UNWANTED CHANGE: Does Playoff Expansion Ruin College Football’s Regular Season for USC Fans?

Added: 2026-05-09

[00:00:01]College football is just going to continue to change its stripes and USC, they're going to be one of the biggest benefactors. However, USC's game is college football's pain.

[00:00:17]You are locked on USC, your daily podcast on the USC [music] Trojans, part of the Locked On podcast network. Your team every day.

[00:00:30]Hey, welcome back to another episode of Luck on USC. I'm your host Mark Hulkin.

[00:00:34]And when I'm not hanging out here every day, um I'm hanging out over at we rsec.com, write some articles covering the team. That's Chris Arlage. He's going to bring his musings to lockdown USC before it hits the New York Times bestseller list. Yes, he's written a book. He's going to tell you all about it. But first, Chris and I, we're going to talk a little bit about all the changes that are going on in college football and how USC is kind of, you know, stumbling into the playoffs automatically on a on an annual basis going forward. It seems like we're also going to um talk about the enemy at the gate in the second segment. USC, UCLA. Um, we're getting a little bit too close for comfort, maybe coaching, recruiting, and then we always end the uh end of the week, third segment, Friday rant. But we're also going to talk about your book, uh, because I think there's going to be a lot of good stuff in there. So, Chris, welcome back to the show. Thanks for doing this. Hope all is well.

[00:01:30]>> Hey, Mark, it's good to see you. It's been too long, man.

[00:01:33]>> Hey, it's been a couple minutes, but let's get right into it. Earlier this week, the American Football Coaches Association uh they gave their blessing to uh expand the playoffs from 12 all the way up to 24 teams. And the feedback literally has overwhelm overwhelmingly been no, don't do this. Why are we doing this? The proposed format includes a 23 plus one.

[00:01:59]Uh so it's 23 at large and then one automatic bid. That one automatic bid is going to a group of 16. So you're going to have the top eight teams getting a byee. Those will and then the nine through 24 seeds will have a first round game on campus. I I I like the onampus stuff. I really do. I already know where you stand on this as far as expanding to 24. Same as I do. Know it's a stupid idea. However, Mr. Carlage, why did the Why did everyone in charge decide to do this despite no one wanting to do this?

[00:02:36]>> Well, I think some people wanted to do it. But before we get to that, I I I want to I want to know why Notre Dame need to get a special deal. I I thought that the one automatic would be the Irish as long as they win four games.

[00:02:48]>> So, I'm just wondering because I thought there's like only a group of five. So, I wonder if that group of five now includes and Notre Dame. Maybe I just the way it was.

[00:02:57]>> Yeah, I look I I guess I guess the Irish assume that now that they've completely watered down their schedule and only play like two games a year that they should be able to make the top 24.

[00:03:08]They're probably right about that. Um >> USC too for that, you know, if we're going to talk. But we should we should but but let's be honest, Mark, before we start just writing in these these annual playoff bursts, we should recognize that we don't have any yet, right?

[00:03:25]>> True.

[00:03:26]>> We don't have any yet. So, um, look, 24 is too many. Of course, it's too many.

[00:03:31]Now, it might be fun in the sense that all of those games are going to be pretty watchable games. I mean, if it if it's the regular season and and and and you have number 24 playing number 10, I mean, you're probably going to watch that. I mean, that's that's at least watchable. But but nobody's ever said, you know, I don't think this is a legitimate national champion because we don't have number 24 rank two lane in this playoff. I mean, that's absurd.

[00:04:03]>> No, I I agree with you. I I agree. He here here. But you want look why does the why does a coaches association promote this? Because every single one of those guys at any school of substance >> realized is that if you don't make the playoffs that is that's the sort of thing that's going to get you potentially fired, right? And in the old days that wasn't the case. like when like back in the really old days when you win the conference you go to the Rose Bowl you could f if you were at USC and you finished second in the conference one year that's not going to get you fired now if you you know if you never made the Rose Bowl that might get you fired but but now I mean there's no excuse at USC not to make a 12 team playoff but they didn't last year and that means that that Lincoln Riley has a situation where if you double it make it 24 he figures man I can probably almost always sneak into a 2014 playoff.

[00:05:01]>> Correct.

[00:05:02]>> So that's that's why they're doing it.

