THE HERD – HOUR 1 – Epic World Series | 49ers & Seahawks Make Big Moves

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It is a Wednesday. Welcome in. We are live, and it is the Herd. Wherever you may be, however you may be listening, thanks for making us part of your day. We're live in Los Angeles. Well, listen, Milwaukee's the better team. They had 12 of the 13 hardest hit balls last night, but nine went for outs. They're a really good team.

Little miscue late, but these are excellent teams. Tampa probably just too good to get swept. but Milwaukee's loaded. 17 total hits, stolen bases, home runs, lot of late inning drama. This was a great night for Major League Baseball. The pitching's excellent. Before the last inning, 11 guys out of the bullpen pitched and didn't give up a run. So I keep watching this series thinking, what do the Yankees do with all their money? They don't do almost anything well except hit home runs. Here's Connor Pratt, 12th inning, fourth hit, a wave of Milwaukee studs, hits a home run, you think it's over. And then here's Tampa putting the first five base runners on in the bottom of the inning.

And eventually, Tampa's been a great team all year, getting hits with runners in scoring position. But when I watch this series, what it really says is, is no more excuses for the Reds or the Pirates fans or the Royals fans or the Mariners or A's fan. These teams do so many things well. The Rays and the Brewers, both are top five in fewest hits allowed. Milwaukee led the entire sport in hits. Tampa was second. The Brewers were second in Team ERA. The Rays were first in WIPP.

And they're one and two batting average with runners in scoring position. So Milwaukee's the better team. They're hitting the ball in the screws all last night at people. They're going to be fine. But the bullpens are rock solid. And the Rays are probably, you know, they're probably just too good to get swept. The other thing is every at-bat is a great at-bat. I mean, I'm watching the Dodgers.

Otani was having bad at-bats. There are no bad at-bats. The average at-bat in this series is four-plus pitches. That is historically grinding. That's usually not the case. So you don't get any more excuses. It's a little like the NIL and the transfer portal in college football. UCLA football is 7-0, and Kentucky's as good as any team in the SEC. I don't want to hear about it. I don't want to hear about you're still building in year five.

UCLA is undefeated and can win road games and doesn't have a lot of NIL money. The two non-salary cap sports that we watch in America are college football and Major League Baseball. Those are the two non-salary cap sports. I've got UCLA undefeated in football, Kentucky a basketball school, excellent in football, and the Rays and the Brewers with low payrolls, right? They're good at everything. Now, Milwaukee is better than the Rays at almost everything, but they're like one and two or one and three. Team ERAs, whip, total hits, batting average with runners in scoring position. I don't want to hear about the excuses. If you've got the right people in the building and not just bloated old guys and old salaries, you can put together this.

And here's Kevin Nash on the Rays, backs against the wall, staying alive.

It's kind of a chip into the chair mentality. You know, you're sitting there.

We just want to do everything we can to get the play to the next day.

I'm really impressed with the way the guys hung in there.

That was a grind.

You know, you're going through three innings to Ashby.

Nothing's going offensively.

They kept their heads up, and we just kind of bought ourselves some time.

So I've always said I've always had a, I call it the substitute teacher syndrome. is that if you fire a football coach in the middle of a season and give the interim guy the job, players will love the interim coach. right? Because he's doing things the head coach wasn't. He's not as hard. He wants the job. He makes sure the players love him, so the players will go to ownership and management and say, hire the interim coach.

Everybody loves the substitute teacher. That's how Antonio Pierce got the Raiders job. He gave fiery speeches. Former players loved him. Then he goes 4-13, and it's his team. Nothing against Antonio Pierce, but he went linebacker coach to head coach. You see this all the time. You've got to be careful In the NFL, about firing coaches, everybody in New York wants to fire Aaron Glenn. What happens if somebody gets on his staff and they win six straight? I mean, you don't know. They have personnel. And all of a sudden, you're hiring, you've got a linebacker coach who's trying to go up against Mike Vrabel or Josh Allen. So it's very interesting to me. Yesterday, the Colts gave away two really good players. They fired... Chris Ballard, their GM. They

got very emotional. They lost to the Vikings, and he's out of here. And so now somebody in the building now is GM, and they gave away Quentin Nelson to the Seahawks. By the way, it's a no-risk trade, because if Quentin Nelson leaves Seattle and doesn't sign a contract, Seattle gets a compensatory pick. So John Snyder's laughing all the way to the bank here. He can't lose on this.

