Biggest CFB Takeaway From Saturday (Hour 3)

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And the author is Marty Smith, of course, the legendary ESPN correspondent, kind enough to join us right now on the Zach Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio. Marty, first off, congratulations on a new book. Appreciate the time and how are things going? Zach, thank you, brother. Good afternoon.

I appreciate you giving me the platform, man. Everything's wonderful. It's college football season in the south, baby.

It's God's time. It's the best time of year. Everything's great.

Very busy. We got great college football season underway and a ton of storylines. And I'm so grateful that all of these amazing leaders and coaches gave me so much of their time to be able to put Sideline CEO together and hopefully impact some lives of the folks who read it.

Yes. So you've been involved clearly covering college football for many years and you're great at creating relationships. When you've talked to these coaches for so many years and now they assist you in helping out with the book. Did any of these coaches kind of surprise you? And did you learn some new things about them?

I learned a lot, actually. You know, it really is kind of a who's who, Zach. It's, you know, Nick Saban and Dabo Swinney, Mac Brown and Roy Williams, Tom Izzo, John Calipari, Doc Rivers. Patty Gaso just won her seventh national championship with Oklahoma Softball.

Kim Mulkey just won her fourth national championship with LSU Women's Basketball. So, I mean, Kirby Smart is in the book. It's just it's a it is a group of leaders who achieved and succeeded at the absolute pinnacle in very high pressure jobs where you either win or you're gone. And the pillars in the book really that each of them really dive into all of those little nuances that really make great leaders and ultimately leadership comes down to influence.

It's not power. It's can you move people? Can you pull, push, bring people with you, especially if they don't believe they're capable of doing so themselves? And so all of those individuals gave me so much of their time. And I feel like the readers can can take a lot of this and inject it into their daily walk, no matter their profession. I've done so as a father and husband, much less a professional.

And so it is a very insightful, vulnerable book full of wisdom. I saw an interview that you did recently and it was really moving and very touching. And you were talking about your mother who passed away in 1998 and then also your father in 2008. You brought up what we do and the jobs and the people that we kind of impacted and touch. I've had a few friends, unfortunately, that have lost their parents at a young age. And I have the utmost respect for them, how they're able to move on in this difficult thing that we call life on the platform that we're on right now.

On the radio. You never know who's listening and you always know you can make an impact. I'm just curious with what you've had to do for a long time now. Just what kind of advice do you give to someone that unfortunately has lost a loved one, has lost a mother and a father at a young age? Well, first of all, it's hard to ever get over it. Yeah, I was very, very young when I lost my mom.

I was 20. And then basically when my mother passed away, she had breast cancer. We lost my dad spiritually, too.

He lived physically for 10 more years, but spiritually he was hollow. And it is very difficult. Your normal is never what it was with that blase fare, blissful, very naive approach. I grew up in a home with two parents that we never questioned if they loved us. And I mean, we went to church and it was Friday night lights and the whole thing, like Beaver Cleaver, man. And so when that normal is shaken to its core, you have to really grow up fast, but you have to figure out who you are. And that's a difficult thing to do. And I mean, look, I'm 47 years old now, Zach, and I feel like I've only really learned who I am in the last few of those years.

Being truly self-confident and not beholden to outside perspectives that might influence the person that I want to be. Because when your parents go, I say all that, when your parents go, you lose a compass. And it's a compass that you don't even know is there, especially dudes with their dads. Roof's leaking, call daddy. Truck won't start, call daddy. He's always got an answer.

And if he doesn't, he knows how to find it. And then all of a sudden that's gone. And so you've got to figure it out by yourself.

And that's an old bleep moment when you've got to figure it out by yourself at 30 years old. And so I would I would just tell those people, carry their spirit unabashedly in everything you do. I've been grateful that I've been able to do that. I wish that my parents could see some of the things that I've gotten to experience and witness and do. But I just try my very best to. I still every single day I'm seeking my father's favor. I lost him 15 years ago.

I know this could be a tough question to answer, but just based off what you said, Marty Smith, who is the Marty Smith that you found out about yourself the last few years? I think it's someone that wants to be a servant leader. It's someone who wants to be present in every relationship, in every moment, certainly for his wife and for his children. Who wants to be authentic and and care about other people in a way that is a light in the world.