[00:05:04]But >> look, I I think they're going to find one of those Oh. Oh, by the way, an unintended call it a consequence, but an unintended um profit, so to speak, because they will be profiting more off this. More games means more advertisement. More advertisement means more money.

[00:05:23]This is a way for the NCAA maybe to help schools out that are losing programs left and right. I mean, you got SEC schools cutting tennis programs. I think uh Witchah State just dropped both men's and women's golf. Not that everybody goes there to watch Witchah State golf, but you know, they got to find >> my favorite. This is my favorite team.

[00:05:42][laughter] They got to find a way to to help out the schools because you're spending all this money on football and basketball and those student athletes who go to class with those programs are getting dropped, they got to look them straight in the eyeball and say, "Oh, well, sorry."

[00:05:57]>> Yeah. Look, I think all that's true.

[00:06:00]Here's my problem with that. Just because the big schools want to pay for the tennis team and the golf team with football revenues, doesn't mean that's how you have to do it. I went to a small school. There were no football revenues.

[00:06:12]Football lost money, right? I mean, there were some revenues. Some people came and watch us play at least.

[00:06:17]>> Hot dogs and Cokes in the in the in the concession stand.

[00:06:20]>> Yeah. And and and the school still found a way to have a tennis team and a soccer team and a golf team. And and so it's simply not true that most of these institutions like you're telling me USC can't pay for a tennis team like out of their out of the school's >> endowment.

[00:06:37]>> How much? Yeah. I mean, how much money does a does a school like that bring in every year? They can afford a tennis team. So, that's I I don't put much thought into that, but I do I do recognize that coaches that coaches want to have a better opportunity to make the playoff. I understand that if you're ESPN uh or ABC or whoever it is that's going to televise this thing, that more playoff games is better. it it's going to make more money and and at least we get to get rid of those conference championship games which are becoming ridiculous.

[00:07:12]>> Yes. But what's it going to do to the regular season? Because ironically, it's the SEC that's actually trying to preserve the regular season. They're going to the nine game conference schedule and they're also mandating one power four conference non-conference game per season. So, you're playing essentially 10, you know, power four.

[00:07:29]So, what if you're if you're the commissioner, okay, you're going to be the new college football commissioner, what would you do to ensure the regular season doesn't get lost in the weeds because making money on the back end means you're losing viewership and losing money during the regular season?

[00:07:43]>> You can't do anything about it. You college football has dramatically cheapened the regular season now. That's just the way it is. It used to be that college football had the best regular season there was because one game I mean one game could cost you everything. And uh and even if you were and even if you weren't a national championship contender I mean the difference between 10 and two and nine and three could be enormous. And so every game mattered with a 2014 playoff. It's simply not true that every game matters. It's more like the NFL um where I'll watch, you know, I'll watch NFL regular season games and so does almost everybody else who's a sports fan, but we all know that a regular regular season Tampa Bay Pittsburgh Steelers matchup doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of things, >> right?

[00:08:30]>> So, the bigger the playoff, the the less important the regular season, which is why, you know, college basketball, college basketball's regular season is horrible. It's horrible.

[00:08:40]>> And now they're going to 76 teams next year. that's already been approved and ratified.

[00:08:44]>> Yeah. Well, I mean, that's just what we needed. I I've always I've long thought that having 64 teams or I guess then it went up to 66 or 68 with a play play in.

[00:08:54]I've always thought that 64 is not enough. Teams 65 through 76 really need to be a part of this. It's really important.

[00:09:02]>> Well, look, I I touched on it a second ago. It's Here's what's interesting.

[00:09:07]Last year was the first time that a three loss team made the playoffs and that was Alabama from the SEC. So I want to circle back to this Chris because I think this is an important point here.

[00:09:17]While USC is kind of guaranteeing themselves a spot in the playoffs, you go to 24, you know, 24 teams. Again, if USC can't get in when there with a 24 field, what are we doing here? I don't care who's the coach. Um USC needs to figure out what's going on with their football program. But if a three loss SEC team's going to get in, I think strength the schedule is going to be a big measuring stick going forward. Um, why is USC and Notre Dame walking away from each other again? Explain this to me >> because that might hurt USC sometime down the line.

[00:09:53]>> Yeah. Um, yeah, it might. I look if USC if you play in the big if you play in the Big 10 and you go eight and four and you have USC on your helmet. I guess they don't have USC on their helmet.