He gave him away for a third time. For a bottom of the third and a bottom of the fifth. Remember, Seahawks are great. So that pick in the third isn't a top pick. It's the very end of the third and the very end of the fifth. An end of the fifth round NFL pick now with NIL, which has really gutted mid-fifth round on. Like the middle of the fifth on is bad. It wasn't eight years ago. The NIL guys are staying in college. Those are special teams guys.

It feels like to a large degree. So basically for a third round pick, you get Quentin Nelson. And if he leaves, you get a compensatory pick. You stole him. And then you have Forrest Bruckner, three-time Pro Bowler. He's had some injuries, but the Niners got him for nothing. A fourth-round pick. And again, the Niners are great. So it's a bottom of the fourth-round pick. So basically, two of their top three or four players you gave away with one what you would call elite pick, the bottom of the third. And by the way, another reason you want to get picks that are at top of the first, second, or third, because you can trade those down and get more additional picks. The bottom of a round does nobody

any good. Hell, the bottom of the first round is dead man walking area for GMs. Once you get after about the 20th, 22nd, 23rd pick, you're paying a first-round price for a second-round guy. So it's a prime example. Why didn't they wait until the trade deadline was over, let Ballard make the moves, but instead they gave away Quentin Nelson to a team that's already better than them, and they gave away DeForest Bruckner. And be very careful. Again, this is what teams do with interim coaches. They want to fire Aaron Glenn, and somebody gets on the staff, wins five straight. He gives fiery speeches, and all of a sudden you've got a linebacker coach going up against Mike Frabel in division. So the Colts yesterday looked like,

you know what they looked like? Because I always thought the Colts have always kind of felt, got a bad break with Andrew Luck's retirement. They always kind of felt like a middle-of-the-pack team that just needs a quarterback. If they got a quarterback like the Minnesota Vikings, they'd be very good. But yesterday they felt like the Titans and the Arizona Cardinals and the Jets. They got overly emotional.

They lose to the Vikings. Let's bum rush guys out of the building. And then you're giving away Quentin Nelson. I mean, a third, late third round pick. I mean, Seattle doesn't have holes. I mean, they really don't. What they do is if they lose a guy in free agency, they'll just draft that position. Like they lost Kenneth Walker, they draft a running back. They don't have any holes.

So their whole line was already top 10. So they basically steal a guy to ensure Sam Darnold will be able to throw on play action because they did lose Kenneth Walker. But last week we just watched, they got Kansas city with guys you've never heard of at running back. So this is just, I mean, this is why certain GMs and certain teams are at the top of the league.

Quentin Nelson for a bottom of the third, bottom of the fifth pick. And San Francisco, credit, bottom of the fourth round. And San Francisco, to a large degree, looked like Give J-Mac credit. This is what we predicted Bruckner to the Niners yesterday on the show. We said the next move in the NFL will be the Niners reacting to the Seahawks because Quentin Nelson broke during our show yesterday.

And we said, watch the Niners go out and get DeForest Bruckner. I still contend Khalil Mack with the Chargers is on the market. Keep your eye on the Bears. But here's Nick Wright yesterday on the Quentin Nelson trade.

To me, the NFC is the Niners, the Seahawks, and the NFC North with the Rams hanging on by a thread. And I think Seattle says, if we are going to get... Rams end up turning it around, it will in part be because Miles Garrett comes back and that D-line is ferocious. The Vikings obviously have a ferocious defense. And I think the Seahawks are saying, we have to make sure we can protect Darnold. I love the trade for them.

By the way, Buckner is still pretty young. He's not in his prime. He's like 32. But the Niners are all beat up. And so I think this is the chess match that is the NFC West, is everybody came in thinking it was the Rams, and now it's the Niners. Seattle reacts to that, and then the Niners react to Seattle.

So DeForest Buckner's a guy that can absolutely solidify plus for a bottom of the fourth round pick. That's good GMing.

That is.

You know, every business I've ever been involved with, it is so much of the business is based on upstairs. It's not the people you see on TV. It's not just the quarterback. It's all the guys upstairs making the deals. The Colts yesterday felt like a, you know, Devoris Buckner. Here, go have him. He's a good player. Quentin Nelson, he's yours.

