Kap & J. Hood
8/29 Under the Hood with Howard Griffith-Big 10 Network
2x Super Bowl Champion Howard Griffith, analyst for the Big 10 Network, joined Jonathan Hood to discuss the upcoming Big 10 football season, Caleb Williams and the Bears and much more! Subscribe to Under the Hood here: https://linktr.ee/jhoodradio
- Duration:
- 23m
- Broadcast on:
- 29 Aug 2024
- Audio Format:
- mp3
[MUSIC PLAYING] It's time for Under the Hood Pod with J-Hud. J-Hud. We turn down to a two-time Super Bowl champion and who knows his football in and out, especially when it comes to the Big Ten, part of the Big Ten Network again this year. It is the great Howard Griffith. He joins me, Jonathan Hood, on Under the Hood as we get ready for college football week one right around the corner. Ho Griffith is always. I appreciate the time. Thanks for coming on the show. Any time we do it any first. I'm so looking forward to this season. But first, I do have to ask you about the thing that everyone's asking you about and that's Caleb Williams, being part of the Chicago Bears team. I tell you, being a college football fan and you as well, we saw him do some great things at USC. What are some of the things that you liked about him at USC and Oklahoma that can transfer over to the Bears in the NFL? Yeah, I think one of the things is his ability to create when he gets in trouble for him, will win things break down. And quite frankly, that's kind of when this game has gone. He'll be able to extend plays, teams that are continuing to build, continuing to put the right pieces around, which the Bears have done a real nice job of. But it's still just a ripple. And I know that C.J. Stroud put up unbelievable numbers and had a rookie year for the ages. But I think he's the outlier. I think it's somewhere probably closer to the middle where there's going to be some ups and downs and some struggles. But I think he's still going to be a good quarterback. They just have to make sure they protect him and take care of him. I've been to training camp several times. Oh, Griff, I got to tell you, very sad. No use of Curry blasting game at the fullback position. I know that hurts your heart, man. That's why I drove 40 miles from the city to see. I want to see blasting game, not enough of him, not enough carries, not enough blocks. I was not happy with that. Well, listen, he may be able to touch it maybe once a month. I think that's about the average, right? Getting once a month, catch pass out of back there. I mean, hey, he'll be happy. But it's funny because as we started to see people move away from it or everyone's really moved away from it, it's just a few offenses that are still out there that will probably say that they have a pull back on the roster and will utilize them every now and then. 49ers from the mod. Yes, yes. I know that you burn a candle in hopes that the full back comes back. So I totally understand. You know, I think that some are asking the wrong question when it comes to Michigan. Obviously, great for them to win the national championship last season. I guess the question I would have about Michigan is what's your chances to even be in the mix in the Big Ten, like maybe not back-to-back championships, but how good can they be under coach Moore as far as their roster's concern? Yeah, I think they have a really good roster. It's not Ohio State. It's not Oregon. But I think they're pretty close to where Penn State is. You know, give or take a few players, right? So I think they're still right there in the mix. This is a good football team, they're well coached. Obviously, they've had some transition loss a lot on both sides of the ball, including their head coach, but Jerome Moore has proven that he can get things done. He's one of the only people, I believe, in college football and the history of the game at this level to be an offensive line coach, to not just be the offensive coordinator, but calling the players and also be the head coach, all in one, and again, type of situation in part of the season last year. So he's done some really good things. And is he going to be different? I don't think it's going to be much different than what they saw under what people saw under coach Harbaugh. The systems in place, the systems have been proven to work. And I think they're going to continue to stay with it. Now, for them, if Alex Orgy ends up being a quarterback, which I believe he is, he becomes a lot like Milro from Alabama, where he's going to have some growing pains early. But I think by the time you get toward the end of the season, as long as he's not turning the football over, I think he's going to be a huge weapon for this Michigan offense. Howard, when we take a look at the teams in the middle in the Big Ten for years, you and I have discussed the Minnesota's and teams at that ilk, Wisconsin, just trying to find their footing as far as being at the top of the conference, alone trying to be in the mix of the national championship. I've just wondered what the new teams have come in, especially from the Pac-12, the UCLA's, the USC's, Oregon seems like that. How far do we push those other teams down? That's usually in the middle, but now where are they in the hierarchy of the Big Ten now? - Yeah, you know, you look at, obviously you got Ohio State, you got Oregon, Penn State, Michigan, gonna be right there. And then really, it's a lot. You know what, I would even put Iowa into that mix, although, as we all know, they've had their challenges offensively, but they still find ways to win football games. But I think