Bruce Feldman: North Carolina Does Not Have Great NIL Resources

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Visit Amazon.com slash Prime to get more out of whatever you're into. This is the Rich Eisen Show. Is that the belt? Did you hand out that Gronk belt to the winner? Live from the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles.

That's what these college kids love. So is Coach Palachuk going to love all this gimmick stuff? Handing out belts, handing out a chain to a guy that gets an interception. Earlier on the show, NFL Network insider Ian Rappaport. Coming up, Fox Sports college football analyst Bruce Feldman, actor Omar J. Dorsey, plus latest news and more. And now it's Rich Eisen. Our number two of the Rich Eisen Show is on the air.

If you're just joining us, I got to load off my chest. Last segment of the last hour where the bill being placed in front of the Ohio State Assembly saying that flag planting on a flagpole in the middle of Ohio Stadium at The Ohio State University on a game day at any point in time should be a felony. That's wild. A felony. That's Richard the King Petty level right there.

We're putting that at the top. It's not petty. It's just, it's still, it's insane. It's, it's, it's one of the stages of grief to losing at your, it's like, hey, listen, you lost. Michigan planted the flag. There was a big set too afterwards. It was ugly.

And now everybody is saying, just ban flag planting forever and make it a felony now? Yeah, come on. Well, at any rate, Bruce Feldman's going to join us to talk about the reason why Ohio State people should turn the page. They got a, they got a game. They're in it. They got a ticket to the, to the tournament. Michigan doesn't.

They got a ticket. They got, they got Tennessee. And then they beat Tennessee. They got Oregon. Ohio State has the third best odds.

I'm sure they do. Because had they done what they were expected to do, which was beat Michigan, they'd have played Oregon. And, and let's just say they would have the same, let's just throw out that they have the same result as Penn State. Then they'd be in the position of, of hosting SMU.

Or they would have wound up maybe even being the five, not six. You know? And they would be in a position maybe if they'd beaten, if they'd beaten Oregon, then, then they'd be the one seed.

Don't you think? Over Georgia. Oh yeah. But instead they lost to a five team, five loss Michigan team with a walk-on quarterback and missing their two best players. One on offense, one on defense and the one on defense. Will Johnson just declared he's going to the draft and he might be drafted higher than Mason Graham who declared yesterday. After for some reason, Ohio State kept running at him. Bruce Feldman will join us in the middle of this hour to talk also about the news out of North Carolina. Bill Belichick has an offer on a table from North Carolina. Wow. It appears. That's crazy. And he's, he's considering it.

Seriously considering it. So we'll talk to Bruce about all that. News out of the NFL. Tommy Cutlets is back, Chris. Is that right?

Yeah. Cutlets is back. Drew Locke's dealing with a quote unquote heal injury. I think that heal injury is make sure we get the number one pick. And so we got Tommy Cutlets is back. Tommy DeVito is going to start this. Well, you know, maybe it'll just surprise the team that they're facing.

And oh, wait a minute. It's the Ravens. Off a bye. Off a bye.

Good one. Hey man, you look at the Giants remaining schedule and Tommy Cutlets is going to play a role. You got the Ravens, Falcons, Colts, and Eagles. All four teams are either battling for a division or a playoff seeding or a spot.

Yeah. Like Indy and Atlanta. Atlanta's on the outside looking and they're sniffing it right now after being up in division by multiple games and a two game tie break already in their back pockets of the Bucks. They're now a game out because they lost four in a row. Eagles trying to get home field. If Tommy does not find last year's magic and he certainly did not after the Giants cut Daniel Jones taking on Tampa to the point where, you know, he was too hurt to be on that beachfront property stage of Thanksgiving against the Cowboys.

They don't want to put Tommy Cutlets in Florida in front of 40 million eating Americans. And they're in position for that first overall pick if he doesn't find the magic from last year. And the G-Men would be in line for that first overall spot. And we'll see, it'll be Joe Shane making the decision.

Is it Cam Ward or is it Shadore Sanders? That's what it would be, right? Could you imagine they need a quarterback and they're like, oh, we'll take Mason Graham or Will Johnson, we'll go defender or we'll take Travis Hunter. I would be stunned. And then what, sign Sam Darnold and free agency?

I don't know. This will be part of the conversation. Do you think the Vikings could let Sam leave right now?

Well, it's not let him leave. They got a kid that they could believe in. Yeah, but coming up, I mean, crazier things have happened, sir. Coming off of an ACL. Crazier things have happened.

It's not an ACL, it's a meniscus. Listen, crazier things have happened. Like, say, them moving up to go get JJ McCarthy because a team that just signed a veteran to a four-year hundred million plus dollar deal goes ahead and drafts a rookie quarterback anyway in front of in front of him. You know, that's crazy.

That was crazy. Cam Ward will be in the city this weekend for them to go say hello. Yeah, he's there at the Heisman Trust. So that's coming up later on this weekend.

