College Football Playoff Expansion On The Brink (Hour 4)

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For home loan solutions that fit your life well, Rocket Cam. We'll head out to the guest line right now on the Zach Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio and welcome in the second year head coach at South Carolina with the Gamecocks. So that of course is Shane Beamer as they're fresh off back to back victories against Tennessee where they defeated them 63-38 and they fouled it up with a great victory against Clemson 31-30. Coach, first off congratulations. I would ask you how you're doing, but I think I know the answer to that one. Thanks.

Appreciate you having me on. I'm definitely doing a lot better than I was after that Florida game a few weeks ago. How do you put the last two weeks into perspective? Good question. One, I would say college football.

I mean, every Saturday is different. I would also say it just goes to show about the toughness, the resiliency and the type of team we have in Columbia. We certainly did not show that against Florida three weeks ago, but proud of our guys and how they responded and came back and certainly responded the right way and played great these last two weeks to say the least. Why didn't this team wilt under pressure? Because late in the season you get blown out by Florida, you have two tough games on the schedule around the horizon. Your team had every reason to quit, but that's not how you guys built this thing.

That's it. It's how they were built. I know it's easy and cliche, but I think it goes back to the offseason and the way we work in the weight room and the way that we try to come together as a team from a closeness standpoint and all the adversity we try and put our guys through in the offseason and in the summertime. Because you're going to certainly deal with adversity during the season and then there's a great belief in one another. You don't do what we did these last two weeks. If you don't believe in each other, believe in what we as coaches are asking them to do.

We talk all the time that when adversity hits, that's when we need to get closer and stronger as a team and really feel like we did the last couple weeks and it showed with the way that our guys played. Your quarterback is as tough as tough could be and what he did the last two weeks, that was just absolutely phenomenal. You have to feel great for him. Yeah, really happy for him. He works really, really hard. He's a great young man. He's a competitor. He's tough mentally and physically. I was seeing a lot of the stuff that he did in these games the last couple weeks.

I was seeing it in practice and it just wasn't showing up always on Saturdays. I know how important it is to Spencer Rattler and I'm really proud of him and how he dealt with criticism throughout the year and never let it affect him. He just always came back to work and tried to get better each and every week. I got a chance to talk to him before the start of the season and we threw the kitchen sink at him about Oklahoma and we talked about that and then going out of South Carolina. You could tell he was just so plugged in, was so motivated and he didn't let any of that outside noise affect him.

Why is that? How is he so mentally tough? I think it goes back to his family and the way that he was brought up.

He's got a great family and Spencer's very grounded. He doesn't let a lot of things affect him and he's always been that way. I go back to my time with him at Oklahoma. He dealt with adversity at Oklahoma and handled it great. Whether it be losing his first two games in the Big 12 as the starting quarterback at Oklahoma. He lost to Iowa State and Kansas State in the opening of the season and didn't let that affect him. He came back off those two losses and never lost again as the starting quarterback at Oklahoma. He's been through battles before. He's the type of person he is and I'm proud and glad that he's our quarterback. Shane Beamer here with us. Is he coming back for another season?

We'll see. He's focused right now on this bowl game that we have here later on in December or January. He and I had a good conversation on Monday about his future and I'll keep that between us. He's got a decision to make and like I told him, I want what's best for him and we're here to help him get the information that he and his family need.

We're here to support him in any way and help him make the best decision for his family and his future. I always wonder how that process works because if the coach at a college says, hey, I want you to come back, you know, some people could look at that with an eyebrow raised and says it really for the best interest of me or the best interest for him. How do you kind of navigate through those conversations to make the best decision or help make or, you know, assist in making that decision process? Yeah, you know, you always want what's best for them.

I mean, certainly, you know, selfishly, I want all these guys to come back, but also want these guys to be successful. And with me, it's always be honest with them that, you know, they all know that I'd love for guys to come back, but I want guys to be able to pursue their dreams if it's the right time. And what we try and do is just sit down with them and have honest conversations about, hey, what are you thinking?

