USC Football: Colin Cowherd Negatively Recruits on Trojans’ Behalf

Colin Cowherd offered “negative recruiting” pitches for USC football’s opposition in the Pac-12 on his radio show Wednesday.

When does recruiting go from just recruiting to negative recruiting? That’s what Colin Cowherd asked on his Fox Sports Radio show Wednesday, using USC football to argue his case that the term “negative recruiting” is used incorrectly.

This all spawned from Big 10 Media Days where James Franklin complained about the “negative recruiting” being done against Penn State by conference foes like Ohio State and Michigan State.

Cowherd balked at that accusation.

“Is there any such a thing as negative recruiting? It’s just called recruiting,” Cowherd said. “Isn’t it your job to point out ‘here’s why we’re better for you than them’?”

Cowherd shared an example of recruiting an employee choosing between ESPN and Fox Sports. In that context comparing the size and excitement of Bristol, Connecticut, where ESPN is based, and Los Angeles, where Fox Sports is based, should be fair game, per the radio host.

“It’s one thing if you make stuff up. If I state facts, I don’t think that’s negative recruiting,” said Cowherd.

From Cowherd’s perspective, pointing out the isolated area where Penn State resides and their lack of results over the last four years isn’t negative recruiting, it’s facts.

Enter USC.

Cowherd used the example of the Trojans to “negatively recruit” against schools in the Pac-12 with nothing but facts.

Here’s what he said:

On Washington…

“It rains there 275 days a year. You’re a southern California wide receiver. It rains there 275 days a year. You really want to go play there…Oh by the way, there will be four games at the end of the year, it will be raining sideways. Go on the campus look at their girls look at ours.”

On Washington State…

“It’s in the middle of nowhere. You can’t find Pulman on a map. The airport is 48 minutes from the school. What’s their history. They’ve done nothing.”

On Oregon…

“Where are their national titles? It’s hippie central. Where are their national titles? Where are their Heisman Trophies? That’s not an elite university. That’s Phil Knight university. How many NFL guys do they put in the league?”

SEE ALSO: Ranking USC’s Opponents By Threat Level

On Cal…

“It’s hippie central. They call it Berserkely. Academically incredibly difficult. They’re not totally committed to football. And you’ll be stepping over treehuggers every fifteen minutes on campus.”

On Stanford…

“More people go to the library than go to their home football games. They win some football games. I like their coach. How many people go to their games? You’re playing to an empty stadium half the time.”

On Arizona…

“You want to practice in 137 degrees? Arizona is a basketball school. We’re a football school. “

On ASU…

“They’re even crappy at basketball and you still get the heat. Why would you go there? Academically, meh. Good luck in August camp. They’re like Arizona without the good basketball.”

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On UCLA…

“Basketball school. Where are all their national titles? Where are all their Heismans? They’re not going to promote you like we’re going to promote you. LA is a USC town. If you’re going to go to LA go to us. At least we’re the football school in town, at least we’ll promote you.”

On Colorado…

“They’re great if you want to be a professional skier. We didn’t even know they were in the conference.”

Cowherd declined to mention Oregon State and Utah, which may be a bit of negative recruiting on its own.

And he did all that in three minutes.