We'll talk about that with Bruce Feldman as well. It's a Wednesday, guys. You know what that means? It's time for me to tell you who's powerful and who is not. And I rank them. Let me get the pen out. That's another way of saying power rankings. Hey, now. Not a single team in my power rankings has stayed put.

I have moved them all around. Really? There is no changes in my power rankings.

Just because. It's week 15, you know what I mean? Week 14 going into week 15.

And I got two new teams to start us off. Number 10 on the Rams, whose house is it? The 10th ranked Los Angeles Rams house.

I'm putting them there. I put my finger on this chess piece saying they are going to win the division and I'm going with the Rams. I'm going with Puka Nakua, who is off the charts, making himself the best receiver in the game right now. And he's got a quarterback who could sling it. And when they're not connecting, there's still a Super Bowl MVP and Cooper Cup.

That's that's active in Kyron Williams. And all they got to do is just protect this guy, keep the pass rush going so the back end of the defense isn't as exposed and they can make some serious hay in the playoffs right now. With four weeks to go, I'm putting the Rams in my power rankings. And then number nine, you gave me grief for putting them in there a couple of weeks ago and they won again and they haven't lost.

The Seattle Seahawks, I'm putting them there. They went into Arizona. I gave you grief because you took them out last week.

Kenneth Walker's out and they uncorked some Charbonnet and served it up and Geno's slinging it and defensively they're making some plays. Oh, that's why you gave me grief, right? I put it back.

I reinstalled him at nine. Okay. They're eight and five.

I know. So they're back on the list. And those are my new teams to start us off down one spot, even though they're on a bye week. You think I should take him out? TJ, you think I should remove the Baltimore Ravens from my power rankings? No. Okay.

Absolutely not. You think I should still not have the Ravens on my power rankings, Chris? The last time we saw them, they lost. I know, but the time before that, they beat the Chargers who you thought I should still have on my power rankings list. They're down one spot.

I still love them. There aren't 10 teams better than this. And they're about to win a couple in a row too, gents. I think the Ravens are going to take care of business against the Giants. We're not too... That game against Pittsburgh, you know, the week before Christmas, the Saturday before Christmas, that's going to be a tough one. At Houston home for Cleveland, they should finish strong. I believe.

Okay. And so I'm going to keep the Ravens on the list, just down one spot. And I'm downgrading the Packers one spot too.

And you'll understand why. I still believe in them. I still think that this is a team that can make the divisional round because they're going to go into potentially the NFC South winner or the NFC West leader and make things tough. I still believe in them, but I'm downgrading them one spot because I'm putting the Vikings above them. Finally, some Vikings. I know.

I got it. What they just did to Atlanta, they took an opponent that was coming in wounded and is lesser than, and they destroyed him. They beat him up. They took that team and just spanked him. Yeah, all the rest. And Sam Darnold, for him to have Kirk Cousins in the house, you know, and we had Cam Hayward on yesterday, and he said that Mike Tomlin, in announcing the quarterback change from Justin Fields to Russell Wilson, essentially told the team, I make the decisions.

It's up to you to make them look good. Well, they made the decision. Or Kirk Cousins made the decision. And Sam Darnold made him look good. Five touchdowns, career high.

That's the stat line that he had. And that's the day that they had on the day Kirk Cousins returned. It's as perfect as it can get for the Minnesota Vikings this past week.

NFC player of the week. So they start 5-0, then they lose two in a row, and then they win six in a row. So let's get to the top five. I know there's gonna be some pushback on this, but I'm downgrading the Bills to spot their five. That's fair. They're five.

And I think that's out of respect. The fact that I put the Rams on the list, too, is that I didn't drop them any further. And the fact that they've got the MVP, I think certainly from the quarterback spot, we'll see what Saquon does against the Steelers.

He can put himself back into this pole position. We'll see what the Lions do this week. It's a pretty big week for the MVP race. There's some big games this week. But I'm concerned about the Bills defense. And we'll see what they do against the Lions.

They can shut me up. I'm putting the Steelers four. I think the Steelers can win the Super Bowl the way they're playing, guys.

I think they can. The way the way that Russ is playing, not making the mistakes, slinging it around, giving them some chunk plays, and then their main chunk receiver was out. And it took a while, but he found the end zone a couple times in the year, man. Running, playing defense, coaching, special teams. Steelers are top four in the league right now. And I'm putting the Chiefs at three above them.

We will find out on Christmas Day whether I'm right or wrong. And the Chiefs are three. You call them lucky all you want. They're situationally brilliant. And it isn't luck to win all these one-score games in a row, man. You just got to know how to finish up.

You got to know how to avoid the mistakes. And sure, there's a little bit of luck involved in a couple of them. Now comes the decision. I popped the Eagles above the lines last week, but based on what I saw last week, I'm downgrading the Eagles to two and I'm putting the lines back at number one. And that's what you do in power rankings. You kind of go from week to week. You kind of figure it out.