And here's where I see things. And then we also, you know, the NFL is very generous with us. And like they all are, a lot of the college teams in regards to giving us feedback on how they see how they see our potential draftees, you know, their comments on them and their concerns, their questions, their the things they like and whatnot. So they can see how the NFL sees them and get them the best amount or most amount of information that we can and then help them make the best decisions in the day. But it's always what's in the best interest of the student-athlete. We're not going to like give them fake info telling them they should stay.

I mean, we're going to be honest with them and then help them make the best decision. Shane Beamer here with us from South Carolina. Two tremendous victories the last two weekends up against Clemson and Tennessee. Last year, you guys got an abundance of praise for the job you did leading that team to a 7-6 record. To now, after year number two, I know you still have another game, but to be at 8-4, what do you think your team and your coaching staff really proved this year? Yeah, I'm really, really proud of that. I'll be honest with you. To do what we did in year one, I think a lot of people said, man, great job.

That's awesome. But wow, it's going to be hard to do that in year two. And I heard a lot of the experts out there saying, well, South Carolina might be a little bit more talented this year, but their schedule is so tough. Their record might not be as good, meaning we're a 5-win team.

And we're sitting here now at the end of the season. We've won eight. We beat Texas A&M for the first time ever. We beat Clemson for the first time since 2013 or 14. And we're nationally ranked, the highest ranking we've had in the CFP era.

There's so much to be proud of. And I think it says that what we're doing is we're on the right track. And that we weren't just some one-hit wonder that had a great year last year or a good year last year and capped it off with a bowl win. That we came back with high expectations and we exceeded those expectations and still have a chance to win a bowl game and get a ninth win, hopefully, and be even higher ranked at the end of the season. So there's a lot of momentum about South Carolina football right now inside our football facility, but then outside the facility nationally and with recruiting as well. So we've made some great progress in the two years that I've been here, but we've got a lot of work to do, but we are well on our way to doing it. What do you think the ceiling is for this program at South Carolina? I think we can accomplish everything. And when I say that, I mean win championships. And people may laugh, but I look at it and I've said this before, like tell me what we don't have that we need to win championships. And we did it when Coach Spurrier was here before we played for the SEC Championship.

After that season, there were three consecutive seasons of top ten finishes, if I'm not mistaken. We've got a fantastic state to live in. We've got a great city to live in.

University of South Carolina is a fantastic place to go to school. Great academics. Our facilities are second to none. The game day atmosphere in our stadium is second to none. We've got a recruiting base to recruit to. So we're in the toughest conference in America. It's a battle every week. But if you can win this league, you're going to have an opportunity to go win a championship beyond that as well. And that's what we're striving to do each and every day.

Shane Beamer here with us. Coach, whenever I watch your team, I can tell that your players trust you and then you trust your players as well. That's not always easy to have this early on, especially with NIL and also the transfer portal. Because you guys have guys that come in. You can also have guys that leave as well, as you know. How did you guys really build that trust so quickly to get, I know not everyone's always on the same page, but the feel of that to be with your program?

Yeah, no great, great question. I appreciate you saying that. You know, I think it's just the consistency, if that makes sense, that myself and our staff try and have with our guys. And when I got hired, the very first team meeting that I had, I told the players, like, I'm not going to stand up here and ask you to trust me.

You don't know me, but what I'm going to do is my actions day in and day out. I'm going to earn your trust. And I feel like we have. We're honest with them. We don't tell them lies. We don't tell them what they want to hear. We're honest with them, but they truly know. They believe that we care about them and love them. And our actions show that day in and day out. And that's built just with your daily interactions. Just, you know, do what you say you're going to do and treat people the right way and be consistent day in, day out. And I feel like our staff has and our players have bought into that and what we're doing.

And you're right, it's harder than ever in today's time with NIL transfer portal, you name it. It's a different time. But we you can still have a really, really, really close knit team.

And that's certainly what we have here in Columbia. My next question. I'll preface it by saying that I know it's like asking a parent who's your favorite child. But in terms of your wins this year, what's the win that means the most to you? Man.

