# USC’s Empty Seats, NFL Week 1, Will Broncos Regress? Brutal Big Ten Schedules

An episode of [The Colin Cowherd Podcast](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1551365571), 2 Sep 2026, 27 min.

Audio: https://podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/arttrk.com/p/D5CA5/pscrb.fm/rss/p/prfx.byspotify.com/e/pscrb.fm/rss/p/traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/4013d28e-5f67-4885-bff1-ae3300346830/35bdc5b4-8189-424c-8eda-b4b9011c8428/audio.mp3?utm_source=Podcast&in_playlist=e829cf60-fc06-4d61-8691-ae330034683e

Everybody spent the weekend dunking on the empty seats at the Coliseum. Colin isn't buying the outrage — and his defense of USC isn't really a defense, it's a theory of American sports geography. Big cities belong to pro teams. Mid-sized cities belong to college. Small towns belong to Friday nights. LA has been paying that tax since the Rams and Chargers moved in, and USC already conceded the point when it shrank the building and added suites. It's not an excuse, it's a reason. Then the part the attendance story buried: true freshman Trent Mosley looked like a first-team All-American in his first college game, and Lincoln Riley emptied the bench on purpose, because September is for getting a very young roster ready for Oregon, Washington, Penn State, Ohio State and Indiana. Colin also explains why he thinks USC, Ohio State and Texas all have schedules too brutal to survive, why Notre Dame and Miami is his national title call — twice — and why he'd take the Longhorns at home against the Buckeyes. Plus NFL Week 1: the Colts as a live home dog, why Jacksonville could bury Cleveland, whether Denver's 14-win magic regresses, and why Goodell's London talk is a stadium-leverage bat signal, not a real plan. (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements.) Follow Colin and The Volume on Twitter for the latest content and updates! #Volume See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

## Transcript

[0:03] Speaker 1: Very excited to say that Bud Light is the title
[0:05] Speaker 1: sponsor of the Colin Coward podcast this NFL season. This
[0:08] Speaker 1: podcast presented by Bud Light. Easy to drink, easy to enjoy.
[0:18] Speaker 1: All right, it's Wednesday, September 2nd. I'm golfing later today.
[0:25] Speaker 1: But every year at this time, people say, Colin, where'd
[0:30] Speaker 1: you go? Listen, we had the World Cup at Fox.
[0:33] Speaker 1: It was unbelievable. The most fun I've ever had broadcasting
[0:37] Speaker 1: in the summer in my life. I thought Fox did
[0:39] Speaker 1: a great job. And because of that, it was, you know, June,
[0:43] Speaker 1: which is often a time to take some time off
[0:45] Speaker 1: after the NBA finals. Everybody worked every day, should have,
[0:50] Speaker 1: and is glad they did. But I'm soaking up some
[0:54] Speaker 1: of my last days off of the year because obviously
[0:58] Speaker 1: football season, everybody works at every network. But it is
[1:03] Speaker 1: now getting to the point where I am jonesing to
[1:06] Speaker 1: talk about stuff. The first thing I wanted to address,
[1:10] Speaker 1: I thought was kind of interesting, was the USC home crowd,
[1:13] Speaker 1: nobody went, a bunch of excuses. One of the things
[1:16] Speaker 1: I learned 20 years ago when I started working at
[1:18] Speaker 1: The Other Place, because I was such a huge fan
[1:21] Speaker 1: of college football, is how many people in the building
[1:23] Speaker 1: at that time 20 years ago at The Other Place,
[1:27] Speaker 1: they were pro sports fans. They loved the Yankees. the
[1:31] Speaker 1: Red Sox, they didn't pay attention to college football, like
[1:35] Speaker 1: at all. And a lot of them were from New
[1:37] Speaker 1: York and Boston and Minnesota and Philadelphia and big major
[1:43] Speaker 1: American cities. And what I found was those were pro
[1:46] Speaker 1: sports fans. A lot of them loved college basketball because
[1:49] Speaker 1: they grew up in the Northeast and the Big East
[1:51] Speaker 1: was the, you know, the conference of note along with
[1:53] Speaker 1: the the tobacco road and the ACC rivalries. But I
[1:57] Speaker 1: learned that very quickly at the other place was that,
[1:59] Speaker 1: you know, if you grow up in the Northeast, you
[2:03] Speaker 1: are a Red Sox or a Yankee and a Giant
[2:06] Speaker 1: and a Jet and an Eagle and a Patriot fan.
[2:09] Speaker 2: You didn't care if.
[2:09] Speaker 1: You grew up in Boston about BC football.
[2:12] Speaker 2: You didn't care about it.
[2:13] Speaker 1: I did more than they did when they were born there.
