CFP Ranking Reaction (Hour 2)

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Rocket can. We have some jobs open up in college football. Wisconsin. As of yesterday, Auburn, Nebraska, Georgia Tech, Arizona State, Colorado. Let's make some early predictions inside the Power Five with those jobs opened up as you hear the music right now. So Hickey, we start things off with Wisconsin. Until they announce someone other than Jim Leonard, who is the interim coach.

They move on from Paul Christ. They wanted to give Jim Leonard a shot here. For years it felt like he could get a job, but he stayed there at Wisconsin. Until someone other than Jim Leonard gets announced as the head coach of Wisconsin, which you look at all these jobs outside of Auburn, which ended the conversation yesterday. Wisconsin's probably the most attractive job, and it makes you wonder if you could pick Auburn and Wisconsin.

Which job would you prefer? I know you have a little bit of a Big Ten bias, so I guess I'll take this with a grain of salt. I would slightly, just slightly lean Auburn over Wisconsin. But if you tell me it's Wisconsin over Auburn, I can't really crush you for that. That's really tough because Wisconsin's in the, for now, at least the next two years, the way easier division. So the path for you to get to the Big Ten title game is way easier than being in the SEC West. We have to go against Alabama, LSU every single year. With that said, there's more recent success with Auburn in terms of winning national titles.

So I will say the Tigers, very close. It also depends on the coach, too. And what type of coach is the coach fit out for the SEC? Does he rely maybe more in the Big Ten where you could build more?

The SEC, you're thrown right into the pressure cooker right away, and people expect instant success. But at Wisconsin, I think it's going to be Jim Leonard. And until someone says it's someone other than Jim Leonard, that's what I'm thinking is going to get the job. That's my prediction that he gets the job. It seems inevitable. You? I'm going to go Lance Leipold.

Wow. Nothing against Jim Leonard. I just feel like the firing of Paul Chris was not just a firing of a coach, but a firing of a scheme and a system. Wisconsin's kind of been the same for like, what, since Ron Dain was like 30, 40 years, where it's run the ball, play good defense, and kind of get under recruited guys that are slower on the team to try to build them into a winner.

I think they're trying to shift to what is now current day, just more popular open wide open spread offense. I'll go Lance Leipold. And also, he has all the ties that you need from his days at Wisconsin.

Whitewater, he was also a GA at Wisconsin. If it's not Jim Leonard, you got to get the right guy. And I would think that Lance Leipold would be satisfactory enough for the Wisconsin fan where it's not, oh, what are we doing bringing in this guy instead of retaining Jim Leonard? I think that's a really good name in Lance Leipold. If there's another name that you could float out there, who would be another name potentially for the Wisconsin job? Just another name that you think is a really good fit.

I think I would go your guy, Matt Rule. If he wants to get into coaching this upcoming or I guess next season, this upcoming off season, I think it's a really good landing spot for him. And if you look at all the jobs that Matt turned around Baylor, Matt turned around Temple, it's not as tough of a task with the way that Wisconsin has been the last few years.

They're not dreadful. They're not down and out like the Temple program was and the Baylor program was. I would think Matt would be a perfect fit in the Big Ten. Like if Matt's going to get a job, I don't think he's going to Auburn and I'm leaning towards him taking a year off. But if there's one of these jobs that are available, you tell me he's back next year, it would be Wisconsin. I see him more of a Big 12, Pac 12, Big Ten type of guy can go into Auburn.

I know his name's been thrown out there whenever a big opening occurs. I don't see him going to Auburn. So I'm going Jim Leonard. You're going Lance Leipold. All right.

How about the job that opened up yesterday? Auburn. I have my prediction, but I'll let you go first. I should say Lane Kiffin. Choo choo. The Lane train all aboard. I just can't get Hugh Freeze's name out of my head.

I can't do it. I'm going to freeze. I think this is just inevitable. I think Auburn's dying to do it. I think they're going to pull the trigger. I think this is so agent driven. Maybe I'm crazy.

Maybe I'm nuts here. The guy just signed an extension. And I know we've seen crazier things happen in college football.

It's 40 million guaranteed. Sure. Would you rather have the Auburn job or would you rather have the Liberty job? I'm not an idiot. I'm not a moron.