And time is our most precious resource, Zach, and it's hard to give it all the time. But if someone wants it and you can impact their life with a smile and you can impact their life by saying hello and asking about their day, you can you can quite literally change their life. And I'm not too busy for that. And so that's the person I want to be. I want to be.

I want to have open ears and a closed mouth. I want to ask you about your life and and really be alike. ESPN is not my purpose, man. ESPN is a platform for my purpose. And I feel like my purpose is that light.

And and I'm so thankful that I have the platform to try to be that for other people. I'll tell you, I think I saw just a genuine moment of you a few years ago. I think it was a few years ago you were walking past a young reporter who's doing a stand up, a recorded stand up.

But you're right. It's the most obnoxious thing to do in the business because you try to get it perfect that it's not live. And when you do things live, you just go right through it. That moment and you just take in what, 45 seconds, a minute out of your day to talk to that young reporter. I thought as someone in the business, that was a pretty cool moment, Marty. Well, thank you.

I appreciate your kind words. And first of all, that young man's name is Jack Patterson. He's a reporter down in Columbus, Georgia. At the time, I did not know this. That was his first assignment. Wow.

Really? A cameraman for years. He had been kind of like the utility guy for his station for years.

But that was kind of the first time that they sent him out on his own and said, all right, man, go show us. And I could see the frustration building in him. And I've been on I've been doing television now for two decades. I hate tape stand ups to this second because of your point, Zach. You want every word to be perfect.

If you fumble one, you've got to do it over again. And I just don't know why, man. I felt led to just tell him, hey, brother, take your time.

Everything like I hate it. You're doing a great job. I can tell you have great spirit and you're going to get it.

Just take a deep breath and you're going to get it. And I had no idea he was had any intention of disseminating that moment. But my word. What came from that and the response I woke up the next morning. I'm like a five thirty five forty five riser every day. I got up the next morning around that time and I had hundreds of text messages. And the very first one I saw is from Shane Beamer, who South Carolina football coach with whom I grew up.

We played every sport against each other from like seventh or eighth grade on. And we're very close friends today. And it said it is so wonderful that the world gets to see the Marty Smith we've always known. And I was like, oh, Lord, what did I do? Did I. And and he had tagged or excuse me, kind of copied, included the link to Jack's tweet. And I went, oh, my goodness gracious, a lot.

I cannot believe this. But what that like it is a forever bond between Jack and me. He's a wonderful young man. And I'm so grateful that he had that moment. Like the the the confidence that came.

I hate social media because I think most of it's crap. But that was one of those moments where all these thousands of people infused his life with all of this joy and affirmation and confidence. And that is beautiful. Marty Smith here with us. His new book is outside and CEO leadership principles from championship coaches. Let me get to a few college football things before we let you run. You know, the seesaw ride of college football season. Alabama loses to Texas. The sky is falling and they don't play well up against USF.

They go back to Milro. They get a big win up against Ole Miss. What do you think the ceiling is for Alabama this season, Marty?

Very high. I was never one that ascribed to the sky is falling. You know, Alabama fans and Ohio State fans and Clemson fans. They have such high expectations that it's either college football or bust. College football.

Excuse me. I'm in college football playoff or bust. And it's just sort of an irrational approach because of the continued sustained sustained success that they have. I think that's a really good football team that they can stay healthy. Now, their offensive line play has not been good. Their quarterback play, they're still figuring out, figuring it out.

But Tommy Reese, look, Zach, the second half of that game against Ole Miss was a halftime coaching adjustment clinic. They adjusted to what Jalen does very well. That is design quarterback runs. That is running the football downhill, imposing your will, taking some play action shots off of that run game.

And it worked. So defensively, they are nasty, bro. Now, they do have a couple of injuries that are concerning, but I think that they still have a very high ceiling. I do. The games this weekend inside the SEC, Georgia, Auburn, Florida, Kentucky, LSU, Ole Miss. What's the one that stands out to you the most, Marty Smith?

Well, we are going to Kentucky hosting Florida. And I love Mark Stoops. He's a great coach. Not only is he a great coach, he's a phenomenal dude. I mean, like, just that hard core, that whole family. You know, they have that rural Ohio steel belt, rust belt, just Midwestern sensibility, tough blue collar kind of way about them.