[2:16] Speaker 1: So I learned very quickly that, you know, big cities
[2:20] Speaker 1: are mostly for pro sports. Medium-sized cities, they love their
[2:24] Speaker 1: college sports. And small towns love their high school football. Now,
[2:28] Speaker 1: in the ratings game, everybody watches March Madness because you
[2:30] Speaker 1: can watch it. Many of those big city kids went
[2:33] Speaker 1: to these schools. It lasts three weeks. You bet on it, right? Like,
[2:37] Speaker 1: that's different.
[2:37] Speaker 2: But college football.
[2:40] Speaker 1: Before we have an expansion of the playoff, which will become,
[2:43] Speaker 1: you know, bigger and bigger as it expands and it
[2:46] Speaker 1: becomes part of our sports legacy. This point forward in 20, 30,
[2:50] Speaker 1: 40 years, the college football playoff will be like March Madness.
[2:53] Speaker 1: You just you don't have to love the sport, but
[2:55] Speaker 1: you want to go in, make some bets and have
[2:56] Speaker 1: some fun and watch it.
[2:58] Speaker 2: And so L.A. is one of the only not just
[3:02] Speaker 2: because I lived there for nine years.
[3:03] Speaker 1: L.A.
[3:04] Speaker 2: Is one of the only big cities that.
[3:06] Speaker 1: Well, you can get 75,000, 80,000 people to watch a
[3:09] Speaker 1: college football game, and it has tradition. New York doesn't really,
[3:14] Speaker 1: you know, Philadelphia doesn't. Minneapolis, Denver, Phoenix, San Francisco, those
[3:20] Speaker 1: are pro sports towns. Chicago, where I live now, I mean,
[3:23] Speaker 1: they'll go watch a Northwestern Michigan game or, let's say,
[3:26] Speaker 1: Ohio State's in town, but that's a pro sports city.
[3:29] Speaker 1: It's a Bears, Blackhawks, Bulls, Wrigley Field, Cubs, White Sox town.
[3:35] Speaker 1: It's just the reality of it. Now they got the
[3:36] Speaker 1: Chicago Fire building a new stadium. So, I always looked
[3:40] Speaker 1: at L.A. as one of the few places. For years
[3:43] Speaker 1: and years, Miami has been a city because it's got
[3:46] Speaker 1: a beach like L.A.
[3:47] Speaker 2: Miami and L.A. are very similar. Pro sports towns, transient
[3:51] Speaker 2: with great beaches.
[3:53] Speaker 1: It is hard to get people on a Saturday afternoon
[3:57] Speaker 1: when they're going to watch a pro team on a
[3:59] Speaker 1: Sunday to get them on a Saturday afternoon, regardless of
[4:02] Speaker 1: the weather, get them into a college football environment.
[4:05] Speaker 2: It's hard. There's just a lot to do.
[4:08] Speaker 1: You'll notice that most of the great college football towns,
[4:11] Speaker 1: your Tuscaloosas, your Stillwaters, your Normans, Gainesville, that's the biggest
[4:16] Speaker 1: act in town. So I always looked at Los Angeles differently.
[4:19] Speaker 1: I was like, man, you could, especially before the NFL
[4:22] Speaker 1: teams were there in the Pete Carroll era, you'd get
[4:24] Speaker 1: like 90,000 people to a college football game on a
[4:26] Speaker 1: Saturday night and you'd have stars on the sidelines.
[4:30] Speaker 2: It felt huge. Well, now you have two NFL teams.
[4:34] Speaker 2: You got to make.
[4:34] Speaker 1: Choices Saturday or Sunday. So even USC acknowledged this. They
[4:39] Speaker 1: shrank their attendance. They put in more suites. They realized
[4:42] Speaker 1: the days of getting 90,000, you're just not going to
[4:45] Speaker 1: get it. It's just, lot of oxygen out of a city.
[4:50] Speaker 1: So I never consider, I don't consider USC's fan base
[4:54] Speaker 1: like the Miami Hurricanes to be the best or the
[4:55] Speaker 1: most loyal, but I sort of understand the ecosystem of
[4:59] Speaker 1: Coral Gables, Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Los Angeles.
[5:02] Speaker 2: Like, I get it.
[5:04] Speaker 1: That said, I'd rather live in Miami or Los Angeles
[5:07] Speaker 1: than I would most college towns. For the primary reason,
[5:10] Speaker 1: there's a lot to do. In fact, there's a big
[5:12] Speaker 1: problem in America that's developed over the last 10 to
[5:14] Speaker 1: 15 years. College graduates don't want to live in small towns.
[5:17] Speaker 1: They're struggling to find health care and the right doctors.
[5:20] Speaker 2: And it's hard.
[5:21] Speaker 1: You know, kids come out of college with college debt.
[5:24] Speaker 1: They want to go places where the handsome boys and
[5:26] Speaker 1: the cute girls are, right? They come out without college debt.
[5:29] Speaker 1: They want to go live in the cities. They don't
[5:31] Speaker 1: even want to own houses anymore. They want to go
[5:33] Speaker 1: to New York, L.A., San Francisco, Minneapolis, Denver. You know,
[5:36] Speaker 1: they want to go where the action is. You've heard
[5:39] Speaker 1: that saying, right? Let's go where the action is. Well,
[5:42] Speaker 1: the action's not in West Lafayette, Indiana.
