It's Time For Marcus Freeman To Get A Big Win (Hour 2)

All right, and we continue Zach Gelb's show CBS Sports Radio, hour number two of our radio program. Yeah, I'm really excited for college football this weekend. Two games in particular, Washington and Oregon, and we had Kaelin DeBoer, the head coach of Washington, join us earlier in the week. That's going to be a phenomenal football game between the seventh and eighth ranked teams in the country. But another game that I almost think, I don't want to say lost steam in terms of it's a dud, but this game was supposed to be an enormous game a few weeks ago, and that's Notre Dame USC. Now there's a lot of history there, but I remember I was talking to Brady Quinn, and where he was at with Notre Dame heading into that Ohio State game, he thought Notre Dame was going to win. I also thought Notre Dame was going to win, and quite frankly, Notre Dame should have won the game if they could just catch an easy interception that McCord almost gifted them on that final drive, and if they could figure out how to count, and you would think with the emission standards at Notre Dame, they'd be able to count, but they couldn't, and the next thing you know, they only had 10 players on the field when you needed 11, and that was the drive where Ohio State, that was the final play where Ohio State did score.

But that Notre Dame USC game a few weeks ago felt like it was going to be the biggest Notre Dame USC game since the very famous Bush Bush. That's what it was feeling like, and now a few weeks later, it's like, okay, you have this Notre Dame team that is starting to underachieve, and they're moving in the wrong direction where they could start off 4-0, and they beat Navy, Tennessee State, Central Michigan, NC State, like nothing that really gets you excited, but Audrick Estimay did a really good job. Sam Hartman is an experienced quarterback coming over from Wake Forest, and then that first big test, they didn't show up in the first half, or maybe that's not the right way to say it.

They didn't capitalize in the first half, because there were times where they were moving the ball down the field, and then they would just stall. So you lose that game up against Ohio State, and if you only had one loss, this game would probably feel different, and then you just survive against Duke. You had to come from behind victory with Hartman, and then last week, you lose by 13 points to Louisville. So now having two losses, Notre Dame probably needed to be undefeated to get into the college football playoff.

You could make the case one loss, and if the right teams that win the conference championship have an extra loss or two on their resume, or if it's a bizarre situation where like a Kansas State, let's say, wins a championship, and maybe that would have knocked out TCU a year ago even though it didn't, but something like that where you got some help, you could talk yourself into a one-loss Notre Dame team if it was just to Ohio State by three points, still getting into the college football playoff. But now you're at two, and I'm fascinated two things from this game, and both have to do with coaching, but let's start with the Notre Dame front because I'm talking about the Fighting Irish right now. Like I wonder where the Notre Dame fans' confidence is at with Marcus Freeman, because last year was a slow start, good finish.

This year, after the first few weeks, there was a lot of high expectations that were starting to brew, and if you don't win this game, you're now going to be sitting there at five and three, and you're going to be looking at it and be like, what do we really have to look forward to this year, and what do we really accomplish? Like if you're sitting there at five and three, and your best win is Duke, when you had Ohio State on the schedule, USC on the schedule, annual loss to Louisville, that's not a good look for Marcus Freeman, who's someone who I think is young, I think he's very talented, I've enjoyed my conversations that I've had with Marcus Freeman, but eventually, you gotta win, and say what you want about Brian Kelly, and the bad job right now that Brian Kelly's doing at LSU with his family, because year one, it looked like it was gonna be a disaster, then he turns it around, and he found himself in an SEC title game, and then year two, he hasn't carried over the momentum because they already have two losses, and LSU has been the most disappointing team in college football, but Brian Kelly, when he took over that Notre Dame team, they were in a brutal spot, like they were in a really rough spot, and not only did he bring stability back to Notre Dame, he made Notre Dame very, very good, and what I mean by very, very good is sure, Notre Dame, you never thought they were gonna win a national championship, but they did play for a national championship back when you had two teams get in, and they got destroyed by Alabama, that was the whole Manteo year, and they made the college football playoff, I believe, two other times, with the expansion to the four teams, so Brian Kelly brought a different level back to Notre Dame that they haven't seen in a while, and now, not going to a conference, and sure, you could back your way into the playoffs next year, and I don't think they need to join a conference, because if you look at Notre Dame, if they don't join a conference, if they have one or two losses as a non-conference team, I think they're gonna get in just because of the brand of Notre Dame when we move to a 12-team format, but right now, they're not gonna be going to the college football playoff this year, and for Marcus Freeman, I think there's an enormous amount of pressure on him this weekend for him to go have a statement victory, because the first two years of a coach, we look for statement victories, and like last year, with how it started with him losing to Marshall, even though that season ended on a good note, there wasn't really moments last year that you were like, wow, this Notre Dame team is great, like the Clemson game, yes, you could definitely say the Clemson game was a big win for him, but now the way that, and they won 35 to 14, but now the way we view that Clemson program isn't the same as we view that Clemson program four or five years ago, like I'm not gonna get all delirious about the bowl victory up against South Carolina either, so like, you look at this game, if things are really working for Marcus Freeman to the level that they should at Notre Dame, you should beat USC this weekend, and I'm not saying that it's a lock that Notre Dame beats USC, because you need Notre Dame's offense to show up, but the biggest flaw for USC is their defense, and with Audric Estime and Sam Hartman, I know he's on 100%, you guys should be able to have your way with this porous USC defense. Now, the question is on defense, can you step up?