And I love all of them. And he's built that within the Kentucky program. At a basketball school, he's made football very relevant. I love their quarterback.

He's, you know, Devin Leary, still trying to work his way into Liam Cohen's system. But, boy, that kid can rip it. They have good wide receivers, a solid offensive line. They've got some good guys on the defensive side of the ball. But Florida's a better dude than people think they are. They lost the season opener to Utah. I was talking to my colleague, Jordan Rogers, about that game. And he goes, when he went back and watched the tape, and I did too after he told me this, it was a two or three play game.

I mean, they didn't, the score was not terribly indicative of how well Florida played in that game. So this one to me that we're going to in Lexington has a ton of juice. And I can't wait to get there, man. It's a noon kickoff.

Our show leads directly into it. They're going to be lathered up. I love what Coach Stoop said in his press conference yesterday, that he has great confidence in the people of Kentucky, that they can get up early and pound them cold beers and be ready for that one. Before we let you run, we all know the Pac-12 and its final season has been awesome so far with Washington, Oregon, USC, Washington State, Utah, and a bunch of other teams. Clearly you've got to talk about Colorado.

I know coming off a big-time beatdown up against the Ducks this weekend. Tell us about what Coach Prime, Deion Sanders, has been able to do in three, four games so far in his tenure at Colorado for not only just the university but for the game of college football. Remarkable. One of the hardest things to do is walk into a culture that is irrelevant and flip it.

And he did it instantly. He walked in there and made it very clear from the jump, what is is not what was. And what is going to be is not what is. We're coming, and I'm bringing my luggage. And he went in there, and it's so fascinating to me, Zach, because you've got to look at it on a fundamental human level. What do all of us want? We want hope and we want belonging from middle school, high school, cliquish relationships all the way until we meet Jesus.

We want hope and we want belonging. And Deion has given that not just to the program, not just to the university, but to the individual souls on that roster. And it's awesome to watch. And I just marvel at it because, you know, and I've done a few interviews this week where people look at Dan Lanning's commentary and Ryan Day's reaction after the Ohio State win.

They all believe that's the Deion effect. I don't know yet if I agree with that. I'm not saying it's not, but I'm not saying it is yet either.

I know this. If you're a four or five star recruit and you have the standard modus operandi programs on your list, Bama, Georgia, Clemson, Ohio State, Florida State, Texas, what's on your list? You're looking out west, man. You're looking out west to Boulder. You're looking out west to Southern Cal and what Lincoln's doing because that's good. I mean, it's big boy stuff.

And with Deion leading with love like that, all those young people are just like, man, I want to be a part of that thing. Last thing I'll ask you before we let Marty Smith run on the Zach Yelp show on CBS Sports Radio. When I look at the Big Ten, I know Ohio State beat Notre Dame this weekend. I thought Notre Dame, though, should have won the game. I think Michigan's better than Ohio State.

I'm a Temple graduate. I'll say nothing nice about Penn State, but I also think Penn State is better than Ohio State this year with the Buckeyes. How would you rank those three teams right now, Michigan, Penn State and Ohio State? It's funny, I was doing a show in Columbus the other day and they asked me who was going to win the Big Ten East. And I went with Michigan. I think Michigan's the best team out of those three.

They're the most complete. And right now it goes through Ann Arbor. I love McCarthy. I think he's such a baller. I love Blake Corum. He is such a tough downhill runner. I love Jim Harbaugh. He's got it humming up there. Now, I will tell you, brother, Kyle McCord showed me a lot on Saturday night in South Bend, Indiana.

Showed me a whole lot. I love Aller up there in Happy Valley, and I love James Franklin. All three of those teams are going to make a – I mean, like, I'm an SEC guy, right? I always maintain that the SEC West is the most difficult division in sports. I'm not sure it's not the Big Ten East this year.

How about that? Sideline, CEO, leadership principles from championship coaches. The forward is by Tim Tebow. The book is by ESPN legendary correspondent Marty Smith. Marty, wonderful conversation. Appreciate the time, and good luck with the book. Thank you for your spirit, brother. I appreciate the platform, and yes, my friends, I would love if you went and got it.