[5:44] Speaker 2: I'm sorry.
[5:45] Speaker 1: Doesn't mean Bloomington's not a great college town or Athens isn't.
[5:49] Speaker 1: But again, I just, I view this differently.
[5:51] Speaker 2: It's not an excuse. It's a reason. Like Miami and LA,
[5:55] Speaker 2: there's a lot of stuff to do.
[5:58] Speaker 1: That said, lost in the USC game is that they
[6:01] Speaker 1: had like a 35-3 lead and played really well early.
[6:05] Speaker 1: Then they dumped their bench. Why did they do that?
[6:07] Speaker 1: This is why you have to watch a college football game.
[6:11] Speaker 1: You can't just go and see the score. If you
[6:13] Speaker 1: watch the game, and I did, then I re-watched it
[6:15] Speaker 1: on YouTube, is that they were really impressive considering you
[6:22] Speaker 1: were starting like freshmen on the offense. Yeah. Trent Mosley
[6:27] Speaker 1: is probably the best Southern California high school player I've
[6:29] Speaker 1: seen in three or four years. He starts day one
[6:32] Speaker 1: as a wide receiver. He is an unbelievable eight. All-American
[6:38] Speaker 1: first team freshman. I mean, you can put that thing
[6:42] Speaker 1: down in pen today. Also, they start at defensive end,
[6:47] Speaker 1: at tight end, at wide receiver, multiple freshmen starting. Well,
[6:50] Speaker 1: they have another eight to 10 freshmen. They had the
[6:53] Speaker 1: number one recruiting class in the country. They have another
[6:56] Speaker 1: eight to 10 freshmen who they need to be on
[6:59] Speaker 1: the second team because they don't have a ton of depth.
[7:01] Speaker 2: It's a very young football team. USC is one of
[7:03] Speaker 2: the younger Big Ten teams.
[7:05] Speaker 1: So it's talented, but The freshmen are good, but they've
[7:09] Speaker 1: got two to three guys that'll start, eight or nine
[7:11] Speaker 1: freshmen who they want.
[7:13] Speaker 2: To get ramped up.
[7:14] Speaker 1: In this first four or five weeks before they face
[7:17] Speaker 1: back-to-back oregon washington and then here comes penn state and
[7:21] Speaker 1: then it's ohio state then it's indiana they want those
[7:24] Speaker 1: freshmen to be ready to play because they're talented they
[7:27] Speaker 1: went and got a national class kids from a couple
[7:30] Speaker 1: guys from ohio that are amazing and all over southern
[7:33] Speaker 1: california new jersey it's a national class And they're just
[7:38] Speaker 1: trying to build as much depth as they possibly can
[7:41] Speaker 1: for Big Ten play.
[7:42] Speaker 2: So who cares what happened in the fourth quarter?
[7:44] Speaker 1: You can understand they're just they're trying to get ready
[7:47] Speaker 1: for Big Ten play because they haven't had the requisite
[7:50] Speaker 1: depth to compete at the highest levels of Big Ten play,
[7:53] Speaker 1: because by the time they get to the middle or
[7:55] Speaker 1: the end of the Big Ten conference, they're all beat
[7:57] Speaker 1: up and they're using backups as starters. So they're trying
[8:00] Speaker 1: to get guys minutes early for Big Ten play. And.
[8:07] Speaker 1: With that said, do I think they're going to win
[8:10] Speaker 1: the Big Ten championship? No, their schedule is too tough.
[8:13] Speaker 1: Same reason I don't think Ohio State is going to
[8:15] Speaker 1: win the national championship. Their schedule is too tough. Same
[8:18] Speaker 1: reason the Texas Longhorns won't win the national championship. Their
[8:21] Speaker 1: schedule is too tough. Notre Dame, Miami are my picks
[8:26] Speaker 1: to meet for a second time in the national championship.
[8:29] Speaker 1: Notre Dame wins the first meeting in South Bend. Close game,
[8:32] Speaker 1: wins the first. Miami and Notre Dame meet for a
[8:36] Speaker 1: second time in the national championship. I'd probably go with
[8:39] Speaker 1: Miami in the second matchup. But that's kind of who
[8:43] Speaker 1: I like. I think the more quality teams you play,
[8:47] Speaker 1: especially on the road, you have multiple losses, you get played. Remember,
[8:51] Speaker 1: the tougher schedule you play, the more injuries you generally have, right?
[8:55] Speaker 2: You're going like.
[8:57] Speaker 1: You know, when you are Texas and you have six
[9:01] Speaker 1: or seven games against all sorts of NFL, future NFL athletes,
[9:05] Speaker 1: you get dinged up.
[9:06] Speaker 2: I mean, you get injuries before the games start, just
[9:08] Speaker 2: in practice.