Can defense, can you, I don't want to say stop, because you can't stop Caleb Williams, but can you make him have a mistake or two in the game? I gotta see Notre Dame have a big-time effort this week, I gotta see Notre Dame, where they are at home for this one, win the football game, and like so far, I just don't know what to expect from this team, because like Stu, you're a Notre Dame football fan, it's like the Ohio State game is so frustrating mentally still, even after, you know, that game was on September 23rd, we've had a few weeks, and I'm not a Notre Dame fan, but that game is frustrating, because I watched Notre Dame that day, and I said they're a better team than Ohio State, and they let Ohio State off the hook, and they, when you have a, and Ohio State's a very talented program, we all know that, but when you have a chance to knock them out, you have to deliver the knockout punch, and Notre Dame was incapable of that, and then the last two weeks, they've been sluggish, like that Duke victory was, whoo, they beat Duke, all right, they survived, and then Louisville, I know Jeff Brahm has done a very nice job, and they're undefeated coming back to Louisville, but you lose to Louisville, and you have two losses, it's like, okay, now let's see how much progress Marcus Freeman's made from year one to year two, when you go up against USC, where you know they're going to score, you know USC is going to put up a ton of points this weekend, but then on the other side, Notre Dame's offense should be able to thrive going up against this crappy USC defense. Yeah, I definitely expect them to put up, you know, hopefully 40 points, something like that, I mean, if they lose a close game, if they lose like a 45-42 type of game, it's not great, but at least it's, you know, competing with one of the best teams in the country, but you're right, they need to have some big wins the rest of the year, and I think next year is the key, next year's the year they have to compete for a playoff spot, and if they don't, that the rumors are going to start, and the tough is going to start that Freeman's not the guy. Well, it's going to be interesting, too, how in a year from now, we look at the teams that make the college football playoff, because it was at four, and now we're going away from four, like if you get in as the 11th or 12th seed, I think it depends on the school, like if you are a smaller school, if you are in the non-power five, or it's going to get truncated to four because the Pac-12 is dead, but like let's say if you're one of those schools, yeah sure, that's a tremendous accomplishment, it doesn't matter the seed, if let's say you're like a Kentucky, where you're in the SEC, but you're not a top dog in the SEC, being the top 12 team is a phenomenal accomplishment, when you're the brand of a USC, when you're a brand of a Notre Dame, Alabama, LSU, Georgia, Michigan, Ohio State, it's like just getting in to the college football playoff now with the safety blanket of it being 12 schools like shouldn't be good enough, so I get what you're saying.

