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Thanks for listening to the best of out Kick the Coverage

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podcast. Be sure to catch us live every weekday

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morning from six to nine am Eastern three to

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R. This is the best

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of OutKick the Coverage with Clay Travis

0:22

on Fox Sports Radio. I

0:28

gotta tell you, it's

0:30

nice to be able to come back and

0:32

start off the show talking

0:34

about and officiating controversy,

0:38

after all of the dilimma, after

0:40

all of the the boucles, after all

0:42

of the arguments, after everybody being

0:44

in everybody's throats. I love

0:47

that sports fans can all have watched

0:49

the NFL and have finished

0:52

off Sunday Night Football and

0:55

thinks of themselves even though

0:57

you may not love the Cowboys, even

0:59

though you mighty ain't the Cowboys, Jerry

1:02

Jones's team got screwed on

1:04

Sunday Night Football. You cannot

1:06

call pass interference in that situation.

1:10

You one billion percent cannot

1:12

call especially

1:15

offensive pass interference in that

1:17

situation. Jalen Ramsey

1:19

just got paid seventy one million

1:21

dollars plus, and I felt like I was

1:24

watching an NBA superstar in

1:26

the paint flop and draw a

1:28

call. That's what sounded like

1:30

to me. Now, I don't know what was going

1:32

on all game. It's possible

1:34

that there had been some borderline

1:36

plays before that, and I believe it

1:39

was Michael gallup right was the receiver that

1:41

made what would have been an incredible play

1:43

to put the Cowboys into a position to take

1:45

a shot or two potentially at trying

1:48

to score the winning touchdown there. But

1:50

instead the offensive pass

1:53

interference is called and as

1:55

a result, the game officially

1:58

ends. Now, there are lots of

2:00

things you can point to if you are

2:02

the Dallas Cowboys about that performance

2:05

and say, you know what, we

2:07

had a lot of opportunities

2:10

to win that football game. There

2:12

are a lot of things that you can

2:14

circle back around on. But to me,

2:16

what I'm thinking, outside

2:19

of that call, which I think was

2:21

the wrong call, what I am

2:23

thinking, if I am a Cowboy fan

2:25

waking up this Monday, is you know

2:28

what, we looked like the exact same

2:30

team all that time

2:32

that people spent detigrading

2:35

Jerry Jason Garrett and

2:38

saying, oh, all the Cowboys need

2:40

is a new head coach. They went and

2:42

got Mike McCarthy, and can you honestly

2:45

say anything other than that

2:47

looked like the exact same Dallas Cowboy,

2:49

Dallas Cowboy team. And what

2:51

I mean by that is if the Dallas Cowboys

2:54

had lost that game. They went one in six

2:57

in one possession games last

2:59

year, and after every one of those

3:01

close losses, people circle back

3:03

around and they said, this is Jason Garrett's

3:05

fault. If we just had

3:07

a new coach that's been for like the last seven

3:10

years, however many years it's been with the Dallas

3:12

Cowboys. All you Cowboy fans

3:14

listening to me right now, know that

3:17

reflexively, at the end of that

3:19

game, you wanted to be like, this was Jason

3:21

Garrett's fault. What

3:23

if you just are what

3:26

you are? And

3:28

that's that's a tough thing to like sit around and

3:30

have to stare in the mirror and think about, if

3:32

you're the Dallas Cowboys, what

3:34

if it's not about your head coach, what

3:37

if this is just what the Cowboy organization

3:40

is. They're good enough

3:43

most of the time to beat

3:45

bad teams, but when

3:47

push comes to shove and

3:49

they have to find a way to beat good

3:52

teams. Most of the time

3:54

they come up short when push

3:56

comes to shove, and they have to find

3:59

a way to win in close games. Most

4:01

of the time they come up short. They are now one

4:04

in seven in their last eight

4:06

close games. They haven't

4:09

been able to find a way to get

4:11

it done. And you

4:13

can blame Jason Garrett, but Jason Garrett

4:15

ain't there anymore. And I bet

4:17

somewhere in his hotel as

4:20

he got ready to coach

4:22

with the Giants, Jason

4:24

Garrett took a little bit of joy

4:26

in this outcome. You

4:28

never want to get fired and

4:31

have the people that you get fired and

4:33

replaced by have tremendous

4:35

early success. You

4:37

want for those people to struggle. I

4:39

guarantee you right

4:41

now, Monday morning, Jason

4:44

Garrett woke up with a little bit of a smile

4:47

on his face. Not because he hates the Cowboys,

4:49

not because he's rooting against Dak Prescott,

4:52

not because he dislikes Jerry Jones,

4:55

but just because when you've been

4:57

the guy who was blamed for everything

5:00

going wrong, it's nice

5:02

for somebody else to have something go

5:04

wrong and you have nothing to do with it. I

5:06

guarantee you that when

5:08

you're the president of the United States, when

5:11

your term is over and

5:14

you have been getting blamed for everything

5:16

for four or eight years, you

5:19

don't want your successor to fail.

5:22

I think most people want their successor

5:24

to do well. But I bet when

5:26

that first crisis comes up and

5:29

the new president starts having

5:31

to wear it and you don't

5:34

have to be responsible for it, there's

5:36

a little bit of an enjoyment factor

5:39

and just saying, man, it's nice

5:41

to see somebody else having to wear it.

5:43

And this morning, Mike

5:45

McCarthy is having to wear a loss for

5:47

the Dallas Cowboys, And the truth of the matter

5:50

is he didn't bring magic

5:53

star dust with him. The Dallas

5:55

Cowboy offense didn't look much different

5:57

than it looked like with Jason Garrett.

6:00

That was an offense that looked

6:02

explosive at times, mediocre

6:05

at times, and you left saying, I

6:07

don't really know about the choices they

6:09

made from a play calling

6:12

perspective, the exact same criticisms

6:14

that there would be out there. Dak Prescott

6:17

through the ball thirty nine times,

6:20

didn't get to three hundred yards average

6:22

is six point eight yards one touchdown,

6:24

He got sacked he got hit way too often.

6:26

He was just okay. Ezekiel

6:29

Elliott got the ball more, but he didn't

6:31

look explosive. He wrote,

6:34

feed me, he got a ridiculous tattoo.

