You are listening to the Dan Patrick Show on Fox Sports Radio.
He's Brady Quinn, Fox College Football Analyst, Big Noon Kickoff and Two Pros and a Cup of Joe, the radio show that precedes hours on Fox Sports Radio and Brady Quinn joining us on the program. How nervous are you for this game coming up tonight?
Well, first off, let me answer that question by saying this, Fritzie sounds very much like Bill Belichick when he calls in for these radio hits. So I just want you to know it's a very similar demeanor for Fritzie and Bill Belichick. You almost sound like the same person. But in regards to tonight's game, there's some nerves there. I mean, look, this is a really good Penn Stage football team, you know,
Notre Dame's banged up. I think if you look at the matchup of these two teams, you know it's gonna come down to the effectiveness of running the football and stopping to run. And I think if you look at Penn State, they've got a couple backs and k troon Allen Nick Singleton who's been phenomenal. Their tight end Tyler One will be a part of that rushing attack. And for Notre Name, you know Riley Leonard and Jeremiah Love.
His health and status is obviously of some concern. He's an incredible player to Darien Price can kind of take over that load along with Williams as well the freshman. But that's you know, and this is gonna be a good game. The spread tight for a reason, and I think it's gonna see potentially a really ugly game to watch, though, Dan, when it's all said and done, meaning defensive football, you know, I think you're going to see a lot of back
and forth punting. Special teams will play a role. I'll be shocked if they give Notre Names returners opportunity to actually return the football given that. If there's one distinct advantage for Notre Dame this game, it is their special teams play, especially the way it's been throughout the course of the year. Still will kicking hasn't necessarily been as good consistently, but Jeter was great obviously in the most recent game.
So Brady will be on the field tonight, Urban Meyer, Matt Lioner, Vince Wilfork. That'll be a pre game. You know, I was wondering about or how you thought being a former Notre Dame athlete, James Franklin, was at the press conference with Marcus Freeman and he says, Hey, no offense to you, but you know, everybody should be in a conference. So there's only one school that you're talking about when
you say everybody should be in a conference. Here. Do you see a scenario at any point in the next five years where Notre Dame is in a conference.
I don't, and I think there's only two ways that hand would be forced.
You know.
The first would be if they weren't able to play for a national championship in football, if they weren't a part of a conference. So if that ended up being the case, that would force under Dame to have to make that decision. I think the next thing would be
the economics of it. You know, if Notre Dame didn't have a television partner like NBC that is able to, you know, single handedly help you know, promote their brand, their school and the university, that would be Probably the other thing is if the economics become so big in favor of joining a conference that you'd be playing at a huge disadvantage because with the NBC contract, the parcelal affiliation with the ACC that's just not the case as of now, you know, and in fact, if you look
at their advancement through the College Football playoffs, while all these other teams are you know, making money, but they have to share with the rest of the conference their
day in pockets, all of it. And that's a huge advantage for them in particular, even you know, not having to play a conference championship game, but and then having to play a first round game, because they're going to be making money off that, not only hosting one if they are good enough to host a game like this season, but also if you're looking at you know, the subsequent rounds and all the money they'll be keeping it in their pockets.
This whole thing about and I've railed on this for a while about conference championship games. I know it's a money grab, but every conference either has to have a conference championship game or not. And I wonder if we get to the point where can these conference championship games be a first round bowl game? Can we add more importance to it as opposed to what they're trying to diminish the outcome. Hey, Penn State to Oregon, no big deal.
You get to still, you know, be a top seed. Here, I'm wondering the future of these conference title games.
Now to your point, it does feel like it's a money grab, you know, in reality, and I think if you look at the attendance too, in some cases, I mean,
it's a lot on the fans. It's hard to get probably the environment that you want, knowing that we now have an expanded playoff and there's going to be a good indicial home game or they're going to be traveling to you know, one of the New Year six games at some point, the quarterfinals and the semi finals and then the national championship if you're so lucky to get there. So there's a lot of economics that it's hitting the pockets of fans and some of the teams that are
a part of it. But there's also the television portion of it. And I do think you bring up a good point. You know, how necessary are these conference championship games because they felt exclusive to college football? You know, as this model looks closer and closer to the NFL playoff system, you sit there and go, well, they have a regular season where they just determine who wins the division. They don't need to play off with the top two teams at the end of the season to determine that
they've already got that figure out. You could do the same thing with the conferences. The only tough part about saying that is you only have four teams in a vision, and these conferences now are so big that it's almost an apples to Orange. It's comparison and looking at, for example, the schedule Ohio State played versus for example, the schedule Indiana played within the same conference. So because of that, you start to look at those things and go, all right,
you know, maybe it's the harder that we thought. Just determined who the conference champion is and there's gonna be a lot of area years where you have a tie. I mean the Big Twelve one dude, this back when they didn't have their conference championship game. Then it was the slogan was the one true champion. And then you had Baylor and PCU tie the first year of the playoffs, and then neither made it in the playoff because the Big Twelve couldn't even decide who their conference chanion was.
I'm talking Brady Quinn, Fox Sports college football analyst. He is part of the Orange Bowl Hall of Fame Committee joining us on the program. Yeah, handed prestigious.