He's a great player. And there's a reason that two top teams in the league right now, many believe Seattle and San Francisco. Yeah. I'm sorry. I keep your eye. Also bears Khalil Mack and the Kansas city chiefs at wide receiver. So you have Ryan polls, aggressive general manager, Brett Veach, aggressive general manager. Keep your eye on the bears, potentially getting an edge rusher, potentially price has to be right. Um, and I think Kansas City is going to take a swing, it will be a mature, it won't be a gadget guy.

They got worthy. It won't be an immature guy. They have Hershey Rice. It will be a mature guy that can be a volume receiver, maybe not a burner, maybe not a star, but a guy that can come in and give you 65 catches.

I know Jags fans do not want to give Brian Thomas to the Chiefs. I cannot envision that happening in the conference. Jags could be contender in the AFC, so I don't see them giving up Brian Thomas. Tough to find anyone wanting to help the Chiefs, though, Colin. But hey, Patrick Mahomes, you don't need any.

Help, buddy.

Yeah, I mean, there's a couple teams that feel like they have an extra receiver. Brian Thomas is really talented, but the Chiefs have a surplus of guys over the last four or five years that you wonder about their commitment and common sense. Brian's been a guy that is more talented than his production.

Yeah.

And so do, am I getting somebody else that is like, not nothing wrong with him, but it's like, gosh, he should be better. Is there, is there stuff behind the scenes? We don't know. That feels like a little bit of a risk to me.

And the chiefs fans also think Tyreek Hill will make his return from a gruesome injury and come back with the chiefs at some point, but I don't know what he's going to be off that injury.

That's a, he's another drama guy. Yeah.

That's the problem. Him and Rasheed Rice in the same wide receiver room.

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Welcome to Football Doesn't Lie.

Hi, I'm Bill Parcells.

And I'm Catherine Zazzora.

I have a lot of experience in the game of football, Catherine.

And I'm learning the game with Bill's help. Every week, we're going to talk about the NFL slate through the lens of Bill's expertise as he coaches me from novice fan to football expert over the course of the season.

You know, I'm looking forward to this show, Catherine, and hopefully we can give our audience a little in-depth look into the inner sanctum of pro football that they can't get anywhere else.

Tune in every Thursday for unfiltered stories from Coach Parcells, analysis on the state of the modern game, and education on how football really works.

Continuity is very important. But what happens when you get good coaches on your staff and people begin to recognize them, then they want to hire them. And then you can't stop a guy from trying to improve himself, but you have to replace them.

Because once you understand what's going on inside the mind of the coaches, you'll understand more about the whole game.

So all aspects can be discussed. The only thing I haven't done... because I didn't have enough money. I don't own the team. I never owned a team.

Listen to Football Doesn't Lie on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

You know, ever since I left L.A., there's been struggles at USC. Dodgers not quite as robust. But the good news for the Lakers is... I do feel like this, I can put my arms around this. They're not going to win a championship. Last night's a great example. I mean, Lucas scores 41, and they lost. They scored 129 points and lost. No NBA team except the Lakers has done that this year. But last night's a great game for fans to look at and say, okay, here's what we are, and here's what we aren't. Austin Reeves allowed 65% shooting from guys he guarded. All three Blazer guards had great nights.

The Blazers shot 50% from the field. And it's not exactly Jerry West and Gail Goodrich or the Splash Brothers or Monroe and Frazier. It's John Morant in basketball rehab, Drew Holliday's 36, and Dame was so banged up he didn't play last year. And they lit the Lakers up. This is not a top five thing. backcourt. I mean, again, John Morant is now available at any price. And so my take is 129 points. Luka and Austin, excellent. I love JJ Redick. I think he's so smart. Number one rated offense in the NBA. Very good in the half court.

They've got their one offensive star. This is a real team that you can put your arms around and Laker fans should. Um, they have a legit rim protector. When's the last time the Lakers had that? And he's young and he runs the floor and he's a rim runner. Uh, they've got an ascending sharp, young offensive coach that the star loves. They've got a star. Luke is only 27.