6:37

Can you imagine Ezekiel Elliott

6:39

as a grown ass man with

6:42

that tattoo on his belly?

6:44

Feed me with a spoon. It doesn't

6:47

look good at It ain't

6:49

gonna look good at thirty five or forty

6:51

five or fifty five. You don't

6:53

want to be the dad with the ridiculous tattoo

6:55

at the pool, especially when you're Ezekiel

6:58

Elliott, and you probably are gonna end up

7:00

fat. Everybody's gonna be looking at you at the pool

7:02

saying, yeah, we know you got fed. You

7:04

know getting fed many playoff wins, though Dallas

7:07

Cowboy fans thinking that we ain't gotten fed

7:09

too many playoff wins over the last twenty

7:11

five years. You fed Ezekiel

7:13

Elliott and he ran for four yards

7:16

and carry. He didn't exactly take

7:18

the game over two

7:20

carries ninety six yards, all right, not

7:23

a real game breaker. I don't know why they didn't throw

7:25

to him more out of the backfield. He

7:27

made the one big play in the passing game

7:30

Amari Cooper was okay.

7:33

Ceedee Lamb is supposed to be incredible, just

7:35

okay, made one play down

7:37

the field. I just looked at this and said,

7:40

this didn't feel like a fundamentally different

7:42

team than what I saw before. You

7:45

got out gained by the Rams. You

7:48

had the ball late, with an opportunity

7:50

to win after starting off last year

7:52

one in six and one possession games. Jerry

7:55

Jones is sitting there on the sideline pumping

7:57

his fist. It's go time, and you didn't go

7:59

anywhere. Now, partly that's because

8:01

a bad call was made, but if you go look

8:03

at all those play at all those plays

8:07

on that final drive, the Dallas

8:09

Cowboy offensive line got whipped up

8:11

front time after time after time. Dak wasn't

8:14

comfortable in the pocket. They knew he had to throw.

8:16

Obviously he made one

8:18

place scrambling with the football, but never

8:20

really put them in a position all night

8:23

long. You don't ever lose a

8:25

game because of one play, and the Dallas

8:27

Cowboys over the course of that game lost

8:29

on the line of scrimmage more than they want. They

8:32

weren't able to control the game.

8:35

I thought that the Rams looked like the

8:37

more physical team

8:39

even though the Rams weren't incredible

8:41

running the football, they were

8:43

the more physical team. I thought

8:45

they took the battle to the Cowboys. And,

8:47

by the way, for Cowboy fans out there saying we didn't

8:49

get the call, you almost knocked

8:52

Jared Goff's helmet off and

8:55

he threw an interception on the play.

8:57

You went on and scored on that drive, and

9:00

that call wasn't made either. So

9:03

arguably that was a big call that went in

9:05

your favor that you didn't have any business getting.

9:08

It. Also, rarely comes down to

9:10

any one call. All right,

9:13

that's the Dallas Cowboys. Props to the Rams.

9:15

How amazing did Sophi Stadium look? By

9:17

the way, I think there should be fans in

9:19

there. I think there should be fans at every game. But it looked

9:21

absolutely phenomenal. Other big

9:23

storylines, we got a lot to unpack. Thank

9:26

god the NFL is back. How about

9:29

Cam Newton and the Patriots. You

9:31

want to talk about a guy who looked different. I

9:33

just said that I didn't think the Dallas Cowboy

9:36

offense looked any different at all. How

9:38

about Cam Newton? How healthy

9:41

did he look? Fifteen carries,

9:44

seventy five yards two rushing touchdowns

9:46

fifteen and nineteen passing. You

9:48

thought it. I thought it. Everybody

9:51

out there in America thought it. Bill Belichick

9:53

got himself a steal a

9:56

million dollars for an NFL

9:58

m v P. That suddenly looks like he has

10:00

a lot to prove. Cam

10:03

was phenomenal in Week one. He

10:05

looked totally different than he did

10:07

last year. Maybe that's coaching.

10:10

Not a lot of difference between Jason Garrett

10:12

and Mike McCarthy. I think there's probably

10:15

quite a bit of difference between what Cam

10:17

had, even though Ron Rivera got a nice win

10:19

for the Washington Redskins and what

10:21

goes on in New England

10:24

with Bill Belichick. They found

10:26

a way to win. Even though I don't think the Patriots

10:28

are that good this year. Cam

10:30

is a lot of fun to watch. And how

10:33

about Brady versus Brees.

10:35

Drew Brees found a way

10:38

to get the win and

10:40

Tom Brady looked pedestrian.

10:43

I think it's early with the Tampa

10:45

Bay offense. I love what he's

10:47

eventually gonna be capable of. Brady with

10:50

Godwin and Evans, and

10:52

certainly with O. J. Howard and Cameron Brad

10:54

and Rob Gronkowski, They're not

10:57

there yet. Remember

10:59

this offense just added Leonard four Net.

11:01

They're just starting to come together.

11:04

That new or in the New Orleans

11:07

team on offense has been working together for

11:09

a long time. Taysom Hill,

11:12

Michael Thomas, Alvin Kamara.

11:14

They're a well oiled machine. I

11:17

think me and you and probably

11:19

others expected a little

11:21

bit more from Brady and

11:23

all of his offensive teammates. But remember they didn't

11:25

get the opportunity to play any preseason games. They

11:27

didn't get the opportunity to test out their

11:30

ability to get going and

11:32

kind of get their pacing and their timing and their rhythm

11:34

together. So my expectation

11:36

would be while at times

11:39

you saw flashes of

11:41

what could be an explosive Tampa

11:43

Bay buccaneer offense, we aren't

11:45

there yet, but I

11:47

saw some signs that we're gonna

11:49

be there before the season is over.

11:52

And my goodness, there

11:55

were a ton of other monster

11:57

stories that we're going to dive into as well.

12:00

How about the Ravens. How about Joe

12:02

Burrow making his debut. You talk about

12:04

a questionable offensive past interference

12:06

call. I thought the A J Green call

12:09

a little bit questionable. Philip Rivers

12:11

makes his debut gets whipped

12:13

by Gardner Minshew. Nobody saw that

12:15

coming. A lot of your survivor pools went

12:17

up in smoke. In fact, the Cardinals

12:20

and Kyler Murray, they go on the road against the NFC

12:22

champ and find a way to win as a seven point underdog.

