Check it out college football on the West Coast. This is Get Off My
Pilon, a look at the PAC twelve and more, part of the College
Gridiron Coast to Coast podcast network. Here's your host, Matt Zimon Welcome today's
edition to Get Off My Pilon college football podcast. This is your host,
Matt Zemach. We're part of the College GRIDIRN Coast to Coast podcast Network.
We're brought to you by ticket Smarter at ticketsmarter dot com and the ticket Smarter
mobile app. Get in the game with ticket Smarter and folks, you probably
want my thoughts on the Florida State snub from the playoff, You'll get them,
but that'll be in a separate standalone edition of this Get Off My Pilon
podcast. But over the course the college football season in association with College GRIDIRN
Coast to Coast, this podcast focuses on Western college football Pack twelve also a
little bit of Mountain West, So this episode is just gonna stay focused on
the West, but rest assured you will get a bone to stand alone Get
Off My Pylon on the Florida State snub and what it means so Washington is
able to do it and you know, I did think that Oregon was going
to blow the doors off this game. Washington had just been barely scraping by
Oregon, had been consistent and authoritative the past several weeks. But you know,
there is an art to navigating a full season thirteen games without a defeat,
and we've seen it really from several teams across the country. And you
know, now a few teams went thirteen to zero, but other teams went
twelve and one, which easily could have gone nine and four, nine and
three. When you look at Alabama surviving on several occasions earlier in the season,
but managing to rise and win their conference, be it at the top
tier of the sport at the very end, you know, and we've seen
Nick Saban do this kind of thing several times. We also saw Texas get
through a number of land mines and get to twelve and one. One thing
we have to keep in mind, I mean, there are no great teams
in the sport this year. Let's let's reaffirm that larger overall point. You
know, there's no twenty twenty one Georgia. Twenty twenty one Georgia was a
beast, you know, an absolute Goliath. Last year's Georgia team was really
really good, much better than this this year's Georgia team. Just as a
point of comparison, I mean, twenty nineteen LSU of Joe Burrow, that's
a great all time team. You can find other examples of really great teams
that transcended the rest of the fields. There is not any such team.
This year's just hasn't been one of those seasons. But when we talk about
getting through the land mines and the obstacles and the trap with either that twelve
to one conference championship or the perfect thirteen to zero record, one of the
realities is that you're not going to be playing your best ball every week.
You're not going to play with the same level of intensity every week. And
there are some teams, and we've seen them through the years that you know,
against ordinary opposition, they won't be especially fired up, they won't be
especially locked in. But when the big game comes, when the elite opponent
arrives, when arrival is on the other side of the ball, that team
really locks in, elevates its level of performance, elevates its level of physicality,
and so there's kind of a ropodope quality to it, and there's kind
of a play toier level of competition element to it as well. But when
the lights are brightest, that team performs well. And that really does describe
the Washington Huskies in twenty twenty three. And at the start of the season,
you're trying to make a point, so every game, every moment,
carries real urgency, and we saw Washington sprint out of the box authoritatively,
you know, performing very strongly. And then you know that Arizona game when
it beating Arizona thirty one to twenty four on September thirty. At the time,
we thought it was a shaky effort, but realizing just how good Arizona
became in the fullness of time, we can obviously look back on that and
see that game in Tucson in a very different light. So Washington was really
very, very good. That game in against Arizona was not an elite performance,
but it was a win on the road against a team that turned out
to be really, really good. So you know, it was not a
win over a tomato can, a narrow win over a tomato can, which
is what we thought at the time. That that game, while not a
masterpiece, turned out to be a lot better in retrospect than the what we
felt on the night of September thirtieth. So Washington goes through September most down
its opponents, Handles Arizona on the road, a really good win there,
and then you know, beats Oregon in Seattle on October fourteenth, and what
was definitely a big boy football game, a fifteen round heavyweight fight, you
know, on which both teams not only looked the part you know of being
playoff contenders, but you know they played the kind of game where you feel
the moment, you feel that this is impressive, you feel that this is
something significant. You know, there are big games where the two teams both
struggle, the game devolves into a pillow fight. You're not seeing the athleticism,
You're not seeing two teams challenge each other to the full extent possible.