Thank you, thank you. You're listening to the Zach Gelb Show. It is the Zach Gelb Show on CBS Sports Radio. Time to get to three college football takes. So we'll start things off in the Pac-12. The Pac-12 right now is the best conference in college football in its final year.

It's been awesome seeing eight teams in the top 25. I know Colorado got spanked this weekend by Oregon, but what Colorado has brought to the sport. And you look at USC with Caleb Williams, what Wazoo was able to do over the weekend as well. But I do believe that the two best teams in the Pac-12 are Washington and Oregon. And that's my first college football take, and I'll take it a step further.

I've been saying this now before the season started, and I'll continue to double, triple, quadruple down on it. Washington, to me, is the best team in the Pac-12. They play defense. I know you can say the same up against, you know, for Oregon, too. USC does not. But what Michael Penix is doing, and I know he got a lot of Heisman play last year, even though he wasn't a finalist.

But there was a lot of him asserted into the conversation. Maybe it's because the games are so late on the West Coast, he doesn't get a lot of the East Coast fan. But what he's done to just start this season is incredible. And when this schedule only gets better with the teams that Washington still hasn't played yet, you're going to get even more of a push if Washington continues to win these games, and he may win the Heisman Trophy this year. But right now, Washington and Oregon are better than USC, and Washington is the best team in the Pac-12. Florida State is the best team in the ACC. With that said, by the time the regular season's over, they're going to have a loss. Nice escape, we'll call it, against Clemson. But this team, I'm telling you, I do not feel good about them.

I know they're undefeated, you got your last laugh by you picking Florida State to win, and I pick Clemson, and the Seminoles won. And week one! Week one! And week one there, I said they're going to get smacked, smoked. Oh, don't give away the hickey hex yet.

It's coming up in about 15 minutes. I'll say this then. You look at that game against Clemson, which is a downtrodden Clemson team. Florida State this entire year cannot run the ball on their defensive suspect. All of their success is on the back of Jordan Travis.

And that to me is worrisome, where if he has a bad game, you're not winning every single game. And I think for me, if you're Florida State, you need to... You want to guarantee you're in the playoff? 13-0. 12-1, you could get in. Oh, you'll get in at 12-1 this year. Going to need a lot of help, because their resume is not very strong.

Well, hold on. LSU? That's a great win up against an SEC.

Well, sinking like a rock now. They're going to beat Arkansas. They're 13th or 14th. They lose another game. All of a sudden, pre-season top 5. You don't think they would beat Ole Miss this weekend? Well, that'll be my second take here in a second.

I'll get to that. But let's just say LSU is 14th in the country. That win looks worse and worse by the week if LSU suffers another loss to Alabama. Let's just say now you're the second or third team in the SEC West.

Not as good as it started. And you look at the Pac-12. Look at the Big Ten.

They have teams with opportunities to build their resumes stronger right now than Florida State. You could lose one, and you'll get in if you're a one-loss conference champion. Now, if you lose the one in the AC Championship game, it may be a little bit different and you'll still get in. But if you have one loss at the end of the year, you'll get in.

And here's why. Look how bad it was for Clemson last year. And Clemson, even when they were 10-1 and they weren't impressing anybody, and coming off that Notre Dame loss, too, where they got blown out 35-14, enough teams went down, even in the 14 format, where they would have won that South Carolina game. And then they won the AC Championship game against UNC. They would have made the college football playoff with one loss. But the fact they lost that game late to South Carolina and they suffered their second loss is why they were on the outside looking in.

But let me ask you this. And Jordan Travis, I thought he was as tough as nail. I was talking to Mike Norvell this morning. I said, your quarterback is as tough as tough could be. That arm, which he injured in the non-throwing arm, which he injured in the B.C.

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Learn about eligibility and schedule your covid-19 shot on the CDC site vaccines dot gov. Sponsored by Pfizer and BioNTech. The fall off at times. And that kid stepped up over and over and over again. And they need a better play call. How many times you can take a deep shot? I know it worked at the end of the game, but they should have ran the ball a little bit more with Jordan Travis.

But then if they did, you know, who who who knows that that arm would have held up? You're not wrong that Travis needs to stay healthy. But you look at this schedule the rest of the way for Florida State, where are they losing a game here?

Like, let's go through it right now. Virginia Tech this weekend coming up next weekend. Excuse me. They stink. They will. Florida win that game. Syracuse after that is not bad. Are you picking Florida State to lose?