12:25

And then you have teams like the Browns

12:28

who find a way to stink every year, team

12:30

like the Lions who should be able to win

12:32

but couldn't do it. And how

12:35

about the unbelievable

12:38

collapse of the

12:40

Philadelphia Eagles in their

12:42

seventeen nothing lead that they gave up

12:45

to the Redskins. All of that

12:47

much to be discussed. This is the

12:49

time we live for NFL and

12:52

college football. I got you some updates coming

12:54

on the Big Ten the latest there. Joel

12:56

Clatt will join us an hour to This,

12:59

my friends, is a loaded program.

13:01

We have got so many different discussions

13:03

to get into as we roll into

13:05

the break. Are tough in

13:08

general here for the Cowboys

13:10

as well. I didn't even mention this because I feel like it's kind

13:12

of piling on but Layton vander

13:14

esh with a broken collar bone,

13:17

as if things did not go poorly enough,

13:19

I didn't want to really kind of pile on with the injuries,

13:22

but I probably should mention that as well. He just

13:24

can't stay healthy. He'll be out

13:26

for a substantial time. What is it in the

13:28

collar bones with the Dallas Cowboy

13:30

players? Obviously Tony Romo had a

13:32

lot of issues with his collar bone as well. This

13:36

is outkicked the coverage with Clay Travis.

13:41

Al Right, there are a couple of things. We talked a lot about

13:44

what we saw taking place in

13:47

the NFL in terms of on the field

13:49

running through all of it, but I told you I

13:51

wanted to discuss the off

13:54

the field related incidents. Now. I hope

13:56

that this is going to disappear because

13:58

I told you if you listen to on Friday

14:01

after the Thursday Night Show, I told

14:03

you that CBS, NBC,

14:06

Fox, and ESPN, because

14:08

they lost hundreds of millions

14:10

of dollars during the Colin Kaepernick

14:12

protests, that they basically had all

14:15

gotten together and said, hey,

14:17

we are not going to allow

14:20

anything to distract from

14:22

our ability to put on football

14:25

games, even during the coronavirus

14:27

mess. Everything else, particular, maybe

14:29

particularly maybe even during

14:31

the coronavirus mess, because all of these companies

14:34

are even more desperate to make

14:36

money on the NFL now than

14:38

they have been in past years because everybody,

14:41

especially in the advertising business that's

14:43

relying upon the advertising business, has just been

14:45

hemorrhage in cash. But there was

14:48

one particular decision to me that

14:51

blew up a lot of the rationale

14:53

for all of the arguments

14:56

in favor of protesting, and

14:58

that was the Baltimore Ray. So

15:01

they made the decision in the off season that

15:03

they were going to play the so called black

15:06

national anthem, lift every

15:08

voice and seeing before the

15:10

actual national anthem at

15:12

NFL games, and several different

15:14

teams made the decision, Hey, we're

15:17

going to just stay in the locker room. We're

15:19

not gonna come out for either anthem,

15:21

and that was, for instance, the Miami Dolphins,

15:23

and I thought the Miami Dolphins, whether you agree or

15:26

disagree with that decision, the

15:28

Miami Dolphins who got whipped by the way

15:30

by the New England Patriots who were all standing

15:32

for the national anthem, and CBS, if

15:34

you're watching that broadcast yesterday, they

15:36

were cutting back and forth between the

15:39

two guys, two teams, one

15:41

the Miami Dolphins standing in the locker room,

15:43

the other the New England Patriots

15:45

standing on the sideline, most of them with their

15:48

hands on their hearts, getting

15:50

ready for the kickoff of the season.

15:53

But the Miami Dolphins, we

15:55

played this for you on Friday,

15:57

I believe it was we played you there

15:59

statement where they said, hey, we don't want to be a distraction

16:02

and we don't want people looking at

16:04

what we're doing during the back black national

16:07

anthem and comparing it to what we're

16:09

doing during the national anthem, so called

16:11

black national anthem compared to the

16:13

national anthem. Uh. And

16:15

so that to me

16:18

immediately set off Well, this is gonna

16:20

be interesting, right. I was sitting around thinking about it

16:22

before. What are you gonna do

16:24

if you have a team that stands

16:26

for the black national anthem

16:29

and then they all kneel, or a lot

16:31

of them kneel for the national anthem,

16:34

That's not gonna make very much sense. Well, we

16:36

did have a team do it, and it was the Baltimore

16:38

Ravens, And in particular,

16:41

to me, that blows up

16:43

the argument that you're not

16:46

acknowledging that there is

16:48

a form of respect involved

16:50

for the anthem, because

16:52

if you are standing for the black

16:55

national anthem, which many,

16:57

almost all of the Ravens did

17:00

it, I think two players knelt for it,

17:02

and then you are kneeling for the national

17:05

anthem itself, which the

17:07

majority of the Baltimore Ravens did,

17:10

then what you are saying is we

17:13

have respect for the Black

17:15

national anthem, but we don't have

17:17

a respect for the national anthem.

17:20

And there is no way you can

17:22

logically argue for

17:24

the difference of treatment between

17:27

the two without going directly

17:29

to respect for the

17:32

song itself. If

17:34

you're gonna kneel for the national

17:37

anthem, then you should be kneeling

17:40

for the Black national anthem.

17:42

There's no logic here for the Baltimore

17:45

Ravens other than to argue they're

17:47

intentionally choosing to disrespect

17:50

the United States national anthem,

17:53

and that is, I believe, a

17:55

really bad look for the Baltimore Ravens.

17:59

Now Fully, for the Baltimore Ravens

18:01

case, the media stops

18:03

covering it, all of the

18:05

protests surrounding the national anthem and everything

18:08

else, because it's become a carnival

18:10

sideshow of ridiculousness and

18:13

it's actually not having any impact at

18:15

all. In fact, if you saw

18:17

the video of a man

18:19

in Compton, California, walking

18:22

right up and shooting to l a police

18:24

officers. You can argue

18:26

that all these athletes protesting

18:29

are actually having the exact opposite

18:31

impact. They are making it more

18:34

dangerous for police, and they are

18:36

more making it more dangerous for suspects.

