NFL Worst To First? (Hour 3)

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Experience the power of change. Avid Exchange. Learn more at avidexchange.com Is an OC Ferb admirer all those years at Florida as well. Now doing a kickass job with ESPN and that is Dan Mullen.

Coach, appreciate the time. How are you? I'm doing great.

I'm doing great. Excited. It's kind of like, I want to say it's like Christmas Eve. You get to open the one gift tonight of some of the big games going on and then you get all of them on Saturday. This is that crazy week. Now we got games Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday. Kicking it off. I'm excited for college football.

It's great to hear. Let me start you off with Georgia. Back to back champs. Last year they were doubted with all that they lost. Going to the NFL and Stetson Bennett once again was excellent and was a Heisman Trophy finalist.

Now Bennett's no longer there. A little bit of an interesting offseason as well. You've been at schools like Florida when you were the OC where it wasn't only just win, it was absolutely destroy the opponent. And if you win by 21 points then that's great. How do you think Georgia now, back to back, everyone giving them their best shot is going to handle the pressure this year?

I think they're going to be great. A big key of winning championships is staying healthy is critical within your roster and scheduling helps. If you look at Georgia and what they have on the schedule this year, the schedule sets up for them where they don't have a lot of challenges during the regular season which will also allow them to stay healthy.

So they get into a situation where at the end of the season they have the SEC Championship game and then possibly two playoff games. So I think the schedule lines up really well for them. Obviously they have talent. They're loaded with talent top to bottom.

And I think they're going to have the opportunity to give a good run at winning three in a row. Staying in the SEC, let's go to Alabama for a while. We were just used to the big quarterbacks, right?

A Jalen Hurts, a Tuatunga Vailoa, back Jones, and then also Bryce Young who was number one overall pick. Now we don't even know who's going to play a quarterback for Alabama. Some people are doubting Bama heading into this season.

We usually know how that works out. But how do you kind of view the Alabama quarterback situation right now? Well I think the one thing that over almost maybe the last eight years maybe of the Nick Saban era that you've seen is Nick has really not been afraid to evolve and get outside the box. So I wouldn't be shocked to see them play a multiple quarterback system this year. A lot of people say if you have two quarterbacks you have none.

I think what he's going to look at how people have done it, how they've succeeded in doing it. They have Jalen Bilrow who is a dynamic guy with a ball in his hands. Not to downplay his skills as an overall quarterback, but dynamic guy with a ball in his hands. They have Tyler Buckner who knows the system of the new coordinator. Ty Simpson who's a talented young passer.

I wouldn't be surprised to see him do a little bit of quarterback rotation throughout the year and do whatever it takes for them to win. I know everybody's down at Alabama. They're down now.

What's going on? They're still 24-4 the last two seasons. Most programs around the country would be jumping up and down for joy if they were 24-4 the last two years. I don't think it's that far gone for them. I think it's going to be a great challenge for Nick and that team. The last thing you want to see is usually Alabama is the team that's got to try to stay on top.

You don't want to see them with a chip on their shoulder. That's the thing. How many times through the last few years or the last decade, Saban has killed the media for praising his football team too much with that rat poison as he would like to say. Now people are probably feeding into the ideal way for Nick Saban where there's some that are jumping off the Alabama ship and doubting him. I'm sure those practices and those talks behind the scenes are definitely legendary right now.

Absolutely. Don't doubt this for a second. They have a very talented roster. They have talent at different positions. They're going to come back, play great defense, and all of a sudden if this style is different, I know we've seen them with this wide open passing attack lighting up the scoreboard. Nick Saban knows how to win by playing power football and playing defense as well.

They might do it a little differently, but it doesn't make them any less dangerous. Coach Dan Mullen here with us on the Zach Gelb show. I want to go to Ole Miss. I think it's going to be Jackson Dart just with the way that Lane Kiffin has been talking about his quarterback all offseason long.

But there's been no official announcement yet. They brought another great quarterback from Oklahoma State in Spencer Sanders. How do you think that QB position will play on out this year? It'll be really interesting. You know, I think that one of the tough ones is if they go Jackson Dart and Spencer Sanders transferred in, it's his last season. But it will be interesting to see.

