Charles Davis
speaker
419 appearances
3 recordings
1 series
first heard Aug 2026
last heard 11 Sep
Charles Davis’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.
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recordings per month · last 12 monthsRecordings per month over the last 12 months — 3 in all, peaking in Sep 2026 with 2.
Appearances
Well, Oregon ushered in the era, Dan, that took us to now where often you turn on their TV and it might take you a minute to realize who's playing, depending on what's going on. So Oregon and all their combinations with the great names. I remember the Lightning Yellow. You mentioned Mississippi State. They went down there to Starkville a bunch of years ago, and their Lightning Yellow to play and the whole deal. I feel like their combinations are really hard to beat, but it's been very interesting watching even traditionalists
take on new looks, trying new things, doing things that maybe the older fan base wasn't a fan of, but the younger kids love. But I'm just going to leave you with this, Dan. I'm hoping Penn State will go back to the uniform that had the single stripe down the side, the numbers on the helmet. I think that was Rip Engel, early Joe Paterno. They wear it once a year now. I think it's their best look.
North Carolina has good-looking average football, but they got good uniforms. North Carolina, UCLA often pops. Remember when they would make the Rose Bowl, and if you were a northern kid as I was, and you're turning on in January 1, and you're watching UCLA in that great blue, you're like, whoa, and you see the sunshine and the great shots as you come over the Rose Bowl, you think to yourself, that's a really good-looking uniform as well. North Carolina, as you mentioned, with their
their tar heel blue as they like to call it there are a number of places that have them and they just keep getting better and i remember when cliff kingsbury took over texas tech he had it written into his contract as the head coach that he had final approval of uniforms i like that i like that uh okay the overriding question going into college football this season is what
When are we going to settle in and people will quit having to worry about, do I have a new roster this year? Is my quarterback going to leave because the NIL isn't quite good enough right after the spring or what have you? Am I going to know these kids a little bit longer than one season at a time?
I think a lot of that is starting to happen and percolate. I don't know that we've totally hit it yet. Dan, we're hearing that five for five, five years to play five seasons. So the red shirting gets off the table. And the one-time transfer, which I think for the average fan, is something they're kind of looking forward to, even as they acknowledge –
player movement and the kids getting paid is not as big a deal as maybe we thought years ago. Because I do know this, when the NIL started, I was eager to watch college football and college football fans and say, okay, for years I've had a number of fans tell me, I like college football better than the pros. Why?
Well, these kids are playing for love of the game. They love their school. They're just playing for books. Okay. Now they're playing for real money. And I have not seen the crowds diminish. I have not seen the TV ratings decline. So that was never really the issue. I don't think people really begrudge that as much as they'd like you to stay around a little bit longer. And I don't root for you this year and then root against you next year when you're playing for my rival.
If I gave you the Big Ten or the SEC to win the national title, who would you take this year? Well, all bias acknowledged because I'm calling the Big Ten on CBS. But the evidence in front of us tells us that the Big Ten is the conference right now. And I know it's really hard to take that bias out, Dan. You and I both know that because of what I do.
i believe that i can speak without it and i played in the sec so you would think there's your easy default because you know when i roll back in the sec country having just said the big ten's a better conference right now i will be a traitor let alone a dang yankee so put it all together but look at what was happening because when the sec was riding high
The conversation was always, well, are they as deep as people think? You know, yeah, they're really top-heavy and, you know, the rest of the conference. Well, now that the Big Ten's won three in a row, what is the first thing that's been lobbed at them? They're top-heavy. Are they really that deep? Well, the answer is yes. They're very deep. I mean, if you sit there, let's say the first tier is Oregon, Ohio State, and Indiana, whatever combination you want. Right now, that's your top tier, right?
What's your next tier? USC? Michigan? Iowa? I mean, we're starting to get into this a little bit now. Wisconsin played better at the end of last season. Started to throw names in there. Minnesota wins eighth a year no matter what. Penn State's going to be good. Penn State's going to be good with Matt Campbell. Penn State? And let's face it, Michigan and Penn State are two blue bloods, right? Both have a lot of uncertainty going back to last season.
Could either program have done a better job in replacing the people running the program than going to Kyle Whittingham at Michigan and Matt Campbell at Penn State? Yeah, good point. Those are two home-run hires, and you said Penn State will be good. I agree with you. Schedule-wise, they have it really right where they want it. Ohio State's the top contender with the worst schedule because they play everybody, and a lot of them are on the road.
Yeah, two great examples, really, and you can argue them from every direction. I'll just put it to you this way. What Pete Carroll put together out at USC at a time that the SEC was really emerging as starting to take over college football –
And then guess what? Out West. Now we're talking about Out West. And, Dan, at that time, we weren't looking at the Pac-12 like they were on the outside. We were just wondering who the giant was going to be. Because there have always been teams that have come out of the Pac-12 that can play with anyone. Don James' teams at Washington?
Terry Donahue's teams at UCLA, you know, just to name a couple, any coach who was coaching USC at that time. So it was always out there. But what Pete did was mash the combo together, the power and the speed. And the country really got a look in Matt Leinart's first start as a sophomore, USC in the season opener at Auburn.
and beat them 23-zip, and it wasn't that close. And we all said, whoa, okay, what are we dealing with here now? And you saw what happened from that point on. So we can argue it every which way. What Urban did going to Ohio State with the speed, sure. But speed wasn't just track stars, Dan. The speed is at every position. And what they like to say in the SEC was –
A hole that opens in the SEC closes after a yard or two. A hole that opens in other conferences closes after three or four. There's your difference. I don't think that difference is there now. Now that's the same speed thing that you got in the Big Ten, the same speed of any good program out there. It's all across the country. But right now, the Big Ten rules it, and that's just the way it is. He who hoists the trophy wins.
gets to have all the conversation. And again, you mentioned the jabbing, and I'll just leave it with this. The SEC used to not engage. Remember? It was, yeah, say what you want. The SEC's fully engaged now, which tells you that the Big Ten has their attention fully. Great to talk to you. We'll catch up with you soon. Thanks for joining us, Charles.
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