I'm not a dope. You clearly rather have the Auburn job. I think this is the guy that got offered an extension. You throw this out there as well.

He takes the extension. They kind of knew Auburn was looming. I think this has been in the works for a while. Are you really jumping for joy if you're an Auburn fan and you're bringing Hugh Freese? Is that? Oh, I think so. You're jumping for joy.

I think so. Even with the ugliness that did occur the last time he was in one of these big jobs. I mean, ugliness, I guess it depends where your morals are. But I mean, look, compared to what other coaches have gotten fired for, that's not that bad. Texting people when you shouldn't from a work phone, organizing recruiting events, and let's just say, again, our let's say not above board. There's been a lot worse that goes on. And I think a lot more programs do that. Just some are not as dumb. I mean, look at Rick Patino. It happens more. I think more than you think.

Just some people are better at covering up than others. Yeah, I don't know. He won an Ole Miss. He did Nick Saban two times in a row. I think if you say that's the guy we're bringing to town with the explosive offense, I think Auburn fans would jump for joy, especially when you look at the offense last two years has been awful to watch. He's done a good job at Liberty. I'll give him credit for that.

That name for me personally just does not move the needle enough where I say I have to have Hugh Freeze. I think it's going to be Lane Kiffin. I think Lane Kiffin wants the job.

You're telling me Auburn fans aren't doing cartwheels in the streets. If you're bringing Lane Kiffin, it's an exciting hire. I like what he's done the last two years at Ole Miss. It seems as if Lane Kiffin is a guy that he's always looking for that next job until he gets that creme de la creme job. And as much as I would love to see him stay at Ole Miss because I like the job that he's done at Ole Miss, Ole Miss is not a creme de la creme job. And I do think Auburn would be a step up for him. And you get to go. I know he gets to go head to head with Saban right now, but it's a little bit different when you're at the head coach of Auburn and you play in that final game in the regular season called the Iron Bowl each and every year.

Alabama up against Auburn. So I'm going Lane Kiffin and you're going Hugh Freeze. That's – you're really going Hugh Freeze? I just can't – I can't get it out of my head.

I was – yeah. I will tip my cap to you if you get that one right because sometimes there's a – like James Franklin's name last year was Florida in every job and he ends up getting a contract extension with Penn State. I just – I just got a feeling that with that contract extension done, maybe this is agent-driven a little bit.

Maybe he's trying to set up his departure for a few years from now. I – not that I'd be shocked if Auburn is interested, but I got to think there's better names out there than Hugh Freeze. Nebraska. This was the toughest one because the Nebraska job, they could go out of the box or they could do something that is safe. It's not as big of a job as it once was, but it's still a big job. It's a big, big job, but it's a big job.

I think you go for a little bit more consistency. A guy that's done something remarkable. Look what Lance Leipold has done at Kansas. That's a big enough job for him.

That's a huge step up. Yeah, you could argue maybe he plays it safe if he doesn't get the one job that he wants, if that's Wisconsin, then he goes somewhere else and waits a year from now when more jobs will be opened up. But I'm thinking Nebraska ends up getting Lance Leipold and I think that would be an excellent hire for them.

You talk about heroes, welcome. Lincoln would, I think, go crazy if they are able to hire Lance Leipold for what he's done at Kansas so far in these two years. I'm going to go Bill O'Brien, program builder, was able to take a Penn State team that was supposed to be in the toilet and made them competitive for two years. I think he's going to go to Nebraska. I wonder how that would be perceived.

I really do. Because I know it's what happened in the pros, and he was a good coach in the pros. He's just a terrible CEO. He's a terrible GM. I wonder with this recent stench of Bill O'Brien with how it ended in Houston.

I know he's been with Alabama as the OC. I wonder how that would be perceived. And I think it may be a little bit more negative than what people would think. I don't think it's an awful hire, but you've got to remember with these passionate, zany fan bases, you can't always predict how they're going to react. And I could see social media just killing the hire of Bill O'Brien. I'm not saying it would be a bad hire, but I could see a reaction going a little bit south for the Bill O'Brien move.