They almost have to win, they almost have to get in the playoffs and win at least one game. Yeah, right, at least for Notre Dame. I think the standard for Notre Dame now in the year of 2023 is different, clearly, than the way that we view Notre Dame like 30, 40 years ago, like the way that our grandfathers and fathers like grew up watching Notre Dame, it was the greatest thing ever, oh unbelievable, the brand of Notre Dame, and that brand is still so important, but now I think a lot of people that are kind of our age, like if you're in your late 20s, if you're in your early 30s, mid 30s, the Notre Dame team that we've seen for a while was bad, and then they got good, but then anytime people said, oh they're great, when they got into the big spot of a college football playoff or a national championship game, they didn't belong, so I almost wonder though just the fans view of this, if like Notre Dame next year gets in as like a 10 seed, like let's say they're the 10th best team in the country, but then they lose, and I don't know how all the seeding will work and all that, but like they lose in the first round, it's like isn't it the same thing as just getting, it's a little bit different, but it's basically just like getting in as a four seed, you got in and then you went home very early and you were never a threat to go actually win something, and it was crazy because like Notre Dame heading into this season, I was a little optimistic on them, I'm never optimistic on Notre Dame, I remember, who is the guy in California, he would always call me on the weekend overnights, Cody in California, he'd be like, Zach I'm chilling like a villain, Cody was doing some things that people like to do in the YouTube chat, and he would he would call me at like three or four in the morning when I'd be hosting the weekend overnight show, and he'd always be cooking something, like one time it was like pork nachos that he was making, and he would always go off about how it was disrespectful to the Cowboys who he's a fan of, and also the Notre Dame fighting Irish, and it wasn't me being disrespectful, it was just me telling you those programs are just good programs now, they're not great programs, but for Notre Dame this year, I was a little bullish on them, because I like Cartman, and I, Ardric Estimay is a really good running back, and I like Freeman, but you looked at that schedule and you said your three biggest games are Ohio State, USC, and Clemson, so if you just told me their only loss is Ohio State, okay I could live with that, but now they lost to Louisville, so it's like whatever you do outside of this USC game, it really doesn't matter this year, like Pitt is not good, Clemson, they're totally different the way that we view them, they're not even the top 25 right now, and Wake Forest, that's it, it means something to Sam Hartman, and then Stanford, it's like so what, so this is the only statement, and it would be the biggest statement that Marcus Freeman could make so far through his first two years, is this weekend up against USC, and we're going to see how much progress has been made from year one to year two, now on the flip side, Stu said it, I said it, Notre Dame should be able to score points this weekend, Lincoln Riley, I'm annoyed with Lincoln Riley, and Lincoln Riley is a mastermind as an offensive head coach, Lincoln Riley, what he did at Oklahoma was special, but he never won a college football playoff game, so now he goes to USC, where originally some people thought, oh maybe he's leaving Oklahoma because they're going from the Big 12 to the SEC, and then he right, he took the USC job, remember this was being said, he took the USC job because he knows what he did at Oklahoma in the Big 12, he could go do in the Pac-12, and bring USC back, but then USC is going to the Big 10, so Lincoln Riley, when he was at Oklahoma, had these great offenses, but the defense was never great, but they would just outscore so many teams, now he goes to USC, and last year their defense let him down, and then you bring back your buddy and Alex Grinch, the defensive coordinator, and so far when you look at USC, they haven't really impressed me at all this year, you know they're going to put up points, you know they have the best quarterback in the country, but I can't trust that defense, and I know coaches value relationships, I know coaches are sometimes very loyal, and there's coaches that are loyal, there's coaches that are extremely loyal, and you have to do everything wrong to get rid of your pal and your buddy, but Lincoln Riley with Caleb Williams and a team, that if they had some resemblance of a defense, could win a national championship, him trusting Alex Grinch is a problem, it's like you look at defensive performances they played well this year, it's against Nevada, and it's against Stanford, they didn't look great against Arizona State defensive, they didn't look great in the second half against Colorado, heck they just survived against Arizona in a crazy overtime game, so let's see against an offense that's really solid, with a quarterback that you respect, and a running back that you respect, if this USC defense could show show anything this weekend, and it's tough for me to expect that just because like we've seen this script before with Lincoln Riley, we've seen this script before with Alex Grinch, and that's why I've been saying it when the season started, and also Hot Take Kiki was was hyping up USC, so usually when he says something I just go the other way, not like contrived radio or contrived sports talk like some other networks do, it's just he's usually more wrong than actually being right, but when you look at USC I trusted the entirety of the team with Oregon and then also Washington more than the USC Trojans, so this weekend I want to see if Marcus Freeman can take a big step, and the biggest step he's made at Notre Dame, and I want to see if this USC defense can show a pulse and actually make some plays defensively to catapult them back into maybe the circle of trust for them being a national championship contending team this year. All right, he's at Gilb Show CBS Sports Radio, we'll take a break, someone's going to be on the call that USC Notre Dame game is a former Notre Dame offensive lineman, he also played in the NFL, won a Super Bowl with the Denver Broncos, so we'll connect with our buddy Ryan Harris when we return, it is the Zach Gilb Show right here on CBS Sports Radio.