[9:10] Speaker 1: So I think it's unrealistic to think that you have
[9:12] Speaker 1: Ohio State or the Texas schedule. They're going to fly
[9:15] Speaker 1: through it unscathed. They're not going to lose any starters.
[9:18] Speaker 1: Notre Dame can rest a lot of those starters for
[9:21] Speaker 1: almost their entire regular season. They're going to be a
[9:26] Speaker 1: dominant defensive team. I mean, Notre Dame has the best
[9:28] Speaker 1: corner in the country, maybe the best linebacker in the country,
[9:30] Speaker 1: maybe the best safety in the country, and maybe the
[9:32] Speaker 1: best defensive mind in the country in Marcus Freeman and
[9:35] Speaker 1: an easy schedule. But Notre Dame is going to have leads.
[9:40] Speaker 1: They're going to build depth. They're going to play the
[9:42] Speaker 1: entire depth chart. And my guess is, barring some, you know,
[9:47] Speaker 1: CJ Carr injury, they're going to fly to the regular
[9:51] Speaker 1: season and look really impressive and be ready to roll
[9:55] Speaker 1: for the playoff.
[9:56] Speaker 2: So that's who I like. So those are some college
[9:57] Speaker 2: football thoughts. The NFL.
[10:01] Speaker 1: This year, you know, you're starting on a Wednesday, Seattle
[10:05] Speaker 1: and New England up in the Northwest. And then, you know,
[10:07] Speaker 1: you get the Rams and the 49ers in Australia. I
[10:10] Speaker 1: don't love that. I understand, like there was a recent
[10:14] Speaker 1: comment where the NFL Roger Goodell said, we're going to
[10:17] Speaker 1: have a team in London.
[10:19] Speaker 2: I think it's a smokescreen. I don't think there's ever
[10:21] Speaker 2: going to be a European team.
[10:22] Speaker 1: I think potentially you could have one in Mexico City, Um,
[10:27] Speaker 1: that could potentially work, but there's always been, you know,
[10:31] Speaker 1: questions valid or not air quality safety.
[10:35] Speaker 2: I don't know.
[10:36] Speaker 1: It's not my department. I do think you could have
[10:38] Speaker 1: a professional team in Mexico city. I think it would
[10:41] Speaker 1: be really hard to do in Europe. Um, I just,
[10:47] Speaker 1: you're asking, I mean, you're, you're going to ask Midwest
[10:51] Speaker 1: and West coast teams to have to fly to Dusseldorf
[10:54] Speaker 1: or London, uh, wherever they put it, I think that's unfair.
[10:59] Speaker 2: It would be a huge home field advantage for the
[11:01] Speaker 2: European team.
[11:03] Speaker 1: But I think it does, it kind of sends out
[11:06] Speaker 1: a bat signal that all you teams that get your
[11:10] Speaker 1: act together, we've moved teams before, the Raiders, the Chargers,
[11:16] Speaker 1: all these local municipalities. Oh, no, no, we'll move a
[11:19] Speaker 1: team to London. Yeah, City Council, we need... you know,
[11:24] Speaker 1: approval on getting a new stadium built, whatever it takes.
[11:28] Speaker 1: I mean, we're seeing it with the Bears. All right,
[11:29] Speaker 1: we'll go to Hammond, Indiana. I think it feels like
[11:33] Speaker 1: to me, you put it out there and it's the
[11:36] Speaker 1: NFL staying on the aggressive when it comes to future
[11:39] Speaker 1: potential franchises. I think week one in the NFL is
[11:44] Speaker 1: really fascinating. Now, I've always said I don't do a
[11:47] Speaker 1: blazing five on week one. I do it, but it's
[11:49] Speaker 1: like I'm guessing because very few starters play. everybody's hiding
[11:55] Speaker 1: their best plays, defenses, vanilla. The hell am I doing?
[12:00] Speaker 2: I don't know.
[12:01] Speaker 1: There are some games that I think are very interesting
[12:03] Speaker 1: in week one, like the Colts are getting the hook
[12:06] Speaker 1: against the Ravens. Well, the Colts now are healthy. I
[12:10] Speaker 1: watched them when they were healthy last year. They're really good.
[12:13] Speaker 1: That's a really good roster. They've been trying to find
[12:16] Speaker 1: the right quarterback forever, and I don't know how long
[12:18] Speaker 1: Daniel Jones will be a Colt, but he was really
[12:20] Speaker 1: good last year when he was upright. I watched them
[12:22] Speaker 1: go to Los Angeles and outplay the Rams. Should have
[12:24] Speaker 1: beaten the Rams. Pretty good team. Shane Steichen's excellent. And
[12:28] Speaker 1: they host a Ravens team, which, by the way, new
[12:31] Speaker 1: play caller, new head coach, lost the anchor of that
[12:34] Speaker 1: offensive line. Lamar Jackson is off an injury. I don't
[12:38] Speaker 1: know what Baltimore is going to be. Vegas loves him.