You're going to have the nice thing that Lane's going to have. He is a veteran guy that's won a lot of football games sitting on the bench right there. What you don't want to do in the multi-quarterback situation is create a situation where somebody's looking over their shoulder.

So I think he's got to kind of define it, set it, make sure the definitions are clear within the room, what's going on, what the plan is. This is why we're doing the plan and possibly setting the depth chart for those guys and getting everybody to buy in. When you get to Graham Mertz at Florida, and we'll see him tonight up against Utah, they're not expected to have Cam Rising.

But last year, a lot of people doubted Bo Nix and also Michael Penix with them not being able to prove what we thought they could be. They go to new schools and they were both in the Heisman Trophy conversation. How do you think Graham will handle the change going from Wisconsin to Florida? And could he have a breakout year?

Yeah, I think he could. I think one of the things, you know, you look at tonight's game, obviously with Cam Rising not playing, I think that is a major factor in the course of that game. And how I think that'll end up, the game will end up. But if you look at what Florida wants to do right now with Billy Napier, I mean, he wants to run the football. They have two really good running backs and they want to be a running football team. And so, you know, I think for Graham Mertz, it kind of sets up in a similar situation from where he was at Wisconsin where you're in a running attack. You're going to be kind of running under center, run the ball, play action, pass.

And, you know, for him, I don't think they're going to try to put too much on his plate. And so I think the transition for him will be pretty seamless. Coach Dan Mullen here with us. So Joe Milton has been around for a while at multiple stops, Michigan in the last two years, Tennessee replacing Henson Hooker this season. And we know what type of coach Josh Heiple is, but we keep on seeing those big throws from the Manning Academy.

And there's a lot of hype and buzz around Joe Milton. But when you look at him as a quarterback, what are the things that Coach Dan Mullen sees? Well, you see that. You see the talent.

Now everybody, if you've got to remember, he had won the starting job over Henson Hooker at one point. And now what I think everybody has to see and what's going to be really important for Tennessee is his maturity and his growth. To take the unbelievable skill set that he has.

I mean, this is called athletic guy. I mean, he can, you know, he can throw the ball over the mountain. And so when you have that talent, that ability, that natural skill, sometimes you don't worry about laying the position. And I think hopefully over it now he's matured and through the years he's always been able to rely on just pure talent. Now growing, maturing what Josh Heiple, they want to do and coaching him up to not just have that, but use the talent within the position.

If he can do that, he's going to be very, very special. And I think that's one of the things that's got to be not, you know, there's not a lot of plays in the playbook where you need to throw the ball 80 yards down the field. There's a lot of plays in the playbook where you have to throw it accurately, on time, making good decisions. And he can do that, but I think he has to understand that being a great quarterback is not just making spectacular plays.

It's making the unspectacular play on a regular basis. Coach Dan Mullen here with us. So you were at Florida when Tebow was there.

You know what it's like when everyone's calling him the savior. This year Texas has Arch Manning, but right now he's the third quarterback with Quinn Ewers being the starter. How do you think Sarc will handle that this year when you look at everyone probably going to be talking at Arch Manning in the moment Quinn Ewers makes a mistake? People are going to be calling for Arch even though he's QB3 right now. Well, I think, you know, one of the things that helps is Quinn Ewers had a lot of success there.

Highly recruited guy coming in. And I also think when you look at the Arch Manning and how recruiting went and how he did everything through the recruiting process, it's really interesting. It wasn't all kind of the craziness. I remember, you know, even recruiting Arch a little bit when I was in Florida.

And it wasn't about the hype or the craziness or the wildness of everything. So I think the family's going to look and say, hey, you know what? Big time college football. You have the opportunity to sit and grow. We're not going to rush you through your career. And so I think he's going to take the role on in a good way. And as a competitor, listen, he wants to get on the field. You know, he wants to get on the field and go play.

But I don't think the psyche is going to get to him. I think that's going to make it a little bit easier for Sarc to sit there and say, hey, Quinn Ewers is our guy. He's out here playing. We're really excited about the future with Arch Manning. He's growing, developing, learning the system. He's going to get a couple opportunities this year.