I guess for me the only way that it would be negative, I think it would be a little bit, is just because it's kind of similar to Scott Frost. Now again, you can't really do anything about that, but an offensive-minded guy was supposed to bring in a competent offense. A lot of the same promises you'd make with Bill O'Brien weren't the same promises you made with Scott Frost and that just totally just never materialized.

So that's, I guess, the negative aspect I would view it from, if you do have some negativity from Nebraska. But again, if he wins and wins quickly, those will all go away. It's important where he is right now. He is in coaching rehab. I just feel like Bill O'Brien, he's going to need to maybe go to a smaller job, not a small, small job, but a smaller job before he gets another big job in college. But you're right. At Penn State, for no resources with the disgraceful things that went on there, what he was able to do was better than probably a lot of people could have done at Penn State.

And he probably still would have been there if all the crazy paternal people just actually supported him, but they needed one of their own. So that was just the cold jackassery that happened at Penn State. But it's funny you bring up Bill O'Brien because the next team Georgia Tech is where I have Bill O'Brien going to. And I think it's one of those smaller jobs where you don't have to be great. You could just be solid.

Then maybe quickly you could move on to a big, big job. That's what I think is going to happen with Bill O'Brien. I think he takes a smaller job for a year or two like a Georgia Tech, and then he parlays it if you could have some early success into a bigger job. So I'm going Bill O'Brien at Georgia Tech. Who's your guy for Georgia Tech?

Atlanta favorite Deion Sanders. I would love that. They go with the splash. They go with the hometown guy. I think they try to recruit within that very fertile recruiting ground in the Atlanta area. They go for a master recruiter.

So fit 110 percent makes sense. With that being said, though, I think Deion Sanders, if he's going to make a move from Jackson State and HBCU, he could get a much bigger job just based off his name than Georgia Tech. I hear what you're saying with the Atlantic Connections and all that. That may be a job that he would want.

I would think he could get a bigger job. So I'd be a little bit surprised if it is Georgia Tech. Who's your name for Arizona State? Now we're getting a little bit funky because we're going to Arizona State in Colorado. So let's go Arizona State first.

I'm going to go Jonathan Smith, head coach of Oregon State. He's done a great job in turning the beavers around. No disrespect to Corvallis, beautiful city from what I've heard.

Never been there. It's really, really tough to recruit kids all the way in the Pacific Northwest. Go to Arizona State. You get some nice, warm weather.

You're right by Southern California, which is a very fertile recruiting bed. I'll go Jonathan Smith. I'll give you credit because you went outside the box there. I think if we would have asked every single person at this network, who would they have as the next coach of Arizona State, they would not give me Jonathan Smith. But it just shows why I always say, even though your predictions may be wrong from time to time, that if you want to talk about the most knowledgeable person when it comes to college football at the network, I do think it's you. We're trying. Once in a while, I'm just trying to give you something to think about.

Once in a while. And that is his alma mater. You never know. It ends at an alma mater.

You know, it's having a successful season, I guess you could say this year from where they were the last few years at six and two, maybe it is time for him to get out and take that next step. See, Arizona State, you don't know if there's any sanctions coming on down. That's a difficult part.

You're going to get the patience because it's a little bit buried in obscurity. You don't know the direction of the Pac-12. I think you need a guy that's looking for a rebound job. And Tom Herman did a really good job at Houston. A great job at Houston. At Texas, he wasn't abysmal, but he wasn't good enough. I think a place like Arizona State, when you know he wants to get back in the sport, he's doing TV this year for CBS. I think a spot like Arizona State where you'll get some patience, you may have to overcome some adversity with the sanctions.

We don't know to what extent. I think Tom Herman would be a good move for Arizona State. It's not sexy, but you've seen the way that he was able to really build at Houston. That's a job that I think is perfect for the next landing spot in the rebounding career of Tom Herman. And then finally, Colorado. I'm going Brian Horson, the guy that just got fired at Auburn.

And you may say, Zach, what the heck are you talking about? He had five or six 10-win seasons at Boise State. He wasn't ready for Auburn.

