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Download Bleacher Report to personalize your coverage. This is the Rich Eisen Show. Live from the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles. Earlier on the show, Bucks running back, Bucky Irving. Coming up, Bucks sports college football analyst, Bruce Feldman. Plus, latest news and more. And now, it's Rich Eisen.
That's right. Our number two of the Rich Eisen Show is on the air. In case you are just joining us, I am sitting here in the glorious beautiful state of Utah hanging out with the family for New Year's Eve tonight.
Hopefully, you are getting set for your big New Year's Eve plan. Penn State and Boise State playing for our viewing pleasure as the quarterfinal round of the college football playoffs begin tonight. Three more games tomorrow, including the centerpiece, the granddaddy of them all, the Rose Bowl between Oregon and The Ohio State University. We talked about that in hour number one with Bucky Irving, the running back from Oregon of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. In hour number two, which we are currently in right now on the Roku channel, this Rich Eisen Show terrestrial radio affiliate, Sirius XM Odyssey, and more. Bruce Feldman of Fox Sports and the Athletic in his usual midweek spot to talk about college football.
Michigan, the Wolverines, are up on Alabama 16-0 in the ReliaQuest Bowl. You may not be somewhat interested in that, but I sure am. We'll be having updates throughout the entire show. And what's the name of the show, guys?
I'm sorry to say that. What's the name of the show? I think Mike has it. But the guys are in Los Angeles there. DJ Mikey D is in Deez Nuts.
Anytime you want to hit the drop, it's fine. We've got Chris Brockman and DJ Jefferson. Good to see you guys. How are you? Hey, bud.
What's up, brother? I'm literally chilling. It's like 15 degrees out here.
An actual fact. It is chilling. It's the Rich Eisen Show, just for anyone who didn't pick it up. Mike, do you not know where this drop is?
This is the Rich Eisen Show. Seriously? Two minutes later. Oh, my God. No, he thought we were going to do the Jerry Jones sound bite, so he had the squirrel thing all around.
It's delicious. Oh, my God. Jerry has spoken about the future of Mike McCarthy in his usual Tuesday spot. We'll get to that later on. It's an overreaction Monday on a Tuesday. There's the draft order I want to hit as Brockman's Patriots are currently sitting in the number one on-the-clock spot going into the final game of the regular season.
844204 Rich is the number to dial. We started this show talking about the Monday night game, the Lions' point of view. They are the team that's got 14 wins. They are the team that has a home date with the Vikings. Whoever wins that is the one seed in the NFC and the champs of the NFC North. Whoever loses that has to go on the road, most likely to face Bucky Irving's Buccaneers in the first round on the road in Tampa. Let's now turn our attention to the San Francisco 49ers.
And I'll just say this storyline is a perfect microcosm of the 2024 San Francisco 49ers. Brock Purdy throwing for 300 yards and three touchdowns with some mistakes in the middle of all that. And the offense humming and getting some missed kicks from their kicker. And Jake Moody, my guy from the University of Michigan, is definitely putting himself in danger.
I'll just be straight up about that. And then the defense not coming through on occasion despite having the pass rush, despite having Fred Warner. But it's the injury front that we are left talking about at the very end of the day. And that has been the story of the San Francisco 49ers season.
From the Friday before the season Monday kickoff against the New York Jets. Remember that way back in the day when the Jets were feeling so good about themselves because Aaron Rodgers was back healthy? And the San Francisco 49ers just got through the whole business of signing Brandon Iuke to his contract and getting Trent Williams happy with his contract.
And finally getting all that together and having Iuke and Debo and potentially their final season together. And Christian McCaffrey saying these calf injuries that have kept me out of preseason action, no big deal. And then all of a sudden, wait a minute, McCaffrey's not starting on the Monday night. Wait a minute, McCaffrey's on injury reserve.
Wait a minute, it's not just one Achilles that's aching him, it's both. And here we are now with the San Francisco 49ers sitting at 6 and 10 wondering if Brock Purdy hurt his throwing elbow in the same way that he hurt it in the NFC Championship game years ago that required UCL surgery. Now he said after the game that his arm was tested for all that and you'll hear that in a second and that that's not an issue.
But I'm waiting with bated breath right here because that kid is about to go try and hit it in the contractual front. And if he goes and enters that part of his world hurt, I don't know what the hell that means for this team and his arm and this franchise and his career. But this is what Brock Purdy had to say after the game after the final interception knocked him out because he said his arm was on fire. On that sack, I got hit on the backside and basically just my arm was on fire kind of thing. So I tried throwing a couple on the sideline and I couldn't at that point. So yeah, it has nothing to do with tapping out of the game or anything like that. I love my teammates and I'll go to the very end for them and this fan base and everybody. So that's that's what hurts me is like I couldn't finish the game.
But again, we'll see we'll see tomorrow. Your arm is on fire. Is that similar to what you had in Philly?
A little bit, but there we did some tests with like UCL stuff and I'm good in that regard, but we just got to go get imaging on it tomorrow and see the whole thing. It is just again the microcosm of the season first half. He's got a perfect passer rating. He winds up with both halves is the first game of all year with 300 or more passing yards and three or more passing touchdowns.
As a matter of fact with golf doing the same thing. It's only the second time this year. We've seen two quarterbacks in the same game do it. The other one was Lamar and Joe Burrow on that Thursday night crazy overtime game and Purdie's playing at his best Ricky Pearsall's having his best career game 141 yards with a score.
