Colin Cowherd Podcast - College Football Reaction: Ohio State Has An “Identity Crisis”, There’s No “Special” With USC

Buying more, or just visit JLab dot com. Their price points really good. All right. John Middlecoff, it's time for our hour plus on a Sunday. He is the former NFL scout for the Philadelphia Eagles three and Out podcasts. All right, I want to talk. Listen to Ohio State. Should have put Penn State away earlier, but they're the better team USC Lincoln Riley's now twelve and twelve again,

they lead late and lose Oregon. Thump's Michigan. I think we've spent so much time looking at Texas and Georgia and Bama and Ohio State, and last year in Michigan, I watched Oregon this weekend. I'm not sure what they're not good at like. I'm like, I'll tell you this. The more I watch Oregon, the more I like him. The more I watch Ohio State, the less I like them. I feel like Ohio State offensively, John has a bit of an identity crisis. They want to run the ball

because they've been criticized for not running it. But their best players are all wide receivers. And then combine that with Will Howard just isn't as good as we thought he was going to be. I figured I watched them at Kansas State. I thought, you know what, he's getting all these receivers. He may win a Heisman. He's just he's a good college quarterback. I don't see any special And every time I watch Ohio State, I'm like, they leave points on the table. It just doesn't feel like

I watched Oregon. Oregon is squeezing every fricking ounce of talent out of that roster. I mean to go on the road in college, even though Michigan's not great, and just kick the shit out of them. I mean, the game wasn't even as close as thirty eight to seventeen. I just don't think we're ready to embrace this. People outside of the West Coast. Don't understand Oregon's dominated Southern California recruiting in the Pac twelve for about eight years.

They just get the best players. They pay for him, and I don't know. I think I think Oregon's the best team I've seen.

I don't love George's quarterback. You know, Dylan Gabriel can throw the ball. I have more faith in him than those guys. But he's kind of small and against a big time defense. Could he be knocked out or whatever? But I hear yeah, I mean I think Oregon. If you had to pick a team to win the national Championship as we sit here today, it would be Oregon. But if Ohio State gets healthy like, I mean, their talent, that safety that they got from Alabama, they basically just

put him on forty four. Who you know, that guy is going to be a top fifty pick. I mean against that ce he had like fifty catches in the game, and he did have a great catch in that game, but for the most part, they neutralized him a little bit. And what a what a letdown by Penn State. If I would have told you they'd be up ten to nothing on a pick six and they would score three points, you know, with five minutes in the game, score three points the rest of the game. That's pretty embarrassing.

but Mike checked a lot of boxes. So does Bill self. You know, Calipari's like the guy he can sell and that he deserves credit for that. But when I watch James Franklin, I feel like he's very dependent on having a great offensive coordinator he can recruit. His defense front sevens are Oh, it is really formidable. They look like an SEC front seven. They always got a pass rush. I just I just think he is sort of I just think he is what I see a lot of.

He deserves his money. It's a great program. I like watching them play, but I just don't think. I don't think I trust them in tight, big game situations.

But to get them in that spot, they're all bitching and moaning because it's the morning game. They want the night games. Like guys, it wouldn't have mattered if the game would have been at midnight or at you know, five in the morning. You're never beating this team. And I just know long Penn State probably in the playoffs because if you look at their schedule, they have one loss. But I don't take this program seriously at all, relative

like competing for national championships. Are they gonna have a ton of NFL guys? If you're a scout, you to spend five days a week there during the year, do you need? Yeah? Are they gonna win their ten eleven games? Depending on how the schedule breaks. You will never pick them against Ohio State. You will now never pick them against Oregon. And you know, we'll see if Michigan and USC can get their shit together over the next couple of years. But if those teams are good, you will

pick those teams over Penn State as well. And that's kind of crazy because I think this was the first time. It's like, I think State's got a shot and then they're up ten nothing. You're like, God, is Ohio State about to get their butt kicked? And then you're like, no, they're not, because they just never make a big play when it has to be made. Obviously, the pick at the end of the first half was devastating. They get they get that final drive, they're adding the goal line essentially,

and they can't punch it in the end zone. They just run it right up the gut twice and then they throw it on fourth down. It wasn't even close. And then Ohio State with all these random offensive linemen run it right down their throat the strength of their team, all these NFL guys, and in the game there's a big win for Ryan Day and I'm I can be Ohio State hitter. But that was that was impressive to.

I think there's some guys that really loved a look. I think Sark Lane, Kiffen, there's a handful of guys. I think Ryan Day's probably hell of a recruiter. Brian Hartline, his receiver coach, is a great recruiter. I think sometimes Lincoln comes off as very prickly, very aloof, very detached, overly protective of players. I mean, he cut off media this week, no more media at the practices. It's like, you're four and five, we got better things to do.