Wow. There have been so many great ones. I mean, obviously, the joy that we created with within our team, but our fan base winning that one Saturday against Clemson was was really, really, really huge. I know how important that rivalry is and beating Tennessee at home. What an electric atmosphere that was that night on the national stage with all of the nation watching.

I mean, that's right at the top. And and then really, to me, the thing that kind of kick started everything was when we beat Kentucky in Lexington back in October. You know, we were three and two. We were overall we were only two in the SEC. And both those losses had been convincingly to Georgia and then and then Arkansas beat us by a couple of touchdowns out in Fayetteville. So to be to go on the road to against a nationally ranked Kentucky team at night in a place that we had him won at since 2012, when we won that game, it just gave our guys so much more confidence and then kind of opened up a lot of eyes, I believe, about, OK, you know, these there's something let's keep an eye on South Carolina. And then we came back the next week and beat Texas A&M or two weeks later to beat Texas A&M at home after an off week. So, you know, the Kentucky game really kick started everything in a lot of ways and was very pivotal to our season.

And then there have been some really, really, really fantastic moments since then as well. Shane Beamer, the head coach of South Carolina, your family, it's obviously been well documented the success your family's had in the sport of college football. But sometimes we forget coaches have families and they're not just robots and all that. I thought it was awesome the moment you shared with your family after the game, especially your mom, after beating Clemson. I saw that on social media. Just what did that mean to celebrate that win with your family?

Really cool. And what it's all about. I mean, there have been so many games that I was at as a as a son of my dad when he was coaching at Virginia Tech. And then my mom is his wife and now for them to be at all of our games is really meaningful and and what it's all about.

I mean, they're my parents and then my sister was there with her family and then my wife and three children. It's you make a lot of sacrifices when you're in this profession. There are a lot of great moments as well, like we had on Saturday, but you make a lot of sacrifices also. And the highs and high are high and the lows are low, low in this profession.

But that day on Saturday last week was a really, really, really big high for us and made it even more special to be able to celebrate it with not just my immediate family, but parents and sister and everybody as well. Almost winding down on year two, what have you learned about yourself the last two years, Coach Shane Beamer? You know, you realize that when you're in this chair that I'm in, just the amount of people that that you impact and that you're responsible for.

First of all, in the building, if that makes sense. I mean, people think, OK, you're the head coach and you got 100 and 100 plus players and whatnot. But it's not just that. It's the coaching staff. It's the support staff, the strength staff, nutrition, training room, video, weight room, equipment.

I mean, you name it. It's just a lot of people that you're responsible for, not only responsible for, but you're the leader of. And then, you know, when you're in a state like South Carolina, there's no pro sports in South Carolina. So when I impact a lot of people, we impact a lot of people, I should say, the South Carolina football program with what we do on Saturdays throughout this state. And me as the head coach, me as the leader of the program, I'm the one that's up front and visible in press conferences and things like that. So all of I learned anything, but it's just you realize how important South Carolina football is to the people of South Carolina. Gamecocks everywhere and that when you're the leader of that program, that that's a great responsibility that I love. Last thing I'll ask you, Coach Shane Beamer, I just want to get your thoughts on what stands out to you from a coaching angle on the SEC title game between Georgia and LSU.

Yeah. You know, first of all, with LSU, we've seen them on some crossover video this year when we were getting ready to play Florida and Tennessee. Florida and Tennessee had both played LSU before we played those guys. Got to see them on video, very athletic and they're certainly talented. LSU's never lacked for talent. Coach Kelly's come in and done a nice job and the quarterback's an athlete and can do a lot of things with his arm and his legs.

They certainly didn't perform the way they wanted to last weekend. But, you know, what more could you ask for than to be able to be coming into Atlanta with a chance to win a conference championship? And then Georgia obviously see a lot of them being in the SECs with them and haven't already played them. They're just so much respect for what they've done there again this year to lose all those players off a national championship team, to get every single team's best shot every single Saturday this year. And then here they are again undefeated, number one in the country with a chance to win an SEC and national championship. So, a ton of respect for what they've done and they're really talented but they're really well coached and what an atmosphere that'll be on Saturday I'm sure.