George Kittle's doing George Kittle things by the way. Congrats to one of our favorites. He's the third player and only tight end in San Francisco history to now have four or more seasons with a thousand or more receiving yards. The others are named Jerry Rice and Terrell Owens and they like he should be our Hall of Famers. So that's working for him the the running scheme, you know, this kid Garendo looks just like, you know, Jordan Mason who looked just like McCaffrey at times and McCaffrey is obviously plus up. He always pluses up that running attack and rushing game. But when it all comes down to it, that second half was the microcosm of the season where things just begin to go wrong offensively. They just get on the on the wrong page at the wrong time and then an injury comes home to roost and then the whole thing turns to crap and then the kicker misses some kicks and then there's always that sideline shot of Kyle Shanahan. Just looking half angry and half confused as to what the hell's happening out there and it just turns into a lost season for the 49ers. And the only question is, is this possibly going to be a lost offseason for Brock Purdy?
His arms on fire when you hear that. You know, I'm hoping it's just one of those moments where he's hit in the wrong way and his arm goes dead for just the night and he feels fine the next day, but we're going to see whatever the hell the imaging says. And when you're coming off of that UCL surgery and that injury and you start hearing about, hey, you know, everything seems to be fine with the UCL, but my arms on fire, you're sitting here going, what the hell is that all about? That'll be the last thing the Niners need is all of those injuries and all of the question marks that the injuries caused and all of the ups and the downs that cause a lot of the other confusion from the fan base to what the hell's going on. If that bleeds into the off season with their quarterback, holy cow, I don't even know what that would mean. So I'm just hoping that this is maybe alarmist and that Purdy is going to be fine and that that's just, you know, we'll see him in that week 18 finale for the Niners. We'll go into the off season, either 6 and 11 or 7 and 10 and just chalk it up to those were just a lot of the injuries and a lot of the off season madness that potentially caused some of these things to to to Roost, you know, with Ricky Pierce Hall getting shot. I mean, this is just been a wild season for the 49ers that that, you know, will lead to a new NFC champ. Unbelievable.
Unbelievable. You're right, you know, so all right, you ready? It's an overreaction Monday on a Tuesday. You ready to hit it? Go ahead. Hit it, please.
Hit it. That was terrible. That was crap. That was garbage.
This place sucks. Overreaction Mondays, Monday on a Tuesday. See, I didn't step on it. I didn't step on it. I'm very proud of myself. Good job. What do you got over there, Chris?
Happy Tuesday. Everybody good? Mike, you good? I'm good. Mike, pay attention.
Hit the drops. Guys, we watched it last night. The Lions dominate. Remind me a lot of the 17 Patriots, Rich, where dynamic offense can't stop anyone on defense and they went all the way to the Super Bowl, ultimately losing. But I'm going to say the winner of Monday's Lions Vikings game is going to win the Super Bowl. Week 18 Lions Vikings winner wins the Super Bowl in New Orleans. Wow.
It's Chris. I'm sorry. I'll just go overreaction on that one. I'll do that just because the Eagles are sitting out there. Did you say we'll go to the Super Bowl from the NFC?
No, they're going to win the whole thing. They're going to carry that momentum into the bye and then through the NFC and all the way to New Orleans confetti. Since you were talking about the Lions and reminding yourself of a of a of a New England Super Bowl team, I will say this. This stat I didn't mention at the top of the show when I talked about how the Lions are the only undefeated road team in the NFL this year. They're just the third team in the last 10 seasons to be undefeated on the road. The last team to do it were the 2020 Chiefs, who as we all know made the Super Bowl, but lost it and then the 2016 Patriots who made the Super Bowl and won it. Although they were down 28 to 3 at one point of that game. So it's not a guarantee that you win the Super Bowl, but in the last 10 years, it has been an earmark of making the Super Bowl.
So I'm talking out my answer here right now. But but to sit here and say they're going the winner of this game wins the Super Bowl like this is a de facto Super Bowl. It's too soon, too early, too many other great teams looking as great as they do.
Bills, Ravens, Chiefs, Eagles, Rams performing as well as they've been performing. I can't I can't sit here and say somebody's not going to get hot and surprised. So I'll call that an overreaction. All right.
How about this one? Just throwing this out there playoffs coming. A lot of divisions are going to have two playoff teams. At least two divisions that have two playoff teams in it are going to go winless.
You follow? So you're saying let's say the AFC North already has two playoff teams in it, right? You say both the Ravens and Steelers get one and done, correct? The NFC East has two playoff teams in it. You say the Eagles and Commanders get one and done, correct?
At least two of those divisions. It's going to happen at least twice. At least twice now, bro.
Chiefs, Chargers. That's too much. Come on, dude. Weird things happen.
It's been a weird season. You are way out there with that one. What if the Commanders and Eagles play each other? That blows it straight to hell. I know. Well, I don't know. That's kind of out there, but I don't know.
You never know. That's one of the few overreaction Monday subject matters that make me want to have you pee in a cup. You know what I'm saying? That's how out there that one is. All right. How about this one then? Let's not do that. How about this one?
Based on... Yeah, that's a good one. Noted. Noted. If we had an HR, we would note that. That's hilarious.