[12:41] Speaker 2: I like him. I respect the organization. Ownership down.
[12:45] Speaker 1: Excellently run. Would it shock anybody if the Colts upset
[12:51] Speaker 1: the Ravens?
[12:53] Speaker 2: I don't think so.
[12:54] Speaker 1: Another game that jumps out to me, if you were
[12:59] Speaker 1: somebody interested in betting, you go look up the Jags-Browns line.
[13:05] Speaker 1: Jacksonville was a really good football team down the stretch
[13:09] Speaker 1: last year, averaging 33 points a game in the last
[13:12] Speaker 1: couple of months. And they were beaten by Josh Allen
[13:15] Speaker 1: and a more experienced playoff team. But now Liam Cohen
[13:19] Speaker 1: goes into year two with Trevor Lawrence. And I think
[13:22] Speaker 1: both the coach and the quarterback are a little underrated.
[13:24] Speaker 1: I don't quite know what to do with the Jaguars
[13:27] Speaker 1: this year. Didn't necessarily love their draft, but I mean,
[13:31] Speaker 1: how many players come out of a draft on an
[13:33] Speaker 1: annual basis for a good team? Jacksonville's got good players,
[13:37] Speaker 1: a good team, playoff team. You know, it's easy if
[13:40] Speaker 1: you're the Jets or the Browns to go grab five
[13:42] Speaker 1: starters in the draft. It's much harder when you're the
[13:44] Speaker 1: Jacksonville and you had a team that at the end
[13:47] Speaker 1: of the year was averaging over 30 points a game offensively.
[13:50] Speaker 1: They lose Travis to ATN, don't love it, but they've
[13:54] Speaker 1: got a pretty solid staff.
[13:55] Speaker 2: Not a lot of rookies are going to walk in
[13:56] Speaker 2: and start for the Jags.
[13:59] Speaker 1: And against the Cleveland team, and I think Cleveland's GM's
[14:05] Speaker 1: done a really good job, but last year, They played
[14:08] Speaker 1: more rookies than anybody, if I recall. This year, they're
[14:10] Speaker 1: going to play five or six more rookies. They had
[14:12] Speaker 1: an excellent draft. Cleveland is young, and the quarterbacks have
[14:15] Speaker 1: been splitting snaps. And you've got a first-year head coach. Like,
[14:19] Speaker 1: would you be surprised if Jacksonville won that game 34-10?
[14:24] Speaker 1: I would not. So those are two teams and two
[14:30] Speaker 1: games that kind of jump out to me. The Colts
[14:32] Speaker 1: at home. Daniel Jones is healthy. That's a handful. That's
[14:37] Speaker 1: going to be a really difficult team to beat. And
[14:41] Speaker 1: everybody knows I like Chris Ballard. The Colts are a
[14:45] Speaker 1: great example in the NFL that you can do a
[14:47] Speaker 1: lot right. But if you don't have a star or
[14:50] Speaker 1: an A quarterback, it is hard to win games in
[14:52] Speaker 1: this league. And Daniel Jones was playing at that level
[14:54] Speaker 1: early last year before he got hurt. So keep your
[14:57] Speaker 1: eye on the Colts. I have the Colts as a
[14:58] Speaker 1: team battling for a playoff spot along with Jacksonville to
[15:01] Speaker 1: the very last weekend of the year. And... Other games
[15:06] Speaker 1: that are fascinating to me is, you know, we know
[15:10] Speaker 1: Denver's the team. I was texting with Sean Payton last week.
[15:18] Speaker 1: Denver's a fascinating team. They led the NFL in sacks
[15:22] Speaker 1: and allowed the fewest. Just that alone. If I said
[15:26] Speaker 1: to you, there's this team, they sack your quarterback and
[15:30] Speaker 1: pressure him regularly and you never sack theirs.
[15:34] Speaker 2: You'd be like, oh, it's a playoff team. And myself
[15:37] Speaker 2: and others look.
[15:37] Speaker 1: At them and go, yeah, I know, but they trailed
[15:40] Speaker 1: in 15 games last year, won 14.
[15:44] Speaker 2: There has to be some sort of regression to the mean.
[15:47] Speaker 1: Now, they may not trail in 15 games this year
[15:49] Speaker 1: by adding Jalen Waddell, another year of snaps for Bo Nix.
[15:53] Speaker 1: Maybe they only trail in seven games this year and
[15:55] Speaker 1: win four or five. But Denver's a fascinating team because
[15:58] Speaker 1: in week one, they're getting points against Kansas City. And
[16:01] Speaker 1: it's like we all acknowledge that. that Kansas City appears
[16:06] Speaker 1: to be better, but Mahomes off of surgery. Kenneth Walker's
[16:09] Speaker 1: a good running back, but could he last a year?