Well, Coach, the last two weeks have been absolutely awesome taking down Tennessee and Clemson. We really do appreciate you carving out some time. Good luck whatever bowl game you guys go to and we appreciate it. You got it. Hope to do it again soon. Thank you.

So, there you go. There's Shane Beamer, the head football coach at South Carolina and what a job he's done the last two years. And Ryan, you being a great college football fan, to see the way that that team the last two weeks not only crushed Tennessee, which no one saw them winning the game, let alone blowing them out. And then the following week when not that Clemson was ever this unstoppable force that you were afraid of, but Clemson was starting even after that loss to have that path to the college football playoff with how many times they were down in that game to at the end of the game be able to pull it out by a point. That just shows the consistency that Shane Beamer has brought back to South Carolina from the turnaround in year one and then to take it a step further in year two and make big progress, especially late in the year. That's a heck of a coaching job and you know a conference in the SEC that it's the best conference in college football. And two, you can make an argument like that Clemson win is almost even more impressive just from the fact that you get this massive win over Tennessee. I know it's a rivalry, but no letdown.

Right, and it's like you go on the road to a very tough environment. Clemson's not lost a home game since 2016. I know they've been not a very good team this year, not the quote unquote normal Clemson we've seen in the last five years. That's a really hard game to win, a game that South Carolina usually loses. Like I said, to kind of continue to battle back for adversity even within the own game itself. You get down, you come back. Get down, come back.

It was impressive as hell. And when they're down 14 nothing early, I'm sure you're thinking it as well. OK, that's what happens. You beat Tennessee and you're crushing by 30 something points.

It's all right. There's your letdown. This is your game. You were you were celebrating the victory too much.

You know how much of the work is really be putting in. You're off to a sloppy start to be able to get off to that sloppy of a start. And then still win the game where it's not like in the fourth quarter they were going back and forth. That was it was only three points going to fourth quarter in South Carolina.

South Carolina got them. Now it was set up with that big touchdown pass prior to the start of the quarter. But to be able to win a game like that, I think you are right. The Clemson victory, even though Tennessee is a better team this year, I think the Clemson victory is more impressive.

I really do because it was on the back end of what was two great victories. So a heck of a job by Shane Beamer. It is the Zach Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio. We will take a time out.

We'll come on back after these short messages. You're listening to the Zach Gelb show. Zach Gelb show CBS Sports Radio.

You can think of O'Reilly Auto Parts where your car care needs guaranteed low prices and excellent customer service from the professional parts people at O'Reilly Auto Parts. Earlier this morning on the D.A. show right here on CBS Sports Radio, the rap sheet Ian Rappaport was on the show. He was on the mothership.

He boarded the mothership. And he discussed the possibility of when the Denver Broncos could move off of Russell Wilson. Well, I mean, you're stuck with him at least for another year. You know, after 2023, you could sort of do something. On the other hand, you know, here's the other thing. And I know, you know, the cap hit is enormous and it would all be really bad.

If he is bad enough to make you lose games, which he has not been very good at all, at some point you're having any or anyone else is worth it. So, like, I don't know what's going to happen, but it is very interesting. Like, they probably keep them. But at some point you say no players worth even with the cap. You know what I mean?

There are things you can do if, you know, these are all sort of like the nuclear option, but these are things there are things you can do. Hickey, now, I know you were the biggest believer in the Broncos this year. The fact that we're having that conversation, not even a full year in, we're talking about worst case scenario. We're in a respected NFL insider and Ian Rappaport is saying that it could get to a point where you're like, anyone else is better than this guy.

It doesn't matter what the cap hit is. After not even a full year, we're already there. This story, not that it keeps on getting better and better because that's not the right choice of words, but this story just keeps on seeing Russell Wilson not only fall, but never find a way to start to punch and make an uphill climb where you can at least think this thing is salvageable. I don't think Russell Wilson's gone from the Broncos after this year. Big take, big bold take, I know. But does it get to a point where if he stinks again next year and there's not a drastic improvement where they say after 2023, I know the dead cap hit is 85 million in 2024. And I know we gave up a lot of draft picks to get him, but man, we're just SOL. We got to find that next guy.

