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00:00Wow. What an honor to have Terry Bowden on Sports Grid. You got to be kidding me. Rock
00:08star status, a legendary coach, a legendary family, 25 plus years as a D1 coach. Of course,
00:17the former national coach of the year at Auburn, many stops, always a winner. And as a Canes
00:23fan, I always had my problems with the Bowdens, just constant. They were like a hemorrhoid
00:29for me, my whole life, trying to beat the Bowdens. Oh, God, the agita, my heartburn.
00:35They probably caused my open heart surgery. Mafia, get my pills and a bottle of tequila.
00:40I got to deal with these Bowdens again. This is ridiculous. Coach, great to have you on
00:44the show. Let's start with tonight in Lincoln, Dominic Raola and the Huskers. And obviously
00:51Rule is a college coach. I never thought he could coach in the pros. But boy, in college,
00:58he's done great everywhere. And here he is again. He's got a quarterback in Lincoln.
01:02That place is going to be lit. But look, the Illini are 3-0 as well. Well, they're both
01:07kind of wanting to move themselves in the top echelon of the Big Ten. And Matt Rule
01:11has done a great job at Nebraska. Both teams are 3-0. But I think playing in Memorial State
01:17and playing at home, and Raola, the quarterback, is still in 73 percent. They have a great
01:22running attack, and so does Illinois. But I think the quarterback is the difference
01:26in this football game and the fact that they're playing in Memorial State. Now, I will say
01:31this. Brett Bielema has done a great job on the road. He's a veteran coach. He knows how
01:35to get his team ready on the road. He's 11-4 at Illinois against his friend on away games.
01:41So he knows what he's doing going into a big stadium.
01:44So USC and Michigan Saturday in the big house. We got a guy here that's a complete homerized
01:52milquetoast Michigan fan. He never stops with Michigan. And I don't think they're any
01:56good. They've already changed quarterbacks. They lost all those kids to the pros. And
02:01this kid Moss at USC means business. I love that offense to the Trojans. Again, they seem
02:07to be lighting it up like they used to.
02:10Well, quarterback and offense is the whole difference in these two teams. Michigan's
02:14still trying to find their identity. When you change quarterbacks in the third game
02:18after going through the spring and going for the summer and picking your starting quarterback,
02:22you got quarterback issues. And for Michigan, that means offensive issues. I mean, Southern
02:28Cal is going to pull ahead and Michigan is not going to be able to keep up. They both
02:31have good defenses, but I think USC like Tennessee, like Ole Miss, they attack you offensively
02:38in ways that are just a little more tough to cover than your typical team of the Big
02:42Ten.
02:44Utah and Cam Rising, who's on his fourth wife. He just had his 13th child in his 35th year
02:51of playing college football at Utah. I don't know how the Mormons get away with it. Oklahoma
02:57State hosting them in Stillwater. Boone Piggins, a tough place to play with all those punks
03:01down there. Coach?
03:03Well, you know what, Cam Rising is a thing. You know, he dislocated his finger, missed
03:07last football game. The word I've got out of there, Utah, is that he practiced on Tuesday
03:12and Wednesday. And you got to practice those days to get ready for a game. But that doesn't
03:16mean he practiced well. We're not hearing exactly. And that's tough. If you're an offensive
03:20lineman, you take that finger up and you play football. But when you're a quarterback with
03:24your right hand dislocated finger, I just don't know how that goes. If Cam Rising plays,
03:28they'll win the football game. If he plays, I think he's that much of a difference maker.
03:32They were the preseason favorite in the Big 12. And with him ready to go and throwing
03:36the ball well, I think that'll be the difference this football game.
03:40Did you really believe that just because he was there that they'd win the Big 12 in
03:45their first year going up in weight? I mean, that's like going up to fight light heavy
03:49when you're a super middleweight. I didn't think they'd win the conference. I think that's
03:53yet to be determined. I think they're going to have their hands full in Stillwater tomorrow.
03:57Oh, I don't think there's any question. If Cam Rising doesn't play, I think I'd go with
04:02Oklahoma State. And Oklahoma State's funny. They'll play good one week and bad the next
04:06week. You really don't know what you got last year. I believe they lost to South Alabama
04:10early in the season and then played great down the stretch. I just think Cam Rising
04:15is one of those quarterbacks that's a difference maker, you know, much like a Cam Ward at Miami.