I think I think sometimes he forgetting this is not a rural town like this is. We got we got Sean McVay and the Lakers and the Dodgers and Herbert and the Rams. You start cutting people off like it's like I'm a I'm considered sort of pro usc But when I watch him, I go back to something that I think it's very clear to see they don't have enough good football players. And you know, Rick Newheiseel won a Rose Bull Washington. They beat Purdue. I didn't think.

I didn't think new Heiseel was a great coach. But he liked recruiting. He was engaged. He really really enjoyed the showmanship of it. And Washington's up in the rain in the Pacific Northwest. They had Marcus tuiasos sopot quarterback. But I always come out of it and I'm like, you know what if you if you recruit at college, Charlie weise couldn't recruit. He was a smart guy, couldn't recruit. I just look at their brand. They have literally one

serviceable offensive tackle, they have one running back. They're very past happy. I look at it and I think to myself, they'll be better next year. I don't see special. I don't see the players.

They're down twenty to seven, and I'm like, they're about to get rolled. I just turned on other games. I was actually shocked when I went back to my phone and saw that the game was close, So then I turned it back on. But it's barely November first, and they don't they don't matter in the college landscape like you watch and you know, some of their fans watched the whole game because they're invested in the program. But

I didn't need to watch. I was paying attention because I know we talk about it, but they don't matter it does it just talk? They all football. You don't need to watch them. No, which year three paying them one hundred and twenty million, this is an epic disaster.

I'm not sure they have more good players in Washington and Washington's in a rebuild. With Jed Fish in his first year.

this college football? Do bowl games even still exist? But that that would be it'd be hard for people around the program and the money people to take him seriously. I mean it is right now at four and five into year three. Like people are on Brian Kelly. I mean he's he has a bad half against text A and M on the road, you know when they have a million NFL guys, like he was kicking their ass for a half. He's You watch and I watched a lot of LSU because I love watching the SEC. It's

where the best players are. He's doing a pretty good job. And you talked to him. My scouting buddies are like, it's it's an impressive operation there. When you go in there, They're like, I would buy stock in this program moving forward. That is not the case. And like you said, the reporter thing, he did that last year. He does it like Lincoln. Why are you even worried about things that

are just completely irrelevant to Can you beat Jetfish? I mean Jetfish should have beat you two years in a row. Remember they got very lucky to beat him last year. Was that that game go to overtime? Maybe beat him on the last play in the game. Yep, Caleb made an incredible play in overtime. Remember kind of scrambled. They easily could have lost that game. They were lucky to be seven to five last year because they lose that thing, they're six and six. It looks like they're headed towards

six and six. And I would say, you're six and six and you lose to this UCLA team with Deshaun Foster. They're not paying one hundred and twenty million dollars for that. And like you said, think of all the top coaches, Dan Lanning, I mean loves to recruit clearly, like you say, Ryan Day in that program, they recruit their ass off. Kirby smart recruiter, sark huge. So the top programs, which USC LSU and you know Brian Kelly puts a lot

of effort into it. They hired you to be their equals. Well, you know, coaching right now is not going that well. But it's like, okay, college football is not quite the NFL. If you just got the Jimmies and the Joe's, you could win, especially that C what eight nine games, no doubt about it. Then you got out coach to get to undefeated or a one. Lost your Jimmy's and the Joe's sc didn't They didn't play Oregon this year?

have a second running back in the program. They have one tackle that can play offensively. They have no great pass rushers. They just they just don't have any good player. They don't have enough quality. If you took the best ten Ohio State players and the USC the best ten Ohio State's got eight of them.

these teams. It's just going to be very, very difficult for them if they are not recruiting the I mean Pete Carroll and his Heyday ad the best of both worlds.

at A and M. They look cool. You know, Ohio State? Why would you want to go to sc What have they done over the last I would just say ten years to be If you're a young kid like I want to go there. We talk about it a lot because we remember these moments. Yeah they do not Yeah, and now with social media and stuff, their moments are they don't even exist. So I think he has a lot to overcome. And this gets to the thing is like can he build from scratch because that's what this

need and it doesn't look like he really can. Yeah, where Jedfish is a good example. Went to Arizona. That was a disaster. What he proved that he was able to do And look at Arizona this year they stink again. Yeah, it's like that that is really difficult to do, to go to a program just in general in college football that's down and out let alone a non power program, and turned into a nine to ten win team. He

took over Bob Stoop's team, which he inherited. I don't know, a team full of over under probably twenty NFL guys I'll start in the league right now.

Probably wouldn't even be a top five team last twenty years. So you look around college football, you go, well, Alabama's kind of meh for their standards. LSU's got some issues.