Dan, It's very prestigious. I share it. Actually, you have a big part, along with the rest of the committee and getting our three selected Hall of Fame inductees in there today. So if it just so happens that even though it's an ESPN broadcast, uh, you know, they're gonna have to maybe put a couple of Fox Sports Big New Kickoff guys on TV at some point I may or may not have played a role.
Okay. So Urban and Matt Lioner and Vince will Fork are going into the Orange Bowl Hall of Fame. Yes, that's correct, Okay, And you're hoping that you get some kind of acknowledgment on ESPN with the Fox Big Noon kick on.
I'm not saying I'm hoping anything. I'm just saying it might be hard to cover a game than not cover, you know, three historic figures in this you know tradition, the history of the Orange Bowl could not include acknowledging that at some point, like hey, Urban Meyer and Matt Leaner and Vince Wolfwerk are here because they're being inducted into the Hall of Fame. Like it just it seems like if you're ESPN grant, they make some mistakes, but if you're ESPN, you probably want to include that at
some point the broadcast. Maybe I'm wrong, maybe.
I'm handicap Ohio State Texas.
I would say the Lion's sitting right now at six at this point, I think, you know, again, it comes down to, like both these teams playing to their potential. We've seen Ohio State do that the past two weeks and everyone goes, my goodness, that's the best team in the country and it's not even close. And the flip side, we watched Texas and it feels like at times not that they get disinterested. You know, I'm not going to play on that narrative, but it doesn't feel like they
ever play up to their potential. So I don't know if they can find that, if Quinn yours and this offense can can find more of that, consistently, find more of that, like big play ability to break off, you know, versus Ohio State like they did and have so far in this playoff. I mean, it's like between Oregon and Tennessee and they put their foot on the gas. It's like it's not even close. And I obviously have a ton of respect for Dan Lanning the job he did
at Orgon this year. So that to me that Ohio State team that it's more about can they continue the momentum? Can they continue to keep playing at the level which they have now the past two games? If they have no one can touch them like this spread, in my opinion, should be like nine and a half. Ohio State's going to be the team we saw the first two games so far in the playoff.
What if Quinn Ewers wins the national championship and then has to leave Texas.
It's a great hypothetical to throw out there, But if he's leaving Texas after winning the National championship, he's going to be going to the draft. Like everyone wants to make this like some big conversation about you know, the arch Manning and he's going to be the guy next year,
and then that's that's all, you know, true. But if I'm Quinn yours and in that scenario plays itself out, I'm looking at this quarterback draft class and going hold on a second, Like Chador looks to be the number one guy based on the tape film and all that, but like why can't Quinn be the next guy based on these evaluations. You know, he's played really well through his career in big games. He's got the arm strength, he's got the abilities. He's been tough this year playing
through injury. I'm just I'm not sure in a year where with the tape that Cars and Deck put out there, he's coming off injury. You know, cam Ord was special and dynamic, but people are gonna have concerns about, you know, offering an NFL offense. All those things that come up that people try to you know, draw and take away
from what they see on tape. And so why not if your quinn Ewers try to be a part of this quarterback draft class playing on all that momentum that you would be getting off a national championship.
Is Riley Leonard an NFL quarterback?
I think so, you know, and look, I think there's still parts of his game that are developing. He reminds me a lot of Ryan Tannado. You know, when you go back to Ryan, who played wide receiver at his time of Texas A and M then transition to a quarterback. Now, I think Ryan had you know, in his final time at Texas and M displayed himself as much more of a passer at that point. But if you look at Riley, I mean, he's getting to a team in his you know, final year of play, and he's got to learn a
new offense. He's got to develop comistry at these guys, and there's a lot of moving parts to all that. And so I think there's gonna be people who are going to be able to watch the tape and say, an incredible athlete. He is a good leader. He it's obviously tough. He has all these entangles we're looking for off to the size, and he has the arm strength. It's just there's things they got to hone in on in regards to how he sees the field, how he processes,
and in particular throwing down the field. You know, that's one of the things that I think stands out to me is they haven't been able to be a successful over ten yards downfield consistently within the offense. And again there's a lot of reasons to that, but I think he's got the capability of playing at the next level.
If Bill Belichick asked for advice, what would you tell him?
Oh man, I would tell him, why the hell are you asking me for I'd be like, you already got problems. If you're like, let's just start with this, like like where did you go wrong? Like I'd probably throw back around him, But who's who gave you got advice or what?
Who told you to ask me something? I guess The first thing I would say is it's it's so hard because we're assuming he's the head coach in North Carolina, right, We're not assuming he's going to potentially leave for an NFL job, which still baffles me that you know someone
assen't hired him in the past two years. If that's the case, I would say the number one thing is he has to go find a quarterback, like evaluate the roster and you can, you know, construct the roster through nil and high school recruit and all that, but he needs to find a veteran guy he can get to the portal the best guy possible, and he needs to go attack and get one of these scud guys coming out from high school. And you need to have at least a couple of guys there to provide you depth
of ability but also for stability. So that would be the number one thing that I'd say. If you look at a college game, like I would actually say the college quarterback is more paramount then even an NFL quarterback to a degree, And people might take issue with that, but I just think the way the game is played nowadays and the way the advantage that the elite quarterback at college gives you over even at the NFL. We got to go up against good defenses and offensive line
matters even more. There's all these other parts play a factor. I mean, if you have an elite quarterback, like you really can go far. And I think cam Ward's an example of that. Like how many of those other players in Miami this year you look at and saying, well, those guys are draft the board. Those guys are going to be, you know, top picks, and I think without him this year, they're probably a five win team. And
then it's traumatically different conversation when Cambore gets there. So I would say he's got to go address that position first and foremost with an older, experienced guy if you can, if you have to do through the portal, and then obviously a high school guy.