[00:10:04]They have a Trojan. But I you know I if if that's who you are then you're gonna you're going to be in the top 24. I mean it's hard to imagine an 8 and4 USC team not being in the top 24. But but you're right that if all you have to be is in the top 24, then is it really such a hardship to play the be the the greatest rivalry in college football history?

[00:10:25][clears throat] I look, people are going to get mad at us for bringing this up again. Everybody wanted to circle the wagons and defend Jen Cohen and defend Lincoln Riley, and that's fine. Do what you want. I'm still pissed. USC Notre Dame was my favorite day of the year every year for the last 40some years.

[00:10:43]Ever since ever since I started watching that game, the idea that the idea that we have to get rid of that so that Lincoln Riley has an easier time making the top 24 is a joke.

[00:10:54]>> And that's that's where I'm at with this whole thing. And again, I'm not pointing a finger, but these kind of, you know, decisions to move forward with these things, they're not born in a vacuum.

[00:11:04]They've been discussed for years. So to for for programs for the administration at USC not to have the foresight and to be looking ahead to all this type of stuff and not be prepared. That's I guess what really bothers me about the whole USC Notre Dame situation. So again, let's I don't I don't want to keep going down that rabbit hole. It it frustrates you. It frustrates me just as much. I hear you. I feel you.

[00:11:27]>> Yeah. But again, I think that's something that we're going to have to be concerned about if strength of schedule now all of a sudden becomes this, you know, major metric that they're going to use to decide seating, let alone, you know, who gets in. If you got 17 teams that are nine and three, I mean, that discussion is going to come up.

[00:11:46]>> If you're in the Big 10, nine and three is getting you in the top 24 every time.

[00:11:50]Every time it, >> you know, and and which is why I mean, >> but now here's the thing, though. When you water down the play, when you water down the playoff like this, Mark, I know the coaches want to have an easier road to the playoff, but if you water down the playoff, sliding in as the number 23 team three years in a row and losing in the first round, that doesn't make you safe. It does. Not at USC, not at Oklahoma, not at, you know, not at traditional powers. So, so yeah, this makes it more likely USC will get in. It just also means that getting in the playoff can't be the mark anymore. when it was a four team playoff, it was it would have been hard to suggest that any team making the top four had a bad season. They didn't. If you make the top four, it's not a bad season. But if it's top 24, you can make the top 24 and have a bad season.

[00:12:39]>> Like I said, I'm just I'm just talking I'm saying if there's seven, nine and three teams and you know, we're talking about, you know, three and a half in the big and three and a half of those in the uh in the SEC. You got the Big 12 and the ACC mixed in this in in this calculus as well. Again, you have to start looking at something. Some sort of metric has to make the difference. And if all of a sudden the SEC is playing 10 power four teams per year and the Big 10's only playing nine, that nine and three and the Big 10 looks a little cheaper, you know, just from a perception point of view. That's all I'm saying.

[00:13:13]>> Yeah. Yeah. Could be.

[00:13:14]>> Now, we're talking about rivalry. Um I hate UCLA. That's one of that's one of the that's what one of the USC players just told me recently, just the other day. Okay, >> let's talk about that and some summer PRPS in the next segment. And as always, we're going to we're going to close out the show with a Friday rant. That's that's all coming up next.

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[00:15:00]So Chris, I hate UCLA. F UCLA >> as you should.

[00:15:05]>> Yes, those types of statements, acronyms, music to my ears. I can hear it all day long. Put it on a loop. One of the true freshman just the other day told me that he hates UCLA and cannot wait for that rivalry game at the end of the year. Look, I Chris, I know you're a >> Sounds like a smart kid.

[00:15:22]>> He He's a actually one of the most intelligent young men you'll ever meet.

[00:15:27]>> Yeah, I'm told.

[00:15:28]>> Yeah, you should be. Trust me. And he plays defensive back, so people can try and figure it out from that. But I Chris, I know you're a huge Bruins fan when no one's looking. Um, >> I'm out of here.

[00:15:39]>> Yeah.

[00:15:41]What are your thoughts when you hear a former USC Trojan player, Trayvon Patterson, wide receiver, who is now the head coach at Long Beach Paulie, say Bob Chesny is Pete Carol's comparison?

[00:15:57]>> Well, where does that lead you?

