Brady Quinn Believes Iowa Has a Chance in Big Ten Championship Game vs. Michigan

Sports Illustrated

FOX Big Noon Kickoff analyst Brady Quinn joins SI to talk Big Ten Championship, CFB Playoff, Deion Sanders and more.

Transcript

00:00 I'm Robin Lundberg, joined now by Brady Quinn,

00:02 who will be part of the big noon kickoff crew

00:04 on site in Indianapolis, Indiana,

00:06 for the Big Ten Championship on Fox.

00:09 Pre-game coverage, 6.30, 8 o'clock,

00:11 the game, Michigan and Iowa, Brady.

00:13 And, you know, obviously anytime you get to this time of year

00:16 it's exciting, but I have seen some lines

00:18 that have Iowa listed at .5 points in the first half

00:22 and .5 points in the second half.

00:25 Do they have any chance against Michigan?

00:27 - Yeah, of course they've got a chance.

00:29 They're one of the better coach teams,

00:31 and it's not like they stumbled their way in the 10 wins.

00:33 They really could be an 11 win team

00:35 if you go back and comb kind of through the season.

00:37 But they have to play a very specific style,

00:40 and that's one that's gonna include no mistakes,

00:43 dominating the line of scrimmage on offense and defense,

00:47 and then making a few big plays on offense,

00:49 as well as maybe in the special teams,

00:51 which has been one of their main keys,

00:53 and hoping, probably on top of that,

00:55 that Michigan comes out and doesn't have their best day.

00:58 - Now, the Wolverines, obviously, if they win,

01:00 that would complete a really good,

01:03 undefeated season for them,

01:04 but there is the other thing surrounding that program.

01:07 How much do you expect the talk to heat up

01:11 around the college football playoff selection

01:13 when it comes to Michigan,

01:14 given everything that's hanging over the program?

01:16 - Well, look, they win and they're in.

01:19 I don't know that the NCAA's gonna do anything

01:21 at this point.

01:22 It sounds like the Big Ten's done

01:23 with their punishment up to this point,

01:24 which probably makes for a really interesting

01:26 post-game ceremony if Tony Petitti's gonna be up there

01:28 giving out the Big Ten Championship Trophy

01:31 to Jim Harbaugh.

01:31 We'll see if that actually plays out.

01:33 That being said, I don't think the NCAA's gonna intervene

01:37 at this point or junction of the season.

01:39 I think they'll probably wait until the spring

01:41 and summer of next year before something happens.

01:43 So, it will be Jim Harbaugh coaching Michigan,

01:46 I think, for the rest of the way.

01:47 And, look, if they win this game, they're in.

01:50 - Regardless of what happens,

01:52 let's say Alabama wins against Georgia.

01:56 How do you see things shaking out if that's the case?

01:59 - That becomes the most interesting question.

02:01 And you start looking at, all right,

02:02 well, who wins the Pac-12?

02:04 Is it undefeated Washington?

02:05 Or is it a 12-1 at that point, Oregon,

02:09 who is able to overcome the loss to Washington

02:11 early in the season?

02:13 Then you start maybe comparing resumes

02:14 between two 12-1 teams.

02:16 I also think you could have Texas in the mix

02:18 as a 12-1, Big 12 Conference Champion.

02:21 And then there's Ohio State sitting there 11-1.

02:23 Now, I think the overriding factor

02:25 will be the Conference Championship,

02:27 that 13th game indicator they talk about.

02:29 Head-to-head play would play a factor, too.

02:32 Whereas, if you're the committee

02:33 and you're looking at the fact that Texas beat Alabama

02:36 in Alabama early in the season,

02:38 you'd have to think Texas is a part of it.

02:40 But how could you leave Alabama being a 12-1 SEC champ?

02:43 So, things get really, really interesting.

02:45 I mean, I think the Big 10's the only conference

02:46 that you could say if Michigan wins, is undefeated,

02:49 they're 100% safe.

02:51 Next to, probably, you'd say, the SEC champ,

02:53 I just can't imagine they're gonna leave out

02:55 a one-loss Bama as the SEC champ.

02:58 And so, really, then it comes down to

03:00 who do they feel like the best four teams are,

03:02 or the best two, in this case?

03:04 And that's where it gets tricky,

03:05 because you're starting to look at strength and strategy,

03:07 you're starting to look at the resume,

03:08 head-to-head, all those things that factor in.

03:10 And so, you'd have to think, again,

03:11 that Texas would somehow be a part of it.

03:13 And then, do you take the Pac-12,

03:15 or do you leave out an ACC undefeated team?

03:17 I think it would depend on who ends up winning.

03:19 I'm not sure you could put in a one-loss Oregon

03:20 over top of a 13-0 Florida State team,

03:23 despite the fact that Jordan Travis isn't there.

03:25 Probably be a bad precedent to set,

03:26 but it's the last year we've got a 14th playoff,

03:29 so next year we're not gonna have these sort of issues.

03:31 - Though, there are new issues arising,

03:33 or new storylines arising in college football,

03:35 with the transfers and everything going on.

03:37 I saw Riley Leonard, maybe Notre Dame,

03:40 could be pursuing him at quarterback, obviously.

03:43 You're an Irish guy, what do you make of a story like that?

03:46 - Well, look, obviously, Notre Dame went to get

03:48 Sam Hartman last year, the transfer portal.

03:50 He did a great job kind of embodying everything

03:52 I think they were looking for at that spot.

03:54 Riley Leonard seems to exhibit a lot of the same traits

03:56 and qualities, given his time at Duke.