Have fun tonight and don't be like, you know, somebody's on the field a ESPN are you going to be like jumping behind them and jumping up and you're not going to be way okay.
No, I'll be hard to miss. I'll be wearing my orange jacket down there, so so if you look down, there's like, why why is he wearing orange? Like what? Like not a lot of people know that I'm on the Orange Bowl committee. So it's it's always funny to see the response from people when you wear the orange jacket, because they do stand out. It's tremendous marketing. But then it always comes with who are you rooting for if
drawing orange? So like, well, I've got my end the stuff on underneath, but I'll be wearing an orange shacket during the presentation.
Thank you, Brady, Thank you. That's Brady Quinn. Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in the nation. Catch all of our shows at Foxsports Radio dot com and within the iHeartRadio app search FSR to listen live.
Hey Steve Covino and I'm Rich David and together we're Covino and Rich on Fox Sports Radio.
You could catch us weekdays from five to seven pm Eastern two to four Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and of course the iHeartRadio app.
Why should you listen to Covino and Rich.
We talk about everything life, sports, relationships, what's going on in the world.
We have a lot of fun talking about the stories behind the stories in the world of sports and pop culture, stories that well other shows don't seem to have the time to discuss.
And the fact that we've been friends for the last twenty years and still work together, I mean that says something, right.
So check us out.
We like to get you involved too, take your phone calls, chop it up.
As they say, I'd say, most interactive show on Fox Sports Radio, maybe the.
Most interactive show on planet arc.
Be sure to check out Covino and Rich live on Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app from five to seven pm Eastern two to four Pacific, And if you miss any of the live show, just search Kovin on Rich wherever you get your podcasts, and of course on social media.
That's Covino and Rich. We spoke with Kyle Hamilton yesterday after practice and he is a two time Pro Bowl safety for the Ravens and a Notre Dame grad as well, played under Marcus Freeman is his defensive coordinator, and I started out by asking Kyle Hamilton, which game does he feel more confident about the Ravens against the Steelers or is fighting irish playing tonight against Penn State?
You know, taking one step at a time.
So Notre Dame is tomorrow, So I'm worried about that Notre Dame game tomorrow. I got a few Penn State people talking to a little trash. But you know, I said, it's they had a good season. They it's kind of a cool story that came this far. Get the program, sorry, but we got bigger things to do.
Okay, do you have I think three teammates who went to Penn State? Are there any side bets on this game?
A ton of bragging rights, because that's all anybody does is about their college. But you know, come Friday morning, I'm gonna be really loud.
Marcus Freeman looks like he could still play Kyle.
I think he's only about thirty five something like that?
Is he but that up? But around there I think he was pretty intend. Was he he was what defensive coordinator when you were there?
Yeah, he was not DC.
He was It was cool to have a DC that was closer in age to us than our head coach and can kind of relate, been in it and can relay the messages very well.
Does do you get to tackle Lamar Jackson or Derrick Henry?
No? I mean I wish I could, more so than Derek.
But you don't want to tackle Derrick Henry.
Yeah, that's you know, when he has to do so you know, you gotta do what you gotta do. But I'm glad he's on the Ravens.
Okay, But that's where you make a business decision. If he was playing on the Titans, have you made business decisions when you're tackling somebody.
I feel like you can't really do that because if you try to do that, then you know you're just gonna get embarrassed.
Well, you can't admit it, but in your mind it's like, God, this is gonna hurt.
Yeah.
Yeah, But most of the time you get up next play and then you forget about it.
But trying to corral Lamar, I mean, how tough is that? And he's your teammate.
Yeah, obviously I can't speak from experience other than fall Camp, but even then, when he's going fifty percent Lamar, it's still tough.
To stop him.
And you see it every single game day. It's just like, I know, the defense has to be frustrated being out there and you feel like you have the perfect play out up and you do, and then you get to him and he squirms out and runs for fifty yards. It throws a sixty yard touchdown. It's just it's I would be demoralizing.
Okay, if we ran a forty yard dash, who's winning on the team out of everybody?
Yeah, definitely not me.
Uh as I showcased at the combine.
What was your time at the combine?
Four or five? Nine?
All right? Yeah, yeah, but you're tall, you're rangy. You make up for it.
Yeah, that seems any care. They thought I was slow, but you know.
Did they call you slow?
Yeah? It it uh some of them did. But you know it worked out and I'm I'm where I need to be.
At your Your speed challenged is what you are. You're not slow, You're just speed challenge. And your forty was faster than Jerry Rice's.
Oh I can, all right, that's something the standing I can. Somebody tries to make fun of me, but forty our dash winner on the team probably probably Keaton uh No.
Nate Wiggins, Nate Wiggins, Nate Wiggins and Keith Mitch would be a good race.