I mean, the game might be close, but the game just doesn't jump
off the page. A really good example of that the Penn State games in
the Big Ten. You know, Ohio State, Penn State, Michigan,
Penn State. Okay, they were games involving highly ranked teams, but Penn
State just did not offer much of a test. So you know it was
those games were important, they were publicized, but they did not live nearly
up to the hype which attended each of them. But Oregon Washington did in
October, so that was a main stage event, and Washington was able to
pass that test, Michael Pennix making the bigger plays than bon Nick's late to
give Washington a thirty six to thirty three win. And then so after that
it was as though Washington, which had done a lot of heavy lifting to
that point, it's as though that team basically took a breath for really a
month, a month, five weeks that Washington was really mentally fried, exhausted.
And let's remember the off week for the Huskies came before the Oregon game,
so Washington didn't have a week off in late October in early November,
had to play week to week. Was getting every team's best shot. And
I know that, you know, like Utah didn't have Cam Rising and obviously
Arizona State was injured and shorthanded, and the Huskies did not perform particularly well
against those teams, didn't perform especially great against Oregon State didn't score a point
in the second half of that game in Corvallis, like there were a lot
of warts and a lot of flaws, but Washington managed to win each of
those games. The defense came up with clutch stops, particularly against Oregon State.
The offense was able to take advantage of Alex Grinch and score fifty two
against USC and win that one. So, you know, Washington really emptied
the tank in the first half of the season through that Oregon game. And
then Washington played like a team which was tired and was running on fumes in
the second half of the season. But even amid the exhaustion, even amid
the the sense of you know, losing steam and really battling both fatigue and
pressure in the backstretch of the season, that team still managed to win.
And you could say that there was some degree of energy conservation going on there,
that there was a realization that, hey, we can't put forth maximum
effort every week the way we did against Oregon, but we're going to be
there when we absolutely need to. That's the kind of profile, that's the
kind of trajectory, that's the kind of identity that Washington carved out for itself.
And you know, I'll admit that the fact that Washington was just barely
getting by while Oregon was just thumping people left and right. I thought that
meant that this was all gonna a fall down for Washington in the PAC twelve
championship game, uh in Las Vegas. I did think that Oregon with the
revenge factor, you know, being the more motivated team, you know,
a bitter rivalry, and often the second time around, you know, if
the if the first game went one way, the second game was gonna go
in a very different direction. But no, Washington after several weeks of of
basically conserving fuel, and I didn't I didn't view the past several weeks as
conserving fuel. I thought Washington was really, you know, just begging for
a good team to finally deliver a butt kicking to the Huskies. That that's
what how I sensed the past few weeks. But but seeing Washington just answer
that bell at the beginning of this game against Oregon in much the same way
that it did the previous game. The first game in Seattle, you know,
that was a It was a game that went down to the wire at
the end. But Washington really did have the upper hand for most of the
first two two and a half quarters. On October fourteenth, you know,
Washington really did throw the first punches at Husky Stadium in Seattle, and we
saw that again in the PAC twelve championship game. So that really told me.
It really showed me that Washington was lying in wait, that Washington was,
you know, just trying to get by against lesser teams. And it
did cut things really close, there's no doubt about that. But it was
able to stay on the right side of the line against those lesser teams and
then with Oregon back on the schedule, the bitter rival you know, this
is Washington Oregon. Just to be clear for those not in the Western United
States, those looking non from the Midwest, the southeast, the northeast.
You know, if you live in another part of the country and you don't
follow this rivalry very closely, Washington Oregon is a much more bitter and nasty
rivalry for these schools than Oregon Oregon State or Washington Washington State. I mean,
those those rivalries matter and they're really important, but there is a nasty
edge to Washington Oregon, which isn't found quite to the same extent as the
Civil War in the state of Oregon and the Apple Cup in Washington State.
And so Washington under Kaylen de Boor, like, we have to look at
this, Washington under Kayln de Boor regularly gets up for Dan Lanning and Oregon.