Kessler's only a 25. Austin's only 28. They're all in their prime. Now they've all been banged up. You cross your fingers on that, but you can't control that. So last night's a great example. I'm not anti-Laker. That was not exactly watching West and Goodrich on the floor, and they ate the Lakers up in the backcourt. So with Luka and with Austin, there's going to be limitations. 129 points and lost. The old Blazer backcourt had their way.

I do think part of being a fan and part of the positivity and the optimism with the Lakers is they look like they made a step. LeBron's gone. You can sprinkle the infield money, rim protector, some catch-and-shoot guys on the perimeter. It feels like it's not a gifted team outside of Luka. but it's a team that is on its way. One more big signing, and you may be there. Probably need another rim protector at some point, like OKC starts stacking them. Here was J.J. Redick on a loss that almost felt instructive this early in the season.

We got good looks, and I thought, I think we have to be able to rely on our defense every night, and if we score 129 points at home, we should be able to get enough stops to win, and it's a credit to Portland, for sure.

Again, not negative. I'm saying when Ja, Dame, and Drew can work you, this is kind of what you are, but at least you have somebody on the back end, Kessler, who is a legitimate rim defender and a couple of guys on the wing that can make stops. J-Mac with the news.

Not only is it bad news the Lakers lost, but bad news, Anthony Edwards of the Timberwolves, one of the top 10 players in the league, maybe top five, is going to be out at least two months. So he'll be on the shelf until mid-January. He needed arthroscopic surgery on his knee.

Pretty bad.

So it's weird.

He bumped his knee Sunday, then he was questionable Monday. Played on Monday in an overtime game. Had 47 points. And then the next day was like, whoa, I'm in bad shape. I mean, I don't want to bemoan the back-to-backs. I know some of the data says they're not the end of the world. Colin, these guys are moving. They're bigger, faster, stronger than they've ever been. The pace of the game is insane right now.

You watch that Laker game last night. Just attract me. I'm sorry.

I'm not doing back-to-backs.

LeBron, don't do back-to-backs.

He doesn't get hurt.

No, I mean, LeBron touched on this years ago, is that you can take some... You can look at the game and say back-to-backs don't matter. But if you really watch... Just go to YouTube and watch the Laker Blazer highlights. The pace is so fast.

The shot making.

So it's just the reality. You know, we've talked about this in baseball now. The analytics. And we talk about it in football. Go for it on fourth down. One of the things in basketball, it's take the threes. The other thing that doesn't get talked about, and I don't have the numbers on it, but the pace of NBA football.

These guys are, because it used to be a lot of your best players were bigs. Kareem, for instance. Bob Lanier when I grew up. Like a lot of centers. Willis Reed. You had to wait for them to get down the floor. Bigs now, Wembley. can shoot threes. So you're, I mean, Jokic can lead the break because he's such a great distributor. So you're bigs now. You're not, even with Magic sometimes, you pound the ball, you wait for the big fella to come down, get low post, and Old NBA footage. Go YouTube that. It looks so slow.

That's not what it is, and I do think it contributes. We've had major injuries in the first week.

And a half.

We're barely two weeks into the season. The list here is disgusting. So J-Dub of OKC, he's done for the year. He had the Gordon Hayward broken leg.

I mean, it's disgusting.

It's horrible.

Paolo Bencaro is on the shelf. Orlando's best player. Kawhi Leonard yesterday said something's going on with my knee.

I know. I.

But when Kawhi Leonard is putting out a statement on his own, aside from the team, you know it's not great. He's probably out at least a month.

Jalen Duren, A.J.

DeBonsa has yet to play. Conn Knipple has yet to play. Think about LeBron James.

LeBron can still beat almost anybody in the league to the basket because of his size and girth. LeBron in the half court can score. And LeBron in moments can defend very well in the half court. But where do you see LeBron's age? He's slow. So it's not in the half-court offense. I mean, outside of Luka, give the ball to LeBron. He'll beat his guy to the basket.

You'll get a great shot with LeBron. In the 70s, LeBron, you know, nutritional standards have changed. But in the 70s, LeBron's playing at a pace as an old guy that was normal. Now it looks like LeBron's this old guy with his wheelbarrow plotting out for the pasture. It's like he's really not. The game's gotten too fast.

I'm curious.

In the West now, losing Anthony Edwards for two months, at minimum two months, is brutal. um i think the lakers are in good shape that portland team don't sleep on them i i know the owner is a goofball that coach is awesome he's a chris finch guy yep um they're undefeated they've got a team um i'm watching the spurs right now colin they don't look dialed in they have not looked amazing well.