18:38

Neither side treats each other

18:41

with very much trust, because

18:44

if you're a police officer, you

18:46

anticipate that you might be a victim at

18:48

any point in time, and if you you're

18:50

a suspect, you anticipate that you

18:52

might be a victim at any point in time

18:54

as well. And so that's why

18:56

I could argue, I think legitimately

18:59

that all of these protests have

19:02

led to many more police officers

19:04

being shot and killed, and many more

19:07

people in general in the cities

19:09

being shot and killed as well, because shootings

19:11

have skyrocketed since the George

19:13

Floyd protests began, and so

19:15

have murders and all the major cities in America

19:18

because police are afraid to do their job.

19:21

And when police are afraid to do your job, people

19:24

in inner city neighborhoods become even

19:26

more likely to be victims of violent

19:29

crime. And so honestly,

19:33

if people were looking at the data and

19:35

making legitimate arguments based

19:37

on the data, they would be saying

19:39

what athletes are doing with sports

19:42

is putting everybody more danger and

19:45

I don't know why. More I know, I

19:47

know why people in my industry won't say

19:49

it because they're afraid of the media

19:52

mob coming after them. Oh my god, how dare

19:54

you criticize athletes who are using their platform

19:57

to make statements that are so important? Actually,

20:00

it's a strong argument that the statements that

20:02

athletes are making are actually

20:04

creating more divisiveness in this country

20:06

and leading to more death and

20:08

more murder and more violence. And

20:11

certainly you can argue it if

20:13

you saw the reaction to the police

20:15

officer shootings in l A.

20:18

I hope those officers are gonna be okay.

20:21

It sounds like they are the most recent

20:23

updates that I have seen. But both

20:25

of them are still hospitalized and

20:27

they did absolutely nothing.

20:30

They were ambushed while sitting

20:33

in their police cruiser by

20:35

someone that I hope they catch in

20:38

the Compton section of l A. But

20:40

to me, this should be a

20:43

big story. An athletes should have to

20:45

answer the question. For the Baltimore Ravens,

20:48

why did you decide to stand

20:50

for lift every Voice and seeing

20:52

the black national anthem and then

20:55

kneel for the United States National anthem,

20:58

because by acting and behaved, even

21:00

in a manner that's different for those two

21:02

songs, you are choosing,

21:04

in my opinion, to respect

21:06

one and disrespect the

21:08

other. Otherwise, your behavior

21:11

during both of those songs should

21:13

be the exact same. And

21:15

I think that's why the Miami Dolphins, I don't think

21:17

it. It's what they said, that's why they chose not

21:19

to come out for both songs because

21:22

they didn't want to create that difference

21:24

of behavior. And people say,

21:26

well, they're not disrespecting the anthem by choosing

21:28

to kneel, Well, then why did they choose to stand

21:31

for the other anthem?

21:33

There's no logic to the argument there.

21:36

It is, I think, a really bad look

21:38

for the NFL, a really bad look for

21:40

the Baltimore Ravens, and a really

21:42

bad look for anyone

21:45

who is trying to justify the

21:47

decision being different for both of them.

21:50

If you decide to kneel for all the songs, all

21:52

right, I understand that that's your perspective,

21:54

that your prerogative, but making a

21:57

decision to stand for one and kneel for the other

21:59

doesn't make any sense at all. Be sure to catch

22:01

live editions About kicked the coverage with Clay

22:03

Travis week days at six am Eastern,

22:06

three am Pacific, Play

22:08

Travis here about to talk with Joel Clatt

22:10

at Joel Clatt on Twitter. We

22:12

missed you on Friday, but you had a well

22:15

of a football game. Be

22:17

honest. Did you feel bad at all when

22:19

you woke up and realized that you had slept

22:21

through the interview with us for

22:23

Friday morning? Yes, because and here's

22:26

the the there was only one reason. Not

22:28

for you personally, because of course not,

22:31

but but because I have done

22:33

morning radio, so like I know, and

22:36

it's you know, it's it's uh, you know, you're

22:38

probably in the one and four. It is probably

22:40

going to be still sleeping in, particularly when you're

22:43

when you're out, you are no. I mean

22:45

that's started. Like people don't understand this, but

22:47

when you do solo radio and

22:49

you have guests scheduled in the morning. I used

22:52

to have a midday show and then I had

22:54

a afternoon show, and

22:56

people might miss you as a guest,

22:58

but usually you could get them right

23:01

like, oh, we missed them for ten minutes. Now we've

23:03

got them. We'll go to break, we'll catch up with them.

23:05

Because everybody's awake. But when you

23:07

do morning radio, like, people

23:10

sleep through it all the time. And I'll be honest, I

23:12

came on people probably don't even remember this. There's

23:14

probably tape somewhere on

23:16

this radio program as a guest

23:19

a couple of times. But I also

23:21

slept through it a couple of times. And once,

23:23

like once I agreed to do it, and

23:26

I didn't even know I was agreeing to Morning

23:28

Like. They were kind of slick about it. They were like, hey,

23:30

can you do six twenty And I

23:32

was like, oh, yeah, it's Fox Sports Radio National.

23:34

Just call my cell and then and then

23:36

I got a call. I remember waking up in the morning and

23:38

being like, who was calling me from l A

23:40

at you know six in the morning.

23:43

Yeah, six twenty am. Big difference

23:45

between six twenty am and six twenty pm

23:48

in terms of your ability to do a show. Uh,

23:50

And so I I totally get that now.

23:53

Positive like, you guys, this is maybe

23:55

it'll have to happen a few times before all of a sudden

23:57

done, even for your crew in particular.

24:00

But you guys were all set to call Baylor Louisiana

24:02

Tech and then they have to cancel that

24:05

that game it's literally like the last minute,

24:07

So you get bumped up to Kansas

24:10

State and uh and you end

24:12

up calling Kansas State hosting Arkansas

24:15

State, which was a whale of a football

24:17

game. I mean, incredibly exciting the end

24:19

of the day as far as competitiveness goes.