This portion of the show is brought to you by Wesley Financial, stuck in a timeshare and want out, contact Wesley Financial Group now and get a free timeshare exit information kit at WesleyFinancialGroup.com. Now joining us, former Notre Dame and Denver Bronco offensive lineman, won a Super Bowl in the NFL, now a part of the Notre Dame radio broadcast team, that is my pal in Ryan Harris. Ryan, appreciate the time as always, how you been?

Great to join you, Zach, life is good when football's going, my friend. Yeah, no doubt about that but I'm still annoyed at Notre Dame because they should have defeated Ohio State, they let that one get away and these last two weeks, I had some pretty high expectations for this team before the season started and they just haven't looked right the last two weeks against Duke and Louisville, what have you seen recently from your fighting Irish? Well, I saw a team against Louisville on its third night, third night game in a row against an undefeated opponent, they're getting ready for their fourth night game in a row against USC this weekend against an unrated, unranked, unbeaten opponent, excuse me, and coach Freeman talks about, hey, you can't make excuses for the guys and those players aren't doing it, turnovers have been an issue, five of them in the game against Louisville, including one on the opening drive, so you know, I think it's just a matter of, you know, when you're at Notre Dame and really anywhere successful in life, sometimes you think that success is going to come every time you do the same thing, you follow the same routine but you have to go out in every football game and in life and earn every success you have and Notre Dame just hasn't been willing to do what it takes to earn those victories. This is a major week for the offense, I know everyone's going to talk about the QB matchup but this USC defense is very vulnerable, they're a porous defense, I think it's what's going to hold them back from winning it all this year and maybe even winning the Pac-12, where's the confidence level with Notre Dame offense this week going up against Grinch's defense?

Well, they've been looking for solutions, Notre Dame's offense because they have to get back to running the ball, I mean only 44 yards rushing against Louisville, that's a program low historically and so they've got to be able to run the football. Now, nothing brings performance out like rivalry games, many of us saw that with the CU-CSU game with Deion Sanders and others earlier this year and anytime you play SC, I've been in those games, you cannot take what they've done before you play each other as who they're going to be because the juices get flowing, it's going to be night time and those USC guys, they always want to beat Notre Dame and they're going to play their best and probably change their pregame routine because of it, especially knowing that the world will be watching Saturday night on NBC. When you go into this game, and I know it's a rivalry game like what you just said, but how much buzz is there around this game because when I was talking to Brady Quinn a few weeks ago and that was before they played Ohio State and they lost Ohio State, he was saying that this could be the most hyped Notre Dame-USC game since that Bush push back in 2005, now with Notre Dame dropping two it's like yeah it's still a big game but I don't think it's as big as what it could have been.

Well it's huge for the players, I mean you beat USC and you prove you are still one of the best teams in the country and had a couple of off nights, look the Super Bowl champion this year probably and I say probably the way the 49ers and Eagles have been playing are going to have a loss at some point that you have to come back from but in college football it's different and this is huge for the players for another reason. I mean this sometimes is the only game that players know that they're going to be 40 plus NFL scouts in attendance so not only do for the Irish do they want to prove to themselves that they're one of the top teams in the nation despite two losses, but they want to prove to those NFL scouts that they can be counted on after some tough times to come back overcome and be an even better player because of it. Talking to Ryan Harris right now, defensively for the Irish we know Caleb Williams is the best quarterback in the nation, you can't stop him but how do you try to slow him down and get a turnover or two? Well you got to get your defensive line to get some pressure and that's been an issue all year long for the Irish. They've been high in the top 20 in the nation of getting pressure on the quarterback but near the bottom third of the nation and getting sacks so you got to get him on the ground. The other thing is to stop the run, I mean they're running back Marshawn Lloyd is legit, I mean he can legitimately play so you got to stop the run and hope that Brandon Rice and Taj do not beat you because those are some talented receivers but it starts with getting pressure by the defensive line and you got to spy with the back at different sides of the field with different backs so that Williams doesn't get keyed in on who's following him and run away from that guy. Talking to Ryan Harris, one to ten, one no confidence, ten all the confidence in the world, where's the confidence level Ryan Harris and Notre Dame this weekend? That's a seven man, I mean when this team is rolling, Audrick estimated 220 pound running back is bursting through the line of scrimmage behind his preseason All-American lineman and the defense, one of the better secondaries in the nation, are getting turnovers. Those things can still happen for the Irish so I think they come away with a victory. I do feel though Zach, I must be honest to you, yeah I do have the green colored glasses on but there are many ways in which Notre Dame wins this game Saturday night.