[16:12] Speaker 1: They've got a rookie corner, no longer Trent McDuffie, and
[16:15] Speaker 1: you cross your fingers on their left tackle, Josh Simmons' availability. Like,
[16:20] Speaker 1: if you're telling me what roster do I like, and
[16:22] Speaker 1: I respect Kansas City top down. It's like Denver. Denver's
[16:25] Speaker 1: got a top five roster in the league. Eagles, Lions, Rams, Seahawks, Denver.
[16:31] Speaker 1: Those rosters feel different. Those rosters feel different. So that's
[16:36] Speaker 1: just an interesting number to me. Bet who you want,
[16:39] Speaker 1: but Denver getting points, Jags only giving up a little
[16:44] Speaker 1: more than a touchdown, Colts getting the hook at home.
[16:47] Speaker 2: Those are interesting games. And yes, I will do a
[16:49] Speaker 2: blazing five. Who's kidding?
[16:53] Speaker 1: Who?
[16:54] Speaker 2: It's not going to be that successful. I just bake
[16:56] Speaker 2: it in right now. It's not going to be a
[16:58] Speaker 2: great one.
[17:00] Speaker 1: So.
[17:01] Speaker 1: Got through another summer, getting very close. John Middlecoff and
[17:05] Speaker 1: I will be doing a podcast, an hour plus, on Monday.
[17:11] Speaker 1: And I will be locked in If you're listening to this,
[17:17] Speaker 1: you're probably not a casual NFL fan, as you know.
[17:20] Speaker 2: Neither am I.
[17:21] Speaker 1: Bud Light understands that our passion runs deep. They've given
[17:24] Speaker 1: us a chance to do more than just live and breathe.
[17:27] Speaker 1: Our NFL teams, we can drink them. Check out the
[17:30] Speaker 1: Bud Light NFL team cans. And more than that, you
[17:33] Speaker 1: can take your game day to the next level. Scan
[17:35] Speaker 1: the QR code on your Bud Light team can and
[17:39] Speaker 1: follow the instructions to enter for a chance to upgrade
[17:41] Speaker 1: your game day with prizes like NFL Plus Premium, NFL
[17:45] Speaker 1: Tailgating Essentials, and more. So if you do anything to
[17:48] Speaker 1: upgrade your game day, pick up your Bud Light team can.
[17:51] Speaker 2: Easy, huh? Bud Light, easy to drink, easy to enjoy.
[17:54] Speaker 2: No purchase necessary. Open to U.S.
[17:56] Speaker 1: Residents, 21 plus. See official rules at BudLight.com. Upgrade your
[18:01] Speaker 1: game day for free entries, prizes, and details. Message and
[18:04] Speaker 1: data rates may apply. Void or prohibited. Enjoy responsibly. Copyright
[18:08] Speaker 1: 2026 Anheuser-Busch.
[18:09] Speaker 2: Bud Light Beer. Light Beer, St.
[18:11] Speaker 1: Louis, Missouri. 2026 NFL Properties LLC, all NFL-related trademarks are
[18:16] Speaker 1: trademarks of the National Football League. All right, NFL on
[18:19] Speaker 1: Netflix is back. Week one of the upcoming season features
[18:23] Speaker 1: the division rivals Rams against the San Francisco 49ers. Just
[18:27] Speaker 1: a great rivalry, head-to-head. First ever regular season game in Australia,
[18:34] Speaker 1: airing on Netflix live from the Melbourne Cricket Ground, Thursday,
[18:39] Speaker 1: September 10th, 8.30 p.m.
[18:41] Speaker 2: Eastern Time.
[18:42] Speaker 1: Heading into the holiday season, Netflix will add the NFL's
[18:45] Speaker 1: first ever Thanksgiving Eve game. That's November 25th to its play,
[18:50] Speaker 1: featuring the Packers visiting the Rams at SoFi Stadium.
[18:54] Speaker 2: That may be a.
[18:54] Speaker 1: 60, 70, 30 Packer crowd. Continuing the Christmas Day tradition,
[19:00] Speaker 1: Netflix again has two games, one on Christmas Day. Green
[19:03] Speaker 1: Bay Packers visit the improved Chicago Bears at Soldier Field
[19:07] Speaker 1: 1 Eastern, followed by the Buffalo Bills against the Denver
[19:10] Speaker 1: Broncos from Empower Field at Mile High, 4.30 p.m.
[19:13] Speaker 2: Eastern.
[19:13] Speaker 1: Then in Week 18, with playoff stakes on the line,
[19:17] Speaker 1: catch the final game of the regular season live on Netflix.
[19:19] Speaker 1: Watch Week 1 of the NFL on Netflix, starting with
[19:22] Speaker 1: the Rams against the Niners, live only on Netflix Thursday,
[19:25] Speaker 1: September 10th, 8.35 p.m.
[19:26] Speaker 2: Eastern.
[19:34] Speaker 1: I will say this. I want to go back, pivot
[19:36] Speaker 1: back to college football. There's only four games right now
[19:41] Speaker 1: in the Blazing Five that I really feel strongly about.