But I think it's going to be easier for Sarc because I think it's easy for him to sell Arch the buy-in of the long-term plan for the future. When we get to A&M, we know they have a loaded roster. Jimbo Fisher on the hot seat even with a very lucrative contract. You're bringing Petrino as well to be your offensive coordinator. Your expectations this year for A&M are what, Coach Dan Mullen?

You know, always high. Listen, everyone's expectations for A&M are going to be high. Jimbo knows that. That's part of being a coach in the SEC and especially the West. The one thing that I always laugh at in the SEC West, you know, you have seven great teams in the SEC West.

And someone has to finish last. Everyone talks about, ooh, the fan base and who's first, who's going to be second. The hardest one is someone has to finish last in that division with seven fan bases that expect to win a title. And a championship every single year. So I think he understands and he knows that pressure. I think they have a talented roster.

And I think, you know, people kind of, when you get back in the corner a little bit. Last year, everybody was hyping them up, hyping them up. This year, I don't hear that hype about A&M. But they still have a lot of talent on the roster. It lets them maybe come in a little bit under the radar for things. Really going to be interesting to see how the combination of Jimbo and Bobby Petrino work.

Because if it works well, I mean, you have two great offensive minds that have to meld together to make a system work for both of them. Let's get to some of the matchups this weekend. Coach Dan Mullen here with us for a few more minutes on CBS Sports Radio.

It is the Zach Gelb show. I circled Drake May against Spencer Attler, UNC up against South Carolina. Should be a fun one with those two quarterbacks.

Should be really fun. You know, Drake May started the year so hot last year. And then, you know, Carolina lost the last four games of the season. And I think he has some new receivers to go learn how to play with. But he was such a great player. And Spencer Attler, you know, when he's hot, you know, it's hard to say there's better quarterbacks out there when he gets hot. When he can get on fire.

Now, he also can struggle and make some mistakes that are just head scratching as well. So, I think that's going to be the most entertaining game of the entire weekend in a shootout with two great quarterbacks. And another game, I'm just like curious to see how it unfolds. Like I think TCU will win. Chandler Morris gets his job back after getting hurt last year.

And we know what happened with Max Duggan and that wonderful story. And then you look at a Colorado program. There's definitely a lot of buzz because you're bringing Deion Sanders. And I know they overhauled the entire roster, but the team only won one game last year. And that's like just one of those games where I wonder how we're talking about them next week. Both Colorado and TCU from this one. It'll be interesting. You know, Colorado obviously is a rebuild. And, you know, Deion overhauled the entire roster.

So, it's kind of his team. They're there. Let's see what they can do. TCU is going to come in with the expectations of winning. And coming off of last year, obviously disappointed in the national title game. But that's a team that found ways to win. They know how to win. It'll be interesting to see how long it takes Colorado to get that mindset of learning how to win.

Not just to go play. Not that we have talented players. We can go play with them learning how to win. And that's one thing TCU knows how to do. And then Sunday night, what a matchup. LSU, Florida State.

We all remember how it did go down last year. But now it's different because both these teams have sky high expectations. What do you look for in that matchup between the Seminoles and then also the LSU Tigers?

Well, you know, I mean, two great quarterbacks. Again, I mean, teams with national championship aspirations in this game will be looked at, I think, at the end of the year. I think there'll be a lot of attention paid to this game by the playoff committee at the end of the year as you compare resumes down the line. I expect both teams to be in the top ten. Maybe it's a direct – the winner, obviously, is in a great position for the rest of the season with a potential at a playoff bid.

The loser's certainly not out of it. But I think it's going to be such a great game. I think LSU is looking at the revenge factor from last year. But Florida State's going out to make a statement that they're back, that they belong in the national spotlight, that the hype is deserved.

I really like Jordan Travis's leadership and his toughness and the chip on the shoulder he plays with that helps keep that team together and keeps them strong, fending off all the hype coming into the season. Coach, Dan Mullen, before we let you run, Swamp Kings, we saw the documentary. You were all over it. What did you think with the final product? I loved it.