[00:16:01]>> It leads me to to question Trayvon Patterson's sanity. Um, no. Look, I >> it's clear that you that UCLA has upgraded at the head coaching spot, right? We know that.

[00:16:13]>> Yes.

[00:16:13]>> But, but the reason Pete Carol is remembered the way Pete Carol is remembered is because he won a whole lot of games.

[00:16:22]>> Yes.

[00:16:22]>> At the highest level and humbled SEC teams and Big 10 teams and Notre Dame and yes, UCLA. and he did it over and over and over and over again for a period of of seven years before, you know, before things started to fall apart. So, um, let's see if Chestn could pull that off first. And I'm skeptical.

[00:16:44]Is he going to do a good job? He's probably going to do a good job, but the last time UCLA hired a coach that I thought would do a good job, Chip Kelly, it was a complete and utter debacle.

[00:16:54]>> True.

[00:16:55]>> They're still Bruins, Mark. They're still Bruins. Here's the difference between Chip Kelly and Bob Chesn. And that's Chip Kelly hated recruiting. I mean, he literally would spit on the ground that he had to walk on to get to that kid's house. Bob Chesney has kind of taken that Pete Carol approach. I love recruiting. I'll go wherever I need to go. And I don't know if you've been paying attention, but they've kind of been on a little bit of a recruiting heater. And look, there's a there's still a huge gap between USC and UCLA because of the head start the USC had with NIL. UCLA is finally putting their resources to work. That's where I think that some of this comparison is coming from. So, I'm just I'm just saying, you know, let's look at it from this way.

[00:17:40]The enemy of my enemy is my friend. I I think the biggest loser in this is your other favorite team, Oregon, as well as some of those other out of state.

[00:17:48]They're the biggest loser in just about everything as far as I can tell.

[00:17:52]>> So, you know, for college football, West Coast, this is good for the rivalry. And it does kind of have that trickle down effect.

[00:18:00]>> Let me say this, and I hesitate to say it because you've already accused me of being a UCLA fan and an Oregon fan, which means this is also the last time on your podcast. But, >> but I do miss your anger. I want to get you going.

[00:18:15]>> Yeah. No, look, I do miss the old days of the USCU sale rival. We've tal we talked about that number of times on Inside the Troes of Tuttle that it's different. In the in the 80s when I was a kid, that rivalry was huge. It was huge. The whole the all of Southern California was talking about it the week before. The place was sold out every year. Didn't matter what the records were. And the rivalry was wild.

[00:18:39]>> Yeah.

[00:18:40]>> Like wild games that things that things that you never could expect would happen. Teams that were terrible would beat teams that were good. There would be crazy comebacks. There would be wa walk-ons who do who do extraordinary things. The rivalry was was was really remarkable. It has not been for the better part of a decade or two. And so, do I want UCLA to be good? Not really.

[00:19:04]But if you told me I could choose UCLA is better and Oregon is worse, and I don't know if that's what's going to happen, but if you gave me that option, I'd choose that. Yeah. And and this for me this was all about keeping the talent home in California. There's no reason you need to leave the state to go play football. Stay home. You grew up with these guys in your neighborhood, you know, competing, you know, all growing up. Keep it going. And like you said, I if you have to, you know, choose between the lesser of two evils, I think that's it. So, um, I'm a big fan of it. And I think this also maybe helps Coach Riley as well. you know, he for these last four years, he really hasn't had to worry about UCLA.

[00:19:48]Now, all of a sudden, I maybe keeps him on his toes a little bit more. I'm not saying he's doing a bad job when it comes to recruiting. Quite the opposite.

[00:19:54]I mean, >> no, he's recruit I mean, he's obviously, look, he's obviously recruiting very well right now. Now, whenever you talk whenever you talk about recruiting, the question is whether those guys are going to pan out, right? Because >> and and I'm not one of those guys to say that that the the rankings don't matter.

[00:20:11]They do. That's why Ohio State, Georgia, Alabama, they're always rated in the top five in recruiting and they always send a bunch of guys to the league and they win a bunch of games. Those are all related. But I would point out that that USC over the last, say, 10 years has recruited, not only have they not recruited to the Pete Carroll level or or Lincoln Riley's level this year, but when they did land bigname guys, more often than not, they flopped, right? I mean you you know whether it's the whether it's Corey Foreman or Demani Jackson or Malachi Nelson or or >> goes on >> packet Curtis or JT Daniels or Paya Gatui I don't even know how to say it and I never had to learn. You know why I never had to learn Mark? Because he never did anything. Not at USC and not where he went afterwards. And so all I'm saying is that we'll see what happens with UCLA's recruiting because there you can recruit some guys who you expect to be good and they turn out to be lousy.