I am HR. DJ just plussed up this segment. DJ plus. Based on the success of Baker Mayfield, Sam Darnold, Geno Smith. Someone should acquire Zach Wilson this offseason and give him a shot to start next year. I like it, Chris. That's not an overreaction. Look at you. Okay. All right. Why not, right?
Why not? I mean, look at these guys. And, and, and, and hold on a minute with the Geno isn't, isn't in that category, but Baker and Sam Darnold are in the category of, well, Baker had a quick sabbatical with Sean McVay and Sam Darnold had a full year with Kyle Shanahan. And these are some quarterback friendly coaches who just merely being around them and their system and their staffs and their quarterback rooms will leave a residue from which you can succeed in a new spot. Right? Like all of that.
Zach Wilson's just spent a year with Sean Payton. Exactly. So there's, there's that dude.
Yeah. And he's, what is he? Is he still old enough to shave?
I don't even know. I don't even know if he can rent a car. Oh, he can.
He's 25. There you go. I mean, that's not a bad, that's not a bad spot. Maybe the Jets should take him back. What do you think? I think that would be hilarious.
I don't know. It worked out for Darnold. Look at him now. Right? The Jets should take him back.
How about this one? The Giants should take him. The Giants should take him. The Giants should take him, you know, and, and, and he's like Daniel Jones plus, right? He's Jones plus because he can run it and throw it. He's not as tall, you know, but listen, I'm facetious with the New York teams, but I don't think that's an overreaction. I think someone should give him a shot.
I think, I think he still has some good football left. All right. How about this one? We were just talking about the Niners, Rich. This is one of my favorite topics on this show.
Scott Van Pelt has my back on this. Another Brock Purdy injury should scare the Niners enough to hold off, giving him a massive extension. We just kind of talked about it, didn't we?
I mean, you know, I, I, again, we need to see what the imaging comes back on this Tuesday because this is potentially alarmist. There were, I'll just again, cause I'm scarred by all of these experiences. Do you remember when Mike White was the hope for the New York Jets? Do you remember that? Well, TJ didn't let you forget about it. I tried, right?
Exactly. Had you listened to me, you'd be a playoff team. That was the last time it was Cooper Rush season as well. And you thought me talking up Cooper Rush actually meant I was trying to troll you that he was going to take the job from Dak, even though I never twitched in that direction. You spoke it to mean that I was saying that. No, no, I've never did that.
Never, never. No, but, but you remember Mike, Mike White, there was a game I think it was against, I forget who it was, but there was a game where the Jets really could use him and they, they, they could actually started to win and we'll see how he could do. And you needed to at least evaluate him and he got hit in his arm and his arm went dead.
I think it was against the Colts or something like that. Right. Maybe this, I bring that up.
Like maybe this is just one of those things. Cause Mike White, you know, played the next week and had no surgery, had no issues. Maybe this is one of those things, but if he's hurt, if this kid is hurt now, you re I don't, I don't know, man, but cause the players love him and you could see he operates in the system pretty damn well.
And now they've, he's had two full seasons in it. It makes sense to keep them, sign them. I just don't know what that thing is going to look like. That contract it's, you know, if I'm him and I'm healthy, I'm saying it starts with Tua and it goes up. Or say you could, you could say it starts with Dak and goes up.
I don't know if that's going to fly, but we'll see. If you're the Niners, would you rather pay Sam Darnold 40 million a year or Brock Purdy 60? Like that's what it comes down to. No, and I know exactly what you're saying.
Certainly if you want to bring Darnold back to the system that, you know, he, he, he apparently became an apprentice under, you know, and then went to Minnesota with that as an underpinning from San Francisco. That makes sense. I'm not saying the concept of this is an overreaction.
I'm saying just merely bringing it up now before we know the full extent of his injury, that is an overreaction. That will be my answer to this one. I got you. What else you got? Something to watch.
All right, two more. Rich, every year, as we know, we're talking about the cube, the coaching carousel, the hot seat, Black Monday. There will be a coach of a team around 500 that gets fired this year.
Yeah, I don't think that's an overreaction either. There always is one of them. I don't know who that would be. There's always one or two. Who would it be though?
Who would it be? Look, I mean, I'm, I'm looking at Miami, Cincinnati, Indianapolis. No, it's not Miami. You keep bringing up Mike McDaniel.
Arizona. No, they love him. I just had a great chat with them.
They think they're in the right direction and they doubled up their win total from last year. Rich, 80-year-old owners don't care about money when they're super rich. I spoke to the actual owner, Michael Bidwell. He's not 80.
I can confirm that. Well, I was talking about Miami. Oh, okay. Steven Ross is not firing Mike McDaniel. It's just not happening.
I don't think it's an overreaction. I just don't have the name here. I'm just going through my head right now of somebody that you just don't see coming. Could it be Shane Steichen? Could it be him? Maybe. I mean, we kind of touched on it a little bit yesterday.
We didn't touch on that. Yeah, because, you know, Pat is talking about a lot of internal laundry and that is, if there's internal laundry, the last guy you want airing it is Pat McAfee. I'll tell you that. Certainly since, you know, if there's anybody who speaks a lot of truth, it's him. So, I'm not pushing back on whether Pat is accurate or not. He knows what's going on in the building.
And that's the only reason why I mentioned Shane. I have no other sense of what's going on there. I know. There's always a surprise. We didn't see Pete Carroll coming last year. There's always a surprise. You got one more? Alright, last one. College Football playoff.