I hope our people loved it. I think, you know, it is a realistic look of college football and really what the Gators were like back then. I mean, I think it portrayed the team and what was going on and all the pressures that were involved.

I think a lot of times now – and I'll be perfectly honest because I did one. You know, we did the HBO, the Hard Knocks-type show with HBO when I was at Florida. All these different teams are doing TV shows. But when you're covering an active team, the school gets the editing power at the end of what goes in and what doesn't go in.

And everything – a lot of things are going to be based on recruiting and how you want to profile your program. When I think you look at that Swamp Kings, Netflix had final editing control. It wasn't the university. So I think it's a true look at behind the scenes of a college football program and the pressures, the stresses, the things that really go on, as you've seen on television anywhere. And I really enjoyed it. I thought it was really good. Brought back a lot of great memories, a lot of tough memories. But I really – I enjoyed filming it. I enjoyed being part of it.

You know, I love being part of the Gator Nation. And, you know, so it was awesome to be in that show and be asked to be on the show. So the one gripe I had with it – and I thought the game recaps were awesome. Like Brandon Seiler was phenomenal.

Brandon Spikes was phenomenal as well. But like there's some storylines Aaron Hernandez not really talked about. Cam not really talked about. And a bunch of other things as well. Were you asked about that stuff? Or did it just not even get brought up when they were interviewing you? Yeah, I think – but, you know, I think a lot of people got to look at the storyline of what was going on at the time. Cam was never – you know, Cam was a backup quarterback the whole time.

You know? I mean, he never – he wasn't – you know, there was a story about those teams and those championships. And I love Cam Newton to death. He – I mean, he – I got to coach him, spend so much time with him. And I think people look at it and say, oh, well, what about Cam? It wasn't – it wasn't – you know, for him, he wasn't a major player in those games.

A lot of Aaron Hernandez stuff. I think, honestly, a lot of that stuff happened after he left Florida and some of the issues he had. You know, and I got people calling and saying, hey, well, what about these guys, these guys, these guys? I think there are a lot of people that were invited to be part of it that declined, to be honest with you.

And I think it was up to their – you know, it was up to them whether or not they wanted to be on the show. And so I think they did and kind of portrayed, though, the storyline of you look at those teams of who was on the field, who were the players, you know, who were the key guys in all of those games throughout those seasons. Coach, really do appreciate the time. Enjoyed the college football season, covered it all for ESPN. Thanks so much for joining us. It's going to be a busy day for you.

Yeah, no problem. Great to be with you. It's great to have football back. You're listening to the Zach Gelb Show. All right, it is the Zach Gelb Show on CBS Sports Radio. Hickey, I'm going to throw some college football questions your way. I have my answers on them, but I wonder how my answers compare to your answers.

Let me start you off. Sunday night, LSU, Florida State, who do you think this game is more important for? Is it Florida State or is it LSU? LSU.

I would agree, and here's why. LSU plays in the SEC. I'm not saying that they shouldn't be playing to win the conference because they could win the conference this year. That's how good LSU is. But Georgia's schedule is so easy peasy that they'll definitely be in the conference championship game where they have a chance, Georgia, to go up against LSU like last year. But you know that there's a good chance that the SEC could get two teams in the college football playoff. At best, the ACC is only sending one team, if that, to the college football playoff this year. So for me, that's why it's LSU where they could afford to lose Florida State, and that's not a conference game.

Still get to the conference championship game. Yeah, they play Ole Miss. Sure, they play Alabama. Yes, they play Texas A&M. We'll see who else pops up and ends up being a player in the SEC. But you look at Florida State. They are a team that I think is loaded, and you see verse on the defensive side of the ball.

You know who their quarterback is. But you see the Florida State. Their biggest game is actually in three or four weeks against Clemson on the 23rd. And then after that, it's Virginia Tech, Syracuse, Duke, Wake Forest. Pitt I think is a team being slept on, Miami, North Alabama, Florida. None of those wins are going to really boost your resume if you get to a point where it's like, okay, you have a one-loss ACC champion. Let's just say that that's what happens this year for Florida State. And if there is a conversation and you have that win as like an LSU, that could get you over the hump if you have multiple teams that are one-loss conference champions looking to get into the college football playoff this year. So that's why I really do believe that you could have Florida State, excuse me, afford to lose that game and still find a way to get in and beat Clemson twice and make it an attractive resume this year. It's tough just because, I mean, yes, beating Clemson twice is not easy, but also beating Georgia once is also extremely difficult. I give Florida State a better chance to beat Clemson twice. I agree. Than I would for LSU to beat Georgia once.