It's going to be a great one. I'll tell you going back to the Ohio State game, we all know how good Estime is and I know they have a lot of running backs on that roster. Did you have a problem with how long it took for them to really start handing the ball off to Estime in that game and get him going?

I thought they were trying to use too many cooks in the kitchen that night. Well they needed to because Audrick Estime, I mean one of the things you put a player like that in, defensive players have specific keys when this player is in this position so it opens up more opportunity for the offense to confuse the defense and to be honest you know and I love Audrick Estime. I think he's going to be you know winning fancy footballers in their fancy football leagues in a few years but he was hesitant. I mean there were multiple players and coaches who were not prepared for what it takes to win a big game like that and unfortunately Audrick Estime took a little too long to get started in that game against Ohio State and then of course everybody remembers you know final two play of the game. Notre Dame has 10 guys on the field. Yeah where's the Irish fans confidence in Marcus Freeman because last year got off to a horrible start they lose to Marshall then at the end of the year they blow out Clemson they win the bowl game. This year the first big test you mentioned it they dropped the pick they only have 10 guys on the field. The Irish fan confidence in Marcus Freeman is where?

10. I mean they wow you can tell the players that he's recruited already some of the freshmen. I mean one of the freshman receivers Great House his first three catches were for three touchdowns. I mean Rico Flores Jr. is a guy who's going to be drafted in the NFL and as a freshman he runs the motion routes like the 49ers do with full commitment. He runs two routes into play so getting guys like Sam Hartman to transfer to Notre Dame seeing the opportunity really doing some different things with the NIL to make sure it's in the players best interest as well as the communities having players who are making money through the NIL serve in the South Bend community.

I mean Marcus Freeman has a ton of support from the Notre Dame Fighting Irish and you know you're one or two plays from the season going very differently. What did you make of the whole Lou Holtz and Ryan Day kind of beef and kerfuffle? Well Ryan Day this guy was going he went from being fired to 30 seconds later being you know this the Ohio State coach marches to the council ball playoffs so look you have to find a reason to make it personal.

For me when I played it was always if this if this defender dared step onto the field he's disrespecting me. It didn't have to say a word but it's so disrespectful for you to line up against me to think you're in my same league and I think Ryan Day just found some motivation and went after one of the Notre Dame greats in Lou Holtz. Wrapping up with Ryan Harris let me get to your Broncos. Do they have any shot in this game tonight against Kansas City?

They do. Many people don't know Patrick Mahomes has thrown the most interceptions to one team that team the Broncos at eight. That run defense has to be better otherwise Isaiah Pacheco and company are going to go nuts but there's a possibility maybe you know when Taylor Swift returns for a second time this year to the stadium it'll go great for the Broncos. When you look at the future of Russell Wilson is this salvageable?

He's playing great in the first half in the second half the entire team has been awful. Are we just trending to where it's inevitable that in a year or two from now that this is going to be a divorce and the Broncos have a new quarterback with Sean? Well I mean Russell Wilson's thrown for three touchdowns in multiple games this year has had a phenomenal completion percentage, minimal turnovers and you know he's really being elite. I'll tell you having splits at halftime like that where his completion percentage drops about 15 percent that's on coaches. I mean you can't run the same plays the same way as you did in the first half and expect to be successful in the NFL.

There's too many talented coaches and players who are going to make the adjustments necessary to force you to continue to create and there's definitely some issues with the coaching and players but Russell Wilson is not one of the issues for the Broncos. And the biggest surprise to me is this defense. I thought this defense was good. This defense is getting torched this year. Well I mean I hate to say I saw it coming and I love Alex Singleton the linebacker and Juicy Jewell the linebacker and together they're about 100 pounds undersized to play middle linebacker in the NFL. I mean you talk about Roquan Smith or some of the other linebackers who are 220, 240. I mean you need guys like that in the NFL on defense and that's really what's been getting the Broncos.

