NFL Win Totals, USC vs. Notre Dame Revival? Steelers Headed For Disaster?
The Colin Cowherd Podcast
iHeartPodcasts and The Volume
4.4 • 1.1K Ratings
🗓️ 12 May 2026
⏱️ 39 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Colin is joined by John Middlekauff, host of “3 and Out” to talk all things football.
They start with the renewed discussions between Notre Dame & USC to potentially revive their rivalry after many top schools won’t schedule Notre Dame and why the new NIL business model of college sports & their lack of quality opponents has forced Notre Dame to the table (2:00). They also react to an ex UNC quarterback’s disparaging comments about the atmosphere Bill Belichick created and explain why the “Patriot Way” doesn’t work with 18 year olds (8:30).
They move to the NFL & discuss the weird situation developing between the Steelers and still unsigned Aaron Rodgers amongst some of their other strange personnel decisions, and Colin predicts the Steelers could be an absolute mess within five years (16:30).
They react to a recent article by The Athletic ranking the top NFL rosters and debate whether the Bills deserve to be ranked at #3 (28:00). Finally, they pivot to NFL win totals, and give their thoughts on the Patriots, 49ers, Vikings, Packers, Bengals and more (34:00).
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is an I-Heart podcast. |
| 0:02.5 | Guaranteed Human. |
| 0:05.3 | The volume. |
| 0:13.0 | John Middilkoff is joining us. |
| 0:16.3 | We'll chop it up for about 35 minutes. |
| 0:18.2 | I wanted to start with this. |
| 0:20.4 | So reportedly, in the last week, |
| 0:24.6 | Notre Dame and USC have begun talking again. So USC always had all the leverage because they play |
| 0:34.1 | a much better schedule. They're in a real conference. Notre Dame, I was told a month ago, Notre Dame initiated this. |
| 0:43.1 | Notre Dame, I was told this by somebody at a major television network that knows the athletic director of Notre Dame. |
| 0:51.4 | And the athletic director had said, we're having a hell of a time scheduling |
| 0:56.3 | games. Because what happens is with a 12-team playoff, where two of the slots go to your James |
| 1:02.4 | Madison's, and Notre Dame with a weak schedule is guaranteed if they're in the top tennis spot, |
| 1:08.5 | it's essentially a nine-team playoff. |
| 1:11.7 | And if it doesn't expand, people are like, you know, USC's, Ohio states, LSUs, |
| 1:18.4 | Michigan's are going timeout. |
| 1:20.2 | It's a nine-team playoff. |
| 1:22.0 | You can't lose more than two games. |
| 1:24.8 | And because the Big Ten and the SEC, John, have now been fortified |
| 1:31.0 | with Texas, Oklahoma, Oregon, Washington, U.S., UCLA, and because of the NIL, Vanderbilt, and |
| 1:38.8 | Indiana are now powerful that a lot of these schools told Notre Dame, take a hike. |
| 1:44.5 | We're not scheduling you. |
... |
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