HC of BC football Bill O'Brien joins! Does O'Brien like the current College Football Playoff format? What would he change?
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00:00Bill, good morning, happy new year.
00:03Morning guys.
00:04Happy new year to you guys.
00:05How's it going?
00:05How were your holidays?
00:08Everything was good.
00:08Yeah, we were in New York city, you know, so we had Christmas
00:11down there in Times Square, so it was good except for the game.
00:15But, uh, yeah, you know, we live to see another day.
00:18That's correct.
00:19On to 2025.
00:21Am I right about that?
00:22Yeah.
00:23That's right.
00:24Uh, Ohio state suddenly looking like the, the best team in the
00:28country, I would say.
00:30Yeah, they, um, they, they took that Michigan game and, uh, they,
00:36they've turned that into motivation.
00:38They, they look like a very, very good team.
00:40No doubt about it.
00:41Is, is, is, can you argue that Jeremiah Smith is the best wide
00:45receiver in college football?
00:47Yeah.
00:47I mean, I was, you know, I was there for a month and I will tell you that kid
00:52for a freshman, um, is probably one of the hardest working young guys I've ever seen.
00:57I mean, he was in the building every day.
01:00You know, this was like, you know, whenever in January work in, um, you
01:05know, great kid, pretty humble kid.
01:07You know what I mean?
01:07Like quiet.
01:08Uh, yeah, he's, he's, uh, he's an amazing player.
01:12Bill, do you like the expanded playoff format and what would you
01:15change maybe going forward?
01:19I would, you know what, I would probably change the way they seeded
01:23the, the, the teams or, or, or at least reseed it.
01:26I mean, not, you know, look, I don't know.
01:28I'm not trying to take anything away from anybody.
01:30I mean, you know, we got another game today at four, but, uh, the
01:36teams are very deserving, but you know, you look at Penn state, you
01:39know, playing SMU and, uh, and Boise state, you know, look, those are
01:44two good teams, but Penn state's an excellent team.
01:47So, you know, I guess at the end of the day, you've got the right teams
01:51probably going to end up in the final four, but maybe the seating would change.
01:54I've always said too, I think 16 teams would be, would be the perfect, the
01:58perfect number, but maybe that's too long of a season, but I think
02:0116 teams is a good, is a good, good number.
02:04Well, they can change that after this next season, after 2025, they can add teams.
02:11I think it's, I think it's 12 through next season.
02:13They, but they are talking about the buys going to the four highest ranked teams
02:20as opposed to conference championship.
02:21Uh, you're that's what you're saying, right?
02:23You'd rather that.
02:24Yeah.
02:24And I think, yeah, and I think you might want to do away with like the conference
02:28championship games and try to get, you know, look, try to try to do the best
02:32you can to get, you know, the 12 best teams, um, you know, regardless of, you
02:40know, regardless of what, if they've won 11 games or 10 games or more or whatever
02:44it is, I think you've got to try to get the 12 best teams, you know, the game
02:47yesterday, the best game yesterday was, you know, the, uh, Arizona state,
02:52Texas school and that was an awesome game, that was an incredible game.
02:55You know, that kid scataboo for, for Arizona state, what an amazing game.
03:00But, but yeah, if they, if Bill, if they could revote the Heisman,
03:03would he get it after yesterday?
03:05I mean, he should, I mean, he wasn't even invited.
03:08I mean, Oh my God, he did everything.
03:10He ran, he threw, he caught, I mean, he did everything for that team.
03:14And I think he had a nasty hangover.
03:16I mean, it was, uh, he was up on the side.
03:18Well, I mean, I was nervous about concussions with the way
03:21you looked on the sidelines.
03:23Yeah.
03:23Was he, I don't know.
03:24Was he sick or was he throwing up?
03:28And then my, my question, my question in that game is what is targeting?
03:33Like, I don't know.
03:34I don't know what targeting is.
03:35I mean, that, that, that hit that the Texas kid had at the end of the game.
03:40I mean, I don't know.
