You are listening to the Dan Patrick Show on Fox Sports Radio.
We did it. We made it to a Friday. It's our one. It's a meat Friday, but it's a little seafood Friday as well. Oysters from Doug in North Carolina, the Carolina Gold Oysters, reverse seared ribbies, crabcakes, bacon wrapped scallops. Has it better than we do?
No body?
Wow. I know morale is high, so is the grocery bill that I'm paying for. But thank you to Doug in North Carolina. He sent three hundred oysters yesterday, so the Carolina Gold oysters. Todd. I said to Toddy, have you ever had an oyster? He goes, yeah, yeah, don't they have like a pearl in him? And I go, no, no, not the ones you're going to be eating. You've I don't think you've ever. I think you've had stuffed clams.
Yes, I think I've a under types of stupred.
For some reason, I thought it was that little pearl thing, one of those little white circles counts as a royal oyster.
But I guess I don't even know what a royal oyster is.
Then I don't think that would be good to eat.
Probably not, it would be dangerous, okay, but I'm up for trying it out.
And so's all that. Well, they're raw, just to let you know. These aren't cooked.
But there's the scallops and there's the ribby, and there's all kinds of other stuff going on.
Too with them. Yes, yes, grabcakes? All right, all right? Eight seven seven three DP show. If you'd like to dial us up, Operator Tyler sitting by to take your phone calls. Chris Fowler will be on the call tonight. It's Texas and Ohio State. We will talk to the Arizona head football coach, Kenny Dillingham a little later on. Also Bill Cower will join us. It'll be the Steeler head coach, CBS Sports Hall of Famer a little bit later on as well. The most must win game of
the weekend, we'll have that for you coming up. But Notre Dame comes back to beat Penn State twenty seven to twenty four. And it was such a weird game when you think about it, the back and forth with this Penn State scores the first ten Notre Dame, the next seventeen, Penn State, the next four team and then Notre Dame scores the final ten points. There's a lot of different directions to go in. I think if you're a Penn State fan, you've been down this road before,
certainly with your head coach. James Franklin doesn't do well in games against top ten opponents. In fact, he's three and eleven facing a top ten team when his team was also ranked in the top ten. That's the worst record by any active coach with at least ten such games. But give credit to Marcus Freeman Notre Dame. At one point I text the dan Nets and I said, I don't know if they're going to win, but Penn State's a better team than Notre Dame. They had more explosive
players have due Carter is awesome. I watched him against USC. I've watched him twice. Like a true game. Now, you can watch highlights and you can make somebody really good or really bad in a highlight. But he is a disruptor and he wasn't one hundred percent. And we kept thinking, Okay, they got a running attack, that offensive line was great, and I was just waiting for Drew Aller to be who I guess we thought he was. That he was not going to make mistakes, spat it around. The wide
receivers for Penn State didn't have a reception. That's really really hard to do. But Notre Dame hung in there. You know, when Riley Leonard got knocked down, I thought he had a concussion. And then you have the backup quarterback who comes in and leads them down to a field goal, going six per seven in that drive, and I thought that's more than three points because I didn't know if Riley Leonard was going to be able to
come back. It in play. The backup quarterback who's been there for I don't know, two or three years, waiting his turn while they bring in all these transfers and they get a field goal, and it just felt like it was ten to three, but it felt like it was ten to ten. Penn State looked like they should have been up by thirteen, fourteen points. I thought they were that good, but they just didn't make a big
play when they needed to. And then you had the interception late in the game that led to the game winning field goal. Here's Marcus Freeman on his team last night.
In the second half, he made some Jeremiah Love plays, and you know when it speaks volumes to the heart he has. He gave everything he had to this place. He did not have to play today, and you know nobody would have bet it an I, but he put team in front of himself and how he felt. And we got a whole bunch of guys like that in the locker room, and that's why we're in this position.
Here is the call Notre Dame Radio Network with the game winning field goal by Mitch Jeter. Goot snap good hold, kick on its way and.
The kick is good.
It's Jeter who's seventh second.
Left gives the.
Irish hold twenty seven twenty four Notre Dame.
He's on the precipice. Yes, and they've also done maybe the impossible. They're kind of likable. Whether you know I grew up a Notre Dame fan, but if you're not a Notre Dame fan, like I don't think you go, well, I hate Marcus Freeman Like Marcus Freeman's a guy I'd want to play for. And you can get that. Remember when he got the head coaching job, when Brian Kelly left, and all of a sudden he walks into the room, into the locker room, and his players erupted like it
was such a cool moment. Now, granted, you know some of those players aren't there anymore, but that feeling is still there. And then they made the right place when they needed to. And you know, right before Drew Alert throws that interception, Greg McElroy said, hey, you know he takes care of the football until he didn't. Here is the quarterback for Penn State on that turnover.
Yeah, I mean I was going through my progression, got to the backside, and honestly, I was just trying to dirt it at his feet. But just I should have just thrown it a way when I felt the first two progressions not open, just because of the situation we were in. But I was just trying to dirt it out Amari's feet. So but just did to execute what I.
Was trying to do, and he was hit when he threw it. And it's one of those plays that you still have two timeouts left, little less than a minute to go, and you know the fact that you have two timeouts and you have a little bit of time on the clock, that's why you're not going to play for overtime. You're not going to you know, you're trying to do something and I think that they got a little too aggressive there instead of throwing the ball away obviously,
but for Notre Dame. Now they wait for the winner of tonight's game with Ohio State and Texas. By the way, Ohio State is the favor to win the national title. Bennett's Notre Dame and Texas. Ohio State is a six
point favorite coming up tonight, Pole question Today's Seaton. By the way, good morning if you're watching on Peacock our a streaming partner, download the app if you haven't done so, if you'd like to watch the show, and we say good morning to iHeartRadio, Fox Sports Radio in our four hundred cities around America, our riding Seaton.