Where's Lamar in this? If we did a forty or one hundred yard.
I don't think anybody's ever really seen Lamar run full speed. When he does, he's super fast, so I probably put it I say that Lamar runs around high four to three.
He's Kyle Hamilton, the Ravens safety, two time pro bowler and a former Notre Dame fighting irishman. The difference between a playoff practice and a regular season practice is.
What, honestly not much at least for us.
You know, we try to take that mindset in every single week so we don't get to the playoffs and then change what we're doing. It's something that I think the Ravens have done a great job of. Coach Harbor, everybody in the facility and everybody on the staff is just you know, we're kind of built for this at this point. It's just business as usual. So going on Saturday and do we need to do?
Are you preparing for both quarterbacks? Yeah?
Yeah, I think that's kind of something that you got to prepare for because they deploy justin fields when you know, keep driven run stuff.
And obviously he's still a quarterback, can still.
Throw the ball, so you know, you'd ever know how the game is gonna go, and so you got to prepared to be prepared for everything.
Best wide receiver you faced this season was who, hmm, that's a good question.
You know, CD's pretty good. I'm forgetting somebody. I will always say it wasn't this season, but last season. Pookin Nakua is probably one of the more underrated people in the league.
Just playing against him.
He's physical, he's tough, makes great catches, runs good routes, and you know, not a lot of people give him credit for what he does. And that's one person that really stuck out to me last year.
But but Kyle, I watch him play and I'm like, Okay, how did everybody miss on Pookin na Koua being a great wide receiver, even a good wide receiver in the NFL?
Yeah, I mean, I think he had somewhat of a subpar combine or something coming out maybe measurables, But I think people get stuck in the numbers a little too much and forget that. You know, you gotta play football at the other the day, and he's definitely a good football player.
Jim Harball is quirky weird. Is John Harball quirky weird?
Honestly, I don't think so. I think he was probably the cooler brother growing up. Even though Jim was the NFL quarterback. You know, John was still the older brother.
And nah, I feel like I feel like he.
Kind of has those older brother qualities and Jim has those younger brother qualities.
Does John say goofy things though?
Yeah, he does goofy, borderline corny. Yeah, he tries, and we appreciate him trying to have a little satirical side to him, but you know, sometimes he is.
It's kind of a hit or miss with him.
Well, congrats so far, good luck against the Steelers, and thanks for joining us.
Thank you, Dad, appreciate it.
That's Kyle Hamilton, the Ravens Safety.
Be sure to catch the live edition of The Dan Patrick Show week days at nine am Eastern six am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app.
Mike Breen ESPN, ABC, NBA play by play commentator on the call last night Cleveland against Oklahoma City? Did it feel like a finals preview to you?
It did? Was a long way to go and there's a lot of teams that will have to say about that. But the buzz in the place, it just it just was different. I had to keep reminding myself, but it's January eighth, so easy does it? But it had a spectacular field. You could tell the players were so fired up and so into it. You know, they're all trying to say it's a regular game, but it wasn't. They knew it, The crowd knew it. It was. It was really wonderful for a game on January eighth.
When you do a show, when you if it's on the Mothership or radio show, whatever you like, to play the hits and the Cavaliers aren't playing the hits. But they've gotten to that point, Mike, they're thirty two and four. Like, you can't ignore the topic. This is one of the great starts in the history of the NBA. Do you get that sense of people are really struggling to grab a hold of this. Certainly Cleveland, Oklahoma City, we expect
them to be maybe there in the finals. Cleveland, they've been a really good team, but they just haven't been, you know, in the headlines because Lebron's gone.
Couldn't agree more. It's like I even said in our open. I repeated the record to Richard Jefferson, not because he didn't he didn't know it. Obviously he knew it. But it just sounds crazy to say that the Cleveland Cabs are thirty two and four and they're they're that good.
They're really that good. And I think the fact that the betting line now still has the Boston Celtics the clear favorite to come out of the East, despite the fact that the Caves are doing this, and it's you know, it's a credit to the whole organization from cold Altman who made the roster, the patience to keep the roster and not make, you know, sudden changes because they lost in the first round two years ago and got beaten pretty badly in the second round last year, although it
was injuries. They just they play such fun basketball to watch because they play team basketball.
I have a bet here with Marvin and I think there'll be two Cavaliers named to the All Star team. He says four.
Won't be four. I think three is a really good bet. I think Mitchell Mobley and and Darius Garland. Although Jared Allen the last couple of weeks he's played as well as any of them, so it's it's gonna be interesting. It'll be interesting to see. I think four is a lot, because you know, you know, Boston has definitely two. New York has definitely two, although there was a couple of normal guys that get on that aren't gonna make it,
so I wouldn't count it out. They certainly deserve it's it's you know, like you said, it's it's one of the greatest of any era, of any team, of any franchise. It's one of the greatest starts the league has ever seen.
If you were going to describe Shay Gilgis Alexander to somebody who hadn't seen him play, how would you do it?