Young players who are undersized really getting found out and teams are continuing to attack them. Ryan Harris appreciate the time. Enjoy the games this upcoming weekend.

Thanks for doing this. Thanks Zach and tell your dad to get things going the right way over there in New England. It's bad for the NFL and the Patriots lose this much. You think he's in danger of getting fire? Bob Gelber, you like to call him Bill Belichick?

I think that missing on DeAndre Hopkins was the beginning of the end of the Belichick era in New England and Bill Belichick has earned every opportunity to extend his career but he's not the same coach without the greatest quarterback to ever play the game. Thanks so much Ryan Harris. You're the best. Thanks Zach. There he is Ryan Harris. People have no clue what we're talking about. We're at a Super Bowl radio row and my dad is wearing a like just a sweatshirt and he has the hood up and some people think my father resemble Bill Belichick maybe just because they always have that like sour kind of look on their face and that annoyed perturbed look on their face because my dad he's not the biggest people pleaser let's just say when he's in public you know he just wants to get out of the crowd and go home and Ryan Harris walks up to my dad he goes coach Belichick what's happening and dabs him up and you know Ryan and I have known each other for a while and my dad comes back he's like some former NFL offensive lineman is calling me Bill Belichick and I look over I go oh it's Ryan Harris I go that's hysterical so we were talking about it when we was kid about it so then a few Super Bowls later my dad I guess was at Starbucks getting a coffee and Harris sees him and he goes up to the barista and says put coach Belichick on that guy's coffee and they called out coach Belichick as my dad's in the Starbucks and he's like I know that they're saying that this is me because my dad sees the resemblance a little bit and that's the prankster that is one Ryan Harris and even though he's away from the game now no longer in the locker room he's still pranking poor little Bob Gelb saying he looks like he's Bill Belichick I'd like to get the Bill Belichick salary you don't have that connection I transferred over to my father maybe I mean if it's all based on the voice you've got the Belichick voice down yeah so you're halfway there now all you have to do is just coach a couple Super Bowls and then you're there you're good yeah we got to get my dad in the sideline and we just got to have him speak like me when I do the whole Belichick impression you know we're on Cincinnati we got to get better in every facet of the game and right now we got to tear it down and start all over you know we just got to start all over hey coach how do you start all over we just got to start all over we just got to start all over do our job team effort we're all about the team T-E-A-M Zach Gelb shows CBS Sports Radio we will come on back there is one surprise name that's getting floated out there prematurely this is all if Mike Talman says Matt Kanter you're gone as offensive coordinator I know the Penguins fans the other night before the Penguins Blackhawks game were chanting fire Canada fire Canada so if the Steelers do fire Canada one NFL longtime reporter in the Pittsburgh area says keep an eye on one big name that used to coach in the NFL we'll tell you who that name is on the other side but standing by with the CBS Sports Radio update first is the act man Rich Ackerman oh the one and four Broncos head to Arrowhead to kick off week six in what appears to be a one-sided matchup against the defending champs Denver is coming off a loss the Jets and hasn't beaten Kansas City since 2015 despite the bad start in bad history against the Chiefs Russell Wilson looking to start anew this evening all righty this is that Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio if you go back to the Steelers game from this past weekend against the Ravens where the Steelers offense for 99 of the game was putrid until Lamar Jackson made a mistake where Joey Porter Jr intercepts the ball and then the next thing you know there's a 40-yard touchdown pass from Pickett to Pickens there is a shot in the in the coaches box which I thought was a kind of unfair not that they were showing the coaches reacting because all the coaches were jumping up and down they were jubilant they were going crazy but Matt Canada who's the offensive coordinator who is not a popular person these days in Pittsburgh he was very unpopular last year that kind of feeling and sentiment has carried over into this year because the offense has been dog crap he is sitting there as stoic as stoic can be like do you remember Samter when Jay Wright won the national championship the first time where you had that great crazy sequence against UNC where Marcus Page makes an acrobatic shot and they come back down the other way you have a chef who mopping the floor during the timeout and then you have Archie Diacchino flips the ball to Chris Jenkins for the championship oh onions doubles sauteed in the words of Bill Raffrey I was at that game oh were you really I was at that game okay I'll circle back to that in a second because this can give a completely different conversation um but they go to the camera of Jay Wright and Jay Wright as the shot goes up he says bang and he didn't even realize that he said bang but the shot goes in and he has no reaction other than he's just looking like dead into the camera and