everyone, I've described it this way. I think after, I think once you get down to the, maybe the 16, 60-18, there are a lot of life. And I think there are all the difference between that group is gonna come down to what kind of quarterback play they get. You're looking Michigan's gonna start a true freshman quarterback, a five-star guy. Real of it, I think, you know, the ceiling is so high for this young man, but he's still, you know, he's still a young guy, right? He's still a young guy. You're looking at a C, you know, they're gonna be in the mix. I will put them roster-wise up top as well, but they're gonna be playing a quarterback to spend some time in the program and really had a good bowl game, had a career bowl game, but it's gonna be on him. Same thing, Illinois. You look at Maryland. You know, a lot of these places, when you start to look down the list, they're playing with four quarterbacks. Now guys that have been developed in their system, they've gone out and got a quote-unquote hired gun to make things happen for 'em. But there's no assurances, you know, that they're all of a sudden, as productive as they were at their last stop, they mean that they mean that they're gonna be this productive, their first time through the system. You look at a guy, it produced Hudson Card, and this is gonna be a second time in the system with Graham Harold, and I expect him to really have a big year, but, you know, how many games can they actually win as far as the schedule is concerned? So to answer your question, I think the middle is gotten bigger. It really has, because it's gonna come down to who's gonna get the best quarterback play who can stay open. - So ultimately what you're saying, like the middle's always been the middle, and that's who they are, is that gonna change even with the additions of other teams in the conference, right? - Yeah, yeah, I think the challenge is this. I think it's, you've got to have and have nots, and there's really, so you've got some teams that have been, you know, maybe every four years, you know, they've had an opportunity to jump up and get into the way it was last year, but with divisions, they could at least say that they've gone to the championship game. It's a little bit different. You know, when 18 teams, no divisions, it's gonna be hard, man. And to be able to, not so much compete, 'cause I think that's the wrong thing, 'cause I think they all compete. But to be able to be one or two, and play in the Big Ten championship, it's gonna be difficult, and everything has to align properly. And the reality is those upper echelon teams have to really didn't get in their own way, whether it's injuries, whether it's turnovers, would just not play very well and maximize what they have for some of the teams that have been in the middle to make that big push. They can maybe get there, you know, every now and then, but consistently, it's gonna be hard to do if everyone else is maximizing their resource. - You know, I'm interested in Howard when it comes to the Big Ten. I'm interested in seeing where the adjustments lie. The adjustment for the Big Ten to play the teams like Oregon, UCLA, USC, teams of that nature, or is it the other way around? As far as the Big Ten having to go west. What do you think the biggest adjustment is? Because for years, you and I have talked about style of play. If you are, if you're in the Pac-12, the ball's in the air, the running game is not as prevalent. And if you're in the Big Ten, strong defense, strong offensive line, strong running game, you know, when games are bowling shoe ugly, where is the biggest adjustment? Which side of it? - Well, you know, that's, it's really an emotional question because it goes back to the quarterbacks. You could make an argument that when we talk about top level quarterbacks, they reside in the whole in Pac-10, Pac-12 that used to be, right? And so I think you think about the Big Ten last year, who were the league quarterbacks? When you talk about your league quarterbacks throughout the country, you know, they weren't necessarily in the Big Ten conference. You may have had some guys that had four and five stars and had high ceilings, but may not have been throwing the ball around the way they do it out west. I think that, you know, the adjustment's gonna come, we're gonna find out just how good these defenses are in the Big Ten. That, I think they'll be an adjustment there. But I don't think, I don't buy into the physicality of the game. I think that they're just as physical out west. Again, it's just a style of play. But they can be physical. You can look at, you know, Washington last year, the one that Joe Moore award for the best offensive line. You don't win that award on a popularity contest 'cause the guys that are, the folks that are watching and voting each and every week, those guys are out of their minds and they really enjoy watching a line play. So there are no flukes in that area when that team was picked as the best though line. So, you know, I think they'll be able to match up physically. That won't be the issue. I think the issue will come down to travel. Travel will be a question. I think something that has to be considered. You know, if you're, no matter which way you're going, east to west, are you going to travel on a Thursday? Or are you going to wait and travel Friday? And then maybe, you know, you play Saturday, but you come back, you wait and come back Sunday so that your team doesn't get in too late. So I think there'll be different things like that. What type of resources