There is no game right now that I could say definite loss, right? I don't believe they have Duke on their schedule. They do.

They do. Duke, tough game. Wake Forest at Pitt.

Miami, North Alabama, Florida. Boston College stinks. They're not very good.

And you barely escaped just on hell and got lucky to leave with that game with a win. So you look at the way they're playing outside of really the second half against LSU. They've not been a consistent team whatsoever. And they still beat LSU and Clemson.

But you're susceptible to, again, one bad game. If Jordan Travis does not have his A game, I don't see how else they're going to win. I think that's a real backhanded compliment where you said before the year that they were fraudulent and now they're 4-0. And I was like, oh, they're the best team in the ACC, but they're going to go down. Well, you just talked about before that Clemson lost the game. Like, Florida State didn't win and Clemson blew the game. And I would agree with you that we're not talking about, again, a downtrodden Clemson team.

You go into their house and you need a strip sack. You need a missed 29-yard field goal. You need Dabo Swinney completely making, what, three bonehead decisions, we could say, in the last two minutes of the game to just get to overtime? Like, they need it. Now, they got the breaks. They need a lot of breaks just to get out of Clemson alive. Again, they are walking a very tight tightrope where they're a top five team. But that, to me, screams one loss written all over it.

Alrighty, let me get to my next take here. Big 10 teams. Michigan's 1, Penn State is 2, and Ohio State is 3. After Ohio State getting a victory up against Notre Dame, and I was just looking at Ohio State, I wasn't that impressed with them. Even though they got the victory up against Notre Dame and they came from behind and got it on that final play, you know me, I do not like to root and support your college football team, but with that being said, I do believe Penn State is going to lose to Michigan.

But I do think a few weeks prior to that, they're going to go to the shoe and they're going to get the job done in the horseshoe up against the Ohio State Buckeyes. I think Ohio State this year is the third best team in the Big 10, and how about that coach in Ryan Day? Oh, Ryan Day, can you have some respect for your elders? You really need to go after Lou Holtz?

Give me a break. Ryan Day banned from all early bird specials, banned from all senior citizen homes, Ryan Day is not allowed to go there. Lou Holtz is like almost 90, and you got to go crucify the coach because he was talking up the Notre Dame fighting Irish? That's a bad job by Ryan Day. First thing after the game, first thing after the game, those are the first words out of his mouth.

Take it easy, coach, and don't lose by 1,000 this year up against Michigan. All right, Ryan Day, enough with that loser. This is not sarcasm. You're being dead serious about Ryan Day attacking Lou Holtz. I don't like it.

Because I can't honestly tell. Ban from all senior citizen homes, no early bird specials for him. Ryan Day, you keep calling out.

He's 88 years old. Hey, call them soft. Lou put the ball in the tee. Ryan Day is soft for doing that. Lou put the ball in the tee. I respect Lou calling him out. Who's on the McAfee show? It's at Notre Dame. Of course you're going to play to the crowd and have some fun.

I think both are on the right. Ryan Day, keep on attacking the geriatrics. I love it. Who are you, supporting the Washington State coach who went after Lee Corso too? I'm here for it. I'm truly here for it.

Call them out, call them on the carpet, and maybe if you've got to fight them, fight them. I'm just kidding. What are you advocating, beating up elderly people?

I'm kidding for that part. Look at this animal here. What an animal you are.

What are you going to start punching grandparents? If you want to run your mouth, you deserve to get what's coming back at you. Ryan Day, you're lucky you won the game. And then you go blab afterwards. Blab afterwards.

You know what? Go Penn State. I hope he beats Ohio State by 50. Go Michigan. I hope he beats Ohio State by 100 this year.

Ryan Day. Arrogant. And he's a Temple guy. He coached at Temple twice. Oh, did he? I didn't know that. How about that? Yeah.

Wow, attacking one of your own. I think that was actually his first job on a staff where he wasn't a GA. It was Temple back in 2006. Wow.

Without Golden. Back in the day. How about that?

Let me just double check that there. Yeah, being a tight end coach in New Hampshire doesn't count. GA at Boston College, GA at Florida, then wide receiver coach at Temple. How about that? Ryan Day.

