The herd takes over Pardee Plaza

On the eve of the USC-Colorado showdown, Colin Cowherd made his annual trip to USC, where he produced his national radio show “The Herd with Colin Cowherd” in Pardee Plaza. Cowherd’s show brought up several different topics including Rex Ryan and the Jets, Jameis Winston and his autograph scandal as well as student attendance at college football games.

Cowherd started his show off talking about the New York Jets and their close loss to the New England Patriots. He blamed Rex Ryan for the Jets being in last place by stating that he has been complacent with the defense and that his team lacks talent. Cowherd is right that when a team is losing as a bad as the Jets, people can blame the head coach but not because of the lack of talent.

The lack of talent of this team is not the fault of Rex Ryan but of the general manager John Idzik. Ryan during the draft process, is the guy who always want to bulk up a defense while Idzik and the rest of the Jets staff have full reign of the offense. Being in New York where there is a lot of scrutiny, the Jets have reached on several draft picks and it has cost them.

Idzik, being in his second year as the Jets general manager has so far underperformed. During last year’s draft, Idzik drafted Alabama cornerback Dee Milliner, who can’t say healthy, and struggling quarterback Geno Smith. Even though Idzik hasn’t been with the Jets organization long, he should be fired well before the more popular Rex Ryan.

Cowherd continued his rant by touching upon the Jameis Winston saga involving autographed memorabilia. Cowherd described his situation as a 19-20 year old living in the Garden of Eden and not being able to grab the fruit. Even though Winston has been in trouble with the law and the NCAA, eventually college athletes making money will be a thing of the past.

In a time, where prices are increasing and living expenses are getting to be astronomical, Winston has every right to sell his likeness. Florida State and the NCAA receive money from Winston’s likeness and there isn’t any reason that Winston can’t do the same thing.

Stipends are far from coming down the NCAA pipeline and while athletes wait, they continue to fall deeper and deeper into debt. Their tuition and books are covered but off campus housing is not and neither is their food if they want to go out to eat. In Winston’s situation, he did not come from a rich family and he struggles to get by on what Florida State gives him.

There is nothing wrong with making a few extra dollars to support yourself if you have the opportunity to do so. Athletes have to keep hiding in the dark from the NCAA when they sign those autographs. Until, the NCAA is out of the picture and athletes are getting their stipends, will public autograph signing be okay.

In Cowherd’s last segment, he spoke about improving the football environment at college’s to bring students back to the game. He stated that universities should allow a beer garden and make the tickets free instead of making students pay even more. This statement is spot on, especially at USC.

Students around the country make a statement about their team and how they were performing by not showing up to the game. USC experienced this at the beginning of last season when Lane Kiffin was still the head coach. Not only did USC have a tough start to last year but they also had the Coliseum at half capacity.

Cowherd presented good ideas that are plausible and it would allow many more students to attend the game. With roughly three sections to fill in the Coliseum, USC needs as many students as possible and sometimes 35 dollars to a broke college student is a lot.

Paying 42,000 dollars in tuition and then spending 175 more dollars to get football tickets is outrageous. If tickets were free, it would remove the secondary market for student tickets and make them more available to kids who actually have passion for their football program.

The idea of having beer in the Coliseum would increase revenue tremendously even though the PAC-12 will never allow it. All of the PAC-12 schools agreed not to sell alcohol at their stadiums but they continue to miss a large revenue stream. With USC not allowing beer, students who want to drink would rather go watch the game at the 901 Bar and Grill instead of going into the Coliseum.

Near the end of Cowherd’s show, he showed his love for USC by picking the Trojans to defeat the Buffalos in a lopsided affair. Cowherd also announced that he will be writing another novel, which will be released sometime next year.