That's Friday Dan. You know what that means. That means well, Friday Fetter. Then we do nobody the to dub has okay.
By the way, the first Hour brought to you by tire rack dot com, the official tire expert of the DP show, The Tire Decision Guide, full lineup of Toyo tires, special offers, free road hazard protection, mobile tire installation is available tire rack dot com. The Way tire buying should be all right, Toddler DP. Let's see. Yeah, Todd's got a few of them here.
I don't know if he can call them up right away, but he has one here that was interesting. Would you rather be today, James Franklin or Brian Kelly?
Wow?
Wow, Wow, voters take your place.
Dang, where did that come from?
I don't know.
One's working on an accent, one's gonna, you know, playing for a national title.
Uh well, no, he's not playing for a national type. Well, a lot of.
People were pointing out, let's say that Brian Kelly left Notre Dame because he wanted to go to a place where he could win a national title. That is true, and thus far, well, he struggled to be anywhere close to that. I would rather be Brian Kelly today. I would rather be Brian Kelly because once again this this stays with James Franklin.
He can't win. He doesn't win now, is it all on him? No? But you know it still comes back to you. It's on your one loss record. It's not on Drew Awler's one lost record as much as it is James Franklin. And it's not a coincidence. He just doesn't win when his team is ranked in the top ten. He doesn't beat top ten opponents. Yeah.
So when you have like this, that's like, you know, wide receivers had like zero touches, zero yards, zero touchdowns. Yeah, you put that more on the head coach for not finding a way to get his receivers of the ball. Then you do the quarterback who has to get it there? Well, I would say both yeah, yeah, I would say obviously shared responsibility, but.
I'd put it on the offensive coordinator. Yeah, and James Franklin, Like, you want to put your players in a position to succeed, and so that's why you have coaches. They need to be coached to be put in positions to succeed. It's really hard to not have a reception if you your Penn State wide receivers and nobody has a reception. And I still watching that first half, I kept thinking, boy, they better score points and you got a great tight end. It just felt like all else fails go to Warren.
They had a running game, you had two running backs, offensive line, you had a defensive player might have been the best player on the field. Like it was all there. It matched up for you. I mean, Riley Leonard played well in the second half through for one hundred and sixty yards, but you're still watching, and I just thought Penn State should be dominating, like physically dominating this game. And then it's it's almost like Notre Dame got that
confidence boost. Then Ridley Leonard comes back and they kind of it's almost like when you face Mike Tyson, not that Penn State is Mike Tyson, but you have to survive the first two rounds and then once you do, then you gain confidence. And it's like Notre Dame was getting hit and then they're like, all right, we're hanging in here, hanging in here, and then all of a sudden, they didn't get knocked down, they didn't get knocked out, and I think that's a testament to them, and they
made some big plays when they needed to. Would anybody want to be James Franklin over Brian Kelly today?
Yes, Paul today. It's painful, but you're close. You're not off the map right now. LSU with all that talent, not being in the playoff picture is more embarrassing. Okay, By the way, people in college football like the James Franklin nickname small game James wow.
D Okay, set a big game James. Okay, dang, Yes, Ton.
I would agree with Pauli that you got it to the final four.
I know you didn't get over the hump just yet, but you're extremely relevant and something to build on, and.
They were one of the last four teams. So I'd rather be James.
Frank Okay, Seaton, right, I think you want to be playing at the bare minimum even if you're even if you are, say, small game, James, you at least got to the big game.
To not be able to you know, you lost it, But yeah, I guess I don't want that reputation if I can't win a big game and it's there, and we thought that going into I just thought, you know what, somehow Someway Notre Dame wins this game, even though I thought Penn State was far and away the better team, certainly in that first half. Yes, Marvin, Then what's Brian Kelly's reputation? Maybe the guy who left Notre Dame to try to win titles and then Notre Dame won a national title?
Forgive me Brian. Wait wait, wait, no, that's not nice because he hadn't even won all of his games.
You no, yes, it's still early, but Marcus Freeman did the impossible. He made Notre Dame likable at least. Maybe I'm overstating this, but I just get the feeling that people watch Notre Dame and they're like, okay, all right, you know kind of spunky here.
Yes, yes, Brian Kelly got to the National Championship game, and Notre Dame's still hasn't gotten the stink off of them yet.
From that game.
They got destroyed us. They got absolutely destroyed by Alabama. That was his one moment of let's see what happens when you get the big game.
He at least got to the big game.
Notre Dame still isn't taken seriously as a football program because of that one game.
And I'm a Notre Dame fan, and that one game was so bad. That's when you realized that there was a difference between the SEC and everybody else, or you were reminded that there's a big difference because you watched. When you watch Notre Dame, it's like and I always thought maybe their cleats are heavier than everybody, and like they always seemed slower when they were facing Alabama because Alabama came in. It's like uh, you guys are supposed to be good. They blew them out. It's a different
Notre Dame team. You know, it's not a finesse team. You know, they had to kind of sec that lineup a little bit.
Yes, Marvin, wait, hold on, Notre Dame got molly wopped by Clemson also in the final four. That maybe the Cotton Bowl. Okay, they got Look it's probably thirty three to three.
Yeah, but that was a while ago, two eighteen. That's that's an internity.
It's definitely way more recent than the example I gave. Correct was twenty thirteen, So correct.