04:20Maybe that's an over exaggeration because he's a phenomenal player, but I do think he
04:23gives them an edge in this football game. Now that the reason, again, I don't think
04:27the Big 12, there's not a team that just jumps out at you. There's not a team that jumps
04:31out and says, this is the big time. They've lost so many teams, like in Oklahoma and Texas
04:37in the old days. They're no longer there anymore. So I think that's a wide open conference where
04:42there may not be a great team. There's just which team ends up playing better than the
04:46other teams. Yeah, I'll tell you, like I used to have nightmares if I had to face about
04:51and on a Saturday, on Friday night, I, you know, I could get like an upset stomach. I'd
04:56get a headache. I couldn't drink. I started snapping at my family. The dog bit me. Same
05:01kind of thing. I think for the Canes tomorrow, having to go to Raymond James and deal with
05:05the South Florida Bulls, they gave Alabama a game for three quarters and then ran out
05:11of steam and got rolled a little bit by the tide. But they were in that game. Do you think
05:17they'll be in the game with Miami and destroy their high ranking and their big season and
05:22their big plans? You know, everybody's got Miami etched into the playoff. I've been
05:27suffering for 24 years with them. I'm not buying in yet that they're gonna win a national
05:33championship. I think they got a problem Saturday. Well, they're playing a good team. South Florida
05:38is not your typical G5 type of team. They've got a lot of talent. If you watch them against
05:43Alabama for three and a half quarters, they look talent wise about even up with it. But
05:48let me tell you something. If Cam Ward is playing, Miami is winning the football game.
05:52Will they keep it close for a while? Very well could. But I don't believe they can hang with
05:56Cam Ward and that football team. I think he's the most explosive, exciting quarterback to emerge in
06:01the country this year. And to me, Miami is now the favorite in the ACC. And so until I've watched
06:07him every game, and I'm a huge fan. And believe me, I'm a huge Cane fan myself, watching them
06:12play and how they have been playing. And when they're a great football team, it's just better
06:17for college football. And so I think they're going to beat you see USF, but USF and I don't
06:22know why they're playing in Raymond James. Usually, you pay those games out, you play those at home,
06:26but they've got to play that game at Raymond James against a good team. You're right,
06:30it may be closed for a while, but Cam Ward leads him too much offense, and they pull away.
06:35When you were a kid, and your dad was facing Miami, and that game every year.
06:43Where were you mentally? Were you scared of your dad and had to root for Florida State,
06:50or you wouldn't be fed as a child? Or did you ever appreciate the convicts down the street?
06:58Now listen, when my dad went to Florida State, I was only three years behind him. I was a graduate
07:04assistant in Florida State 1979 and 80. And I understood how intense that game was, all the
07:11way back to Howard Schnellenberger and all the great coaches that coached there and built that
07:15program up. That was as much a part of Florida State's history as it was Miami's history. But
07:21let me make you feel better, all I got to say is wide right. That cost my dad about three and a
07:25half championships, Miami cost him about too many wide rights. Respectfully, your father just turned
07:32in his grave. He's not having any of this conversation right now. I got to tell you,
07:36it blows my mind as we all get older, you and me both, right? Like you are starting to really
07:43look like your old man to me. I haven't seen you in a few years, but like Christ,
07:48when you came on the set today, I thought I was talking to your dad.
07:54Well, that's the only, my mentor was my father. I trained under him. I imitated him in my play
08:00calling, and I got caught trying to doing what he did. We got very, very good at Auburn. We,
08:05you know, we won our first 20 straight games at Auburn when I went there as a young coach,
08:09but that kind of got that TV bug. I did Auburn, then ABC came calling. And if you recall about
08:141999, I spent 10 years with John Saunders in New York and enjoyed that a lot. But coaching is what
08:21I love. It's been my passion. And now talking about football is what I got left. I think you're
08:27fantastic. I love having you on Sportsman. Real quick, real quick, I got 45 seconds. How do you
08:34think Tennessee will do in Norman against the Sooners? They're going to pull away. They're
08:39going to pull away from that team. Their offense is too much. Of course, Josh Heifel won the
08:42national championship at Oklahoma, and then Bob Stoops fired him later on. But the difference in
08:47these two teams are quarterback and offense. They're both playing really good defense,
08:51but Tennessee is going to pull away, and Oklahoma does not have enough offense,
08:55enough quarterback to keep up with them. Wow. I can't wait to talk college football with you
09:01all season long. What an honor. What a blast. That made my day. I was having a lousy day until
09:07you popped on the screen. I'm like, Terry Bowden, you've got to be kidding me. Listen,
09:12thanks so much. I had a blast. Enjoy all the games tomorrow, coach. It's great to have you on.