other things that kind of reoccur to get us to the point where we missed the first 25 games. I don't know. He said, Terzo, I saw that too. I saw he said something along the lines of that he's been through a lot and he's a basketball player and he's excited to be back with his... He just went third person a lot and said the play was, what, 12?

I hear you. And I mean, they also caught him literally two minutes after he just scored the game winner. What, he put up 35 in 34 minutes or 34 in 35 minutes, something? It was impressive.

And they were down 18 at 1.2. No, I don't blame him for thumping his chest. Why would you want to see him just say, I've been through, like go full Drew Locke? You know what I mean? Like, I don't... It's just a different setup.

Just a little bit in between those two, right? Okay. Where there's no real need to say that you're taking receipts or anything. It's just, hey man, this was a great thing. I'm happy to be able to be back out on the court. Just anything along those lines.

So just another quick thing for you. I listened to Kittle earlier in the week and I think I'm gonna just put the Brock Curtis MVP stuff to the side and say, whatever happens happens. This team has bigger aspirations than just the MVP. I know how cool it would be, but this year it's Super Bowl and nothing else. And I think that that's where this team is so locked in and what comes of it, comes of it, but that's where we're going.

Thanks Terzo, you be well. I think if the Niners win, the MVP comes from the 49ers, I think. Unless Purdy and McCaffrey split a vote to the point where somebody else wins and I don't know. We will see. Our number three coming up, Deion Sanders, Shelly Hennig, one of the stars of Obliterated on Netflix in studio, and then more of your phone calls here on the program. Did you see Morant after the game? Did you see that interview? I heard the, I got receipts quote.

I just saw people talking about it. Honestly, those moments are not usually the most introspective, which is why when I just said, is he gonna go full Drew Locke? That's why the Drew Locke interview was so, he was so, it kind of caught everybody. The guys served 25 games.

I mean, it's a hefty chunk of time. And if he hasn't learned his lesson, guess what? He'll sit longer.

So hopefully he did. But in terms of just basketball last night, that game was New Orleans in the bag entering the fourth quarter. It felt like that thing was, and for the Grizzlies, it's just like, okay, good thing he's back. It's gonna take some time for him to get his legs under him. And for everybody to start remembering what it's like to play with him.

And you know, the team was terrible in the first month and a half for a reason. And then boom, win W. Wow. That was, and then the double header on TNT. Two good games. It was great seeing the Celtics and the Warriors go at it. I actually read last night that Desmond Bain, I guess, jaw went up to him and he's like, so we're gonna get the ball to JJ, me and Jaren Jackson?

He's like, Desmond Bain looked at him and was like, hell no, you're getting the ball. So they were ready for him. And why not?

I mean, why not? He's the way through. That's for sure. Prime time, next.

Humbleness. How is Susie, the kids, my nephews, and the dogs? Love you Prime, have a good rest of your day. You be well. Bless those dogs. Bless those.

You got it. That's two boys a man. For the real story behind some of wrestling's biggest moments, it's something to wrestle with Bruce Prichard and Conrad Thompson II. 1995, when WCW announces they're going to be live and head to head with Monday Night Raw feels like this would have been something Vince would have kind of laughed off. No, we did not like them moving to Monday nights. There were a lot of hotels. They all carried CNN, TBS, and TNT. Vince was convinced that Ted Turner had deviously done this deal to get in the hotels and keep us out. It's something to wrestle wherever you listen.