do you have as far as recovery that can take place on the plane? So there, there's going to be a lot of, a lot of different, I think, opinions. There's not going to be one set way to do it, but it's definitely going to be a challenge. I think taking a team out west and bringing them to, bringing them to the Midwest in late November. - Yeah. - Could be a bit of a challenge, right? There's a reason that USC comes to play Notre Dame early. And there's a reason that Notre Dame doesn't mind going to play Southern Cal and that game is played late in the season. So it's a reason. So they want it to be as, it's favorable, weather-wide as it possibly can be. - If I'm some of these big 10 teams, you got natural grass growing like you used to. Nice and tall. - Yeah. - That's a key. - They got some players, man. There's no question, Oregon's going to take people to the brink and I'm going to tell you Washington as much as they've lost, they're going to do the same thing. Let's see, it's just that, UCLA, they've got some work to do, but are they any worse than the teams that are already in the conference? And I don't think so. They just have recruited a different style of player and everyone's going to have to make adjustments on both sides. - I think as I eat that leftover barbecue on that Sunday, Labor Day, the USCLSU is going to be just right. That'll tell a great story early. So a really good non-conference match of USC against LSU. - Yeah, you've got that one, it's going to be unbelievable. You've got Penn State having to travel to West Virginia that's going to be a great one. And then later on, or still early, we're going to see Ohio State and Oregon and a lot of people were picking that game to be a repeat in the big 10 championship game with one versus two. And then who knows what happened in their seating lives with this 12-term playoff. So you look around Oregon and Ohio State are right there. I think Penn State is on the outside, but really a talented roster of dwellers can take those next steps, not in the games where they should be dominant but in their bigger games where they're going to be challenged, where that quarterback is going to have to be able to make three to four plays a game to really make things happen and change the course. You know, we're going to find out a lot about teams early though. - So what have you been hearing about the alma mater about Illinois, it's been so up and down Howard. I just think that just on the surface, you tell me, I just think that BLM as defense has to be a lot better, especially on the back end. I'd like to see what their defense is going to be and what are you going to do with this new quarterback. It's got to be a season that's up because you just can't keep going back and forth like this. - Yeah, you know, that's the one thing that I think from a fan's perspective and also when you look around and you've got to be able to create some consistency. And last year they had quite a few injuries from players that were really going to help them on that back end. Couple that with having a new defensive coordinator first time play calling Aaron Henry who I'm sure is going to be much better this season than he was last season. Because you just have to get comfortable with it. And that's where they have to do. They have to continue to recruit, continue to try to upgrade the roster whether it's through the portal. But you know, I get an opportunity to sit, you know, in a lot of their team meetings and he's coaching and we've detailed and we've got all of that. It's just a matter of making sure you can continue to add the depth to the roster. But it's no different than, you know, a lot of the teams right now that they've been to conference. But I'll tell you this, you look at Maryland and what they've been able to do under Coach Lossley. You know, it's a slow process. It really is. And now they've gotten to a camp. They've clicked, you know, three bowl wins together. So, you know, they're making, they're starting to really gain that momentum and be consistent. And that's where the Illinois of the world have to get to continuing to be consistent winning the games as opposed to. But again, it comes so much. So much is going to be now about the quarterback play. And I guess it always has been that way. But it just seems like it's so much more pronounced now. Not only at Illinois, you're having to go into the portal and find their guide but you look around college football. I mean, the portal quarterbacks, I mean, they're hired, they're hired. Come on in for a year and see what you can do. And you've been productive with other places and you'd be productive here. You know, I only need to look the last year with Michael Pence and what he was able to do for Washington for the last couple of years. So, you know, it should be important for these portal quarterbacks to be able to deliver. And if they can get comfortable, and I think that's the biggest thing, like going into a new environment and their ability to get comfortable with their teams that are there, with the teammates is a big part of it. - All right. I know you do these interviews around the country but it's something like talking to the homie here at home. Here's a question that no one's asked you. You ready for this? You know it's not, you know it's got comfort. You know it's got comfort for me. So I'm going to ask you a question. - Absolutely. - Okay. 