And here's what I mean by that. It may not be, some of it is his fault. But when you move on from Gus Malzahn and you bring in Brian Horson and he clearly wasn't your top two, three options, that's a very underwhelming hire. And I don't think that he was really given a fair enough time because of, deservedly so, how that move was. I think you now go to a place like Colorado where you get that time, you'll get that patience.

And I think the guy is a solid coach, but just not fit for probably the SEC. So I'll put him at a place like Colorado. You could build a little bit for the Boulders. I think the Buffs will go back to their roots. Bring home a legend. Build in Boulder, I meant to say. Build, that's a good hashtag.

Yeah. For the next head coach, Build in Boulder. Eric, the enemy. He's not going to get a head coach and job at the NFL. If you want to be a head coach, at least for right now, we're really going to be Colorado. And a Colorado legend. Yep.

I thought of that name. And even though it makes sense and it's plausible, you've waited your entire life to be an NFL head coach. I agree with you. He probably should be an NFL head coach, but for whatever the reasons are, he's not getting that opportunity. I think he does have to take a college job.

This could be a college one. I think he'd get a bigger job though than Colorado, but clearly you have the end and you have the connections there. And you may be saying, Zach, you've been advocating for Dion Sanders to get a job.

Here is my one bold prediction. I did predict that Lane Kiffin was going to take the Auburn job. That means Ole Miss is open. Ole Miss is a big enough job for Dion Sanders, and it's in the SEC. Give me prime time in the Grove at Ole Miss.

How do you like that one there? Hot take. That would go from one splash higher to another for sure. Lane train to Dion.

You would keep the train moving in the right direction. You look good in baby blue. I think is Aflac baby blue? Like he could save a lot of those threads and just kind of take off Aflac and put on Rebels. Well, it also gives you Saban still going up against one Dion Sanders in the SEC, and you can have the Aflac Bowl still in play.

Zach Gelb shows CBS Sports Radio. The top 25 in college football was just revealed from the CFP and the top six Tennessee 1 Ohio State 2, Georgia 3, Clemson 4, Michigan 5, Alabama 6. Now, real quickly, I thought it was going to go Tennessee 1, Georgia 2, Ohio State 3, Michigan 4, Clemson 5, and then I thought that in at number six was going to be Alabama. So I'm surprised Michigan is not in the top four. The committee showed a lot of love to Clemson, and the one tough justification is keeping TCU out of the top six because they are undefeated.

Now, here could be a tricky part for the committee. I know Alabama's one loss is to Tennessee, so that's why they'll probably justify them putting them in at six. I will just say this, coming up next week, TCU plays Texas. If TCU destroys Texas, it's going to be tough for the committee to keep TCU out of the top six because Alabama, when Quinn Ewers got hurt, barely beat Texas by one point. So I'll react more to that on the other side. Daniel Vogel back for the Mets. We'll join us next.

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T-Mobile will donate $5 on your behalf if you text RELIEF to 5-9-5-9-5-9, all up to $1 million. And now joining us from the New York Mets was a 2019 All-Star, and that is Daniel Vogel back. Daniel, appreciate the time. How are you? I'm doing good. Thanks for having me, guys.

Well, I appreciate you coming on. Is this difficult to watch the World Series? Because you're on a Mets team. When you got traded, there was World Series expectations. And unfortunately, I'm a Mets fan, so I could say this as well.

We didn't get out of the wild card round. Yeah, I think that as a competitor at all, if you play sports, I don't really make it matter what team you're on. If you're watching the final series for a chance to win it and you're not in it, I think that everybody wants to be in that game. What do you play for and why you go to spring training every year? Do you have a rooting preference in this World Series between the Astros or Phillies? No, there's nobody. The only person, you know, I connected to at all would be Shorber from the Cubs, and then I grew up playing with Esplan from the Phillies.

So those are the only two that I really know. So obviously, I want them to play well, but I'm not really – I don't really have a hand in it. The Phillies are a heck of a story. They were 22 and 29, said goodbye to their manager Joe Girardi and promoter Rob Thompson. Now they're three wins away from Hoiston, the trophy. Just wondering, and I know that you're focused on yourself in season, but you're an NL guy. Did you kind of just think all throughout the season that it was kind of a little bit inevitable with Philadelphia that the way that they're built, they were just going to end up finding a way to play better? Yeah, I mean, if you look at that, if you look at their lineup and their team, I mean, they got superstars all throughout that team. You know, when they lost Harper in the middle of the year, and then, you know, when he was coming back, his presence was going to be pretty well known in that lineup when he came back. And, you know, you kind of use – last year, the Braves did the same thing. You know, the Braves got hot and had the firepower, and they just ended up winning the whole thing. So I think that just shows it's all about who gets hot at the right time.