A magical control of his body and no matter where he goes, no matter what he does, an incredible poise where nobody can speed him up and nobody can really stop him. Killer instinct and even though you know he's averaging so many points, he is such a team first guy. Everything about him he's he's it's hard to do it in just a quick sentence. He's got this supreme confidence
but at the same time humility. He's just he's a perfect guy to to kind of take over the throne of of the for stars now with some of the some of our greats aging. Everything about him is is just wonderful from a from a league standpoint, in terms of being the guy that that you know, could lead the next generation.
I kind of see some Kawhi Leonard comps with him, because Kawhi had an ability when he was healthy to control the tempo of a game. Not necessarily a three point shooter, but had that ability to if he wanted to take you inside or that mid range jumper. And you know, maybe similar size. I don't know if Shaye is a little bit taller, but do you see that comp.
Yeah, No, I like that because neither one of them, you would say, are fast. They're both athletic, but that's not what they They rely everything on. They're both super smart.
You know.
I think that's a big part of it. Shay smiles a little bit more through Kawhi, but it's, you know what the two The other thing you could say about the two of them, and this is something he could play in any era. He could have played in the sixties his game because he kind of incorporates everything from from the way players scored in the sixties seventies, you know, the nineties. He can take the physical style of the nineties. You know, he's improved on his three point shooting of
today's current game. He's one of those guys that he's just he's just a great basketball player that could play in any era.
We're talking to Mike Breeney, you know, ESPN, ABC, NBA play by play commentator on the call last night, calves in the thunder. How often do you get somebody coming up to you and say, hey, Mike, can you give me a bang?
You really want to know? When I go into an arenas, it's it's all the time, and I take it as a as a compliment, and I'm flattered, like you wouldn't believe that the people say that. But when they start, the kids start shoving the phone in your face and there yelling say bags. It's a Sometimes it gets a little much, but I'm again, I'm so flattered by it that this one word has been so good to me.
Okay, but wait a minute, how do you do that when somebody says, hey, Mike, will you say bang? Do you just go bang?
No?
What? What? Sometimes I just go bang? And sometimes I'll say that I if it's after a game. I'll say I lost, I lost my boys. Wow.
Uh, what constitutes or warrants a double bang?
There there's no formula. Yeah, it's it's strictly off the flow of the game. What's going on? And wow, is this this stumble of it? It really just comes out. I wish I had a better answer. I'm sorry, you know, I'm Next time we're on, I'm going to come up with a better answer.
I got to help you with your profile here. I mean, let's let's embrace it. Do we do we have a copyright? Do we got T shirt? And like, what are we doing? Mike?
First off, you've always been helpful, so I appreciate any additional help. I don't have copyright. I have a T shirt, but that's just one. I never thought of selling it. And you know, here's the interesting thing. And I don't know if you and I have discussed this. I'm not the first one to use it. And I didn't know this until later. Johnny Most used to say bang when he did Celtics radio back in the day.
You weren't aware of that.
You just were not aware of it. And his son, his son who was in the business, Jamie his son alerted me to it, and I think right after I found that out, I did bang in a Celtic game and I said, that's dedicated to the great Johnny Most. But you know, back in the day, we didn't if you weren't in that town, you didn't know or listen really to the radio voices of other teams. Now you can listen to the entire broadcast of other teams no matter where you are. But I didn't know it at the time.
I watched by Yama when Ben Yama the other night again joker, and I said the following day, he's going to win an MVP before he's twenty five. If you don't now, I didn't have a great scoring night. But he's got like a he can shoot the three. He you know, he's a force. At the other end, I'm trying to figure out what is going to be his weakness, Like Yiannis is not a great shooter. Uh, you know, these guys have weaknesses. But Lemby looks pretty polished, Mike.
He does everything really well. And I agree with you, in a matter of a year or two, he's going to be great at everything. I mean, there's certain things he's great at now. But he doesn't really have a weakness. You know, he's going to get stronger every year. He's improved on his perimeter game every year. But his is just his instincts, his feel for the game, and his desire to keep working every single day to get better.
When you talk to the Spurs people that they they're pinching themselves because not only is this kid such an unbelievable talent, but his makeup mentally and his desire to be the best who's ever played is just is off the charts. So I would not bet against you on that. Twenty five Now, he's going to win multiple MVPs, that's for sure. I don't know by what age, but he's going to win multiple.
If I said to you, you have to pick one of the two teams most likely to be in the finals of the two teams last night.
Not going to do it. Not going to do it to me, I'm sorry, Bang, there's so much you know what the cool thing is, there's so much time left, and because this year there's a possibility of a number of players, like really good players, who are going to change teams by the trading deadline. That could absolutely swing who's favorite so that's what I find fascinating. So there might be a team that we're thinking they'll make the playoffs,
but they won't do much. All of a sudden, they pick up one or two guys and they're now their favorites to get to the finals. So it's it's really hard to do that right.
Now, who retires first, Lebron, Steph or KDH.
KD is going to keep playing for a long time. Steph is still loving and Lebron is still loving too. I think maybe Lebron because he's starting to drop hints. But then again, he also just said that he knows he could contribute until he's fifty, which he could. And that's the crazy thing, Like if he wanted to, he could be fifty years old and probably average fifteen six and four. I mean, he absolutely could do it.
Could ever see him ranked higher than Jordan?