Yeah, no, you're probably not wrong on that. And also, the difficult thing with Georgia this year, and it's so stupid to kind of doubt them, but when are they going to, they probably won't have to get up for a football game until the SEC championship game in Atlanta. And I think that is dangerous because then it all comes down to one game.

They could definitely do that. And you know what, to be fair, let's see what Tennessee is at the end of the year because that could be a big game. But you look at their schedule for Georgia. We're talking about UT Martin to open up the weekend, Ball State, South Carolina, UAB, Auburn, Kentucky, Vanderbilt, Florida, Missouri, Ole Miss, Tennessee, Georgia Tech. Like, you're going to get everyone's best because you're Georgia. You're the team that everyone's hunting. But with that being said, right now, you go into a season, Tennessee is your toughest game.

You take that 10 times out of 10. And that's no disrespect to Tennessee. I like Heupel and I like Joe Milton, too. But they also have the right coach in Kirby Smart, who I thought no one could out save and Saban is doing his best where it's literally minutes after the national title game last year. And he said, this is great, but now what two national titles does in a row is breed complacency.

And he's almost, like, upset about it. That's definitely a guy where I don't think, where most of us look at the schedule and say, oh, they got no reason to really show up until Atlanta in the first weekend in December. That's the guy, I think, even for, you know, South Alabama, whoever they play, he'll get them up for.

South Harmon Institute of Technology is what you were going for there? Kirby, they can be playing a high school team and Kirby will be doing Nick Saban 2.0 and telling them how good they are or how good the other team is and how they're going to lose and they suck. How do you think we're talking about Boise State-Washington when we get back into the studio on Tuesday? Best game of the weekend. Best game of the weekend, offensive explosion. I'm going to go 45-34, Washington over Boise State. Both teams can score. Both defenses are questionable. I think when we come Tuesday, that's one of those where that was a fun, exciting, back-and-forth thriller. You said 35-34?

Did I hear that? 45-34. Oh, 45-34. 45-34. I think Washington pulls away late, but I think points are going to be abundant on both sides. I think, similar to you, that's going to be a fun, high-octane offense type of game.

I think the way that we're talking about it on Monday is Washington picks up right where they left off. They look like they're a team that could go to the college football playoff this year, but I will also say a lot of people are going to be praising the quarterback at Boise State, Talon Green. And we had Andy Avalos on earlier in the week. He said he 100% could be a pro quarterback. He saw what he got to do last year after taking over a few weeks in, had that big run.

I think it was against Utah State for 91 yards to really put the game away. They have a tough schedule to start out the season where you play Washington, you get UCF. You can skip over North Dakota, San Diego State, and then you play Memphis. You've got some good teams early on, but once they get in that conference schedule, I know they were undefeated in the regular season last year in that conference, and they lost in the conference title game. They should win the conference championship this year. What's your take on Clemson and Duke?

What do you want to see here? I really want to say Duke upset. I think it's going to be a close game. Part of them likes their quarterback, Duke. Riley Leonard is good. They've got 10 starters back on offense, and Mike Elko is a really good defensive coach.

I like Elko. I think Garrett Riley is the best coordinator hire of the offseason for Clemson. I think that Kate Clemson is going to have a big year, but I think it's a little slow to start. I know it's Duke, but road conference opener is not easy. I think Clemson is going to win, but a 24-21, 21-17 kind of defensive struggle, ugly game. Kind of like Georgia Tech last year they opened the season. Clemson closed, but they win.