03:58 Had a phenomenal season in 2022,

04:00 and if you look at this past year,

04:02 obviously he had the injury, that was unfortunate.

04:03 Not quite as good of a year, but it will be interesting.

04:07 I mean, you'd think that there'd maybe be a chance

04:08 that he'd go to Texas A&M with his head coach.

04:11 That's not the case.

04:12 I'm sure there's probably some other suitors

04:13 in there as well.

04:14 He's gotta be considered one of the top quarterbacks

04:16 in the transfer portal.

04:18 - What did you make of Matt Rule's comments?

04:19 He said basically, you know, it costs at least

04:21 a million dollars to get one of these quarterbacks.

04:24 I think the interesting part is,

04:25 they took a transfer quarterback last year.

04:27 So is he saying that from experience?

04:29 Is that how they got their transfer quarterback?

04:31 So it just, it kind of struck me as like,

04:33 well, wait a second, are you speaking like here

04:35 or are you speaking like last year?

04:36 Like, how's this gonna work?

04:37 So, look, we're at a point in college football

04:42 where clearly there needs some sort of intervention.

04:45 I think everyone can agree on that.

04:46 In regards to the fluidity of players, you know,

04:49 getting on and off of rosters.

04:51 I mean, I saw a stat the other day of the top 50 players

04:55 in the 2020 class.

04:57 There's seven players that either didn't change positions

05:01 or didn't transfer, seven.

05:03 Now, three of that group were guys

05:05 who are already in the NFL.

05:07 You know, guys like a CJ Straub, for example,

05:09 Anthony Richardson, for example.

05:11 And so when you take that into account,

05:13 it's pretty crazy to think how many players

05:15 are really using the transfer portal

05:18 to find an opportunity to play,

05:20 but also the big pink elephant in the room,

05:23 an opportunity to cash in potentially at NIL.

05:26 - One team that used the transfer portal a lot

05:27 coming into this year was Colorado.

05:29 They've had some deep commits.

05:30 What do you make of that?

05:32 - It's hard to know at this juncture, you know,

05:35 how you read into it.

05:37 I think clearly the way the season finished,

05:39 no one's probably got a good taste in their mouth right now.

05:41 And you've got an offensive coordinator who was demoted.

05:44 Now he's the head coach at San Diego State.

05:46 I'm not sure how you end up viewing that

05:48 when you've got a guy you demoted

05:49 and he immediately gets a head coaching job.

05:51 It might be saying something.

05:53 And on top of that, you got Tim Brewster,

05:54 a guy who's well-known in the college football circles,

05:57 and he stepped down as well.

05:58 So I think there could be some concern

06:00 as far as what that staff's gonna look like,

06:03 what this roster and team's gonna look like,

06:04 and based on how they finished the season,

06:06 I'm sure it's gonna be tough sometimes

06:08 to be able to sell a lot of kids on this team,

06:11 being able to be a Big 12 contender moving forward,

06:16 despite the fact that Shador is extremely talented.

06:18 He obviously has a lot of talent in skilled positions.

06:20 And Deion Sanders is gonna have to make some changes

06:23 to figure out how he can maximize

06:25 what he's got on his roster,

06:26 'cause you're not gonna always be able

06:28 to turn over a roster in one year's time.

06:30 You're just not.

06:31 You could probably do it once,

06:32 supplement the few years after that,

06:34 but you really have to build your roster

06:37 through the high school recruiting.

06:38 And that's probably where their focus is gonna shift now.

06:41 - How about Caleb Williams?

06:42 I saw him say it's a game time decision

06:45 about whether he enters the NFL draft.

06:47 Do you think there's any chance we see him back

06:48 at USC next year?

06:49 - I don't know.

06:51 It'd be tough to think that he would pass up

06:52 on the opportunity to go play for an NFL franchise.

06:55 I mean, for starters, now with the,

06:57 basically four years with the 50 year guarantee,

06:59 it's a lot of money to pass up on.

07:01 And I know these young men can make money in NIL.

07:04 However, it's not to that magnitude.

07:06 And I think, look, the earlier he gets into the NFL,

07:09 the sooner he gets to that second contract

07:11 where you really make a lot of money.

07:12 So it would be surprising to think

07:15 that he would potentially pass up on it.

07:18 You know, I think there's a lot of factors that weigh

07:19 into it and there's only been a few guys

07:21 who've kind of been able to dictate maybe what happens

07:24 when they're at this point in the draft.

07:26 But I do think he's the best quarterback

07:28 in this year's draft class.

07:29 If he does declare and decide to come out,

07:31 he's just a unique talent.

07:32 - Brady Quinn will be part of the big noon kickoff,

07:34 pregame coverage, 6.30 PM,

07:36 Iowa-Michigan kickoff, eight o'clock on Fox.

07:39 Anything else, Brady, you want fans to know

07:41 about the rest of this college football season

07:43 and what you'll be a part of?

07:45 - Well, look, it should be a fantastic ending.

07:47 I mean, look, for all those out there

07:48 who are gonna be concerned about whatever happens

07:50 this weekend, it's okay.

07:52 We've got, we're a year away

07:53 from not having to worry about this.

07:55 Kind of a new scenario, too.

07:56 We're gonna get the first round on home fields

07:59 there on those campuses.

08:00 So just try to take it in if you can,

08:02 the drama and everything else that comes along

08:04 with college football and get ready for,

08:06 I guess, the start of a new chapter

08:07 in the way everything's evolving and adapting right now.

08:11 - Brady, appreciate the time.

08:12 Have fun this weekend.

08:13 Thanks for having me, Robin.

08:14 (upbeat music)

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