Tonight, tomorrow, we're going to talk with Bruce here coming up. The playoff quarterfinals will not be all chalk. I agree. I don't think it will either, man. There's going to be an upset or two. I mean, is it an upset for Ohio State to beat Oregon? Isn't Ohio State technically even favored to win that game right now? Yeah, Ohio State is technically favored. So, you're saying, is it an upset for Arizona State to lose?
I mean, it's an upset. Arizona State is a massive underdog. I'm saying Arizona State wins. Notre Dame wins. Boise wins. You know Notre Dame can win that game.
Is Sarah nervous or what? Oh, of course. I mean, technically, they're an underdog. That's all I'm saying.
Okay. Oh, you're 100% right. You're 100% right. And I think a nice, neat fix would be to tell some of these bull sites, listen, I know you're used to having college football semifinals or finals, but not this year. And you've got to give the bi-week teams a home game also.
Really? Yeah, I think you've got to start thinking about that. And if this is a correct assumption, if this is not an overreaction, I don't think it is, you're going to hear that conversation quite a bit. Oregon should have Ohio State come to them for a second straight time.
Instead, they're going down to Pasadena and it is a quicker flight for the Oregon faithful to come from campus. But I always like front-loading conversations and I think that would be the conversation if this thing hits, and I think it will. Excellent overreaction Monday on a Tuesday, Sarah. The overreaction Monday podcast with Chris and I that we recorded before yesterday's show is still sitting out there and it is as fresh as ever. Please get that wherever you get your podcasts and later on today, right from this very spot, Susie Schuster will be conducting What the Football with Amy Trask in advance of New Year's Eve.
They might be drinking, not going to lie, certainly since Susie's on vacation. 844-204-RICH is the number to dial. If you're on hold, stay on hold. We're going to take your phone calls. Bruce Feldman, we come back talking college football with our friend from Fox Sports and the Athletic.
Call our 6,000 stores or order from AutoZone.com for same-day store pickup or next-day delivery. Restrictions apply. You met Lala Kent on Vanderpump Rules. Now, Lala and her friends share everything on Give Them Lala. Bagel, everybody says I say that weird. It is ruined by a proposal story. How Jason proposed and she was like, he brought in a bunch of bagels. I was like, I have to stop this. I will punch you in the throat if you ever tell this story again and call it a bagel.
But he'll tell you. Now when I tell the story, I go, he went and got breakfast. There you go. Bagels. Yeah!
Watch what Lala is talking about on YouTube or search for Give Them Lala wherever you listen. All right, back here on the Rich Eisen Show. Bruce Feldman's going to join us shortly. Coop, you want to give an update? Come on over here. Hurry up, Coop. Hold on. Give the drop. Coop or Eisen with an update on the Reliant Quest. Hold on a second, Coop. Coop couldn't hear the drop. The drop is over.
Come on in, Coop. What's the update? So currently it is 16 to 7. Alabama scored a touchdown. It was a passing touchdown, I believe 20 yards to the tight end. I think his name was Utes. Utes! Utes! Utes! Michigan has the ball.
Hold on a second. Is it spelled U-T-Z like the PETA chip? I think it's spelled O-U-T-Z-E. O-U-T-Z-E. Is that Outs? No, O-U-Z-T-S. Outs. O-U-Z-T-S? Yeah.
So was it an outs route? Come on, give it up. Come on. Come on, I'm making a dad joke.
My son's right here. Give me a break. Michigan has the ball.
You've got to lean in, lean in, lean in. What is it? Michigan has the ball at the, I believe 45 and it's first down. Talking to the mic. First down. First down.
Okay. 16 to 7, everybody. Two minute one.
No, they call it the two minute time out in college football. So precious. They are so precious about it. All right, Coop, thank you very much. Ladies and gentlemen, Coop. All right, Coop. I'm not allowed to make a dad joke. I'm the actual dad. That was actually a good joke, to be honest with you. An outs route?
Is that how you spell his name? Outs? I have no idea. Nobody knows.
Nobody knows. Okay, very good. Oh my God.
This is what happens when you do a show and your team's playing in the Relia Quest Bowl. Yeah, bro. Rich, it's got to be tough. It's got to be tough for you.
It's got to be tough for you, watch it. Dude, this right now, Mike, this is as gravy as it gets. Honestly, this is gravy. This is the cherry on top. I don't even know how, I don't even know what the food, the food analogy is. You know what I mean?
Sprinkles? This house is so friggin' great. I love it.
I truly love it. Back on the Rich Eisen Show radio network, I'm sitting at the Rich Eisen Show desk furnished by Grainger with supplies and solutions for every industry. Grainger has the right product for you.
Call clickrainger.com or just stop by. Bruce Feldman has texted me saying that he's going to be coming on. He needs a minute.
We've got two minutes left in this first half of the Relia Quest. Rich, I love the fact that Grainger was able to ship a desk to you so you could do the report. Impressive?
That's impressive to me, man. Grainger don't play. They're great partners. They're outstanding partners. Shout out to Grainger.
I had Roku Joe texting me earlier, you know, Grainger and Roku. Where are you watching, where are you watching the Fiesta Bowl tonight, TJ? This is your team, isn't it?