Where does this go from here? Because that was not Joe Schmo, not some fake reporter. That was Ian Rappaport talking about the possibility of after next year. That could be it for Russell Wilson and Denver. As someone who thought he's going to win the MVP and the Super Bowl this year and the Super Bowl MVP.

I hate to say I don't think that this is too premature to talk about again, not this year. You're going to bring in a new head coach next year without a doubt. If Russell Wilson stinks and the guy's what, he'll be 34 next year. So you're talking about a guy that in two years with two different head coaches has now played good football whatsoever. And you have your fans five weeks into the season leaving games in overtime because they don't want to watch his team anymore. I can only imagine like if we were talking about Russell Wilson being this bad at this point next season. The Broncos, I'm not even kidding, might not have one fan of the game. I don't know if anyone in Denver want to go to a game and I don't see you can continue to employ a quarterback. No matter what you're paying and what you gave up for him.

If this is the result you're going to get, this is honestly maybe the most stunning thing I've ever seen in the history of sports. Just in terms of you have a guy that was well on his way to going to the Hall of Fame. This is a guy that is a Super Bowl champion, a nine time pro baller. That's what we're talking about a Russell Wilson. And after one off season, one trade and a disastrous regular season. We all are at this point where you kind of feel he's never going to be elite again with how bad it's been this year. Can he be good again? That's another question.

That's another topic to debate. But how there's really no hope and nothing to latch onto with what he's done this year to say, OK, at least there'll be a bright moment. He's giving you nothing this year. Nothing. Not one. I'm not asking for to reach for the stars and give me 10 great moments this year. Is there one moment this year that makes you say, oh, here he is.

Russell Wilson's the guy. You know what it is? Maybe it's because half the team went to his birthday party.

But you know what? If Sierra was my wife and I got it, if I was a teammate and Sierra was there, I would go to the birthday party as well. You know, it's going to be a great party. But other than this birthday party, which some people try to make it a big deal, I have to team didn't go. The fact that you got half the team there, I think is is just fine by me. But other than the birthday party, like what is this guy done positively for the Broncos this year?

Hey, don't forget that big game winning drive against the 49ers like week three in Sunday football when they won 11 to 10. Give me a break. I mean, you're asking.

I'm trying to, you know, give you a real honest answer here. You had a decent half against the Jaguars in London. I like this. This is what we're going for. This season has been a total waste.

Now, I will say I don't think it's a total lost cause yet. You got to see you bring in. Give him another chance to the new head coach. But stop it real quickly.

I know you could talk. I guess if you're a Broncos fan, you have to go to a point how you could salvage this because you already committed the money to him and you already committed the pick. He's back next year, no matter what. We all know that.

Right. But I'm not giving Nathaniel Hackett shortcomings enough of a validity to then go, oh, Russell Wilson, just because you bring in a new coach is going to be a totally different quarterback. Because great quarterbacks find a way to at least salvage the and weather the storm and prevent the ship from sinking. He wasn't able to do that. His wins this year are the Jaguars or the 49ers when Jimmy G forgot how to play football and the Texans.

That's horrendous. So, no, Russell Wilson and Marco was one of the first people to bring this up. I'll give Marco credit when Marco was talking about yet Nathaniel Hackett, we all know is terrible. But let's not make excuses for Russell Wilson going from someone that was a great quarterback to someone that is now looking like a bad quarterback.

And I give credit to you, Marco, on that because you identified that early in the season. Look, I'm big on you know this, you know, I'm big on responsibility and accountability. Sorry, you're going to be the big time Pro Bowl quarterback. You want to be all pro.

You want to be the guy. It's on you. I don't want to hear about 63 yard field goals. And, you know, my coach didn't make the right.