I mean it's now three and ohero over the past two seasons. This
brings up a big picture a connection with the twenty twenty two Pac twelve season.
USC and Lincoln Riley lost twice to Kyle Whittingham and Utah. Last season,
Kaitlyn de Boer and Washington able to beat Oregon and Dan Lanning twice.
This season DeBoer three and oh over Lanning, Whittingham three and oh over Riley.
In twenty twenty two, USC wins eleven games, loses to one opponent
in the regular season, but loses to that opponent twice, the second time
being in the Pac twelve Championship game, fallows one win short of the College
Football Playoff, goes to a New Year six Bowl against Tulaine, the Group
of five champion. In twenty twenty three, what happens with Oregon Like USC
in twenty twenty two, the Ducks win eleven They lose to only one opponent
in the regular season, but they lose to that opponent twice. They lose
to that opponent in the Pac TWORF Championship game, fall one win short of
the College Football Playoff, they're relegated to a New Year Six Bowl against the
Group of Five champions. So in USC with the two losses to Utah last
year, Oregon with the two losses to Washington this year or twenty twenty two,
USC twenty twenty three, Oregon virtually identical seasons one year after the other.
It's fascinating to contemplate that. It's fascinating to contemplate, you know,
one coach winning three times against another in big games over the course of two
seasons. That's both Kyle Whittingham over Riley in Utah USC, it's DeBoer over
Landing in Washington Oregon. So like the Huskies have made themselves the kryptonite for
Oregon in the Duboer Lanning clash. And we're gonna see if Lanning can now
turn that around in the Big Ten next year. But it's too late for
Oregon this year, and Washington goes to the College Football Playoff, the first
PACTE team to make the playoffs since the Huskies did it in twenty sixteen.
It's also the first Pac twelve team to go thirteen and oh, and it
will be the only Pac twelve team to go thirteen and oh. You know
in the Pac twelve era, which began in twenty eleven, you know,
with a conference championship game. So twenty eleven through twenty twenty three, this
Washington team the only team to go thirteen and oh. It's quite a feat
for Kaitlin de boor, it's quite a feat for Michael Pennix. And having
invoked the name of Michael Pennix, that's a good segue into the Heisman piece
about all of this. And so if you were to say that Jayden Daniels
should be the Heisman Trophy winner for twenty twenty three, you know, I
would not say that you're wrong. I would say that, you know,
I am voting for Michael Pennox. But you know, Michael Pennix left something
on the table in a number of games. He was bad against Arizona State,
he was not especially good against Washington State. He's had some games in
which he was pretty ordinary this season. And when you stack that up against
what Jaden Daniels has been able to do statistically and in terms of just making
so many highlight reel plays. If you were to say Jaden Daniels is the
best player in college football, I can understand that, Like that's that is
a valid point of argument, and I'm not gonna, you know, push
back fiercely against it. I will push back against it, but I mean
I will say that, like, that's an entirely valid point. If Jaden
Daniels does win the Heisman, it's not highway robbery, you know, relative
to Michael Pennix, not at all, because again, Pennix did scuffle on
a number of occasions. You know, he wasn't that impressive again in the
Oregon State game either, So like there were some games where Pennix was less
than great. And so if you wanted to say that Jayden Daniels in twelve
games was better than Pennix and thirteen, like, you know, I can
accept that like that, it's a good argument. I think it's a it's
a reasonable one. But here's why I think Michael Pennix should win the Heisman
Trophy. Like, if you ask me Pennix or Daniels, which one is
it, I would lean Pennix. And it's I lean Pennis for the fact
that you know, Jaden Daniels was not the best quarterback on the field against
LSU, or because LSU against Florida State with Jordan Travis. Jordan Travis was
better in that game. He was not the best quarterback on the field against
Alabama. Jalen Milroe was better in that game. And of course LSU fans
and anyone else who's voting for Jaden Daniels as his Heisman Trophy winner is going
to say, reasonably enough, but LSU's defense is awful, and you shouldn't
penalize a guy for his defense being awful. I agree, I agree,
But let's remember LSU did not even score thirty points against Alabama in that game
against Tuscaloosa, and LSU's offense did run into a wall in that second half.