24:21

But how much of a wacky thing

24:23

is that to suddenly be anticipating in for

24:26

one game and then you have to do a national

24:28

television game for two entirely different

24:31

teams. Yeah, I mean listen,

24:33

and you you know me fairly well, I'm

24:35

pretty you know O c

24:38

D. If you will type a

24:40

about my preparation and

24:43

yes, like Monday's I do the same thing. Tuesday's

24:46

they do the same thing. And then to me, that

24:48

process is what gives me confidence

24:51

on Saturdays. And so when

24:53

you on Wednesday night have to throw everything

24:55

in the trash and start over, it's

24:59

in readibly difficult, like

25:01

incredibly difficult. So um

25:04

yeah, yeah, I mean there's a lot of storylines

25:07

that I wished I would have gotten

25:09

into more, one of them being just

25:11

the depleted roster at Arkansas

25:14

State. But to be honest with you, I

25:16

was still trying to figure out who was on the field

25:18

for them anyway.

25:22

Um, but man, it was it was a really

25:24

good game. They were down eight

25:26

starters at one point, you know, and

25:28

and their wide receiver Jay Adams.

25:31

Jonathan Adams is a great

25:33

player, and I'm glad that he got that stage

25:35

because let's be honest, right, Arkansas

25:37

State's not gonna get like Gus and I

25:39

at noon on Fox. Ever, and

25:42

they get us, and they have their first Power

25:45

five wins since oh six, you

25:47

know, on the road, and Jay Adams basically

25:49

announces to the NFL like, hey,

25:52

I'm a great player. So good

25:54

for them. Man. I was very happy for Blake Anderson,

25:57

that entire crew, and and in particular

25:59

Ja Adams. It was fantastic. I mean, it's

26:01

possible he made himself several million dollars

26:04

with that performance. I mean I don't think that's an exactly absolutely,

26:07

there's no doubt. There's no doubt about

26:09

it, which is to me is why

26:11

you know, some people have asked me, like, why do you Gusts

26:13

get so excited? I'm like, well, partly because

26:15

of that. This dude's out there Mosston people,

26:18

and I'm just thinking to myself, the Scouts are going

26:20

to absolutely love this tape and

26:22

and it's his probably best

26:25

competition that he'll face all year long. So

26:27

um awesome, awesome time.

26:30

From that perspective, what did

26:32

it feel like to be calling a game

26:34

in that setting? And how much impact

26:37

do you think on the game itself

26:39

it had in Kansas State versus

26:42

that stadium being completely full

26:44

in what was a pretty competitive down

26:46

to the wire game. In other words, if that's because

26:49

do you think Kansas State wins finds a way to win?

26:51

Is that at four point swing in the point swing,

26:54

I I think that execution in

26:56

the red zone tends to be so much

26:58

more difficult on the road.

27:00

And and even though they fumbled a couple

27:03

of times, and you know, I

27:06

I don't know. I don't think that the crowd

27:08

was gonna change the outcome of that game,

27:10

to be honest with you, Clay. And the reason is is because they

27:12

were dominant on both lines of scrimmage.

27:14

But like if if they were clearly

27:17

the overmatched team and they got the breaks

27:20

and capitalized and it was like this was

27:22

the only way we were gonna win, I might

27:24

say, like, boy, that might have been different with a crowd

27:26

and momentum and still on and so forth, But

27:29

it was it was not like that they dominated

27:31

on each line of scrimmage. They're they're

27:34

outside players made better plays. You know,

27:36

I've told I thought that they were just a better

27:38

team, to be honest with you. And it didn't matter if there was

27:40

gonna bet thousand people in their twelve

27:42

thousand people. What happened to the Big twelve?

27:45

The I mean, I mean,

27:48

I feel like you know about that.

27:50

Ordinarily, you know me, I would have been taken shots

27:53

at the Big Twelve. I would have been having fun with it on

27:55

Twitter. But maybe I'm just getting

27:57

soft now. But I'm just so excited

27:59

to have college football back that

28:02

usually if a conference had a day like

28:04

the Big Twelve did, you'll lose at

28:06

home? Iowa State did, right,

28:08

Yeah, you'd kill him, you know, Like I mean, Louisiana

28:11

Lafayette, congratulations to them surging

28:13

into the top twenty five. Uh, that was

28:15

a fun game to watch, But they were the better team.

28:17

You just said on the line of scrimmage.

28:19

Arkansas State was the better team than

28:22

Kansas State on that day. Uh,

28:24

you barely got past I mean Texas Tech.

28:26

I saw sitting out a tweet one and oh you

28:28

know, they barely survived against I think

28:31

it was Houston Baptist that they were playing against.

28:34

I mean, it was a I

28:36

don't want to call it a disaster, but it was

28:38

as close to a disaster on the

28:40

field as you could have And what would

28:43

ordinarily be a season it would have been a massive story.

28:45

Everybody would be killing the Big Twelve. But I've

28:47

just kind of like glad the Big twelve is playing

28:50

and that any games are going on. But

28:52

I mean, that was a that was

28:54

a heck of a day for the Sun Belt, but

28:57

for the Big Twelve. I mean, I mean,

28:59

that's one of the worst days we've seen for an out a conference

29:01

performance. Yeah, now,

29:04

let me try to give at least some

29:07

perspective because

29:09

we've seen the SEC have days like this, a

29:12

CEC certainly Big ten has had

29:14

days like this. And at

29:16

the end of the day, what really carries

29:18

the mail like the biggest brands,

29:20

right or your two or three best. And

29:23

Texas looked unbelievable and Oklahoma

29:25

looked unbelievable and Oklahoma State

29:27

didn't play. So I

29:30

don't want to go overboard, but you're right. Everything

29:32

you just said is is absolutely right. There's there's no

29:34

doubt about that. I was struck.

29:37

And maybe it was because the game

29:39

I did has Arkansas stayed

29:41

playing their second game, But

29:43

I was struck in my conversations with their

29:45

coaching staff and even some of their players

29:48

that everything was about the game, right.

29:51

They didn't really talk about like, well, we hope

29:53

we get enough negative tests

29:55

in order to play. We hope

29:57

this, we hope that, you know, like a

30:00

everything was about, well, we want to do this against

30:02

Kansas State. We want to do that against Kansas State. This

30:04

is where we feel good, this is where we It

30:06

was a normal conversation about

30:09

the game, like I would have with any other

30:11

team in any other given year.