puts his hands up and he explained it afterwards because he's been on the other side of that like where you lose a big game not a national championship game like that so it's like you kind of know that there is some luck to it that you get the bounces to go your way and then also for all those years like when I was living in Philadelphia people are like get rid of Jay Wright he's just a good coach not a great coach he you know so many shortcomings in the NCAA tournament so maybe it was kind of that feeling of just I can't believe what just happened I don't even know how to react to it and your whole body goes numb but Matt Canada in that moment showing no emotion because of what happened with Jay Wright was really like not shocking to me and I think that people that were going after Matt Canada it was kind of sophomoric like low-hanging fruit just by the fan base because of how polarizing he is where oh see he doesn't even care he's not even happy with what transpired now I kind of rolled my eyes at that when I initially heard it but Samter was telling me that there's some great audio that just happened where Kenny Pickett was talking to reporters and maybe this explains why Matt Canada wasn't all that happy listen up this is Kenny Pickett. Kenny there were all kinds of coordinators coming up with these conspiracy theories about what happened last play that whether you made a check or audible to the line of scrimmage what were some of the changes you made to the line of scrimmage? Yeah it was protection in the route um you know they went zero I want to make sure we're protected and gave George the route um he went made a great play it was it was something that we worked all week on so it's awesome when you when you put a lot of time in something in a crucial moment like that to win a divisional game you go out there and you do it in a two-minute drill it's awesome so they changed the route that's what like I'm not one of those people that go up Canada wasn't happy but you hear that they changed the route now two things from this one that could just be Kenny Pickett and give him credit right with his instincts I don't know if maybe if they see a look that they say okay let's change something and maybe that's coached up to do but it does add fuel to the fire here Samter with Steelers fans where it's like see the guy wasn't happy because it wasn't even his play call and his play design. I saw some funny tweets just like yeah Matt Canada is pissed off because they didn't run the ball for negative six yards in the play but that that's really disturbing as bad as Canada has been or or has seemed to be that the best play the most important play the game-winning play against your biggest rival wasn't even his call and that is the biggest indictment because at least people were saying all right let's get off of Canada's back at least for a week because he dialed up that great play to George Pickens now it was a Kenny Pickett play yeah so Matt Canada is clearly not getting the job done and the question is like what do you do an offensive coordinator if you're the Steelers it was almost and we'll get to that question in just a second it was almost as if and I think we've all been a part of this right when you're in a school project and you do like none of the work but then you get the grade and it's like yeah I did all the work I appreciate it thanks so much I feel as if that was the moment for Matt Canada where he's sitting there and he's going we're going to get praised for the offense finally doing something in a game where they did nothing and now that they they finally showed up and did something and in reality unless if there's something more that we find out about this he he really did nothing on that on that final play it's it's almost Curb Your Enthusiasm-esque where you could have like the Larry David music already started to run like that's what that is it's a hundred percent an episode in Curb Your Enthusiasm because you have the outrage of the fans where where you would agree Sampter yes they can't stand Matt Canada but at first when they're going after him for not celebrating it's almost as if this guy can't do anything right even in a moment where he does something right but then a few days later we found out yeah he really had nothing to do it was more so Kenny Pickett and if I'm a Steelers fan if just taking it for what it's worth on the surface and maybe there's some more intricacies there that we know more about that we don't know about that maybe there was part of it was guided for Pickett to do that who knows but if it's just being presented if you take it from if you take it from the value of the way that it's being presented if I'm a Steelers fan this just gives you more ammunition to say look at what Kenny Pickett's doing on his own without good coaching an offensive line that's been shaky as well and you just imagine what would happen if he gets the proper protection and also if he gets a better play caller in there and I don't think they're going to fire Canada in season because Mike Tomlin has the clout in that organization and even if the fans are begging to fire Canada he doesn't have to do that and he knows ownership they barely make any changes nor should they consider firing Mike Tomlin and you've had Knoll you had Cower you've had Tomlin and that spans over 50 60 years of Steelers football but at the end of this year and I don't think the Steelers will make the playoffs even though right now they're sitting on top of