I think I'd still rather be Brian Kelly than I would James Franklin today. But that's a great poll question. You know, I'll ask Chris Fowler that dh and he just canceled. Yeah. Yeah, we normally don't have you know, sometimes you get people say, hey, uh, you know, he'll do the interview, but not Chris. But you know we'll have gas Lit said, but you can't ask about and normally it's the question I wasn't going to ask that they bring up to me that I go, oh, maybe I should ask that question.
Yeah, Paulie, I'm not going to give names, but a major music artist was coming in studio, and the last thing we heard from the pub is a was don't ask about what happened in Vegas last week. We had no idea until we looked it up and we're like, okay.
Oh dang, yeah, I'm like, I want to ask that. So anything interesting what goes on in Vegas? Stas he was thinking was in Vegas? It was really a lot of fun. Ever been there?
Yes, that's actually happened a number of times.
Don't ask him what the cops founded his trunk. He doesn't want to get it.
Talk about, okay, what they found in his trunk. Yeah. I remember right before we were gonna have Barry Bonds on and we were told this is they're going to hand him the phone, and he was on and he was I think he was promoting a new personality. And maybe it was KFC or maybe it was his home
security uh company. I don't know what it was. But they're like, all right, Barry's joining us from spring training, and hey, before if we're not talking about stairs there any of that stuff, and you know, blah blah blah bah, here's bar I go wait on, hold on here I have to I have to do and I can't have bonds on and then go, hey, so what do you attribute your growth to? Now thirty seconds, you're gonna give me ground rules. I'm like, no, tell Dan no baseball questions. It's cream clear.
People going to jail for him. We we're not getting to.
It all right, We're just getting started here. Chris Fowler will join us. He'll be on the call tonight for Texas and Ohio state.
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 Cavino 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, the most interactive show on Fox Sports Radio, maybe the most interactive show on planetar.
Be sure to check out Cavino 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 Covin on Rich wherever you get your podcasts, and of course on social media that's Covino and Rich.
Chris Fowler, he'll be on the call. It's the Cotton Bowl coming up tonight, Texas, Ohio State Herbie will be there, Holly row Laura Rutledge festivities on the mother Ship starting at seven point thirty Eastern. He'll also be on the call for the National Title game. Here's your question, Chris. Oh, by the way, it's a good thing they're not playing the game outdoors. Look outside there in Dallas, wintrey.
We had like a nice wintry mix. It was snow that became hail, sleep, rain, yesterday. It's wild. I mean, yeah, it gets frigid also, like very cold and windy. The at and T is right behind me here out that window. It's hard to see, but it's got so in the top of it, and it's nice and warm even in cold weather. Some stadiums are cold when it's cold outside because they don't have heat in them, and this one is nice and toasty, So good setting.
All right, here's the question I'll start the conversation with, would you rather be James Franklin this morning or Brian Kelly.
Oh Man, I got to pick.
Yeah.
I mean, I think James Franklin's team. It was a it was a good run. I mean, it's a heartbreaking way to lose the game. Some of those plays that decide it will haunt probably him and his team for a while. But I think there's a lot to be proud of what Penn State did and Battle of the End, and I don't think they have anything to really be embarrassed about it at Penn State. If you're James Franklin,
certainly you know, I think You've answered some questions. Some remain, But I think it was a really good year of Penn State.
But When we talk about James Franklin, it's about his record against top ten teams. I mean, that's really what his resume seems to be about. Is that fabite?
Well, it's whatever the media decides it's about. I mean, that's part of it. You are, when you're a program at Penn State, you were expected to compete with and beat the best your share of the time. Most of those losses are to Ohio State, you know, And I was wondering if that was going to be the narrative
at Penn State. One last night, Ohio State wins tonight, another rematch in an all Big ten game and in a series that obviously Ohio States dominated, and I called the last time Penn State beat them was a block field goal run back by Grand Haley on a whiteout night. It's been since then. So we're not going to get that narrative. And I think that's okay because I don't know how much national belief there would be the Penn State could get over the hump against the red hot
Buckeye seen if that's what happened. So we don't have that narrative, but I you know, again, yeah, he's gonna have to get better they get the beat Ohio State once in a while, but I don't. I don't think that's sorely laughing. I gotta be honesty. I just don't you know, you want to look at Ohio State against
SEC teams who are ranked in the top five. I spin this back because Buckeye fans know that James Franklin's stats is okay, Well, if that's relevant, Is it relevant that Ohio State's won seven and one all time against SEC top five teams, which Texas is No, I don't think so at all. So you can you can spin stats any way you want. I mean, would you have loved the game, won the game?
Yes?
Could they have? Should they have?
Maybe?
But I don't think that that that's on James Franklin for sure.
Do you ever have announcer envy when you're watching a game? Of course, ye, all the time.
Man.
I mean I would not have minded calling the Orange Bowl. I live in Miami. For one thing, it is not wintry in Miami. I really had expectations for that game last night that unfolded. I don't know who's going to win, but I was a Notre Dame practice this week. I saw the Irish. I a forecast the kind of game we got. It was going to be three points either way. It's going to come out of the last possession. I don't mind calling games coming out of the last possession.
I would love for this game tonight not to be a first round knockout. But listen, Dan, I mean, like, who am I to whine of at anything? This is our twenty third playoff game the Kirk and I have had the privilege to call tonight. That's a big number going back to the first one in twenty fourteen. So I don't let my envy get in the way of having a good time calling whatever I'm calling. But yeah, that's a hell of a game to call last night.
