Reggie Bush is ready for the changes coming to college football, anticipates big things for Clay Helton and USC this fall and makes his playoff and Heisman picks.
It’s mid-afternoon in late August and officially the hottest day of the year where I’m at. It’s the type of oppressive humidity that lets you know college football season is right around the corner. If not for the heat, it would be the greatest time of the year.
College football is at the beginning of a new era. Athletes are now able to get paid for their name, image and likeness. Texas and Oklahoma are leaving the Big 12 for the SEC in 2025. The College Football Playoff is going to expand. The Big Ten, ACC and Pac-12 have formed an alliance in response to the SEC raiding the Big 12, which is left without a seat in college football’s version of musical chairs.
I’m waiting for Reggie Bush to return from picking up his child from school so we can talk about all those issues and how it’ll change the future of the sport. As I wait, I’m trying to keep it professional and not blurt out he was one of my favorite players to watch or that when I was in college and my friends would leave for the bars and parties, I was the one sticking behind so I could watch the Trojans on Fox Sports Net and see what he would do to some helpless defense.
Bush, entering a new season as part of FOX’s Big Noon Kickoff, is also a new pitchman for Wendy’s and you can see him in commercials throughout the fall. I’m told not to ask Bush about his ongoing battle with the NCAA and his fight to get his 2005 Heisman Trophy back, but without directly asking the question, it’s clear he is ready for the long-overdue awakening coming to college football.
Schmidt: Big Noon Kickoff has been a great addition to college football coverage and we get to see you team up with Matt Leinart again. What’s that relationship mean to you?
Bush: Matt is my brother, and we’ve had a great relationship for a very long time, and we’ve been friends for a very long time. We made a lot of history together. We just did something for EA Sports with Vince Young playing Madden in the Rose Bowl stadium, which was pretty cool. But the one thing I love about football is you build relationships with people from all different walks of life. You build relationships with people from different religions, different cultural upbringings, from different parts of the world, with different beliefs, and you have to bring all that together for one common goal. Through that, you develop these relationships that extend far beyond the football field. And the same goes for any of my other USC teammates that I played with. What we built there was special.
Schmidt: You and Vince Young have maintained a relationship through the years. Many may think you’re rivals but it’s quite the opposite.
Bush: There’s something to me that’s full circle about all of that, because like I was just telling you, I was just at the Rose Bowl with Vince and Matt, and this is a guy who beat us in the National Championship. But I consider Vince one of my good friends because of the battles we shared on the field and then the relationship we’ve been able to build since then. We have such high respect for each other and we understand what it’s like. Not everybody understands that battle on the football field, but we do. And it’s something that’s unspoken.
Schmidt: How often do you and Matt remind Brady Quinn about the “Bush Push?”
Bush: We give Brady s**t all the time on our show about that game, about the Bush Push. We try to make sure he remembers that as much as humanly possibly. Obviously, it was such a big game, such a big moment and it was one of those games that will never be forgotten. I get so many people that come up to me all the time like, ‘I was in this place.’ ‘I was in that place at that moment.’ To me, it speaks volumes about everybody’s effort on that field. Even though we won the game, everybody’s effort is what made that game special all across the board, coaches, players, the fans, even the guy who was running the clock that tried to run the game out and not give us a chance at the end. He was a part of it too.
But when I’m with Brady and Vince we talk about so many other things. Honestly, the football games are probably the last thing we talk about, because we’ve done it, we’ve lived it. And for us, we catch up on other things. We talk about family. Me and Vince, I swear the entire time we were getting ready to do this event, we spoke about family, traveling, business, COVID. We didn’t even talk about football and that’s just because it’s just an unspoken brotherhood we have.
Schmidt: You were there for the pinnacle of USC football. You’ve won all the awards. You’ve won the national titles. USC is trying to get back to that level. What’s it going to take for USC to get back to that level?
Bush: Well, they’re going to have to win. It starts and it ends with winning. So whatever they were doing in the past, they’re going to have to change. That’s the thing about losing is you’re supposed to learn from it. Right? Every loss is only a loss if you view it as a loss. But if you actually are able to take away the things that you need to correct from those games, then the loss is not just a loss. You’re turning that into something more powerful that’s going to help you win. USC has to get out of the past of the mistakes that they were making offense, defense, collectively as a team.
Schmidt: Do you trust Clay Helton to learn from those losses and ultimately win big?
Bush: Clay Helton has to be better this year. The offensive coordinator, Graham Harrell, has to be better this year. I believe if they can build off of last year from an offensive standpoint, they’re going to throw the ball well. They have a great quarterback, great receivers. One of the things that they’re going to have to do is find a more balanced attack. Find a way to just hold onto the football a little bit longer, because what happens when you throw the football a lot you can get some easy three and outs, and your defense can be right back on the field right away. And then help the defense out with sustaining some drives.
And then the defense will have to do a better job at creating turnovers, getting more stops. Football is a chess game. It’s not always about how many points can you score because if the other team can score a lot of points as well, then you got to figure out other ways to win games. I believe they have the right pieces there. The recruiting is improving. And listen I don’t have to be the judge over Clay Helton because time will tell. Time is going to tell if they’re getting better or they’re getting worse. There’s no in-between and this game. You don’t just stay the same. You’re either getting better or you’re getting worse. USC can do a better job this year. I think they will. And I can’t wait to see it. I’m excited.
Schmidt: College football is making big, dramatic changes from realignment, playoff expansion, NIL and the Big Ten, ACC, Pac-12 alliance. Do you think this is ultimately going to be good for college football?