Their defense hasn't been as good.

They're tinkering with the three guard lineup yeah.

They're they're you know listen it's it's we always say this you and i say this Dynasties never last as long as you think. We thought the Seahawks with Russell was going to last forever, and all of a sudden, Harbaugh and the Niners come. Dynasties don't last as long as you think. And the second thing is.

It always takes longer than you think for the great teams to win. Everybody thinks all the 20-year-olds in the world think Michael Jordan walked into the league crushed. He got his arse thrown all over the floor for years by the Pistons. It was seven years. He didn't win anything until Pippen came. And that's Michael Jordan. LeBron James, first final. He got swept by San Antonio. It wasn't competitive.

So San Antonio is, look at the Knicks. Part of what made the Knicks great last year, it was so many high EQ, IQ veteran players. Everybody was like, not old, everybody was like old prime. Not in their perfect prime, except Brunson, but kind of like prime plus. They were so good in the fourth quarter. They were so good in the half court. They were so good out of a timeout. It is hard. Oh, we got Wemby, Stephon Castle.

Dylan Harper's like 23 years old. You start wondering about OKC. Is their run over?

I mean, Kaysan Wallace, Torn Labrum, out pretty much the season. That's two of your top seven guys, and they lost Lou Dort in the offseason.

Well, and also, part of OKC's greatness is their depth. They just lost two of their top guys. Two of their top six or seven in the rotation. Fun NBA season ahead. All right, let's go back to the NFL and the Ravens-Bills matchup this weekend.

A huge one. Everybody's hopeful Lamar Jackson's going to play. Baltimore's lost two in a row without him. Jesse Minter, though, made some interesting comments when he was asked who the team leaders are when the team starts to lose control.

Take a listen.

There's moments in the game where it's like, you know, who's the guy that's going to grab everybody together and get them together on the sideline. And so I think we're, you know, as a team, we're working through, like, who that is.

Who is that person?

Or who are those players? There's guys that want to do it, and there's guys that maybe they're dealing with something or they're not playing the way they want to play, so they don't feel like they can do it in those moments.

That's not great to hear, Colin. There's a veteran group with Lamar. Derrick Henry's a veteran. I know Zay Flowers on the younger side, but Mark Andrews, like where's.

The veteran leadership? Didn't they just add Trey Hendrickson?

When you're quarterback. You can't ask Snoop Hundley as a backup quarterback to galvanize the locker room.

Kyle Hamilton, step up. Do something on the side.

Say something.

I think a lot of this is, listen, if you want the big money, Lamar, you've got to be the leader. You can't just be about throwing passes. Quarterback, you are paid to do more than just take snaps and throw the football. A lot of that is setting the tempo. I used to always say this. Big Ben did this in Pittsburgh, and Brady did it in New England. They would do a Monday morning radio hit. Did Big Ben and Brady need the money?

No.

Big Ben and Brady would set the narrative for the week for their team. Big Ben probably didn't want to do it. Tom Brady probably had better things to do. But they do your local AM radio hit. They'd set the narrative. you know, hey, it's a bad loss, but I love my team. Get the Wolves off your back. You know, Lamar's like, is he playing? Is he not? Like, there's a lot more than just taking snaps and taking a paycheck. You've got to lead by example and sometimes verbally.

Yeah.

Practice slated to start here shortly. We'll be watching closely to see if Lamar's on the practice field. They say he's supposed to practice. If he doesn't play, this game becomes very unattractive. And if you see that line move off three and a half up, Lamar's probably not practicing and somebody heard something. Final story, Green Bay Packers, Colin, we're still waiting on Micah Parsons. Tours ACL 10 months ago hasn't practiced. Matt LaFleur was asked whether Micah will return to practice next week.

Colin, here we go.

I sure hope so. That's a different answer than you've given us before.

It is.

But I mean, like at the end of the day, it's that's the medical. So, yeah, I'm itching.

At it, though, for sure.

So you're saying there's a chance. I'm saying there's a chance. Micah Parsons, Miles Garrett, a lot of money, no snaps. So I'm not blaming. I'm just saying it's.

Something not ideal so thursday night is packers panthers they haven't ruled micah out but if he hasn't practiced he ain't playing he.