But when you're calling a game like this, I know they're supposed to be like it's just another game, but it's not just another game. But then you have to stay in your comfort zone. Do you ever have that kind of conflicting Am I adding too much or not enough? Am I excited? Am I favoring somebody or not realizing it?
Like?
Do you process any of that while you're getting ready or while you're doing it?
Yeah? You do.
I don't think I have to worry about favoring somebody, because if you honestly don't care about the outcome and separate yourself from that, then you don't have to worry about it. And it's all in the ear of a holder anyway. You know, the fans listening, you're gonna think, oh, he loves the other team, Toby, so look's listen to the call and the other side say it's the same thing. I mean, you know, you get excited when when good things happen on the field, and I don't even think
about who's in the uniform that's doing it. I think that you do a lot of these games, you want to strike the balance between certainly not being jaded because you've done a lot of big games and I don't think we ever come across as being jaded or hey and they're done that. It's going to take a lot to impress us. But you also don't want to come out of your shoes in the first quarter. You have to you know, you have to save something for the finish because you can't start the game out at eleven
and then there's nowhere to go. So yeah, I think you learn over time that you know a measured approach is good. But you know, when Ohio States scored touchdowns in the first two plays of the game and Jeremiah Smith is doing something special, you know, Okay, you're gonna get really excited about that, and you're gonna get excited when the other team starts to come back and make it a game. Well, we all want we want close games. I have the same agenda. Who do you like. I
like a close game. I like a competitive game that viewers like, the people who are not just hardcore fans of the winning team enjoy, because Ohio State fans enjoyed the hell out of those first two playoff games, so we did. If you want a competitive game like last night, not so much. So you know I want. I want this to be a battle worthy of the occasion, which last night' semifinal was.
Chris Fowler will be on the call with Herbie tonight the Goodyear Cotton Bowl. That'll be on ESPN. They started seven thirty Eastern. Feels like we're underestimating Texas a little bit and having and I don't know if it's a home field advantage Ohio State travels, well, I don't know what kind of sense you'll get of this is a home ish game for Texas.
Ryan Dave's always really concerned about the crowd. We were obviously at Tennessee. Came in and brought a lot of fans of Ohiowa. Stadium got fired up for Bluck guys. You know, it felt like the Roman Coliseum or something, and the visitors brought a lot of people, and Ohio State responded in that way. At the Rose Bowl, He's going, what do you think is it's sixty to forty is I don't know what the crowd is. There's a lot
of greed, there's a lot of scarlet. I mean tonight, there's going to be a lot of pear orange in there. I don't think it's going to decide the game, but I do think. You know, there's an advantage to playing Texas in Texas. You know, if you're the Longhorns, they haven't had great success in this building. To be honest with you, they have won up. They haven't played a Cotton Bowl game in twenty years. They played a big twelve championship game in here. But Ohio State Historic has
actually done better in this building than Texas has. It doesn't mean a lot when they're on the same field but you know, Texas, you said underestimated. It's interesting because I think we've been overestimating the potential of this team, waiting for the pieces to come together, waiting for Texas to play a complete sixty minute game in all three phases, which they have not really come close to doing it. For being honest, they played great football for like thirty minutes.
They have a terrible record after halftime in these games. You know, Sarkisian, he just has to address it. So they have to weather the start against Ohio State, as everybody does. They're a good starting team. Texas starts well. Their defense is the best in the country in the first court at limiting plays and limiting points. So a lot of say, we'll have to try to change that. But Texas Dan they haven't scored a third quarter touchdown
in like six games. They have an outscored and opponent in the second half since they beat Oklahoma in the Red River game here in Dallas. That's a long time. That's a shocking stat for a really good team. It's won thirteen games.
I go back to, you know the fact that we extended the playoffs to twelve teams when Ryan Day lost to Michigan. I wonder if there was a four team playoff, would Ryan Day have kept his job?
Yeah, I think you would have, But I think it would have been a really long, miserable off season in Columbus without the chance to redeem yourself. But we do have a twelve team playoff, so I think you have to filter it in. I know Ohio State fans. I've done some shows and they'll still never forget that game. And some people would still rather beat Michigan to win a championship, which is lunacy to me. It makes no sense. You have to change your thinking in this twelve team
bracket era. And the fact was the opportunity was there for and they they're halfway there. They got a long way to go because if they don't win tonight, then people will remember the Michigan loss because they didn't win a Big Ten, they didn't beat Michigan, and they didn't win a national championship. So they're three goals are hoped for three. There's a lot on the line for Ohio State and they responded really well to that urgency so far, so we'll see if they and keep doing it.
Handicap the format for the playoffs. Let's say next year you have total autonomy, changes do you make?
I think there's tweaks that need to be made to the regular season leading into the playoff. I think eventually the conference championship games don't really have a place in this, especially in the conference is like the Big Ten of the SEC. Both teams are going to make it every year. It's an extra layer of games. If you really care about workload, wear and tear, then you have to look
at that. I mean, these teams have been preparing for this sixteen to seventeen game season from the start, and the smart programs we're doing that the ones that had the resources and the roster to do that. Texas did it. Ohio State did it very intentionally, cranking back to tempo, not playing at piper speed, playing one hundred and fifty less plays in the regular season to save their players
for this. It's worked really well. But going forward, I think if you took the conference championship out of it, that would help a little bit. I think that you need to do away with the ad buys for the four highest ranked conference winners. I think that's a pretty popular opinion. You see Arizona State Boys the state. They didn't play badly. I just thought think that that you deserve a top four seed by winning a conference. I think you should get in the bracket. I'm all for inclusivity.
Maybe even give an extra uh, maybe make the American Conference get an automatic bit. But don't see them based on act but one through twelve play it out like they do it college basketball.