Daniel Vogel back on the Zach Gelb show. You being associated with baseball clearly, just wrapping up a year with the Pirates and the Mets. You're well familiar with the Astros cheating scandal all those years back. Does that even matter anymore at this point when you watch the Astros in the World Series?

Yeah, you know, I don't think – you know, at least I don't. You know, I don't look into that like that because you look at those guys and, you know, they've continued to win, and, you know, they've continued to hit, and they've continued to, you know, just perform at such a high level that, you know, I think that they win the World Series, and they do what they're doing. I think that, at least myself, you know, I think that they just outright have earned that thing. When you look at Justin Verlander, out of the game the last two years because of injuries, has had an incredible season this year, probably going to win the Cy Young. I know he got beat up in Game 1 of the World Series, but whenever he gets back into the series to start, what type of Verlander do you expect most likely going to get the ball in Game 5? Yeah, I mean, any kind of guy with that type of stuff and the competitor that he is and the guy, I would say that someone that's been successful as long as, you know, Verlander has, and I would use, like, Scherzer and DeGrom and these guys, like, when you've been that successful for that long, you know, it's not by coincidence. You know, they've worked really hard, and they continue to change their craft and adapt to their craft, you know, their years go, and you would think that the Astros are feeling really confident when Verlander takes them out again. You're two to three months with the Mets. How do you kind of look back at the experience?

Loved it. I always say, you know, I always want to thank the Pirates for giving me the opportunity that they did. That group over there is special. The coaching staff is special, and they got some good young talent, and they give me an opportunity to play every day. And when you sign a contract with a team that's rebuilding, you kind of figure that, you know, if you play well, you're going to be traded. And then getting traded to a team like the Mets with as many superstars and as much money as some of those guys are making, you know, you really don't know what to expect going into a clubhouse like that. And when you go in and, like I did, it was the easiest clubhouse to go into with the best teammates and the best group that I've been a part of.

They all, no matter if you had 10 years in the big league or you had a day in the big leagues, everybody treated everybody the same way, and everybody went to the field every day to win a game. And I think that that's why it was especially so hard losing because, you know, every year, no matter what happens, the next year, the group will never be the exact same. So, you know, knowing that you're not going to have the same group and having as much fun as we had, that hurt, I think, worse than anything. You guys won 101 games. When you look at it just by that, you say it's a good season, but you know what happened in that series in Atlanta when you get swept and all you needed to do was win one game.

Just what happened? How do you kind of look back at that Brave series? Yeah, I mean, they just beat us.

I think that's all you can really say. We ran into some, I mean, really good arms. Those guys can really pitch. Their bullpen was throwing the ball extremely well. And, you know, they just seem to always, you know, get that timely hit that we just couldn't get. And I think that's what sums up baseball and that's what sums up, you know, big games.

You just need the ball to go your way, a ball to fall, or maybe a ball not to fall for them. And, you know, trust me, I always say, nobody wanted those games more than those guys in the clubhouse. It wasn't from a lack of effort or it wasn't from a lack of preparation because we wanted them more than anything. I know you swept the series right afterwards, but mentally, and you talked about how positive the clubhouse was. Even though it's the playoffs, you know, it's elimination. Was it tough to regroup just with a little bit of a negative feeling right before you guys went out to go play against the Padres? I don't think so because of, you know, the leaders that we had and it started with Buck.

I mean, at the end of the day, I think, you know, Mark Cannon said it best. You know, you don't go to spring training, you know, just to win the division. You know, you go to spring training to win a World Series. So I think that we still were trying to be positive in the sense of, you know, our goals and everything was still in front of us. I mean, obviously we made it harder on ourselves, but, you know, the goal of winning a World Series was still attainable. We didn't get eliminated from the playoffs by losing that theory. And then we just ran into a Padres team that, you know, played really well. And, you know, they just beat us and we couldn't get over the hump. Wrapping up with Daniel Vogelback. Are you hoping the Mets pick up your option?