Initially the report was i'm returning for.

That cowboys game right week six colin daniel jones returned faster from an achilles I don't know what's going on. They're not giving us info. Obviously, medicals, I get that. But how has nobody dug into what is going on behind the scenes there?

Micah Parsons has a podcast. Can you give us some info, my man?

Yeah, I mean, medical stuff, I don't think coaches want to pry. I told you this last week. If I was a coach, one of the first things I would establish with the media, I'm not a doctor. Any medical questions, the staff gives me the update on when they can play. I stay totally out of medical. With power comes culpability, right?

Like I think sometimes with these coaches, Belichick had it right. I'm not a doctor. You tell me who's available. So I think LeFleur here is doing it the right way, which is, I don't know. It's not my job to tell. I'm not sitting there looking at his tendons in the back room.

By the way, Panthers off a blowout loss at home.

Oh, the Panthers are the side here. Panthers are. 100%.

Yeah.

I know people saw the Packers and thought they looked good. That was a grueling loss on the road in the division.

I don't know if you noticed I had another winning week last week.

Oh, nicely done.

3-1-1.

I'm done.

You go to Chicago and I start winning bets?

Jeez.

Jay Mack with the news.

Well, that's the news.

And thanks for stopping by.

The Herdline News.

The new me, the positive me. Jerry Jones said something yesterday I agree with. He said it's unlikely the Cowboys will add help in a trade. The players don't, they're fine. I don't think they need coaching upgrades. I don't think people realize because everybody pushes back on the Cowboys because they're over-discussed and hosts like me and others put them on TV too much. They're talented. I'll give you an example.

I'll give you their top 10 players. I won't even put their kicker in who's the best kicker in football. And your kicker usually leaves the team in scoring. So I will not add their kicker. Their top 10 players. CeeDee Lamb, second among all receivers in yards and receiving touchdowns. Dak, third highest graded quarterback. George Pickens, top 10 in catches, yards, and receiving touchdowns last year. Having another good year. Quinnen Williams leads the team in sack, four straight Pro Bowls.

Tyler Smith, three straight Pro Bowls. Joey Porter, right now, best corner on coverage in the league. Lowest completion percentage allowed, 22% when he covers your receiver. DeMarvian overshown, game-sealing pick. I think he may be their most talented athlete. Javante Williams leads the NFL in rushing touchdowns with eight. Caleb Downs leads the Cowboys in tackles and forced fumbles. As a rookie, he's getting better every week. And then Tyler Booker's a guard.

He is not allowed a sack with 287 pass-blocking snaps. Not allowed a sack. They have elite offensive linemen, two elite receivers, an elite quarterback, an elite running back very athletic this is a very I never look at the Cowboys and say you know they don't have enough good players I look at the Titans and say that you know there are teams I look at and go Arizona I look at and think Raiders I'm like boy they're thin they can't afford injuries Dallas got players But they've had four defensive coordinators in four years. They've gone cheap on head coaching. That's their issue. So here was Jerry on more potential deals. I agree with him.

If I saw it, if we could do it where we sit right now, I would add to it. But the adding to it is a big statement. It's unlikely we'll get the opportunity from outside coming in. But if it's there, I'll do it. I think.

It's interesting. I have a friend who owns a restaurant and he always pays the people in the back very well. Dishwasher's on. And his theory is the last thing I want to do is have to replace people in the back.

Right?

Like it's like I just overpay. Dallas tends to be cheap on coaches. So if you get a good coordinator, they're off and running. And so they're a little like that store you drive by. It's been open for 30 years, but there's a sign every couple of years under new management. uh right like and i just i look at dallas and and and there's a lot of coaching defensive changes and you know sometimes guys like you know kellen moore is going to get a job but i i will i will argue all day it's not talent dallas absolutely especially in offense i didn't count the kicker they got 10 dudes minimum who are kind of luxury players high-end players Ryan Dempster, former Cub. We got ourselves a World Series.