You don't.
You don't get an automatic seeding for winning in a conference.
Now, I'm going to script this for you. Texas is down by four late and Arch Manning comes in, comes off the bench. Okay, you cut away to the Manning family.
It's hard, they're hard to find.
They high.
Well, Cooper's hard to find and they will find them though.
Well you don't. We don't care about Cooper. We care about Arch and Payton and Eli and then and then whatever happens from there. They have the ball, they're down four and here comes Arch Manning savior.
Yeah, you have one of those stories that you write a movie that sounds like movie script. What you just laid out right, what it'd be more movie like? If he wins the game and the legend is born. There's a reason why you wes just playing the game though, And I think, you know, if that happens, if when yours got hurt, that would be tough. You know, he is an Ohio State recruit. We know that he spent a year there. He is the original nil quarterback at court,
he really is. He was like the curtain flood you know of free agency, right, that's an old reference. How many people get that reference? But you know he ushered in the NIL era and cashed in really well at two places. Good for him. So obviously facing his former school and that's a big plotline coming in if he gets knocked out of the game and artists to go in there. I mean, I don't like to see players fail. It's tough to watch interceptions decide games like it did last night for Dreuell.
That's tough.
You know, it'll haunt him. I don't like to see kickers choke. I don't like to see quarterbacks make mistakes that decide games. So in your storybook script, man goes down in Texas wins the game.
Yeah, now you take it from there. Okay, Uh, well, great to hear from me.
What would you hear from me?
No, I said, great to hear from you? Oh yeah, I thought I figured that. You know, you're busy. You probably got to work out today. Herbie going to spot you on the bench.
Uh, he doesn't get in the gyms much, but I don't live so much any of the spotter. I'll be all right, te bows around to spot me. Dude's working out in the gym like four times a day.
I see, yeah, oh yeah, yeah, you're not putting up the same weight.
No, we are not in the same weight class. Speaking of busy, you either love Christmas, you're really busy, or you're just too lazy to take the tree down. I know, how long is a tree?
Going to say?
There?
All the above, By the way, that I love Christmas, I don't the guy who takes down the tree his girlfriend just had a baby, so that he normally takes down the tree. So I'm gonna blame him.
Yeah.
Yeah, all else fails, I blame it on my staff. Have fun tonight, thanks for joining us as always, Chris all right, that's Chris Faller. He'll be with Herbie tonight seven point thirty in the Cotton Bowl.
Be sure to catch the live edition of The Dan Patrick Show weekdays at nine am Eastern six am Pacific, on Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio WAP.
We say good morning to the Arizona State head football coach Kenny Dillingham. Had an unbelievable season, took Texas to a couple overtimes before being bounced from the postseason. Kenny, thanks for joining us. How many times have you watched that game?
Too many? Way, way too many? Probably ten to twelve times.
But what are you trying to get out of that when you watch?
To be honest, just what tips did they have to give their players an advantage? And if we ever played them again, what could we do to give our players an advantage? I mean nothing more or less than that.
Do you watch alone?
I do?
Do you drink beers when you want? I mean, you know, can you have a little bit of fun when you're watching this coach?
Sometimes usually when you win you do that. When you lose, you try to drown in the sorrows.
But what is it that you could have done? If I say, you get one mulligan? What would you have done differently?
I would have had not called a timeout on the fourth and one in overtime. I would have let the plate eat and it would have converted, and I would have had a time out to say for the fourth and twelve when yours checked out of it out into a cover zero beater.
I thought you were going to say something about the targeting no call there.
I can't control that.
How painful is that to watch? Because I thought it was you could have picked a penalty either defenseless receiver or you could have done targeting, and they gave you neither of those. What do you see when you see that play now over and over?
I think I see the same thing that everybody sees. Uh, that's just it is what it is. Though that's sport. There's miss calls, there's calls all there's probably five of their calls in the game that nobody talks about that
probably could have gone against us. So I don't like to use those moments as excuses, even though they're the big moments and they're what everybody should talk about, because people only talk about the big plays, the big moments, the big no calls, the big mate calls, whatever it is. But there's a lot of things I could have done better to help our football team.
If Ryan Day reached out to you today and said, hey, got any tips for me facing Texas? What would you tell him.
Yeah, it's on They're they're very physical on the perimeter there. They're really good tacklers, and I think that's a great skill. I think it's one thing you see on tape, but like when you see it live, the size and the tackling ability, it's different. Then I would say you have to have an ability to check when Quen yours checks. You can't let Quen Oures check Texas and a good football plays and not change the look. So you better create a mechanism defensively to check when he checks.
Okay, explain how you then can counteract when yours is going to check and change the play. Then what is your job?
So you could have like a dual call. So basically you say we're going to run field blitz and we're going to run cover four and if the quarterback checks, then we're going to change from our field blitz call to automatically changing to cover four. So he made a check based off of field blitz and he wants the perfect play versus that we're now going to a complimentary call.
So having a way, just like offenses have a way to when you hear kill kill and the quarterbacks say that he's changing calls based off the look, same thing for a defense.
But the fourth and thirteen touch down? Did he check out of something he did?
He checked out of a call in which we felt really good about what we were doing into a call later on the clock, and you know he didn't unbelievable check and then they executed really well.
What did you think of the Notre Dame Penn State game?
Unbelievable game. I think Marcus Freeman's an absolute stud of a human being. I've been going versus him since I was at Florida State when he was the defensive coordinator and he was a phenomenal coach then, and I think the way he leads people, I think you can see his guys play really hard.