I mean, if I would say this, if LSU had lost to
Alabama forty two thirty eight instead of forty two twenty eight, forty two forty
one, uh, you know, instead of forty two twenty eight, that
that would mean something that would that would change the equation, you know,
And if LSU hadn't been dominated so thoroughly by Florida State in the second half
of that season opener in Orlando, that would also change the equation. And
you know, one of the basic realities of Jaden Daniels season is that he's
had to do things pretty much by himself. And a lot of people will
make the comparison to Caleb Williams at USC that you know, it's the Caleb
Williams show. He's he's out there on his own. He has a terrible
defense. You know, he doesn't have a whole lot of help, and
that's true. But when we compare Jayden Daniels twenty twenty three to Caleb Williams
hes been winning twenty twenty two season, there are a few things to sort
through. First, you know, the other elite Heisman Trophy candidates in twenty
twenty two, they didn't rise to the forefront the way Michael Pennix did.
You know, Hendon Hooker should have been a Heisman finalist, but you know,
he did get injured late and Tennessee also faded late in that twenty twenty
two season, so you know that that something happened with Hooker, which doesn't
apply to Pennix. Max Duggan of TCU Duggan was, you know, kind
of a gamer, and by gamer, I'm talking about, you know,
the guy who won't have the most electric stats, but like he makes the
money play in the money situation. You know, college football fans might remember
a guy named Jay Barker. He was the quarterback of the Alabama teams under
Gene Stallings in the early nineteen nineties. You know, not the most dazzling
statistical monster at quarterback, but like you needed a late touchdown drive when all
the chips were on the table, he would get it done for Alabama and
Gene Stallins. Max Duggan of TCU, what was a lot like that in
twenty twenty two. But Michael Pennix he's not a Jay Barker, you know,
He's not a Max Duggan. He provided performance production as well as leadership
as well as clutch playmaking ability. I think what Michael Pennix has done has
been more than just you know, being a clutch player. He was a
dynamic player. He's changed so much of the equation for Washington in ways which
go beyond what Max Duggan did for TCU. Last season, dug In the
runner up to Caleb Williams in the Heisman voting. And you know, in
terms of saying that Jayden Daniels and Caleb Williams are basically the same profile.
They basically had the same seasons. Caleb in twenty twenty two, of course,
Jayden Daniels in twenty twenty three. Well, you know I mentioned earlier
it would look and feel different for Jaden Daniels' Heisman candidacy if that LSU Alabama
game was like a forty two, forty one, forty two to thirty eight
game which went down to the final few minutes. It did not do that.
You know, when Caleb Williams lost in the twenty twenty two regular season,
his first loss was forty three, forty two to Utah, So like
that wasn't a forty two to twenty eight game in which USC's offense just kind
of faded away. Caleb Williams was great throughout that game, and he loses
because Cam Rising in Utah convert a late two point conversion, you know,
in the final minutes. That's really different from the LSU Alabama loss that that
Jade and Daniels suffered, and also the LSU Florida State loss. Neither one
of those games went down to the wire. Was Caleb lost a forty three
to forty two game and then in the pack to have changed the game.
You know, he gets injured, So that's kind of a separate matter that
you know, he tried to lead his team back will hurt, but you
know he couldn't continue he was damaged. So that kind of goes into its
own separate category. But I would say that Caleb Williams and Jaden Daniels if
you can, if you compare Caleb's Heisman season in twenty twenty two to jade
and daniels season in twenty twenty three, you know, jad and daniels numbers
are spectacular, but in terms of being the best player in college football,
in terms of being the best player on the field, Caleb Williams really stands
up a lot better than Jaydon Daniels does. Because Caleb Williams was still the
best player on the field when USC lost forty three forty two to Utah in
the October of twenty twenty two. Now, Dalton Kincaid of Utah had an
amazing game sixteen catches for two hundred and thirty four yards. I mean,
he was right there with Caleb in terms of being the best player on the
field. But of course he's going against an Alex Grinch defense, So you
know, you can kind of adjust that evaluation to a certain degree. But
Caleb Williams was magnificent in that game against Utah. Jayden Daniels was not magnificent
in LSU's losses this season. Now against ole Miss, you know, that
was just a video game shootout. There's a reason I haven't mentioned that game.