One of your 20 teams, right? I mean, no need to be disrespectful. First of all, I'm going to an exclusive party tonight, guys. I'm just going to be honest with you. So I'll be watching by New Year's Eve and everything? I'm going to an exclusive party tonight. In the barn?
In the barn? No, no. More exclusive than that. It's going to be, let's put it this way, it's limited to one person. That's the extent of the party. It's going to be me on Club Couch.
TJ. Club Couch! Are you a VIP there? I got my buddies at the door. Club Couch. TJ, you're hanging out solo tonight for New Year's Eve?
As far as I know. What do you mean? Why aren't you going, why aren't you hanging with Ashton? I don't even know where he's at.
What do you mean? One and a half men? Let's go.
One and a half men. No? No. All right, very good. Now we've got that down. Joining us right here from Fox Sports and the Athletic, our friend back here in his usual spot. Although on Tuesday, because Wednesday is a big, huge college football day, Bruce Feldman. Good to chat with you, Bruce. How are you doing, brother?
I'm doing good. Your alma mater distracted me so much I didn't even realize what the time was. Look at that.
I know. How about those Relia Quest Wolverines right now? Can we stop the game right now? Can it be stopped right now? I couldn't even imagine if Michigan finishes the season with back-to-back wins against Ohio State and Alabama.
Turn the machines back on, Bruce. It's mind-blowing to me in this regard. Alabama is actually one of the few, like, teams in one of these bowl games and not a playoff game where their best players are playing. Jalen Milrose out there. Tyler Booker's out there.
Jihad Campbell. Those are like their three best draft prospects. They're playing in the game. Everybody who's really, you know, the Michigan, who the NFL coverage from Michigan, Mason Graham, Kenneth Grant, Colston Lovell, and they're not playing. Josiah Stewart's not playing. And Michigan has dominated this game.
It is. Who saw this coming? Well, we have a half to go, but while I have you here, in the few minutes I have with you here, what happened with Cam Ward in his bowl game, Bruce? He played half of the game, and that was it. And then at halftime, you know, my understanding is he basically just, you know, said, Hey, Emory Williams, it's, you know, his turn, and I'm done. And that was it.
I mean, I'll be honest. I'm surprised that there was this kind of uproar on social media about this. Cam Ward actually played in the game. Most of the guys who were in bowl games, who are like, you know, in the top 50 draft class, you know, prospects, they're not playing.
They're opting out. I mean, Ward's three of his, you know, top four receivers opted out of the game. So the fact that he even played at all, much less played a half, surprised me a little bit. And so the fact that he left at halftime and, you know, like, I don't, you know, I don't think that was like anything to be stunned by or upset by. I mean, there's a lot of guys who didn't play, you know, I just rattled off a bunch of guys who chose not to play in the bowl games at all.
I mean, this is what people expect to be a top 10 pick. And he went out and played, you know, for a half of the game. You know, that's, I mean, that's more than Miami fans probably should have expected.
No doubt about it. I can say this, you know, the fact that he played and rather than not does show you something. That's one thing that he did want to compete for at least a half. But I can guarantee you this is going to be the first question of him in every single grease board conversation at the combine that Cam Ward has. Tell me what happened in the bowl game and he's going to tell us whatever the story is.
Hey, do we know what the story is? I wanted to play and then I decided, you know what? The only plan was to play a half because I just wanted to be out there with the guys.
Like that's what I'm asking because I do understand your, you know, approach that, hey, half's better than nothing to just say I'm leaving everybody on the battlefield if that's the way you want to put it. My understanding, Rich, was that he had, you know, that he had a discussion with their staff and there was going to be somewhere along the lines of he, I think he knew if I don't play at all, a bunch of other guys are going to opt out. So he ended up playing and, you know, look, he played really well. I threw three touchdowns in the first half against a good pass defense in Iowa State. I mean, I think it's like a top five pass defense and then, you know, that was it. I mean, I get the point you're saying about NFL teams are going to ask it. NFL teams ask every question though and, you know, I'm sure they had those questions about Christian McCaffrey who didn't play in a bowl game a long time ago. And now most, you know, most of, like I said, most of the top guys, I went back and looked at this, are Dane Brugler who does a really good job for the athletic on the draft. Of his like top 50 board, it's like five of the top 16 guys who are not in the playoff have opted out. You know, Will Campbell at LSU, obviously the Michigan guys I mentioned, you know, Caleb Johnson, a really good running back at Iowa. The guys who chose to play were Dion Sanders, you know, two key guys, Chidor, his son, and Travis Hunter. I mean, those guys have a, you know, a connection with Dion that's much stronger than just, hey, a normal player coach. But beyond that, it's really just, you know, it's almost most of those guys are not playing in bowl games.
Bruce Feldman here from Fox Sports and the Athletic. Break down the Fiesta Bowl for me tonight. How do you think this one plays out, Penn State versus Boise State in the quarterfinal game in the Fiesta Bowl? I think that Ashton Gente is going to still, you know, do a lot of damage. He's the best running back in college football. I don't think Penn State's going to totally derail him. I mean, I don't know if he's going to go for over 200 yards.
I think he's going to need to go over probably 250 rushing and receiving at least for Boise State to be able to win this game. Boise State does not have a really good defense. Their defensive line is pretty good and they're really aggressive. You'll see a lot of six and seven man pressures.