30:13

When I got to Kansas State, it

30:16

was almost like, man, you know,

30:18

we're just excited to play. Let's

30:20

hope we get all the negative tests. On Friday,

30:23

Chris Klemen said, I've done everything

30:25

except coach football. Um, we

30:27

had to stop down. They dealt with

30:30

the social justice issues,

30:32

uh in particular within their team, stopped

30:34

down for that, did the marches. It

30:37

felt like everything but football

30:39

and the Kansas State building. And then that's exactly

30:41

how it played out on the field, right.

30:43

And I think to some extent, Kansas

30:45

State thought that they were going to roll their helmets out there,

30:48

and probably Iowa State felt the same way.

30:50

And these other programs with huge chips on their

30:52

shoulders came in there, and

30:55

guess what, when you don't have an off season and a spring

30:57

bowl and everything like that, there's

30:59

a good che so you can get beat. I think I saw somewhere,

31:02

if I'm not mistaken, where Louisiana Lafayette

31:04

had several spring practices. Um.

31:07

I can't remember if they were one of the

31:09

teams that got all eleven or or

31:11

someone else, but I know Arkansas State

31:13

got about eight practices in no one

31:15

else got that type of an off season. Maybe

31:18

all that's a contributing factor. But again,

31:20

I'll go back to a lot of these teams, in

31:22

particular in the Power Five, are focusing

31:24

on and dealing with everything but football

31:27

right now, and I think that that hurt

31:29

them and at least these non league games,

31:31

which is not gonna affect the SEC because

31:33

they're going to have these non league games. Yeah,

31:36

and it's gonna also be fascinating because

31:38

usually when we're deciding who's

31:40

the better conferences are, we use these out

31:42

of conference games. Is an interesting measuring stick,

31:45

but you just hit it the SEC is playing ten in

31:47

conference, even the A s

31:49

C they're playing ten conference games, they're only

31:51

playing one out of conference, and we haven't really seen

31:54

any embarrassing results from them.

31:56

And then you did say what I do think is the probably

31:58

the biggest selling point for a Big twelve. It

32:01

was Texas and Oklahoma looked really good. Oklahoma

32:03

State hasn't played yet. Those are going to be

32:05

the two or three teams that are contending for the

32:07

Big Twelve title. Probably we'll see

32:10

what happens with Baylor. Obviously they

32:12

had a really big turnaround with Matt Rule,

32:14

and we'll see how sustainable that is with him gone.

32:16

But that's probably your spin if you

32:19

are a Big twelve fan. The teams

32:21

that we thought were gonna be good still looks good.

32:23

It's not like we got major upsets involving

32:25

our title contenders. Yeah, I

32:27

mean, that's what I would hang my head on, right. So,

32:30

um, I am excited to see

32:32

Texas, to see Oklahoma. I thought Spencer,

32:34

by the way, Spencer Rattler is

32:37

a I like Jalen Hurts a

32:39

lot, but he is a massive upgrade,

32:43

a massive upgrade. I watched the film

32:45

already over the weekend and wow,

32:47

he made some throws that we had we did not

32:49

see last year period. So

32:51

how crazy is that for Oklahoma to

32:53

go from I mean when you really break it down,

32:56

Baker Mayfield to Kyler

32:58

Murray to Jalen Hurts now to

33:00

Spencer Rattler, you think he is just a natural

33:03

next step all along, like they're

33:05

gonna have another stud at quarterback without missing

33:07

a bat. How much

33:09

of that is? How much that is Lincoln? How

33:12

much of that is Lincoln Riley? Remember back in the day,

33:14

like Steve Spurrier, it was like it didn't even matter

33:16

who he put in at quarterback. You knew they were gonna throw

33:18

for three hundred and four touchdowns because

33:20

the system was just so good. Is

33:23

that what Lincoln Riley has got rolling

33:25

right now? But the difference is Spurrier

33:27

had some guys who were never actually any good

33:29

in the NFL. It seems like Oklahoma's

33:31

doing a pretty good job. If you saw what Kyler Murray

33:33

did yesterday. I know Baker has been up

33:36

and down. I mean it was the number one overall pick. I

33:38

mean he may not payan out in the NFL. But

33:40

and then Jalen Hurts, We'll see with Carson

33:43

Wentz's injury history. I feel like he's gonna get

33:45

in. I mean, it seems like he's not only

33:47

doing what Steve Spurrier did, but he's

33:49

doing it with guys that are truly

33:51

elite level quarterbacks. Do you think Spencer Rattler

33:53

is that guy? Yeah, I

33:56

absolutely do. I'd be really private. He's

33:58

not kind of a Heisman finalist caliber

34:00

player this year. Of course, we'll see if he plays

34:02

all the games. You know, hopefully you can avoid COVID,

34:05

he can stay healthy, um

34:07

all of those things. But his armed talent is is elite.

34:10

His his movement, his his ability to

34:12

make decisions process information. He's

34:15

really really good. And to your point about you

34:17

know, is that the quarterbacks is that the system. It's

34:19

obviously a combination of both. These guys are

34:21

all really good players, but I think

34:23

it should be noted. I think that the best thing that Lincoln

34:25

does is not just quote unquote the system,

34:28

but the fact that he uses the system

34:30

and morphs it to fit the strength

34:32

of what his quarterback can do. Bet the

34:34

Baker Mayfield offense was just a little

34:36

bit different than the Kyler Murray offense, which

34:39

was very different. I felt like at least

34:41

from the Jalen Hurts offense, which is now

34:43

going to look very different from the Spencer

34:45

Rattler offense. So he's gonna take this system

34:48

and he's gonna tailor it too, and

34:50

and really maximize the

34:52

element of the offense that I

34:54

think are going to focus on the strength of

34:56

the quarterback that he has. I think

34:58

he would have had the success Tanner Mordecai as

35:00

well, you know. I mean, he's just he's

35:03

the best offensive coach in college

35:05

football. I think Ryan Day is probably right behind

35:08

him, but it's at this point like it's he's

35:10

he's way up there, Clay. I mean, look at what

35:13

he's been able to do, regardless of the players

35:15

that he's got up there. Um,

35:18

I want to ask you, let's go into the big ten here

35:20

for a minute. Um, obviously you had

35:22

the Big twelve playing, you had the A C. C playing. Let

35:24

me before I get to the big ten. Trevor

35:26

Lawrence, I don't know if you said you watched the Spencer Rattler

35:29

film. I watched the entire

35:31

Clemson game. And I'm

35:33

gonna be honest, Jill, If if Trevor Lawrence

35:35

stays healthy, and that's always

35:37

true, but I think it's probably even more true obviously

35:40

in in this year. But if he

35:42

plays every game, I just

35:45

I don't see. I mean I watched Georgia Tech and Florida

35:47

State play. I mean that looked like a pillow fight.