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You know, it's interesting. USC hosts Ohio State. Ohio State's on a backup quarterback. He's not very effective, and he's really young. And USC's been a very good home team. So, I mean, it's 2026 in college football. Could USC win? Absolutely. Absolutely. The line's coming down. If I had to bet, I would bet USC to cover. And it's interesting. A lot of times people look at results, and I'm guilty of this, and then you make your opinion based on the results and not the truth of the process. Like, for instance, I hear this, the criticisms of Lincoln Riley. Well, he is prickly. Yes, he is. And so is Kurt Cignetti. Yeah, Kurt Cignetti's doing fine. Well, he's got an ego. So did Saban. Well, he can be defensive. Urban Meyer could

be defensive with the media at Florida and Ohio State. That's not it. That's not the problems, okay? I don't want to hear about it. Well, he's not great in the athletic department. Lane Kiffin was legendary at USC for walking with his head down and not wanting to make small talk with a hitting coach for the baseball team.

The football coach is the godfather in these buildings, and they're busy, and they have media requests. Nobody cares about the other coaches, largely outside of the basketball coaches. So, like, oh, he's arrogant. They've all got egos. Oh, he's prickly. They all get defensive. I mean, Sark can get defensive. I love Sark. You know, he can get very defensive with the media. Well, he's prickly. You're telling me Signetti's not? Well, he's got an ego. Saban doesn't. Kirby Smart doesn't. The issue, which is a very fair criticism, is it's a cold-weather conference, and since they've moved from the Pac-12, their running game now is the worst they've had. They're 0-5 against top 10 teams, giving up 42 points. Their defense never shows

up in big, big games on the road. I mean, Wisconsin. Wisconsin's offense? And in these big games, they get pushed around. Against the top 10 opponents under Lincoln Riley, they've given up over 200 yards rushing. That's a very fair criticism, and it feels like it's getting worse. This is the worst run game he's had. It's the worst red zone offense he's had with very, very good upperclassmen quarterback and the best offensive line USC's had in years. It's got Sunday players. So I think that criticism's fair. Soft teams do not travel well. That is totally fair. But the arrogant stuff, come on. You see these coaches. You see them.

I'm a man. I'm 40. I'm a man. I could run clips for hours on coaches and ego puffing their chest out, being defensive and being prickly. I think he's a little bit all these things. So yesterday he addressed the heat, which is cascading down on his job.

I love it here.

I mean, like I told you guys a lot of times, there's not many people in college football history that gave up what I gave up to come here. You know, so that that's, I don't care if it's 15 years down the line like that doesn't that that never should be taken lightly. If I didn't want to be at this place, I've had plenty of opportunities to leave. This is where I want to be. This is the right place for me. I'm the right person to be here.

And that's just that's as honest and transparent as I can be with you guys.

I don't none of that bothers me. But here's the other criticism. Well, he stares at his play sheet. You mean like Andy Reid, Sean Payton and Kyle Shanahan stare at their play sheet? Okay. Lane Kiffin for a long time stared at his. Well, you know, he's not good with recruiting. Well, they just had the number one class.

They seem to be doing okay. Now, I think something that is also fair to criticize but contextualize it. I don't think for the first three years they paid enough attention to L.A. high school football. I think that's a fair criticism. But there's a reason for that. Because the transfer portal five years ago and the NIL changed the game.

And a lot of these coaches, Deion Sanders, I mean, God, look at the UCLA guy in Cignetti. They use the portal. I mean, Cignetti felt like he brought a third of his team from James Madison to Indiana. Bob Chesney at UCLA brought a bunch of guys from James Madison. So when the portal is filling 40% of your class of recruits, sometimes more than High school recruiting doesn't mean as much.

I'll give you an example. These college basketball coaches, they don't go to high school games anymore. It's all AAU stuff. They don't go to high school. What is this, Hoosiers? You think Tom Izzo is going to hang out at high school basketball games? And what you're seeing increasingly is big-time coaches, they're not going to high school football games as much either. So I think it's a fair criticism that they didn't go all in on on high school recruiting in la which is can be very very good at skill positions especially that's very fair but there was this thing happening called the portal and lincoln riley i can tell you this when they got to usc they felt like they had 35 players that they wanted to

keep and and they they it wasn't a particularly great first recruiting class here they went portal heavy In retrospect, should he have done more high school football recruiting? I think that's fair. But let's contextualize this stuff. Cignetti's prickly. Shanahan's staring at a play sheet. Saban's arrogant. They don't want to make small talk in the athletic department. Who does?