I think we're talking a lot about Kate Klubnick on Tuesday. Where we're saying, okay, he gives you a really impressive performance up against a guy that was a really good defensive coordinator, Mike Elko. And he's showing you, I don't want to say that Clemson is back, because it's not like they've fallen off. But from their standard, we kind of look at Clemson as a team that just winning the ACC isn't good enough what they did last year to get to college football playoff.

I think the way we'll be talking about it is Kate Klubnick has a really good game. Florida State LSU will be a close game. And that will set up in a few weeks from now what should be a really fun matchup early on in the ACC between Florida State and Clemson. So Utah and Florida is going on right now. Four minutes left in the first quarter. Utah is up 7-0. And Florida is on the move. They are now inside the red zone.

It's going to be third and long here. For Utah and Florida, two things here. Can you see Utah winning the Pac-12 in back-to-back-to-back years?

And then also with Florida, when you look at Billy Napier entering his second season, what do you look for with the Billy Napier team where you lose Anthony Richardson, now Graham Mertz is their quarterback? And look, so far Utah is a physical team. I think for them it's, if they can't make it 3-p, I think, again, this is the toughest the Pac-12 has been in a very long time.

Big storyline of watch this entire season. Obviously not playing tonight is Cam Rising and how he's going to, not only when he's going to return, but how he's going to look when he does return. I do not think the Utes are going to win this year. I think they have the second lowest chance to win the Pac-12 in part because, like I said, really tough schedule. They do go on the road a lot, which is kind of tough for them. They had a lot of those big games at home last year.

Florida, honestly, I know we talked about hot seat yesterday and there's not a lot of big names or sexy names. Things have to go haywire. But Billy Napier is a guy that I definitely do not think is safe no matter what happens this year. And that's if things go sideways and you're 4-8.

When you had Anthony Richardson being 6-7 and now you have Graham Mertz who's not better, but things are slipping backwards. That's a game to watch, I think. Well the Florida schedule. We talked about Utah's schedule being tough. Have you seen the Florida schedule here?

I'll give it to you. You play Utah right now to open up the year, they just hit a field goal, it's now 7-3 Utah. McNeese, week 2, okay, whatever. Tennessee, Charlotte, Kentucky, Vanderbilt, South Carolina, this is where it picks up to end the season. Georgia, Arkansas, LSU, Missouri, Florida State.

That is a brutal. Two out of the first three weeks you're playing two top 15 teams and then to end out the season, right now you're playing 1-5-8. That could be another season where the Florida fan is just like, eh, after two years you haven't really seen the sizzle that you expect when you bring in a coach like Billy Napier where there was a lot of buzz around that hire. I hate to say it with Florida, but they're not entering the conversation of where we start to say Texas and Miami are their back, but we are a long ways away from the dominant days of what the Florida football program has been. You're right, they're a little weird because they have gone to a New Year's six game with Kyle Trask and they've been in the SEC title game a few times. They haven't even been close to competing for a championship.

And it's been two of the times kind of backing their way into the SEC title game a few years ago under Jim McElwain. One of the guys that was with the Sharks? Allegedly. He denies it to this day, I believe. So I think Barstool, Caleb Presley, they found the guy that actually was with the Sharks and they interviewed him. I remember.

So that's confirmed now. It's not only not Jim McElwain, they have found the lookalike who was butt naked hugging the shark that he caught on the boat. Nebraska, Minnesota.

Right now, no score. Matt Ruhl's debut with Go Big Red. How do you think we are talking about Nebraska historically when you look at the jobs that Matt Ruhl has done in college? Temple, his first year was two wins. They ended up winning, a few years later, the American Athletic Conference championship game at Baylor, one win. And then two years later, they were in the Big 12 championship game at the end of year one for Nebraska.

How are we talking about them? That's a thing like, I'm not going to take a lot from year one just because Matt Ruhl is now at a track record of not one but two schools where the first year is an absolute disaster. And he's bounced back. I don't think he's going to go 1-11. But if he's 2-10 or 3-9 at Nebraska, for most first year coaches, that would probably sound an alarm and say, oh boy, we're in trouble here. But he's had a track record of improving and turning around from year one to year two. So not that year one is almost not relevant, but it's just one of those where we've seen him now twice have really bad year number ones and bounce back. So it's not like I can really take a lot from year one if it's a bad year.