Like, how do you kind of approach that? Yeah, for sure. I would love to be back in New York. I enjoyed my time there. I think that the group there, like I said, is special. And, you know, I would like nothing more than, you know, win a World Series in New York with that group. We know how important Florida is to you, obviously.

Tell me everything that you're doing with T-Mobile, Daniel Vogelback. Yeah. So, you know, obviously this hurricane, you know, you always have a soft heart for when a hurricane hits, but then when it really hits your hometown and a town that you've lived in your whole life, you know, really, really, it really hits home, seeing people and seeing things that just are no longer here. You know, I always say, people say, you know, it's something got destroyed. You know, a lot of things here just didn't get destroyed. You know, they just got wiped out. They're just no longer here. People don't have homes.

People don't have jobs. So, I'm teaming up with T-Mobile. And like you said, this postseason, T-Mobile is donating $5,000 for every home run to Team Rubicon, a disaster response organization that helps with hurricane recovery in Florida and Puerto Rico. And you can make a difference, too, because T-Mobile will donate $5 on your behalf if you text relief to 5-9-5-9-5-9, all up to a million dollars.

And when I heard that, you know, just some, just the fact that T-Mobile is doing that for a town that, you know, I see how effective it is, I'm truly appreciative on, you know, everything and all the donations that are coming. What was Daniel Vogel back like as a youngster growing up in Fort Myers? Um, just running around outside, and Mom wouldn't let me in until I was done playing with the neighbors just because I just always wanted to be outside, just playing, fishing, hanging out with my brother and his friends. And I just, I just enjoy, you know, being able to, being blessed to have a family that gave me the opportunity to kind of do those type of things and play outside, and my dad that worked and gave us all the accommodations that we wanted.

And, you know, I'm very thankful for the life that I got to live as a child. Did you play, I know you're a big Florida football fan. Did you play football growing up? I played football, no, just as a freshman, just for fun. And I actually played basketball all the way to sophomore year of high school, and I never played year-round baseball. My dad didn't let me. I always played other sports just for fun, and made me look forward to baseball season.

Wow. So how'd you develop the timing then in baseball since you didn't play year-round? I mean, I just played during, you know, season, you know, and I'm something that made me look forward to baseball season, and I could kind of flip a switch and then, you know, really focus on baseball when it was time to focus on baseball and didn't get burned out.

And I think that sometimes that's a lost cause nowadays. Everybody wants to play. If you're nine or ten years old, they want to play year-round and play on five different teams. And, you know, that just wasn't my thing.

I just wanted to be a kid, and then when it was baseball season, play baseball. Two more quickies before we let Daniel Vogel back run. I saw your interview with Barstool when you got to town here in New York City. Those Florida football games must be great to attend, especially when you're with all your buddies. What's your tailgate spread looking like? Yeah. I haven't been great recently because we're four and four, but... That is true. Hey, you can always have a good tailgate, though.

It makes the game better. Yeah. You know, we enjoyed just... My buddy can cook a little bit, so usually we'll do something at the house. Normally outside, so my wife doesn't get mad at us because we can get a little loud during the games. But, you know, do anything from ribs or chicken, or if we have time, he'll do a pork, butter brisket overnight. Wow. And then we just hang out and watch the games, and I think our heart's into it probably more than it should be because we love Gator football.

Absolutely love that. So what's the deal with Diaz and DeGrom? We getting him back in New York? I think that's the question. I don't know. I'll tell you what. That guy's special. He is so talented, and, you know, you never know before you meet someone about the type of guy he is, but I'll tell you what.

He is about his humble and about his normal human beings you could be for all the things that he's accomplished. So I hope for New York that, you know, they get him back, and I'm anxious to see what happens. But wherever he goes, you know, that guy is special. So clearly you're talking about DeGrom.