It's on you. And not only that, it's like you look at these other quarterbacks, you know, when Brady loses, it's, you know, people clown Brady. When Roger loses, people, they clown Rogers. Now, sometimes people make excuses and stuff like that. I get that in the Packer fan tries to make excuses. But you look back at Aaron Rodgers the last two years. You could directly point to him in the playoffs, his fault, why they came up short. It wasn't Matt Leflore taking the field goal, even though it's a bad decision. It was Aaron Rodgers down five, not being able to get a positive yard, negative six yards on two drives down by five points. It was him stalling in the red zone, not making the right decision. We could have ran for a first down or a touchdown when Tom Brady loses the game.

Yeah, the offensive line to the play well, but you could still find the way to elevate. Russell Wilson this year, it's because Nathaniel Hackett has been so bad that it's almost a front. But you can't forget what's behind the curtain, which is a bad quarterback right now. And you know what it is to me? And I still watch this.

I still say the same thing. It's still Russell Wilson playing hero ball instead of just seeing what's there. He has not taken what the defense has given him all season long. He's still looking for every time they get the football, he's looking for the big giant play, the big home run. He refuses to just play the position. And I don't know if that's just straight from people telling him it's his brand and he's got to be able to be in the MVP conversation. And it's not good enough to win when it's just a team game.

I have no idea. But for some reason, Russell Wilson refuses to just play the position properly. And there was no game that was more evident than that than on that Thursday night football game against the Indianapolis Colts this year, where he wasn't even looking at the right side of the field. There was moments where he had guys wide open that we would have won the game and and wasn't even looking at them. He just gets that's the most alarming part. He's so locked in on sometimes the first read that he's not doing what he's done his entire career. And he's just you're right.

He's going for that big play to be the star and be the guy. And it's not ever happening this year. And that's why this is twofold. There are two things. Look, the name Nathaniel Hackett thing is aside to me that that's bad, but it's separate.

But even with the coach that is that bad, there's no reason for him to only have three wins. Right. Which is why I guess that's good. That's separate to me. The two biggest glaring issues. One, you can't separate yourself from the team and then play hero ball and have everybody looking at you going, what the hell are we doing?

Yeah, because that's a problem. And the other part of it is simply he lost them. He didn't have all the built up, you know, all the stuff from over the years. He didn't have the Super Bowl. He didn't have he's the face of Seattle. He's a face of the seal. He didn't have any of that equity built up with any of his teammates.

Not one of them. He walked in. He separated himself. He's trying to be the hero and the guy on every possession on every play. And he lost every single one of them. He has never been able to communicate with his guys.

He's never become one of the guys. I don't know how you fix that. I really don't. Other than standing up and going, you know what, guys, it's on me. You know what it would be? The radio equivalent to just in what we do. Like, let's say if Jim Rohn retired tomorrow and then the network is looking for like that next leader, that next star. And they bring someone in from another network that has been a great player in this league, you know, in the radio world, has been a dominant force, comes in, doesn't try to get to know the rest of the staff. Isolates himself in a corner office, doesn't talk to anyone, doesn't look at anyone and then gets on the air. And you listen to the show and you go, wow, this show sucks.

And the ratings are awful. Yes, that's part of it, too. Now, you may blame the program director first. Oh, he made the decision to put the host in the position to succeed. And in the interim, the program director may be the first one to go.

But eventually people start to point to the guy behind the microphone. And right now, Russell Wilson, he has that one year where I don't want to say it's a grace period because everyone has turned on him. And I can't find someone that has confidence in this guy right now for a guy that was well on his way of being a Hall of Famer. But Hackett, that's your one saving grace this year that people were going to start with Hackett. Now, after everyone got to the point of it wasn't just it's not a matter of of if it's just a matter of when they fire Hackett. You've seen in the second half of the season, people start to point the finger that quickly at Ross.

And if he doesn't get off to a good start next year, if he has a bad turnover next year right out of the gate and they're not winning games, you're going to get people like Ian Rappaport, who's a well respected reporter, who was on day this morning talking about how it's not crazy that this could quickly end even with how much money is committed. You know what? Look, you start the year and you have a bad game or whatever. You're right. But I do think it starts before that. If he doesn't walk into next year, whoever the head coach is, whatever teammates he's got, if he doesn't walk in and start from the beginning, guys, we got off on the wrong foot.