[19:46] Speaker 1: I got to tell you, Texas minus one and a
[19:49] Speaker 1: half hosting Ohio state.
[19:51] Speaker 2: I like the Longhorns. First of all, for as poorly
[19:55] Speaker 2: as they played in Columbus.
[19:58] Speaker 1: The game was close and Ohio state was a really
[20:00] Speaker 1: good team.
[20:00] Speaker 2: And Ohio state at home is an exceptional team. All right.
[20:04] Speaker 1: So, uh, Texas also not only, um, is a loaded
[20:09] Speaker 1: team this year. But at the key positions, they bring
[20:13] Speaker 1: back really talented people. Quarterback, left tackle, edge rusher, and weapon.
[20:20] Speaker 1: Those are really essential positions. You know this and I
[20:22] Speaker 1: know this. All positions are not the same. In the NFL,
[20:27] Speaker 1: you got to get the coach, the quarterback, left tackle,
[20:30] Speaker 1: a weapon, and a pass rusher. You can win a
[20:34] Speaker 1: lot of games with average linebackers, so-so safeties, and a
[20:39] Speaker 1: decent but not a great interior offensive line. But there
[20:42] Speaker 1: are places, college and pro, that if you have special
[20:46] Speaker 1: players at those positions, it will pay off. Texas has it.
[20:51] Speaker 1: So All-American, potentially an edge rusher, quarterback, left tackle, and
[20:57] Speaker 1: wide receiver with an experienced coach. The criticism on Sark
[21:01] Speaker 1: is in big games, hasn't played particularly well, a little
[21:04] Speaker 1: soft in big games. Listen, when you're Texas, there's a
[21:08] Speaker 1: lot of big games. You're everybody's big games. I always
[21:11] Speaker 1: said this about Muhammad Ali. Everybody that fought Muhammad Ali
[21:14] Speaker 1: in his prime was the biggest fight of their life.
[21:17] Speaker 1: You know, like that's a hard, when I was a
[21:19] Speaker 1: kid growing up, the Raiders were unbelievable. I mean, they
[21:23] Speaker 1: were so many different things. They were iconic. It was
[21:26] Speaker 1: Kenny Stabler. It was John Madden. It was Super Bowls.
[21:30] Speaker 1: It was Lyle Alzado. It was Cliff Branch. It was
[21:32] Speaker 1: Fred Belitnikoff. It was Raider Nation. They were just so
[21:36] Speaker 1: many things. They were great. They were historic. They had
[21:41] Speaker 1: like an edge, almost a anti-corporate edge there. And for
[21:47] Speaker 1: years and years, when I'm a Seattle Seahawks fan, and
[21:51] Speaker 1: the Seahawks entered the NFL in the mid to late 70s,
[21:54] Speaker 1: like 77, the Seahawks gave the Raiders fits at the kingdom,
[21:58] Speaker 1: gave them fits.
[22:00] Speaker 2: Well, I was a Seahawks fan.
[22:01] Speaker 1: The Raiders were the game of games, even bigger than
[22:04] Speaker 1: Elway and the Broncos.
[22:05] Speaker 2: Coming to the kingdom. The Raiders are coming to the kingdom.
[22:09] Speaker 1: And I can remember at some point, the Seahawks beat
[22:12] Speaker 1: the Raiders again in Seattle. And one of the Raider players,
[22:16] Speaker 1: it could have been Lester Hayes, said, I'm so tired
[22:19] Speaker 1: of people calling them an expansion franchise.
[22:22] Speaker 2: Like they got good players. And when I was younger.
[22:27] Speaker 1: I can remember the great Yankee teams, like with Reggie
[22:30] Speaker 1: Jackson coming to the Kingdome and the Mariners had some
[22:32] Speaker 1: success against the Yankees. And so like every, it didn't
[22:36] Speaker 1: matter if it was June, it didn't matter if the
[22:38] Speaker 1: Mariners were 27 games out of first, when the Yankees
[22:41] Speaker 1: came to town- It.
[22:43] Speaker 2: Was a much bigger game for those Mariners than it
[22:46] Speaker 2: was those Yankees.
[22:48] Speaker 1: And so, you know, I think when you're the Texas
[22:54] Speaker 1: Longhorns and I hear you don't win a lot of
[22:57] Speaker 1: big games, they got a lot of big games. And
[23:01] Speaker 1: it feels like that game means so much more to
[23:05] Speaker 1: Texas because Texas is representing the SEC in that game.
[23:09] Speaker 1: Over the last several years, the Big Ten has been
[23:12] Speaker 1: much better in bowls and in the playoff than the
[23:14] Speaker 1: SEC has. And the SEC dominated college football for two decades.
[23:17] Speaker 1: So it does feel like this is a very crucial
[23:20] Speaker 1: year for the SEC to make a statement early in
[23:24] Speaker 1: the season. And that is a statement game. And so
[23:27] Speaker 1: I think Texas is at home. They're kind of carrying
[23:31] Speaker 1: the SEC banner. They've got All-Americans at the right spot.