03:42I think that was helmet to helmet, but I mean, I guess
03:44the evidence was inconclusive.
03:46Not sure.
03:47Is being a college kicker, maybe the worst job in the
03:50entire world's like, I looked at that game yesterday and I can't
03:53imagine being that boy's parent.
03:55Like I, if I have a son one day, God willing, he can't be a kicker.
04:02Yeah.
04:02Yeah.
04:03They always say that when you, when you look at the specialists, um, you know,
04:07there's not a lot of pressure on the punter, but there's a whole lot of
04:10pressure on the kicker, you know what I mean?
04:11So it is a tough, tough position to be in, uh, for that kid.
04:15But, you know, in the end they won, you know, Texas one.
04:18And that was a, that was an unbelievable game.
04:21So Quinn yours, it seems like has a $6 million offer waiting to go to
04:30the portal as opposed to the NFL.
04:33I, there seems like there's so much wrong with this.
04:38Where do you stand on that?
04:40Season's not even over.
04:43Yeah, no, it's, it's, it's, uh, it's incredible.
04:46It's ridiculous.
04:47Like to, first of all, you can't even prove that, you know what I mean?
04:52Like there, there's gotta be a system in place where, um, you
04:58know, each team has a salary cap.
05:01Um, there there's gotta be documentation contracts.
05:06I mean, there has to be, and to me there does, like, I think I've
05:10said this to you guys before that there's gotta be some type of college
05:15commission with a, with a college football commissioner, with a, you
05:18know, a cabinet of people underneath them that, um, is made up of, you
05:23know, retired coaches, retired athletic directors that understand football.
05:26Because, you know, who knows if that's true?
05:28Quinn yours is a great college quarterback.
05:30I mean, no doubt about it, but I mean, $6 million to, to, and
05:35who knows if that's true?
05:36It's not fair to the kid, you know?
05:37Right.
05:38But, um, yeah, it has to be changed.
05:40It has to be fixed in some way.
05:42Uh, Bill, do you think though, that there's a chance that something like
05:45this could actually help in the long run, the NFL product, like you look
05:49at the quarterbacks in this year's draft, like every guy that touches
05:53the football field can actually play.
05:54I mean, Michael Pennix, uh, Jaden Daniels, Bo Nix, we're all in college.
05:58It seems like forever.
06:00And those reps help them in the long run.
06:02And then you're always going to have the uber talented kids.
06:04Like, you know, you're Drake Mays and you're Caleb Williams.
06:06So could this theoretically in the long run help the NFL quarterback product?
06:12There's probably, you know, you probably make a good point there.
06:15I don't know.
06:16I just think that like every year is a little bit different.
06:19I think when you look at this year's NFL quarterback class, you know, possibly
06:23it could go down as one of the best ones, you know, as we, as we see it play out
06:27over the years, because, you know, those guys were well-coached in college.
06:31They, they came into the league.
06:33They understood how to, you know, run an offense, read coverage,
06:37um, lead a huddle, things like that.
06:39You know, some years are different.
06:40You know, I'm not sure how much of it has to do with, you know, staying in school,
06:44getting paid NIL and getting all the reps, like you said, but, you know,
06:48you probably have a point there.
06:49Um, I do think, I do think when you look at like Jaden Daniels, I mean, that guy,
06:55he, he's, he's one of the better players I've seen a long time in that league,
06:59you know, to be able to come in there and play with the poise that he has.
07:02And, and to play with the ability to read coverage, it's such a different,
07:06it's so different shine in the NFL, um, than college when it comes to, you know,
07:11defensive scheme and the speed of the game and all those different things.
07:14But, you know, you probably have a point.
07:17You give a guy the opportunity to design one play and he suddenly thinks he's
07:20a head coach in college football.
07:23I mean, how far along, how far along are you on designing your play for bill?
07:27Uh, I need to run some stuff by Wiggy.
07:29Uh, Wiggy, Wiggy wants to give us a genre action pass, baby.
07:34Oh, it is.
07:35Oh yeah.
07:35Okay.