I don't here's another cop out. Don't be mad at me, but I refuse to rank players from different eras. It's just it's impossible. I mean, whether you want to talk about Russell or Chamberlain or Alcindor or Kobe or Lebron or Michael, I mean, it's hard to ever argue against Michael Jordan. But my favorite saying is comparison is a thief of joy. And to start comparing one to the other all of a sudden, to make your point, you're starting to criticize the other. And how do you criticize the other?
All right, I think I've used you. I've I've talked to you long enough. I can hear the voice. Maybe it's starting to waiver a little bit here?
What's starting a waiver?
It just sounds like you're kind of losing your voice. It's it's sound as like like, guys, I think we can all agree. It sounds like Breen's voice is going a little bit there, a little again little.
Yeah.
You know, I'm not going to compare. I mean, you're not Doc Rivers because Doc Rivers sounds like this.
You got to give me forty eight, guys, you gotta give me forty eight.
That's frizzy.
I tell I could tell it was him.
Yeah, you know Todd.
Do you have any idea how important Todd was to my career? No? Well, when I worked on the Imis in the Morning Show, my whole stick was getting getting quality sound bites to play off of and have fun and he was the morning news and sports producer, and he was the one that would find the bites that he knew would work, and he knew I would like to try and work. He was I couldn't have done it without him.
He was spectacular because I thought you were awesome with that when you had fun with these sound bikes. And now we're talking about Todd Fritz. Right, yes, okay, all right, fair enough. I didn't know. I'm a journalist, Todd. I got to ask these questions.
So I started at w FN with Breen in the game.
He was amazing. He was amazing him and another guy who did it was Craig Shamides. Those two guys were invaluable.
Well that's that's great to know. And I know the voice is going. So I don't know your next game, so I'm gonna let you rest that, but thank you for sharing your thoughts. Quite well, that's Mike Breen.
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in the nation. Catch all of our shows at Foxsports Radio dot com and within the iHeartRadio app search FSR to listen live.
He is Greg McElroy ESPN College Football Analyst. He'll be on the call ABC ESPN tonight, it's Penn State, Notre Dame. How about we start there, Dion in the NFL or staying at Colorado?
Well, are you suggesting which I would If I were giving Don some type of advice, which way would I go? I would probably stay at Colorado. You can write your ticket there. Man, He's become musty television. The Alamo Bowl game that he lost by twenty thirty points was the highest rateed game outside of the College Football Playoff in the bowl season. He's appointment television for many And I think now with the support that they're getting from an nil standpoint, Dan, I think it's easier to win on
a consistent level in college. I think in the NFL you can be the greatest thing in the world and then fired the next year. Yeah, college, you got a little bit more runway if you can have a positive impact on the kids.
All Right, The point spread tonight is Notre Dame by one and a half. Let's say the game comes down to that kind of point spread. Paint the picture for the audience of you being the analyst tonight of how you think that would play out in the final second.
Well, it would be phenomenal you'd know, Sean McDonough. Something tells me we would have a voice crack, and we would have a lot of energy, and we would have one heck of a finish as long as a punter doesn't drop it and allow Jalen watch Jackson to return one to the house. That could elicit some stronger reaction. That would be two or three voice cracks potentially. But Dan,
I don't know about you. You've been a college football fan for a long time and you've supported and helped promote our sport, and we're very grateful to you for that. But I think the College Football Playoff, while we haven't had the most compelling matchups from a competitive standpoint, it's been captivating television and I think if we could just get one that would go the distance. You look at the game between Arizona State and Texas, a game that
went to overtime, multiple overtimes. That game had seventeen point three million viewers at noon or one o'clock Eastern time on New Year's Day, a window that had not performed well in the past, gets an all time high because of how compelling that game was, and it was between two programs, one Blue Blood and one that's kind of an upstart and airs on the state. That would be magnificent.
But I think if Notre Dame and Penn State, two of the most storied programs, two of the top programs in the history of college football from a win standpoint, to win the top seven, if it comes down to the wire like that, it'd be pretty remarkable. And it's probably gonna be a defensive slugfest. It's gonna feel like a pitcher's duel. It's gonna feel like, you know, Verlander on the mound against Kershaw ten years ago, and whoever can somehow find a C and I singles got a chance to win the game.
It's gonna be pretty remarkable. Best player on the field tonight will be.
When Notre Dame's on offense. The best player on the field tonight could actually be two players on either side, depending on their health. Abdul Carter, in all likelihood will play for Penn State the defensive end. Pass rusher Kuiper's got him as the number two overall player behind Travis Hunter. Super dynamic player. I mean, but they move him around too. I mean, that's what's fun. I think he's not one of those guys, that's just stationary end of the line
of scrimmage player. Like he can be over the center, he can be over the guard, he can blitz off the second level. Like he's a very versatile piece. He can move around. He is at less than one hundred percent because of a shoulder injury that he has suffered against Boise State. Played just seventeen snaps in that game, so we'll be monitoring his availability as a game time decision. Then on the other side of Jeremiah Love, who has a right knee injury, the running back for Notre Dame,
he hasn't really been all that effective. He hurt his knee against USC in the final week of the regular season and has like thirteen touches in the two playoff games since. The problem is that one of those thirteen touches is a ninety eight yard touchdown run, So he's still got great top end speed. But those are the two players that I think are probably the most captivating television for tonight's game.