[23:36] Speaker 1: And it feels like it really matters a lot for
[23:41] Speaker 1: the Longhorns. And they have a brutal road schedule. So
[23:44] Speaker 1: you lose here a home game, and Texas understarts not
[23:47] Speaker 1: losing home games. You lose here, and this thing could
[23:50] Speaker 1: go sideways. I mean, you could be a really good team.
[23:54] Speaker 1: Remember last year with Texas. There was a real argument
[23:57] Speaker 1: they should have been a playoff team, but they had
[23:58] Speaker 1: won too many losses. Well, you start looking at that
[24:01] Speaker 1: schedule in road games, college kids don't play on the
[24:04] Speaker 1: road at the same level pro athletes play on the road.
[24:07] Speaker 1: I mean, the NFL now, they say largely home field
[24:10] Speaker 1: is a point and a half. Forever, it was like
[24:12] Speaker 1: three to three and a half. Now it's a point
[24:14] Speaker 1: and a half because, you know, teams on the road,
[24:17] Speaker 1: they take... I was talking to a player about this
[24:21] Speaker 1: several years ago. He's like, man, when you go on
[24:22] Speaker 1: the road now, you take all the comforts of home.
[24:26] Speaker 1: It just doesn't, especially if it's a close road game,
[24:29] Speaker 1: it's Steelers to Ravens or Ravens to Bengals. It's just
[24:31] Speaker 1: not traveling that far. It's just Green Bay to Chicago.
[24:34] Speaker 1: It just doesn't matter anymore. Best team wins. Best coaching
[24:38] Speaker 1: staff wins. Best quarterback wins. But college is different. A
[24:42] Speaker 1: lot of college kids are young. They haven't done a
[24:44] Speaker 1: ton of traveling. You know, you're not you don't have
[24:47] Speaker 1: the elevated. You're in a small town. You're in a
[24:50] Speaker 1: normal hotel. You know, this is not pro football where
[24:54] Speaker 1: like road feels like road. Right. There's a big difference
[24:59] Speaker 1: if you're a Buckeye playing in Ohio State and then
[25:02] Speaker 1: playing in West Lafayette. OK, doesn't mean you're not going
[25:06] Speaker 1: to win, but it feels like it doesn't feel like
[25:08] Speaker 1: the comforts of home. So in college, I still generally,
[25:11] Speaker 1: when two great teams play, remember I said this a
[25:13] Speaker 1: couple years ago with Ohio State and Oregon. I said,
[25:16] Speaker 1: Oregon's going to win at Autzen. Ohio State will beat
[25:19] Speaker 1: them later in the year. And I feel the same way.
[25:22] Speaker 1: I think Texas wins this one. If they meet again,
[25:25] Speaker 1: I'd probably take Ohio State. I think Ryan Day is
[25:30] Speaker 1: just a tremendous coach who, because he doesn't have a
[25:33] Speaker 1: brand like an Urban or a Saban or a Harbaugh,
[25:38] Speaker 1: he just wins a bunch of games.
[25:40] Speaker 2: You just forget how damn good he is. He doesn't
[25:44] Speaker 2: have a sweater vest.
[25:45] Speaker 1: It's just Ryan Day wins 88% of his games, and
[25:50] Speaker 1: the Buckeyes always come to play in.
[25:52] Speaker 2: The big ones. They may not win them all. They
[25:54] Speaker 2: come to play.
[25:55] Speaker 1: Texas in big games, those Georgia games, felt like they
[25:59] Speaker 1: weren't ready to play. That said, I would take the
[26:02] Speaker 1: Longhorns close in that one.
[26:04] Speaker 2: All right.
[26:06] Speaker 1: Blazing Five's around the corner. John Middlecock podcast is around
[26:11] Speaker 1: the corner. I'm going to go golf today. Not particularly well.
[26:15] Speaker 1: It's not going to be pretty. Don't care about that.
[26:17] Speaker 1: It's about the effort. And for the record, Friday, USC
[26:27] Speaker 1: plays Fresno State.
[26:29] Speaker 2: About a 21.5 point favorite. My guess is it's a
[26:34] Speaker 2: night game. A few people will show up.
[26:37] Speaker 1: I know, nobody cares about USC football in Los Angeles.
[26:41] Speaker 1: My guess is the Fresno State-USC game. It's going to
[26:46] Speaker 1: be a nice crowd. A little cooler.
[26:50] Speaker 2: Fresno's not that far of a drive.
[26:54] Speaker 1: LA fans hearing about, SC fans hearing about what lousy
[26:57] Speaker 1: fans they are, they'll show up.
[27:00] Speaker 2: Hydrated. At least until half. When they'll get lubricated. All right,
[27:06] Speaker 2: that's it. We'll talk soon.

Shows are listed from Apple Podcasts' charts and directory, and Podcast Index where it is used. Every show and episode belongs to its publisher and plays from the publisher's own feed; this site hosts none of them.