Talking to coaches who played Boise State in the Mountain West, they said Eric Shenandoah, their defense coordinator, is a blitz maniac is how they describe him. It's not like Penn State has Ohio State's receivers, but I think we could say Jural are doing a lot of damage downfield because he's going to have opportunities and he is talented. I mean, we know he's got two big time running backs and Tyler Warren's a terrific tight end. Receivers are okay.
They're not great. I think they could have a big, big night tonight though. And then the triple header on New Year's Day, the marquee, clearly the granddaddy of them all right here in the Rose Bowl. What is the key in your estimation between Ohio State and Oregon? I really think it comes back to what happens in the trenches of this game. Can Oregon's defensive line, which leads the Big Ten and sacks, really get after Will Howard like Michigan did, quite honestly? I think Michigan's going to be, I mean, I think Ohio State's going to be more aggressive in the pass game than certainly they were, you know, when they played the Wolverines. But I think that's a challenge for them because their offensive line is the weakest link of a really strong team across the board in Columbus. The flip side of this is going to be, you know, Ohio State's defensive line, which is good. I mean, they have a lot of really good players to really experience defensive ends. They only managed two tackles for loss in the whole game when they lost at Austin at mid-season. You know, no sacks and two tackles for losses.
I mean, that was a really rough night. Ohio State's defensive front has to be a lot more disruptive getting after Dylan Gabriel or else I think he could, I don't think he's going to pick them apart easily. But they are really good. They don't have big receivers, but they have really quick athletic receivers and they have good running backs and they have a good scheme. So, you know, Dylan Gabriel's the quarterback that I have the most confidence in of anybody left in this playoff field. He's played in a lot of big games and played well.
And like I said, they have good receivers. If Ohio State's defensive line doesn't show up in a big way, Buckeyes are going to struggle again. Is Ryan Day's job on the line? Does the result matter, the manner in which they would play if they do get bounced by the top seed in this tournament?
I think the only way Ryan Day wouldn't be the coach at Ohio State is if Ryan Day doesn't want to be the coach at Ohio State anymore. I just think that, you know, this is a team. You saw what they did against Tennessee. They blew Tennessee off the field.
I mean, it wasn't even close and he's won a ton of games. I know he has had a Michigan problem, you know, but beyond that, again, I think that who are you going to get if you're Ohio State and have you convinced that, oh, yeah, he's going to do better than this guy, what he's done there? I mean, it wouldn't at all surprise me if they ended up beating Oregon by two touchdowns and it wouldn't surprise me if they won a national title. I mean, I think that he has done a really good job there and I think if you look at the big picture of that, I think it's easier to see through that than it is to all the noise that's come out of that last game that he had against Michigan. How do you see Notre Dame-Georgia playing out, Bruce?
I think they're really similar, Rich. You know, they're two good defensive teams, don't have great receivers, running quarterbacks now because now you've got Gunnar Stockton in there as opposed to Carson Beck for Georgia. I think what's going to be interesting in this matchup is can Notre Dame exploit some of the same things that Georgia Tech did late in the year when they almost beat them in like that eight overtime game at the end of the regular season? What's telling there is Georgia Tech had a really smart game plan, their offensive coordinator. Before he was the offensive coordinator, Georgia Tech spent three years at Georgia.
He knew that team inside and out and that system inside and out. His quarterback, Haynes King, is a good running quarterback. Riley Leonard, Notre Dame's quarterback, is a really, really good running quarterback. He is strong, he is tough, he can run, and I think the advantage Notre Dame has that Georgia Tech didn't have is they have Jeremiah Love, who's an explosive running back. He's more talented than anybody Georgia Tech had as the second piece of that quarterback run game. Georgia, like a lot of teams had, their kryptonite has been really mobile quarterbacks.
A bunch of guys, you could look even at the Kentucky game, as bad as Kentucky is, Brock Van Der Graef ran the ball actually really well. Seventy rushing yards if you take away all the sack yards against them when they gave Georgia a good game. I do think Notre Dame with Riley Leonard in the run game can take advantage of some stuff. I would not at all be surprised if Notre Dame got its biggest postseason win in like 30 years against Georgia tomorrow. Wow, so you would peg, I mean Texas beating, I guess Arizona State beating Texas would be the upset. You're saying give me the best chance for an upset here. What's the upset? I don't think Notre Dame beating Georgia is, I mean technically by a point spread it's close, but the upset games are tonight potentially and certainly Arizona State if they can knock, I mean those are double digit point spreads. I don't think anybody who looks at Notre Dame beating Georgia is like a big upset, I don't think you're paying attention to Georgia. Georgia doesn't have Brock Bowers or Ladd-McConkie anymore. They do not have a lot of weapons for a first time quarterback to play against a good defense. You know ASU will be interesting.
I did a big story on Cam Scattaboo. He is one of the more remarkable stories going in college football. I mean this was a team picked to finish last in the Big 12 in the preseason and now they got a puncher's chance. I don't know how they're going to slow down Texas. I mean if you look at the teams who have given the Longhorns problems, it's been Georgia and teams that have elite front players.
Arizona State doesn't have that. I'm sure they'll be really aggressive. I don't know if they can get to yours and really disrupt them enough to force them into mistakes and I'm sure Texas is going to try to gang tackle and do everything they can to slow down Cam Scattaboo. But nobody thought Arizona State would have gotten this far. They're playing with a ton of confidence. You hear what both Scattaboo and his quarterback have said in the run up to this game.