Man, I just don't understand. The passing game struggles against Carolina and it's you've won nine in a row. This is where winning should be the deodorant here.

And instead, you're still smelling a little bit of smoke from that place. I don't know what's going on with them. I love it, to be honest. I'm sure you do as a Cowboys fan. They're all burning down. I mean, they're still a Super Bowl caliber team.

For sure. But when it comes to it, the Lions, what they did on Thursday night with the Packers in their house and Dan Gamble, as he's referred to. And the Lions just getting it done. And I can't wait to see them against the Bills this week. As a matter of fact, this week on my power rankings, it's one versus five.

It's two versus four. Let's go. Let's go. And then you've got the Rams taking on the 49ers. You've got the Seahawks taking on, you've got nine versus seven.

How about that? Fun week 15 on my power rankings, one versus five, three versus four, seven versus nine. Okay.

I think I would have left the commanders at 10. I don't know. I like what the Rams did, buddy. You can still like them, but like college football playoff, they're the first team out and you can't penalize a team that didn't play. Okay. I see what you said.

Yeah. The Rams beating the Bills and doing what they did on offense shows you that they're a dangerous team. Chargers also could have won, but yeah, I see taking them out.

I would have just left Washington. TJ? Look, it would be really nitpicking. That's what this is about. I like moving the Vikings up.

I'm not here to pick nits, so I'll just say, yeah, I'm with you later. I mean, I would have liked to have seen Dallas in there, but oh yeah, they stink. So they can't be.

This is where shuffling the top five is good though. You had them right. TJ, thank you. TJ, this is where it would work to say in terms of the power rankings, we're Mishpoka. We're on the same page? No, we're part of the same family. Same family?

We're part of the same family. We're Mishpokanen. No, it's not a verb. It's not a verb. Just Mishpoka. No, it's okay.

Just keep working through it. Hey, I'm here to learn, baby. I'm here to learn.

Or you told me it wasn't, you told me Debo didn't tweet out B. Francium. Yeah, I taught you about Pharrell. You teach me about Mishpoka. We're doing the Lord's work, Rich. We're bringing people and cultures together here on the Rich Island show throughout the world. Inside Carolina is saying it's done with Bill. Let's get to Bruce Feldman.

This is nuts. Let's go. LFG, as they would say back in Bill's old stomping grounds.

LFG to UNC, is that coming? Oh my word. Great time tickets, by the way, is ready for you to start buying tickets to anything in your area, or in the case of what Suze just did, north of the border, she just took Zan to the third to the last Era's tour. Oh, it was great. It was great. They went to Swift-Coover, as it was renamed for the weekend.

Swift-Coover. Come on. Tanya, I love the all-in pricing when it comes to it. The all-in pricing is great because when you are checking it out on the Game Time site, you see the price for the ticket that you want, thanks to the Game Time picks curation feature. And then when you check out, it's the price that you saw. It is amazing.

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And I love it too. So make sure that you go right now to gametime.co because there are some restrictions for you to check out. So just download the app, make sure you get it on your phone. And then once you download the app, use my promo code of Rich, you get $20 off your first purchase, R-I-C-H, $20 off your first purchase. So download Game Time today. Make sure that you check it out on Game Time. What time is it? Game time. Boom. All right, Bruce Feldman's going to join us next right here on the Rich Eisen Show.

So much to talk about with him. For business owners like you, the American Express Business Platinum Card works just as hard as you do to help you pursue your passions. With its world-class business and travel benefits, you can get more for your business wherever it takes you. The Amex Business Platinum Card offers a flexible spending limit that adapts with your business, enabling you to flex and adapt as your business evolves. And you'll earn five times membership rewards points on flights and prepaid hotels booked on amextravel.com so that going that extra mile for your business is even more rewarding. See how the Amex Business Platinum Card gives business owners like you the tools and rewards to do more of what you love. Not all purchases will be approved.

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Game time. So, you know, I always get these updates from the NFL network news desk and I'm reading the press conference. Jeff Ulbrich, the interim head coach of the New York Jets, saying Breece Hall is quote unquote struggling a bit. His status for this week's game for the Jets is unclear. The Jets are in Jacksonville and sauce Gardner's going, but Ulbrich says they're not at the point of shutting Breece Hall down as of now.

Can I just say this? I don't even know what his MRI looks like. Just shut him down. Could you imagine this team is three and ten, potentially loses to Jacksonville to go three and eleven. And even if they win to go four and ten, could you imagine this guy hurts himself significantly to the point where it affects his off season?

That would be bad. Like that's the, that's how you take the season that is unfolded and double and triple down on it. What's the point? And I understand when I say stuff like that or anybody in my position says stuff like that, these are some real grown ass men who really want to win games and it means so much to them.