I tried to be something that I shouldn't have been. We need to bring this together. He needs to get the guys around him to start believing. I know he won't.

But that's why you can't build any equity when you walk in. You've already separated yourself. You know how the season went. You walk into next year. If you're not willing to take that step back and swallow it and say it's all on me.

We move forward together from here on in. You're not willing to do that. You're going to get about three plays before everybody turns on you because they want they want to turn on two things why he's not going to do that. Number one, I don't think there's a player on the offense that he looks at and says, wow, how much he had a bad situation in Seattle. Who's the player on the offense that you look at and go, you know, that's a great player. That that's why I that's why I think he believes he's so higher up and he blames that on everyone else. And I don't think Russell Wilson down to his core is a bad guy.

I don't think he means the way that it comes off. And he's someone I used to love to watch the play. But something happened where he forgot his roots and you saw it at the end in Seattle and we all blame Pete Carroll. How do you run Russell Wilson? How do you run Russell Wilson out? And it was a front once again for ignoring bad play for the last year and a half in Seattle for Russell Wilson. So if he wasn't willing to take accountability then and then you go to a place in Denver, which is a worse situation on offense than what you had in Seattle, and you don't have these great players, the kind of that could go back and and keep you in check.

Why? I don't think he's apologizing to this team or changing his approach. Look, Mike Purcell, the guy was in the AAF. He's the one on defense that's yelling at him.

Imagine when a player with actual clout. I'm telling you, because it's not when Justin Simmons starts to turn it because it's not about just the bad play. I'm telling you, it's the guy.

It's the guy they don't believe. I'm with when they don't believe you see them lash out. And when again, when a guy separates himself from everybody else and he doesn't again humble is the wrong word because you've got to be the leader. You've got to have some cockiness. You got to have some arrogance.

Yeah, there's something that's good. That's a bad thing. I know it's Tom Brady, but when Tom Brady walks up and down that sideline, people go, oh, that's big, a bad teammate when his mother bleep in his team. No, they respect him and they go, well, that's Brady.

He's annoyed. We now need to play better and get our game. And there's a lot of different ways you can lead, but you can't lead when you're passive aggressive and you separate yourself from everybody. You can't lead that way. Guys, if they don't believe and they don't trust, they will turn on you with a heartbeat. And when they turn on you and they think that you're fake and phony, you're not getting that back. You have to get you have to really break yourself down and really humble yourself in front of them for them to go.

All right. And the only reason why they go all right is because they believe that you're talented enough. They now starting to think that you're not talented. Big now you're useless to us.

We don't like you and you're no good. By the way, the passive aggressive quote, you got the the approval by Hickey. He gave you that the Hickey point.

He he really thought maybe we should put that on a T-shirt or something like that. That's the main issue. He doesn't call anyone out and just does it behind the scenes. Like I said, he thinks he's better and doesn't say anything. Is there any have we ever been in a situation? And it's anyone, no matter where you at work, school, whatever your own life, whatever it is. Is there any time passive aggressive ever worked? No, never come across, you know, any time I'm passive aggressive on Twitter. Like when I was a little bit immature, let's say in high school, you always didn't look back at those tweets or things like that where you're passive aggressive. You're like, what was the point of that?

Like, go just address it. Head on. Does it work out? No, it doesn't work out for you. Does it work out for the person?

Nobody. Look at Colin Murray right now. He's being passive aggressive with this coach. It's not working out.

He looks like a dope. And do we ever look back and go, I get what you were doing? No, no, no. It never works. Never ever. But again, who is in Russell Wilson's not forget the locker room, who's in his inner circle that will actually talk to him and break him down and sit him down and go, look, Russ. We need to seriously talk about this. There's no one.

So if he's never going to be challenged, he's never going to believe that it's him and he's never going to change. And if I hate to say it, if it's if being passive aggressive is in your nature, it's really hard to break away from that. It really is.

It's just part of your personality. I love these talks. I feel like whatever. You should be a life coach.

You really should be. You should be a therapist or a life coach. What are you doing here? That makes sense, actually, because they say if you can't do, you should teach. Life coach makes sense because I've failed in so many ways.