As for Edwin Diaz, you play with him in Seattle. Did this surprise you, the year that he had him, he was able to turn around? Because doing so in New York is not easy because that guy was getting killed left and right in New York, and the way he turned it around was one of the more impressive things I've seen. Yeah, it definitely didn't surprise me. That guy, I don't know how exactly he helped. I think he was 20 or 21 when I was with him in Seattle, and, I mean, that guy, you would have never known.

He was closing games, big games, and about as just as dominant as he was with the Mets this year, and his stuff is unbelievable. And I feel like any time he's in a jam or any time, you know, things may go the wrong way. At least every time I've been with him, there's no panic because you just feel like you know he's going to get out of it. Well, Daniel Vogelback, make sure everyone does text 5 9 5 9 5 9 to help hurricane relief efforts in Florida and Puerto Rico. Really do enjoy the conversation today and the time. Thank you.

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Download the Odyssey app today. Throughout the 60s and 70s. You're listening to the Zach Geld Show. So as I told you earlier, here's what I thought the college football playoff committee was going to do. I thought they were going to put Tennessee 1, Georgia 2, Ohio State 3, Michigan 4. I then thought they would put Clemson 5 and then Alabama 6. And do I think Alabama is deserving of being at 6 right now? I don't. But as I try to tell Hickey each and every year, these playoff committees, the rankings are made to do two things.

Number one, it's to stir up conversation and to elicit a reaction. But the other point is, whenever there's a team that they really like and they think would benefit college football more being in the college football playoff, they basically just say, oh, the eye tests. And Alabama, and I like Alabama a lot. But Alabama hasn't passed the eye test this year. They were bad against Texas A&M. I know they won the game against a backup quarterback, though, against Texas.

They only won by one. And in their legit first big, big game of the year in the SEC against Tennessee, Tennessee dominated them early and they got back in the game and they weren't able to win the game. So I have a tough time putting Bama right now in front of a school like TCU who went on a run and back to back to back to back weeks of just beating up top 25 teams in their own conference. And I know that the committee places a greater emphasis on the SEC than the Big 12. That is clear. I'll just point out, though, as I did earlier, Ryan, in two weeks, not this weekend, but next weekend, TCU plays Texas.

And they'll tell you the eye test, they'll give you some bull crap. But if, and this is a major if, if TCU beats Texas by two points or more and they have Quinn Ewers, Alabama was only able to beat them by one point now, Quinn Ewers, how do you still keep TCU behind Alabama? So that's something that it's more of a look ahead. And the other thing that I don't get here is how when you watch football this year, college football, you tell me right now, initially, where we are. And this must be based off this season, not years past. I know Michigan beat the crap at Ohio State last year. But how do you put Ohio State at two and then you put two teams, Clemson being one of them in front of Michigan.

If you, if they would have tied Ohio State in Michigan, I would have been fine with it. You have to put one over another to say Ohio State's the second best team in the country. And then you say there's two spots in between Ohio State and Michigan. You put Michigan at five.

That doesn't make sense to me. So my initial reactions is I want to see how the committee is going to handle this if TCU beats Texas and that's coming up in two weekends. And I also don't understand for the life of me how Ohio State's at two and Michigan's at five with how close those two teams are.

Your thoughts, Ryan? Yeah, TCU is absolutely egregious. They have two top 18 wins with this committee's own rankings versus Alabama's zero. Alabama has a loss. TCU does not have one.

I don't know what we're doing, like what justification you can use. And don't get me wrong. If Alabama makes college football playoff, I wouldn't be surprised at all because they could still win out, get to the SEC title game. And would it shock you if they beat Tennessee or Georgia in the SEC title game?

It wouldn't shock me like they almost did beat Tennessee, but they didn't. You know, I know that this is not a great, great Alabama team and this is a vulnerable Alabama team, but we said that last year. A lot of people said that last year and they were in the national championship game last year. So I'm not saying Alabama's bad. I'm not saying Alabama's horrible and they may not eventually play their way into the college football playoff. But right now with what I've seen, yes, they didn't say they're a top four team, but I would give the edge based off what I've seen right now to Duggan and Johnson and coach Sonny Dykes at TCU.

The explanation is laughable. They said they won a balanced team and they cited the fact that TCU's fallen behind in a few games. And last time I checked, what about Alabama? Alabama's defense couldn't stop a nose but against Tennessee. Alabama's offense couldn't do anything for three and a half quarters against Texas.