It really does. And I try to keep this in mind when I talk about anything like this from this position, but sometimes you just got to take the car keys away. That's all. That's it. And I'm sure Breece Hall wants to be out there with his mates and he also might have an idea in his head about going into the season what his personal goals were and he doesn't want to not reach those either. But come on now. Come on now. Certainly sit him against Jacksonville and then after that, come on, what are you going to go throw them out there against Buffalo? Is that what you're going to do?

The Rams? Really? Back here on the Rich Eisen Show radio network, sitting at the Rich Eisen Show desk furnished by Grainger with supplies and solutions for every industry.

Grainger is the right product for you. Call clickrainger.com or just up back here on the Rich Eisen Show and his usual Wednesday spot is my friend from Fox Sports, our friend from the Athletic, Bruce Feldman. Good to see you, Bruce. How are you? I'm doing well.

Good to be on with you, Rich. Yeah. Last week when we were talking about the possibility of Bill Belichick taking a job in North Carolina, I had my tongue firmly planted in cheek saying, what is he going to get ready for Wake Forest next year? And at this point in time, this sounds serious. Is this going to happen? Do you think, Bruce?

There's a very good chance it is, Rich. Our reporting at the Athletic yesterday was that he has been offered the job. The sides were not close on their terms.

We've heard that it seems like they've gotten closer to making this happen. A couple of things to keep in mind. So this has been a very unwieldy search by all our reporting. The Athletic has done a lot of digging into this, especially our Brendan Marks, who covers North Carolina for us. And so what you have is normally the AD would be leading this and driving things in this direction. From what we gather, it seems like there's been one regent who has been driving it and connected to the Belichick side of this thing.

And there's different people who want different things. And this is not a place that has great resources in terms of financially right now on the NIL front towards revenue share. I mean, Mac Brown was making $5 million, which is a lot, but not a lot by big time college football coach standards. I mean, that's less than half of what Davos Sweeney is getting. Mario Cristobal in the same conference makes a lot more. Most of the SEC makes a lot more. From our reporting, the offer initially to Belichick was in that ballpark.

So he's half the coach of Davos Sweeney. I think a lot of that was going to be tough for Bill Belichick to probably swallow. But it's also going to be tough to say, hey, am I going to be able to compete for talent when all this is, is everybody's basically a free agent in college football. And so he talked on Pat McAfee a lot on Monday about just selling an NFL model. And some of the stuff he said I think really echoes the same kind of pitch Jed Fish had both at Arizona and Washington, some of the same stuff that Kirby Smart and Bill Belichick have definitely emphasized and done well with.

But if you don't have the financial backing when somebody goes, yeah, that's great, but how much can you pay me? I think that's the part where there's a disconnect. Well, and then that's the disconnect I think a lot of fans and certainly NFL observers have about Belichick saying yes to something like this is the fact that there's the NIL aspect of it. And sure, we understand what the way of the world is in the NIL and you could professionalize it and it's going to be like the NFL and things of that nature, except for the fact that there's a new league year.

There's a new league year in the NFL and there's a period by which you can't talk to anybody and then you can and then now it's a free-for-all as opposed to the transfer portal happening when a player decides it's happening. And that's the way of the world that a lot of people think that Belichick wouldn't be fit for. Any reporting on this side of it from the North Carolina reporter that you're referring to or anybody from your sources about how the fit works here, Bruce?

I think it's all TBD. Like I said, we've done a lot of reporting on this part. Bill Belichick is not cold to college football in terms of his son Steve is the defense coordinator at Washington. I know from being up there this year, Bill Belichick has been very involved in there. He's been in meetings. He's been around the team and team meetings. He's certainly been involved with the staff quite a bit, especially in spring football, in training camp as well. I don't know if he's been there since they played.

I heard he was there when they played Michigan. That was whatever it was a month plus ago. But I don't know. My understanding is he's not been around when it comes to any of the recruiting side of it.

That's a different animal. The other thing is you can talk about, and Belichick has talked about this on McAfee, about understanding an NFL model and how it relates to now. This is closer to what college is. While there's some truth to that, you're not necessarily negotiating a lot with Drew Rosenhaus here and NFL accredited agents. Most of the people who are involved in this now in terms of the portal and who wants what, all you need, basically, is a cell phone and an internet connection to be an agent on the NFL side of things.

Those are the people who are really driving a lot of stuff there. It's very unwieldy once he were to get into it, if it, in fact, does happen, of how this would play out in terms of managing that. The calendar is way different for college coaches than it is in the NFL. The NFL, it's obviously a longer, regular season. It's more intensive. It's not because there's a 20-hour rule with your players. But when it gets to the offseason, it's way different.

It's way longer. I know a lot of coaches who used to coach in college who are in the NFL who have a much better quality of life because they have an offseason. You really don't have that if you're a college football coach. Now, people can say, yeah, well, you're making $5, $10 million, and that's true. But it's just a different reality.