And then came back in 2012 to be the OC. Wow. Alright, next take.

Go. Alright, speaking of coaches that annoy you, Lane Kiffin. I'm done believing in Lane Kiffin. I like Lane Kiffin. Saturday, I love Lane Kiffin. I'm a big Lane Kiffin supporter. I like that he just says what's on his mind.

He pokes the bear. But eventually, Lane, you've got to back it up with some wins, man. And that was the game. Alabama's vulnerable. They have no quarterback situation whatsoever. Jalen Miller, you know, is the best quarterback, is still throwing interceptions on Saturday. And you take your high flying offense in a Tuscaloosa, a beaten down Alabama team, score 10 points. And look lifeless in that game.

And get, again, embarrassed. I want to believe in Lane. I'm done.

No more. He's a fraud. Everyone should know that Kyle Whittingham is a top 10 coach in the sport. He's one of the best coaches in the country. And he's also one of the most underrated coaches in the country.

You do not have Cam Rising. And I was shocked that he didn't play in the game up against UCLA. And you beat Florida Baylor to start the season. Now, Weber State, whatever. And then you beat UCLA 14 to 7. What Whittingham is doing with that defense is unbelievable. They allowed 11 points, 13 points, 7 points, and 7 points this year. And now they have, they're at Oregon State this weekend.

Or actually on Friday night up against D.J. Ouyoungole coming off Oregon State's loss to Wazoo. Very impressed with Kyle Whittingham.

Back to backpack, 12 champs. Still, no one gives him enough credit. He is one of the best and still most underrated coaches in all of college football. We are one third of the way through the college football season.

I think for the first time in a long time, we can actually say this. I think there are right now ten teams that can win a national title. Any team in the top ten I think can legitimately right now make a claim as to why they can and why they can't. There's really no upper echelon elite teams that have separated themselves in the past. Like Georgia, Alabama, Ohio State, Michigan at times.

There is I think right now one large cluster of ten teams and it is tremendous. Where are you at at Penn State? Confidence one to ten. I feel good, honestly.

Really? I feel pretty confident. But they haven't played anyone yet. Well, Iowa is a tough team. They can't score Iowa and that offensive coordinator, the Ferencis kid, Brian Ferencis should be fired.

They should hire the AI version of him. But you know what they've done so far? They have in a year where for the most part, even the great teams have struggled, they have put teams away.

And I'll take that. I know, but it was 10-0 at halftime. Were you thrilled when it was 10-0 at halftime?

No, just like I was not thrilled when Illinois, there was another close effort. But the second half, they pulled away pretty easily. I just said Penn State is the second best team in the Big Ten.

But they still got to show me a little bit more. And their season comes down to two games. You have to win one up against Ohio State and Michigan. Every other game should be a win. Northwestern, you'll beat them by like 500 points this week. They got three bye weeks until the Ohio State game. UMass, give me a break.

Indiana, Maryland, Rutgers, Michigan State, come on. What are we doing here? Not arguing with them, 100 percent.

So you're drinking the Kool-Aid already? I'm liking what I'm seeing. Number one defense in the country, good running game.

I would like the NFL to be a little bit more dominant than they have been. But their left tackle, Olufasenu, has been tremendous so far. Drew Aller, zero turnovers in his career.

So far, so good. The only thing that would concern me is that Franklin hasn't played a top ten team yet. We know what his record is. It's like three and fifteen or three and sixteen against top ten teams.

Hey, he's won his last game against top ten team. Please, an irrelevant Rose Bowl. I'm just saying. Where the quarterback got hurt, too.

I'm just saying. Cam Rising's there or not. They were pulling away whether he was playing or not.

I don't know. That game was over even when he got hurt. If come on up for Cam Rising was there, could be a little bit different story. Hickey Beers would have turned into tears at the Rose Bowl. Not that game. They're winning no matter what.

Have you ever picked Penn State to lose is my question. Alright, well come on back with a Hickey Hex and a college football coach that's ranked in the top five even chimes in on the Hickey Hex and knows that when Hickey picks against your team, it's a good thing when Hickey goes against your squad. You're listening to the Zach Gelb show. Alrighty, this is Zach Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio. So this is the bash Hickey segment on the show. Hickey, let me ask you what you want to do first here. We want to talk about the Broncos or do we want to talk about your hatred for Florida State football?