I mean they've been doubted a lot most of their lives and they've proven people wrong every step of the way. Maybe this is the next step of that. Your best guess, Bruce, in the couple minutes I have left with you, your best guess by the end of this month, January coming up, Quinn Ewers will be either in A, the portal or B, getting ready for the scouting combine.
Which one? My guess is he will be in the portal. That's just a guess. Yeah, I think he's in a similar situation to Cam Ward and some other guys last year where I think the NFL doesn't look at him as a top 50 pick. They look at him as maybe a second, third, fourth round quarterback. Now maybe in the next couple of games he will go on a roll. The concern you hear from scouts and definitely from SEC coaches who respect him and think he's got good arm talent and think he's a really good college quarterback, it's when he has to ad lib and improvise is when the mistakes really happen. And he has been inconsistent.
There's another piece of it, which I know we've talked about on this show several times, is durability issues. He's not been able to make it through a full season without missing some games. But there's been some other quarterbacks who've had those issues too, but it's been held against them. We know Arch Manning is waiting in the wings. I would be shocked if Arch Manning is not the starting quarterback at Texas next year. But going forward, the question I think that Quinn Ewors people is going to have to sort out is if he is a third or fourth round projection, does it make more sense financially as well for him? He could probably get, I know of quarterbacks who have done less than Quinn Ewors have in college who are getting one three, one five, one seven million dollars. Quinn Ewors could probably double that, maybe even get to five million or so from some other schools.
Is that the financial play? Do you sit there and look, okay, nobody thought at this time last year that Cam Ward was going to be a top 50 pick. Now a lot of people I've talked to think he's going to be a top five pick. The idea that he got low seven figures to go to Miami for a season and then parlayed it into a big draft step up, I think there could be that formula certainly for Quinn Ewors potentially. Again, they're different style quarterbacks. One guy was a no star when he came out of Texas in high school in Cam Ward. The other guy was the fivest of five stars and has played a lot on a big stage.
Quinn Ewors also has Steve Sarkeesian who's as good as there is in terms of as a quarterback guy and as a play caller. I don't know what the thought process is going to be all the way through. Like I said, for all we know, he could lead Texas to a national title and maybe gets hot in those games and has people feeling like he could be a first rounder.
If you ask me right now, my hunch is that he may be in the portal for a big price tag. Bruce, there's a report out right now that he's got a six million dollar offer from some school. Here's the thing with some of that. I don't want to be totally dismissive of it. There's so many reports about a lot of this agent space when it comes to the NIL world and college ball is wildly unpredictable and wildly speculative.
There are agents trying to set and reset the market. I would take a lot of that stuff with a big grain of salt. Because when you talk to people in the middle of it, they're like, yeah, that's not true.
Again, I don't know if that specific one, I wouldn't be surprised if he could get four or five million dollars. I don't know about six and I don't know, again, who's offering it. Because some of the money stuff that gets thrown out there a little bit, it's also, you hear from some other people who are in the middle of it. They're like, no, the reason why somebody floated that is because they're trying to get that and trying to raise the bar. I would be cautious on a lot of the dollar figures.
It depends on where it comes from. The only stuff that I feel confident in even talking about is when I've heard it from some coach who's directly involved in it. Not from somebody who's like, it's stuff I learned to take with a grain of salt.
Even some of that, I still am kind of suspicious of. Well, Bruce, I appreciate the time. You're going to Pasadena? I am. I went to Media Day yesterday. I can't wait for that game. Nothing like it. Nothing like the Rose Bowl on a beautiful day. Hopefully it'll be a Chamber of Commerce day and that setting for a big-time college football game like Oregon and the Ohio State.
That's what it's all about. Have a great time, Bruce, and Happy New Year to you. We'll see you next year. Thanks, Bruce. Happy New Year, guys.
Bruce Feldman of Fox Sports and the Athletic right there. Bro, I'll tell you this. You always want to get to the NFL and start your contract, get in your first contract and get as close to your second contract as fast as possible. That's what you want. Certainly if you're going to be drafting the second, third or fourth or whatever round, you don't want to have that fifth year that the team can toss on you and say you're still ours and you get right to your free agency or your window to negotiate a new deal faster.
Brock Purdy's in that position right now. You know what I mean? That's the idea. You want to get out and get there.
But if Quinn Ewers is going to be offered five to six million dollars to be his starting quarterback as a big man on campus and then he can improve his draft position for the following year, you'd have to think hard about that one. 844-204-rich number to dial. The rest of this show is for all of us. We're out of guests. We're not out of time.
Hour number two, we'll close that up next. You were 29 when this first started. Now you're in your mid-forties getting all rocked up like you did in this. Do we need to test you, Matt?
No, no, I should have. That might have made it easier. In my experience, if you're not going to take anything, which I'm not, it's the same workout that it was when I was 29. It's just a very strict diet, two a days in the gym. It's just all work.
There's no shortcut. So you just cut out what? Sugars? Meat?
I'm fascinated by this. By the end, it's just protein and vegetables and no carbs at all to work out today. It was a lot of work. For how many weeks, months did you have to do that? I was in shape. I got in shape for The Martian and then for this movie I did in China. And then about ten weeks out, I kind of ramped up even more. So it was to try to get under, down below eight, then like seven percent body fat.