And also, let's remember this too. The Temple program was a mess. Baylor was coming off one of the ugliest scandals we've ever seen. I know Nebraska has been long from their championship days, but compared to the jobs that he's taken over, Nebraska is in the best spot. I think they could compete for a bowl game this year where they could get bowl eligible.

That would not shock me. I don't think it's going to be two or one wins like it was at Temple or Baylor, but if it's at like four wins this year or just five wins this year, I wouldn't be shocked as well. You get Minnesota, it's going to be a low-scoring, tough game tonight. You play Colorado, you should be able to win week two. You get Northern Illinois, Louisiana Tech, like you should have three wins.

You should be three and one after four weeks. Then you have a tough game against Michigan, tough game against Illinois. You play Northwestern, that should be a win. You get Purdue, Michigan State. Michigan State's a winnable game. Maryland stuff, Wisconsin stuff. And Iowa's always a good football team. So I think they're anywhere in that four to six category, and I would think that they could get some bowl eligibility this year, but I think it would be right by the skin of their teeth. And then finally here, South Carolina, UNC.

How are we talking about that game when we get back in on Tuesday? I think impressive debut or start of the year for Drake May. I don't think South Carolina's going to be able to push him around. The skill talent is better for North Carolina. I think he'll have a day, and I think he will look good in the start, and people I think will start to over-hype or maybe buy in more than they showed North Carolina.

So last year people talked about Drake May, but now everyone is talking about Drake May because he's projected the second quarterback off the board, maybe the second overall pick in the draft. So I can't wait to watch more UNC this year, but I look at that gambling line right now. It's UNC minus two and a half. That's screaming for everyone to take UNC and to minus the points just with the way that we talk about Drake May. I would plus the points there.

I actually think South Carolina is going to win the game outright coming up against UNC on Saturday night on ABC. I actually think that clip is very good for the brand of hot take hickey. You have a former NFL running back, a former star running back at Michigan who is already planning to text you if Penn State loses to Michigan once again this year. You are in his mind already and in the thought process of the great Leroy Hoard. That's a good clip for you there, Hickster.

I'll say this for Leroy here. He's in a bad spot because I'm going in right now with the expectation Penn State is not winning the game. So I'm not going to get my hopes up. Hold on.

That's not what you said a few months ago, though. I said 11 and 1. They're not beating Michigan.

I've said I've been consistent. They're beating Ohio State. They're not beating Michigan. But I think 11 and 1 is getting you into the college football playoff. So I'm right now not going to that game. Now, end season may change my opinion. If Drew Auer is a Heisman front runner right now, will I change my tune?

Possibly. Folks, that game is November 11th, right? November 11th at Penn State. Yeah, I'm actually annoyed by that because I think that's also when the UFC is coming here to Madison Square Garden that night.

So I was thinking of maybe going to Happy Valley for that game, but then I'm probably going to go to UFC as well. I can guarantee you, as Charles Barkley would say, guarantee that come that game, Hickey will get on the radio and go, Folks, I thought before the year this was going to be a loss, but now I sit here and Penn State's going to win the game 45 to 28. And I'm going to text Leroy Hoard after the game and the Nitti Lions are going undefeated and they're going to win the whole thing. That's what I think you're going to sound like.

This is why, well, drop the high-pitched voice, but similar. This is why Leroy's in a bad spot. What, did you just go through puberty in the last 10 seconds?

Yes. I think that Penn State is going to lose the game. So if he texts me, I will not be heartbroken. I will not be in shambles like I was last year when they got just completely run out of the building.

Intentional emotion here. But if they win, if they win, Leroy will probably get a text from me every day for the next year. Score, reminder. I will be in. I will.

I promise him and you and the audience, I'll be insufferable. Well, you know, it will happen. Then you guys will be in the college football playoff and open up a kettle. We'll pass on you.

No. At that point, they'll double down. They'll win again. And now really, really only Leroy national champs come at me. So there's many reasons to root against Penn State this year. Hickey is the biggest reason to root against Penn State. No one wants to hear that bullcrap.