It's like, you can't hang that one on Jaydon Daniels. LSU scored
a billion points against ole Miss, but gave up even more. But but
it's those Alabama and Florida State games that I've been focusing on. If you're
not the best quarterback on the field in two high profile games against the lead
opposition, that really for me erose the idea that you're the best player in
college football. And So even though Michael Pennix struggled in a number of Washington's
games down the stretch Arizona State, Oregon State, and also Washington State,
I mean, I'll admit he was, you know, mediocre in all three
games. What he did in the first half of the season, what he
did in Washington's really big games in the second half of the season. Twice
against Oregon, putting fifty two against USC when Caleb Williams was you know,
dealing in USC's offense was extremely good that night in Los Angeles. I think
when you put all the pieces together, for me, Michael Pennix rates a
little bit better than Caleb Williams. Other than Caleb Williams, Pennix rates a
little bit better than Jayden Daniels. But you know it, to be fair
to LSU fans and to be fair to Jaden Daniels and anyone else who thinks
he deserves the Heisman, are going to be clear. If he wins the
Heisman, it's no injustice. You know, there have been injustices in the
history of the Heisman Trophy. One obvious example is Gino Torretta over Marshall Fulk
in nineteen ninety two. That was awful. Eric Crouch over Rex Grossman in
two thousand and one that was also awful. You know, there have been
some truly horrendous Heisman decisions in history. Jaden Daniels over Michael Pennix, if
it happens, would not be one of them. So I'll be very clear
there. If Jaden Daniels wins, it's not a travesty. It's not horrible.
You know, Florida State getting snubbed, that was a travesty. That
was horrible. No, Jaden Daniels winning it would be perfectly reasonable, perfectly
acceptable. But if you did give me a vote, and I don't have
one, so LSU fans can rejoice, But if you did give me a
vote, I would go. Michael Pennix won, Jaden Daniels a very close
second, and Bonix of Oregon third. All right, get a hit on
the Mountain West Championship game and also USC's defensive coordinator higher in a little bit.
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in the bowl game with ticket Smarter. All right. So, on the
other side of our PAC twelve Championship review, in our Heisman discussion, the
Mountain West so Spencer Danielson got named the permanent head coach at Boise State,
and well he should because as soon as Boise State fired Andy Avolos and Danielson
became the head coach, the Broncos have been a completely different team. They
roared to the finish line, getting to the Mountain West Championship game, and
then they thumped UNLV in Las Vegas to bring home another conference title. You
know, Boise State just delivered authoritative statements down the stretch, and you know,
as we look at the Mountain West season in review, and you know,
if you've been following our podcast, you know the story. But if
you haven't been listing every week, you know, this is the simple summary
of the Mountain West season. Air Force and Fresno State were the two best
teams in the conference through November four, and then in the in the last
month of the season, just everything flipped. Air Force and Fresno State imploded,
lost multiple games. UNLV kept coming on, was very consistent, got
the number one seed in the conference, hosted this championship game, but Boise
State made that late stretch run. And with Fresno State, you know,
losing multiple games, Boise State had lost to Fresno State on the road.
But with Fresno State's collapse, you know, that tiebreaker, that head to
head which favored Fresno State was no longer in play, Boise State able to
get into the title game and then make the most of it, just absolutely
demolishing UNLV. It was one way traffic pretty much the whole way through.