We'll see how he would actually take to it once he's doing it. Not to put any words in your mouth, but I'm just trying to hear what you're saying. You're saying this is a search or a negotiation that's occurring without the athletic directors, I guess, not involvement, but usually the leader leading the search, right? Or the negotiation. And that at this point in time, there's mutual interest, but the holdup might be money for the coach and also proof to the coach that there's enough money to compete on the front of name, image, and likeness to keep kids from hopping in the portal. They're on a search for donor cash pretty much right now to make this happen, Bruce?

Is that it? I think there's a lot of other things they've had to marshal together in the last 36 hours. From my understanding, this started to trend in the direction towards Bill Belichick and got momentum on Sunday and has picked up speed. But again, they were pretty far off of the things he felt like he needed to take this job. And so it's just more complicated. When Jim Harbaugh came back from the NFL when he left the 49ers, now, again, he had been a college coach.

He was really successful at San Diego and then certainly at Stanford. This is just a different time in terms of how you got revenue sharing coming up this summer. You have certainly NIL on the portal and how it's managed. But it's all the things that kind of come with that. And I think those are different parts of it. And if you have people who are trying to approach it strictly from the NFL model, it's got to be some version of a modified thing. The other thing I thought about a bunch is about a year ago at this time when Nick Saban, who's obviously Belichick knows incredibly well, when he was making his decision to step down, I know one of the things that he told people close to him that he struggled with was the day before he made that announcement, he did all his exit interviews with his players.

And we're talking about dozens of them. And the reaction and the kind of dialogue that he was getting from the players in terms of their expectations, in terms of NIL and those things, and kind of how they were, I don't know if I'd say how they were wired, but what was on their mind was tough for him. It did not sit well with him. This is Nick Saban, who had a team that was probably as wired in for that and to be competitive as you're probably going to get in college football.

And even that group, the answers he struggled with. So is Bill Belichick ready for what he's going to get dealing with 17, 18, 19-year-olds in this day and age? And again, he's 72. Obviously, he's the greatest football coach in the history of the NFL, but he is in his 70s. I mean, there was an interesting parallel to this. Bill Walsh, who had won three Super Bowls with the 49ers, came back to Stanford 30 years ago. He had a really good first year, but he finished in three years.

He went 17, 17 in like two or whatever, how many ties they had. And he was in his early 60s, not in his early 70s. And so this would be an interesting experiment if North Carolina ends up in this situation. And then last one for you on this, is there any truth that if he does it, he would line up his son to be his successor?

That I've heard is not accurate. Okay. It wouldn't shock me if Steve Belichick ended up going with him. But to be the head coach and waiting down the road, that we've heard is inaccurate in our reporting.

Okay. Bruce Feldman here on The Rich Eisen Show. And before we get to the bracket, I mean, we just spoke at length about the world of college football and how it's caused a lot of coaches to say, screw it, I'm going to the NFL where there's actual rules about free agents, the actual rules on paying people and things of that nature.

And, you know, in that respect, it's not lost. I mean, we spoke to Josh Hypo last week, Bruce, and he was talking about how they were dealing with the signing period right before conference championship weekend. He wasn't part of it, but he's dealing with the signing period. And then we just got off the phone, off the Zoom with coach Lashley of SMU.

And he had yet to, yesterday, he had yet to look meaningfully at any Penn State film because he was dealing with portal stuff. And it's just, what sport is set up this way? It's insane, Bruce. And the question is, is when are, you know, there's enough smart people to figure this thing out to not have these massively important periods occur around some of the most important games for these coaches and institutions that are already under significant pressure. Who the hell's in charge and when are they going to actually address this thing, Bruce?

What the hell? First of all, nobody's in charge. And I don't know if there's enough smart people to figure it out because they know a lot of these factors and they still walk face first into it. So don't overestimate the intelligence of the people who are, quote unquote, running the sport. I mean, it's been a big money grab for a long time. And I feel like they're often at odds with maybe their own self-preservation. And that's just the reality of it.

I mean, everybody saw this coming down the pipe and they still, you know, are face first into it. So you have players who are, you know, starting quarterbacks. The starting quarterback at Duke led them to a nine and three season. You know, he's not finishing the season.

He's in the portal. Now you have other, like, Ohio State and SME both have backup quarterbacks who are going on the portal, but they have said they're going to finish the season. But you also have coaches, you know, who up and move before the year is over.

And you remember, these are the same people who will always, like, they'll put up, you know, mantras all over their locker room and all over their facility, finish, finish, finish, and everything about that and accountability. You know, it's just sometimes, and often it's at odds with what their messaging is. It's just crazy.

There's no other sport where free agency takes place during the playoffs or just on the verge of the playoffs. It makes no sense. It's absurd. And it just adds pressure to a situation that doesn't require it. It's nuts.

Bruce Feldman here on The Rich Eyes. Your opinion of the bracket is what? What's your opinion of it? I don't think Oregon got the best draw for being the only undefeated team. You know, if you look at their half of it, you know, as it is there, you know, you got Tennessee. Tennessee is really talented. Ohio State is loaded. Clemson, Davos won two national, and then Texas is, you know, came within a, you know, play, basically playing for the national title last year.