'Cause it's the most unpredictable conversation that you ever have with me. All right. - All right. - Based on everything you did in high school and in college at Illinois, how much money would a young Howard Griffith make today? (laughing) And it I L money. How much? - I have no idea. I would love to be able to figure that one out. 'Cause let me tell you, Liddy, these guys, you don't even have to be a starter. - Right. - And you're getting paid. I mean, there are some places in this conference where you're the number seven or eight offensive lineman and you're being paid $200,000. It is amazing. There's a quarterback and there are reports out there. Because the craziest thing about the whole NIO deal, right, is there's really no one knows. There's no database that tells you here's what the contract is and here's what it is. People are putting stuff out there, but nobody really knows what's happening. So there are reports that the young quarterback that's playing 14 is getting $2 million this year to play. And he's probably a guy that just came out of high school. But that's the market. When they believe that you can be a lead player and it really helped the program go to another level. I mean, they are throwing the cash out there. You can look at our house there. House days spend a lot of money this year. Both are all reports. So I'm saying it's somewhere upward to $25, $26 million that there's been an over there, which is really interesting when you think about just where college athletics has come. So to answer your question, I don't know, probably still would be worth a couple of rusty knives to make you wouldn't score it. - I don't think so. (laughing) - After Saxon paint has brought some money in and one stop and the local liquor store and the local jewel. I think that-- - Not be, yeah. - I think you'll be fine. - No, to be honest, I think it probably would've been a problem, but I still, oh, he would probably would've been high on their list of people to get involved with that. (laughing) - You got the lice of old English. - They were, they were, they were a dollar five. (laughing) - What is the world, you want my vocal friends? This is more, what's the world of prices on some things? (laughing) - I want my y'all day long. (laughing) - It's like an old game. (laughing) - Big patch on your shoulder, old English. That is, it doesn't like that, man. - It doesn't like some old, man. - They could've bought us a whole hand sandwich, man. (laughing) - That's so true, that's so true. - But it is fun, and I would say this. I mean, you look at what, like the fly on the line, and I would, you know, the mission of that bar. - Oh my God. - I mean, it would've been, I mean, it would've been amazing to see. It made me somebody, you know, and it's hard to do, somebody you can always say, if you had that team, what would that team, what would the value of that team be? And I know people play around with those numbers, but now those dudes would've been getting paid. - Two. - That would've been unreal, you know. So, man, it's a new era, it's a fun era. I think the players, I think the players deserve it, and I think it'll continue to get better when revenue sharing kicks in. But the reality of this, man, is I don't think they're ever gonna be able to put the genie back in the bottle with this NIL stuff. It's just, they're gonna try to regulate it pretty, but if I wanna pay somebody a million dollars to wear a patch on there, or to come sign autographs somewhere, people, you know, they say they wanna put a group together that's gonna be able to go out and bet, and make sure all of these are real NIL deals. And it's no way in the world they could ever bet that. They couldn't hire enough people to make sure that everyone's above Ford with that, because then you get into the, how you gonna tell me my deal is not valid. It's not, you know, it's not a true NIL deal. So, this thing's off the rails, but this is where we are with college athletics off the field, but I'm just glad we're getting back to it. We've got some football coming up, not far away, and we get to see these teams perform on the field, 'cause it's some great teams that are out there, and this 12 team playoff is gonna be so much fun. Not only obviously for the teams, but I think for the fans, they're gonna get the chance to go to some iconic venues to watch their teams play. - That's no question. The positive out of all of this, Howard, is that we're gonna have some of the more meaningful September games, August and September games, as far as non-conference that we've seen, 'cause we've asked about this for many years of trying to get some games in September that really have some meat to it. We got that now with the realignment, and especially in the Big 10, and I look forward to seeing that. That's gonna be fun. - Yeah, it really is, it's gonna be interesting. Some of these teams that are in control of where they are, they've got number one seed. It's gonna be fun to watch, man. It really is, and here's the thing, they'll probably end up going to 14. That'll be the reality of it, they'll probably do that, but this is gonna be fun to watch the 12 team playoff and to watch this first year and see just what happens. - Howard, as always, I appreciate your time, my man. I hope you have a great season with the Big 10 Network again, another year, cranking it up, and I hope the kids have to talk to you soon. - Oh, sounds good, man. Happy to do it, Ian, sad. - Our conversation is always brought to you by Old English. (laughing) - Love you. - Make sure you get yours in a brown bag. - That's right, Old English beer. (laughing) Thanks, man. - All right, buddy, you good, take care. (upbeat music)