And so now Boise State fans enter twenty twenty four thinking, you know what,
We're back to being ourselves. We're back to being the big chief in
our conference. And with Avalos no longer a board, Spencer Danielson now guiding
the program, you know, Boise State fans have a reason to think that,
hey, we can get back to being what we expect to be,
and that is a ten win program, a program which has a chance to
win the Group of five championship. You know, the past few years this
has not been the Mountain West's title to win. You know, we had
Tulane last year, now Liberty this year. SMU feeling wronged that it should
have been the Group of five champion because Liberty did not play a single Power
five opponent. You know, so the Mountain West you know, definitely wants
to get back in that group of five championship winner circle, and Boise State
could be the team to do it next year with Spencer Danielson really reviving that
team after Andy Avolos was fired. And and you know, that's also a
reminder that you know, if coaching, if firing coaches in the middle of
a season seems harsh, You know, when you have the expectations that Boise
State rightly does, and you see that ship sailing in the wrong direction,
you cannot wait. You cannot wait, at least, you know, before
the season's over, or at least before all your dreams and your goals die.
Make that move. You know, if you can still win the conference,
if you can still get into the conference championship game, if you can
still make a New Year's Six Bowl, and firing the coach in the middle
of the season will help you do that. You know, at a program
which expects football success, you need to pull the trigger. And so Boise
State's athletic director Jeremiah Dickey, but he was right on top of it,
made the move in time to rescue the season. Spencer Danielson coaches the heck
out of that team, and now Boise State is the Mountain West champion.
It's going to be a really an interesting Los Angeles Bowl against UCLA. And
that's the segue to our other remaining topic on the Get Off My Pylon College
Football podcast, and that is UCLA losing its defensive coordinator de'anton Lynn to USC.
The Trojans swoop in and poach D'Anton lynn from Chip Kelly and UCLA,
and we have to just say it that because UCLA did not fire Chip Kelly
after getting firebombed thirty three to seven by Cal on Thanksgiving weekend. You know,
by not firing Chip Kelly, you saw a portal exodus from the Bruins.
You saw a lot of players leave the program. You saw fans express
their displeasure with you, with UCLA and athletic director Martin Jarmond for retaining Chip.
So de'anton lynn looks at everything happening in Westwood with the Bruins and he
says, you know what, next year is not gonna be fun. Next
year is likely to be miserable with Chip Kelly, you know, staying around,
I'm gonna jump off this ship, and I'm gonna jump off this ship,
but I'm gonna stay in Los Angeles, so I don't have to uproot
my situation. I don't have to uproot my family, but I'll have a
chance to maybe compete for a national championship and I'll be able to compete against
the best of the best in the Big Ten. And hey, de'anton Lynn,
you know, he's already made connections with Southern California based high school coaches
and programs because of his work at UCLA. So like, he doesn't have
to meet these coaches anew, he already has relationships with them. And so
what a coup for USC and Lincoln Riley to get a guy who has the
x n O acumen of Dean tong Lynn. You know, UCLA was number
eleven in total defense this season after being eighty nine the year before. That's
a massive jump. UCLA very strong in run defense. This season. UCLA
was tough and it was physical. UCLA's defense smothered USC's offense, smothered Lincoln
Riley's offense. So Lincoln Riley not only gets a coach who knows how to
teach tough, physical defense, but you know, because of what de'anton Lynn
did to Lincoln Riley's offense, Lincoln Riley has a guy who can, you
know, work with him in the room and play a role in self scouting.