Whereas on the other side, it's Georgia. And then the only other team I think has similar level of athletes, maybe not as much, is Penn State. Notre Dame is a good team, but just in terms of that, it feels like there is more of the powerhouse side on the Oregon piece of it. And I still think Oregon, they would be my pick to win it all.

That's why I picked when I saw the bracket. They have the quarterback I would trust the most in a big game, and that's Dylan Gabriel. They have a lot of the same caliber, elite, big people that Georgia has, maybe not quite as many of them, but they have a really good scheme and they're extremely well coached. I think Dan Lanning has just a really, really good feel for his players.

And they almost, they never look tight, which is they look like they're always ready to play, which I wouldn't say the same for a lot of these other teams. Well, I mean, we had Ward Manuel on Monday, the CFP selection committee chair in the AD at Michigan. He came on and he's led, and you probably know this already, but I'll just say it just to set up the rest of our conversation here, is that they just ranked them and then they popped them in order in the bracket.

And the ranking came up the way it did based on factors that they all voted on without knowing where they would land. And then, you know, so be it that it's a tougher path for Oregon than it happened for Georgia because, you know, Ohio State lost a non-conference game. I mean, I didn't lose a non-conference game. They lost a game to an unranked opponent.

They put them there until it was them in Tennessee. And then Texas fell with Clemson as well, right there on that side of the bracket for Oregon. And, you know, Ohio State fans are pissed because it seems like Penn State is an easier path than Ohio State, and Penn State lost to Ohio State. That's just basically the way it is because they're mandated to put teams in the buys based on the fact that they won conference championships, so on and so forth.

That's what he said. Yeah, and I think that's the part that may get undone on the next contract is the shoehorning teams from perceived lesser conferences that are getting shoehorned up into slots where they're not in the rankings. In this case, it was certainly Boise State. And when you had that with Arizona State as well, I mean, Arizona State, both teams are great stories, especially Arizona State. They were preseason pick to finish last in the Big 12, and now they're getting a first-round bye in the playoff.

And they're a hot team, you know, like the way they played down the stretch. But I think that piece of it has, I wouldn't expect to see this again, because it definitely muddied up how the bracket unfolded in terms of that. Now, look, it may work in the best interest of the SEC in Georgia. You know, we'll see. You know, Carson Beck's questionable, you know, because of his elbow injury.

We'll see if he's actually going to be able to play. You know, I can't wait to see how this tournament plays out. You know, I think it's hard to look and go, okay, would Indiana be the upset pick I would pick to knock off Notre Dame in the first round? I mean, I would hope to see that there'll be some kind of upset, you know, in this bracket or a big upset. I don't know that we're going to see it just because college football is way different from college basketball, where you get like, somebody gets cold, somebody gets hot, and that changes it. But, you know, we're in the infancy stages of a 12-team playoff. And because of that, you're getting this, you know, you can't please everybody.

I get it. They wanted to have these first-round buys for conference champs. And it's, you know, they're going to learn from it, I think.

And they're going to probably re-evaluate it as soon as they can. Well, I mean, just to finish it up, I think the biggest upset would be any of the teams that don't get a buy winning at all. That would be the upset because, just again, for Ohio State or Tennessee, just using that as an example right there, for them to beat the other and then have to go beat Oregon and then go beat whoever comes out of the other part of the bracket, and then arguably Georgia, name me any team, any team in college football that would have a four-game stretch during their regular season of scheduling to have that tough a stretch. It doesn't exist because of the lesser opponents they face within their conference or the non-conference people they purposefully set up to prop up their record. Well, don't lose two games and come out without winning your conference title. I mean, they could blame that. I mean, don't lose to Michigan. Don't lose to basically a 500 team at home.

I mean, that's that. I mean, if you're like, Lane Kiffin did a lot of complaining about, they lost at home to Kentucky. Kentucky didn't beat any other team in the SEC.

It's one thing to have one of those. If you have that coupled with other losses, it's hard to feel too bad about Alabama. They got blown out on the road by three touchdowns against a really mediocre Oklahoma team on top of losing to Vanderbilt and on top of another loss.

So, again, I think it's harder to feel too bad for the teams that have multiple losses and didn't even make it to their conference championship game. Before I let you go, your best guess on when we'll find out yea or nay on Belichick is when? What do you think? Hopefully within the next 24 hours.

Really? So it won't even make, this won't be in doubt the Heisman Trophy weekend. You think it'll be done?

I would imagine. If they're still kind of noodling around on the contract numbers by that long down the stretch, I would think that's a really bad sign. I would think it would have to be within the next 24 hours.

I mean, for us to report yesterday at the athletic that it was already been offered and they're still talking about it, usually those things don't take a month to get sorted out. Bruce, thanks for the time. Greatly appreciate it. Be well. We'll chat with you.