Handicapped tomorrow night's game, Ohio State Texas. Everybody's on Ohio State, aren't they. Yeah, you know, it's I feel like you're getting Texas on sale. From a handicapping perspective, Texas on the heels of a two overtime win as a double digit favorite, two touchdown favorite against Arizona State, Texas Scott flaws when yours is flawed. Are you going to buy it? It sounds like you would buy Texas a home game, it feels well.
Is Ohio State ever on the road? I guess the other question that I've starting to realize when it comes to neutral sites, man, Ohio State is going to be there, and they're going to be allowed, and they're going to make their presence felt. I do think, though, that Texas is a really They're a team that can absolutely match up. Again, I think they match up really well. I'm not saying they'll win the game. I actually think Ohio State will
win the game. But if you're gonna tell me I can get nearly seven, if I get six, six and a half, five and a half, I kind of lean Longhorns. I look at where they're built in their strength. They're very similar to Michigan with what they have along the defensive front. And while I think Oregon is a good football team, I don't think Oregon is as equipped. I
know they beat Ohio State earlier in the season. I also acknowledged though that that version of Ohio State very different than the Ohio State that they saw just this last weekend that the Rose Bowl. Ohio State at that time in that game lost their left tackle Will Howard was not yet as comfortable as he is right now. Their receiver Jeremiah Smith in that game was a good player, but not a take over the game as the best player in college football type of player at that point.
So Ohio State's very different. So they beat Oregon badly because Oregon took the same plan that they used the first time around, and they don't match up as well. Texas will kind of keep things in front and their defensive line can win the game. That's Texas's strength, and that's where Ohio State lost the game against Michigan. So I do think that Texas matches up better than anyone else up to this point in the postseason against Ohio State.
Greg McElroy, ESPN college football analyst. He'll be on the call. It's on ABC and ESPN. Sean McDonough will be there, Molly McGrath, Katie George and that starts at seven thirty Eastern. Also part of Omaha Production's Always College Football podcast, co host of Mac and Cube in the Morning on WJOX in Birmingham. How often do coaches get out coached?
Oh?
A lot?
Because I'll go back to what what Notre Dame did against Kirby Smart, what Marcus Freeman did when they swapped out and then they were gonna punt they were not then you get you know, offsite. I mean, that's that's one moment. But to me, that helped change the game. So I don't know, like you played for Nick Saban, but the number of times, like Bill Belichick, how many times will he out coach somebody in the college in college games?
You know what's funny is it? And I know that this is like the most obvious coach speak thing ever, so apologize in advance. But more games are lost than one, you know what I'm saying. Like, we'll go back to the game and the Sugar Bowl with Notre Dame against Georgia. Two moments stand out in the game. Okay, one was at the end of the half. They have a backup quarterback in the game. Notre Dame is thinking, hey, they're going to run the ball, take it to half. The
game's going to be six ' three. Notre Dame's got a slight lead, but for the most part, you know, it's a low scoring game and it's lacked a lot of offense. Well, they put their run defense personnel in the game. Rj Oben is a guy that had that moment, had zero sacks on the season. Well, what does he do. He goes right around the left tackle, stripsack, fumble recovery Notre Dame on the next offensive snap, touchdown. Now it's a game that is feels like it's blown open at
thirteen to three. That was one moment in the game, and that was Kirby being probably a little bit too aggressive there at the end of half Hindsight's twenty twenty, Like, do you really expect your left tackle to get killed by a run stopping defensive end. Probably not all right,
So that was one moment. The other moment was, like you referenced late in the game, Marcus Freeman ops to run his punt team on on fourth and one, and then all of a sudden, run his punt team off put his offense on, which allows Kirby's team and defense to substitute. But they're thinking about getting lined up. The last thing they're thinking about in that scenario is the snap count. It was chaotic on the sideline, it was
chaotic near the line of scrimmage. Their best player, a guy in Jalen Walker who's going to be a three or four time All Pro in his career, lean's just ever so slightly the neutral zone, free play first down. Next thing, you know, nine plays later, in six minutes
off the clock, they've stolen a possession. So I think great coaches know how to just tweak and create that slight edge to steal a possession, whether it's a timely on sidekick, a fake punt, a surprise on sidekick, the you know thing, going for it on fourth down, maybe backed up and getting it somehow, great coaches know at that perfect time when to pull that card and play it. Marcus did it once and Kirby made a mistake at the end of half, and that's why the game ended up the way it ended up.
How often have you had to or did you have to consciously say to Greg McElroy, former Alabama quarterback, don't be sec friend friendly because you're gonna get criticized no matter what, because we're going to read into what you say and how you say it. But I'm asking you understanding that have you had to remind yourself be as fair as possible, even though subconsciously it might still be in your DNA.
I don't even know, And I think it's a great question. I think it's all from a matter of perspective. Like if you want to know who I am biased towards, it's great teams, you know what I mean, Like like I kind of just follow.
I like to watch the.
Teams that executed a really high level, like I really really and I've all and whether it was Michigan last year or whether it was TCU two years ago or whatever the teams it may be. I've always loved Utah like I just love how they you know, never maybe as far as getting off the bus, maybe not the best team, but even dating back to when urban Meyer was there in the early two thousands, it's long been a team I've just had a tremendous amount of admiration for.