You know, D'Anton lynn can tell Lincoln Riley, Hey, this is
how I attacked your offense. This is how I broke down and solved your
offense with Caleb Williams. Here's what other Big ten defensive coordinators are likely to
do against your offense. I can help you self scout, and I can
help you come up with solutions, you know, for making your offense harder
to predict, harder to defend. So Lincoln Riley's getting an X and O
guy. He's getting a self scouting guy. He's getting a guy who already
knows the Los Angeles and Southern California high school football recruiting landscape. He gets
a young guy. D'Anton Lynn is thirty four years old, so he's going
to be a hungry, passionate recruiter. De'anton lynn has an NFL experience,
including and especially with the Baltimore Ravens. So if you're a defensive prospect,
whether on the recruiting trail or in the transfer portal, you're going to look
at D'Anton Lennon's and say, hey, whoa that guy? Coached Baltimore Ravens
safeties. That's a guy for me. That's the guy who's going to help
me get to the NFL. So even though D'Anton lynn doesn't have this long
recruiting track record because he was an NFL assistant for several years before spending his
one year at UCLA, he doesn't have a lot of recruiting scalps on the
resume, but his NFL portfolio that is going to recruit itself. That is
going to be an effective recruiting tool. And D'Anton lynn at thirty four,
he's going to really get after on the trail. He's not going to be
one of those coordinators who is just going to focus on the x's and o's
while other staffers go out and do the recruiting. You know, hypothetical,
if USC had hired Tom Allen for really the head coach of Indiana as its
defensive coordinator. You know, so Tom Allen wouldn't have those built in relationships
with southern California high school coaches. Tom Allen might not have been nearly as
much of a hands on recruiter and and you know, so it would have
been up to position coaches on the defensive side of the ball. Uh,
you know, to be filled in on the staff. Uh, you know,
to comprise the rest of the staff and be the guys who were more
of the lead recruiters on defense. Just as a hypothetical, that's how it
would have been with Tom Allen that you you entrust a guy like Tom Allen,
you know, an older, older coordinator without Southern California connections, you
could enable. You could just tell Tom Allen say, hey, you go
and coach the defense. We'll get you some position coaches who will do the
recruiting on the defensive side of the ball. US. He could have done
that and it would have been fine. But with de'anton lynn, you're really
getting everything. You're getting the recruiting piece as well as the X and O
piece. You're getting a guy with the NFL connections. Really a masterstroke by
Lincoln Riley and what one should also say, a moment which shows that yes,
he's capable of hiring a really good defensive coordinator. He's capable of making
a decision which shows that he actually takes defense seriously. I mean a lot
of people doubted that Lincoln Riley was capable of even this much. You know,
and to a certain extent that's reasonable. It was reasonable to doubt Lincoln
Riley because he held on to Alex Grinch for so long. But nevertheless,
like we all knew that he had to eventually make a change. This defensive
coordinator higher was going to reveal a lot about Lincoln Riley. It's pretty clear
that Lincoln Riley also USC Athletic Director Jennifer Cohen passed the test. They passed
the test in terms of bringing aboard a serious defensive coordinator, also someone who's
likely to be able to recruit in Los Angeles, in southern California and establish
the physical defense that the USC Trojans have been missing. So like that is
really impressive, and it also just reminds us that UCLA should have fired chip
Kelly. If UCLA had fired chip Kelly, it probably would have promoted D'Anton
lynn to head coach, and it could have avoided this scenario with USC going
to Westwood and poaching the Bruins defensive coordinator. UCLA with Chip Kelly and without
di'anton lynn, Chip is in a world of hurt and so are the Bruins,
and it is a real mess there at UCLA. Fans Hey, you
should just be focused on college basketball right now. So those are the main
stories from from the past weekend. I know we have a bowl season.
I'm gonna tell you I am not particularly interested in this bowl season after seeing
that Florida State snub and again you'll get a bonus get off my pylon in
a separate standalone episode. But this bowl schedule and the way this bull process
went down not very satisfying. It was a real black eye, real black
mark for college football. But we will talk about the bowl games next week.
We will deal with all the Pac twelve bowl matchups and also some transfer,
portal and coaching carousel storylines and themes. But for this week, you
know, with Oregon losing again to Washington, with the Huskies making the College
Football Playoff, with Michael Pennix making his case for the Heisman Trophy and bo
Nix likely losing the award, and then Boise State winning the Mountain West Championship,
Spencer Danielson being elevated to a permanent head coach in Boise with the Broncos,
and then USC stealing away at UCLA's defensive coordinator de'anton Lynn. But those
are some big headline stories to talk about in Western college football, and Western
college football is what we talk about here on the Get Off My Pilon College
Football podcast, part of the College were Down Coast to Coast podcast network,
brought to you by ticket Smarter at ticketsmarter dot com and the ticket Smarter mobile
app. Get in the game with ticket Smarter. So thanks for listening.
This is Matt Zemk. This has been another edition of the Get Off My
Pilon College Football Podcast