Do you have a clock management guy like Marcus Freeman has a guy right next to him? Do you have a guy whose only job is to give you clock management?
I did. It was Matt Butterfield. He just took the full time special teams coordinator job though elsewhere, so I'm hiring. So if you ever want to hang it out clock management guy, let me know.
I like the colors and I like the climate. I just don't know what it pays not what you mean. I'll he's the Arizona State head coach Ken Dillingham joining us on the program. I'm going to ask Bill Kauer about this. We see this with Dan Campbell other coaches. They create a culture. It feels like you're creating a culture, But I don't know how you go about creating that culture.
Yeah, I think for us, we pick our players, right, we recruit our players. So for us, it's recruiting guys that are like minded. You know, our three pillars of our program are be a good person. It's very simple to be a good person, make good decisions. It's very simple to make good decisions, and then have more fun, working harder than anybody in the country. So what is
our culture? We better recruit to people that when they walk around the building, they have a smile on their face, they're excited to be here, they crack a joke, you know there they have personality, Because I really think when you get people around you that have personality, you wake up and you may have a down day and that person is going to lift you higher than you would have been. And that's culture we're trying to create.
First time you see Cam skataboo. You your response is your reaction is what.
Man had all those yards? You know he's an underdog. There's a reason for him. And but what he's done to change his body and to change who he is just as a physical specimen, he's the strongest he's ever been, least body bet he's ever had, fastest has ever been. Mindset's better than it's ever been. He went from a really really good football player to somebody who was top five in the Heisman vote, and I think he should have been higher.
But so that confidence of just kind of loading him up and just say go like he's gonna he knows he's going to get We talked to him after the loss and he said, look, I know I'm gonna get hurt. I know it's going to hurt, but I'm going to hurt you as well. Like that kind of physicality. And he said, Marshawn Lynch is sort of you know, one of his idols or who he runs like.
Yeah, I think Scott just as that mindset he gets into. He's the nicest kid off the field, super intelligent. People think his play style, oh he's crazy. Scott is incredibly intelligent, high high IQ and for him to flip a switch into this like no way anybody can stop me mode? And does that mean he's always not going to be stopped. No, Nobody in the history of sports ever been invincible. But it means he believes it so much that he's going to make plays that people are like, what just happened.
And every day for the last seven hundred days or whatever, seven hundred and eighty days I've coached him, he has done something at practice or in a game that I'm like, what just happened? That is incredible.
How often do you go to an opposing team stadium and people question if you really are the head coach at Arizona State?
Oh, the way easier question? How often do I does that not happen?
I mean, I look.
Twelve, so it's you know, when I walk around, it's just part of it.
You know.
I've been young my whole life, though I started coach at seventeen, so I'm very used to the fact. I mean I get stopped trying to walk into the field before before the peach ball. They're like, you need credentials, go back and get them, And I do it. You know, at the end of the day, I'm people are doing their jobs, so people don't really recognize me. I appreciate it, hopefully I look young. When I'm older, you know what I mean, and people will be jealous. But right now it's just part of it.
What do you expect to happen tonight between Texas and Ohio State?
I haven't watched enough Ohio State to give like a really really good opinion. I know Texas is going to be really good on defense. I know they're not going to give up big plays, So I think the key to Ohio State, I can you think the key to the game is how do you stop Ohio State and one of the best wide receivers in college football in a long time. And you can't just double team them because Ohio State's too good.
To do that.
So what are you doing to get the quarterback to think he's double teamed, move his eyes off of him, but him really be singled up? And I think that's one of the hidden things in the game, is the deception of him being doubled. Can you do that enough to single him up and get your hats elsewhere? For Texas? And if they can, you know, I think they're both really good football teams.
By the way, when we had cam on he said he checked out of that that halfback option that I think he said, your quarterback said he was banged up, don't throw me the football, and so he changed the play. Did you know that?
Yeah?
I did.
I saw it live and in person, baby, and on fourth than too in the fourth quarter, So that was exciting.
But he's the.
Same dude that punted for us last year and checked out of a punt versus USC and did this and signaled a wide out to run a slam and threw it to him for a first down. Same dude that caught a toss, scrambled backward ninety seven yards, realized he was going to lose yards and threw the ball away. His football IQ and his savviness is unbelievable for his style of play.
You strike me as a pregame speech guy.
Really, yeah, I actually don't give pregame speeches. Our players give pregame speeches. This is a player run program. Our players give the pregame. Our players make the decisions. I am literally a surrogate between the leadership council and the players, and my job is to help the leadership council make the best decisions for the football team. But I do not run the show here. Our players run the show. I just helped them get to the best decisions.
In my opinion, Well, like, is there a cut off point of what they are allowed to do? And say like do they have total autonomy here?
I mean, if they're going to do something that is bad, I'm going to say no, we're not doing that, you know. But if I say, do you guys think we should do.
This or this?
And I give them options and they vote, I'm doing what they vote for. If they say, hey, we need a Monday off, we're tired, and I say, you guys know what the repercussions of this are, right, means Tuesday has to be this. I you guys have to elevate Tuesday to another level and they say yes, I'm like, okay, Monday's off.
I firmly believe.
In extreme ownership, especially in today's day and age, and to get a team buy in, you need team commitment, team ownership, and I think that was one thing our leadership council, the decisions they made, and they could push the team to further, my opinion, further than we thought we could go. Or people thought we could go because there was such buy in, because it was team decisions, not a head coach saying we're going to go out
in practice for two hours and thirty minutes today. In November, it was the leadership council saying, Hey, we talked to coach. This is why we need to practice for two hours and thirty minutes today.