Who wants to talk to the volleyball coach? You think Cignetti, hey, let's go to lunch, fencing assistant coach? You think that's happening? So the criticism that's fair is soft doesn't travel. It does not travel, and they go on the road, and it's a little colder, and these Big Ten teams can run it down your throat, and they just give up big chunk run plays, and they're not real tough, and there's no excuse because UCLA has a brand-new coach, and they're playing defense, and they're running the football. So those are fair. But Joel Klatt came on yesterday and said– this you know took took dabble a while to win now ryan day didn't walk into the job and have it all figured out he couldn't beat harbaugh for several years.

He knew that the entirety of the team would never be as good as it could possibly be or as consistent as it could possibly be if he was narrowly focused on the offense as the head coach now we're looking at sark and lincoln riley You could throw Lane Kiffin in this at LSU. Why is it up and down? It's great, and then it's not.

Why?

Why is that?

Why does the defense play so sporadic from week to week? Well, you could make an argument it's because the head coach is not setting the standard for the entire program every single day.

Yeah, and again, that's the, hey, he's staring at the play sheet. I've always thought the way to coach, Tony Robbins always talks about this. He owns like 60 businesses. He says, I own them, I don't operate them. I walk around them. I hire good people. That's what Zuckerberg does at Meta. You know, he's not doing back-end coding.

You know, he's hiring the best AI engineers, right? He's the walk-around CEO, the walk-around founder. I'm not a fan of coaches staring at their play sheet. In fact, the biggest criticism, the only criticism I've ever had of Kyle Shanahan is the play sheet. is that he has very few. In fact, I think Shanahan's one of the only coaches.

There's a stat that came out this weekend. He was like, oh, for 49. If he trails by a certain number of points in the fourth quarter, Shanahan teams never come back to win.

Why?

He's stuck in the play sheet. He's very rigid with the play sheet, and Shanahan does not. Kyle's a great coach. He didn't have a Super Bowl. And his team is now falling apart again because they're old. So Shanahan's a great coach. The hole in his game, in my opinion, is he's tied to the play sheet. So I prefer coaches not be tied to the play sheet. And I think that's something, again, we can discuss. But a lot of the stuff sounds personal. You know, he's prickly. They all are. He's arrogant. They all are. He can be defensive.

He doesn't make small talk. Kurt Cignetti wins and nobody cares. It's it's. you know, winning solves all the issues. Now he can't beat the good teams and the team gets really, really soft and big games against the run game. He doesn't travel well, all completely fair. And I, and I think he's in big trouble. I think they'll play Ohio state close. They don't match up with Indiana. I don't know if they'd beat UCLA. If I had to guess today, I'd say, no, I can't wait to watch that game though.

It'll be interesting. Huge one.

Colin, let me ask replacing him.

And I don't want to kick him out the door already, but it, It's trending that way. If you can't get Kalen DeBoer, what is a legitimate backup option? Because people are– I scanned the message board last night.

Sorry, I'm a loser.

USC has often gone for the hot, young, offensive coach, and it's failed.

Yes.

There is a trend going on. Never forget before Washington, Kalen DeBoer was at Indiana before Indiana was good. The trend is go get a smaller school coach.

Mm-hmm.

Who will bring six to eight of his players from a smaller school with him so they can sell the culture, make very strong inroads in high school recruiting. I had a coach tell me this. I thought it was smart. And this was his criticism of Lincoln. He says, remember, nobody's going to get fired in the first year. He says, your first year of a college football coach, go heavy into high school football recruiting. That's the year you set the culture. You can go five and eight. Nobody cares.

Nobody's getting fired. Lincoln went heavy NIL and had a great first year. That raised the expectations, but they had no good high school players. So the theory among coaches is if you go to a football program, get a smaller school guy, bring some guys from your program that set the culture, they build the narrative for you when you're not in the room, and go heavy for the first two years in high school recruiting. It's hard to build a culture when you're bringing 42 guys from 42 different coaches.

One of the problems, Chesney was hired and he was knocked. Oh, he's not a regional fit. He's an East Coast guy.

What are you doing?

He brings his guys, tune out the noise. They're top 10 in the country right now.

And I've watched every snap of that Michigan State game.

He's a great coach.

They didn't even play well in the first half. They just do what they do very well.

THE HERD – HOUR 1 – Epic World Series | 49ers & Seahawks Make Big Moves

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