Thanks again. You got it. Everybody check out Bruce Feldman on the athletic and Fox Sports right here on the Rich Eisen Show.

Bruce. Don't lose at home. Don't lose at home. Yeah. To, like you said, a 500 team.

Well, and he pointed out what Ole missed too. And yeah, I think what we should do is endeavor this. Just take some time.

Maybe while we're just sitting at home tonight, not responding to everyone else's texts. By the way, just take a look at anybody's toughest four game stretch. That's in the, of the eight teams that didn't get a buy. In a row, four games in a row. Four games in a row. And how it wouldn't come anywhere near the four game stretch that they're going to have to endeavor to win it all.

Right? I think that's... We'll take the time. It'll take some time, but let's do that maybe for the next two days. We have next week too.

I mean, the first game is next Friday. Yeah, we got all next week. 844-204-rich. We'll take some phone calls.

Hour number three coming up right here on the Rich Isaac show with Omar Dorsey of Bookie in studio. With Shop Pay that boost conversions up to 50%, meaning way less carts are going abandoned and way more sales happening. So if you're into growing your business, your commerce platform better be ready to sell whatever your customers are scrolling or strolling on the web, in your store, in their feed, and everywhere in between. Businesses that sell more sell on Shopify. Upgrade your business and get the same checkout skins uses. Sign up for your $1 per month trial period at Shopify.com slash WestwoodOne all lowercase. Go to Shopify.com slash WestwoodOne to upgrade your selling today.

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Learn what Amazon Q Business can do for you at AWS.com slash learn more. What is going on with you, Jim Brockmire and Brett Musburger? It's my Musburger face. You know, you can't put that to bed, Rich Isaac. You know why you can't put it to bed? Because he's a punk.

That's why. Brett Musburger is a P-U-N-K punk. The man is a thief, okay? Brett Musburger is a thief.

How so? Stole my line. What line was that? This is for all the Tostitos. Remember that?

These are all the Tostitos. Remember when he said that? Everybody in the business, no, it's not funny. Everybody in the business knows that was my line, but he went ahead and used. That's what I always yell when I climax inside of a woman. Or when I'm just, when I climax all by myself. And ever since then, now I have to yell out, the Ruffles have ridges.

And it's not, it's not the same thing. Here is Brett Musburger. How are you, Brett? Hey, Rich, Rich, I'm great. Listen, I'm so proud of you guys for trying to help resurrect little Jimmy Brickmeyer's career. We all know the problems.

We all know the problems that he had in the past. He says that you stole all the Tostitos from him, Brent, from back in the day? No, I got paid. I got paid by a company to drop the name. I got three Tostitos for a week. What are you talking about?

Okay. You know, Rich, it's really interesting because as we started these in here in Las Vegas and Brickmeyer was having trouble getting a job. So he called our executives and our general manager, he interviewed Brickmeyer and asked him about a three team parlay. And our boy, Jimmy, he thought that that was two hookers with him in a Morristown hotel room. You know, Jesus, we would have loved to help him out, but I wish him the best. He's so delusional.

And listen, let him go at it. All the Tostitos, baby. Oh my God. That might be one of our greatest achievements.

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Straightforward protection for the people who matter most. Get a free quote now at tryethos.com. That's T-R-Y-E-T-H-O-S.com. Shane in Boulder, Colorado. Let's take his phone call again. How have you been, Shane? Hi, I've been good. How's it going, Rich?

What's on your mind, sir? I'm just so shocked by the disrespect by the committee on Notre Dame. I'm shocked.

What is that? They should definitely, they should definitely be ranked above Penn State. They only have one loss. And also they played one of the hardest teams to begin the season in their house, Texas A&M, and they beat them. And they have a good schedule. They beat Army.

I don't think anyone expected them to beat Army in the way they did by like 40 points almost. Well, here's the thing, Shane. Shane, here's a deal with Notre Dame.

You have separated yourself and we had Marcus Freeman on the program and he says he uses this to his advantage in his mind for recruiting is that they play, they don't, they're not part of a conference. And that they play, you know, hey, you come to us and your child will play all over. He'll see the world. He'll see the football world.

You know, literally we'll go overseas. I love that they're an independent college. I don't want them to ever be in a conference.

I love that. But that's how, but Shane, in this setup, that's how you're going to wind up feeling that you're going to get overlooked is that you don't have, you're not, you're not in a conference championship. They didn't win a conference championship. But they don't, they don't, they're not playing a team like Oregon, like Penn State did or Ohio State, unless you schedule them like you did a couple of years ago. And, you know, and, and you're, you're not playing a team like Oregon, like Penn State did for a conference championship when that's clearly what the college football playoff committee is going to covet.

And in the business world too, Shane, it's going to be like, oh, so you get all that television money to yourself. You're not going to come join a conference like the rest of us. And we've got to all play by those rules. You play by your own rules.