07:37Um, best playing football, Bill, is that okay?
07:40Is that fit in offense wise?
07:42Absolutely.
07:43Absolutely.
07:44We'll, we'll, we'll get it.
07:45We'll get it in the first game.
07:47No question.
07:47I have a name for it yet.
07:48Shine.
07:49Uh, yeah.
07:50Mashed potatoes.
07:50Okay.
07:53Bill, what's life look like for you right now?
07:56After the bowl game, you have guys that are starting to declare for the draft.
07:59What, what's the future for BC and how do you get there starting now?
08:04Good future.
08:05You know, really, really feel good about this program.
08:08Um, we recruit we're recruiting, right?
08:11So we, we actually have a guy coming in this weekend, um, a transfer portal,
08:16tight end coming in to visit us.
08:19Um, and then we head out on the road on Monday and, you know, recruit.
08:24And so I think that's the main gist of it for the month of January.
08:27And then February we come in back off the road and we start our
08:31off season program with our kids.
08:33You know, look at the end of the day, you know, like I was saying in the
08:36beginning, we lost to Nebraska, but you know, our guys fought, our guys
08:41fought hard and a lot of guys played in that Nebraska game that had
08:43not played a lot in, in, in the season.
08:46And so, you know, I think that bodes well for the future of the program.
08:51The majority of the kids that played in that game will be back for us next year.
08:54So, and with the addition of freshmen and transfers and things like that.
08:58So I feel really good about the program.
09:01We've got to have a great off season.
09:02We've got to do a really good job of kind of going back to the beginning
09:05and kind of start all over again.
09:07But, uh, we'll do that and we'll be back.
09:10If you were Gerard Mayo, would you be starting Drake May on Sunday?
09:17That's a very, very, very difficult question.
09:19I would tell you, Greg, that I would, um, because I believe that the kid is a
09:25competitor and you never want your team or your organization to, to think that,
09:31you know, what, when we go into the white lines that we're not trying to
09:35win at the, at the very highest level.
09:38And so I would play Drake May.
09:40Um, you know, if I felt like during the game that, that it was, it wasn't going
09:45well, that he was taking a bunch of shots, I'd probably take them out.
09:48But you know, going into the game, I think you've got to say to
09:51your team, to your organization.
09:53You got so many people in your organization.
09:55You can never give a cross or give the feeling that you're not trying to do
09:59your level best to, to, to win the game.
10:03Okay.
10:04If you were Robert Kraft, would it be tough to say no to
10:07Mike Vrabel if he wants this job?
10:11That would be a difficult question for me to ask.
10:14I think, well, this is what I would say, Greg, I'm, you know, I'm, I'm full
10:19disclosure, Mike Vrabel is one of my closest friends.
10:21Um, he's a great football coach.
10:24Um, he worked for me in Houston for a long time, uh, did an unbelievable job.
10:30And you know, he's, he's a hot commodity, right?
10:33But the question you have to say to yourself, I think is, do you
10:36give a guy more than a year, right?
10:38The guy's only been there for a year, right?
10:40And so do you, do you say, Hey, look, we've got to give this guy, you sign
10:44him to whatever, a four or five year contract, like we got to give him more
10:48than one year, uh, to, to see what he can do to see if he can, you know, get
10:53get the place on the right track.
10:55That's the question I have to answer in my, in my opinion, but Mike's a great
10:58coach, um, and Mike's going to have, you know, every one of these teams are
11:03going to, I believe are going to come after Mike to, to, uh, hire him.
11:07And he's, and he's going to have a bunch of options.
11:10You'd think he'll be coaching in the NFL though, this, this season.
11:13Yeah, no, no, no question.
11:15All right, Bill.
11:16Well, um, I appreciate you taking the time.
11:19Are we, are we taught?
11:20I think we're talking to you again next week.
11:21Cause we'll, we'll talk all things, college football and NFL and everything.
11:26So I appreciate you taking the time.
11:28Oh, you guys are great.
11:29Thanks for having me on.
11:29I appreciate it.