So coaching it would make a hell of a lot. You're listening to the Zach Gelb show. We do have breaking news. See, like I'm disappointed in this breaking news, but I'm not like furious because I knew this was inevitably going to happen.

And the hickey like this is actually a little I don't want to say it's surprising because it was inevitable. But after how long this talk and how slow it was. The fact that we got this today, like a little bit like, oh, OK, it finally happened. It took so long. You knew it was going to happen. So my outrage for this.

I've already spent enough time debating people on it. We know how you feel. You absolutely love this because it gives the good schools an opportunity to be great or feel like they're going to be great. But the college football playoff, according to Pete Thamo, college football officials have been informed that the Rose Bowl has signed an agreement that will allow the college football playoff to expand to 12 teams in 2024 and 2025. Now, we knew that they were going to 12 in 2026 and the expectation was that could happen sooner. It was never set in stone with how much like a snail like pace this was moving. But you knew that eventually and maybe it was going to take another year or so that this was going to happen, that it was going to 2024, 2025. And I swear to you know what, if the first words out of your mouth is, I'm so fired up, this is great. Let's go.

I'm going to burst through that glass and I'm going to punch in the face. This is the best day for college football, says they ditched the computer since they actually started using eyes to judge who the teams are. But look, it's not surprising. It's not surprising it's 2024 because I think it was ESPN was the one who first reported the actual figure. But 450 million dollars on the line between 2024 and 2026 that they did not get a playoff, expanded playoff done before the 2026 season. So the money is too great. Why was it 450 million? Like why was it that large if they didn't expand and go to this? I think TV contracts.

OK, gotcha. I think there's a clause right now, ESPN, because the contract is through 2026. The possibility of more money. Now instead of three playoff games, I can't do the math, but you know, four teams, nine playoff games. Final two minutes of the show, we're not trying to do math. Point is, a lot more playoff games for ESPN to broadcast, which means a lot more money for everyone else.

So as you know, you follow the money, it's going to happen. 12 teams, 2024, here we come. To me, this just sucks.

A lot of the fun of the regular season. These like the games have meant so much last weekend. Well, now they'll still mean something. Well, they'll just mean more in two weeks from now.

No, I'm sorry. You're still going to play them though. Rival weekend is still going to happen. Now, do you think they'll get rid of the conference championship games? No, those will be a reason to get biased. Yeah, they've become actually more important than they do right now.

Because you can make the argument, actually, it's the case. The conference championship weekend is relevant this weekend. Well, because all the other teams stunk. And then I'll argue on the other end, do we then need to see teams 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 have their season extended? So when they failed in the regular season, the answer is no.

But I don't want to fight. They get playoff games at home, which is going to be electric crowds. So, you know, you already get great crowds. Home atmosphere is at Death Valley and Penn State and Florida. Notice how we had to say one school before going to Penn State. What makes you think Penn State is getting a home game here? Well, they get a home game in this performance, that's for sure, this year.

They'll be like 11 or 12. So, I mean, you talk about just great atmospheres, now you get them for a playoff game at home, which I think is one of the best parts of the expanded playoff, is now you take away from the neutral site bowl games, which is just not the same, put them on home stadiums, home fields, it's going to be electric. But that would just be for the first round. As the rounds get later and later, they would go right back to you.

Unfortunately, yes. But at least for right now. So for all the teams that really don't belong, at least they'll get a home playoff game and you'll have an electric atmosphere. And Hickey will be there at Happy Valley.

We are, we are, going to the next round and then lose by 40. Yeah, if you get there. If you get there. Brian Denny is going to be loud, I'll tell you that right now. If you get there.

Okay. This is the Zach Gilb Show on CBS Sports Radio. Fun show today, big thanks to Matt Rule, big thanks to Shane Beamer, Steve Mariucci, mooch, and also Willie Gay from the Kansas City Chiefs. I'm off tomorrow. Hickey will probably lead the show with the nonsense about the college football playoff and then we'll fire him. I mean, we'll see him on Friday when I'm back. We out, bye bye, peace.