Against the backup. Talk about, you know, we're going to talk about, you know, consistency here. We're just going to say random reasons why, oh, Alabama's a bigger name.

We want to, you know, put them over T6. We respect them more because SEC over big 12. Speaking of which, LSU at 10 is absurd.

What are we doing here? What has LSU done this year? They got two losses. They lost to Florida State.

They got their doors blown off by Tennessee. And you have one win over Ole Miss, who up to that point, I'll be honest. I was drinking the Cooley to Ole Miss, but the big knock against them is that they haven't played anybody. And now you're really going to sit here and tell me one loss, one win over Ole Miss is enough to vault you to number 10.

Come on. I'm not saying they should be in at number 10, but they did blow them out. They got their doors blown off against Tennessee. So if you want to say that even down, you lost to Florida State. If you want to tell me UCLA should be in front of them, okay.

Other than that, who's the other like, who's the, like there's seven or eight teams that you really zero in on. Who else do you think should be in front of LSU? Like you can't put Ole Miss in front of them. If you want to tell me UCLA, I could, I could live with that.

But then who else really? I would consider Kansas State. They just got blown.

I would consider Utah. They just blew out. They did just blow out Oklahoma State.

So that they're starting quarterback. Yeah. And then part of the election, you're, I just, I'm sort of arguing against myself a little bit with TCU, but they're 20 to 10 major Martinez gets hurt against TCU. Yeah. So here's the thing.

It's not egregious. Like I don't first look at this and say, wow, LSU is at 10. And then I look at everyone else. I'm like, Oh yeah.

You know, it's, it shows you really, you draw the line. There's like eight teams that you're considering for the college football playoff this year, you know, maybe nine at most, depending at who wins the pack 12, but I don't get for the life of me how there, and I've watched every Michigan game this year and I've seen most of the highest state game. So there's that big of a difference between Ohio state and Michigan and Clemson, who is lucky to still be undefeated. Now they are undefeated.

I thought they were going to be top five, but I thought they were going to be fifth, not all the way up to number four. And I told you before, if Clemson wins out, they're going to be in the college football playoff, but to be in at number four right now in front of Michigan, like if Michigan plays Clemson tomorrow, who are you picking? Neutral site, Michigan plays Clemson tomorrow. Who are you picking? I would take Michigan.

Right? How is there a separation of Ohio state being at two in Michigan at five? I would not put Ohio state in front of Georgia right now.

I would not. I'm just trying to probably, yeah, that's fair. I probably put Georgia ahead of Ohio state. And especially this weather rankings don't make any sense. There's clearly preference to the SEC and the SEC's best conference of football. But to tell me Tennessee's at one, which I think they got that right, and then Georgia's at three and you put Ohio state two in Michigan at five, like they should have simply just put Georgia up at two. If you want to tell me Ohio state's better than Michigan right now, put Ohio state at three, Michigan at four. And then you figure out everyone else and you could debate Clemson, TCU, Alabama.

That's how that should have been. The initial four should have been Tennessee, Georgia, Ohio state, and Michigan. And also you have Tennessee and Georgia play this weekend. So how far does the loser of that game go? Does that mean that, you know, in a weird way?

And I don't know if it necessarily works this way. I feel like maybe the committee put Tennessee at one who's definitely deserving. And Georgia at three thinking that Georgia's going to win that game this weekend. Then they'll move Georgia up to one, and then they won't drop Tennessee too far down after one loss. Because if you put Alabama six and Tennessee beat Alabama, and let's say Tennessee loses to Georgia, you can't move Tennessee that much further down. Like where do you then put them next week if that does happen?

You know, Lullis would be five, you would think? Depends on how the game goes. You know, if they get blown out, I think it's a different conversation. But if they are in the game and lose. Yeah, I don't see them falling too far. They probably stay ahead of Alabama. So five. Yeah, I think that's the committee.

Five, six in that range. And I think they're expecting Georgia to beat Tennessee. That's just the way that I look at it. That's my first reaction on that one. But to put Georgia behind Ohio State, yeah, I don't love that.

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