Wait, when how did you learn this?
I just believe in trusting people. I mean I leave I mean I shouldn't say this, but I leave my car unlocked, like my wife hates it. I just believe in people. I truly believe that if you try to, if you give people the keys, if you truly empower people, and if you get the right people around you and you trust them and you believe in them right and you empower them, they're gonna be better versus than themselves.
And that empowerment is going to take you as a unit higher than you could ever go by me saying run one hundred yards.
Okay, if your car is gone by the end of the day, do not blame me.
I'm gonna lock it now. I'm going to have to change my entire theory on not locking my car now because I just exposed that.
Congratulations on all this success. We appreciate you.
I appreciate it.
Thank you. Coach coach Kenny Dillingham Arizona State second season and they were three and nine first season, eleven to three in season two. I could buy into that. Did we just get a new favorite coach? I feel like we might have. He's there, let's go. I thought that was great.
Be sure to catch the live edition of The Dan Patrick Show weekdays at nine am Eastern six am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio w APP.
Hall of Fame head coach Bill cower So part of NFL Today on CBS Studio. And look who showed up early, I coach.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I found Waldough.
Yeah. I told you I was going to put it. Put it up there and we made room there you go.
I appreciate that, I said, stage right, it's good.
Does it look like you are you? Did you have to approve?
I have I have multiple bobbleheads. I had one with a gold jacket on, another one with a headset. I think this one with a headset. I had to get the one that's just the coach. You just Hall of fame, doesn't it doesn't deserve to be on that desk. I'm a regular guy, like the policeman, like everybody else. I'm not just the old football coach right next to the San Antonio traffic Polease, guy.
Are you did you grow up hating Penn State?
Go out when I didn't offer me a scholarship? So but my brother went there?
Okay, yeah, Because I'm watching the game last night, I'm like, I think your dad was at Duquane, like you feel like you were a pit guy.
Oh. I was on a recruiting trip up there, and they never offered me a scholarship. And ironically enough, my freshman year at NC State, I played as a freshman against them, and before the game, I pulled out the leather that says they didn't think I was big enough to play college Division one football. I said, well, we'll find out today, won't we.
Did you model your game after anybody?
No?
You know I grew up. I grew up watching Jack Lambert. I mean this. I loved him. I didn't do it, but I loved Hacksaw Reynolds w And he used to chop his steet in place before the ball was snapped. Just guys, I mean this people had their own personalities, right, and that's I just I like Jack was my guy, Dick Buckus was my guy, and Ray NITCHKEI were my guys. Those were the three guys I looked at.
We talk about the Lions and Dan Campbell and creating culture and it's a weird word. When you create culture? Do you know how to create culture?
You know? I think culture is something that is manifested. I think it takes time. It's creating a building where you'd like to think that you walk in there. There's a selflessness about it. There's also a sense of purpose about it. There's a trust that exists, and you're able to kind of give ownership to the players to oversee the locker room. And I think that's when you know
you've gotten to that level. But the culture is about being real, being transparent, about holding people accountable, and you're in there for one purpose. When you walk in, their leader, you go at the door and we're we're all in this thing together.
When did the hatred for the Ravens start? Or well both ways here?
Yeah, I mean I when they moved from Cleveland to Baltimore, I just called them the Browns. I mean they can call themselves the Ravens, but I call them the Browns and are the same team that we're up the turnpike. We're just gonna go We're going to go east instead of going north. But there's still the same team we
don't like. There's still the same thing we take very personal with and so and then it probably happened right around that two thousand era when ray Lewis came in and start doing the dance they had to and then we were going back and forth with the division at that time, and I think that's the real robberies are kind of bridgs, you know what, Dan, It's like when you have when you are both fighting for that division and you find yourselves on top. And then we were
both kind of identically built. It was about kind of a run the football, play defense, I pose yourself on the other team, and we have kind of all to We took pride in that physicality part of the game, and I think the early two thousands that was absolutely identified and that's what the game was all about.
You don't strike me as a coach who would allow as players to be dancing like ray Lewis did to open up a game.
Well, we didn't dance, but we talked a lot. I think we had a lot of guys that'd like to get the last word in Joey Porter was never never was lost for words.
On the field, but you were okay with that.
Yeah, I wanted edgy players. I didn't mind having edgy players, I know. I always said, my job as a coach is for you to walk that line of being that almost arrogant, almost like supreme. I feel you're the best person on that field, and when you cross the line, my job is to pull you back. Where do you cross the line when you disrespect the game, You disrespect the opponent, or you disrespect a teammate, and that's dancing
or doing something that's in someone's face. So I said, just as long as you respect the game, that line. And sometimes I felt a guy, we're almost too safe, too cautious, didn't want to make a mistake, And I said, if if I can't, if I don't pull you back periodically, you're not walking the line close enough. So I kind of encouraged them to get to be a little bit of a swagger when he walked on that field.
Hall of Famer Bill Kauer, of course, NFL today, CBS studio analysts, did you ever come close to wanting to go after another coach? Punch a coach, not.
Punch of coach. But I think there's obviously the clip of me with Chris Hudson when he picked up the block field goal of dont Jacksonville walking down the sideline, and I kind of just was gonna do one of those. But I blamed I be dan. I blame that on the ghost of Woody Hayes. And it was actually the very same sideline, the very same part of the field where he punched Charlie Bowman from Clemson. So I think I think that was just that was the Woody Hayes
that came out of. It was the same field, same part of the fields. It's ironic if you go back and someone pulling that out to me and I said, well, that answers it. That couldn't have been me doing that. But no, I'm you know, I never know. You know, I respected the game and I love to compete. I didn't like losing, but never really took it that personally. If I took a personally, I took it upon myself that we didn't do enough to win the game.