35:50

Um, I watched my Notre

35:53

Dame did not look good against Duke. Like, I

35:55

just don't see any way that Clemson is not

35:58

in the College Football Playoff? Are

36:00

you with me?

36:01

I mean,

36:04

they are just so much better than everybody else

36:06

in the YEA and they

36:09

could still lose a game, Joel. They don't

36:11

even have to be perfect, and they're still

36:13

going to make the playoff well,

36:15

and but they're not going to lose a game. That's

36:17

agree with Last year, the only

36:20

the only team to play him in the a c C within

36:22

a score was North Carolina,

36:24

right, and they didn't play well and they ended up beating them.

36:27

Um, it was within a score. Every other

36:29

a CEC team they played and they beat

36:31

and it wasn't like, oh, double digits. So two

36:33

scores by thirty one or more.

36:37

Think about that.

36:39

That's that's over four touchdowns.

36:42

That's like four tugs and a field

36:44

goal. That's the margin between them and the

36:46

rest of the league. It's not even close. So

36:49

not only are they just like gonna walk into

36:51

the playoff, but whoever's

36:54

there to meet him, you know, Bama

36:57

better, Bama better hope that they don't

36:59

stumble a few times times in the ten league

37:01

ten game conference schedule. So it'll

37:03

be interesting, man. But Clemson is is certainly,

37:07

I think, in a class by themselves.

37:09

Right now, all right, let's go to the Big

37:11

Ten. I just talked about to open the second

37:14

hour of the program. I was talking about what

37:17

I was seeing and hearing about the Big

37:19

Ten. That I'm optimistic they're going to be back

37:21

to play potentially starting October

37:24

seventeenth, that they're trying to put together a

37:26

plan that would allow them to

37:28

finish their season by December nineteenth

37:31

with the Big Ten championship game, and then

37:33

potentially get a team, whether it's Ohio State,

37:36

Penn State, whoever, the champion

37:38

of the Big Ten is into the playoff.

37:40

What are you hearing and are you

37:43

also optimistic that things are moving in

37:45

that direction? Yes, I'm I'm

37:48

I'm very optimistic. Um.

37:51

Remember now, though I'm one of those

37:53

guys, someone you know asked me sarcastically

37:56

the percentage chance that we had a college football

37:58

season, and this was two months ago,

38:01

and I replied, a season

38:03

of some kind of some sort, and I A, yeah,

38:08

it's correct. And I also said,

38:10

and there will be fans in

38:12

some locations to some extent, which

38:15

is also proven to be correct. And I

38:17

am I will tell you right now, the

38:19

Big Ten is playing right

38:21

like it's it's happening, whether

38:24

it happens October, October,

38:28

November, you know, early November by Thanksgiving,

38:30

so I don't know exactly when, but

38:33

they're they're coming back like they're coming

38:35

back, and the push to get them back as soon

38:37

as possible this October seventeenth

38:39

day that you're hearings because they feel

38:41

like they could have an eight maybe nine game

38:44

league schedule, have a championship

38:46

game, and still be included into

38:49

the college football playoffs. It should be

38:51

noted I feel like the

38:53

loudest and most impactful and influential

38:55

voices in the room and leading this discussion

38:58

are Ryan Day, the head

39:00

coach of Ohio State, Jane Smith, the idea

39:02

at Ohio State, their team doctor, and their

39:04

president. Those are the people that are pushing

39:07

really hard. Why because you

39:09

just talked about Clemson and how good

39:11

they are, and I certainly agree. I think personally

39:14

that Ohio State is

39:16

the second best team pretty clearly

39:19

in the country. They are really,

39:21

really talented, and they are dying

39:23

to get a chance to play for a national championship.

39:25

So I think that the conference knows that

39:28

that would be better for the conference. I think

39:30

that now with some of the PCR

39:32

testing and Anergin testing that you can do

39:34

in particular in five, ten, fifteen

39:37

minutes, is going to make this a much better vote

39:40

from a medical perspective. And

39:42

and the Big Ten is gonna come back, man, It's

39:44

it's just a matter of when at this point.

39:47

And and I think as far as

39:49

I'm as far as I've been told Clay,

39:52

the presentations over

39:54

the weekend regarding an October

39:57

start went and I quote really

40:00

really well end quote that's

40:03

a good sign. So if

40:05

they come back, then the big question

40:07

will be what do they need to do

40:09

and how many games do they have to play in order

40:12

to be able to quote unquote qualify for the playoff?

40:14

Like that's gonna be It could potentially turn into a debate

40:16

because right because if they come back on October

40:19

seventeenth, is the reason. You know, kind of looking

40:21

at it, you're hoping that you can

40:23

basically find a way to play every week,

40:25

right or eight weeks at least,

40:27

get at least eight games in. What are

40:29

they going to say about, is there a minimum number

40:31

of games that you have to play in order to

40:33

qualify for the college football Playoff?

40:36

I don't know. Obviously, the SEC

40:38

is gonna look around and say, wait a minute, we're playing ten

40:40

conference games. Uh.