Let me know. I don't get a last meal here in this execution. Yes, you're getting your choice right now. You want me to go get you some boneless wings to make you feel better?

Yeah. We can, let's get Florida State out of the way. Let's get the Hickey Hex out of the way.

Let's hear the shame and let's relive in the Seminole glory, I guess. Just a reminder, Hickey is picked against Florida State up against LSU. Hickey also picked against Florida State this past weekend going up against Clemson. Let's listen up to a brand new edition of the Hickey Hex.

It's the Hickey Hex. Biggest game of the weekend. Number five LSU taking on number eight Florida State Tigers. Two and a half point favorites. LSU wins and covers. Here's why. You know what the F in FSU stands for? Fraudulent. That's right. The Seminoles are getting a lot of love this offseason.

And I don't know why. Florida State to me looking at them this year, sure they got talent. But they are a team that can beat the bad teams, can't be the good teams. This to me is going to be a game where LSU is going to clean Florida State's clock. Coach, forget the fact that you have a great staff and you have so many just wonderful players on both sides of the ball. The reason you won that game is my producer, Hate Hickey, who just mushes teams left and right. He picked LSU to win 34 to 17.

So you should probably thank him because he's never right and he went against you guys. You guys ended up winning the game big. Well, I mean, tell them to keep picking against us and it sounds like I'll take those odds every week then. Florida State and Clemson. For those listening right now, we got a Florida State logo up here. Seminoles, give me that paper shredder.

That's right. Clemson pulling off the upset. I like the fact that Davos Sweeney and Clemson is getting overlooked. They had their manhood challenge after that week one loss to Duke.

And now a lot of people have written them off and look, I criticized them. But do I think they're dead? Not dead just yet.

Remember, Clemson at home, one loss in the last seven years. Travis takes a stab. Bloffs it towards the corner of the end zone for Keyon.

Coleman, he's got it. Death Valley has just been rezoned. You're now a part of Keyon County. Touchdown, Florida State. Touchdown, F-S-U. Klopnik going to throw fourth and two. Pops over the middle. No!

Incomplete. Klopnik missed his man. Let's fire up the war chant and plant the spear. Knolls win. Knolls win. Florida State is back on top of the ACC mountain where they belong. Hot take hickey strikes again. Anything you want to say for yourself? Congrats, Florida State, on escaping. I will keep picking against it because, like we said in the previous segment, they will end the regular season 11-1 guaranteed.

Eleven and one. You heard it here first. That probably means it. When you need to know what's happening, it's time to get hit in the huddle. And nobody's picking the Colts to win the Super Bowl, so let's just go learn, right? Well, this was always going to happen. Jim Irsay's calling all the shots there.

And the hunky-tonk man didn't draft this kid where they drafted this kid to have him look great in practice and look awesome running the scout team. You know what I mean? Yeah, let's play this menshu cat or whatever on Sunday. Like, no way.

Listen and subscribe to In the Huddle, available on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts. Well, well, well. Shopping for a car? Yep. Carvana made financing a car as smooth as can be.

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Visit Carvana.com or download the app to get pre-qualified today. You're going to the college football playoff. They're 11-1, so not that big of a guarantee that you throw out there. Well, that resume, Pac-12, very strong. Big 10, two teams. Pac-12, two teams. Florida State, look at that resume.

I'm actually- It's a lot closer than you think. I'm actually proud of the brand of Hot Take Hickey and the Hickey Hex, that we have a coach that's a top five coach right now in the country, basically saying, I want Hickey to pick against me every week because it ends up working. That's pretty surreal if we're just being transparent here for a second. I mean, look, if Duke comes to town, let's say college game day is there. If I'm Coach Norvell, I'll be pushing celebrity guest picker, yours truly. Give me the Duke head. Give me the Duke devil head.

Let's go. Have fans just throwing, like, tomato cans at Hot Take Hickey and just throwing a bunch of different things at you. Fans actually probably erupt in cheering. Oh, thank God he's picking Duke.

We're in the clear tonight, Bellas. You'd be the most popular person on the Florida State campus. You really would be. And then I'd build a Corso.