[00:21:14]And that's also that's also an important lesson for us to remember about this incoming recruiting class at USC.

[00:21:20]>> Yes.

[00:21:20]>> All of these guys look amazing on paper.

[00:21:23]All of them are big and fast.

[00:21:25]>> Some of them aren't going to pan out.

[00:21:27]Some of them will. And if you if you land a bunch of a bunch of blue chippers and you have your normal attrition, you're still gonna be left with a great team. So I I'm you know, I'm I'm I'm pro this recruiting class. It's just we've had so many flops over the last 10 years. It's it's really difficult to deal with.

[00:21:45]>> All I'll say is we'll end a segment on this comment here is this USC UCLA game this season, it actually carries a lot of weight. I mean, let's just imagine USC's nine and two. UCLA is trying to become bowl eligible.

[00:21:59]You know, I can remember 139 kind of in back of my brain.

[00:22:03]>> Bring that up. Hey, you know what?

[00:22:05]>> First of all, first of all, >> and let me just finish this point because then you get your first and second and third of all. Heaven forbid that happened. But now all of a sudden, you get the win. You're getting your recruiting going.

[00:22:19]I I just don't want to I don't want to deal with that reality is all I'm saying.

[00:22:23]>> No, no, no. I'm with you. And and and don't forget that in 2001 when when Pete just clobbered UCLA at a time when UCLA was seen as a better program, UCLA never really recovered from that. It gave USC a ton of momentum. And so those things do matter. But first of all, you call me a Bruin fan, you call me an Oregon fan, now you brought up 139. I I don't really understand what's going on here. Oh, but I have a bone to pick. I have a bone to pick with you. Okay? because every once in a while, every once in a while, I'll still visit the old message board just to see what's going on and to see uh uh you know, and I'll keep doing that, I guess, until they cut me off. But, um there was uh there was there was some post there about the biggest USC football losses. 13-9 came up, of course. Tech the Texas game came up, of course.

[00:23:13]>> Yeah.

[00:23:14]>> Nobody including you mentioned 1988 Notre Dame. That is a tremendous >> Somebody did. Somebody did. Okay. I didn't I agree. You called me out. I will I I fess up. I did not put it on my list.

[00:23:27]>> That's a top three. That's a top three for me. That's a top three for me.

[00:23:30]>> I'm not disagreeing. I'm You're not going to get an argument from me. But the first thing that popped into my head was all those freaking losses to Stanford that USC should have never lost to. So, I just said and a handful of losses to Stanford because I, as much as that Tony Rice game still bugs the hell out of me, I'm still thinking about, you know, Chris Lewis coming in for the last play of the game and >> oh, 20 yard touchdown pass. And >> it's like, come on.

[00:23:55]>> I'm with you. And and look, those Oregon State losses were >> devastating.

[00:24:00]>> I didn't start, by the way. I did not start that thread, by the way. But >> I know you didn't. I know. And I and and I probably wouldn't have picked on you except you've been picking on me the whole time.

[00:24:09]>> That's all right. I can handle I got my big boy pants on. Hey, we got one more segment to go. I want you to talk about your book that's coming up. Yeah.

[00:24:15]>> And then we're gonna we're gonna get anything else that's on our chest that's all coming up next.

[00:24:27]>> All right, Chris. So you you stepped away from you know the important things in life inside the trophy [laughter] board. Um you have a career as a lawyer and you're you're pretty successful from what I understand. Um but you're also a really really really really good writer.

[00:24:45]I mean phenomenal. One of the things that people always love to tune into at we rc.com was your musings. You just have a way of words. They flow. Um now you're writing a book. tell everybody about that and when they can find it on the New York Times bestseller list.

[00:25:00]>> I mean technically I've already written it and I wrote it over the course of almost eight years on we RSC because you know I had essentially [cough] sorry essentially a weekly article.