So I've kind of found myself navigating towards the teams that play really high level football. As far as the SEC stuff, I do have more familiarity with the league. Let's be real, I called five Georgia games. This year, I called four Kentucky games. You know, I called four Ole Miss games. I called a couple of the Tennessee games a couple of Bama games. Like you just have maybe a deeper understanding of the depths of the roster.
But there there's never really a point. If you do your work professionally, I could care less what patch they have on their jersey. I simply see numbers, names, coaches, records, statistics, and tendencies. What conference they align with is not one that I usually pay a lot of attention to. And I know people ask me all the time, how do you call Bama games and not get not allow your
fandom to come out? Pretty easily because when I was in school, I was probably harder on Alabama as a player, and I could ever be in this line of work. So I think if you look at it through a not a critiquing lens, but a lens in which you're trying to offer constructive criticism and point out observations, then the conference affiliation should have no impact on how you call the game.
But college football is about brands. You know, everybody was screaming for Alabama to be in the playoffs, and I go, no, they don't deserve to be in the playoffs.
I think it's about brands to an extent. I do think there's there is this perception that you know this, you know, the big brands are going to get preferential treatment. I don't know if that, but.
They do bring eyeballs. They do bring like Notre Dame brings eyeballs. Absolutely, people are going to watch absolutely, absolutely, And I think because of Alabama, they're like, well, god, do we want Boise State or Arizona State in there? We want Alabama in there. And we saw Alabama against Michigan in the bowl game. You know, they just weren't a great team a good team this year. And I
think that's a problem for college football. We get top heavy with Georgia, Ohio State, Clemson used to be in there. It's like the same six or seven schools every year that we get programmed to think, oh, those are the best teams in the country. Arizona State was awesome. I mean that was so much fun. And Boise State did what Boise State was supposed to do. Indiana did what
they were supposed to do. Now do I think Indiana was deserved to be in there, No from a talent perspective, or who they played, but they played who's on their schedule. So I until we come up with a better format with this greg or scenarios that make it fairer, you know, I don't want us to fall back on well, I don't know, just put Alabama in, put Clemson. Yeah, I don't like that.
I worry about when in doubt, what in doubt? Give the teams with more stars, meaning like star ratings, their recruiting ratings, like GEN and DOW, give them the benefit of the doubt. I don't think that's the proper way to go about it, because while would Alabama potentially have been more competitive in a playoff setting, I have no idea, you know, And that's why I can't sit here and pound the drum.
Oh.
Clearly we need to reevaluate, you know, how we're seating teams or how we're putting teams in and who should get in and who should Now, I think there are things we can do to adjust our criteria by incentivizing improved and strengthened non conference schedules. I would like to see that because that benefits all of us if we see stronger non conference games. That's going to only create more intrigue and maybe add a little more context to the conference supremacy argument. I'd like to see it. We
see it in basketball. If you play a murderer's row schedule in the non conference, than your likelihood of having a high RPI come tournament times really high. And if you're nineteen and fifteen from Syracuse, doesn't really matter because you make the tournament. Next thing, you know, in a play in game, you're eleven seed, you're playing the final four. So we've seen it in the past. I mean, it's definitely, it's definitely possible. I'd like to see stronger non conference
because right now in beloaded conferences you can't. Not all SEC schedules are created equal, not all Big ten schedules are created equal. So I think non conference play is where we need to focus. And if we can incentivize teams that go out of their conference and play top tier competition, that should be rewarded, regardless of the outcome in some cases how they get blown out. No, absolutely, not, like that's a data point that needs to be considered.
But it also if it's close, and if it was on the road and you tried to go play a top tier team and lost. That should be rewarded as opposed to playing an FCS team and winning by thirty five.
You know what I'm saying, man, I think it should come down to Vegas should be relied on to rank the teams, your top twelve teams. It should be Vegas. Vegas has no opinion, no bias. They're they are looking at what is the best matchups, and I think Vegas would make more sense. I don't want these automatic berths. I don't want any of that. It should be here's the twelve best teams.
I saw you cringing yes to an extent, yes, because if we did that, then USC from a power rating standpoint at the season's end at seven and five, is in the mix.
If we went strictly off Vegas. Now, Vegas plays a little bit on psychology too, I mean, why do you think now power ratings are a factor, But there's also you know which team is playing better at the moment, Which team is going to garner more public interest? Which team is If I set the line maybe a shade the line, maybe a point point and a half higher, is that going to generate more buzz and to create balance on either side of the line. I just think
Vegas Vegas has different incentives. While I understand and appreciate the thought process of that, then at that point, why do we play the game. Let's just have a sixty four team tournament and let's just let's just see how things go. That'll be a freak and let's go. I like, I like, I don't think it's broken. The one thing I would adjust is I think that Big ten and SEC conference champions should be rewarded with a home playoff game.
And however we figure out the bull system after the fact, I think we'll probably get rid of buyas because it's proven, at least in this tournament that the buy does not benefit you. And how can we get the conference champions to get home games? That needs to be examined as well.
Right, have fun to night, Okay, I appreciate it all right, And be nice to both sides, okay always Okay. Greg McElroy