If I gave you the Lions or the field in the NFC, who would you take?
Well, right now, I would say the Lions, and I say that for this reason. They are so battle tested right now. They are such a refresh of Dan Campbell. Everyone keeps talking about what they don't have, and he just keeps using that for fuel to fuel this team. Aaron Glenn has done a vantaity job. Ben Johnson I think is one of the best offensive coordinators in the league. And they're getting a little bit healthy right now, so they get a bye week to get healthy. You're playing
at home in Detroit. They got to win two games. I just don't know for as a team there. You saw what they did against Minnesota. They and it's probably their biggest robbery if you think about that. Tam the only team that I think that really can go in there or the Philadelphi Eagles. I think the Philadelphi Eagles has what it takes because they can run the football, they can play defense right now, and they got really good offensive line. And if you know, again, Jalen Hurt
comes back, Supt's come back this week. I think that's the one team to me that I think can battle them.
If I gave you the Chiefs of the field in the AFC.
Well, we've been picking against the Chiefs all season long. We keep waiting for the left to put the shoot to drop on that team. But you know, again, they're playing at home, they're getting healthy. I still look at Baltimore and Buffalo as two teams. Then they're gonna meet probably in the divisional round and go there. I think both those teams kind of like the Thorn, and both
of those teams has been the Kansas City Chiefs. So I think either one of those two teams are gonna have a chance to go into the Kansas City with a little bit of a chip on their shoulders. So I you know, again, it's hard to pick against them, but I think there's a little bit. There's a few more teams in the AFC I think that can challenge it Chiefs, and there are in the NFC that can challenge the Lions.
What's it like to be a head coach when you want your assistance, your offensive or defensive coordinators to be able to interview for a head coaching job. And I know this probably didn't go on when you were coaching, but now, I mean imagine you're Dan Campbell and you're probably losing both of your coordinators, but he's still there as the head coach while they're interviewing for other jobs.
Yeah, I think the first week is not a problem. I think we have the week off. I think it's not a problem with that. And I think Number one, I always looked at as a fender of my cap. You know, I had eight guys that went on to become head coaches from my staff, and I always looked at that as you know, I was proud of that. I'm very, very proud that they were able to move on from us and be able to go to the
next level. So I don't think I think it's a problem is when they're interviewing during the course of the game, they're having that week. I don't think I would allow that because to me, the attention should be on that game, because that game is also going to be a reflection on your record and on our record, and it's an opportunity. In a playoffs, it's this is not best of three, so it's single elimination. And to me, when you have the week of the game, that focus is on the
week of the game. But the bye week, I get it. I understand it because people like to move fast in our league, and I think the boy line and I said this, I told this to dan Is. I said, the one thing you have success And I learned this very early. You better have a backup plan, a backup plan to they're having. Your coordinators are going to get plucked to go to become a head coaches, which is a feather in your cap. It's nothing to look negatively about.
But now be able to maybe work with in house and be able to promote in house if you can do it. And that's the ideal that atmosphere. You talking about culture, how about a great culture where you know if you stay right there that you may have a chance to advance in your own field of employee and actually made a chance to become a head coach. So I think Key has a backup plan to both those things,
and I think most coaches do, but I always encourage them. Then, when you have success, the first thing you better do is have a backup plan for your assistant coaches.
You got a story about Rothlessburger frustrating you, Well, did he always listen to you when you called in plays?
Well, he would do one of these things like he said no, no, he was say that. He would say it's not working. I said, well, there are communications I work, and they go, I think it is. I go, well, let's check his home. He gets out and we grabbed that. Just grab his helmet. One time, we grabbed his helmet. They go, coaches working, fine, he goes. It just came back off. I don't know. That's not I go, that is not a true statement. Then I know it. I said it's not. You can't. I can't hear it. You're
calling plays. So the interesting question, now, I'm going to sit down. I always wonder about this, and I wanted to talk to Sean McDermott and I'm going to ask him. I sit down with him later on today. Matter of fact, and when Josh Allen breaks the pocket, it was almost like when Ben used to break the pocket. It was like, oh no, here we go again. It's street ball. I don't know what's going to happen. It's kind of buckle your seatbelt and it's just like, oh, oh my god,
here he goes again. Just don't be careless, don't be reckless, and big players will happen. And Troy Paula Malou. He's supposed to be playing half the field. I see him start to creep up to the line of scrimmers. They're going, is he gonna drop or not? I don't even know. Like so, I so you wonder what goes through your stomach.
But I only always say great players, Troy Paula Malou, Ben Roethlisberger, you can't harness greatness, and sometimes you want that to become an unbridled feeling that they have on that field where they can take over a game, and most of the times they do. Now, sometimes you're gonna live with the mistakes that they have and the choices that they make. But man, you want these guys on your team, and you know through the course of time that their decision making is going to be the right thing.
But you know what, in the meantime, though, you sit there, your stomach's turned. You're like a fan, like, oh boy, here we go again. I don't know it's gonna happen. Like that was a great play, Yeah, sure was. So you kind of just go do you turn into a fan watching this? Go oh, this will be interesting to see what happens here. He's running to the right, throwing it back to the left and you know, it's this okay, you know, and sometimes those are the plays that you
know that that win championion ships and win games. And sometimes it's they're not the things they make up, and it's the players that you entrust with the system that they kind of take it to another level.
Safe Travels. Thanks for the bibblehead. We appreciate it. Yes, thank you, coach.
Thanks Dan. Always pleasure to be on