40:42

The irony here would be if Ohio

40:44

State in the Big Ten try to say, oh, we're playing

40:46

eight, and the SEC sends, wait

40:48

a minute, you know, like we've got unequal

40:51

unequal bargaining power here. Um,

40:53

because that could turn into an issue, right, I

40:55

mean, the positive is trying to fight

40:57

their way back. I mean you're bringing

41:00

up all great points, right. Um, there's

41:02

there's no doubt. And I'm sure that there's gonna be some minimum

41:05

level of games in order to qualify. I'm

41:07

sure of it. Now. Having said that, you

41:10

know, these these conferences

41:12

owned the playoff. The n c A doesn't,

41:14

which means but the A, C, C, SEC

41:17

and Big twelve have a say,

41:19

and they're not happy

41:21

with the Big Ten. The Big

41:23

Ten put these conferences in

41:27

really bad position, that's

41:29

right, because everybody, you know, they were like,

41:31

why aren't you canceling? Look at the Big ten,

41:34

look at the Pack twelve, and so you

41:37

know, these conferences are not

41:39

gonna want to do the Big ten any favors,

41:41

period. So I think that

41:43

that's kind of the next political

41:46

battle within college football, and I think

41:48

it could get, to be honest with you, really nasty

41:51

um, just because I don't

41:53

think that those three conferences are going to try

41:55

to do the Big ten any favors. And

41:57

you know, if I was in their position, I certainly

42:00

see their point. Joel, we'll talk

42:02

to you maybe Friday. Hopefully

42:04

you'll answer the phone if we call. Do you know where you're gonna

42:06

be? Second times the charm, I'm back

42:08

in Baylor. We're gonna try it again at Baylor. We got

42:10

the Houston Baylor game that came together in thirty seconds

42:13

thanks to Joel Klatt. We'll talk to him later

42:15

in the week. This is

42:18

outkicked the coverage with Clay Traffic.

42:26

A lot to dive into, obviously,

42:28

on the first Monday after a

42:31

nearly complete college football schedule,

42:34

uh and certainly after a

42:36

nearly complete NFL schedule. We got a

42:38

couple of Monday night football games. I always think

42:40

the opening Monday Night football of

42:42

the year, when we've got the East Coast Monday Night

42:45

football and the West Coast Monday Night football

42:47

is awesome. And frankly every

42:49

year I feel like I make the same argument, which

42:51

is, man, I wish we had to Monday

42:53

night football games all

42:56

year round, because I think it's cool

42:58

to be able if you're on the West Coast to have of a

43:00

West Coast or Mountain Monday night football

43:02

game. And I also think it's cool to have

43:05

an East Coast so when you come home that game is going

43:07

on. But we had an absolute bevy

43:09

of games going on over the course of

43:11

the weekend, so many different storylines

43:14

to get into. Appreciate all of you hanging

43:16

out with us, and you know who didn't stink And

43:19

I think a lot of you watched and you thought to

43:21

yourselves, Oh, Cam

43:23

Newton, and I'm gonna bring in

43:25

dub here to talk about him with me because you

43:27

are an Auburn fan. Dub Cam

43:30

Newton is one of the best all

43:32

time front running quarterbacks.

43:34

What I mean by that is there are some quarterbacks

43:37

who are so mentally tough that

43:39

even when they lose, you

43:41

know that things are still gonna be fine

43:43

with them. Cam. It seems

43:45

to me like has always been

43:48

a player that when things

43:50

start rolling for him, he

43:52

can get that role going. We

43:54

saw it with Carolina the year

43:56

they went seventeen and one, when

43:58

he was the n L m v P and the

44:01

n L m v P, the m v P of

44:03

the NFC. Uh

44:05

and then he got into the Super Bowl. Is

44:08

in an m v P of the entire

44:10

NFL, but the best quarterback in the

44:12

entire NFL, And then he was a seven

44:14

point favorite. Everybody expected that he was gonna

44:17

be coordinated. Basically, Denver

44:19

Broncos took it to him and he

44:21

never really ever has

44:23

gotten back. But I watched

44:25

him playing yesterday

44:27

and I thought to myself, oh,

44:30

Bill Belichick might have gotten one

44:32

of the greatest steals of all

44:34

time. He replaced one m

44:36

v P in Tom Brady

44:39

with another m v P, and

44:41

look, Cam only threw the ball nineteen times.

44:44

He completed fifteen of them, but

44:46

he ran the ball fifteen times.

44:48

And he is such an unbelievable

44:51

talent in the backfield that

44:53

when he's healthy, he's hard to stop,

44:55

he had two rushing touchdowns. Suddenly,

44:58

Bill Belichick has got a wrinkly didn't

45:00

have for twenty years with Tom

45:02

Brady and boom, he is

45:04

bringing in an unbelievable

45:07

talent and uh, the stat

45:09

that I saw. I mean, there's so much to get to him and talk about

45:11

more about the Brady Belichick the dynamic

45:14

to start off our three. But dub

45:16

you were an Auburn fan. You've seen Cam

45:18

Newton and how dominant he can be. Did

45:21

you not get the feeling watching the Patriots

45:23

play against the Dolphins. Oh,

45:26

this is potentially gonna be

45:28

a heck of a season for Cam Newton,

45:31

and man, it feels like Belichick got another

45:33

steel. Absolutely, I personally

45:36

I thought this was the story of the day

45:38

yesterday on the first NFL Sunday

45:40

back from uh Corona

45:42

and all that. Because you mentioned fifteen Russia

45:44

attempts, that's the first time Cam

45:46

Newton's had fifteen plus rush attempts since

45:49

October of two thousand fourteen. That's

45:52

a long time. Because this is the healthiest he's ever been.

45:54

He's Belichick basically has him on a

45:56

one year rental. So how do you treat

45:58

a rental? I mean, He's gonna Cam Newton

46:01

the way that Cam Newton should

46:03

be played because he's not necessarily worried about

46:06

the future of exactly

46:08

so. And frankly, I don't think Cam

46:10

can be worried about five years from now because

46:13

he has to go balls to the wall in this

46:15

one year and prove that

46:17

somebody needs to sign him to a four

46:19

or three or five year extension, right

46:22

like, this is his opportunity to demonstrate

46:24

I still got enough juice to be a

46:26

starter in this league. And if you

46:28

can't win with Belichick, you're probably not gonna be

46:30

able to win with anybody. But this is

46:33

potentially a seventy five

46:35

or a hundred million dollar season

46:37

for Cam, right And that's why I've been saying he's

46:39

the number one story of this

46:41

NFL season because his ceiling could

46:43

be so high and his floor

46:45

could be so low. And the same thing can be true

46:47

with the Patriots, absolutely, And the one

46:49

thing that Belichick and the Patriots have always excelled

46:52

at his situational football, the

46:54

third and shorts, the fourth and shorts, they

46:56

got the biggest weapon in the NFL as far as I'm

46:58

concerned for those exact situation, So

47:01

I think the Patriots are going to be very,

47:03

very dangerous. Tell me if you've heard that one before. Just

47:07

when you think that we don't have to worry

47:10

about this team anymore, they go and

47:12

they get an unbelievable weapon. Fox

47:14

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47:18

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