the NFC North I don't I just don't I think this team if they if they do well this year it's going to be more of a product of the defense and not really that there's a lot of tangible moments that you could gather on the offensive side of the ball but it's like you have no choice at Tomlin at the end of the season barring a drastic change to move on from Matt Canada even if you love showing loyalty to Matt Canada because then you turn into kind of Lincoln Riley what we were talking about earlier where everyone knows what the problem is you got to get rid of Alex Grinch you got to try something different on the defensive side of the ball Riley refuses to do that it's one thing to refuse to do it in season but at the end of the season I would be very shocked if we're sitting here next year and Matt Canada is back as the Steelers offensive coordinator but I was uh reading something today on Larry Brown Sports and it was via longtime Steelers reporter Jerry Dulac who he floated the idea I guess that he does like a mailbag kind of question with fans and they said oh if Canada ever does get fired as Steelers fans finally get their wish after imploring the Steelers to get rid of Matt Canada for the last two years who would be some names to kind of monitor early to for the next offensive coordinator and Dulac said way too early to speculate but a good one would be a Mike Tomlin friend and who was that Mike Tomlin friend John Gruden now there's many complexities to the name John Gruden John Gruden currently has his own issues with the NFL right now in that I think it's still a pending lawsuit so you could be suing the league and still get a job you look at Brian Flores Brian Flores right was a head coach with the Dolphins now he's the defensive coordinator with the Minnesota Vikings last year Tomlin did bring him in to coach linebackers I'm pretty sure with the Pittsburgh Steelers but it's not as if Brian Flores who did a nice job in Miami as a head coach even though he did not get along with Tuatunga Vailoa and look Mike McDaniel comes in supports Tuatunga Vailoa they go to the playoffs and now they're one of the better teams not only in the AFC but also in the NFL but it it's not as if Brian Flores taking a defensive coordinator job is like a big shock John Gruden coming back to the NFL even though he's overrated but he did win a Super Bowl with the Bucks coached the Raiders two different times I have a tough time of the ego of John Gruden saying yeah I want to go be the offensive coordinator but with that being said when coaches get older coaches are still addicted to coaching and even if you can't be the head honcho like we've seen coaches go coach in high school and like lower levels of college as well and maybe Gruden at 60 and it's not like he's an old man like he's older but he's 60 it's not as if he's like breaking down and like the game has totally passed him by even though I think he is an overrated head coach but his numbers with the Raiders like offensively at least when he was there they weren't horrible they had some good offenses just the overall team was not good and Gruden wasn't worth the 10 million dollars a year on the 100 million dollar contract or whatever they settled so maybe Gruden says if his friend if his friend Talman and they coached together when Gruden was the head honcho in Tampa Bay maybe he would take that offensive coordinator job but I just have a tough time like Stu you're a Raider guy I have a tough time seeing Gruden be the offensive coordinator of the Pittsburgh Steelers like I could see him sitting up there and say let me tell you what man we're gonna we're gonna run Spider 2 wide banana with one of the legendary franchises in the history of the National Football League but I have a tough time seeing Gruden not only coming back to the NFL with how ugly the ending was but doing it and not having a head coaching job yeah I've always seen college as like the more likely destination I don't know where but maybe like a lower tiered division one college program he go coach d1 somewhere yeah I think that would be more likely than being an offensive coordinator but but who knows but it would be interesting if he does find his way back next year into the league yeah and look he's done some work with the Saints I don't know what the role is but you always see him popping up this off season with the Saints and that relationship with with Derek Carr so the first instinct would be I would be surprised by it the more you think about it's like yeah that's a typical football coach guy you just take what you could get and and you're addicted to the game but until I see John Gruden as the offensive coordinator of the Pittsburgh Steelers I'll tend to believe that it's more likely that it won't happen rather than it will happen alrighty Zach Yelp show CBS Sports Radio we got one more hour to play on a very busy Thursday when we come on back we'll do a little hot seat meter we'll look around the NFL and which coach's seat is the warmest also we have a news brief coming up 25 minutes from now and we have to break down this wonderful Thursday night football game I'm like Al Michaels right now I'm saying it's wonderful but we know it's not really wonderful we know it's gonna be boring but Taylor Swift will be in the building to kick off week six chiefs and broncos in Kansas City Kansas City our head for that game so we got a whole lot to do 60 more minutes to play we'll come on back in five minutes but where else CBS Sports Radio