Well, guess what? The own rules are you got one loss and that one loss is to Northern Illinois. And that's going to count against you when it comes to Texas and Penn State taking on Georgia and Oregon, your current second.

But we should definitely be above Penn State. A hundred percent. A hundred percent. All right, Shane, I appreciate, I appreciate the call. I'm sorry that you feel that way and call back and Rudy was offsides. Is he gone? Yeah, it seems like that.

Shane was with it. I also kind of agree with them. I thought Notre Dame should have been five. In the politics of the world, you're just not going to be.

Sorry. Texas loses to Georgia in overtime and Penn State comes within one touchdown of winning the big 10 championship. And you're going to take a team that says, we're not playing you, your conference game.

Check us out on the NBC. Like that's going to count against you in this world where the college football playoff committee does what it's doing. And they're basically like, choose a side, pick a conference.

Oh, I get that part. I'm just saying in terms of this, this year, this bracket, I wouldn't be surprised if Notre Dame made the final. The highest seed they'll ever be is five. And then go, then go prove it in the tournament. Then go prove it in the tournament. I think they might.

It'll be fun for, it'll be fun. Listen, I'm still bitter over losing once, Soto. Clearly, right? But I said that my opinion would be tempered based on what the Yankees do with the money that Soto said no to. Because you didn't want them anyway. Well, obviously I wanted them, but you know what I'm saying?

That my opinion of, of, well, what happens next will temper my opinion of what just happened. And taking a little bit less than a third of the money and giving it to Max Fried, I dig it. I like it.

I think it's going to be fun to watch Cole and then Fried. And then I guess there's, well, we got a bevy of lefties. Got Nestor still around. And obviously you've got, you know, you got the New York Yankees throwing one lefty after another out there.

So kind of dig it. And then I hear Kyle Tucker's in the offing that the Astros are throwing them out there for trade. Well, that's, I mean, you guys are making offers.

It seems like. Well, the Cubs are interested in him too, and the Astros are listening. And according to Joel Sherman of the Post, they're interested in Luis Hill, the rookie of the year pitcher that they threw out there. Yeah. He's kind of the big ask from, from New York in any potential deal.

What do you think? I think, I mean, he's a great player. You know, he was injured this past year, played about half the games. But the previous two years as a guy that can steal 30 bases, he can get you 40 home runs. I'm kind of shocked that Houston's willing to part with this guy. And then you hear Christian Walker might be on the Yankees wishlist to hand a left-handed bat to him in Yankee Stadium and say, play first base.

I really like that, dude. He had a great year last year. So it's Garrett Cole and then Max Fried and then Carlos Redone, Cortez, maybe Clark Schmidt is the righty. Because Hill's gone because that's Tucker and then Walker. And you extend the lineup with some serious hitters and some better pitching. That's how I'm sitting there going, all right, that's the way you slice up the 700 million.

You're not giving a one guy to try and run it back. Kind of dig it. Feeling good about it. Hour three coming up. I'm feeling good right now.

Why are you feeling good? Hit it, Jay. Breaking news. Hit it, hit it, hit it, hit it, hit it. You don't want to save it for the top of the next hour?

No, I mean, we can hit it then, too. OK, what do you got? Roku only. Here it comes. Oh, am I? I see. Breaking news. Red Sox are sort of a serious organization, finalizing a trade, according to Jeff Passan, for Garrett Crochet of the White Sox. OK, so now we're going to see Garrett Crochet of the White Sox. OK, so now.

Now you're using the capital. That you didn't spend on Soto to bring in somebody that you could keep for a long time. Yeah, so it's going to be a trade, so obviously I'm curious to see what what goes back to Chicago. Be a bunch of Paw Sox you really haven't heard of, or those are the ones that you have heard of and you thought that would lure Soto to comment.

It didn't work. That is what I was thinking. But we've had good success trading with the White Sox for a lefty. So I'm kind of down with this.

Did Crochet ever cut up his uniform? Great question. I'll look into it. OK. The deal with Tucker Rich, too, is he's entering the final year of his deal, so you kind of have to sign an extension.

You don't want it on your rental, obviously. Let's go trade for him. Sign him, trade for him, extend him. Yeah, yeah. Let's go enjoy Soto, buddy. Oh, yeah. Enjoy him. He's just one guy. Yeah, that's true. He's only one.

Making more money than the guy who plays, who hits and pitches. That happens in life sometimes. All right.

So the apple will come up and down out of the hat. The only question is, is what happens next? Hour three coming up. My World with Jeff Jarrett takes wrestling fans behind the scenes, along with King of the Mountain Conrad Thompson. I wanted to ask you about what you know, if anything, on the new WWE ID program, where they're apparently going to be working with some independent wrestlers. My encouragement to any independent wrestler out there, build your value and then understand your value, and then you create your own leverage. There's no substitute for hard work and getting over. My World with Jeff Jarrett, wherever you listen.