[00:25:13]Every once in a while I'd skip one in the offseason. And so when I when I stepped away from WER RSC I I downloaded all of those old columns. It was about 2,000 pages of material. And so I and and I did it just to make sure it would be saved. And I thought maybe, you know what, maybe I'll go and pull out the ones I like and stick them all in a book. And so that's what I did. I took that 2,000 pages down to about 10 to 15% of that. Did a little bit of light editing. And it's called Best of Musings from Arage.

[00:25:42]>> It might be it might be available today on Amazon. If not, then it will be the following day. I mean, it's it's it's there and it's ready. Paperback uh Kindle edition. And I do a hard cover because like why why would somebody spend hardcover money on my stuff? But Mother's Day is coming up. This is a great gift for mom or the USC football fan in your life or someone you don't like very much. It's a great gift for any any of those uh any of those people.

[00:26:08]Um but um yeah, it was fun to go back and read and read them all again. And uh it I I remembered a bunch of stuff that I had forgotten. Most of it I wanted to forget like Clay Hilton.

[00:26:19]But uh but yeah, it was it was fun. And so I you know the people who have enjoyed the musings columns over the year, go buy the book and then you'll have the best ones.

[00:26:29]>> Yeah. And trust me, you're you're going to read these things and you're going to be laughing and giggling your way through it going, "Okay, that's that's a hell of an analogy and it just it it hits so true to form." So, >> well, I appreciate that.

[00:26:40]>> No, trust me, Chris. I I look forward to reading your stuff all the time and I plan on getting the book as well. Now, um I mentioned at the very top of the show that college football is changing its stripes. I mean, it's unrecognizable. It really is. At least it's becoming that way. It's or it's becoming more like the NFL. Um we talked about USC Notre Dame, you know, taking a hiatus. We know that USC versus Miss got shelved.

[00:27:09]Um now all of a sudden, Georgia and Florida State, they have a home and home series that they're shelving instead.

[00:27:15]Instead, they're going to meet at a neutral site, which I it's like, why does college football hate it fan base so much? I mean, at least they're still going to play each other. I get that.

[00:27:25]That that part's great. Fantastic. I love the commitment to playing each other, but why should the fan bases have to spend more money to watch their teams in someone else's stadium? Probably a an NFL stadium. Um, I mean, I loved USC's win over LSU in Las Vegas a few years ago. Absolutely loved it. But how much better would that have been if that was at the Coliseum or in Baton Rouge and you know Death Valley?

[00:27:53]Look, I I I know I just know how much more fun fans have in their own stadiums. The real reason this is happening, again, this is all about NIL player revenue sharing. I I I I don't know why this is being allowed to happen. And it just it's frustrating me that I might have to get on an airplane one day to go watch USC versus Notre Dame and it's not in South Bend. It's not in LA. Amazon or Netflix got their hands on it and they're sending us down to Mexico City.

[00:28:25]>> Yeah. Yeah. No, look, I I I understand the point. Um I'll say this. I I get on a plane for every USC game, unless they're playing in Dallas, and most of the games that I've seen in Dallas are games I wish I hadn't seen. So, um, but it is a it's it's a [cough] I guess with Florida State and Georgia, those those two those two places are close enough that if they go play at in Atlanta or some place like that, it's not too much of a hardship. But you're right, it's different. you lose out on the you lose out on the local traditions and and it is as much as I enjoyed USCLSU, it is different watching the game in the Coliseum uh or watching the game in Death Valley where you have all the local flavor to it and it's a little bit more sterile in addition to being a little bit more expensive. And so I'm with you. I don't like it on the list of things that I that I hate about college football right now. It probably doesn't crack my top five, but I agree with you.

[00:29:23]It's a little bit irritating.

[00:29:25]I don't know, man. It's at this point.

[00:29:28]Look at I I'm That's just That's my rant. I'm not gonna I'm not going to belabor it. I'm just It's getting to a point where I I I try and put all these all these eggs in one basket. Everything that's going on, playoff expansion, the 9 plus one format that the SEC is doing, USC dumbing down their out of conference. I'm just thinking, none of this makes any sense. There's no continuity to it. Why are we making Why are we going to these neutral sight games? It's all for that bottom line.

[00:29:59]More money, money, more money.

[00:30:01]>> Yeah. And and I'll say this, college football has not yet suffered for all the changes. It's still wildly popular. The ratings are the ratings are great. They're everybody's everybody's like bathing in money like Scrooge McDuck swimming through his gold coins.