No, no one wants to hear you with your with your jackassery. All right. Where's the first NFL teams that were in last place in the division this year? And when I give you the teams here in the AFC, who's the team that's most likely to go from worst to first?

Jets were in last place last year. Broncos last place in the AFC West. Browns last place in the AFC North. Texans last place in the AFC South.

I'm going to go to the Browns. Bengals off to a slow start. Joe Burrow can't, you know, maybe get the health going right away. What do you mean they're off to a slow start? This isn't even start yet. You know, I said if they get off to a slow start. Last year they're 0-2. Cincinnati was. So like, you know, again, I don't think they'll lose in the division.

But in this scenario, which one do I have to pick? I think the Browns have the best chance. It's the Jets. And the Jets are in the toughest division. But the Jets have a great defense. You have Garrett Wilson who's going to go for like 1,500 yards this year. You have Dalvin Cook as well. And you got Aaron Rodgers. The Browns are in a tough division as well. I just don't think Deshaun Watson's going to out-duel over the entirety of the season. Joe Burrow. Broncos forget about it.

Yeah, you're just not good enough. And you're in a division with the Kansas City. How about them Chiefs and the Texans?

You know, if we're looking to be comedians, then maybe we try to make the case for the Houston Texans. NFC. Commanders. Cardinals. Bears. Falcons. This one feels easy.

Lamp. Falcons. Yeah, I would agree. Now, how would we rank these? Falcons most likely. Commanders second. Even though I don't think there's a way they win the NFC East. Bears third. Even though they won't win the North. And then it's the Cardinals in a distance fourth. I would say the Bears second. Not that they're a better team than the commanders. I think the division's more winnable.

That's fair. Like the lines of the Vikings stinking or underachieving is more likely than the Eagles and Cowboys really underachieving. Yeah, because the misconception with the Cowboys is that they. Like the last two years, I think a lot of people poke fun at the Cowboys because how the season ended with whatever they were trying to do with the Zeke Elliott. And then the year before that, Dak couldn't snap the ball.

And maybe they kind of showed you why it was better that they didn't snap the ball with how it ended a year ago. But you look at the regular season, they had Dak Prescott injured and they were still able to survive and they won back to back seasons of 12 games. So I don't think the Eagles nor Cowboys are going to be bad teams in the regular season.

I think they're both going to be double digit win teams. I think the Eagles are going to be the best team in the NFC. They may look like the second or best team in the NFL at times. And you look at that NFC North. Yeah, I would still say like the Bears ceiling, I think this year is finishing third place.

I do believe they're going to finish in fourth. But the reason why I put the commander second is even though it's so tough for the Eagles and the Cowboys to fall back. And I get what you're saying compared to like the Lions or the Packers.

I think the Vikings are in that division. But you look at the commanders just out of those four rosters, even though we both said the Falcons is more so the product of the NFC South. You look at those four rosters.

I think the commanders had the better roster out of those four teams that we just mentioned. When you have Terry McLaurin, if he gets to the turf toe, Jahan Dotson, who's supposed to join us sometime next week. You have Bryan Robinson Jr., Antonio Gibson. And I'm kind of out on Chase Young. And we don't even know if he's going to be able to play week one. They declined to fit their option, but you do have some good players in that front seven as well.

So that's how we kind of look worse the first. So AFC, I'm going Jets. And the NFC, I will take the Falcons. Hickey ends up going with the Falcons and the Cleveland Browns. Alrighty, we're treating the show like it's a Friday because Hickey and I are both off tomorrow.

I'll be at the Bruce Springsteen concert, but I'll be filling in locally during the day from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Eastern on the fan in New York City. So since we are treating this like it's a Friday, we will do onside offside next where we will have five questions, five answers. We'll go through some of the biggest questions in the world of sports and we'll tell you on what side of the fence we do lie on when it comes to those five big questions. Minnesota and Nebraska, it's 3-0 Golden Gophers over the Nebraska Cornhuskers. Nebraska is met at about midfield with a third and six. And between Utah and Florida, I believe this game is still Utah 7, Florida 3. So we'll keep you up to date on those games as the Zach Galb Show does continue right here on CBS Sports Radio.