Oh, I'm just kidding. Say F it, throw the head off, and then give me the Seminole spear. I was watching some old Lee Corso highlights. My favorite is when he's in Alabama and he plays, like, the sweet home Alabama and he gets the crowd going and then he takes the other team. I love when Lee Corso teases the fans and makes you think he's going to pick the team and then goes the other way. He truly was, you know, what Charles Brockley is now, Charles Brockley of college basketball, college football. With some of these things he would say, looking back, he was a character. When he called the young kid a word that I can't say on the radio is great. That was tremendous. That kid was. Ten years old. Nice pick.

Shrimp, basically. You did a nice job cleaning it up. Kirk Kirktree sitting there like, holy cow, we've got to bleep this guy again.

But you are right. When he says, ah, F it, and on national television, that is an all-time moment from Coach Corso. And then having to come on, cut into the game to apologize.

Looked like he was being held hostage and say an apology he did not believe he deserved to say. Tremendous, tremendous content. Do you see the McAfee show on ESPN? They say the F word every three seconds. I saw the intro to the show one time. And I think they say, like, basically, there's going to be some cursing here.

Prepare yourself. But then they mute a lot of it. But then you can't mute the entire show. Did you see on Friday and South Bend, the great Notre Dame fans were chanting F Ohio State.

Yeah. And they had to mute the mics because it was so loud that they picked it up. Well, they were originally chanting F Ohio when Marcus Freeman was on set and then McAfee was smart. He's like, hello, Marcus Freeman is from Ohio.

And they just started chanting F the Buckeyes. Not that in the Marcus Freeman story makes it that much different. But geez, that was crazy.

Definitely was. All right. Let me give you a quick little fix here in the Broncos. A few weeks ago, I think you showed your true colors. We're after the Raiders game.

You were like, oh, you know, I'm not really changing tune. You still said they were going to win 12 games, which was embarrassing. And then I went to the win losses with you and you only got to seven.

And you're like, oh, yeah, you just got me on a bad day here. They're still going to win 12 games now to see where we're at two weeks later, where they lose to the commanders, 35 to 33. And they get stomped out by the Miami Dolphins, 70 to 20. Can we officially wave the white flag here on all the propaganda you've been spewing for the last two years on the Denver Broncos? I'm ready to fight Sean Payton. I am upset that he has made me look like a fool this season. Last year. Fine.

I believe the Nathaniel Hackett. Shame on me. But as George Bush says, you can't get full twice. And Sean Payton made me look like a fool. And I'm going to take it out of them.

He's going to pay. I actually think that this year's version of the Broncos are so far more embarrassing than last year's version of the Broncos. And I also think when we get in the hickey predictions, your predictions this year for the Broncos are more embarrassing than your predictions last year. Like last year, you said they're going to win the Super Bowl and the Nathaniel Hackett's going to be a top three coach in the NFL in terms of the coach of the year candidates. And that was laughable.

It was. I didn't think anything could top it. Out of all your predictions, anything could top that. But then going back to the well with this Broncos team that really didn't make any changes outside of the head coach. Yeah, sure, they patch up the offensive line a little bit, but the offensive line still has problems. They don't have a lot of talent to throw the football to a wide receiver. And so far, for them to be 0-3, the fact that you believed in this team and a loaded AFC to get to 12 wins, this year's version of your prediction on the Broncos is somehow worse than last year's version. Because the Broncos told you, hey, it's not the players, it's the coaching. They changed the entire coaching staff to not bring in a lot of new players to this team.

And you know what? I believed him. Sean Payton is a guy who wins with less, he's an offensive genius, he's one of the best coaches in the NFL. He will surely fix what's wrong, and if anything so far through three games, best case, they're a mirror image of last year. So next year, when we have you breaking down the Broncos, are you going to go back to the Broncos' well for a third time? Well, when they have Caleb Williams as their quarterback, I probably will. Do you think they're going to have Caleb Williams as their quarterback?

No, I do not. I'm just kidding. When they have Justin Fields as their quarterback, I probably will. Let me tell you, you go to Denver, and you go visit my sister and her husband in Denver, and my niece Raquel, they'd be booing you. Like the reception you get at Florida State would be drastically different than the reception you would get at Denver. Boo Sean Payton, not me! This is that Kelp Show on CBS Sports Radio, overreaction, proper reaction. Next!