[00:30:19]So, they haven't paid a price yet, but at some point when you keep poking fans in the eye, uh there's a chance that you're going to start to lose fan base.

[00:30:28]And and really, look, if if they just solve the free agent thing, that'll go a long way towards stabilizing college football, both because then the the money is not as critical and and so and so fans know who their players are. And I always used to tell people that I preferred college football for a lot of reasons, but one of those reasons was that Ronnie L and Junior Seo, they would always be USC Trojans.

[00:30:57]>> Yeah.

[00:30:58]>> Whereas, you know, in the NFL, neither one of those guys were with their teams their entire career. Almost nobody is.

[00:31:05]And and and so college football has to fix that. And it would be nice if they would leave some of these other traditions alone and encourage home games and and the like, but I don't know, man. We're not setting the rules. If we set the rules, things would be different.

[00:31:21]>> No, there's no way this genie is ever getting put back in the bottle. It's uh we get to stare at Barbara Eden's belly button or her fat belly for the rest of our lives now and come to culture.

[00:31:30]>> I mean, wait, what? I don't know what's wrong with Barbara E.

[00:31:34]>> I dream of I dream of Genie when I was a kid. I remember thinking that that's >> if that's what we were getting to watch.

[00:31:39]It'd be fantastic.

[00:31:40]>> That's a pretty that's a pretty good deal having finding that.

[00:31:44]>> I don't that's what we're stuck. If if that's what we were get to watch, that'd be fantastic. But it's we're getting a fat ugly jean, I think, is what we're getting.

[00:31:52]>> Oh, yeah. No, I don't want that. Well, [cough] I'm sorry.

[00:31:57]>> That's all right, man.

[00:31:59]>> I'm sorry. Look, uh you're right.

[00:32:01]College football's changing so dramatically that a lot of the things that I used to really love about it uh are gone. And I still love college football, but it it becomes harder. It becomes harder and and for somebody who used to be a huge Dodgers fan and a huge Lakers fan and I was always watching whatever was on, you know, I've kind of, you know, I've kind of let go of the Dodger thing. I've kind of let go the Lakers thing and it's only USC football now that still is meaningful to me. So don't don't keep pushing me people. Don't keep pushing.

[00:32:34]>> I'm the same. And you know baseball the Dodgers have unlimited you know they don't know what a salary cap is. I mean >> they're buying their way into their championships. The Lakers you got LeBron who's teaching the league how to load manage. And that's the last thing I want to say about going to the 2014 playoff.

[00:32:53]You're going to start seeing load management in college football. Oh, bat rivalry games next week. We'll take the, you know, guys.

[00:33:00]>> Well, that's right. And and think about this. Think about rivalries in in the NFL. There are some.

[00:33:05]>> We see it.

[00:33:07]>> There are some, right? The Cowboys and the Redskins. That's a rivalry. But that rivalry is not the same as Auburn, Alabama, USC, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Michigan. Because when you water down the regular skis, you water down the importance of rivalry games, too. In college football, we've watered them down so much, we just decided not to play them anymore. But in the NFL, they might still play them, but they don't mean as much, and they won't. That's just that's just the way it is. It also means that it's going to be harder to get butts in the seats for all those normal home games because because it's just not as important.

[00:33:40]>> Absolutely. I agree 100%. That's a great perfect place to to end the show. Chris, thank you again. Um, the name of the book and it's available on Amazon today.

[00:33:50]>> The best of musings from Arlage. And if it's not available on Amazon right now, it should be any minute. So, yeah, run out there, buy a thousand copies each.

[00:34:00]If you do that, then it'll be worth my while. And uh, and hopefully you enjoy it.

[00:34:06]>> And everybody, come leave your book reviews here. Leave me in the hit me up in the comment sections.

[00:34:10]>> Yeah, please do.

[00:34:11]>> I'm gonna have Chris back on in the future. I promise. No more no more brewing in Oregon snack talk against Chris. We'll just talk that against the Bruins and the Ducks where >> All right, my friend. Well, thank you very much.

[00:34:23]>> Thank you, Chris. Everyone, uh that's it for this episode of Lockdown USC. I will be back again next week with another five episodes. I guarantee I'm going to have some recruiting information because there is another commitment coming. So, until the next episode, everyone, you know what to do.

[00:34:44]>> [cough] [clears throat]