It was more about body fat than weight. So when you were done shooting, what was the first meal that you had when you were done shooting? Oh man, I mean, for me it's Italian food.
Pasta, bread pasta, red wine. Chicken parm? Like a chicken parm situation?
Yeah, are you kidding me? That's what kills me. My kids love to eat that. Sometimes when we order out, we'll get this chicken parm and this pink pasta that they like. And it's just like plating it for them.
I start shaking. I'm just wondering if the Boston you just came out of, I think I just said chicken parm. Did I just hear that? I didn't say chicken parm. I didn't say chicken parm. I thought you said that.
I did. I said chicken, but I forgot the R. Hey, I'm the same way, you know? When I go back to the old school days. I love chicken parm, Rich. He said chicken parm.
He definitely said chicken parm back in the day. Check out our YouTube channel, everybody. Back here in the Rich Eisen Show. I'm here in Utah.
The boys are in Los Angeles. Now we're number three coming up. Terzo's on the line. Let's go to Terzo in Iowa. What's up, brother?
All rise. Hey, what's up, Rich? Happy holidays, guys. Hope you guys had a good week off.
What's up, buddy? Same to you. By the way, before you start, man, this graphic that Smitch did for you years ago that we put on the screen every single time you call is really one of my favorites.
Better call Terzo, dude. I love this thing. It cracks me up and everybody that's seen it always comments on it and says how much they like it. So I really do appreciate you guys doing that for me. That's pretty awesome. What's going on?
So, Rich, I think I'm going to be blunt. I'm pretty happy that this year is ending for the 49ers. And I think it all really starts back whenever we lost the Super Bowl and lost that lead to the Chiefs. Because it really seems that has been kind of our Achilles heel outside the injuries is not holding on to those third and fourth quarter leads and allowing teams to come back. And, you know, it happened earlier in the season and it happened again last night.
So that's just kind of one of those tough things. And hopefully it's something that we can fix in this offseason. But as you said earlier, this offseason is going to be wild now, especially my fingers across, that Purdy's healthy.
I don't want to ever see anybody hurt going into the offseason. Well, you know how you wave a red flag in front of a bull and that gets that bull all riled up. That you're just maybe putting some chum in the water for a shark, Terzo. You mentioning a Kyle Shanahan coached team having trouble holding on to a lead. That's waving a red flag in front of the bull named Chris Brockman. I think you have just set him off.
Chris, that's a spinning curve in your zone, right, Christopher? I don't know what to tell you. Like TJ's mother told him, pick a new team. No, don't do that, please. That's never going to happen. No, but the reason why TJ's mother told him to choose a new team. But the reason why, exactly, and you've got a great one. And the minute that Shanahan ever wants to leave, someone else will hire him.
He doesn't want to go anywhere in the whole business and whatever. But lest anyone forget, it's been a longer Super Bowl drought for the 49ers than the Cowboys. But yet all we do is talk about the Cowboys. Thank you. And I don't disagree with the length of how long it's been.
Since I was a little kid and I've been hoping to get one just so my niece and nephew get to feel that enjoyment as well and continue to be 49er fans and don't jump off the ship. But Rick, right now I've been listening to everything and I've found this kind of amazing. The people are actually talking that Sam Darnold's worth more than Brock Purdy right now. And I find that to be completely crazy given where we started the season. But I'm proud of Sam for what he's done, man.
He deserves to be mentioned. You're the best. Terzo, love chatting with you. Happy New Year. We'll chat with you in the new year. Happy New Year, buddy.
Happy New Year, guys. There you go. It's Terzo and Iowa. You know Carl's is going off tonight. Oh, Carl's. TJ, let's take the PJ to Carl's.
More than the one man party we heard about. Sounds like. All right. Hour number two in the books.
Let's hang out hour three on the other side. You know, man, it's yeah. I know, TJ, you like talking about it and I'm sure you appreciate Chris bringing that up, but it's a longer drought for it's a longer drought for Super Bowls. It's just facts, Rich.
That's all. Yeah, because you won you won one the year after the Niners won their last one and you won your last one. Nobody cares about that one. You won your last one the very last year after the Niners won their last one. And the Niners have been in it.
You got to be in it. You rather loved and lost than having never loved at all. I mean, that's the phrase. Look, I'm just saying, man, no one ever says who lost the Super Bowl and who won the Super Bowl.
Trust me, I would have loved for the Jets to have made the Super Bowl at least once in my lifetime, you know, made it and lost. Honestly, I mean, that's the way it goes. Can't all water ski behind Chris Brockman's yacht. You know what I mean?
You just can't do that. But Chris's team is now. It was really bad for the Patriots for a long time and it's bad right now. It's very bad right now. I mean, it's the worst it is in the National Football League right now. It's worse than the Titans. It's worse than the Giants.
Well, no, I disagree. Well, the Giants are fourth on the clock, pal. We'll talk about that. And who's their quarterback for the next 10 years?
Keep it right where you are. We're about to talk about this in the next segment. Draft order, all that stuff. Jerry Jones has spoken on one half through the fan. Talking about Mike McCarthy's future.
LeBron says he can play till he's 47. And I would love to see that. I believe it.
Me too. We've already hit the Kyle Shanahan subject. Chris Brockman's favorite, LeBron James talking about his greatness. That's coming up, our number three. Don't go anywhere. My world with Jeff Jarrett, wherever you listen.