Bush: I think it’s an amazing time for college football with everything that’s happening, the total landscape. Obviously, the Big Ten, Pac-12 and ACC announcing they’re going to be linking up, which is crazy. This is an amazing time for college football. There are so many things, so many storylines that you need to keep your eye on because it all affects, I think the total landscape in some way. I think change is good.
Schmidt: Kirk Herbstreit has been a vocal critic of these changes like players getting paid for their name, image and likeness not being good for the sport. Other traditionalists have pushed back saying college football is becoming too much like the NFL. What’s your response to that?
Bush: Sometimes I cringe when I hear people talk about tradition because tradition is great, but everything is meant to change. Right? The season of the weather guarantees that there’s going to be change. That’s as old school as going back to the Bible. So to me, it’s changing for the better, because kids are going to be able to make money at a much earlier stage. I’ve always felt when you’re in college, you’re in your prime. You’re in the prime of your athleticism. When you’re 18, 19, 20, that’s when your body is operating on all cylinders. Everything is working for you. And now kids get to monetize off of that as they should have always been able to do.
I think change is amazing. I think it’s going to be great for the sport. I think you’re going to hear some amazing stories come out of this. I think the change was inevitable. It was time, I think, to shake things up. And I love seeing the shift of the conferences. I think the Pac-12, Big Ten and ACC joining up was a direct response to the SEC. But now my question is, where does the Big 12 fit in all of this? It seems like they’re kind of getting caught up in all of this and it’s just interesting to see what’s going to happen with the Big 12.
Schmidt: What’s the perfect number for an expanded playoff?
Bush: It should be at least 12. Like, come on. This is football. Why is it that every other sport, every other sport has a true playoff system but college football? Why can’t we figure that out? It shouldn’t have taken this long to get to this point. But here we are. I think 12 teams should be the bare minimum because a lot of these teams deserve to be in there.
People don’t understand how nearly impossible it is to go undefeated. You basically have to go undefeated to just have a chance. If you’re in the SEC, okay, we know you’re going to go in there. Ohio State in the Big Ten. There are certain teams that you know if they go undefeated they’re a shoo-in, or even if they have one loss, they still have a great shot. Some of these other teams, like for example last year, Cincinnati. I would have loved to see Cincinnati in the playoffs and see what they could have done because they have some real players over there. The coach is great and they deserved a shot, but because we only allow four teams they’re just left out. I think it’s hamstrung a lot of teams for a very long time, not having a true playoff system. It’s overdue and I’m glad it’s on the horizon.
Schmidt: We still have a four-team playoff for now, so who are the four making it this year?
Bush: Well, with the way the playoff system is now it’s set up for the same exact teams to go. Alabama, Clemson, Ohio State, and most likely Oklahoma.
I think the unique thing about Oklahoma is when I think about Iowa State, to me Iowa State is the dark horse of that conference. Because they got obviously a great running back, Breece Hall, great coaching, system, good quarterback play. I think they have just about everybody returning on offense. They’re sitting at a really good spot where they can easily sneak in there and upset Oklahoma at the end of the year, and be that team that sneaks in. And you look at what they’ve done based on these last two years. They’re knocking on the door. The team has really good chemistry and I love their coach. They play hard. They’re feisty. They don’t make a lot of mistakes. It just feels like a team that’s ready to kind of take off.
Schmidt: Who is on your shortlist to contend for the Heisman?
Bush: The crazy thing about the Heisman Trophy is it’s really turned into this quarterback award over the last however many years. But I’m so glad that [Alabama receiver] DeVonta Smith won it last year. I think that was just great for the sport. And I think he deserved it. So this year, I think my front-runners would be, [Oklahoma quarterback] Spencer Rattler, obviously. You think about their offense. Lincoln Riley, he’s going to continue to dial up plays for him, put him in a position to succeed and to win. I’m a huge fan of that team. A huge fan of Spencer Rattler. I got a chance to speak to him and interview him last year. A great young kid, and he has a bright future.
I like Sam Howell out of North Carolina. Had a great year last year. He lost some good receivers but he slings the ball. So as long as he’s slinging that football, he’s going to be in the conversation, and he’ll put up numbers too.
Breece Hall from Iowa State I think has a real chance to win the Heisman Trophy. He’s going to get touches and they’re going to be in the running for the Big 12 Championship Game. There’s obviously some other ones out there, D.J. Uiagalelei from Clemson, who I like as well. But those are the guys that kind of jump out to me.
Schmidt: You’re a big TV star now appearing in Wendy’s commercials, promoting their new breakfast sandwiches, what was that experience like?
Bush: Wendy’s was so easy to work with, I think that was the thing I took away from shooting the commercial was just how easy they made it for me and for everybody else. Literally, we pull up and it was just me and the director. We got along right away, everybody was nice, everybody was amazing, everybody was helpful so it really made shooting the commercial that much easier. I’ve been a big fan of Wendy’s for a very long time. Growing up in San Diego, we ate at Wendy’s all the time. And I’ll eat the bacon, egg, and Swiss croissant, which is $1.99 through October. That’s one of my favorites to eat there, amongst all the other great breakfast sandwiches they have. So when I had the opportunity to work with them it kind of took me back to my childhood all over again.
Schmidt: Talk about the perfect pre-game meal or something to bring to the tailgate.
Bush: It’s perfect timing, especially with college football coming back up and Wendy’s has a huge presence on our show as well with Fox, our Big Noon Kickoff show. So, it just made a lot of sense. There were a lot of synergies there, and I’m happy that we were able to get that done. And my kids love watching it as well.
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